Geek_Boy

I have my submission sent. I sent the colored version, but I also have the original black and white in case anyone cares.

I have a few things I could submit, but I'd rather go with something new I'm working on.

I sent a PM too, but my I8 Guide was posted earlier in this thread and is still in my sig. The official post still has my I6 version in there.

Gee, I update mine every new issue without having to be told. Then I post it in the Guides Forum. Then I post a link in the appropriate forum's Guide thread. Then that thread doesn't get updated for two issues.

Why don't you update your Guides, Lighthouse. We've been updating ours anyway.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As it is now, there's no sign telling us what the speed limit is, but we can tell it's a two lane highway in the country, so we can assume it's 55. Suddenly, out of nowhere we hit a speed trap and get ticketed without any warning. I'd like some clearer road signs and stricter enforcement, personally.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can sit there and tell me that you don't know if what you write will or will not get mod-smacked.

boggle

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, he's right.

I've seen posts that were obvious attacks on other posters go off scott-free and others that contained nothing more than a reference to underwear get delted entirely.

It's not necessarily anarchy, but to a fairly significant degree nobody really knows for sure where the line is.

And i'm sayin this as someone who likes to skirt the line... I don't actually know where it is.

[/ QUOTE ]

But you know if a post that you make *should* be smacked or not, or at least I do.

Maybe it is because my posting style is different from yours and his, or maybe it is some other reason, but when I am typing out a post, if it is something that strays close to the modsmackage line, I don't post it and move on to the next post.

shrug

[/ QUOTE ]

True enough, I know when a lot of my posts push the line. As it currently stands, the chances of being modsmacked have more to do with the post your reply to than whether or not the content of your post is offensive in some way.

So if someone makes a trolling post, you can often troll right back if you just Reply to someone else and mention the content of the offender's post. In fact, I've even seen where Troll A has their content removed and Troll B is untouched because he didn't reply specifically to Troll A's post.

I think the issue really comes back to nobody knowing why things are changed, deleted, or locked in the first place (or that it even happened). You can guess, but having a place where people are told, "This post is offensive," would go a loooong way to curbing the garbage posts we see here.

Also, for the love of Pete, can we get some mods on all of the horrible off topic discussions? Whenever I see a thread about costume pieces turn into catnip recommendations, I die a little inside. You would all hate me if I ran this place, because people who do things like that would be the first ones I banned. You can insult my mother, but don't start talking about muffin recipes in a thread about the effectiveness of Snow Storm.

I also wish the forums had a emote since that's the exact reaction I have to a lot of the posts whenever there's a change around here. I'm sure that it's because a lot of people would find constant single emote replies of:



offensive, but a rule banning single emote replies would go a long way towards improving things around here as well.

I have a simple rule: If I'm not adding something constructive, interesting, or funny to a thread, I'm not going to post in it. If my response is devoid of any real content, I'm also not going to post it.

This is why I have 1K posts instead of 10K+ posts.

With all due respect, Cuppa was wrong about seeing the reasons people get mod-smacked causing people to flip out more than them not knowing.

As it is now, there's no sign telling us what the speed limit is, but we can tell it's a two lane highway in the country, so we can assume it's 55. Suddenly, out of nowhere we hit a speed trap and get ticketed without any warning. I'd like some clearer road signs and stricter enforcement, personally.

Honestly, sometimes I just post to see what I can get away with. It's so inconsistent right now that one day something I certainly would see as a flame stays as-is while something I think is just gentle ribbing gets deleted. In neither situation am I told I've done anything they disagreed with, so even if I'm "in trouble," I wouldn't know.

In an ideal world, there would be probations, bannings, and a place to point and laugh at them. Let shame and a heavy hand put people back in line. If you know that your forums posting access is in jeapordy, you'll be a little nicer.

Also, mod sass should be a bannable offense. That way, if you want to complain, you better have a darn good basis for your argument or you're getting into deeper trouble.

Shoot, the other day we had a NO PROBATION DAY where people were banned for the slightest offense. On a site where you pay for access, this became a big money sink for some very stupid people who just couldn't resist hitting that "Post" button without thinking it through.

It was like an early Christmas present.

For the record, this board has a lot more members than the CoH boards do and it works beautifully.

[ QUOTE ]
I welcome any input and feelings about how we run things around here. If you don't want to voice that here, please feel free to write me a private message.

Respectfully yours,
Lighthouse

[/ QUOTE ]

For my money, the moderation here is entirely too light. For one thing, there's little to no indication that you've done something wrong or had a post culled unless you're actually watching the topic. If you post and move on, you can have a post deleted or edited without ever knowing what's happened. How can I know what I've done wrong if I don't even know that my post was deleted?

When someone gets in trouble, nobody else knows about it unless that person advertises it. "It's none of your business," you say? Sure, I can see that, but if someone else gets in trouble for something and I learn about it, I can keep from repeating their mistakes. If it happens behind closed doors, then I can't learn from it.

There's also something to be said for shame. If you know that your "u suk" post is going to get you in trouble and everyone will know about it, maybe you'll think twice before posting. If not, you'll face the consequences and we're all going to laugh at you.

I'm spoiled by the boards that I spend most of my time in, where there are several levels of punishment, all of which are made public. There's a page you can go to where there's a list of the people that have been probated (and the length of their probation), banned, and perma-banned along with the reasons why. This is an excellent system and keeps everyone in line.

Well, mostly in line.

There's also a problem on these boards that I almost never see over there (since it's something you can get in trouble for), and that's thread [censored]. What is thread [censored], you ask? Well, it's when you come in and do nothing but post off-topic "I don't like this thread/person" comments. It happens here a lot during periods where the ire is up over nerfs and certain posters color every comment someone makes with those nerfs in mind.

Make a comment about whiny posters? You must mean the people who are against the changes, so they come in and crap up your thread about something completely unrelated just because they're mad their Defender can't solo Giant Monsters anymore (used as a wild and generic example that I've actually seen happen - don't take it personally). It would be one thing if the thread was about Defenders who can't solo Giant Monsters and their players being bad people who kick puppies, but in a thread about costume pieces and some of the community's unrealistic requests for new items, it makes no sense (again, a generic example, but I'm sure I could find someone doing this if I looked hard enough).

If someone came in and crapped up a thread with some completely unrelated topic that was already being covered in 137 other threads, they would end up being banned.

Another problem I see is that there are people that break the rules over and over again, but they never end up in trouble. All the mods ever do is delete posts and lock threads with little to no consequences. When all that happens is your post being deleted, this isn't going to improve your behavior. All it does is make the individual thread fit the rules more closely.

If I have a post deleted every day, there should be consequences. The only person I know who was ever banned from these boards posted slasher fanfic with extremely graphic sexual content. Twice. Did he deserve to be banned? It's hard to argue against it. What about the guy who posts inflammatory comments about a specific supergroup every time there's a Hamidon Raid? Every single time. The posts are deleted, but then the next Raid occurs and there's a whole new crop of posts to delete.

Yet, this type of poster never ends up in any trouble even though they're consistently breaking forum rules. This doesn't make sense to me.

It does the community a disservice to allow consistenly bad posting to continue.

What I would like to see would mean a rewrite of the board's software and some major work for the mods in the short term. In the long term? Well, banning a few hundred bad posters and getting a few thousand more to rethink their posts would go a looooong way to making this a happier place to visit.

As it currently stands, I come to the boards for power info, to give build advice, and unintentional comedy. If I want to actually discuss the game I go to our private forums.

New version here. This one is done for.

Update to my Necro/Dark Mastermind Guide for Issue 8 can be found in my sig and right here.

It occured to me that Malaekai's post in my previous version's thread could be useful.

[ QUOTE ]
It's great to have all this valuable info in one thread for the Necro, so I will post my goto bind strategy here. It should be noted that this isn't my only goto bind, but my most used on. I also use Khaiba's binds in addition for individual group control, but this strategy covers about 95% of fights.

An easy way to send only certain pets into combat is to put one letter in their name they share, that no other pet has.

For instance I always want to send my zombies and knights to melee while my ghost and lich hang at range. I would name my pets as follows (just examples to illustrate point, not real names):

Group 1.) Melee:

Bob - Zombie
Nob - Zombie
Cob - Zombie

Slab - Knight
Crab - Knight

Group 2.) Ranged:

Harry - Ghost
Sally - Lich

Now notice that all the zombies and knights included a b in their name, which neither the ghost nor lich has. In addition the ghost and lich both have a y in their name that none of the zombies/knights have.

Now you use two binds:

/bind t petcom_name b goto def (use whatever key you like for "t")
/bind g petcom_name y goto def (use whatever key you like for "g")

Note above: If you don't want the pets in defensive mode when they arrived (which will make them man up to whatever mobs attacked them), then you can put them on aggressive by substituting "agg" for "def" in the bind. This will make them attack whatever's in their range (and possible attack it before it attacks them) but is potentially dangerous when used in a team setting.

Using these two binds and fitting pet names, you can send some pets to melee when they all start at range, or send some pets to range when you all get jumped at melee.

Also, this isn't only useful for the 26+ necro with all his pets. In can be used with two zombies and a graveknight (level 12) for instance. You can make the knight go to melee and the two zombies hang at range (although one would usually try to rush melee anyway, you can pull him back with this command) Just follow the naming guidelines above to give each group a mutually exclusive letter and you're all set.

And just to include the simplified version for completeness, if you want a goto bind that moves all pets to melee, use:

/bind <key> petcom_all goto def (or agg)

[/ QUOTE ]

Since I talk about it all the time and I get tired of repeating myself, here’s a thread I can point people to when they want to tell me I’m crazy for not insisting that every Mastermind ever gets Tactics.

Yes, it is a great power. I have it on my Corruptor, where I think it is infinitely more useful. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t get it if you’re dying to have it, but I want people to at least think about it.

Since I’m not an “expert” on every single secondary, I’m limiting my discussion to the /Dark secondary. I have a level 50 Necro/Dark Mastermind and have written a guide that is posted on these forums, on the official CoH forums, and on coldfront.com. Most people I’ve talked to have found it helpful and I think I’m pretty good when it comes to this powerset. I also have a level 27 Dark/Electric Defender, but he was originally built pre-ED when they were still really good at PvP, so I’m not going there.

Other sets have more crap powers, but when it comes to Dark Miasma, the only power you should be skipping is Black Hole. So assuming you’re skipping your attacks, that’s still 9 of your 24 powers eaten up by your secondary. Add in your 3 pet summons and 2 upgrades and we’re at 14 of 24. Stamina and a travel power will eat up another 5 (and yes, you’ll need Stamina once you hit the 40’s – before that I was fine and I actually got to 50 without it, but once I respecced it in I became MUCH more effective). So with Stamina, a travel power, the powers you need from Dark Miasma, and the bare minimum of powers from your primary, we’re at 19 of 24 powers. That leaves 5 powers and not a lot of slots left. I argue that if you’re going to go with /Dark, that isn’t enough room to get Leadership and run it well enough for it to be worth it.

First, the arguments for the Dark Miasma powers one by one. Get more info from my Guide if you want details..

Twilight Grasp: You have no choice but you would be retarded if you didn’t take it. Probably the best heal in CoV and a nice debuff to boot. 6 slot this and wish you had more slots to put there.

Tar Patch: A powerful debuff that Slows your enemies and reduces their Damage Resistance. I always just 3 slot it for Recharge because I run out of slots, but Slows are also useful. This is one of the best debuffs available period.

Darkest Night: Powerful ToHit Debuff. Turns everything up to and including AV’s into whiffing ninnies.

Howling Twilight: No, this rez won’t work on your pets, but it IS an auto-hit Disorient with some nice debuffs to it. I use it all the time even when I’m not teaming. The fact that it allows you to rez your teammates is just an added bonus. A great power for PvP since it is auto-hit ([censored] you Mister Personal Force Field!).

Shadow Fall: Stealth and Damage Resistance to damage types that are rarely resisted for you and anyone near you. Everyone will love you when you’re fighting Psionic enemies, not counting the usefulness of being able to sneak up on enemies.

Fearsome Stare: This is where some people start to argue. I personally think that if you’re not taking FS, why are you taking Dark Miasma? It is a defining power of the set. Cone Fear that debuffs your enemies and makes them unable to attack you unless you attack them first. Rarely resisted and a killer move in PvP. Take it. Slot it. Love it.

Petrifying Gaze: A single target hold that people constantly [censored] about. It’s duration was nerfed a long, long time ago and most of the naysayers remember it’s previous state. No, it doesn’t last forever like it used to and it might need a slight buff since it doesn’t have any secondary effects, but taking a troublesome minion or LT out of the fight is EXTREMELY USEFUL. Playing Necro, I could lose all of my pets almost instantly if faced with a group that included 3 or more Flamethrowers. Removing one of them from the fight saved my e-can more times than I can count. Longbow Nullifiers? Wussies thanks to this power. Spec-Ops and Sappers? Who cares. They’re held. When you get your Patron hold (WHICH YOU SHOULD), you no longer have to worry about bosses. Why? Because you’ve held them by stacking PG and your Patron hold before the fight even started. By the time they break out of it (IF they break out of it), the rest of the mob is dead and you’ve debuffed them to the point that they can’t do anything anyway. HOW is that not useful? This power deserves six slots. So does your Patron hold. Enjoy holding AV’s and Heroes? I know I do.

Black Hole: Total crap.

Dark Servant: Anyone who argues that this isn’t useful hasn’t used it. I’m serious about that. Debuffs, heals, holds, immobilizes, does some damage, and tanks for you. Awesome and necessary.

So assuming I’m right (and I am), then the question becomes “What can I drop from my primary and pool powers to get those two Leadership toggles?” We’ll look at that some in a moment, but first I want to comment on what a /Dark Mastermind’s role in a team really is. You’re filling the role of a Dark Defendtroller essentially. You’re better at healing and debuffing than most Corruptors and you have more control than a lot of Dominators with none of the frailty. You’re spending all of your endurance on keeping your enemies debuffed and your pets alive rather than splitting it between that and damage, so in many ways you are more useful than a Corruptor or a Dominator could ever be.

