Geek_Boy

Here's my Guide now updated for I7 and including both info on the Patron Powers and my admission that I might finally need Stamina.

Kissing With No Lips - the Continuing Tale of Undead Love in a World Gone so, so Wrong

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 40 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 your pets 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 as well as Editing your Follow Aggressive so that it is Follow Defensive so you can easily toggle Bodyguard on and off. 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 7, 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. Once things have been ironed out, I’ll post an updated version that includes more accurate numbers.

In case you care, I haven’t hit 50 yet since I have a life and play somewhat casually. Also, I have waaaaayyyy too many alts. If you think that I don’t know what I’m talking about because I don’t have 37 level 50 characters, then there’s nothing I can do for you.

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 To Hit 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 two Accuracies, but everyone else should consider going with 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 second for 3.6 seconds; 5.62 decrease in To Hit chance for 10 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. I went through plenty of fights where I never used this 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 40, the less you’ll use it. I imagine going from 41-50 you’ll use it even less. As a side note, I took Dark Blast at first and respecced into Gloom later. I wish I’d had it from level 2 on since it really is so much better than Dark Blast. If you’re picking one or the other (which you should be), I would suggest going with this one.

You can really get by just fine without any attacks at all since you’ll have so many more interesting things to be doing during combat in later levels. If you really want to min/max this, then I would suggest taking Gloom to get you through to the 20’s when you can respec and get rid of it entirely. I kept it right up until I hit the 40’s.

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 run out of endurance when spawning my pets, but that would be alleviated by Stamina or a pet Kinetics Corruptor.

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 To Hit 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 do 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 when you’re fighting anything other than minions and lieutenants.

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 might be able to 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, so I save it for boss battles 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, and your Extracted Soul spamming holds on those bosses and AV/Heroes.

Slotting: I finally gave in and put 3 Recharges in this power and am glad I did. I haven’t really found it to be useful to slot the rest of their aspects since I still never spawn these unless my pets are dying on me (and even then I try to wait until I have a Grave Knight or Lich die). When my enhancements were still all shiny and new, I was even able to have two Extracted Souls out at once with some Speed Boosts and a little bit of Hasten action. Sure, it was only for a moment and I didn’t even notice until the fight was over, but it is technically possible. Very useful and I regret not noticing the awesomeness of this power sooner.

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.

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 (or if you decide to go without Stamina). If you are, then add more Endurance Reductions since the timer is so short now.

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 the area of effect; 3.75% decrease in To Hit chance for 20 seconds; 7.5% decrease to damage for 20 seconds; 50% decrease in regeneration rate versus critters only; 90% decrease in regeneration rate versus players 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 the area of effect; Jumping is disabled while in the area of effect; Flight is disabled while in the area of effect; 22.5% decrease in damage resistance while in the area of effect versus critters only; 22.5% irresistible decrease in damage resistance while in the area of effect versus players 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 Resistance 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 unless you have slots left over.

Darkest Night: Level 4
Range: 70’
End Cost: .3/second
Cast Time: 3.17
Recharge Time: 10
EFFECTS: 22.5% decrease to damage to enemies within the radius of the target while maintained; 11.25% decrease in To Hit chance to enemies within the radius of the target while maintained.

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 Dark Defenders in the Arena, this power was my bane.

Slotting: A single Endurance Reduction is probably plenty, you may want two of them in there if you’re running without Stamina. Accuracy Debuffs would also be nice, of course.

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 versus critters only; 10-second Disorient of 3 strength versus players only (this will suppress for 15 seconds on affected targets); 50% decrease in regeneration rate versus critters only; 90% decrease in regeneration rate versus players only; 15-second Fear of strength 3 versus critters only; resurrects allies within the area of effect with full Health and Endurance.

This is the Dark set’s rez, and it is very nice. It resurrects and teammates (not pets, though) 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.

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 to critters (this will suppress for 10 seconds if you interact with a clickable object or initiate an attack or are attacked); 389' stealth radius to players (this will suppress for 10 seconds if you interact with a clickable object or initiate an attack or are attacked); 3.75% increase to melee Defense while within the area of effect; 3.75% increase to ranged Defense while within the area of effect; 15% Energy resistance
while in the area of effect; 15% Negative Energy resistance while in the area of effect; 15% Psionic resistance while in the area of effect; 129% Fear resistance while in the area of effect; 5.19-point Fear protection while in the area of effect.

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.

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 isn’t worth slotting.

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 versus critters only; 20% chance of 11.92-second Fear of strength 1 versus critters only; 17.88-second Fear of strength 3 versus players 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 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 critters only; 7.15-second Hold of 3 strength versus players 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.

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 versus critters only; Untouchable for 30 seconds versus critters only; target may only use self-affecting powers for 30 seconds versus critters only; 30-second Immobilize of strength 3 versus critters only; Intangible for 10 seconds versus players only; Untouchable for 10 seconds versus players 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. Now I’m reconsidering and may pick this up at 49 for maximum PVP annoyance (guess you can’t kill me after all, huh?) and for keeping an AV out of the fight since I don’t believe that there is anything with Resistance to this effect. It’s still a low priority, though.

Slotting: Accuracy and Recharge, maybe. Slotting it for Duration seems like a bad idea since you would only be using it to catch a breather or run away.

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 in here since I’ve been told by people who didn’t enhance for Accuracy that these guys almost never miss no matter how you slot them (this has been my experience as well). From there, you’re an idiot if you don’t throw in three Recharges so that you can make him near-perma. Conventional wisdom is that you should slot the remaining spaces with Heals and I tend to agree with that. Hold or ToHit Debuff Enhancements would also work, but don’t seem as efficient as having a second Twilight Grasp healing ½ to ¾ of your health every time it goes off.

Power Pools:

Concealment:
You already have Shadow Fall and it doesn’t stack with Stealth, so I don’t see the need.

Fitness:
This one is a real quandary. Without the Leadership Pool, you don’t really need Stamina until the later levels when your pets are dying often enough to need to bring them back more than once in a prolonged fight (and even then this rarely happens while solo). If you do have the Leadership Pool, then you’re always going to be slotting for Endurance Reduction and using Inspirations. I decided that it was easier to use more slots than to free up three powers so I could use fewer Blues. This all comes down to how you want to play the game, though. I will admit that I would love to pick this up now that I’m in the 40’s and am feeling the burn more than before. I might finally be giving up and grabbing Stamina since teaming post-40 is a respawnalooza.

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.

