Mech_Ton

Last night I noticed that everytime the Zombies arrived, the Infinity server mapserved everyone. Is this unique to Infinity?

Also, do the badges come from all kills or only from boss kills? I've got the witches, zombies, and werewolves badges, but I haven't gotten spirits or vampires and I know I've killed enough vamps. Is it bosses only?

same as everyone else. talk to Kalinda at lvl 20.

Hey Geek_Boy,

Thanks for an awesome build guide.

2 questions:

1. You mention that you don't like leadership for necro/dark and you said you'd discuss in a later post. I didn't see anywhere on here where you address why. So how come?

2. Do you have any I12 updates or did you retire this character?

That was great! This may actually give me a reason to take my Fire/Ice tank out of mothballs...

I'd be interested if anyone's seen Howling Twilight work yet. I was toying with making a Dark character and this would definitely give me insentive.

First Observations.

Costume very cool.

When you blow up, you don't leave a targetable body behind that can be rezed. So unless you have a self-rez power, you won't be able to add this to your team combat very effectively. Should work awesome for fire-tanks, though. I'm going to try that out on Test later with my fire/ice tanker. see if Phoenix works or not.

That is fantastic! The Costumes are outstanding!

Awesome Exploit #1 vs Heros and AVs
Run in with my Tanker. Taunt, Buildup, and Detonate.
Teammate hits the group with Vengence off my corpse (if my body can be targetted)
Teammate then rezes me with power of Phoenix for a second mini-nuke, or with any other rez power.
Now everyone is all Vengenced up and at least 1 big nuke has already hit the AV or Hero.

I'm sure there's even more to be had here, but this was my orginal thought.

That's a great point. I'd forgotten how much more important Acc/End/REch are compared to Damage.

I'm working on an SS/WP build. Would you recommend slotting out the attacks as follows

Punch: 1ACC/1END/1RECH/1DAM
Haymaker: 1ACC/1END/2RECH/1DAM
KO Blow: 1ACC/1END/2RECH/1DAM

Assuming those are all either IO's or SO's, would you recommend any changes? Also, is it worth slotting brawl with anything more than a single ACC?

Drat. I'll have to try again with a new guy and see if I can get the holiday jetpack before the holiday event ends.....

Thanks, that's a great idea. I may actually attach different powers to the buttons but i hadn't thought of that before.

I just realized after reading your post that i was dumb and made the guy a science origin. Am I going to be cursing myself that I can't light my oil slick? Just wanted to check because only being lvl 9 right now, I could start over.

If I decide not to start over are there any temp powers that will ignite it that I can get before I can pick up fire or energy at 41?

Thanks, Dude. I love Ill/TA so far. I love the extra controls that it offers my poor control deficient illusionist. I'm only to lvl 9, but i already love having that missing single target immob that sets up containment. i'm very much looking forward to ice arrow to put that with blind for a boss remover combo. I've definitely noticed that stamina is going to be a big deal. I run out so fast even with no toggles.

My one big concern is the fact that everything is so clicky. I have a game pad that allows me to have 5 attacks ready, but all the rest I have to either keybind or click with the mouse. Has anyone else had this problem. I'm mostly worried that i'm going to be clicking the screen constantly. I'm almost happy that many of the attacks have a min+ recharge. My plan is to have Entangle, Ice, Spec Wound, Blind and Acid Arrow be my big 5 and then click or bind the rest.

I started up a Ill/TA based on your recommendations. I've found one bug and wanted to see if anyone else had noticed it. If I lead off with Entangle Arrow and Immediately queue up Blind or Spectral Wounds, I do not get Containment on the Blind or SW attack. I have to wait about a second for the web part of the animation to start in order to get containment. Have others noticed this? Do you think I should /bug it?

Thanks!

Has anyone else noticed that putting a Martial Arts robe over armored legs will clip pretty badly. This may have been posted before. I'll try to get a pic tonight.

Hi Moderators, If you happen to read this post, can you please move this thread to the MM Guides section. I realized I put it in the wrong place.

Thanks!

Ok, Here's my lvl 40+ Content update.

The first thing I noticed when starting to fight +2 Elite Bosses was that I couldn't put out enough damage to take them down even with trip mines. They move around way too much and regenerate way too quickly. Also, most of them are deadly enough that they could see through my stealth/ss combo at times and were beating me half to death before the fight even got going.

The Second big issue I ran into when getting into the 40s was how obnoxious it was to move around in Grandville. I kept either teleporting into groups that could see through my ss/stealth or not being able to TP fast enough to find a purch and falling back to the ground. Not fun.

