Master Zaprobo

Brutes thrive on quick attacks to build up Fury, then large hard-hitting attacks to deliver the meat of the damage.

Consider slotting the early attacks for Recharge, over damage. Slot later attacks for accuracy and damage to hit 'em when it counts.

Use Brawl!

It was patched out near release - your henches will continue reacting as per their last commands, but new commands will not take hold until you are released.

This does not count for Fear or Immob as far as I am aware - cases where you can still normally attack you can still issue commands.

As for drawing unwanted aggro, you just need tighter control of your henches. Use Defensive rather than Aggressive, put in Ctrl+Click binds for Goto so you can reign in individual henches, and of course, hover on the ever hand heel/follow command for when your henches get out of line of sight.

Nope. Buffing Henchmen will do their duty in Defensive or Aggressive. Just not Passive.

I'll be going for my beta loadout - 1x Acc, 1xDam, 2x Heal, 2x Def

I'd be tempted by Disorient (for Seekers/Photons) post-L32 dependant on how I'm going for healing power.

Anything that can buff a teammate can buff a henchman. The only exception are powers that require a fallen teammate (Vengeance, Fallout), and any ressurection powers.

Have a read of the guide linked in my signature - the commands for making henchmen talk and dance are in there.

The Professor groaned as he sat down on the edge of the cot in his lab that served for his sleeping quarters. The dull drone of automated construction around him filled his ears as he settled down under the covers.

A little light reading, of "Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming" served to take the edge off the day. "Flying around Mercy Island, trying to save Paolo Marino is not my idea of laboratory conditions" the white-haired scientist mused to himself.

"Still, at least Wretch and Ghost Widow are safe"

Head over to http://www.bbfun.com/?mforum=arad where Electrocution has started up a forum for us so we can get with the expanding-thing!

Set in an alternative universe Atlas Park.

Same amount of damage, different damage types, so resistances of the boss can come into play.

As you can no doubt see, test unit Electrocution is now online. As is Assault ZR-Beta. R&D's first two fully autonomous AI's.

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They're 40+ mobs in CoH, but I guess they might put them in early in CoV. As for their effect on your pets, I don't think they'll really notice - put the mouse over their HP/End bar in your pet control window and you'll see that their end is waaaay higher than the standard 100 that us players get.
Also, even if the sappers can fully drain a pet, you have lots of of them - it'd take a lot of sappers to reduce the effectivness of your little army!

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I've seen Malta in Warburg during beta, didn't see any Sappers though. However, the Protector Bots when being aggressive can drain their endurance bar so don't count on them being Sapper immune.

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Perhaps I'm missing something hidden in plain sight, but is there a slash command or keybinding for selecting particular henchmen as my target? Getting my zombies into my bubbling rota is proving slightly tedious since it compels me to touch the mouse.

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/petselect 0
to
/petselect 5
or
/petselectname {name}

(( Enjoying the diary Carry on Horace *g* ))

If you drop or gain Combat Level (more than +1 I believe) then yes your henchmen will keel over after a period of time.

It's to stop you having high-level henchmen in a low level mission/area and hence by design. Same thing happens with Controllers/Dominators and their pets.

If you are Lackeyed/Malefactored stay close!

I'd recommend reading my Guide to the Modern Mastermind as it will cover a lot of the questions you may have as a new Mastermind player.

Doctor,

I have been contacted here at Arachnos Research and Development by one of the members of your "Cluster" and I am sure we could come to some kind of beneficial arrangement. Perhaps some form of Coalition.

I am sure that Lord Recluse would be more than amenable to anyone who assists our research, perhaps by helping out in field tests, or providing escorts for hazardous areas.

Regards,
Master Zaprobo

(( OOC: I'm sure there are a good few roleplayers out there on the Defiant server, and I'd be interested in getting a bit of a SG Coalition for Villain Groups running for it ))

My build takes a primary attack, most of my secondary and still takes three Leadership skills (Assault, Tactics, Vengeance), and three Travel skills (Hover, Fly, Group Fly).

I prefer core skills over pools as they are inherently more powerful.

As to skipping powers, it's all a matter of taste. For me, Detention Field and Personal Forcefield don't make the grade as I always want my area buffs affecting my henchmen and always want to be able to affect enemies.

From the primary, I've skipped the first attack power, and the AoE attack power. Everything else is in.

I view myself as havign a very solid PvE build with that set up, yet it would veritably suck (outside of a team) in any PvP situation. My best advice is to think first what role you want to fulfill then pick the powers that suit that role.

And Stamina? It's always been overrated - especially for Masterminds as we do not need to constantly need powers to keep up DPS. Our henchmen do that and beyond the initial "setup" period of a mission we barely use much endurance (unless we start spamming powers). Pop 1-2 End Rdx into toggles and then forget about Stamina. You have better power choices than tying up three with CoH's "Holy Trinity".

Yes.

Or for more detail, both are very good options. Traps offers a lot of utility, and a lot of different effects. Forcefields offers a superior set of Defense enhancements, and soft-control through knockback.

It depends on what you enjoy playing - both are relatively hands-off secondaries (fire and forget) although perhaps Traps is a bit more hands on.

Pick - they're both excellent choices (in fact, apart from Trick Arrow which is almost universally considered weak, there are no bad Mastermind secondaries).

