The Evil Librarian's Guide to the Robot/Traps MM
By
Entropic_Shift,
Posted on: 2006-01-08 03:00 in Player Guides
Update:
After some extensive testing against our love-to-hate-'em Longbow, I have determined that the cone from the Battle Drone's Full-Auto-ish power is quite huge. In fact, it seems to be the exact same size as the real thing.
The reason I couldn't see this at first is that the damage numbers from the back rows of groups weren't showing up. If I gave an attack order and then moved forward into the group of bad guys, those damage numbers suddenly appeared over their heads. This seems like some kind of rendering artifact, as the damage still occurs even though the numbers don't show.
So, if you've ever played an AR blaster or corrupter and have used Full Auto, aim the Battle Drones just like you would the real thing. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Arc ID#1160 : "In the Shadow of Statesman" -Finished
Part Two--Under Construction
Very nice guide. That said...
Just wanted to note: Everyone has a different berzerker bot battle drone. My #1 is the worst offender, but sometimes switches it off with #3. #2 is very good for me, paradoxically, happily staying at range.
I don't agree with all your slotting decisions, but it's a matter of taste (I stuck some extra knockback in pulse rifle, for example, and I have a lot more accuracy slotted to go with my tactics)
Oh, certainly, everyone has different slottings they like. 
I did a lot of endredux mainly because I'm a very 'steamroller' mastermind--once I get everything up and going, there's little to no pausing for rest unless people are dead, there's an AV, or Something Else Bad has happened.
Arc ID#1160 : "In the Shadow of Statesman" -Finished
Part Two--Under Construction
Excellent guide. Lots of good advice.
However, there isn't any "stop" command for pets. the macro:
/macro STOP "petcom_all stop"
doesn't work. Perhaps you mean "stay"?
Y'know, that one just blew right by me. Yes, that's exactly the command I meant. Sorry for any confusion.
Arc ID#1160 : "In the Shadow of Statesman" -Finished
Part Two--Under Construction
An evil librarian!!! It was you, wasn't it! It was you that invented the Dewey Decimal! GRrrrrrrrrrrr...
[ QUOTE ]
When I heard of the new ATs in City of Villains, I was immediately entranced by the idea of a 'real' pet AT, the Mastermind. I thoroughly enjoyed having a controller with a bazillion pets doing most of the heavy lifting back in the day, and figured that having an AT that was designed from the start with that kind of thing in mind would be even better.
Well, yeah, I was right on that count. Playing a mastermind has been a total riot.
When I installed CoV, my first idea was to make evil versions of the hero characters I had already. The obvious analogue to a mastermind is a controller, and the one controller I had, Entropic Shift, was an easy one to 'flip'. A berserk librarian fed up with late-fees, Shift dubs herself Covalence and heads to the Rogue Isles to wreak some havoc. (Tongue firmly in cheek here!)
Now, a librarian probably isn't going to command hordes of the undead, nor will she have access to a limitless supply of B-movie ninjas.
[/ QUOTE ]
That depends on the branch location. If it's downtown L.A. during the midnight shift, then sure you can get both.
[ QUOTE ]
She wouldn't have enough military contacts to get a bunch of gun-wielding commandos on the payroll either. Thus, the only feasible choice for her was Robotics as a primary--she stole a bunch of 'Be Your Own Mad Scientist' books when she left Paragon City, and built up a small horde of evil little robots.
[/ QUOTE ]
The Dreaded Shelf Bots. NOOOOOOO.
[ QUOTE ]
As for secondary choices, the theme tends towards Traps, though Force Fields might have worked. I didn't want to do that much buffing, though, and I've had my fill of Dark Miasma for now. Trick Arrow wasn't a favorite of mine either. Poison sounds interesting, and I may build a */poison mastermind later, but Traps suited the idea best.
[/ QUOTE ]
The ultimate Trap: Compact Shelving! Crushing Walls of Dewey Doom!
MA Author: Look for my eight arcs under @Witty Librarian!
Hero Cleanup Protocol estory now available! Through Smashwords.com and most ebook retailers!
First, great guide. Second a little technuiqe I developed after reading this guide that you might want to mention.