To remedy these 2 issues, I have changed the build to include Fly, Fitness, and Leadership. I took Air Sup and Fly which gives me an additional attack at close range so I can do personal damage at the right opportunity. I took leadership to boost my bots accuracy and damage which believe it or not really helped against elite bosses. I took Swift, health, and stamina to compensate for the 2 new toggles and to get me going quicker. I had to sacrific ss and stealth, but I just fly really high if i'm worried about being sniped. I also dropped the medicine pool. I found that with the increased end from stamina, I can afford to keep more greens in my inspiration pool instead of blues.

I also seriously changed my tactics. Instead of being a stealth attacker, I've switched to tanking. Tanking? yes, Tanking. I picked up Mace Shield. With Mace Shield 3 slotted for DEF, FF Generator 3 slotted, and the bubbles from my shield bots, I've got Sick DEF. I now start attacking by picking a target to attack and have my seakers take the alpha. While they're exploding, I run in and drop trops and morter and let my bots bodyguard me while i'm setting the traps. The bots then start firing at targets which usually pulls the aggro off of me. I then start focus firing my pets at specific targets while I keep spamming web grenades and caltrops. If anything gets close to me that I think I can kill I use sands of mu and air superiority to help out with damage. I was able to use this method and found that I don't even need trip mines anymore. I dropped trip mines and detonator. I haven't reached 50 yet, so I'm still deciding on whether to take detonator for the fun of it or take Manuevers to make myself just that much more difficult to hit.

With Inventions on their way, I've shelved this toon so I can use the last few lvls that I want to get while I'm IO hunting.

I haven't posted my updated build here. I still tweak it once in a while, but that's cuz it's so much fun to add a little here, take a little away there.

I'll toss in my most recent build shortly (it's at home and I'm at work).

This is my first real attempt at a guide because this is the first Build since
my original Fire/Ice Tank that has made me really happy with the game. This is
the first Toon ever that I don't mind grinding with because the guy is just so
damn entertaining.

My motto has always been and will always be "Theme first, Function Second." If
it looks cool and causes you to have more fun, then take the power and use it.
Don't worry about the numbers or being "efficient." The point of this game is
to have fun, not get to lvl 50 as quick as possible.

With that in mind, I have come up with what I think is a really fun
Robotics/Traps MM build. I will outline the powers I chose, why I chose them,
and how I slot them. I will not give descriptions above why I like the power.
I will also not give the DPS or any other number unless it's relevant to why I
took it.

I wanted a character that had all possible gadget themed powers that were
available and fit the build.

Robotics:
Pulse Rifle: I skipped all pulse rifle attacks. I didn't feel they were worth
the Endurance and the damage. You'll see later when I discuss strategy why I
didn't need them. If you decide to take any of the 3 pulse rifle attacks I
would recommend slotting 2 Acc, 2 Dam, 1 Rech, and 1 EndRdx. This will allow
them to be accurate and not as costly. IF you go with Hasten like I did, I
would switch out the Recharge for either a 2nd EndRdx or 3rd Dam.

Battle Drones: These guys are your cannon fodder. They do reasonable damage
and have great knockback. Because when you get 3 of them they are 2 lvls behind
you, I recommend slotting with 3 Acc and 3 Dam. This maximizes both their
accuracy and damage.

Equip Robot: Gives your Drones an aimed shot, your Protector Bots a heal, and
your Assault Bot a Flamethrower. Get it, use it, love it. It comes back quick
enough that you don't need recharges in it. Just use the one slot for an EndRdx
and maybe a second EndRdx later if you have a spare slot.

Protector Bots: These babies are so much fun. You'll understand later when you
read about upgrade robot below. They do better damage than your drones and will
put double energy shields on you and your other pets. They will also heal the
other robots when they are damaged. Because they are only 1 level below you,
you can slot them with 2 ACC, 3 DAM, and 1 Heal, or if you do alot of PvP, I
would swap the Heal for a 3rd ACC. One thing to remember. They will bubble
your pets, and any other mastermind's pets that are near by. Be careful about
this because they can end up only bubbling your pets to 1 each instead of 2
because they're busy bubbling your friend's pets.

Repair: This is a good and bad power. It's good for effect. If nothing else
get it for the special effect. It releases little spider machines that crawl
over your pet and heal it. It's also good, cuz it will heal your pet to full.
It's bad because it takes 120 seconds to refresh. I picked this up 30+. It's
more useful now that the assault bot refreshs later (2 mins instead of 90 secs)
post I7, but it's still more useful late game when there are psionic critters
running around that ignore your forcefields. I slot it with 3 Recharges only.
With hasten, it's back in under a minute, which makes it good for each spawn.
Never use it on the drones. Save it for the assault bot and protectors.