Already exists for the Arena. Find a match in play Can be disabled by the even owners though.

More for the masses! (and yes, some macros are repeats as you might want to pick and choose what tactics you are using, and skip some. You can always issue the commands manually!)

Gather!
(/macro Gath petcomall goto pas)
Corruptor calling "Gather" before they fire off a PBAoE Buff? Want your henchmen to get the action instead of you? Use the goto command and click next to the Corruptor to send your henchmen running for the buff. Passive stance is best so they don't go haring off to attack something until everyone is ready too. Remember they need the buff more than you do (they do most of your damage!)

Stand your Ground!
(/macro Grnd petcomall goto agg)
Very handy when teamed with a Plant/* Dominator or */Traps Corruptor/Mastermind to keep your henchmen in the "comfort" zone of HP and other deployable-based buffs. Set your henchmen to aggressive, so they're still on the offensive then tell them to goto the deployable.

Tank!
(/macro Tank petcomall goto agg)
Need a tank? Sap some aggro form a large spawn? Run your henchmen into the middle of mobs using goto with them set to the aggressive stance. They'll all pick different targets, thus distracting the mobs from the Stalker sneaking around the back, the Dominator prepping to do a Domination-fueld AoE Hold, or absorbing alpha strikes so the Brute can get in and work his magic.

That's what respecs are for

This is a post to hopefully coordinate any and all bugs Masterminds are still experiencing with their henchmen (Primary Powerset Summons).

This should not be a thread for discussing these issues, as this would be better done in this thread - Pet AI.

Please add your own experienced AI issues in a similar format so there can be a nice consolidated list that Bridge/Rockjaw and company can pass back to Cryptic.

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Panic in Location-based AoE Damage
Examples: Caltrops, Burn Patches
When in a caltrop field, henchman appear to retain the AI of a regular NPC and "panic", fleeing in a random direction and ignoring any commands issued to them - including goto, in an attempt to extrract them from the field in an orderly fashion.
Suggested Fix: Remove panic effect completely from the henchmen if they are issued a direct order by the player

Prefer X Henchmen acting as if they Prefer Y
Examples: A Battle Drone running into melee, or a Jounin staying at range
Appearing to be a hang-over from the NPC AI the Henchman AI is based on, the Prefer Ranged henchmen will often voluntarily run into melee and Prefer Melee voluntarily stay at range. This means that many special abilities will fail for players (Jounin Placate).
Suggested Fixes: Give each henchman custom AI. If they have more ranged attacks than melee have them purposefully stay at range, except if a NPC enters their melee or they lose Line-of-Sight. If a NPC is in melee, make sure that Prefer Ranged henchmen still use their ranged attacks (though giving preference to melee strikes). If the henchman is Prefer Melee, close to melee firing off Ranged attacks as they do so. Also, any special that requires a melee strike (Placate, Hide, Smoke Bomb) should have the AI cancel any ranged attacks at all and run to melee immediately

Please have a read of my Mastermind Guide.

To summarise, your additional henchmen are independant of any powers you take. Your upgrade powers (available at L6 and L32) grant new powers to your henchmen.

Common slotting with see nothing added to the L6 Upgrade (and popping a Recharge Reduction in there) and adding two more to the L32 Upgrade (and popping three Recharge Reduction in there).

Solo? Forget it! A Stalker is designed to kill in a one on one situation - no mess, no fuss. A Tanker can easily stand up to a Stalker, and not be dropped though.

Team-wise? Stick into 2-3 characters running Tactics, or with the IR Goggles Temp Power. The perception boost will enable you to see the Stalker, and disrupt his Assassin attack.

To fend off a Stalker, invest in some PBAoE powers that affect enemies - knockback, repel, damage, slows, etc. are all good choices. Slot for accuracy, as Stalkers get a good deal of AoE Defense to try and mitigate this.

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What have you slotted it with though? Recharge reduction? I don't see the point really since I usually only need the power multiple times at the start of the map. Ditto with End Reductions. Unless I'm frantically raising in the face of an oncoming mob that just slaughter my previous zombies I don't need to worry about the end cost.

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Okay, my US Beta experience of both upgrade powers in practical application. They were slotted as follows: Equip Robot (2x Rechg Rdx), Upgrade Robot (4x Rchg Rdx). All enhancements were Green and Single-Origins. I had the full six henchmen (1x Assault Bot, 2x Protector Bot, 3x Battle Drone).

Cycle worked as follows...

- Upgrade Assault Bot
- Equip Assault Bot
- Equip Drone 1
- Equip Drone 2
- Equip Drone 3
- Equip Prot Bot 1
- Equip Prot Bot 2
- Upgrade Prot Bot 1

After that point it is waiting until it (Upgrade Robot) recycles if I want to complete all my upgrades. Normally I'd just wait until the other Prot Bot was done before moving into the mission, and Upgrading the Drones as I go.

It has a base recharge (I believe) of over one minute. Unenhanced, you'd be looking at six minutes minimum for your initial setup time. Upgrade Robot was the one power that even made me consider taking Hasten (I won't, as there are too many better choices to make).

All the L32 Upgrade powers (Kuji-in-Zen, Tactical Upgrade, Dark Empowerment) have the same recharge speed. They need slotting, unless you're on a very understanding team or don't mind taking your own sweet time when soloing!