Are there situations where a Corruptor is more useful? A few, but most of them involve the Recluse Strike Force. Making all your decisions based on a single Strike Force is retarded.

Are there situation where a Dominator is more useful? Well, I’m sure there are, but since they spend most of their time face-planted it’s hard to tell (lol Dominators lol). Seriously, they need some real attention from the Devs.

What other AT can hold the boss, debuff the entire mob, then kill them without ever taking enough damage to make a real dent in their defenses (thanks to Bodyguard)? None. Who else can kill Heroes in PvP without ever actually attacking them (many of my PvP wins have occurred without me ever leaving Bodyguard)? Nobody.

So why sacrifice that ability for a minor Damage or Defense Boost coupled with better accuracy and some +Perception that you almost never need in PvE?

Another point: if you’re taking Assault and Tactics but not Vengeance, then I see no need to take any of them. When I’m doing a Recluse Strike Force, it’s Vengeance that everyone’s watching for. By the time everyone’s level 50, they should have plenty of Accuracy and Damage of their own, but Defense? THAT is useful to ANY team. Especially ones that are fighting multiple Heroes at once. Most of this is assuming you’re making room for those two powers since they’re the ones everyone talks about, but really you should be trying to make room for three or you should be skipping the pool entirely.

You can argue that you’ll get the powers and slots by shortchanging your primary or necessary pool powers, but I think that’s foolhardy, too.

First I’ll start with the character I know best.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Balor
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Necromancy
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Zombie Horde==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(15) TH_DeBuf(15) TH_DeBuf(17) EndRdx(50)
06) --> Enchant Undead==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(17) Rechg(19)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(19) Rechg(21)
12) --> Grave Knight==> Acc(12) Acc(21) Dmg(23) Dmg(23) Dmg(25)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(25)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(27) DmgRes(27) DmgRes(29) DmgRes(29) EndRdx(46)
18) --> Soul Extraction==> Rechg(18) Rechg(31) Rechg(31) Acc(31)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(33) Fear(33) Fear(33) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
22) --> Hurdle==> Jump(22)
24) --> Swift==> Run(24)
26) --> Lich==> Acc(26) Acc(34) Hold(36) Hold(36) Fear(36) Fear(37)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(37) Hold(37) Hold(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(40) EndMod(40)
32) --> Dark Empowerment==> Rechg(32)
35) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(40) Rechg(42) Acc(42) TH_DeBuf(42) TH_DeBuf(43)
41) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(41) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(45)
44) --> Soul Tentacles==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Immob(45) Immob(46) Immob(46)
47) --> Soul Storm==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Hasten==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

What could I drop from this build? Hasten, which has no slots in it? Stamina, with three (which you can’t run Leadership without)? Soul Extraction? Well, there’s one power and 3 free slots. Not enough to run Leadership from. Recall Friend? That still doesn’t help with the slots necessary to run those powers effectively.

I could drop Endurance Reductions from some powers or Recharges from others, but then I lose effectiveness. The slight increase in damage (11.25% assuming your pets are in range) and accuracy (+11.70% ToHit buff, which is powerful, but still assumes your pets are in range) aren’t worth having a boss that would have been removed from the fight one-shotting my zombies or holding me, making me completely worthless. They aren’t worth having a whole mob cowering in Fear while I pick them off one by one at my leisure.

Let’s look at some other sets.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Merc Example
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Mercenaries
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Soldiers==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(17) Rechg(21)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(36)
06) --> Equip Mercenary==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(46)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(37) Rechg(37)
12) --> Spec Ops==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(15) Hold(46)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> Rechg(16) EndRdx(23) DmgRes(37) DmgRes(40) DmgRes(43)
18) --> Serum==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(19) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(46) DmgRes(50)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Rechg(23) Rechg(25) TH_DeBuf(25) TH_DeBuf(34)
22) --> Swift==> Run(22)
24) --> Hurdle==> Jump(24)
26) --> Commando==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Hold(31) Hold(31) Rechg(33) Rechg(33)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(34) EndMod(34)
32) --> Tactical Upgrade==> Rechg(32) EndRdx(33)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) TH_DeBuf(39) TH_DeBuf(40) Heal(40)
41) --> Scorpion Shield==> EndRdx(41) EndRdx(42) DefBuf(42) DefBuf(42) DefBuf(43)
44) --> Web Envelope==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Immob(45) Immob(45)
47) --> Web Cocoon==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Recall Friend==> Empty(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

Again, what do I drop? I’m no expert, but Serum is supposed to be the bomb from what I understand of the Mercenaries set. The few powers you could argue I might be able to drop don’t free enough slots to get Tactics where it needs to be to be effective.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Ninja Example
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Ninjas
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Call Genin==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(23) Rechg(23)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(40)
06) --> Train Ninjas==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(21)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(36) Rechg(36)
12) --> Call Jounin==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(15) TH_DeBuf(17)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(19) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(46)
18) --> Smoke Flash==> Acc(18) Acc(19) Rechg(36) Rechg(37) Rechg(43)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Rechg(25) Rechg(25) TH_DeBuf(34) TH_DeBuf(34)
22) --> Swift==> Run(22)
24) --> Hurdle==> Jump(24)
26) --> Oni==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29) Hold(31)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Hold(31) Hold(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(34)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(46) EndMod(46)
32) --> Kuji In Zen==> Rechg(32) EndRdx(33)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35) Rechg(50)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) TH_DeBuf(39) TH_DeBuf(40) Heal(40)
41) --> School of Sharks==> Acc(41) Acc(42) Immob(42) Immob(42)
44) --> Shark Skin==> EndRdx(44) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45)
47) --> Spirit Shark Jaws==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)

Smoke Flash is pretty much necessary from what Ninja people say. Not that many slots in there anyway.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Robotics Example
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Robotics
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Battle Drones==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(23) Rechg(23)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(40)
06) --> Equip Robot==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(21) Rechg(43)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(36) Rechg(36)
12) --> Protector Bots==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) DefBuf(15) DefBuf(17)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(19) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(46)
18) --> Repair==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(31)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Rechg(25) Rechg(25) TH_DeBuf(34) TH_DeBuf(34)
22) --> Swift==> Run(22)
24) --> Hurdle==> Jump(24)
26) --> Assault Bot==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29) DisDur(37)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Hold(31) Hold(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(34)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(46) EndMod(46)
32) --> Upgrade Robot==> EndRdx(32) Rechg(33)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35) Rechg(36) Rechg(50)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) TH_DeBuf(39) TH_DeBuf(40) Heal(40)
41) --> School of Sharks==> Acc(41) Acc(42) Immob(42) Immob(42)
44) --> Shark Skin==> EndRdx(44) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45)
47) --> Spirit Shark Jaws==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

I suppose you very well COULD do without Repair from what people have told me. This is the one set where you MIGHT be able to fit it in. I still wouldn’t, though.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Thugs Example
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Thugs
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Call Thugs==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(25) Rechg(25)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(37)
06) --> Equip Thugs==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(21) Rechg(50)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(43) Rechg(46)
12) --> Call Enforcer==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) DefBuf(15) DefBuf(17)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(34) DmgRes(34) DmgRes(34) DmgRes(36)
18) --> Gang War==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(19) Acc(43)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Rechg(23) Rechg(23) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(37)
22) --> Hurdle==> Jump(22)
24) --> Swift==> Run(24)
26) --> Call Bruiser==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Hold(31) Hold(31) Rechg(33) Rechg(33)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(40) EndMod(43)
32) --> Upgrade Equipment==> EndRdx(32) Rechg(33)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35) Rechg(46) Rechg(46)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) TH_DeBuf(39) TH_DeBuf(40) Heal(40)
41) --> Charged Armor==> EndRdx(41) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(42)
44) --> Electrifying Fences==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Immob(45) Immob(45)
47) --> Electric Shackles==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

You’ll need all the help you can get to keep those Thugs alive. They are sooo squishy. Giving up an ounce of control for that little damage boost is going to be really detrimental to your health.

So I’ve covered all the /Dark combinations. I chose different Patron Pools for everyone to add some variety,

Even in a build where you can fit the powers in, I believe that your endurance is better spent on controlling the mobs you’re fighting and healing your pets/teammates than adding those minor buffs. “But wait! I can take Maneuvers!” you say? Think this will help keep your teammates and pets alive? Fully slotted, you’re getting a 2.9% Defense boost for a minimum of 0.207 Endurance per second. Dispersion Bubble gives 9.4% for 0.344 Endurance per second. That’s 324% Defense over Maneuvers for 166% of the Endurance cost. WAAAYYY more bang for the buck and that is STILL considered to be an underpowered shield by a lot of people. Shadow Fall gives you 2.8% Defense and we consider that Defense boost to be pathetic! Maneuvers is a joke unless you’re maybe already a /Force Field, though it requires so many slots that it just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

I’m not saying that Leadership isn’t useful. I use it very happily on my AR/Rad Corruptor, who I normally run an RSF with at least once or twice a week. Then again, he gets a bigger boost for those powers than a Mastermind does. Why? Several reasons, actually:

1) Corruptors get a bigger boost from Leadership toggles than a Mastermind does. According to Hero Planner, Corruptors get a 15% damage boost while Masterminds get an 11.25% boost. Tactics is the only thing you’re concerned about? Well, according to the same program Corruptors get a 15.6% boost while Masterminds only get an 11.7% boost. You can look up Maneuvers numbers for yourself since it’s too loltastic for me to care about at this point.

2) A Corruptor (or any other AT for that matter) is guaranteed that every attack they make is going to be boosted by those toggles while they are active. A Mastermind is not. There are situations where a pet will be out of range for a boost or behind a wall where it can’t receive it that you’re spending that Endurance on nothing. You aren’t personally attacking, so you can’t guarantee that the damage that is being dealt by your pets will actually benefit from these toggles 100% of the time.

Yes, you can make the argument that you’re helping your team kill things faster, but that Endurance you’re burning on a boost of potentially 0% is better spent debuffing, holding, healing, etc.

You just have better options when you’re running /Dark than these very minor and over-hyped boosts. Yes, they have their merits in PvP (or at least Tactics does), but it just doesn’t fit your role. Most of the PvP fights I’ve been in have been reactive fights anyway. Some Scrapper or Stalker thinks I’m an easy kill, they swoop in and attack, I shrug off their damage thanks to Bodyguard, then I proceed to the whooping of the [censored]. Would Tactics or Assault make as big a difference in those fights as Hasten or those extra ToHit Debuffs in Darkest Night? Not a chance.

I’m done ranting. Let this thread stand as a testament to this argument so I don’t have to go into it every time someone brings the topic up.

Geek Boy’s Necromancy/Dark Miasma Mastermind Guide

The first thing I want to go over are some of my ideas on how to play a Mastermind. If you don’t agree with these principles, then it’s likely that you won’t agree with a lot of the things that I have to say in this guide.

1) As a Necromancy/Dark Mastermind, you are not here to do damage. There are some other sets where you can make an argument for taking attacks, but if you see orange numbers over someone’s head, then it’s because your pets are damaging them or you’re not doing something right. It may not seem that way at level 4, but if you stick with it to level 50 you’ll see this is true. Don’t invest in anything that does damage other than your pets. Period.

2) Pets r dum. Really. You can’t simply fire and forget them or you (and your team) will die. A lot. Those pet controls that you’re given at level one are mostly sufficient to keep them going (though there are a lot of good guides for fine-tuning them), but I would suggest creating a button that sets your pets to aggressive at a specific location so that you can force them into melee combat. Zombies and Grave Knights are at their deadliest at close range, so being able to place them in a specific location is a must in boss and AV/Hero battles. This will also help keep you alive since the game’s AI will be more concerned with the mob coming at them than the guy in the back providing debuffs. As an added bonus, they increased their speed with Issue 8, meaning they move too quickly for you to recall them before they cause problems sometimes. There are times when there’s nothing you can do about that, but . . . .

3) Pet AI is not an excuse for you being dumb. You can control them with the tools that the developers have given you, so do it. This AT requires micro-management. If you don’t like it, then you need to move on.

4) While you were formerly useless in PVP, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. With the addition of Bodyguard and some shields from the Epic sets, you’re going to survive a lot longer than you could before. There are still a lot of ways to take you down though, so don’t get cocky.

5) I interchange the words “pet” and “minion.” If you’re really anal about that, then this will annoy you. Don’t bother complaining to me about it, because I’m not going to care. Yes, I get that there’s a difference, but they are synonyms in the current vernacular of most of the player base (myself included).

6) This is a guide for people that are going to take their pets. If you want to run a petless MM, then that’s fine. You go right ahead. It should be an interesting challenge, but this guide isn’t written with you in mind.

Powers:

This is just the standard list of powers, what they do, and what I think of them. I’ll post my build at the end, but you don’t have to follow it. There are a lot of variations that work, but I have my own opinions on what works best. Older versions had numbers that I swiped from ThePacster’s excellent guide, but since so many of the numbers have changed with Issue 7, I took the numbers from the Prima Guide for now. These are still the best numbers I can find, but I’m not going to swear they’re right.

Necromancy:

Dark Blast: Level 1
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 80’
End Cost: 6.5
Cast Time: 1
Recharge Time: 4
Effects: 30.58 Negative Energy Damage, 5.62 decrease in ToHit Chance for 6 seconds.

Your basic single target blast. Not necessarily a bad attack, but it’s got a low base damage and it’s not going to get much more powerful even if you slot it. While I think it’s a good idea for you to have a single attack at low levels, this isn’t the one that I would suggest. As with all Dark Blast powers, this debuffs accuracy.

Also, if you take this at level 1 instead of your Zombie Horde, then you’re an idiot.

Slotting: One accuracy. Tops.

