Nickolas85

I actually thought I was hallucinating when I saw you left Blizzard out of your build. Corruptor Blizzard + Tar Patch/any -res debuff (bonus points for Ice Storm as well) is one of the fastest ways to obliterate a mob across any AT. It Scourges. Even if you don't take nukes normally I highly recommend it in the case of Ice/. I know the end crash can be off-putting at first, but in those situations where Blizzard is appropriate you will be very happy you have it.

Other than that, the main thing I would do different with this build is just the levels that you pick up certain powers. Howling Twilight at 30 is something I wouldn't do, personally; it's a tremendous power in solo and team play.

As far as slotting goes, I always prefer to slot my DM characters for recharge. I can't tell what you're going for here since I don't have access to MIDS atm (off the top of my head looks like a defense build -- correct me if I'm wrong) but I think slotting defense on a DM is a bit superfluous unless you're trying for a farm build of some kind. When you get decent -tohit values in Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare you can basically nullify an entire alpha. Of course, I might change my tune when you explain your reasoning for this build; there's more than one way to miasma a dark.

I know this post might sound negative, but I'm actually excited to follow your progress and hear your thoughts on Ice/Dark as you level. I really enjoy reading threads like this.

Earlier someone mentioned that DS doesn't use damage procs. On my Dark Defender, it does. I frequently see Fluffy's abilities (the ones with to hit checks) pop up with damage numbers. Is this different for MMs? I'm 6 levels from my MM's Dark Servant and this news sucks

I have to agree that if you are having pet survivability problems with DM, the problem lies with you, not with DM. No Howling Twilight or Fearsome Stare -tohit slotting stand out as your biggest problems. Maybe you're anchoring Darkest Night poorly too, I don't know. TG should be more than enough to handle what damage DOES get through, even with its smaller radius.

No AT *needs* to build towards Defense to be effective, but most of what you're saying holds true. On any DM toon of mine I usually build more for recharge.

Have to agree, an /energy Dom would definitely be more your speed. You're skipping most of the powers that make Force Field at all useful. If all you want is knockback for a concept, the Dom secondary will give you that and still allow you to be efficient.

To clarify, I'm familiar with buffing and know how to do it well, I think. I've played mostly Corrs and Defenders before my MM, so I'm not adverse to the playstyle, but rather the daunting thought of having to buff SO MUCH CRAP. For those who play MMs with a buffing secondary: Do you buff all your pets and all your teammates, or just your teammates?

Also, anytime Dark Miasma is an option you can bet I'm considering it. Dark Servant is my favorite pet ever. Sorry, Bruiser.

I'm really encouraged by all this tremendous feedback I'm getting, particularly the tip about Thermal's synergy with Necromancy. I don't think that would have occurred to me without this thread. Keep it coming, I'm learning a lot!

Also: I didn't mean to say that was actually my opinion on the performance of Bots/. I have no idea what Bots/ performs like, although I'm certainly getting a better idea now.

Currently I have a Thugs/Traps MM I'm enjoying. I'm interested in starting another. The problem is that I'm not well-versed at all at the nuances of the different primaries other than the one I'm playing. From skimming the forums, I have very basic (and mostly negative) ideas about how they function.

I know that MM primaries don't really vary *too* much in playstyle, but I'd like to hear some general consensuses on the minions from the primaries and what their strengths and weaknesses are. You can be as detailed or as non-specific as you like. Here's an example of the kind of thing I'd like to see:

Bots are strong in AoE post-32 but struggle in killing speed before that

Here's what I'd like to not see:

Bots suck thugs 4ever

Suggestions for secondaries are welcome too, but I think I might shy away from buffing sets for a MM. Trying to maintain buffs on six pets and teammates seems...not fun.

To be honest part of me is glad it's not just me. I tried to log onto Virtue (the only other server where I have any character I'm interested in) and I got the same thing. Sad panda is sad.

Dark sounds like the perfect fit for what you're asking. You could say that it "blooms" early, but in fact it's a set with very strong powers throughout all 32 levels. While I'm fond of my Dark/Dark Defender, the damage is indeed on the lower end of the spectrum.

For a solid pairing with Dark, Sonic is a strong choice (as always). Archery and Ice are also stand outs because of their AoE abilities that will capitalize on that wide -res debuff of Tar Patch. Rain of Arrows/Explosive Arrow and Ice Storm/Blizzard are deadly if you're quick on the draw and can nail all the targets caught in your patch.

Storm is a strong set in general, and really getting a feel for it can teach you a lot about positioning and the ways to take advantage of knockback. Teaming can be frustrating though, since you'll be asked to pull back with some of your key powers. You can try to explain your side of it, but you may still have a hard time.

