Haidou

Stalkers *can* fight without hide. Just because you can see them doesn't guarantee you can beat them.

I'd like to see an Earth Summoning powerset, with taunts and tanking. Tier 1 henchmen would be Earth Beasts or something else made out of dirt and mud (the usual meatshields), tier 2 henchmen would be Rock Giants, with granite armour and some heavy hitting attacks, and the tier 3 henchman would be a Lava Golem, a huge beast made out of molten rock. The main support/special power (like Soul Extraction etc) would be Volcano, transforming one of the henchmen into an erupting volcano and rooting them into the ground, making them practically invincible and they can throw lava bombs at opponents.

Something like that anyway. I like summoning golems in Ultima and I love the Lava Golem in Yu-Gi-Oh, so it'd be great to have them in CoV.

I've already had heroes whining that bodyguard mode needs to be nerfed, so it's all good.

Bodyguard mode is surprisingly effective, I've found. Anything which makes the mastermind up to four times tougher to kill is good in my books. All it requires is good pet management & maintenance (i.e. keeping them alive, making sure they don't run off, etc) and intelligence & observation in battle.

But of course you need a good secondary powerset to support it, and that's why I suggest Dark Miasma. Twilight Grasp is perfect for it. Any of the damage you take will be instantly healed if you've got a couple of good accuracy enhancements on there (the healing factor is huge), and any pets nearby will be healed too. Throw in the various debuffs of Dark Miasma and your opponent won't be able to land a hit very often (Darkest Night ftw). Throw in Necromancy if you want even more ToHit debuffs.

Two words. Bodyguard mode.

I don't have any endurance problems. It's purely a transport power for moving minions around, nothing more. It's slotted with a endurance cost SO which means it doesn't drain faster than my regen rate.

It's useful in battles that will be long and drawn out (e.g. battles with Arch-Villains), and it's useful for recuperating. Best used in teams as well.

Placate & buildup as much as possible. A placate>attack is an almost guaranteed critical. Another thing I suggest is sticking around and duking it out, if you've got the defence.

Mastermind with Dark Miasma. Why? Bodyguard mode. I was on my own and stood my ground against four heroes (tanker, controller, two blasters) in Siren's Call the other night.

Zombies are still powerful for me. They may be squishy, but they can take down yellow and orange enemies (both minions and bosses) in seconds. Keeping them healed is a priority, and as long as they've got a comfortable amount of hitpoints they can do a nice amount of damage. The only enemies I have trouble killing are those of elite boss rank and up, particularly Infernal.

It is a nice power (and fun to use), but stopping every few seconds so my henchmen can keep up is annoying. The recent addition of bodyguard mode makes it more useful for flying through dangerous areas (PvP zones especially).

The fix is already on the test server, so hopefully the mini patch will go live asap.

I don't have much to suggest, though I find Howling Twilight to be rather useful even purely for debuff purposes. More often than not it has turned the tide in a battle for me. Slotted with a few recharge SOs and it functions nicely.

Curses, I still have nine levels to go until I can make use of Grandville.

Yeah, it proves to be annoying with Twilight Grasp, as I operate by a per-name basis in order to heal my henchmen.

I play as a stalker myself and though I shouldn't be revealing my weaknesses, the acronym "PBAoE" comes to mind. Perhaps with the word "toggle" thrown in there somewhere for good measure, and maybe another acronym - "DoT".

Zombies are offensive powerhouses with excellent debuffs and holds, and throwing in the Dark Miasma secondary suits them perfectly. The only problem is they tend to switch between ranged and melee a lot, so it's difficult to micromanage & heal them in a battle. They're also weak against fire, and are somewhat squishy. But they deal out damage very quickly, and damage is good. Soul extraction only makes things better.

I use grant invis. with my mastermind, and though the defence bonus is small, I have noticed my pets last a lot longer in battles. Perhaps because they're still partially invisible when attacking, so nearby mobs/heroes might not see them. And that's on top of the defence bonus.

Oh, and when Issue 7 comes along it will only get better, especially in PvP. Make all your pets invisible, switch to bodyguard mode, and have fun.

Edit: And at the moment you can command your henchmen when invisible or phased. However that will change when Issue 7 is released.

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Then we started killing you guys over and over and drove you back to your hospital , until Sweet Chilli started with the teledroning that is...

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Yeah, that was unfortunate.

Considering you get an extra pet which can fly and has long-ranged attacks, holds, and self-heals, it's worth it. It's only a two minute job at the most anyway, and I'm sure it won't be too much of a distraction mid-mission (it isn't for me). Besides, masterminds should be trained in the art of patiently preparing for battle. :P

Nah, actually it's a lot easier just to simply use the "/releasepets" command which kills your pets (all of them), then you can use Soul Extraction on your chosen dead henchman. Then resummon them. I'd advise doing this when all your pet summoning powers are recharged, so you can get them back as quickly as possible. And the good thing is, it works with Issue 7.

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You bet your [censored]. And we killed them all! For sod all xp ... hurrah

Can someone confirm how you spawn Deathsurge? Because if it's what I was told, whereby when 120 gremlins are killed, he spawns, that must mean 360 were killed before anyone noticed the spawn?!

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Did you get a screenshot? :P

If I had an opponent hassle me with abusive comments after beating me then I would not hesitate to petition them. Either that or I'd just respond with logical remarks they can't respond to intelligently.

There are bound to be coincidences but if it's clear they're mimicking you then petition them. I don't see any obvious Positron or Synapse ripoffs (I presume we're not allowed to make them), so it shouldn't be any different with our own characters. It's still copyright breach.

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Could work, but wheres the fun in that?

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Revenge is fun. So is wiping the floor with someone who thinks they're tough.