Zombie Horde: Level 1
[Levels 1 - 5] -- 1 Zombie
[Levels 6 - 17] -- 2 Zombies (-1 Level)
[Levels 18+] -- 3 Zombies (-2 Level)

Accuracy: 100%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 19.5
Cast Time: 3.1
Recharge Time: 60

Status Resistance: Sleep, Fear, Disorient, Slow
Damage Resistance: [40%] Smashing, Cold, Negative Energy, Toxic, Psionic

Initial Abilities: Zombie Brawl
Enchant Undead: Projectile Vomit [Ranged Cone], Zombie Vomit [Melee AoE]
Dark Empowerment: Siphon Life

Your journey to being a God among mortals begins. Your first pet is a useful companion from level 1 all the way up. At first you’ll love him and cherish him, but soon you’ll realize just how expendable these guys are and throw them around like the cannon fodder they were born (and expired and re-animated) to be. Zombie Brawl does great damage right away at level 1, but these guys really start to shine once you hit level 6 and they start vomiting on everything. Remember how much it hurt when that first Vazhilok took you down with their toxic damage? WELL WHO HAS THE PEA SOUP NOW, PUNK!?

A word on the final upgrade: yes, it’s nice for your zombies to be able to heal themselves. It isn’t absolutely necessary, though. You’ll want that first upgrade on them before you go into battle (at least when you have a choice in the matter), but the second one should only be added as needed. They fire it off with a decent amount of intelligence, but for the most part they go down in 2 or so hits in higher level missions anyway. The little bit of healing they do for themselves isn’t going to keep them alive long term. That’s your job.

Slotting: How you slot this depends on what other powers you take. If you have the Leadership Pool, you can probably get away with one or two Accuracies, but everyone else should consider going with two or three Accuracies since these guys will eventually be spawning at –2 to your level. Since you’ll be fighting things that are +2 and +3 to you, that puts your minions chances of hitting without Supremacy (the automatic buff to Accuracy and Damage that minions receive while they’re in range of you) and some decent enhancements at next to nothing. I personally recommend going with three Accuracies and three Damages since their other aspects aren’t really worth slotting. The Accuracy Debuff and Heal are nice, but not substantial enough to make a big enough difference to be worth the slots.

Gloom: Level 2
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 80’
End Cost: 10.7
Cast Time: 1.1
Recharge Time: 8
Effects: 6.72 Negative Energy Damage per .5 seconds for 3.6 seconds, 5.62 decrease in ToHit Chance for 6 seconds.

A single target blast that does damage over time. If you’re going to take a single attack for pulling and debuffing, this is the one to take. Great Damage per Endurance spent, but you’re still not going to be one-shotting much of anything. Ever. When I had this, I went through plenty of fights where I never used it and found myself using it as a debuff more than anything else. It doesn’t do enough damage to grab agro from your pets most of the time (and why would you want to?), but every little debuff helps.

This was really useful at low levels, but the closer you get to 50, the less you’ll use it. As a side note, I took Dark Blast at first and respecced into Gloom, then removed anything resembling personal attacks from my build. I wish I had skipped taking an attack all together, but if you’re going to take one, take Gloom since it really is so much better than Dark Blast. I would suggest skipping attacks in your build, but if you just have to have one, I would suggest taking Gloom to get you through to the 20’s when you can respec and get rid of it entirely.

Slotting: It might be tempting to put more than just that initial slot in here, but don’t. A single Accuracy will do you just fine. Besides, you need those slots for your buffs and debuffs.

Enchant Undead: Level 6
Range: 50’
End Cost: 16.3
Cast Time: 2.07
Recharge Time: 6

If you don’t take this at level 6 then you’re an idiot. Really. Permanently buffs your pets (at least until they die or are Dismissed) in super-fantastic and necessary ways. The buffs are detailed in the individual pet descriptions.

Slotting: A single Endurance Reduction is sufficient, but you can throw more in there if you want to. I ran out of endurance when spawning my pets before respeccing into Stamina. Recharges are also nice to have, but hardly necessary unless you’re a speed freak.

Life Drain: Level 8
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 19.5
Cast Time: 1.93
Recharge Time: 1
Effects: 30.58 Negative Energy Damage, 107 point self heal, 5.62 decrease in ToHit chance for 10 seconds.

A ranged attack that heals you and debuffs the target. This power become superfluous as a /Dark. If your secondary is something that doesn’t have a self heal in it, you might want to take this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t advise wasting the power slot when there are so many things that are so much more useful.

I never even thought of taking this, but in my experience with Siphon Life on my Regen Scrapper, I can see how this could be useful. It does damage, heals you, and debuffs an enemy’s accuracy all at once, which is nice. It doesn’t do any of these things particularly well, though. Again, it’s fine if you’re reading this guide to build something other than a /Dark, but otherwise I would avoid it.

Slotting: Accuracy and Heals only. The damage will be poor and the debuff won’t be significant enough to be worth the slots.

Grave Knight: Level 12

[Levels 12 - 23] -- 1 Grave Knight
[Levels 24+] -- 2 Grave Knights (-1 level)
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 19.5
Cast Time: 1.07
Recharge Time: 90
Status Resistance: Sleep, Fear, Disorient, Slow
Damage Resistance: [40%] Cold, Negative Energy, Toxic, Psionic

Initial Abilities: Hack, Slash, Dark Blast
Enchant Undead: Disembowel, Gloom
Dark Empowerment: Head Splitter, Siphon Life

These are your warriors. Their awesomeness cannot be fully explained without seeing them fully buffed and in action. Their sword attacks get the occasional Critical hit, which is enough to bring a tear to your eye. Their ranged damage is nice, but you definitely want these guys on the front lines.

While one might complain about the blandness of the zombie’s look, these guys look cooler with each upgrade.

Slotting: Again, this depends on what other powers you have. With the Leadership Pool adding to your accuracy, you can get by with having a have a single one in there. The Accuracy DeBuff and Heal that you can put in there are low enough that they aren’t really worth enhancing. I would suggest going with two Accuracies and three Damages unless you have extra slots to spare.

Soul Extraction: Level 18

[Zombie] Soul Extraction => Spirit
[Grave Knight] Soul Extraction => Tortured Soul
[Lich] Soul Extraction => Wraith
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 13.0
Cast Time: 2.03
Recharge Time: 600
Status Resistance: Sleep, Fear, Immobilize, Slow
Damage Resistance: [40%] Smashing, Lethal, Cold, Negative Energy, Toxic

Initial Abilities: Fly, Phase Shift, Ghastly Blast, Life Drain, Necroplasmic Grasp

The ultimate “OH SHI-“ power. This resurrects one of your dead pets as what is essentially a ghost to help you out of a tough spot. This does spawn different minions based on what it’s cast on, so if you have a choice of who to cast it on, choose a Grave Knight or Lich. The recharge on this is ridiculous before you slot it, so you’ll want to save it for boss battles until you’ve got three recharges in it since that’s where you’re most likely to get overwhelmed anyway. These are on a timer, but it’s a fairly long one. You don’t have to worry about it despawning in the middle of the boss battle it was spawned in, but don’t expect it to hang around for the whole show if you pull it out on the first mob in a mission.

The main thing these do is debuff and hold, so don’t rely on these guys for a lot of damage. Sure, they help in that department, but their holds are invaluable at higher levels when you’ll have yourself, your Lich, your Dark Servant , and your Extracted Soul spamming holds on those bosses and AV/Heroes.

Another thing to note is that these pets don’t despawn when you die, so they will actually keep the battle going even if you face plant. There’s also no rules against having multiple instances out, so if you have someone Speed Boosting you, you can have two or more of these at a time.

A lot of people claim these aren’t useful since their precious binds for pulling one out at any time by dismissing a pet stopped working. This is a lie and the bind was technically an exploit since they were never designed to be pulled out without some sort of in-combat loss. If you REALLT just can’t live without having these on demand, then just send a single pet in by itself, let it die, then hit Soul Extraction on it. It really isn’t that hard and this pet is very, very useful.

Slotting: You can either slot this for Recharges (which I suggest) so that you have one up as often as possible (near-permanently with three Recharges) or you can go with greater effectiveness when they’re out, but sacrifice how often you have one. Either one is certainly valid, but I went from slotting for maximum efficiency when they’re out to slotting for Recharges once I had more experience with the power.

Lich: Level 26

[Levels 26+] -- 1 Lich
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 19.5
Cast Time: 3.17
Recharge Time: 120
Status Resistance: Immobilize
Damage Resistance: [40%] Cold, Negative Energy, Toxic?
Initial Abilities: Dark Blast, Torrent [Ranged Cone Knockback]
Enchant Undead: Tenebrous Tentacles [Ranged Cone], Life Drain
Dark Empowerment: Fearsome Stare, Petrifying Gaze

HOLY GOD, YES! These are the final pet from your primary, and they are uber. Their damage is nice, but their main use is to debuff your mobs for you at higher levels. They’re basically like having a no pets-MM with you at all times once you have Dark Empowerment.

At each stage of being a MM, you start feeling a bit weak right before you get your next pet. Well, once you have your Lich you’ll never feel that way again. Once they’re fully equipped, they’ll have a hold, a cone fear, a cone knockback, a cone immobilize, a self heal, and some decent ranged attacks to boot. What’s not to love?

Okay, there is something that’s “not to love.” I’ll admit that Torrent can be a pain, but for every time this guy knocks someone out of your Tar Patch, he’s saved your can ten times. This is an occasional annoyance, but it isn’t as big a problem as some people make it out to be.

Slotting: This is one where you can go wild. Depending on whether you have Leadership, you can go with one or two Accuracies, you can slot for Hold, Immobilize, Heal, To Hit Debuff, Fear, Damage and a partridge in a pear tree. My only real advice is to 6 slot this ASAP and don’t concentrate solely on damage since it isn’t his primary function. Currently I have it slotted for two Accuracies, two Fear Durations, and two Hold Durations. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Dark Empowerment: Level 32
Range: 30’
End Cost: 22.8
Cast Time: 2.07
Recharge Time: 10

Say it with me now: “IF YOU DON’T TAKE THIS, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.”

This is your final buff for your pets. I usually won’t go into battle without my Lich and my two Grave Knights fully Empowered. The powers they receive from Dark Empowerment are what defines this powerset.

Slotting: Issue 7 saw the recharge on this taken down to less than what it was before with three Recharges in it. I would suggest going with a single Endurance Reduction unless you’re really worried about upgrading during combat. If you are, then add more Endurance Reductions since the timer is so short now. It’s still longer than the recharge on your first upgrade, so you may want to add Recharges to flavor in here.

Dark Miasma:

Twilight Grasp: Level 1
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 80’
End Cost: 7.8
Cast Time: 2.37
Recharge Time: 8
Effects: 212 point Heal to all allies within AoE, 3.75% decrease to ToHit chance for 20 seconds, 7.5% decrease to damage for 20 seconds, 50% decrease in regeneration [PVE only], 90% decrease in regeneration [PVP only]

A Point Blank Area of Effect Heal that debuffs the crap out of your enemies (debuffs their Accuracy as well as Regen rate). You don’t have a choice in taking it, but if you did you would be an idiot not to. In my opinion this is one of the best heals in the game even if it does require a to-hit check. Yes, it hurts when it misses and yes, it has a smaller radius than the Defender version. It’s still great.

Slotting: I suggest having 2 accuracies in here even if you’re running Tactics because YOU’LL NEVER WANT THIS TO MISS. Get 3 Heals and a Recharge if you can spare it. The debuff is nice, but I wouldn’t bother enhancing it.

Tar Patch: Level 2
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 90’
End Cost: 7.8
Cast Time: 3.1
Recharge Time: 90
Effects: 90% decrease in Run Speed while in AoE, -Jump, -Fly, 22.5% decrease in Damage Resistance while in AoE [PVE only], 22.5% unresistable decrease in Damage Resistance while in AoE [PVP only]

Take this power. Love it. Kiss it. Comb it’s hair and read it bad poetry. Whisper sweet nothings in it’s ear at night.

Really, I can’t stress this enough: TAKE THIS POWER. It is incredible without ever having to slot it. Slows are always nice, but when you combine that with the debuff to your enemy’s resistance? Oh yeah, baby. You know Daddy loves you. Who loves you? That’s right. Daddy does.

Slotting: The best part about this power is that you don’t ever need to put an extra slot in there if you don’t want to. No, you won’t get to stack them without putting some recharges in there, but it comes up often enough to be placed on every other mob or so. Usually you’ll kill things so fast that you won’t need it, but when it comes time to take down that AV/Hero you’ll be blessing me for telling you to take this. Recharges as needed, but I don’t see the point in putting a Slow in there. Would they be nice? Sure. Needed? Hardly. Recharges > Slows.

Darkest Night: Level 4
Range: 70’
End Cost: .3/second
Cast Time: 3.17
Recharge Time: 10
Effects: 22.5% decrease in damage to enemies in range of target, 11.25% decrease in ToHit chance to enemies in range of target

This is a great debuff that reduces the Accuracy and Damage of everyone surrounding the anchor you cast this on. The base debuff is very powerful, so when you slot this up it becomes ridiculous. Whenever I’ve fought characters with Dark Miasma, this power was my bane.

Slotting: At least one Endurance Reduction and then get three To Hit DeBuffs in there ASAP.

Howling Twilight: Level 10
Accuracy: Auto-Hit
Range: 80’
End Cost: 26
Cast Time: 3.17
Recharge Time: 180
Effects: 50% decrease to Movement Speed for 30 seconds, 50% decrease to Attack Speed for 30 seconds, 7.64 Negative Energy Damage, 15 second Disorient of 2 strength [PVE only] only, 10 Disorient of 3 Strength in PVP only this will suppress or 15 seconds on affected targets, 50% decrease in regeneration [PVE only]. 90% decrease in regeneration [PVP only], 15 second Fear of strength 3 [PVE only], resurrects allies within AoE with full Health and Endurance


This is the Dark set’s rez, and it is very nice. It resurrects and teammates (not pets, thought) within a small AoE around you as well as having a low level Disorient that auto-hits in an AoE around the targeted enemy. The Disorient only works on minions, but I use this power even when I’m soloing to even the odds every so often. Especially when you have a mob with several Spec Ops or Flamethrowers. I also never fail to be amused by seeing an entire ambush walk around in their Disoriented daze.

Slotting: It’s an auto-hit, so your smart options are Recharge and Disorient. If I ever find the slots I’ll go for three of each, but Recharge is really what you should enhance first.