Assault Bot: This guy is the most fun pet in the game IMHO! He is a walking
nightmare of damage and pain. Get him at 26 and slot him quick. I recommend 2
Acc, 3 Dam. You can save yourself a slot here by not slotting a 3rd Acc, but
it's up to you.

Upgrade Robot: This is the Second most fun power you can get behind the Assault
bot himself. It gives Autofire to your drones, Photon Grenades and Seeker
Drones to your Protector Bots, and Missle Racks to your Assault Bot. This opens
up a whole new lvl of fun. Before this upgrade, you only had KB as a soft
control, and the Assault bot only had 1 AoE attack. After this upgrade, you
have 5 AoE attacks coming from 3 different robots, plus you have stacking
disorients. Spawns of 1+ mininons will die within the first volley. I was
laughing watching the carnage the first time I tried this in a bank mish. For
slotting, I recommend 2 EndRdx. I7 Made the recharge on this somewhere around
10-15 seconds so it comes back fast now for setup. The last thing you want is
to be waiting on your end to return instead of the power.

Traps: TAKE THEM ALL!!!!

Web Genade: 2 Acc. That's it. You use it to stop runners. The -Fly is
wonderful too. All you want to do is make sure you hit. It's also good for
making sure that Leuts and bosses get stuck in your other placed traps.

Caltrops: Best protection power I know. Throw it down on top of the boss, and
then back off. I slot it with 1 Rdx and 1 slow. It will be ready to cast
before the first one wears off. The extra slow is mostly for AV's that can
still move pretty quickly through it.

Triage Beacon: Don't Laugh. This power has saved my skin more times than I can
count. I place it down for each battle after the bots have placed themselves to
shoot. that way you don't have to worry about them not being in the right place
for it. I slot for recharge first, then add heals when I have a spare slot. 3
Recharge first, 3 Heals if possible.

Acid Mortar: I love this little guy. Slot him with 2 Recharges and 3 Def
Debuffs. If you PvP alot, slap 1 ACC on him, but I've never seen the little guy
miss in PvE. This guys is my alpha strike catcher. I'll explain more in the
tactics section.

Force Field Generator: Another wonderful power. 3 Def Buffs are all it needs.
Just be careful that when trying to be sneaky, they may not see you, but they
will see it.

Poison Grenade: There are 2 great uses for this. You can plant it right on top
of the acid mortar so that anyone attacking it will set it off, or you can wait
for the boss to move in, sneak up on him and drop it at his feet after he has
picked a target other than you. I slot it with 2 Rchgs only. It comes back
quick enough that I can use one every fight.

Seeker Drones: 2 Acc, 2 Rech, 2 Acc DeBuff. These guys are my alpha strike
takers. I shoot them into a group and the next thing I know some of the mobs
are disoriented and all of them are missing me. Plus if they're seen swooping
in, they'll screw up the enemy's alpha strike. Very very fun. Don't slot for
damage. The debuff is better.

Trip Mines: Just as good as the blaster versions. 2 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 Rech. Get
them back quick drop them all over yourself, and put one with the mortar if you
have the time. More about tactics later.

Detonator: I've tried this out in Test, and I've decided it will be my lvl 49
power. It's purely for theme and not particularly for anything else. It does
good damage, but you sacrifice a bot for it. The only bot worth blowing up is
the assault bot, and there's no point. I plan to have 1 or 2 ACC in it and
that's it. I don't see the point in slotting up something that takes forever to
recharge. (It's still better than time bombs)

Pool Powers I use and why:
Hasten: Great for getting your pets up and running quicker and for getting long
recharging traps back. Still worth 3 slotting.

Super Speed and Stealth: These 2 together are awesome. It gives you true
Invisibility in PvE. I've run right up to +10 Mobs, and they don't see me.
Careful with CoT. Sometimes they can see you. You get your travel power with
SS as well. I slot Stealth with 3 EndRdx and SS with 2 EndRdx, that way I can
keep them running even in combat. It takes a little getting used to inside
caves, but it's worth it.

Medicine: You're a gadgeteer, well the medicine set is a Tri-Corder. Why not?
Aid Other: I get this before Repair. I slot it with 1 Recharge, 1 Interupt,
and 2 endrdx. With all the shields and traps and robots taking aggro, I can
keep healing my bots 20% of their health without worry of being interupted.
Just be careful to not try it why standing in a status power.
Aid Self: I use this the same way except it's for me. Same slotting as Aid
Other. This really rescues me from trouble when solo'ing.