Leadership:
My GAWD is this useful. Yes, running those toggles is expensive, but the extra Damage and Accuracy is great. Before you ask, Vengeance does not work on your pets. In the end, I decided to respec out of Leadership (as useful as it is) so that I could grab more of my debuffs and not be sucking endurance all of the time. In some ways I’m more effective without it since I can debuff and heal for an entire prolonged fight, but I do miss the extra accuracy and damage (as well as the +perception – especially in PVP or when I’m fighting those stupid Spec Ops guys and whoever it is who throws out those –Perception grenades).

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.

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

Presence:
You don’t want a Taunt and you’ll already be spamming Fear.

Speed:
Hasten seems unnecessary now that it isn’t permanent (especially now that the Recharge has been reduced on the Minion Upgrades) and Superspeed is a big hindrance in CoV’s vertically inclined maps. I may pick this up as a secondary travel power for total invisibility in missions (Superspeed’s Stealth is PVE-only) as well as being able to move quickly while on the ground but I wouldn’t suggest using it as your primary way to get around.

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.

Patron Pools:

Since nobody has real experience with all of the pools, I’ll just 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 balances so you should be able to just pick whatever sounds good to you. I’ll just give the description provided in the Patch notes and the numbers from Prima’s guide along with my thoughts on the individual powers.

Ghost Widow:

This is the set that I’m going with for thematic reasons. Everyone else will probably get Spirit Sharks because shooting sharks at people is cool.

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 won’t be picking this one up. I already had an opportunity to take attacks before and I skipped them for the same reasons.

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. Thankfully, they also kept the Endurance cost down on these Epic shields.

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 that has a very cool animation.

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.

Another Hold to stack, which is even better.

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: 100%
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: 0.1625/second
Cast Time: 2
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.

Mace Beam Volley: Level 44
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 50’
End Cost: 18.98
Cast Time: 2
Recharge Time: 32
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.

Web Cocoon: Level 47
Accuracy: 100%
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!).


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
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.

Bile Spray: Level 41
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 60’
End Cost: 18.98
Cast Time: 2.67
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.

Shark Skin: Level 44
End Cost: .1625/second
Cast Time: 0.67
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.

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.

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 or Conserve Power, 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
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.

Charged Armor: Level 41
End Cost: 0.1625
Cast Time: 0.67
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.

Electrifying Fences: Level 44
Accuracy: 100%
Range: 40’
End Cost: 12.74
Cast Time: 1.17
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.

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 as well is very nice.

A lot of people aren’t real excited about the Patron powers, and I can see why. Yes, I’ll be taking the shield, but I’m not sure that I’ll take anything else. I may end up taking Stamina for some extra super never-run-out-of-endurance action after picking up Dark Embrace, or if the powers are better than they sound I may pick up everything but the attack available at 41. I’ll be spending some time on the Test Server figuring that out and I may change my mind a few times, but no matter which route you decide to take I’m sure you won’t be gimped.

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(17) Rechg(19)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4) TH_DeBuf(23) TH_DeBuf(23) TH_DeBuf(25) EndRdx(43)
06) --> Enchant Undead==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(19) Rechg(21)
10) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(10) Rechg(45) Rechg(45)
12) --> Grave Knight==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(15)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(17)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(25) DmgRes(36) DmgRes(37) DmgRes(37) EndRdx(37)
18) --> Soul Extraction==> Rechg(18) Rechg(40) Rechg(43) Acc(43)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Fear(31) Fear(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(33)
22) --> Hasten==> Rechg(22)
24) --> Super Speed==> Run(24)
26) --> Lich==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Fear(27) Fear(29) Hold(29) Hold(31)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Hold(34) Hold(34) Rechg(36) Rechg(36)
30) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(30)
32) --> Dark Empowerment==> EndRdx(32) EndRdx(34)
35) --> Team Teleport==> EndRdx(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Heal(39) Heal(40) Hold(40)
41) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(41) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(42)
44) --> Soul Tentacles==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Immob(46) Immob(46) Immob(46)
47) --> Soul Storm==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Hold(48) Hold(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Black Hole==> Acc(49) Acc(50)
---------------------------------------------
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 went with three Endurance Reductions so that I could make up for not having Stamina, but it is still an endurance heavy toggle.

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: I’m really only taking Hasten as a prerequisite to Superspeed so that I can stack the stealth from Shadowfall and Superspeed to zerg missions that I don’t feel like treating as a Defeat All. It’s helpful during pet summoning and in holding Elite Bosses and Heroes/AV’s but the Endurance crash at the end is painful without Stamina.

Level 24: Only there for the Stealth and to have a way to traverse the ground quickly since Teleport can be tricky at times in a place like Grandville.

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: Great utility power for teams and for pets who are stuck. No need to slot it, though.

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

Level 35: Have fun annoying your teammates with this power that sounds more useful than it is. The only time I’ve really found it “useful” was when I pulled myself and another Mastermind past some caltrops so that we wouldn’t have our pets go all retarded. And even then one of the Brutes on our team complained about it.

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 went with two Heals and a Hold since those are the two things I like best about 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 Cold. 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, so I waited an extra level before I slotted it. Holy crap does it last a long time now, though. 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: I don’t have this one yet, but I’m just looking forward to having another hold.

49: I was going to take this in anticipation of the Recluse Strike Force, but after hearing reports of it’s ineffectiveness against those Heroes, I probably won’t now. Since I haven’t done the 44+ respec, I may pick it up and then see how well it works for myself, though.



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 this thread. 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).

Here’s a build I’m considering moving to once I hit 49 or 50 since I’m finally starting to feel like I could actually use Stamina now. I know that I’m the guy always posting how you don’t need it even with /Dark, but I’m starting to feel the burn in high level missions where I’m spamming heals, holds, debuffs, Howling Twilight and respawning pets constantly whenever I’m on an AV team. I never ever need it solo, but it sucks to have to rest every couple of groups on a large team while everyone else plunges in.

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

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.

That's not what this thread is for. It is for links to Guides, not to post Guides in. I would prefer that they not do that and nobody ever does that in the future.

Also, I'll be updating my Necro/Dark Guide as soon as some of these bugs get worked out so that I can try out a level 42 respec I have in mind. Right now Balor is nearly unplayable thanks to all the bugs in this issue.

Since I don't feel I stated this emphatically enough in previous posts, you will not need recharges in your pet upgrades any longer (unless you have ADD or something, that is). When I tinker around on Test, I run out of endurance before I can upgrade everyone because they recharge so quickly that I don't have any time in between to regain any of it. So if you're building for I6 leave them in there, but if you're planning an I7 and beyond build stick those slots elswehere.