Shadow Fall: Level 16
End Cost: .3/second
Cast Time: 2.03
Recharge Time: 15
Effects: 35’ Stealth radius (will suppress for 10 seconds if you interact with a clickable object or attack) in PVE, 389’ Stealth radius (same suppression rules apply) in PVP, 3.75% increase to melee and ranged Defense while within AoE, 15% Energy, Negative Energy and Psionic Resistance while in AoE, 129% Fear Resistance while in AoE, 5.19 point Fear Protection while in AoE

This is a team Stealth and Resistance to Energy, Negative Energy and Psionic damage toggle that I love. No, you aren’t completely invisible, but it lets you get close enough to get yourself set up for Fearsome Stare or any other powers that you want to aim with precision. You’ll really notice the difference in how quickly things attack your pets when you have this off.

As much as you’ll love these boosts for your pets, your teams will love you for the extremely rare Fear and Psionic Resistance this shield offers you and everyone near you. In the RSF fighting Malaise? NO PROBLEM!

Slotting: You’ll need two Endurance Reductions in there and then it’s up to you. You can slot for Damage Resistance (smart) or Defense (not so smart). Of course, I originally slotted for Defense since attacks that don’t hit you do no damage at all, but a percentage of 20% is better than a percentage of 2.8%. The Defense is nice, but it isn’t worth the slots.

Fearsome Stare: Level 20
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 70’
End Cost: .8.5
Cast Time: 2.03
Recharge Time: 40
Arc: 45 degrees
Effects: 17.88-second Fear of strength 3 [PVE only}]; 20% chance of 11.92-second Fear of strength 1 [PVE only]; 17.88-second Fear of strength 3 [PVP only] (this will suppress for 15 seconds on affected targets); 11.25% decrease in To Hit chance to enemies for 20 seconds.

A cone Fear power that many people will claim is no longer necessary. That’s because they’re comparing it to it’s previous, broken state. This power is still incredible without you ever having to put anything other than an Accuracy in it. Once you’ve cast this, anyone affected will not be able to attack you unless they’re attacked as they stand there and shiver like little sissies. When they do attack, their accuracy is debuffed, so it’s less likely to hit you anyway.

Slotting: The recharge is pretty decent on this, but along with Accuracy you may want to put a few Recharges in there. The debate is whether to slot it for Fear Duration, To Hit Debuff or Recharge since having two applications stacked is better than having a single attack that lasts a little longer, but if something is attacking you through the Fear, you want them to miss. The duration is nice out of the box, but you can never have too much of this very good thing. You can’t go wrong no matter how you slot this, really.

Petrifying Gaze: Level 28
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 70’
End Cost: 7.8
Cast Time: 1.67
Recharge Time: 16
Effects: 9.53-second Hold of 3 strength versus [PVE only]; 7.15-second Hold of 3 strength [PVP only] (this will suppress for 15 seconds on affected targets).

A single target hold. No, it isn’t as nice as it used to be, but I still find this to be very useful. Great for getting that Flamethrower locked down before he can turn your Undead Army into shish kabobs.

Lots of people downplay taking a Hold, but I see the role of a /Dark Mastermind (much less a Necro/Dark MM) as one of primarily controlling the fight. You can debuff and heal as well or better than most Corruptors and lock down mobs better than a lot of Dominators. If you don’t see this as your role on a team, then you might want to pick a different Secondary rather than neutering this one.

Slotting: Accuracy, Hold Duration and Recharge. In an ideal world I would suggest two of each in that order. No, this doesn’t hold things as long as it used to (it was nerfed before CoV came out), but taking out all the enemies in a mob who do fire damage is incredibly important. Remember that this fits your real purpose, which is controlling the mobs to keep your pets alive so they can kill them.

Black Hole: Level 35
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 50’
End Cost: 13.0
Cast Time: 1.03
Recharge Time: 120
Radius: 20’
EFFECTS: Intangible for 30 seconds [PVE only]; Untouchable for 30 seconds versus critters only; target may only use self-affecting powers for 30 seconds [PVE only]; 30-second Immobilize of strength 3 [PVE only]; Intangible for 10 seconds [PVP only]; Untouchable for 10 seconds [PVP only]; target may only use self-affecting powers for 10 seconds versus players only; 10-second Immobilize of strength 3 versus players only.

For the record, I have never played with anyone who uses this power or even has it in their build. I’ve been playing since October of 2004. You do the math.

This makes a group of enemies Intangible. This means that while they can’t attack you, you can’t attack them either. I can see how this could be useful, and I had no desire to take it since in most situations this power has the ability to make your team very, very mad at you. That was before I read the descriptions of Lord Recluse’s Strike Force, though. Then I took it in the late 40’s, used it about 3 times, hated it, and respecced back out of it.

Slotting: Accuracy and Recharge, maybe. I was recently informed that Intangibility Enhancements actually adds to the magnitude of the power rather than the Duration. I hate the power too much to test this, but take that into consideration before you pass up on this power, too.

Dark Servant: Level 38
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 26.0
Cast Time: 3.17
Recharge Time: 240
Initial Abilities -- Petrifying Gaze, Tenebrous Tentacles, Darkest Night [Single Target]

Wow. I have honestly been surprised more than once at this guy’s effectiveness. Take him at 38, put three recharges in at 39 and enjoy near-constant Dark Servant love (I swear that isn’t as racist as it sounds). He can hold, he can Debuff, he can do decent damage (though you’re not going to have enough slots to add to that portion of him and it isn’t his primary function anyway).

This guy has enough HP that I tend to spawn him into the middle of a mob to get their attention as I throw off Fearsome Stare and Petrifying Gaze before sending in my little army. With the addition of the new Bodyguard feature, this is an even better strategy than before. If the spawn is gigantic, he might die before he either heals himself or I can get close enough to do it for him, but more often than not (and this includes AV fights) he’s still standing at the end of a fight he started while I’m respawning my zombies and a Grave Knight or two. My DS even managed to hold off Infernal (spawned as an Elite Boss) longer than I could stay alive. This includes my DS killing several of his Behemoth buddies as I desperately tried to heal myself and respawn my completely wiped out army.

Slotting: You may or may not want an Accuracy, but I didn’t enhance for Accuracy and this guy never misses no matter how you slot him. From there, you’re an idiot if you don’t throw in three Recharges so that you can make him near-perma. Once you have three Recharges in there, three To Hit DeBuffs are the most efficient way to slot him since that is the most reliable aspect of his powers. You can’t control whether he’ll use his Holds or Heals or who he’ll use them on, but he debuffs just about everybody he comes into any kind of contact with.

Power Pools:

Concealment:
You already have Shadow Fall (DON’T YOU!!??). I don’t see the need.

Fitness:
You can go either way with Fitness. I made it to 50 without Stamina, but found that my pets were dying so often in the 40’s (lots of Elite Bosses and enemies who were generally tougher) that not having it was a real pain. Once I hit 50, I re-evaluated, respecced, and worked it in. I couldn’t be happier with the decision. If you’re planning on taking Leadership, then you’ll DEFINETELY need Stamina. If you mainly solo, you can probably get by without it too, but if you plan on teaming the whole time, expect to have to respawn your pets, thus necessitating Stamina.

Flight:
Yes, Team Flight works. I don’t have it since I don’t personally like Flight, but I’ve seen it used. It is situational at best, though. With the changes to Swift and general Flight Speed it isn’t as bad as it used to be, but I still don’t see this as ideal unless you want to go the Hover for Knockback Protection route.

Leadership:
See the next post. This is such a sticky subject that I want to tackle this separately. I’m not a fan of using it on a /Dark Mastermind, but you can read all the reasons why in the second post of this thread.

Leaping:
Super Jump is the ultimate utility travel power and it would be nice to have Acrobatics, but there’s nothing here that’s going to help your minions. Acrobatics really isn’t as useful as it is to other AT’s since you won’t be pulling agro from your pets often enough for Knockback to be a big problem if you’re doing things right.

Medicine:
You already have a Heal and a Rez. I don’t see the need.

Presence:
There are some interesting PvP concepts I’ve seen involving Taunt and Bodyguard Mode, and Fears are never a bad thing. I don’t know where you’d find room, but there are certainly some possibilities here.

Speed:
CoV’s maps are too vertical for me to consider using Superspeed as my main travel power, but it DOES stack with Shadow Fall for what amounts to PvE Invisibility if you want it as a secondary mode of transportation (or don’t mind relying on the Temp Powers from your Mayhems and such). Hasten is really nice when you’re trying to hold a particularly tough opponent or when you’re spawning your pets as well.

Teleport:
This one was my choice. Teleport Foe is the best pulling power ever and is a good way to amuse yourself. I never stop being entertained by watching my minions kill a lone enemy so fast that they can’t even draw their weapon. Recall Friend is extremely useful for teammates and minions alike. Teleport Team isn’t as useful as it sounds, though it does come in handy getting through some of the Orenbaga maps when your pets are determined to fall down into some crevasse as well as for annoying teammates since you can’t decline it. I’ve done some interesting things with it, but it isn’t as useful as you might imagine since your minions don’t always float long enough for you to throw out the second TP. I haven’t looked back since respeccing out of Team TP, though.

Patron Pools:

Since you can only take one of the pools per character, I’ll give my ideas of what will be good and bad about each one (including Ghost Widow even though I gave my reasons for picking the powers from her pool in the “My Build and Reasons Why” section). From what I can tell, they seem pretty balanced so you should be able to just pick whatever sounds good to you. I’ll just give the description provided in the Patch notes along with my thoughts on the individual powers.

Ghost Widow:

This is the set that I’m going with for thematic reasons.

Basically, you get a standard shield and some more control options, which are always nice.

Night Fall: Level 41
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 16.38
Cast Time: 2
Recharge Time: 20
EFFECTS: 3.36 Negative Energy damage every .3 second for 3 seconds; 5% To Hit decrease for 10 seconds.

Unleashes a cone-shaped burst of particles from the Netherworld. All targets within the modest range of this power take Negative Energy damage and have a reduced Accuracy.

I already had an opportunity to take attacks before and I skipped them for the same reasons.

Slotting: I suppose if you’re going to take it, any advice I put here isn’t going to mean much.

Dark Embrace: Level 41
End Cost: .1625/second
Cast Time: .67
Recharge Time: 4
EFFECTS: 20.62 Smashing resistance; 20.62 Lethal resistance; 11.25 Toxic resistance; 11.25 Negative Energy resistance.

You tap into the energy of the Netherworld to protect yourself from damage. This Dark Embrace shrouds you and grants resistance to Lethal, Smashing, Negative Energy, and Toxic damage.

A standard shield. The nice thing about this is that with Shadow Fall, your Negative Energy Resistance should be higher than most Brutes.

Slotting: These all use a small amount of Endurance, so one Endurance Reduction is fine coupled with three Damage Resistance.

Soul Tentacles: Level 44
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 40’
End Cost: 12.74
Cast Time: 1.67
Recharge Time: 20
Radius: 40 degrees
EFFECTS: 4.12 Negative Energy damage; 3.05 Negative Energy damage every 1 second for 8 seconds; 100% chance for a 15-second Immobilize of strength 3.57 versus critters only; 100% chance for a 10-second Immobilize of strength 3.57 versus players only.

You can create a cone-shaped rift to the Netherworld that allows the souls of the damned to slip into our reality. These Soul Tentacles will snare all foes within range, Immobilizing them while their drain their life. You must have one other Soul Mastery power before selecting this power.

A nice control option to pair up with Tar Patch.

Slotting: Two Accuracies and Immobilization Durations to flavor. Each one adds a surprising amount of time to this thing.

Soul Storm: Level 47
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 40’
End Cost: 12.74
Cast Time: 1.67
Recharge Time: 20
EFFECTS: 3.36 Negative Energy damage every 1 second for 11 seconds; 100% chance for a 10-second Hold of strength 3.57 versus critters only; 100% chance for an 8-second Hold of strength 3.57 versus players only.

Like Ghost Widow, you will be able to summon the souls of your victims to do your bidding. Soul Storm enraptures a single target, Holding them while their life-force is drained from their body. You must have two other Soul Mastery powers before selecting this power.

In my opinion, this is absolutely necessary so that you never have to fight an unheld boss ever again. Just stack this and Petrifying Gaze and clean up the rest of the mob at your leisure. So, so useful.

Slotting: The same as Petrifying Gaze, two Accuracies, two Holds, and Recharges.

Black Scorpion:

A lot of the people I play with like this one for all the –Fly’s and I can’t say that I disagree with them. I think I went through all the weapon-drawing that I cared to going to 50 on my Broadsword Scrapper, though.

Web Envelope: Level 41
Accuracy: 105%
Range: 80’
End Cost: 12.74
Cast Time: 2
Recharge Time: 20
EFFECTS: 100% chance for a 15-second Immobilize of strength 3.57 for critters only; 100% chance for a 10-second Immobilize of strength 3.57 for players only; 20% Run, Fly, and Jump Speed decrease for 15 seconds; 20% Recharge decrease for 15 seconds.

The Nullifier Mace can lob a modified Web Grenade. Upon impact, the Web Grenade expels a strong, tenuous, and very sticky substance that can Immobilize most targets in a wide area. This non-lethal device deals no damage and does not prevent targets from attacking, although their attack rate is Slowed. The Web can bring down flying entities and halts jumping.

-Fly, Immobilize and Slow all in one handy little attack.

Scorpion Shield: Level 41
End Cost: .1625/second
Cast Time: .67
Recharge Time: 4
EFFECTS: 11.25 Defense versus Smashing attacks; 11.25 Defense versus Lethal attacks; 7.25 Defense versus Energy attacks; 13.12 Toxic resistance.

Black Scorpion's technologies are impressive indeed. This energy shield grants you Defense to Lethal, Smashing and Energy attacks, as well as improves your Damage Resistance to Toxic damage.

Defense is nice since if you don’t get hit you take no damage at all. Apparently this one provides you with both Defense and Damage Resistance, so that’s very appealing.

Slotting: One Endurance Reduction is fine, then I’d suggest three Defense.

Mace Beam Volley: Level 44
Accuracy: 105%
Range: 50’
End Cost: 18.98
Cast Time: 2
Recharge Time: 32
Radius: 50’
Arc: 35 degrees
EFFECTS: 15.29 Smashing damage; 15.29 Energy damage; 30% chance for a Knockback.