Teleport
TP Foe: Since web grenade will lock your target in position, and I didn't buy
any pulse rifle attacks, I needed a pulling power. This works great. I can
also use it to set up an ambush on a leut. I slot it with 2 Acc for sure. A
Range boost doesn't hurt either.
Teleport: This is my "oh crap" button. I don't use it to travel. I hit TP to
get me out of there and then use Aid Self. TP is quicker than most of the other
toggles, etc for getting out of trouble in a hurry. I use the /bind of
button+click. Slot it anyway you like, but I have it slotted with 1 End and
later with 2 ranges. Once the ranges are on it, you can use it as a travel
power as well.

This is entirely arbitrary, there's pro's and cons to all. The only sets I
think are not worth anything at all for an MM are the Fighting and Presence
pools.

Flight: Fly is good if you want to be able to hang above the action. I like it
for that reason. Hover is tricky because most of the traps require contact with
the ground which can get annoying. I had flight until lvl 26 then respec'd it
out.

Leadership: There's good and bad here. I love Tactics, but I hate assault and
manuevers. Both powers just don't give enough of a bonus to be worth the toggle
drains to my end. "But you need them for PvP don't you?" Not really. I never
PvP solo, so there's always someone on my team with them.

Fitness: Because I'm low on toggles, I didn't need it. Once my bots are
prepped and ready I don't need STA. Most of my powers are fire and forget traps
that don't drain me. I slot stealth and SS for End so I don't have to worry
about them either. Hurdle is nice with SS, but I've got TP for getting vertical
when I need it.

Tactics:
I'm a firm believer in sneaky traps. I love having stealth and SS running all
the time. Drop my traps and then hide around the corner while my bots finish
the cleanup.

I have 2 main tactics which rely on whether a boss is present or not.

No Boss: With Bots on Defensive/Follow, run up to the spawn with Stealth and SS
on. Drop the Mortar and wait for it to take the alpha. If I took any damage,
bodyguard will set off my bots for me. Then throw down caltrops and a few trip
mines. Web grenade the leuts so they're stuck in the trops. Let the bots kick
butt.

Boss: Set the Bots on Passive and place them in a location that's back from the
fight. Run up to the Boss, but not too close. Drop caltrops down and a few
trip mines and the poison trap. Back up just out of range and drop the Mortar.
Then launch the seekers at the boss and book around a corner and cast the shield
generator. Wait for the boss to alpha the seekers, and then run into the
caltrops and trip mines. Let the mortar get off one shot, then set the bots on
defensive/attack my target, or aggressive/attack my target. Run back in and
either start casting heals or dropping traps or spamming web grenade. The boss
will die pretty quick. If doing a +2 Boss or more than one Boss at the same
time, drop the triage beacon where the robots stand and shoot. if the bots
cause too much KB on the boss, do not persue. Switch to a closer target or pull
them back to the beacon to heal, and wait for the boss to come back. set up new
traps if you need to. chasing is never the way to do it. you'll always end up
in more trouble or you'll lose the bonus of your traps.

If the spawn is particularly large, thin it out with TP Foe first. You won't
need traps to kill a single minion or leut.

Team tactics:
My Team tactics don't change much from my other tactics. The Mortar becomes
less useful if you have many brutes on the team because you kill spawns and move
much too quickly. I usually use the Bots to Tank for the team. I send them in
and my seeker drones to suck up the alpha. The brute or stalker can then run in
right behind them. Bots do not usually run in, but they cause enough aggro to
pull so make sure that if a teammate has a cool AoE power that they want to use
first, that they use it before the bots start shooting. Be aware that your KB
attacks will annoy some of your team. The bots tend to knock spawns off of
location controls like tar patch or ice slick. Tell your teammates that have
immobilizes to use them first before the location powers. This will minimize
the KB. I always keep my bots on Defensive/follow when in teams with my thumb
poised over the passive button. You see a robot starting to chase, put them in
passive immediately. Robots aren't as bad as zombies for aggro'ing more spawns
than you can handle, but they will if you're not careful.

Patron Powers:
I have played this toon up to lvl 33 in Live, and used the Recluse Event in Test
to try him at lvl 40. I also used the Recluse Event to test out several powers
I don't yet have (like detonator). I have not tried any of the patron powers
and can only speculate at this time whether or not they are worth taking.
Also, Looking over the choice of powers, I was not that happy with the choices.
I like many others was really hoping for another pet. The more the merrier as
far as I'm concerned. Oh well. This is not a complaint section, so moving
on...