I'll have an updated version of the Guide soon-ish. I'm tempted to go ahead and write one up based on other people's early opinions of the Epic Pools (since I won't be able to test them all on Balor anyway), but I'll wait for it to actually drop since who knows what kinds of things might change between now and when I7 is released.

I like this idea far more than I probably should.

Some thoughts from my time on the Test Server and some general thoughts on playing a Necro/Dark that have developed since I hit 40:

First of all, I'm really looking forward to having a respec since there some things I can't wait to tweak in my build. With the changes that are being implemented in I7, these changes are even more important since I'm going to have some extra slots to move around.

There are some pools I'm changing my mind about and some tactics that I wish I could take better advantage of. First of all, anyone who has played a Stalker knows that they level most effectively when you're blazing through Newspaper missions. I've started doing this with my MM for some quick Infamy (since I have so very many alts to fund) by turning on Shadow Fall and Hover, sneaking slowly through the maps by sticking to the ceiling or teleporting past mobs crowding doorways, spawning my pets in the last room, completing the objective and moving on.

This isn't the most effective way to sneak to the end of a mission, so I'd like to find a faster way to move through these (especially with the juicy Mayhem Missions coming out soon - I'll want to get to those as quickly as possible). Since the servers have become more stable, I'm going to drop Hover (which was only there to aid Teleport anyway) and possibly Gloom so I can pick up either Hasten and Superspeed or Grant Invisibility and Invisibility.

Of course, I'll have to test this to see if Superspeed and Shadow Fall stack (I believe they do), but I prefer that option since it will give me two different ways to get across a map.

I've never been a big fan of the Concealment Pool (even though I'm taking Stealth on all kinds of characters I didn't before thanks to PVP), so I'd prefer to take the Superspeed route but the Concealment route has advantages, too.

These are both pools that I kind of poo-poo'd on in the original guide, but I can see uses for them now that I didn't before. Hasten still won't be all that useful with the gigantic reduction in recharge time on the pet upgrades, but you could always use it to get that AV or Hero held a little sooner (yes, I've done it plenty of times before).

Just thought I would share some early opinions and make sure everyone knows that I'll be updating this as soon as I have a chance to get a better grip on the Patron powers.

[ QUOTE ]
How do I do this??

[/ QUOTE ]

There are a ton of excellent guides out there about Pet Binds, and since I suck at making them I didn't really want to go there. If I'm remembering correctly, I placed another copy of the "Attack" button in my tray, then right-clicked on it and selected "Edit." From there, you'll see a window that spells out the actual macro that the Attack button uses. Alter the macro by replacing the text that reads "attack" with "goto."

Anyone who knows more about macro's can feel free to correct me or elaborate if I'm wrong. This is one of those changes that's easy for me to set up when I'm staring at the screen, but hard for me to pull from memory.

I think you're right about this. I'll add that to the list of things to change in the 41-50 version once I7 is released.

My only experience with Poison was a Ninja/Poison MM I made in beta that I never got past level 2. I've read some good things about specific builds, but I think it's an easy powerset to completely flub up.

And you're not the only person to say the -Speed was removed, it's just that I could swear it's still there. I always pick Hurdle over Swift unless there's a specific reason for taking one or the other (a character with stealth, a Stone Tank or Brute, things like that) so if that -Speed has been removed, then Hurdle is the better option of course.

My understanding was that the minor slow was still there. When was it removed (especially since I'm sure that I can notice the difference [however slight it might be] between having it on and off)?

I thought about taking Air Superiority for that very reason (and I've had plenty of characters with TP that never took Hover), but Hover is a quality of life thing for me. It keeps me from falling (especially when everyone who started playing on launch day hit 14 at the same time, so we were all in the same zone) and it gives me a little bit of movement without teleporting past something and back to it. This is especially useful when running one of the roughly 875 missions where you have to use Naylor's portal to get there. Nerva is a bit of a pain for a teleporter.

I will agree that Air Superiority is a great power and that there's nothing like letting falling damage do most of the work in PVP on my Stalker who has it.

[ QUOTE ]
1.) Why the extra slots in hover? - I think you would be much better served by slotting the snot out of Darkest Night - nothing like bosses and minions whiffing like crazy to make your job easier.

[/ QUOTE ]

Because it's slow and I'm impatient. Besides, things usually die too fast for Darkest Night to really have an effect on the battle anyway (especially on teams). Darkest Night will be getting more slotting love in the 40's

[ QUOTE ]
2.) Why get Howling Twilight and Soul extract at all if you use them so seldom?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because they're both extremely useful. I'll be putting recharges in Soul Extract in the 40's and maybe some Disorients in Howling Twilights, too. I didn't find Assault/Tactics to be worth needing Stamina. Essentially, to use those two powers I needed take 5. There are too many other useful things in this set. Without them I don't need Stamina unless I'm the highest level person on a team and doing all the damage against gigantic mobs of +2's and +3's. Which obviously doesn't happen all that often.

[ QUOTE ]
3) Maybe it's just me, but I only use Dark servant for EB and AV fights. Even on relentless, everything else just falls so easily, and I've never had Soul extract - maybe I don't know what I'm missing.

[/ QUOTE ]

You don't. He survived versus Infernal a lot longer than me and the rest of my pets did. The heals and debuffs are tremendous.

[ QUOTE ]
4.) Maybe you could pull that heal off of your GKs and put an extra recharge in Twilight Grasp or add it to Darkest Night - remember, DK debuffs DAMAGE as well as accuracy, meaning all your minions need fewer heals.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've thought about removing that last slot, but it probably wouldn't go in to Darkest Night quite yet. Like I said, things die too fast to use it most of the time anyway.

[ QUOTE ]
5.) What server are you on? - I would love to team with another 40 MM or team you with my FM/DA Brute to SMASH like crazy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heroes on Victory, Villains on Protector.

[ QUOTE ]
Happy hunting to you, and thanks for the great guide - you have talked me into trying Fear when I respec - I love it on my Brute, but my Lich spams it so much, I haven't bothered taking it on my MM.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fearsome Stare is so good (even post-nerf and with MM numbers) that it's almost broken. Even if you don't pick up Petrifying Gaze, I would say that FS is a must.

Updated Guide is here: Undead Love , so let this one die.

Updated my Guide to reflect my experiences in the last few levels before 40.

Undead Love

Geek Boy’s Necromancy/Dark Miasma Mastermind Guide

This is an update of my previous guide to reflect my experiences in the last few levels.

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) You are not here to do damage. 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 40 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 your pets 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.

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) You suck at PVP. Get over it. The stuff you can do in PVE more than makes up for it.