Fires a volley of multiple kinetic energy blasts from your Nullifier Mace. These blasts spread out in a wide cone and are powerful enough to knock down some foes. You must have one other Mace Mastery power before selecting this power.

A blasting attack that you don’t need.

Slotting: Don’t.

Web Cocoon: Level 47
Accuracy: 105%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 10.66
Cast Time: 2
Recharge Time: 32
EFFECTS: 100% chance for a 10-second Hold of strength 3.57 versus critters only; 100% chance for an 8-second Hold of strength 3.57 versus players only; 50% Run, Fly, and Jump Speed decrease for 15 seconds; 50% Recharge decrease for 15 seconds; disable Fly.

The Bane Mace can fire a more powerful version of the common web grenade. The sinewy fibers of this grenade are strong enough to completely Hold one target. Targets able to resist the Hold are still likely to have their attack and movement speed dramatically Slowed. Web Cocoon can also bring down flying targets and prevent foes from jumping. You must have one other Mace Mastery power before selecting this power.

Hold, -Fly, -Jump, Slow and –Recharge all in one attack. Very, very nice. Almost enough to make me regret my decision to take Ghost Widow (too late now!).

Slotting: Same as Petrifying Gaze unless you’re more concerned about the Slow aspect of it.

Captain Mako:

You shoot sharks at people. What’s not to love?

School of Sharks: Level 41
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 50’
End Cost: 12.74
Cast Time: 2.37
Radius: 50’
Arc: 30 degrees
Max Targets Hit: 10
Recharge Time: 20
EFFECTS: 4.12 Negative Energy damage; 3.05 Negative Energy damage every 1 second for 8 seconds; 100% chance for a 15-second Immobilize of strength
3.57 for critters only; 100% chance for a 10-second Immobilize of strength 3.57 for players only.

You can call forth a school of vicious Shark Spirits that will swim out in a cone formation and will encircle your foes, draining their spirit energy. The encircling Shark Spirits will immobilize most foes while they deal Negative Energy damage over time. Both you and the target must be near the ground for this power to activate.

An immobilize is always nice to go along with things like Tar Patch.

Slotting: Accuracies and Immobilizations to flavor.

Bile Spray: Level 41
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 40’
End Cost: 18.98
Cast Time: 2.67
Radius: 60’
Arc: 30 degrees
Recharge Time: 32
EFFECTS: 21.41 Toxic damage; 30.58 Toxic damage every 1 second for 5 seconds.

Sharks will eat anything, so their stomach acid must be powerful indeed. You can regurgitate this acid and spew a corrosive spray of bile at a foe. Affected foes in the cone will take Toxic damage over time. You must have one other Leviathan Mastery power before selecting this power.

As much as I’m against taking attacks on a Necro/Dark, the description on this power almost makes it too awesome to pass up. In the end, you don’t need attacks though.

Slotting: Accuracy and Damage if you can’t resist the power.

Shark Skin: Level 44
End Cost: .1625/second
Cast Time: .67
Recharge Time: 4
EFFECTS: 20.62 Smashing resistance; 20.62 Lethal resistance; 20.62 Cold resistance.

The power of the Leviathan Mako has shown you seems to have no end. Shark Skin improves your Damage Resistance to Lethal, Smashing and Cold damage.

A standard shield. Too bad you have to wait until level 44 to take it.

Slotting: One Endurance and three Damage Resistance.

Spirit Shark Jaws: Level 47
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 80’
End Cost: 10.66
Cast Time: 1.87
Recharge Time: 32
EFFECTS: 4.12 Lethal damage; 3.05 Lethal damage every 1 second for 8 seconds; 100% chance for a 10-second Hold of strength 3.57 versus critters only; 100% chance for an 8-second Hold of strength 3.57 versus players only; disable Fly.

You can summon a massive Spirit Shark that will attack your foe from below. The Shark will grip your foe with its massive jaws and attempt to Hold the target while he mauls it, dealing Lethal damage over time. Flying targets will likely be pulled to the ground. You must have one other Leviathan Master power before selecting this power.

A Hold with –Fly and what sounds like an incredible animation. Sounds good to me.

Slotting: Same as PG.

Scirocco:

Any attack that does –End sounds nice, but there’s nothing here that guarantees that you’ll get Endurance back from the attacks. If this set had something akin to Power Surge, I would have been all over it. As it is, this still sounds nice and the lightning animations in this game look really cool.

Static Discharge: Level 41
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 40’
End Cost: 18.98
Cast Time: 2.07
Radius: 40’
Arc: 45 degrees
Recharge Time: 32
EFFECTS: 29.36 Energy damage; drains 7% of total Endurance versus critters only; drains 1.25 Endurance versus players only; 100% chance to decrease 100% Endurance recovery for 4 seconds; 10% chance to restore 4.29 Endurance to self.

Hurls multiple bolts of Mu electricity in an arc that deals damage and drains Endurance from all affected foes in the area.

Another attack you don’t need.

Slotting: Blah blah blah.

Charged Armor: Level 41
End Cost: .1625/second
Cast Time: .67
Recharge Time: 4
EFFECTS: 20.62 Smashing resistance; 20.62 Lethal resistance; 20.62 Energy resistance

When you toggle on this power, you are surrounded by a charged field that makes you highly resistant to Smashing, Lethal, and Energy damage.

Another shield that would compliment Shadow Fall quite nicely since they both add Resistance to Energy Damage.

Slotting: One Endurance Reduction and three Damage Resistance.

Electrifying Fences: Level 44
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 40’
End Cost: 12.74
Cast Time: 1.17
Radius: 10’
Recharge Time: 20
EFFECTS: 3.05 Energy damage every 1 second for 8 seconds; 100% chance for a 15-second Immobilize of strength 3.57 for critters only; 100% chance for a 10-second Immobilize of strength 3.57 for critters only; drains 4% of total Endurance versus critters only; drains 1 Endurance versus players only; 20% chance to decrease 100% Endurance recovery for 2 seconds.

Electrifying Fences attempts to Immobilize a group of foes in an area. This power deals some Energy damage over time as it slowly drains some Endurance. You must have one other Mu Mastery power before selecting this power.

An Immobilize with some –End sounds nice to me.

Slotting: Maybe add some Endurance Mods in this one? I dunno. I’m getting slotting recommendation fatigue at this point. All of these powers are about the same anyway.

Electric Shackles: Level 47
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 8.58
Cast Time: 2.17
Recharge Time: 32
EFFECTS: 4.58 Energy damage; 100% chance for an 8-second Hold of strength 3.57 versus critters only; 100% chance for a 6-second Hold of strength 3.57 versus players only; drains 15% of total Endurance versus critters only; drains 7 Endurance versus players only; 100% chance to decrease 100% Endurance recovery for 8 seconds; 30% chance to restore 4.29 Endurance to self.

Electric Shackles binds a foe's limbs, leaving the target Held and helpless. The target is drained of some Endurance and some of that Endurance may be transferred back to you. You must have two other Mu Mastery powers before selecting this power.

A Hold with –End and a chance to return some of that back to you. Stacking holds is a useful tactic anyway, so having a chance to get some Endurance back is very nice as well.

Slotting: Same as PG with the possibility of adding End Mods to flavor.

A lot of people aren’t real excited about the Patron powers, and I suppose I can see why. The simple truth is that Masterminds don’t need another pet, so there really isn’t the irony that a lot of people complain of in us not getting a summons even though every other AT does. Why would we need one? A Necro/Dark can easily be running eight pets at once. What good would a ninth that you can’t control do? Instead, they’ve made our Patron Pools patch holes in our abilities. I find them useful, but your mileage may vary.

My Build and Reasons Why:

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Balor
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Necromancy
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Zombie Horde==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(15) TH_DeBuf(15) TH_DeBuf(17) EndRdx(50)
06) --> Enchant Undead==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(17) Rechg(19)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(19) Rechg(21)
12) --> Grave Knight==> Acc(12) Acc(21) Dmg(23) Dmg(23) Dmg(25)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(25)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(27) DmgRes(27) DmgRes(29) DmgRes(29) EndRdx(46)
18) --> Soul Extraction==> Rechg(18) Rechg(31) Rechg(31) Acc(31)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(33) Fear(33) Fear(33) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
22) --> Hurdle==> Jump(22)
24) --> Swift==> Run(24)
26) --> Lich==> Acc(26) Acc(34) Hold(36) Hold(36) Fear(36) Fear(37)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(37) Hold(37) Hold(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(40) EndMod(40)
32) --> Dark Empowerment==> Rechg(32)
35) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(40) Rechg(42) Acc(42) TH_DeBuf(42) TH_DeBuf(43)
41) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(41) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(45)
44) --> Soul Tentacles==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Immob(45) Immob(46) Immob(46)
47) --> Soul Storm==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Hasten==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
---------------------------------------------

Level 1: No duh. If you don’t take Zombie Horde at level 1, you shouldn’t be playing a MM. No choice with Twilight Grasp, but it’s what you would take if given the choice anyway.

Level 2: I used to have an attack here, but once I got into the 30’s, I found that I was only using it by accident. If I need to pull, I’ll use TP Foe.

Level 4: Another necessary power that is good to have some slots in ASAP.

Level 6: Enchant Undead. If you ever look at any of my builds, I almost always take a travel or stamina pre-requisite at level 6. This is an exception to that rule. Take this at 6 because you NEED THIS POWER.

Level 8: I’m following my “grab a travel pre-req ASAP” rule here. I chose Teleport for a few reasons, but I took Teleport Foe specifically to be able to grab my opponents and place them neatly into my circle of death. It is a beautiful thing. Even if you don’t take Teleport as your travel power, you should consider taking this power.

Level 10: AoE rez and auto-hit disorient. Very useful whether you deem a team worthy of having you along or not.

Level 12: Grave Knight. If you don’t take this at level 12 there’s a good chance that you’re currently dribbling onto your nappie.

Level 14: Travel power. Duh. I took teleport because I wanted something that would provide some support for my pets (Teleport Foe and possibly Teleport Team somewhere in the 40’s) that would give me vertical movement. Plus, I like it. Sue me.

Level 16: Shadow Fall gives a defense bonus, stealth, and resistance to certain damage types to everyone near you. You have 6 to 8 pets. Do the math. I originally went with three Endurance Reductions so that I could make up for not having Stamina, but it is still an endurance heavy toggle even with Stamina.

Level 18: Soul Extraction is a great panic power and I’ve finally acquiesced to those who insist that you slot it for recharges. Now I can have one out whenever the other one dismisses itself (and have even managed two when I was Speed Boosted).

Level 20: It feels so weird to be suggesting something other than Stamina at level 20. At any rate, my only regret is that I couldn’t get this power sooner. Fearsome Stare is your number one crowd control ability (well, other than your “Send in your pets and make everything die” ability). No, it isn’t as broken as it used to be and yes, the Defender version is better. It’s still seven shades of awesome.

Level 22: Now I’m finally starting my road to Stamina. I took Hurdle first because it is technically faster to hop around than to just run with Swift.

Level 24: Stamina prerequisite number two.

Level 26: Lich. Duh. Watch your effectiveness quadruple. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but getting this guy is a big deal. I slotted some of his aspects instead of his damage, but that’s because it isn’t his primary use. Yes, his damage is nice, but those holds and debuffs will make your heart sing.

Level 28: This hold isn’t nearly as great as it used to be, but it keeps those Flamethrowers (fire damage HURTS) out of the mix. Also useful for all the Hold stacking on tougher enemies when you, your Lich, your Dark Servant and an Extracted Soul are stacking holds.

Level 30: I took this at 30 because it was convenient and I wanted it to be there for my occasional runs into Siren’s Call.

Level 32: Another “NO DUH” power. You’ll weep with joy at how much this helps.

Level 35: Recall Friend is just as handy for you pets as it is your lazy friends.

Level 38: Fluffy! Another power you’re an idiot for not taking. The recharge is pretty long compared to the Defender version, so don’t expect it to be permanent without some significant slotting. I’ll be slotting it for Heals since it will be throwing out Twilight Grasp, but you may want to enhance some other aspect of him.

41: Dark Embrace fills the Damage Resistance holes that are in Shadowfall. The only Damage types I have no Resistance to are Fire and Ice. Not bad for a squishy. The other bonus is that is uses very little Endurance, so a single Endurance Reduction makes it very manageable.

44: Soul Tentacles didn’t excite me when I first picked it up, but holy crap does it last a long time now. I wish it had a –Fly, but when combined with Tar Patch and the Immobilizes from my Lich and Dark Servant, I rarely have an EB/AV/Hero who doesn’t stay where I want them to. Really neat animation, too.

47: Hold stacking is one of the most broken things about a Necro/Dark Mastermind at high levels. Now I have two personal holds so that I can lock down any boss ever, and at least two pets spamming holds as well. Naysayers be damned, this is game breaking right here.

49: Just picked up Hasten to assist in pet summoning and EB/AV/Hero battles. I didn’t bother slotting it because I don’t use it all that often.


I feel like I’ve gone into more detail than I needed to here, but I can answer anyone’s questions if you want to post them in here. I’m not necessarily an expert and I’m neither a number cruncher nor a min-maxer (though I have my moments), so I know there are things I could have done to be more “efficient.” In fact, I may well do them in the future. As it stands right now, I can solo almost everything that I come across. No, I haven’t soloed any AV’s or Heroes, but I came pretty close a few times pre I7 (besides, you’re not SUPPOSED to be able to do that).

This guide isn’t the be all end all, so if you find that some of this doesn’t work for you, that doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong.

Well, unless you’re taking attacks. Really. I’m right about this one. They suck and will continue to suck even if 37 slotted. Damaging things isn’t your job. Ever. I’m not saying that’s the case for other Mastermind sets, but I believe it’s true for this combo.

So have fun out there.

Since you offer basically no explanation as to why I'm wrong other than "it worked for us," I'll tell you that I think you're wrong, too.

When I've been on balanced teams, we've failed.

When I have a MM on the team (or, when I do this on my MM), they all say the same thing: "I'm useless here."

Dominators have only proved useful as Vengeance bait.

