brophog02

Storm is usually a very end heavy set, but with masterminds they took it up another notch on the crazy scale.

Stamina alone is really hardly noticeable it is so bad. Heavy, heavy end slotting is needed in everything.....from pet summons and upgrades to all of your storm powers. End slotting should be the primary attribute you slot for in any storm mastermind unless you want to just guzzle blues all day long.

Until you get further along and decide just what your personal priorities and style are, that's the best generic advice I can give. You never really solve end issues with a MM Stormie, you just get to the point you chug less blues.

Easy to learn is an inexact misnomer. What a lot of people use that phrase for is which set of pets lets the owner be the laziest.

It is usually reserved for a set of ranged pets that you can have follow you around while the owner utilizes almost no pet controls, whatsoever. It's effective due to the baseline of effectiveness being so low on a mastermind, but also the source of a great deal of conflict when teaming.

In that event, one hasn't learned to play a mastermind, but rather found a way to allow a mastermind to be played.

When you get down to actually learning to play a mastermind, they are all the same. They all take the same pet controls, utilize the same macro structure, and function the same. Some have different preferences, such as melee or ranged, and some have different quirks, but the concepts and actions of the AT doesn't fundamentally change based on pets.

Thugs is actually one of the more tricky sets to begin playing and controlling because the pets optimally work at different ranges, and therefore can require a little more management between pets to get everything to work right. Often times you'll hear people just yell at the Bruiser for "his stupidity" when they really should be looking at themselves for not placing him in the correct spot to begin with. It is one of the more powerful overall sets, however, and therefore a common selection in these kinds of threads.

Bots is similar, in that it can be a powerful set, but is also a little difficult to utilize correctly because you want to optimally account for knockback. Instead, people complain about it rather than utilizing the tools available to properly position the pets.

These are usually the most popular recommendations for "easiest to learn", but what they are really being recommended for is "easiest to make relatively strong with the least amount of work involved".

In terms of learning the AT, the choice of pets doesn't matter as much as it does learning the controls and concepts such as bodyguard. The macro guides in the guide sticky is where you want to start. My personal recommendation is Sandolphin's numpad bind due to its flexibility and logical arrangement. It isn't for everyone, but it allows you to quickly learn a control system that can be used anywhere and control any level of pet. From there, you can begin tailoring the controls for your specific needs. I highly recommend, with whatever control system you ultimately use, to put a Goto command on an extra mouse button and become accustomed to moving your pets around. Most of the problems people have, whether it is with a singular pet or an entire primary, is due to poor utilization of the Goto command. Putting it on a mouse makes the entire exercise about as difficult as playing a Scrapper.

Where the Oni attacks from is user error........making the error of letting him decide in the first place.

They make Scrappers for a reason..........

Blasters seem like a simple AT......they are afterall one of the most popular....

.......but you're either a blaster type or you're not. There are, admittedly, a lot of reasons to become frustrated with one, and not surprisingly a lot of players start blasters only to dump them later on.

As important as positioning and angles is timing, and that's the crux of what a lot of these posts are really saying. A Fire blaster doesn't have to worry much about this, but any blaster that has a knockback component in their AOE powers, whether that be shockwave, electron haze, energy torrent, M30, buckshot, explosive arrow.........any of them.......needs to understand that they are just one component of a team's AOE damage. Basically every AT is going to provide some form of AOE power, and outside of those that think their AT has to be "pure", most players will bring some of that potential to the party. Too many people think that the Blaster is the AOE, when he is just another component of the AOE.

It is highly important to always know your teammates powers. First thing I always want to know is what tanks I have, so I know how to best utilize knockback to help them. If I have willpower and invuln tanks, I want to not only take care in my positioning, but also make sure they are taking care of theirs. If they corner pull (which is common in those sets), I want to get them to pull into the corner instead where I can better saturate their powers with bodies on the floor. Secondly, I look at my other blasters/defenders and their AOEs to see how much AOE I need to bring to get the job done. Third, I want to know if I have a -kb utilizing controller on the team. Lastly, I see if I have any typically AOE heavy Scrapper sets that may collide in style. If I have any problems with any of these, a simple PM takes care of things. If I have something like a tank or Scrapper that is doing a remarkable job working with me, a PM goes a long way there, too.