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).

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. I pulled the numbers from ThePacster’s excellent guide, so if they’re wrong let him know.

Necromancy:

Dark Blast: Level 1
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 2.78 [Type: Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 6.5
Recharge -- 4
Range -- 80
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy

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, this isn’t the one that I would suggest.

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
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90

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

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
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 4.8888 [Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 10.66
Recharge -- 8
Range -- 80
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy

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. I go through plenty of fights where I never use this and find 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 40, the less you’ll use it. I imagine going from 41-50 you’ll use it even less. As a side note, I took Dark Blast at first and respecced into Gloom later. I wish I’d had it from level 2 on since it really is so much better than Dark Blast. If you’re picking one or the other (which you should be), I would suggest going with this one.

You can really get by just fine without any attacks at all since you’ll have so many more interesting things to be doing during combat in later levels. If you really want to min/max this, then I would suggest taking Gloom to get you through to the 20’s when you can respec and get rid of it entirely. I’ve kept it through my respecs, but I’ll probably be dropping it once I7 comes out and they hand us a free respec.

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
Endurance Cost -- 16.25
Recharge – 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 recharge is sufficient, but you may want to add an Endurance Reduction as well. It doesn’t cost that much to use it on it’s own, but when you’re buffing 6 pets right after summoning them, it can be painful. Plenty of folks out there will tell you not to put anything other than an Endurance Reduction in there since the Recharge Enhancement is really just a matter of convenience. Sure, it will let you get your pets ready to go a little faster, but it isn’t really “necessary.” To be honest, the more I think about it, the more I think that I’m going to respec out of that second slot and just go with an Endurance Reduction. Sure, I’ll miss that few seconds I save, but my debuffs are just crying for more slots.

Life Drain: Level 8
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 1.1212 [Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 15
Range – 60

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
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90

[Levels 12 - 23] -- 1 Grave Knight
[Levels 24+] -- 2 Grave Knights (-1 level)

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 do 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 when you’re fighting anything other than minions and lieutenants.

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. My current build has 2 Acc, 3 Damage and a Heal. Your mileage may vary, but I’ve found that the Heal is more useful to me than an Accuracy Debuff. Since all of your minions’ attacks debuff accuracy anyway, an enhancement there isn’t going to make a big difference once everything is stacked up. The Heal isn’t going to really make that big of a difference either, but it will help in their overall survivability.

Soul Extraction: Level 18
Endurance Cost -- 13
Recharge -- 600
Duration -- 300

[Zombie] Soul Extraction => Spirit
[Grave Knight] Soul Extraction => Tortured Soul
[Lich] Soul Extraction => Wraith

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, so I save it for boss battles 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, and your Extracted Soul spamming holds on those bosses and AV/Heroes.

Slotting: Some people slot this with tons of recharges to make it permanent (or, I believe, almost permanent). I can see the usefulness in that, but I’ve grown accustomed to using this one only in prolonged battles or when I’ve been overwhelmed. Having one of these around all the time would be nice, but I don’t feel the need to spend the slots on it. This is largely a matter of playstyle, of course. I will admit that once I get some extra slots in the 40’s, I’ll probably be adding some recharges to this so that I can have one out more often. I just couldn’t fit it in with everything else I wanted to slot up.

Lich: Level 26
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90

[Levels 26+] -- 1 Lich

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 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.

Dark Empowerment: Level 32
Endurance Cost -- 22.75
Recharge – 60

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

This is your final buff for your pets. It works just like Enchant Undead, but the timer is longer and it uses a lot more Endurance. 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: Depends how patient you are. A few Recharges and an Endurance Reduction go a long way. Just remember that you’re not going to be firing this off in combat all that often, so the slots are probably better spent on things that will keep you alive in a more proactive way.

Dark Miasma:

Twilight Grasp:
Endurance Cost -- 9.75
Recharge -- 8
Range -- 80
Healing Radius -- 10 [PBAoE]
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy, Enemy Damage, Enemy Health Regeneration

A Point Blank Area of Effect Heal that debuffs the crap out of your enemies. 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
Endurance Cost -- 9.75
Recharge -- 90
Range -- 120
Duration -- 45
Debuff -- Enemy Speed, Enemy Resistance [-27.76%]

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.

Darkest Night:
Endurance Cost -- 0.33 per second
Recharge -- 10
Range -- 70
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy, Enemy Damage

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. I haven’t been able to put anything other than a second Endurance Reduction in there, but whenever I’ve fought Dark Defenders in the Arena, this power was my bane.

Slotting: A single Endurance Reduction is probably plenty, but I have two of them in there since I’m running without Stamina. Accuracy Debuffs would also be nice, but I haven’t been able to fit them in yet. I’ll probably be adding some in the 40’s once that opens up.

Howling Twilight: Level 10
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 0.8333 [Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 32.5
Recharge -- 180
Range -- 20
Debuff -- Enemy Disorient

This is the set’s resurrection power. It is a Point Blank Area of Effect power that disorients and damages everyone in a small radius around the target while also resurrecting any teammates within a small radius. Small radius. Are you catching my point here?

An extremely useful power if only for the Disorient. It does not resurrect your pets, so don’t bother trying it. I took this power pretty late in the game, but I can’t deny it’s usefulness on a team or when you need to slow down that mob just a little more.

Slotting: It’s an auto-hit, so I would suggest slotting for Recharge only. If you team more than I do, you may want to invest more in it than I have.

Shadow Fall: Level 16
Endurance Cost -- 0.325 per second
Recharge -- 15
Range -- 40 [PBAoE]
Status Resistance -- Fear
Damage Resistance -- [20%] Energy, Negative Energy, Psionic
Defense -- [2.8%] All

This is a team Stealth toggle that I love. I haven’t noticed the reduction in movement speed, which shows that it’s really minor (if you take Swift tou’ll more than make up for it). 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.

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:
Endurance Cost -- 10.66
Recharge -- 40
Range -- 80 [Cone]
Duration -- 20
Status Effect -- Fear [Enemy]
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy

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 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
Endurance Cost -- 9.75
Recharge -- 16
Range -- 70
Duration -- 12
Status -- Hold [Enemy]

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.

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
Endurance Cost -- 16.25
Recharge -- 120
Range -- 50
Duration -- 30
Status -- Intangible [Enemy]

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, but I have no desire to take it. This power has the ability to make your team very, very mad at you.

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.

Slotting: Accuracy and Recharge, maybe. Slotting it for Duration seems like a bad idea since you would only be using it to catch a breather or run away.