Control means nothing unless you can hold 8 level 54 Heroes at once. Nothing. Sure, it helps if they're coming one at a time, but too much can go wrong when you're pulling to rely on that.

Resistance means nothing with the damage Statesman alone puts out, much less when you're fighting all of them at once. He will 2 shot pretty much anyone (it would be one shot if they didn't code it to prevent that from happening).

Obviously, since /Poison has exactly one AoE you're mentioning, it can keep 8 level 54 Heroes from hitting me for the 15 minutes or so we'll be fighting them, MINIMUM. Thanks so much for proving me wrong there, sparky.

With I8 upon us, a lot of this will change and our little bickering will be a moot point. Over the next week or so I'm sure we'll run some more of these and we can revise strategies to include a more diverse group of AT's. As of today, you might be right about some of this. As of yesterday, not so much.

With Issue 8 upon us, I'll be working on my update for this guide. No big changes for Masterminds with this issue, but the guide itself just needs a facelift to fit in all of the LOL LEEDERSHIPP LOL nonsense.

Lord Recluse Strike Force Guide v1.0

This was originally written for our private forums, but I thought I would share an edited version for the general populace. I am not normally the team leader on this and wasn’t around for the many runs some of us did with “outsiders” to get some new ideas on how to do this before we perfected our tactics within our happy little band of goons. As such, it isn’t in as much detail as I would like and I’ll probably heavily revise it somewhere down the road.

Also, I’m stealing from The Yui’s guide ( http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...art=1&vc=1 ) a bit.

Team Makeup:

First of all, a “well-balanced” team is going to have slim to no chance of doing this. The team that I’ve seen do this most effectively and efficiently was one Stone Armor Brute and seven Corruptors. Why? Because Stone Armor provides high Defense and good Resistance, too. Honestly, the Resistance means almost nothing though, since when you’re fighting level 54 Heroes, they will two shot you pretty much regardless of your AT or Secondary.

A Brute heavy team isn’t going to be able to handle those Heroes at the end without serious buffs and debuffs, so don’t think that because a Brute is necessary for tanking that you’re going to be able to do an 8 Brute rush of this thing. The lead Brute is going to need to have Taunt and they’re going to have to be able to keep the attention of up to eight Heroes at once. If the Brute can help the rest of the team kill things, that’s great, but the main thing is for him (or them) to keep all of the Heroes’ attention.

Corruptors have been the meat and potatoes of every team I’ve completed this thing with. I know that Masterminds have great debuffs too, but we’ll get to that in a minute. What kind of Corruptors should come along, you ask? Well, I’ll break it down for you based on Secondary (since your Primary is all up to you and pretty interchangeable as far as this thing goes – Ice seems to be really useful, but my RSF-bot is Assault Rifle, so whatever you enjoy playing enough to get you to 50).

Cold Domination: This is probably one of the most useful things to have along. Why? Defense, baby. Ice Shield gives you a base of 12% Defense to Smashing, Lethal, and Melee before it’s enhanced and Glacial Shield provides the same for Energy and Negative Energy Damage as well as Ranged attacks. Both powers provide some Resistance to Fire and Cold, but that’s really not what you’re looking for. Things that can’t hit you can’t kill you, and considering the damage that the Heroes at the end do, Defense is the name of the game as far as armors go. They also have the +Max HP of Frostwork to keep that taunting Brute going and some excellent debuffs as well. You want at least one /Cold Corruptor along.

Dark Miasma: Duh. This is a great debuff set that really sticks it to the Heroes’ ToHit chance while providing an excellent heal and some other great debuffs. Always a solid choice (though your Dark Servant may not stand a chance of surviving a hit from the Heroes, so watch them closely).

Kinetics: This has always been a popular Defender and Controller set for a reason. I would say you definitely want at least one of these along, but I wouldn’t suggest a whole team of them. They provide great damage buffs, the invaluable Speed Boost so that everyone can keep their debuffs going, and a great heal that doesn’t require them to get close to all the splash damage around the Brute. You need more debuffs and defensively based buffs on the RSF. Always keep a spot for at least one of these guys, though.

Radiation Emission: Some of the best debuffs out there and Accelerated Metabolism, to boot. The only time one of these wasn’t useful was when there was some moron on the team who didn’t have Radiation Infection that we let lay there for Vengeance bait. During that run, my level 48 /Radiation Corruptor was more useful than their level 50. Be sure you have those debuffs all slotted up, too. You need every bit of help in lowering their ToHit, Defense, and Damage Resistance. The Slows and –Recharge from Lingering Radiation don’t make a huge difference (well, at least the Slow doesn’t), but I spam it anyway since every little thing helps.

Sonic Resonance: Damage Resistance isn’t all that useful since they’ll still 2 shot you, but they have some nice debuffs. Not useless by any stretch of the imagination, but not ideal. I don’t think we have any high level /Sonic Corruptors anyway.

Thermal Radiation: The Damage Resistance from this set isn’t it’s main usefulness and I don’t think the Ice/Thermal we normally have on the team even bothers to use it on us during the main Hero fights. The debuffs and heals in this set really shine, though. Very useful to have along.

Traps: I know a lot of people are fans of this set, but it’s general usefulness kind of hurts it during the RSF. Traps does everything well, but it doesn’t excel at anything. It is a Jack of All Trades, which is great in solo play 95% of the game, but hurts it some here. Useful to have along, but not TEH UBER-MAX OMGZ GRATEST Corruptor to have along.

So just be sure you have a good mix of buffs and debuffs. I’d say it’s darn near essential to have a /Cold and a /Kinetics along, but the rest is pretty flexible. Corruptor heavy teams are ideal for this, but with the coming level drop for the Heroes and our general increase in successfulness, it isn’t absolutely necessary to go with one Stone Armor Brute and all Corruptors like it was before.

Dominators might become more useful once the I8 changes to Domination go live, but right now they don’t have a chance of holding the Heroes at the end and can’t buff the rest of the team or debuff the enemy. They’re just not all that effective for this as it currently stands (I’m hoping this changes).

Masterminds are insanely effective in 99% of the game, but they fall pretty short for the RSF. I say this as a guy who much prefers playing my level 50 MM to my level 50 Corruptor. I love Masterminds to death, but your pets simply cannot take the damage the Heroes lay out. Because of this, you have to put them into a pretty passive state for the final fight of this Strike Force, cutting your effectiveness off at the knees. This will change greatly once they lower the level of the Heroes, but mixing in too many MM’s on your team right now risks failure.

That being said, I’ll compare the debuff sets:

Dark Miasma: Same as above. Very effective, but don’t expect your Dark Servant to survive if he pulls agro.

Force Field: Defense is always very useful. Knocking a Hero down is good, too. A useful set as far as MM’s go for this thing.

Poison: Poison is a double edged sword since it has great single target debuffs, but we’re normally fighting multiple Heroes at once. The one you target dies quickly and is completely defanged, but that won’t always help if another one runs in and AoE’s everyone. AoE debuffs are generally more effective for this thing, but Poison is a strong choice.

Traps: Same as above.

Trick Arrow: lol Trick Arrow lol. Do we even have any high level /Trick Arrows? It’s a great set of debuffs, but I’m always wary of this since I rarely see people use it very effectively. Just based on the numbers in Hero Planner I would think you would be useful, but whenever I team with a Trick Arrow anything, they kind of suck. Feel free to prove me wrong, but I see this being a decent set only if it’s in the right hands.

Stalkers aren’t much use here since they can’t tank and can’t debuff. One or two along won’t necessarily guarantee a defeat or anything, but their damage just doesn’t hold up against level 54 Heroes. Statesman could probably take 150 Assassin Strikes or something retarded like that before he would go down. If you’ve got a great team and have an open spot, they aren’t going to fail it for you or anything. They aren’t going to win it for you, either.

Having someone with Invisibility and Recall Friend is also very useful if you’re going for a speed run (which we normally are – no need to waste hours on this thing since it all comes down to the final mission and whether you can complete it or not anyway).

Everyone knows I’m not a big fan of the Leadership Pool for Masterminds, but I will admit that it is really useful for the RSF. That being said, I have it on my Corruptor since he gets better boosts for it and had more room for it in his build. All I sacrificed were some attacks I didn’t like anyway instead of any debuffs (which are absolutely essential for this thing). Vengeance really shines in this Strike Force, to the point where a lot of teams will designate someone to just lay there dead so it can be cast again as soon as it wears off.

The typical team that I’ve seen succeed at this thing has been able to debuff the Heroes and buff the Defense of their teammates to the point where the only time anyone gets hit is when the Streak Breaker kicks in (the game’s design will only allow you to miss so many times in a row before it bends the rules, though that may not apply to NPC’s) and someone gets smacked once or twice. If it’s once, they have a small amount of HP left that everyone else quickly heals. If it’s twice, then they die and we hit them with Vengeance, rez them, and they jump back in.

If your team can keep the Heroes’ ToHit chance at 5%, then you can succeed. If you’re relying on superior damage or Damage Resistance, you’re going to fail. With the right team and tactics, you could theoretically take on 16 Heroes at once (since that’s the max for an AoE, including [I think] debuffs) without any problems since they simply won’t be able to hit you or get out of the debuffs.

The Missions:

First mission: Assault Longbow Base.

[ QUOTE ]
First mission: Assault Longbow Base.

This mission is pretty straight forward. We usually split up to accomplish the various tasks.

• Task one: kill longbow chasers, easy enough
• Task two: plant bombs. The bombs are located in the first and second tower with a final bomb in the bunker where Crimson is.
• Task three: Take hostage to the computer. The computer is in the final room with crimson surrounded by 4 Elite Bosses. The hostage has spawned in various locations, such as the first or second radar tower or in the final room with crimson.
• Task four: Kill Crimson and the Elite Bosses. Simple enough. Focus all attacks on Crimson and he dies within a few seconds and the EB’s drop just as fast.

[/ QUOTE ]

We tend to split up for this mission so that it goes quickly. Two or so people will take out the Chasers while everyone else goes straight to the Towers and clears them out. By the time the first group has the Chasers taken care of, the others are normally ready to storm the final Tower with Crimson in there. We normally let someone pull the mobs in the final room to the Elevator room so that we don’t accidentally agro Crimson before we’re ready. Once it’s cleared out other than the Hero and his cadre of Elite Bosses, we bum rush them. I’ve never seen this not go smoothly, so I don’t see any need to go into any detail for that fight. Just debuff Crimson and concentrate the fight on him. By the time he goes down, the EB’s will be cake.

This mission typically takes forever if you run around killing everything. I really suggest speeding through it and getting straight to the hard part.

Second Mission: Malta

[ QUOTE ]
Second Mission: Malta

First Task: Destroy the Kronos Titan. We have always pulled him to the water away from the other mobs. Easy kill and he drops a key to enter the warehouse where the best fight of the SF will happen.
Inside the warehouse, either fight or TP to just outside the last room. There are 2 doors to the final room where there is ‘The Slinger’ (AV) a mainframe, and a glowie. You have to kill the AV, mainframe and surrounding mob around the AV and click the glowie.
As I said, there are 2 doors, don’t click on the first door right at the beginning. Open the door to the side and try to pull the AV out to an ambush that you have set up. Upon fighting the AV, he will spawn a TON of robots to help him fight, it’s pretty awesome and very laggy.
I would suggest that you try to kill the mob that the AV is in before you attack him. When you attack the AV and he has dropped to ¾ health, he will start to spawn them in 4 waves I believe. Killing the surrounding mobs will make it easier before the lag and the difficulty to target the last few random minions around the robots.
The glowie will give you a gun that you can use on the heroes in later missions.


[/ QUOTE ]

We tend to go straight to the Titan, who is right outside the door to the Malta base. The mission take place on an island, so we normally assemble in the water to the SW of him (I’m going from memory, but I believe that’s the location) and pull him there so we don’t have to fight all the mobs around him at the same time. Then we clear the mobs right outside the door and let someone TP us to the staging area for the AV fight (right outside the doors that lead to the final room). You can clear everything if you want to, but the room is full of tightly clustered mobs so it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Again, I like to skip straight to the hard part. Your mileage may vary.

Yui’s advice above is solid, so follow that. We normally then send the Brute to get the glowie while all those robots keep respawning since he should be buffed to insane Defense anyway. As soon as it says Mission Complete, we take off. No need to kill things for no XP or wait for ambushes.

Third Mission: Defeat 4 heroes in future Atlas Park

We do this very differently from Yui’s guide. We pull all of them. Let them come, be debuffed, and die together. We set up on the opposite side of the Atlas Dome (not on top of the Globe, like we used to) and send the Brute around to taunt them. As soon as they round the corner chasing our Brute, we apply debuffs and kill them pretty easily.

The order is the same as Yui’s, though. Numina, then Sister Psyche, then Back Alley Brawler, and finally, Manticore. We place all of the AoE debuffs on Manticore since he’s going down last and just concentrate fire on one Hero at a time. Sometimes we’ll kill one accidentally since there are so many AoE attacks or find that our next target is already in Scourge range when we get to them. The important thing that will make or break this fight is whether the Brute can hold agro. His main job is to Taunt the Heroes and keep them attacking him. If they peel off and attack us Corruptors, we’re screwed.

This is the first test of your tactics. This is how you’ll kill the Vindicators and the Heroes in the last mission, so if you can’t handle the four of these at once, you’re probably screwed later. You shouldn’t need Vengeance for this one, but it wouldn’t be a horrible idea to have someone die to a Longbow mob, TP them to you, and cast Vengeance. This will give you some extra Defense while you get your debuffs up.

Once the Heroes are down, you’ll have some Longbow standing near their original location to take down before the mission completes.

We don’t seem to phase in and out at this spot, but you might see that before you get set up (a version of Phase Shift is cast in parts of this map randomly).

Forth Mission: The Vindicators

We do this differently from Yui, too. We TP past all the mobs until the last room before the Heroes, clear that out, then bum-rush the Heroes. Normally someone will die to a mob so that they can be Vengeance-bait, but after that we just have pull the Heroes into the upper left hand corner of the room (opposite the entrance and the door to the next room), apply debuffs, and kill them one by one.