Basicly what you do is find a spawn of melle opponents, drop some caltrops, then summon a mortar. The mortar will fire, the melle opponents will use there pittifull ranged attacks on the mortar, run up, mabye get an attack of, then run away. While your doing this your bots can slaughter the spawn one by one as they remain aggro'd to the mortar.
I discoverd this soloing some lost mishes at lvl 18.
For what its worth, and this is understandably unconventional logic, I recently took on team teleport, finally respecing in a travel power at 44.
Dear lord, where have you been all my life?
There really isnt anything quite like dropping 10 tons of mechanized armor into the middle of a troupe of badduns, and with stealth (proc?) it puts you in prime position to lay all of your proximity traps.
I will say, I liked the guide, poison trap is nearly essential for a up close, tanking bot/trap. You can take punishment but its best to have the badduns incapacitated.
When I heard of the new ATs in City of Villains, I was immediately entranced by the idea of a 'real' pet AT, the Mastermind. I thoroughly enjoyed having a controller with a bazillion pets doing most of the heavy lifting back in the day, and figured that having an AT that was designed from the start with that kind of thing in mind would be even better.
While I don't like Trip Mine, the idea of having a power that results in a similarly powerful explosion than I can command to go where I want and explode WHEN I want... well... that's just totally awesome. I figure I'll use this in battle, particularly when one of my battle drones has gone into melee without asking first (I'm lookin' at YOU, Lilith!), gotten itself beaten almost to death, and it surrounded by bad guys. Select drone, press button, KABOOM!
Compared to your other bots, this one's a real tank. You can send him in first against just about anything short of an AV or an Elite Boss and be fairly certain he'll come out grinning. Bosses that deal heavy smashing damage, though, are an exception, as all your bots do take extra from smashing attacks. But that Psionic-wielding screwball that's been cutting your team to ribbons? Send him in!
Well, yeah, I was right on that count. Playing a mastermind has been a total riot.
When I installed CoV, my first idea was to make evil versions of the hero characters I had already. The obvious analogue to a mastermind is a controller, and the one controller I had, Entropic Shift, was an easy one to 'flip'. A berserk librarian fed up with late-fees, Shift dubs herself Covalence and heads to the Rogue Isles to wreak some havoc. (Tongue firmly in cheek here!)
Now, a librarian probably isn't going to command hordes of the undead, nor will she have access to a limitless supply of B-movie ninjas. She wouldn't have enough military contacts to get a bunch of gun-wielding commandos on the payroll either. Thus, the only feasible choice for her was Robotics as a primary--she stole a bunch of 'Be Your Own Mad Scientist' books when she left Paragon City, and built up a small horde of evil little robots.
As for secondary choices, the theme tends towards Traps, though Force Fields might have worked. I didn't want to do that much buffing, though, and I've had my fill of Dark Miasma for now. Trick Arrow wasn't a favorite of mine either. Poison sounds interesting, and I may build a */poison mastermind later, but Traps suited the idea best.
So, a Robots/Traps evil librarian. I'm sure the Scrapyarders are quaking in fear.
On to the powers! Strategy, binds, henchman behaviors, and maneuvers to be covered later.
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Robots Primary:
Pulse Rifle Blast:
This is the 'weak' version of the two single-target rifle attacks a Robot mastermind can get. I skipped this--I wanted a blast, but I wanted one that hit harder, not more often. Personal choice.
Battle Drones:
Your first tier henchmen. One at first, 2 at level 12, 3 at level 18. Each time you get more, they go down a level. Your second drone also seems to have an AI bug, whereupon said second drone will go suicidal on you. That drone will often engage at melee range, despite your best efforts to control it.
Slotting: 2/3 accuracy/damage. Some folks go for 3/3, or 2/3/1 acc/damage/knockback (which is a nice combo, by the way!), but I wanted an extra slot elsewhere. Backed up by a decently slotted Tactics, my 2/3 slotting will do just fine against anything reasonable you run into (+2's are hit easily, but +3s will throw you some misses--not enough to matter.)
Pulse Rifle Burst:
This is the only attack I wanted. It hits fairly hard for a MM attack (about 73-ish damage per shot for even cons, barring restance to negative energy), it's got a nice range, and a decent recharge. This is my personal 'shotgun', used for taking down low-health baddies in a single shot so my bots can work over something else.