Dark Servant: Level 38
Endurance Cost -- 32.5
Recharge -- 480
Duration -- 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. 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’ll want at least one Accuracy in there just to make sure that he can hit things. From there, you’re an idiot if you don’t throw in three Recharges so that you can make him near-perma. Conventional wisdom is that you should slot the remaining spaces with Heals and I tend to agree with that. Hold or ToHit Debuff Enhancements would also work, but don’t seem as efficient as having a second Twilight Grasp healing ½ to ¾ of your health every time it goes off.

Power Pools:

Concealment:
You already have Shadow Fall. I don’t see the need.

Fitness:
This one is a real quandary. Without the Leadership Pool, you don’t really need Stamina until the later levels when your pets are dying often enough to need to bring them back more than once in a prolonged fight (and even then this rarely happens while solo). If you do have the Leadership Pool, then you’re always going to be slotting for Endurance Reduction and using Inspirations. I decided that it was easier to use more slots than to free up three powers so I could use fewer Blues. This all comes down to how you want to play the game, though. I will admit that I would love to pick this up in the 40’s, but we’ll have to see how the Patron Powers works before I plan that far in advance.

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.

Leadership:
My GAWD is this useful. Yes, running those toggles is expensive, but the extra Damage and Accuracy is great. As every guide ever written about anything will tell you, don’t bother with Vengeance. In the end, I decided to respec out of Leadership (as useful as it is) so that I could grab more of my debuffs and not be sucking endurance all of the time. In some ways I’m more effective without it since I can debuff and heal for an entire prolonged fight, but I do miss the extra accuracy and damage (as well as the +perception – especially in PVP or when I’m fighting those stupid Spec Ops guys).

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.

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

Presence:
You don’t want a Taunt and you’ll already be spamming Fear.

Speed:
Hasten seems unnecessary now that it isn’t permanent and Superspeed is a big hindrance in CoV’s vertically inclined maps.

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.

My Build and Reasons Why:

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://home.comcast.net/~SherkSilver/index.html)
---------------------------------------------
Name:
Level: 41
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(21) Rechg(23)
02) --> Gloom==> Acc(2)
04) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(4) Rechg(25) Rechg(31)
06) --> Enchant Undead==> Rechg(6) EndRdx(34)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(25)
10) --> Hover==> EndRdx(10) Fly(11) Fly(11) Fly(13)
12) --> Grave Knight==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(17) Dmg(19) Dmg(19) Heal(21)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(15) Range(15)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(17) DmgRes(37) DefBuf(37)
18) --> Soul Extraction==> Acc(18)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(23) Fear(34) Fear(34)
22) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(22) TH_DeBuf(40)
24) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(24)
26) --> Lich==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Hold(31) Hold(31)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Hold(36) Hold(37)
30) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(30)
32) --> Dark Empowerment==> Rechg(32) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) EndRdx(33)
35) --> Team Teleport==> EndRdx(35) EndRdx(36) EndRdx(36)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Acc(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Heal(40) Heal(40)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> EndRdx(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: Plenty of people skip getting an attack entirely, but Gloom will really help you through those early levels when you have one pet (and especially before you get Enchant Undead). This is entirely optional, of course.

Level 4: Tar Patch is absolutely necessary. The only debate for me was whether to take it at level 2 or level 4.

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: I took Hover for utility alongside Teleport. This is partially because of the extreme lag that came up when I first reached level 14 (at about the same time that everyone else who started playing CoV at launch got to 14). I don’t need this as much now and may get rid of it if the servers stay as stable as they have been lately. The knockback protection has it’s uses too, though.

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 went with two Endurance Reductions so that I could make up for not having Stamina.

Level 18: Soul Extraction is a great panic power, but while a lot of people slot it with a ton of recharges so they can have one out constantly, I don’t feel the need to use it that way. I’ll leave it with the initial slot to help me out of tight spots. That’s enough for me.

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: Darkest Night is a great debuff and I only wish I could fit in sooner.

Level 24: AoE rez. Very useful whenever you deem a team worthy of having you along.

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 more than 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 and I should probably have put it in sooner. I’m pretty sure I did originally, but this is a respec build as I fine-tuned what I needed and what I didn’t. Keeps those Flamethrowers (fire damage HURTS) out of the mix.

Level 30: Great utility power for teams and for pets who are stuck. No need to slot it, though.

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

Level 35: Have fun annoying your teammates with this power that sounds more useful than it is.

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.

41-50???

We don’t know what’s coming with these, but if there’s a pool with something akin to Conserve Power, that’s probably what I’ll be taking regardless of the powers in the set. I really don’t need anything else that’s going to burn a lot of endurance on this guy since that’s a constant battle. Depending on the usefulness of the upcoming Epic Pools, I may be taking Stamina through those final levels. Only time will tell.

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’ve come close (besides, you’re not SUPPOSED to be able to do that).

Here’s the build I’ll probably be moving to once I get another respec (here’s hoping there’s a free one with I7 that I can use to cash in my enhancements at 42 – hate to waste the cash and all).

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://home.comcast.net/~SherkSilver/index.html)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Balor 3
Level: 41
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(21) Heal(23) Rechg(23)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(25) Rechg(25)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4)
06) --> Enchant Undead==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(9)
10) --> Hover==> EndRdx(10) Fly(11) Fly(11) Fly(13)
12) --> Grave Knight==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(17) Dmg(19) Heal(19)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(15)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(17) DmgRes(37) DmgRes(37) DmgRes(40)
18) --> Soul Extraction==> Acc(18)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Fear(36) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(36) Rechg(37)
22) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(22)
24) --> Swift==> Run(24)
26) --> Lich==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Hold(29) Hold(31) Fear(31)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Hold(31) Hold(34) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
30) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(30)
32) --> Dark Empowerment==> Rechg(32) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) EndRdx(33)
35) --> Team Teleport==> EndRdx(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Acc(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Heal(40) Heal(40)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> EndRdx(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

Why the changes? Well, I don’t use Gloom at all unless it’s by accident now. Swift will counteract the slow from Shadow Fall (as well as putting me a step closer to Stamina in case I can fit it in during the 40’s) and I don’t need the enhancements in Team Teleport since it’s situational at best. Everything else just comes from min/maxing a little bit and having a little more experience with the powers in these sets.

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.

So have fun out there.

For the record, I will be posting a big old update to this thing once I hit level 40 (38 right now).

I recently respecced out of the Leadership Pool and took the other two powers in the Teleport Pool instead. No, Teleport Team isn't going to get you across a map, but it is useful. And Teleport Friend is a blessing in those stupid multi-tiered Orenbaga maps where your pets are determined to fall off no matter what you do to try and help them.