Yes, you can try the Pulling method, but I’ve seen less success that way than I have this way. If they’re all clustered together, they’re all debuffed and we just keep the Brute alive while they Taunt the Heroes so that the squishies can do all the damage.

Malaise first thanks to his Fear and Psionic damage, then we do Swan, Luminary, Mynx, then finally Valkyrie. Val will rez, so you’ll have to kill her twice. Clean up the rest of the mission with someone stealthing the glowie if possible.

Fifth Mission: The Showdown

[ QUOTE ]
This mission takes place in Atlas Park at the globe and has Statesman, Numina, Sister Psyche, Citadel, Back Alley Brawler, Manticore, Positron, Synapse, and a random longbow minion all around a dead Miss Liberty. These guys will spawn as 54 heroes no matter what you do now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Set up on the opposite side of City Hall from where the Heroes are located. They’re sitting under the Globe, so take wide arcs around the map to the back of the building. Set up on the SE side of the building (getting my directions from memory, so if they’re wrong I’ll correct them later) so that you not only have a healthy distance from them, but a good corner for breaking Line of Sight. Clear the Longbow around you just in case a pet agroes them since at this point most of the Corruptors on the team will have a very dumb pet along for the ride.

Once everyone’s back there, we’ll normally have someone volunteer to run to another Longbow mob and get themselves killed so we can TP them back and cast Vengeance. This way our Defense is basically maxed out after all the buffs and debuffs when the Heroes first show up. Rez them or leave them dead depending on how you’re going to do things (I’ve been on several teams where someone relatively worthless [a second, low level Brute or a /Rad Corruptor who DIDN’T HAVE RADIATION INFECTION AT LEVEL 50, etc] just lays there dead. On the other hand, it’s worked well for someone whose buffs are time based [like your team’s /Cold Corruptor] to buff everyone up as Vengeance is wearing out and run into the middle of the Heroes so he can die from the splash damage. It’s really your call based on your team makeup).

While everyone is still all maxed out, someone goes and attempts to pull the Heroes one by one. The order to pull them in is Numina (who usually brings Synapse), Synapse (assuming you’re not already killing him), Sister Psyche, Citadel, Manticore, Positron, Back Alley Brawler, and Statesman will be last.

This is the suggested pull order, but not necessarily the order you’ll want to kill them in if you’re fighting more of them at once than you meant to. Why? Well, Positron’s debuffs suck, so you may want to move him up in the order as far as killing is concerned. Don’t make him first, but if you’re fighting all eight Heroes at once, you could move him up to being your target right after Sister Psyche goes down.

As far as the specifics of how to do the actual pulling, I’ll borrow from Yui again since he sums it up well and I’m lazy:

[ QUOTE ]
We set up a kill spot on the side of City Hall with a set of steps in between us blocking LoS between the rest of the heroes (THIS IS CRUCIAL!) We had a ranged attack move in near Atlas’ left foot just behind it out of LoS.

For the attacker, have someone who can Grant Invisibility or some type of stacked stealth. To pull, a low damage, non DoT attack works best. We had someone with Recall friend queue up the recall and use it on the puller. The puller would hit his attack on Numina, duck behind the foot, and hit ‘accept’ on the TP (this happens within the space of a second, very fast). Numina will come over to the kill group without agro-ing the rest of the heroes.


[/ QUOTE ]

If they come one or two at a time, it really isn’t a difficult battle even with a crappy team. Simply apply the AoE debuffs to whoever is going down last while the Brute Taunts the heroes into a tight pack around them in the corner of the building. All of the support team will stand just far enough away to keep the Brute healed and buffed without being in AoE range since there’s no need to test the Streak Breaker’s mighty powers if you don’t have to. This also makes it easy for the Brute to see if he’s lost agro since they’ll start running towards the support team, giving them a chance to Taunt them again.

Ideally, you’ll be fighting Numina and Synapse first, and while the other guides allude to Synapse running around like a squirrel on crack, if he’s properly taunted he’ll stay right there and let you pound on him until he goes down right after Numina hits the floor. From there, just keep pulling one at a time, possibly switching to the NE corner of the building if it is a more convenient place to pull the last few Heroes from. At the end, you can really bum-rush Statesman since he’ll be all alone and you won’t have to worry about him calling on anyone for help. He does a massive AoE attack at about ¼ health that can wreak havoc if everyone isn’t fully buffed and such, but at this point your debuffs should have turned him into a kitten.

If all goes well with the pulling, just enjoy your SHO and shiny new badges.

What Happens if Things Go Wrong?

Not every pull is worth writing home about (well, okay, nothing we do in an MMO is worth writing home about, but still). Sometimes you’re going to pull three or four or even seven or eight of the Heroes at once. If this happens, don’t panic. With more of them there, you’re more likely to wipe, but with the proper team and tactics, you can handle it.

If you’re the lead Brute in that situation, just Taunt, Taunt, Taunt like a [censored]. You have to keep their agro. Period. Keep them clustered in a tiny little pack like you did the Vindicators (though they’re in a tiny little room, which makes that easier) and rely on your team to keep you alive. Use your own heals as necessary, but don’t be too quick to hit your Level 38 OMG I’M GONNA DIE power since this is going to be a prolonged fight and we can’t always keep you going through the crash. If you’re a Stone Armor Brute, then you’ve already got that covered.

If you have an AoE debuff, then apply it to the Hero that is going down last from the group that is there. This way the debuffs never drop. If the debuffs drop or the Brute can’t keep them together, letting them kill the support team, everyone’s dead. Keep them debuffed and keep that Brute alive. Those are your primary concerns.

When you pull too many of them, it always seems like it takes forever for those first few to go down, but don’t get discouraged. You can handle all eight Heroes with the right team (I’d say “right players,” but there are some really stupid people out there who do it all the time, so . . . ). That being said, don’t get cocky, either. The more Heroes you’re fighting at once, the more likely it is that someone will get through the Streak Breaker and take your [censored] [censored] down. Or worse, take all your [censored] [censored] down. Team wipes are not uncommon as it is usually either a slaughter one way or the other. You either take the Heroes down with very few unintentional deaths (Vengeance is useful enough to lose the damage for a few moments, or even to lose that eighth person’s damage the entire time) or they wipe the floor with you.

General Tips:

The strategy I’m laying out is not a “war of attrition” like some of the previous attempts that left people sour on this thing. It’s more like a Hamidon Raid. Get yourself a lead Taunter, buff them to high heaven, and slowly whittle away at an opponent who has way too many HP and can turn things around very quickly if you let them. And just like a Hamidon Raid, there are AT’s that don’t have a role to play there. If you’re a Scrapper or Tank (other than the lead Tank), then you’re not even good at Mito clearing, so don’t be upset that your Dominator, Stalker, or even Mastermind is not the ideal choice for this thing.

Make sure people have Leadership. You need at least one person with Vengeance (more are nice just in case, but they don’t stack anymore). Assault and Tactics are also huge helps since your fighting +4’s (at least) and need all the help you can get.

Always, always try and pull them in the last mission. Yes, you can handle them with the right team, but if you can kill them one at a time, you lose a lot of the risk inherent in fighting multiple Heroes at once. Even with the “right” team, we’ve reset (everyone logs out for five minutes, causing the map to completely reset itself) when things don’t look good. Just don’t think that you’ve automatically failed if more of them come running than you intended.

Shivans and Nukes are certainly nice, but they are far from necessary. If you have them, feel free to use them on the final mission, but don’t think that you’re going to fail simply because everyone doesn’t have a full set of both.

I think this is more or less complete, but I’m open to any and all criticisms and corrections.

At 27 I think I was in Nerva. Crank up your difficulty if you're not finding a challenge in your missions.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm unfortunately a primarily solo player. I just hit 27, and am wondering a good place to try to solo missions and minor stuff like that. I've got the hang of how to solo with a Nec/DM, but everywhere I try it's either weaklings or purples. Any help here will be greatly appreciated!

[/ QUOTE ]

Do missions. Street hunting sucks.

Also, here's a little something I put together on our private forums because I was tired of always explaining why advise against taking Leadership on a /Dark Mastermind. I'm a Goon, in case you didn't know. I refer to Goonhood and I'm too lazy to edit this since it only effects a few sentences.

---------------------

Since I talk about it all the time and I get tired of repeating myself, here’s a thread I can point people to when they want to tell me I’m crazy for not insisting that every Mastermind ever gets Tactics.

Yes, it is a great power. I have it on my Corruptor, where I think it is infinitely more useful. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t get it if you’re dying to have it, but I want people to at least think about it.

Since I’m not an “expert” on every single secondary, I’m limiting my discussion to the /Dark secondary. I have a level 50 Necro/Dark Mastermind and have written a guide that is posted on these forums, on the official CoH forums, and on coldfront.com. Most people I’ve talked to have found it helpful and I think I’m pretty good when it comes to this powerset. I also have a level 27 Dark/Electric Defender, but he was originally built pre-ED when they were still really good at PvP, so I’m not going there.

Other sets have more crap powers, but when it comes to Dark Miasma, the only power you should be skipping is Black Hole. So assuming you’re skipping your attacks, that’s still 9 of your 24 powers eaten up by your secondary. Add in your 3 pet summons and 2 upgrades and we’re at 14 of 24. Stamina and a travel power will eat up another 5 (and yes, you’ll need Stamina once you hit the 40’s – before that I was fine and I actually got to 50 without it, but once I respecced it in I became MUCH more effective). So with Stamina, a travel power, the powers you need from Dark Miasma, and the bare minimum of powers from your primary, we’re at 19 of 24 powers. That leaves 5 powers and not a lot of slots left. I argue that if you’re going to go with /Dark, that isn’t enough room to get Leadership and run it well enough for it to be worth it.

First, the arguments for the Dark Miasma powers one by one. Get more info from my Guide if you want details..

Twilight Grasp: You have no choice but you would be retarded if you didn’t take it. Probably the best heal in CoV and a nice debuff to boot. 6 slot this and wish you had more slots to put there.

Tar Patch: A powerful debuff that Slows your enemies and reduces their Damage Resistance. I always just 3 slot it for Recharge because I run out of slots, but Slows are also useful. This is one of the best debuffs available period.

Darkest Night: Powerful ToHit Debuff. Turns everything up to and including AV’s into whiffing ninnies.

Howling Twilight: No, this rez won’t work on your pets, but it IS an auto-hit Disorient with some nice debuffs to it. I use it all the time even when I’m not teaming. The fact that it allows you to rez your teammates is just an added bonus. A great power for PvP since it is auto-hit ([censored] you Mister Personal Force Field!).

Shadow Fall: Stealth and Damage Resistance to damage types that are rarely resisted for you and anyone near you. Everyone will love you when you’re fighting Psionic enemies, not counting the usefulness of being able to sneak up on enemies.

Fearsome Stare: This is where some people start to argue. I personally think that if you’re not taking FS, why are you taking Dark Miasma? It is a defining power of the set. Cone Fear that debuffs your enemies and makes them unable to attack you unless you attack them first. Rarely resisted and a killer move in PvP. Take it. Slot it. Love it.

Petrifying Gaze: A single target hold that people constantly [censored] about. It’s duration was nerfed a long, long time ago and most of the naysayers remember it’s previous state. No, it doesn’t last forever like it used to and it might need a slight buff since it doesn’t have any secondary effects, but taking a troublesome minion or LT out of the fight is EXTREMELY USEFUL. Playing Necro, I could lose all of my pets almost instantly if faced with a group that included 3 or more Flamethrowers. Removing one of them from the fight saved my e-can more times than I can count. Longbow Nullifiers? Pussies thanks to this power. Spec-Ops and Sappers? Who cares. They’re held. When you get your Patron hold (WHICH YOU SHOULD), you no longer have to worry about bosses. Why? Because you’ve held them by stacking PG and your Patron hold before the fight even started. By the time they break out of it (IF they break out of it), the rest of the mob is dead and you’ve debuffed them to the point that they can’t do anything anyway. HOW is that not useful? This power deserves six slots. So does your Patron hold. Enjoy holding AV’s and Heroes? I know I do.

Black Hole: Total crap.

Dark Servant: Anyone who argues that this isn’t useful hasn’t used it. I’m serious about that. Debuffs, heals, holds, immobilizes, does some damage, and tanks for you. Awesome and necessary.

So assuming I’m right (and I am), then the question becomes “What can I drop from my primary and pool powers to get those two Leadership toggles?” We’ll look at that some in a moment, but first I want to comment on what a /Dark Mastermind’s role in a team really is. You’re filling the role of a Dark Defendtroller essentially. You’re better at healing and debuffing than most Corruptors and you have more control than a lot of Dominators with none of the frailty. You’re spending all of your endurance on keeping your enemies debuffed and your pets alive rather than splitting it between that and damage, so in many ways you are more useful than a Corruptor or a Dominator could ever be.

Are there situations where a Corruptor is more useful? A few, but most of them involve the Recluse Strike Force. Making all your decisions based on a single Strike Force is retarded.

Are there situation where a Dominator is more useful? Well, I’m sure there are, but since they spend most of their time face-planted it’s hard to tell (lol Dominators lol). Seriously, they need some real attention from the Devs.

What other AT can hold the boss, debuff the entire mob, then kill them without ever taking enough damage to make a real dent in their defenses (thanks to Bodyguard)? None. Who else can kill Heroes in PvP without ever actually attacking them (many of my PvP wins have occurred without me ever leaving Bodyguard)? Nobody.

So why sacrifice that ability for a minor Damage or Defense Boost coupled with better accuracy and some +Perception that you almost never need in PvE?

You can argue that you’ll get the powers and slots by shortchanging your primary or necessary pool powers, but I think that’s foolhardy, too.