All 4 patron powers for MM's give you the same choice of powers but not
necessarily in the same order; a Group Immobilize, a Cone Attack, an Armor, and
a Single Target Hold.

For a Gadgets themed MM, you really only have 2 choices, You can go with the
Mace or with Mu electricity. I chose the Mace. It's a weapon, which is a
gadget so it still fits the theme. I guess you could choose Sharks as your PP
if you can rationalize that the sharks are holographic projections or some such.

Mace
Mace Webgrenade: This one is a group immobilize that works the same as your
single target immobilize. I like regular web grenade, so I thought this could
be helpful as well. It's also good for sticking a group on your caltrops or
sticking them inside your poison trap. 2 Acc and 2 Endrdx would be plenty, but
it couldn't hurt to toss on an immobilize or recharge reduction

Mace Blast: I'm not convinced on this one. It's a damage cone. I never bought
any of the pulse rifle attacks, so I don't see the need in having this one
either. I don't do damage myself. I let the bots do it for me. If I had a
build that included the pulse rifle, I might take this as well. Even if you
took all 4 attacks, I don't think you'd do more than defender lvl damage anyway.

Mace Shield: This one I like and I will get. It's the only toggle shield that
you get from the patrons that is Defense based instead of resistance based. I
want this because it stacks nicely with my bot's shields and my ff generator. I
plan to slot it with 2 end redux and 3 def buffs.

Mace Webhold: This is mixed for me. Yes it's a single target hold with all the
good that comes with it, but i'm not sure I can fit it in. If I get it, I'll do
2 Acc, 1 End rdx, 1 recharge and 2 holds.

Well there you have it. I hope this enlightens you on how to build a fun
robot/traps mm. I've been enjoying every moment of playing this guy, and every
lvl just keeps getting better. Please feel free to leave comments or questions.
I'd be glad to answer follow up comments. Also, please keep in mind that this
is not a "you should build it this way" guide. I play this guy cuz he's fun.
Whether or not he's as efficient as possible is not important to me.

I've posted my 2 possible builds for past lvl 40. I haven't quite decided which
I'm going to use. Regardless, everything before lvl 40 is set the way I wanted
it.

Name: MECH-TON
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Battle Drones==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Web Grenade==> Acc(1) Acc(17) EndRdx(46)
02) --> Caltrops==> Rechg(2) Slow(7)
04) --> Triage Beacon==> Rechg(4) Rechg(11) Rechg(40) Heal(40) Heal(40)
Heal(43)
06) --> Equip Robot==> EndRdx(6) EndRdx(43)
08) --> Hasten==> Rechg(8) Rechg(9) Rechg(9)
10) --> Acid Mortar==> Rechg(10) Rechg(11) DefDeBuf(21) DefDeBuf(21)
DefDeBuf(23)
12) --> Protector Bots==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Acc(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(15) Dmg(17)
14) --> Super Speed==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(25)
16) --> Force Field Generator==> DefBuf(16) DefBuf(19) DefBuf(19)
18) --> Stealth==> EndRdx(18) EndRdx(23) EndRdx(25)
20) --> Poison Trap==> Rechg(20) Rechg(33)
22) --> Teleport Foe==> Rechg(22) Acc(37)
24) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(24) Range(46) Range(46)
26) --> Assault Bot==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29)
28) --> Seeker Drones==> Acc(28) Acc(31) Rechg(31) Rechg(31) TH_DeBuf(33)
TH_DeBuf(33)
30) --> Aid Other==> EndRdx(30) EndRdx(34) Rechg(34) IntRdx(34)
32) --> Upgrade Robot==> EndRdx(32) EndRdx(45)
35) --> Trip Mine==> Acc(35) Acc(36) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Dmg(37) Rechg(37)
38) --> Aid Self==> EndRdx(38) EndRdx(39) Rechg(39) IntRdx(39)
41) --> Mace Shield ==> EndRdx(41) EndRdx(42) DefBuf(42) DefBuf(42) DefBuf(43)
44) --> Repair==> Rechg(44) Rechg(45) Rechg(45)
47) --> Mace Webgrenade==> Acc(47) Acc(48) EndRdx(48) EndRdx(48) Rchg(50)
Immob(50)
49) --> Detonator==> Acc(49) Acc(50)
OR
44) --> Mace Webgrenade==> Acc(44) Acc(45) EndRdx(45)
47) --> Mace WebHold==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Rechg(48) EndRdx(48) Hold(50)
Hold(50)
49) --> Repair ==> Rechg(49) Rechg(50)