Slotting: 1/3/1 acc/damage/endredux. I don't use Stamina in this build, so endurance is tight. The endredux is there to make sure I don't drop my toggles accidentally. I don't have a recharge in this because I don't want this to come up often; I want each use of it to be carefully thought out.
Equip Robot:
Get it, don't slot it, and love it. This gives your bots their first upgrade.
Slap a single endredux in it and call it good. It recharges fast enough that by the time the animation is ending, it's ready to go for the next guy. The endredux keeps it from totally eating your endurance bar while you're doing the upgrade cycle.
Photon Grenade:
Another personal attack, this one's an AoE with smash/energy damage and a chance to deliver a low-mag stun. I had this for a while, but didn't like it due to the randomness of the stun. It's a pretty attack, though. Some might like it for the AoE, but I found out that this thing attracted a bit too much personal aggro for my tastes, not to mention that it's not very accurate.
Protector Bots:
These boys can do their fair share of damage, but once you have your full array of bots to command, using them for pure damage is a waste of their unique abilities. You get 1 at L12, and 2 at L24.
Slotting: 1/2/2/1 acc/damage/heal/endredux. These guys only drop one level below you by the time you have two, so a single accuracy backed by Tactics is quite enough. The two damages let them dish out some pain (use 3 damages before you get your final upgrade, then swap). The two heals are there to counteract the slow recharge of their robot-healing-beam. One beam with 2 heals will fill up a battle drone and almost totally fix a protector bot, and do about half the health of the assault bot. The endredux I put in on forum advice, since once these guys get their L32 upgrade, they will go through endurance like it's water. The forum advice is spot-on here.
Repair:
I used to not have this, depending on Triage Beacon, tactics, and my protector bots to handle keeping the team healthy. After having gone through a few major AV battles, I changed my mind; the assault bot draws a lot of aggro, and this is a way handy power to fix him up in one shot (it's full health for any robot, plus it adds endurance to the bot.) Having Repair takes some of the strain off my protector bots, and it's invaluable for AV battles when the assault bots gets a face-full of Super-Hero fist.
Slotting: You don't need to use any more than the default slot if you command your 'bots well. I put an endredux in here just to keep the cost down.
Assault Bot:
Your tank, your missile spewing blaster with armor, your big intimidating bot to scare the newbies with. He's good at all ranges save for melee (and no slouch there, just slow), and ALL of his attacks save for his punch have an AoE component of some size.
I use: 1/3 acc/damage. He will accept disorient enhancements, but only his punch disorients that I know of, and having him in melee is a bad idea. He'll also take knockback enhancements, but those aren't necessary to make him function well, though I can definitely see where they'd come in handy. If you have the slots to burn, feel free.
Upgrade Robot:
L32 upgrade goodness! This turns your Battle Drones into little cone-attack monsters, your Protector Bots into stun-spamming little demons, and your Assault Bot into something straight out of the Terminator movies. Only problem: the recharge on this thing is a total pain in the butt at sixty seconds.
Slotting: 3 recharges at the least, you may want to throw in an endredux as well if you're going to be upgrading in the middle of battle as happens sometimes.
Traps as a Secondary:
Web Grenade:
You're required to take this. But that's OK, it's a little gem of a power! It's got immoblize, -recharge, +slow for anything it doesn't immoblize right away, and most importantly, -fly. If you PvP at all, this is a must-have power, since damn near everyone in PvP likes to fly and your bots are ground-bound. It's a godsend in AV battles, too. Most AV's don't resist immoblizes, and if you can keep the AV planted in one spot, you can unload all your traps on him easily, as well as keep your bots out of melee so they can fill him full of energy bolts.
Slotting: You can get away with just a single accuracy, but I heartily recommend an accuracy and one or two endreduxes. If you use this to snare an AV, you'll have to spam this like mad, and it'll eat your endurance reserves very quickly without the endredux. You might go acc/endredux/immoblize once you get SOs.