I'll be updating the guide when I get a chance to talk about my thoughts on the effectiveness of this change. I'll say that without the Leadership Pool, I have no use for Stamina. We'll see if that changes once the Epic Powers are announced, but even throwing off all my debuffs constantly, I rarely have Endurance issues anymore.

I do miss the +Perception, though.

Don't get me wrong, I love this power. I can see why it would be useful at any and all times, but I had too many other powers that I viewed as being higher priority. I imagine that the boost in DPS has to be awesome.

Depending on what the Epic powers in the 40's are like, I may be slotting it up later on in my build.

How I Learned to Love the Undead

Here's my Necro/Dark Guide.

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) You are not here to do damage. 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 40 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 your pets 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. Necromancy pets 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.

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) You suck at PVP. Get over it. The stuff you can do in PVE more than makes up for it.

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 (me included).

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. I pulled the numbers from another guide, so if they’re wrong let me know.

----------

Necromancy:

----------

Dark Blast: Level 1
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 2.78 [Type: Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 6.5
Recharge -- 4
Range -- 80
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy

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, this isn’t the one that I would suggest.

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
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90

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

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. I have the Leadership Pool helping everyone with Accuracy, so I slotted 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage, an Accuracy Debuff (which a lot of people think is a waste) and a Heal (which may be a waste – see my thoughts on their Siphon Life above).

Gloom: Level 2
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 4.8888 [Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 10.66
Recharge -- 8
Range -- 80
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy

A single target blast that does damage over time. I think it’s important to have a single attack for pulling and debuffing and this is the power I chose. Great Damage per Endurance spent, but you’re still not going to be one-shotting much of anything. Ever. I go through plenty of fights where I never use this and find 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 to 40 I get, the less I use it. I imagine going from 41-50 I’ll use it even less. As a side note, I took Dark Blast at first and respecced into Gloom later. I wish I’d had it from level 2 on since it really is so much better than Dark Blast. If you’re picking one or the other (which you should be), I would suggest going with this one.

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
Endurance Cost -- 16.25
Recharge – 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 recharge is sufficient, but you may want to add an Endurance Reduction as well. It doesn’t cost that much to use it on it’s own, but when you’re buffing 6 pets right after summoning them, it can be painful.

Life Drain: Level 8
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 1.1212 [Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 15
Range – 60

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.

Grave Knight: Level 12
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90

[Levels 12 - 23] -- 1 Grave Knight
[Levels 24+] -- 2 Grave Knights (-1 level)

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 do 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 when you’re fighting anything other than minions and lieutenants.

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

Slotting: Again, I have the Leadership Pool adding to my accuracy, so I only have a single one in there. My current build has 1 Acc, 3 Damage, an Accuracy Debuff and a Heal. Your mileage may vary, but I love having the Accuracy Debuffs in there. As much as /Dark makes the bad guys whiff anyway, there’s nothing like seeing a particularly tough boss run out of endurance while your pets stand there wailing on him with full health (though this is an exaggeration since everything dies too quickly to run out of endurance anyway).

Soul Extraction: Level 18
Endurance Cost -- 13
Recharge -- 600
Duration -- 300

[Zombie] Soul Extraction => Spirit
[Grave Knight] Soul Extraction => Tortured Soul
[Lich] Soul Extraction => Wraith

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, so I save it for boss battles 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, and your Extracted Soul spamming holds on those bosses and AV/Heroes.

Slotting: Some people slot this with tons of recharges to make it permanent (or, I believe, almost permanent). I can see the usefulness in that, but I’ve grown accustomed to using this one only in prolonged battles or when I’ve been overwhelmed. Having one of these around all the time would be nice, but I don’t feel the need to spend the slots on it. This is largely a matter of playstyle, of course.

Lich: Level 26
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90

[Levels 26+] -- 1 Lich

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 immobilize, a cone knockback, a self heal, and a decent ranged attack 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. I have a single Accuracy (again with the Leadership Pool), 2 Damage, a Hold, a Fear and a Heal. This may get changed around, though. There are so many different things that you can enhance on this guy that you really have to go with what feels right to you. My only real advice is to 6 slot this ASAP and don’t concentrate on damage since it isn’t his primary function.

Dark Empowerment: Level 32
Endurance Cost -- 22.75
Recharge – 60

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

This is your final buff for your pets. It works just like Enchant Undead, but the timer is longer and it uses a lot more Endurance. 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: Depends how patient you are. A few Recharges and an Endurance Reduction go a long way. Just remember that you’re not going to be firing this off in combat all that often, so the slots are probably better spent on things that will keep you alive in a more proactive way.

----------

Dark Miasma:

----------

Twilight Grasp: Level 1
Endurance Cost -- 9.75
Recharge -- 8
Range -- 80
Healing Radius -- 10 [PBAoE]
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy, Enemy Damage, Enemy Health Regeneration

A Point Blank Area of Effect Heal that debuffs the crap out of your enemies. 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 have 2 accuracies in here even though I’m running Tactics because I 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
Endurance Cost -- 9.75
Recharge -- 90
Range -- 120
Duration -- 45
Debuff -- Enemy Speed, Enemy Resistance [-27.76%]

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.

Darkest Night: Level 4
Endurance Cost -- 0.33 per second
Recharge -- 10
Range -- 70
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy, Enemy Damage

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. I haven’t been able to put anything other than a second Endurance Reduction in there, but whenever I’ve fought Dark Defenders in the Arena, this power was my bane.

Slotting: A single Endurance Reduction is probably plenty, but I have two of them in there since I’m running without Stamina. Accuracy Debuffs would also be nice, but I haven’t been able to fit them in yet. Maybe after my 37 Respec.

Howling Twilight: Level 10
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 0.8333 [Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 32.5
Recharge -- 180
Range -- 20
Debuff -- Enemy Disorient

This is the set’s resurrection power. It is a Point Blank Area of Effect power that disorients and damages everyone in a small radius around the target while also resurrecting any teammates within a small radius. Small radius. Are you catching my point here?

An extremely useful power if only for the Disorient. It does not resurrect your pets, so don’t bother trying it. I took this power pretty late in the game, but I can’t deny it’s usefulness on a team or when you need to slow down that mob just a little more.

Slotting: It’s an auto-hit, so I would suggest slotting for Recharge only. If you team more than I do, you may want to invest more in it than I have.