Traps is also nice for the mentioned reasons. Teleport Foe is a very fun ability to combine with all your traps, and is a neat way to melt troublesome targets quickly. Trick Arrow is similar to Traps. The main difference for solo play is that instead of drawing your enemies into your "trap zone", you're basically firing your traps at the enemies and trying to make sure they stay in range of them.

I'd also suggest Rad because I know it's very strong, but my personal experience with it is limited.

Nobody here said "don't consider yourself a support character" and nobody told you to stop playing your character how you want. Remember, you're the one who posted here asking for advice I was only trying to offer another point of view. I'm sorry if my post came off as preachy, because that wasn't my intent.

My Fire/Pain Corruptor is not a "DPS" corruptor, it's just that: a Fire/Pain Corruptor. He blasts, he heals, he buffs. He casts Share Pain on targets will full health just to get the damage buff. My point was that you *can* place focus on your DPS and play support *at the same time*.

Granted, I think I failed to consider your current level when I said the things I said. At your level, the value of a straight up "healer" is increased greatly because most tanks aren't sitting on a metric asston of Defense (although that can occur even at this level with the right party members). While I understand you're not concerned with this right now, something to keep in mind is that the value of your heals will decrease somewhat as you go up in levels. That's the point where your other abilities (and I'm including your attacks in this) will start to shine more.

Also just to point out, Defenders can now play on Redside, so technically there is someone who has support as their primary

I don't have a ton of time so I'll try and make my opinions succinct. I might pop in later with numbers if no one else does.

First thing that sticks out to me is not taking Fire Blast for Flares. I've actually done the opposite on every Fire Blast character I've ever made, and while you could take Flares at low levels to flesh out your attack chain, I still would prioritize Fire Blast over Flares almost all the time. I also highly encourage you to take Blaze when it becomes available to you. It's always been a crucial part of my ST attack chain as Fire. I actually drop Flares (if I even take it) by the time I get Blaze.

Share Pain is a really neat power because it grants you a damage buff along with the powerful, quick activating heal. IMO it's one of the powers that gives Pain its unique playstyle, so I would recommend taking it when you get the chance. If you use it make sure you're not standing in the middle of the mob, though. I'd drop Soothing Aura for it, actually. When I played around with Soothing Aura, the power of the heal vs the end drain wasn't really worth it to me.

Other thing I'd like to suggest is that you get yourself out of this "healer" mindset. Pain has heals, of course, but it's so much more than a set that heals people. If you're going to spend most of your time watching the green bars, you'll get bored really quickly if you team up with VEATs and/or a Force Fielder. Someone who just heals is of limited use in the long run of this game, IMO.

Snipes and nukes are a playstyle thing in my experience. Not many PUGs will let a ranged character pull these days (in my experience) so its usefulness in that area is diminished somewhat. Nukes are fun, but I prefer to stray away from them if I'm running a character with toggles.

I was just thinking about this combo as well. Freezing Rain/Rain of Fire/Fire Ball seems nothing short of devastating on a tightly packed cluster of mobs. I've never rolled a Corruptor before, but I think this might be my first combo when I do.

Dark/ is criminally underrated. I've leveled my D3 to 40 so far primarily soloing, but I always feel very capable on a team. Once you get your -ToHit debuffs rolling, your team won't be taking much damage at all, and even if they do you or Fluffy can throw out a heal. /Dark's damage output isn't tremendous, but the stacking -ToHit debuffs makes it very safe.

Although I love Dark/Dark, objectively /Sonic stacking -Res with Tar Patch (or Freezing Rain/Sleet) could be very powerful.

In my experience with my Ice Dom, Jack cycles through his attacks reasonably well, although he tends to use Ice Bolt once before rushing into melee and chaining his melee abilities. This isn't such a bad thing though, since I recall that he has a debuff aura (slow and -recharge, like most ice abilities), and his melee attacks seem to hit harder from what I can tell.

Other than the Imps, which you mention that you did not want, the only other Controller pet I've used is Phantasm, who's quite awesome. I don't really mind the knockback, and it was basically a non-issue grouping since I solo'd the entire way with my Ill/, but if you plan to team a lot it's something to consider.

Someone has probably said what I'm about to say, but I'll just add my two cents.

I enjoy the storyline aspect of AE more than the rewards. HOWEVER, if the XP was removed from AE missions, I would probably not play them very often, if at all.

I don't farm, I don't PL, but until I start to pay for every other person's subscriptions, I hardly think it's my place to tell them they can't or shouldn't do.

However, just because I don't farm doesn't mean I don't want to not be rewarded for spending time killing things. I haven't played through any story arc that was so incredible I'd play it even if it didn't give me xp. The reason I do it so much and enjoy it so much is that even the worst stories are a very refreshing change of pace from newspaper missions.

I don't know if any of that made sense, but the short version is that it would take some kind of incredible, pulitzer prize winning novella to make me want to play an XP-less MA.