Caltrops:
Vastly useful at low levels when your bots' offensive power isn't quite 'there' yet, I've used it less and less as time goes on. However, I'm going to keep this power no matter what! For one thing, it's an awesome melee deterrent for NPC mobs. Toss it at your bots' feet and the bad guys will move out of melee range almost every time, which is good for your bots.
Slotting: Two slows. One will work fine if all you ever face is even-cons, but to have any effect on higher-con baddies, you need two. If you have slots to burn, throw in a recharge and maybe a range if you like.
Triage Beacon:
Very useful at low levels, as it's your only 'heal' until you can pick up Aid Other or Repair, it loses effectiveness at higher levels since battles go so fast. Still handy for AV battles. Unslotted, it will double your health regeneration rate, which doesn't sound like much, but it does add up.
Slotting: I used to have it 2/2 heal/recharge, but after a respec, I dropped it to just a single heal. This results in about a 130% increase in regen rate, and even without the recharge it comes up often enough that you can use it in hard rooms, or when you get ambushed, or when it's boss/AV time.
It's also an EXCELLENT 'lure' in PvP, since the effect shows up from miles away.
Acid Mortar:
Oh baby. What a power. It doesn't move when you put it down, like almost all of the traps, but it's soooo good. It deals out -DEF, -resistance, a minor damage component, and has a buttload of HP. It's like a minature rad defender/tank for your team. Drop this in a big battle and it will quickly soak aggro for you, make things very easy to hit, and if you're busting down an AV, a few shots of this will really cut down the AV's damage resistance.
Slotting: 3 recharges. I have yet to see this thing miss, even against +3s, so the accuracy isn't really needed. If you have extra slots, throw in defense debuffs, but you want those three recharges so you can call it up every time you need it. With 3 recharges, you can have two out for a short time, which is something that will likely only occur in AV battles. However, having two of these eating away at an AV produces a VERY noticeable effect.
Force Field Generator:
It's disperson bubble, but it costs you nothing to run! And it works even when you get mezzed. And it's great for folks using an awaken in battle, too, as they get up without being disoriented. It's cheap, it can fly, and it follows you automatically. It's also tough as nails, just like the acid mortar. Very rarely will you see it blown up by enemy fire, as it's got a lot of HP and it attracts no aggro save for the 'damn, there's nothing else to shoot at' kind.
Slotting: 3 Defense Buffs and you're done. It needs nothing else at all. It recharges way faster than its duration, and it costs little to summon.
Poison Trap:
I've heard many awesome things about the -regen component of this power, particularly for AV battles. Sadly, I couldn't fit it into my build, and I've never been a big fan of Trip-Mine like powers. The detection radius is reportedly very, very small, even though the effect is very good from all talk I hear.
Seeker Drones:
A better alpha-soak power has not been invented. Seriously. These little wonders are truly multipurpose. Each one has more HP than your Assault Bot (!!), they dish out a chance of a stun, they debuff accuracy, and they can also be used for personal defense, as they'll hover near you until something gets close, then POW! Only problem is that the recharge on these is murder.
Slotting: 1/1/X acc/recharge/accuracy debuff. I just have the 1 acc and the 1 recharge for now, but feel free to add as many hit-debuffs as you can fit in. The stun on these isn't all that long, though if you get a whole pile going off at once (like the four your protector bots can dish out plus your two), you can put even AV's out of commision for a little while. The stun isn't a 100% thing, but the hit-debuff part is, so slot for that.
Trip Mine:
I wanted this one bad, mainly to deal with stuff like guards in bank heists, but I've always had a dislike of powers like this (ie: a placeable that has no ranged attack). I don't mind setting things down, but I don't like having to set them down in a particular place or pattern to make them work. If these are anything like the CoH version, they'll pack a serious punch when they go off. If you take it and slot it heavily, try 2/3 acc/damage, or 1/3 acc/damage, with maybe a recharge thrown in as well.
Detonator:
Oh, I want this one bad.
I'll probably go 1/3 acc/damage, so I can have some of the other slots from 39 and 40 to spread around to other powers that need touching up.
Power Pools:
Flight, Leadership, and Teleportation.