Shadow Fall: Level 16
Endurance Cost -- 0.325 per second
Recharge -- 15
Range -- 40 [PBAoE]
Status Resistance -- Fear
Damage Resistance -- [20%] Energy, Negative Energy, Psionic
Defense -- [2.8%] All

This is a team Stealth toggle that I love. I haven’t noticed the reduction in movement speed that others claim it has, which either means that it isn’t there anymore or it’s just that minor. 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.

Slotting: I currently have 2 Endurance Reductions and 3 Defense Enhancements in there. I’m not sure that this is super-efficient, but I noticed a nice boost in my little groups overall defense with those Enhancements. Considering that according to these numbers I found the base is only 2.8%, it doesn’t sound so great on paper. Now, when it’s 2.8% multiplied by everyone in range, it adds up.

Fearsome Stare: Level 20
Endurance Cost -- 10.66
Recharge -- 40
Range -- 80 [Cone]
Duration -- 20
Status Effect -- Fear [Enemy]
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy

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 in there. The debate is whether to slot it for Fear duration or Recharge since having two applications stacked is better than having a single attack that lasts a little longer. The duration is nice out of the box, but you can never have too much of this very good thing.

Petrifying Gaze: Level 28
Endurance Cost -- 9.75
Recharge -- 16
Range -- 70
Duration -- 12
Status -- Hold [Enemy]

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.

Slotting: I still don’t have anything but a single Accuracy in here. I’m thinking of adding more, but the Hold duration is pretty short and I’m not sure slotting it is going to make it that much better. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Black Hole: Level 35
Endurance Cost -- 16.25
Recharge -- 120
Range -- 50
Duration -- 30
Status -- Intangible [Enemy]

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, but I have no desire to take it. This power has the ability to make your team very, very mad at you.

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.

Slotting: Accuracy and Recharge, maybe. Slotting it for Duration seems like a bad idea since you would only be using it to catch a breather or run away.

Dark Servant: Level 38
Endurance Cost -- 32.5
Recharge -- 480
Duration -- 240

Initial Abilities -- Petrifying Gaze, Tenebrous Tentacles, Darkest Night [Single Target]

This is a pet who debuffs the crap out of your enemies for you. Their damage is so-so, but that’s not why they’re there. It’s all about the debuffs, baby. Unfortunately, you can’t control this pet the way you do the others (this is technically a pet while the rest are minions), but they’re still very powerful.

Slotting: I don’t have this one yet, but my final 6 slots will be going into it. Back in the heyday of being a Dark Defender, you could have at least 2 of these out at a time, but that’s no longer the case. I still want to be able to get these out as often as possible.

----------

Power Pools:

----------

Concealment:
You already have Shadow Fall. I don’t see the need.

Fitness:
This one is a real quandary. Without the Leadership Pool, you don’t really need Stamina. If you do have the Leadership Pool, then you’re always going to be slotting for Endurance Reduction and using Inspirations. I decided that it was easier to use more slots than to free up three powers so I could use fewer Blues. This all comes down to how you want to play the game, though.

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 nice.

Leadership:
My GAWD is this useful. Yes, running those toggles is expensive, but the extra Damage and Accuracy is great. As every guide ever written about anything will tell you, don’t bother with Vengeance.

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.

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

Presence:
You don’t want a Taunt and you’ll already be spamming Fear.

Speed:
Hasten seems unnecessary now that it isn’t permanent and Superspeed is a big hindrance in CoV’s vertically inclined maps.

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. Teleport Friend would be a godsend for moving my pets around if I had room for it. Team Teleport in PVP seems like it would be a lot of fun, too. Again, if I had room for it.

----------

My Build and Reasons Why:

----------

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Mastermind
Primary Powers - Ranged : Necromancy
Secondary Powers - Support : Dark Miasma

01 : Twilight Grasp acc(01) acc(3) hel(7) hel(9) hel(9) recred(21)
01 : Zombie Horde acc(01) dam(3) dam(5) dam(5) hel(7) thtdbf(19)
02 : Gloom acc(02)
04 : Tar Patch recred(04) recred(23) recred(31)
06 : Enchant Undead recred(06)
08 : Teleport Foe acc(08)
10 : Hover endred(10) endred(11) endred(11)
12 : Grave Knight acc(12) dam(13) dam(13) dam(17) hel(19) thtdbf(21)
14 : Teleport endred(14) endred(15) endred(15)
16 : Shadow Fall endred(16) endred(17) defbuf(34) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) damres(40)
18 : Soul Extraction recred (18)
20 : Fearsome Stare acc(20) ferdur(36) ferdur(37) recred(37) recred(37)
22 : Assault endred(22) endred(23)
24 : Tactics endred(24) endred(25) thtbuf(25) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31)
26 : Lich acc(26) dam(27) dam(27) hel(29) hold(34) fear(34)
28 : Darkest Night endred(28) endred(29)
30 : Petrifying Gaze acc(30)
32 : Dark Empowerment recred(32) recred(33) recred(33) endred(33)
35 : Howling Twilight recred(35)
38 : Dark Servant acc(38) hel(39) hel(39) hel(39) recred(40) recred(40)

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: Plenty of people skip getting an attack entirely, but Gloom will really help you through those early levels when you have one pet (and especially before you get Enchant Undead).

Level 4: Tar Patch is absolutely necessary. The only debate for me was whether to take it at level 2 or level 4.

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: I took Hover for utility alongside Teleport. This is partially because of the extreme lag that came up when I first reached level 14 (at about the same time that everyone else who started playing CoV at launch got to 14). I don’t need this as much now and may get rid of it if the servers stay as stable as they have been lately.

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 6 pets. Do the math. I went with two Endurance Reductions so that I could make up for not having Stamina.

Level 18: Soul Extraction is a great panic power, but while a lot of people slot it with a ton of recharges so they can have one out constantly, I don’t feel the need to use it that way. I’ll leave it with the initial slot to help me out of tight spots. That’s enough for me.

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: Leadership prerequisite. No, you don’t have to take this pool but I like it. Yes, it’s an endurance hog, but I don’t have room for Stamina. A second Endurance Reduction does the trick for me.

Level 24: The real reason to get Leadership. This is why I have a single Accuracy in all my pets.

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 more than 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: I wish I could have fitted this in sooner, but . . . I didn’t. This is about the point when you’ll start seeing Heroes and AV’s, which is where this power really shines. You’ll kill the average mob before you get a chance to use it, so it isn’t necessary right away in my opinion.

Level 30: This hold isn’t nearly as great as it used to be and I should probably have put it in sooner. I’m pretty sure I did originally, but this is a respect build as I fine-tuned what I needed and what I didn’t. Keeps those Flamethrowers (fire damage HURTS) out of the mix.