I never back off with my AOEs with an Energy Blaster, provided that was the course of action the team needed, and with picking up Static Discharge out of the epics (or in this case Psychic Scream), the Energy Blaster has a substantial amount of AOE to contribute in both team and solo situations.

It has insane potential, both offensively and defensively, teaming and solo.

I have one stalled in the high 20's that I just haven't played with in a long time. Got frustrated at the lack of mid-level IOs (namely stealth oriented ones) and just let it sit while I did other things.

The biggest problem with Ninja/Poison is you picked two sets who each excel at smaller, tougher encounters. The Ninja AOE gets better post 32, but it is middle of the road at best, and that's when you actively use smoke flash and everything goes well.

The plus side is that the combo handles bosses and higher level foes very well and does it without heavy reliance on the Tier 3. For Ninjas, the Jounin are really the force behind the set, with Oni providing some damage and a bit of control.

My advice is contrary to what most ATs will do in the i16 age.......crank the difficulty and take on smaller groups w/bosses rather than larger groups of lower enemies without bosses. Groups get easier post 32 and again post 38, but your strength is still taking out hard targets with great damage and massive debuffs.

(1) Learn to use goto commands to help control knockback. The bots are an extension of you, and like any user with knockback, positioning is key.

(2) Defense on your personal self isn't of a prime concern. Softcapping pet defense can be highly helpful, but your own state of affairs isn't terribly relevant. The damage done to you just isn't that large when you divide it up with 6 pets. If your decision is between a defense shield or a kb resistant immob, and knockback is giving you that much of a problem......the answer is very simple: Take the immob.....most bots players do.

Like other minor sources of regen, it works better as an overall plan to build regen.......just treating it as yet another bonus.

Call of the Sandman is a pretty good, if underutilized, set. It may not be what you're looking for in Siren's Song, depending on your overall slotting strategy, but it is a fairly cheap source of extra recharge, hp, and end. The downside there is that the purple for sleep sets is pretty cheap, too......so it usually gets the nod over Call of the Sandman.

A few comments:

Smoke Flash is in part what makes the Ninjas stand out. Skippable? Sure, but not desirably so. The Ninjas do good damage with some useful mitigation. They're really kinda like little Blasters in that respect, and like little sword wielding Blasters, the easiest way to keep them alive is to kill everything very fast.

Thunderclap is a very underestimated tool, as a whole, but especially for Masterminds. Like a lot of people, I skip it commonly on a lot of my stormies. For a Mastermind, taking it and Oppressive Gloom locks down everything not resistant to the effect. Even by itself, it knocks out minions and lets you concentrate on the hard targets first. That alone mitigates a lot of the damage that tends to kill the Genin. Ninjas, overall, don't have a lot of problem mitigating damage from 1 or 2 targets......it is groups that can give them the most trouble. If you can buy a few seconds of time by stunning the group, the single targets fall pretty quickly.

Thunderclap is also very useful in team situations where Hurricane may not be the easiest to use. When appropriate, I prefer Hurricane as it is one of the best tools in the game, but Thunderclap works so well with the Ninjas (and most of the other pets) that it is worth taking if at all possible.

Personally, I play a very melee oriented playstyle with a Ninja/Storm because my mitigational tools are primarily based at that range.

/Storm is all about the lock down with the melee pets, and it works quite well. Necros can add their own debuffs to help more, while Ninjas bring their own tricks to the table that stack well with storm's lock down capabilities. The Ninja's passive defense is a little lacking, given what the other pets get, but combined with Hurricane it is very tough to hit the little buggers.

The hidden gem with storm masterminds is T-Clap. Combine that with Oppressive Gloom in the late game and everything officially hates you.

Group TP works very well, or you can bind a goto command to a mouse button. With the Ninjas, in particular, they get where you're going very fast. With practice you can send them on a goto at the same time you drop a freezing rain on that spot and they'll get there right as the foes are flopping.

Or, you can Smoke Flash the Oni and send him in with the Jounin, who are already hidden for a stealth attack! Often times I'll do this and just keep the Genin on defensive. They're pretty good about staying back and throwing their shurikens, which do decent damage and their exploding variety provides more AOE.

Lots of versatility with /Storm and masterminds, which is a big part of what makes the combination fun.

I disagree with Mr Heat Stroke as well (in general), but I think he is referencing just a certain play style with Elec/Elec. I don't see the OP specifying a build or playstyle.

Once again, we have met our monthly quota on this idea. Congrats to all!