In particular, Hover (3 flight speeds, 2 if you can't afford 3), Fly (2 endredux and as many flight speeds as you can cram in), Assault (to open up Tactics and provide a nice boost for a large team, 1 or 2 endredux), Tactics (for that ever so useful +perception; 2 endredux and as many hitbuffs as you can spare), and Teleport Foe (single accuracy, throw in another or a recharge/range if you like)
Fly is my travel set because I want Group Fly later on. Bootjets for my bots!
Leadership is there so I don't have to slot my pets with loads of accuracy, and for the +perception (useful in PvP AND in PvE), and the resist to Confuse powers. Tactics is the one leadership toggle I have on all the time. Assault I swap on and off as my endurance bar and the situation dictates, though it's usually on. Assault doesn't really shine until you're on a large team, at which point the +10% to your base (ie: unslotted) damage really starts to add up due to all the extra people.
Teleport Foe I took for several reasons. One, it's a handy tool for PvP and PvE. I can port people right onto a nasty set up of traps and mortars and such, or yank a particularly annoying non-boss mob out of the way, or catch runners. It's also by far the most useful power for the respec trial. However, I try not to depend on it all the time, for fear of becoming a one-trick pony. It's there for when the situation heavily demands it, not for when I just want to be cool.
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Henchman Profiles:
This is where I go into more detail about each type of henchman.
Battle Drones:
Fragile little buggers by the time you get three of them. They move fast, hit decently hard if all three are on the same target, and have some good range. Also, unlike the rest of your bots, they have Super Jump. This means tha they're the ideal bots to send after a fleeing enemy, since they can scale just about anything.
Bot #2 will, despite your best efforts, go into melee range all the time. This is apparently an AI bug of some kind.
Unupgraded, they have a three-shot burst that recycles every few seconds. The damge per tick on it will rarely go out of single-digits, even with SOs, but they shoot this a lot, and it adds up. They also have a brawl attack, but it's not very good.
With the first upgrade (Equip Robot), they gain a sniper-like attack that deals about twice as much damage as their three-shot burst. This attack also has an excellent chance to send the target flying. It also cycles fairly fast for a snipe.
With Upgrade Robot, the second upgrade (L32), these little fellows gain what basically amounts to Full Auto, but in energy bolts instead of lead. So far as I can tell, it's got a similar cone shape to Full Auto. It's hard to tell. This attack generates a LOT of ticks of damage, but the ticks are very small, usually on the order of 2-4 points of damage. However, having three of these go off at once on a large group will very quickly cut it down to size.
All in all, the Battle Drones have fast cycling, low damage attacks.
Protector Bots:
Much tougher than the Drones, these guys still shouldn't be in melee if you can help it. Sometimes one or the other will get a wild hair and charge, but not nearly as often as the Drones do.
Unupgraded, they have a 3-shot burst that's a little harder hitting than the Drones' burst. (10-per-tick average instead of 6-8 per tick for the Drones). They will also toss bubbles on you, your other henchman, and any other mastermind henchmen that are about. They will NOT bubble teammates, however. This is actually a good thing, though, if you want these guys to do anything aside from bubbles.
With Equip Robot, they gain a heal beam (which has a VERY long range but a long recharge, too) and the ability to shoot their version of the Drone's 'snipe' attack. It's still a three-shot burst, but it hits much harder.
With Upgrade Robot, these guys turn into absolute terrors. In addition to all the bot-buffing goodness they have already, these guys will now shoot Photon Grenades (AoE w/chance to stun) on a very regular basis, and if anything is dumb enough to get in melee range, they'll toss out two Seeker Drones apiece to blind and stun it into submission. Once you get Upgrade Robot on these guys, sending them to near-melee range of the outskirts of a battle is a good strategy, as they'll very likely stun most of the group into submission. All this stun/blind goodness comes at a price, though--endurance. This is why I have an endredux in Protector Bots, so they don't run out while spamming all this stuff.
The Protector Bots are just what their name implies. A decent amount of damage, healing, bubbles, and loads of status effects to play with.
Assault Bot:
Oh man, this guy is so cool! He'll shake the screen when you summon him.
Unupgraded, the Assault Bot ('assbot' in forum parlance) has a big backhand melee attack with a chance to stun (not advisable as a main form of attack, but it's good enough to slap down a minion that gets into fist range) and a plasma cannon attack with good range. Single plasma shots also have a very, very small AoE radius on impact.