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

Level 35: At this point the /Dark powers start to lose some of their luster. I took this because I felt I “should,” but I don’t use it all that often. If you’re planning on teaming more than I do, you may want to get this a lot sooner. I’m not saying it isn’t useful, just that it isn’t necessary (after all, if your teammates don’t die, they won’t need resurrected).

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.

41-50???

We don’t know what’s coming with these, but if there’s a pool with something akin to Conserve Power, that’s probably what I’ll be taking regardless of the powers in the set. I really don’t need anything else that’s going to burn a lot of endurance on this guy since that’s a constant battle. Depending on the usefulness of the upcoming Epic Pools, I may be taking Stamina through those final levels. Only time will tell.

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’ve come close (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.

Have fun out there. And don't go begging me for Infamy. I'm still broke.

I'm not saying that I think AV's are too easy, just that the game itself is. I base this on my own experience in playing the game as well as the sheer number of people that I find at high levels that still have no idea what they're doing.

I have never, ever had a character spend any significant time in debt that didn't come from a specific event. I have reached the debt cap exactly one time since October of 2004, which was from a failed Hydra mission. I guess that I can also say that I've hit it a few times after I got to 50 and stopped caring if I died, but I don't think that counts. My wife also plays, and she hasn't ever been in this largely mythical "perma-debt" either.

You might argue that maybe I'm some gaming God (I'll accept that - no need to correct you there ) or that I min-max all my builds (my 50 has two travel powers and only got rid of Whirlwind because of ED), but my wife is anything but. She hadn't played a game since Super Mario Bros. and only picks powers based on their description and/or the advice of whoever is online at that moment.

I contend that if you're spending that long in debt, you're doing something wrong. It's time to change up your strategy, change your build, or accept that the No Pets Mastermind you're using nothing but pool powers on simply isn't going to make it to 50 solo.

I'll admit that I'm perhaps a bit spoiled since I never have to contend with pick up groups unless I'm just feeling social, but even when I did I didn't have the problems I hear other peolple describing. They're simply not what I've encountered in my rather lengthy and varied experience (this may also be because I won't stay on a bad team and am happy to kick morons). This includes standing over my wife's shoulder as she plays with random teams asking her over and over again why she's still on the team.

And I know I can still get the AV's if I want to, Uberguy. My concern is that we'll have even more people rushing through content and then whining about not having anymore contacts until they reach a certain level. A lot of people I know that play solo all the time are already having this problem in CoV. Big team=more enemies=more XP, so if you team more you'll end up leveling without being as likely to run out of missions.

AV's are the only type of forced teaming that I have any kind of approval of. Double and triple clicking glowies is tedious and I hate hate hate hate hate those missions. An AV that you can try to kill yourself and then have to call in the troops to help out? I think that's a good time.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I seem to be the only one who thinks this, so I'll concede to the wishes of the masses. I'm just making sure the dissenting voice is heard.

And for the record, I rarely read these boards anymore. Both the "I hate the devs" and the "devs, please have my babies" threads make me want to vomit. I use these for news only nowadays.

While the other changes you mentioned are fine and dandy, I want to go on the record as saying that I don't like the AV change at all. The game is too easy most of the time anyway, so removing the one thing that forces you to make some friends seems like a bad idea to me. Most AV's can be duo'd (how exactly do you spell that made up word?) and with a team of three or four, it's a guaranteed win for you (assuming you put together a decent group). How many people can't find another person or two to help them out? Sure, if it's 3 AM on a Thursday you're going to have issues, but otherwise who is really having this problem?

The number of AV's has never bothered me all that much and the only character that was ever "stuck" with a whole tray of AV missions is my level 50. This was only because I didn't "need" to play him anymore, so I didn't care. As soon as I decided to clear one it took me about 3 minutes to get a team together and take out the Carnie AV that I had been sitting on for 4 months or so.

I think this is one of those perceived problems (like all the people who swear they were always at the debt cap) that doesn't actually need "fixed." If anything, you're just removing content (which is a problem) to appease a small group of antisocial people who can't find a team.

Or maybe I'm just spoiled because I never have any problems finding a good team. My SG and Global Chat contacts are always willing to help. I haven't had to team with a stranger for months.

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Ballista is a Toggle Dropping *******!

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, he is. He was designed to be as close to a Player Hero as we could make him. How do you guys like the Toggle Drop on him? Is it too nasty or does it add a nice challenge?

[/ QUOTE ]

Since you asked . . .

I know you're the Stalker guy, but I've only fought him on my Mastermind (my Stalker just hit 10 last night. Give me some time), but here's my opinion.

I hate this guy.

I've fought about a half dozen Elite Bosses and helped out with a Hero, but I've never come across anyone who killed me faster or with more efficiency than this guy.

It didn't bother me so much that he dropped my toggles, it's that his accuracy seemed insanely high (running Darkest Night on him and Shadow Fall on myself, he should miss once in a while) and he only attacked me. Not my pets (even though I was doing zero damage to him), just me. Since I have about 4 HP and no resistances to any damage type, this made the fight impossible.

So he became the first thing in the game that I had zero possiblity of soloing. Add his insane AI to the rez bug in that mission (instead of going to the hospital, I rezzed where I fell) and it was impossible. So I called in some friends and cleared him out with no problems. Why? Because he attacked someone other than me for a few moments.

A tiny tweak to his AI (have him attack what's damaging him) and it would have been difficult, but possible. As he is currently working, I died about 10 times before I gave up.

Yes, I'm stubborn.

I'm all for adding difficulty, but a tiny tweak in his AI and he would have been challenging and fun instead of frustrating and impossible. I don't mind dying a few times taking down something that's really tough, but you have to give me some slight chance. I can change my tactics and try different approaches, but as long as this guy was only agroing to me and not my pets, I couldn't do anything but fall down a lot.

My wife and I have been playing for about a year now. I played for less than a month before I talked her into trying the character creator. About 3 days later, she had her own account.

We now have two computers and two CoH/CoV accounts, but since we only have dialup internet service available to us, we can only play one at a time. As much fun as it is to have her as part of my gaming community, sharing sometimes really sucks.

In case you're wondering, her hero main is Bodicea on Victory. She hasn't really settled into a villain yet on Protector. And yes, everyone likes her better than they like me.

[ QUOTE ]
With Enhancement Diversification comes a benefit for ALL City of Heroes powers.

Every power, across the board, is getting a 13.33% reduction in its Endurance cost.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for throwing us a bone, but how about a recharge reduction since so many powers are based on the amount of time it takes for them to recharge with the soon-to-be-non-existent perma-hasten?