First I’ll start with the character I know best.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Balor
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Necromancy
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Zombie Horde==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(15) TH_DeBuf(15) TH_DeBuf(17) EndRdx(50)
06) --> Enchant Undead==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(17) Rechg(19)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(19) Rechg(21)
12) --> Grave Knight==> Acc(12) Acc(21) Dmg(23) Dmg(23) Dmg(25)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(25)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(27) DmgRes(27) DmgRes(29) DmgRes(29) EndRdx(46)
18) --> Soul Extraction==> Rechg(18) Rechg(31) Rechg(31) Acc(31)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(33) Fear(33) Fear(33) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
22) --> Hurdle==> Jump(22)
24) --> Swift==> Run(24)
26) --> Lich==> Acc(26) Acc(34) Hold(36) Hold(36) Fear(36) Fear(37)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(37) Hold(37) Hold(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(40) EndMod(40)
32) --> Dark Empowerment==> Rechg(32)
35) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(40) Rechg(42) Acc(42) TH_DeBuf(42) TH_DeBuf(43)
41) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(41) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(45)
44) --> Soul Tentacles==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Immob(45) Immob(46) Immob(46)
47) --> Soul Storm==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Hasten==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

What could I drop from this build? Hasten, which has no slots in it? Stamina, with three (which you can’t run Leadership without)? Soul Extraction? Well, there’s one power and 3 free slots. Not enough to run Leadership from. Recall Friend? That still doesn’t help with the slots necessary to run those powers effectively.

I could drop Endurance Reductions from some powers or Recharges from others, but then I lose effectiveness. The slight increase in damage (11.25% assuming your pets are in range) and accuracy (+11.70% ToHit buff, which is powerful, but still assumes your pets are in range) aren’t worth having a boss that would have been removed from the fight one-shotting my zombies or holding me, making me completely worthless. They aren’t worth having a whole mob cowering in Fear while I pick them off one by one at my leisure.

Let’s look at some other sets.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Merc Example
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Mercenaries
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Soldiers==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(17) Rechg(21)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(36)
06) --> Equip Mercenary==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(46)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(37) Rechg(37)
12) --> Spec Ops==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(15) Hold(46)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> Rechg(16) EndRdx(23) DmgRes(37) DmgRes(40) DmgRes(43)
18) --> Serum==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(19) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(46) DmgRes(50)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Rechg(23) Rechg(25) TH_DeBuf(25) TH_DeBuf(34)
22) --> Swift==> Run(22)
24) --> Hurdle==> Jump(24)
26) --> Commando==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Hold(31) Hold(31) Rechg(33) Rechg(33)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(34) EndMod(34)
32) --> Tactical Upgrade==> Rechg(32) EndRdx(33)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) TH_DeBuf(39) TH_DeBuf(40) Heal(40)
41) --> Scorpion Shield==> EndRdx(41) EndRdx(42) DefBuf(42) DefBuf(42) DefBuf(43)
44) --> Web Envelope==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Immob(45) Immob(45)
47) --> Web Cocoon==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Recall Friend==> Empty(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

Again, what do I drop? I’m no expert, but Serum is supposed to be the bomb from what I understand of the Mercenaries set. The few powers you could argue I might be able to drop don’t free enough slots to get Tactics where it needs to be to be effective.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Ninja Expample
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Ninjas
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Call Genin==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(23) Rechg(23)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(40)
06) --> Train Ninjas==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(21)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(36) Rechg(36)
12) --> Call Jounin==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(15) TH_DeBuf(17)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(19) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(46)
18) --> Smoke Flash==> Acc(18) Acc(19) Rechg(36) Rechg(37) Rechg(43)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Rechg(25) Rechg(25) TH_DeBuf(34) TH_DeBuf(34)
22) --> Swift==> Run(22)
24) --> Hurdle==> Jump(24)
26) --> Oni==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29) Hold(31)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Hold(31) Hold(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(34)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(46) EndMod(46)
32) --> Kuji In Zen==> Rechg(32) EndRdx(33)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35) Rechg(50)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) TH_DeBuf(39) TH_DeBuf(40) Heal(40)
41) --> School of Sharks==> Acc(41) Acc(42) Immob(42) Immob(42)
44) --> Shark Skin==> EndRdx(44) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45)
47) --> Spirit Shark Jaws==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)

Smoke Flash is pretty much necessary from what Ninja people say. Not that many slots in there anyway.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Robotics Example
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Robotics
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Battle Drones==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(23) Rechg(23)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(40)
06) --> Equip Robot==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(21) Rechg(43)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(36) Rechg(36)
12) --> Protector Bots==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) DefBuf(15) DefBuf(17)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(19) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(46)
18) --> Repair==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(31)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Rechg(25) Rechg(25) TH_DeBuf(34) TH_DeBuf(34)
22) --> Swift==> Run(22)
24) --> Hurdle==> Jump(24)
26) --> Assault Bot==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29) DisDur(37)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Hold(31) Hold(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(34)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(46) EndMod(46)
32) --> Upgrade Robot==> EndRdx(32) Rechg(33)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35) Rechg(36) Rechg(50)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) TH_DeBuf(39) TH_DeBuf(40) Heal(40)
41) --> School of Sharks==> Acc(41) Acc(42) Immob(42) Immob(42)
44) --> Shark Skin==> EndRdx(44) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45)
47) --> Spirit Shark Jaws==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

I suppose you very well COULD do without Repair from what people have told me. This is the one set where you MIGHT be able to fit it in. I still wouldn’t, though.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Thugs Example
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Thugs
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Call Thugs==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(25) Rechg(25)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(37)
06) --> Equip Thugs==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(21) Rechg(50)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(43) Rechg(46)
12) --> Call Enforcer==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) DefBuf(15) DefBuf(17)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(34) DmgRes(34) DmgRes(34) DmgRes(36)
18) --> Gang War==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(19) Acc(43)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Rechg(23) Rechg(23) TH_DeBuf(37) TH_DeBuf(37)
22) --> Hurdle==> Jump(22)
24) --> Swift==> Run(24)
26) --> Call Bruiser==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Hold(31) Hold(31) Rechg(33) Rechg(33)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(40) EndMod(43)
32) --> Upgrade Equipment==> EndRdx(32) Rechg(33)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35) Rechg(46) Rechg(46)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) TH_DeBuf(39) TH_DeBuf(40) Heal(40)
41) --> Charged Armor==> EndRdx(41) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(42)
44) --> Electrifying Fences==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Immob(45) Immob(45)
47) --> Electric Shackles==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

You’ll need all the help you can get to keep those Thugs alive. They are sooo squishy. Giving up an ounce of control for that little damage boost is going to be really detrimental to your health.

So I’ve covered all the /Dark combinations. I chose different Patron Pools for everyone to add some variety,

Even in a build where you can fit the powers in, I believe that your endurance is better spent on controlling the mobs you’re fighting and healing your pets/teammates than adding those minor buffs. “But wait! I can take Maneuvers!” you say? Think this will help keep your teammates and pets alive? Fully slotted, you’re getting a 2.9% Defense boost for a minimum of 0.207 Endurance per second. Dispersion Bubble gives 9.4% for 0.344 Endurance per second. That’s 324% Defense over Maneuvers for 166% of the Endurance cost. WAAAYYY more bang for the buck and that is STILL considered to be an underpowered shield by a lot of people. Shadow Fall gives you 2.8% Defense and we consider that Defense boost to be pathetic! Maneuvers is a joke unless you’re maybe already a /Force Field, though it requires so many slots that it just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

I’m not saying that Leadership isn’t useful. I use it very happily on my AR/Rad Corruptor, who is currently level 44 and VERY useful on teams. Then again, he gets a bigger boost for those powers than a Mastermind does. Why? Several reasons, actually:

1) Corruptors get a bigger boost from Leadership toggles than a Mastermind does. According to Hero Planner, Corruptors get a 15% damage boost while Masterminds get an 11.25% boost. Tactics is the only thing you’re concerned about? Well, according to the same program Corruptors get a 15.6% boost while Masterminds only get an 11.7% boost. You can look up Maneuvers numbers for yourself since it’s too loltastic for me to care about at this point.

2) A Corruptor (or any other AT for that matter) is guaranteed that every attack they make is going to be boosted by those toggles while they are active. A Mastermind is not. There are situations where a pet will be out of range for a boost or behind a wall where it can’t receive it that you’re spending that Endurance on nothing. You aren’t personally attacking, so you can’t guarantee that the damage that is being dealt by your pets will actually benefit from these toggles 100% of the time.

Yes, you can make the argument that you’re helping your team kill things faster, but that Endurance you’re burning on a boost of potentially 0% is better spent debuffing, holding, healing, etc.

You just have better options when you’re running /Dark than these very minor and over-hyped boosts. Yes, they have their merits in PvP (or at least Tactics does), but it just doesn’t fit your role. Most of the PvP fights I’ve been in have been reactive fights anyway. Some Scrapper or Stalker thinks I’m an easy kill, they swoop in and attack, I shrug off their damage thanks to Bodyguard, then I proceed to the whooping of the [censored]. Would Tactics or Assault make as big a difference in those fights as Hasten or those extra ToHit Debuffs in Darkest Night? Not a chance.

I’m done ranting. Let this thread stand as a testament to this argument so I don’t have to go into it in Goonsquad every time someone asks for Mastermind build advice. Also, feel free to write something up about the other secondaries since I don’t have that much experience with them.

"Toon" doesn't make sense unless we're playing a Bugs Bunny MMO. What is it short for?

I only use it to annoy Soonmot because it seems to make his blood boil.

Sorry I haven't been watching this thread. I'll answer your questions as best I can even though it's been long enough since you posted this that you probably found your answers elsewhere.

[ QUOTE ]

1) My Knights are slotted 3 acc 3 dmg. Is the third acc needed? (I don't run leadership)

[/ QUOTE ]

I never have any problems with my Grave Knights hitting anything with two accuracies in there, but I think that comes down to personal choice. Now that I'm level 50, I'm rarely fighting anything that is more than +2 or +3 to me (other than in the RSF), so I don't see my Knighs having all that much difficulty hitting anything. If you're PvP focused, then you may want that third one in there for hitting people with Defense based builds and the like. It's certainly not hurting anything, though.

[ QUOTE ]
2) With Stamina is it neccessary to have 2 end reduc in Darkest Night? I realize you took the second end reduc at 50 on a repsec.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're fighting a lot AV/Heroes, then you'll notice the burn from Darkest Night. Otherwise, you don't need to slot it for Endurance Reduction unless you see it as a problem. Personally, I did without Stamina, but not so much once I had it.

[ QUOTE ]
3) three end reduc in Shadow Fall seems like a lot, is more than two really needed?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have never even considered removing that third End Reducer. It is a very expensive toggle and you'll never ever want to turn it off (stupid hostages). You may find that you don't need it, but I really noticed the difference with every slot I put in there.

No problem.

This really bogs down the thread. I'm glad you're trying to help people by posting your Guide, but doing it here makes an already long thread hard to trudge through. Just post your guide in the Guides forum and everything should be fine.

I hit 50 over the Double XP Weekend and this is what I respecced into:

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Balor
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Necromancy
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Zombie Horde==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(11) Rechg(11)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(15) TH_DeBuf(15) TH_DeBuf(17) EndRdx(50)
06) --> Enchant Undead==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(17) Rechg(19)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(19) Rechg(21)
12) --> Grave Knight==> Acc(12) Acc(21) Dmg(23) Dmg(23) Dmg(25)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(25)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(27) DmgRes(27) DmgRes(29) DmgRes(29) EndRdx(46)
18) --> Soul Extraction==> Rechg(18) Rechg(31) Rechg(31) Acc(31)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(33) Fear(33) Fear(33) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
22) --> Hurdle==> Jump(22)
24) --> Swift==> Run(24)
26) --> Lich==> Acc(26) Acc(34) Hold(36) Hold(36) Fear(36) Fear(37)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(37) Hold(37) Hold(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30) EndMod(40) EndMod(40)
32) --> Dark Empowerment==> Rechg(32)
35) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(40) Rechg(42) Acc(42) TH_DeBuf(42) TH_DeBuf(43)
41) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(41) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(45)
44) --> Soul Tentacles==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Immob(45) Immob(46) Immob(46)
47) --> Soul Storm==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Hasten==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
---------------------------------------------

Yes, I finally got Stamina. It took 50 levels, but I got to the point where I felt I needed it after having to Rest in the middle of The Center's AV ambushes and other prolonged battles.

As always, if you have questions just post them here.

It occured to me that Malaekai's post in my previous version's thread could be useful.

[ QUOTE ]
It's great to have all this valuable info in one thread for the Necro, so I will post my goto bind strategy here. It should be noted that this isn't my only goto bind, but my most used on. I also use Khaiba's binds in addition for individual group control, but this strategy covers about 95% of fights.

An easy way to send only certain pets into combat is to put one letter in their name they share, that no other pet has.

For instance I always want to send my zombies and knights to melee while my ghost and lich hang at range. I would name my pets as follows (just examples to illustrate point, not real names):

Group 1.) Melee:

Bob - Zombie
Nob - Zombie
Cob - Zombie

Slab - Knight
Crab - Knight

Group 2.) Ranged:

Harry - Ghost
Sally - Lich

Now notice that all the zombies and knights included a b in their name, which neither the ghost nor lich has. In addition the ghost and lich both have a y in their name that none of the zombies/knights have.

Now you use two binds:

/bind t petcom_name b goto def (use whatever key you like for "t")
/bind g petcom_name y goto def (use whatever key you like for "g")

Note above: If you don't want the pets in defensive mode when they arrived (which will make them man up to whatever mobs attacked them), then you can put them on aggressive by substituting "agg" for "def" in the bind. This will make them attack whatever's in their range (and possible attack it before it attacks them) but is potentially dangerous when used in a team setting.

Using these two binds and fitting pet names, you can send some pets to melee when they all start at range, or send some pets to range when you all get jumped at melee.

Also, this isn't only useful for the 26+ necro with all his pets. In can be used with two zombies and a graveknight (level 12) for instance. You can make the knight go to melee and the two zombies hang at range (although one would usually try to rush melee anyway, you can pull him back with this command) Just follow the naming guidelines above to give each group a mutually exclusive letter and you're all set.

And just to include the simplified version for completeness, if you want a goto bind that moves all pets to melee, use:

/bind <key> petcom_all goto def (or agg)

[/ QUOTE ]

This Guide is dead and out of date. My new I7 Guide can be found in my sig.

That's exactly why I have Shadowfall and Superspeed right now. I may drop Superspeed on my 50 respec, but that's still up in the air.