With Equip Robot, the assbot gains a short-range flamethrower (just like the Assault Rifle power, but not quite as strong) that's great for roasting groups, and a Dual Plasma Blast that has almost snipe-level range. The dual plasma attack has a larger impact AoE than the single (ie: you'll actually see it happen more than once in a blue moon), and it's got a heavy damage component with a 7-tick DoT after that.
With Upgrade Robot, the assbot turns into a missle spewing monster, and finally gets a near-continuous attack chain. He'll get a new missile rack installed, and from that rack you get two kinds of missiles--your standard fare explosive type, and incendiary missiles. The explosive missiles have a large impact AoE radius, and do good damage as well as knockback. The real killer is the incendiary missiles, though. These not only do impact damage, but when they hit, they drop a patch of burning fire or two (or three--I've even seen four from one missile salvo), and this is what makes incendiaries so awesome. Enemies will either sit there and roast or run about like fools trying to get out. Against an immoblized Hero or Archvillain, incendiaries will quickly do major damage.
In short, the Assault Bot is a DoT-damage dealing monster--every attack save for his punch is an AoE of some kind and deals damage over time.
Stances, behavors, and odds and ends:
Some more details about your bots, their stances, and various /traps powers.
Acid Mortar: I've read people on the forums saying that having Recall Friend to move this around in battle is a total must, since 'the range is so short'. Untrue. In my experience, being able to have one of these out all the time is way better than blowing a power choice on Recall.
Why? Well, the range on the mortar isn't short, it just seems that way. For instance, if you drop the mortar next to your bots, stand next to your bots so they get the supremacy/leadership bonus, and don't move, then yes, the mortar has a short range. However, if you have the mortar way in the back of battle, your bots have moved up, and it's not hitting anything.... move forward. The mortar's perception radius is tied into your own. That is to say that the mortar will perceive things around itself just fine unassisted. But for longer range stuff, it needs you to 'spot' for it. So if the battle has moved forward a bit, move up yourself and get within twenty feet or so of the bad guy you want hit. So long as the distance from the baddie to the mortar is about the range of your average blaster attack (about 70-90 feet), the mortar will open up on it.
Also, the mortar uses a 'nearest foe' targeting algorithm. That is, it will ignore everything but the nearest bad guy. So if there's someone beating on the mortar and you want it to melt the armor of a further-away group of baddies, command your bots to blow the near guy to bits. Then it will switch targets once that one is dead.
The mortar can remove aggro from you or your bots as well. If you've just shot a bad guy with your personal weapon, it'll take about two mortar hits for him to swap targets and ignore you, provided you don't shoot him again. Same goes for getting a baddie off your bots with the mortar, but in this case you have to tell the bots to attack something else so they don't steal aggro back. Not to worry about the mortar's health, either--the only NPC's I've encountered that have destroyed mortars on me are red/purple Tank Smashers, those martial arts Longbow bosses, and AVs/Heroes. Anything else will just pound on it ineffectively.
Force Field Generator:
There isn't much to the FFG, really. You don't have to command it, as it follows you and lasts for a good long while. However, it is a solid object, and can block doorways if you're not careful. This can be disastrous if you suddenly find a pressing need to run like hell.
Ergo, you need to pay close attention to where the FFG is at all times. If you want it to change position, move to the very, very edge of its protection bubble and it will 'catch up' to you momentarily. If you're on the ground, the 'lag' between you moving and the FFG following you is very short. If you're hovering and make an adjustment to your position, the lag is short as well. However, if you are flying, the FFG won't adjust its own position until you come to a complete halt for a second or so. This can be critical at various times, so remember it.
You can, if you're precise, use the FFG to block doorways. This can be used as a 'gate' for your bots (issue attack order on out-of-sight baddie, but hold them in place with the FFG and then either move or dismiss the FFG to let the bots loose all at once), or you can even keep runners from leaving through narrow doors with it.
Note that the FFG, while it has no attacks, will draw aggro if it's seen before you are. Also note that it will take the shortest path to get to you. This can be trouble if you have just rounded a corner and called your bots to you, as they can get hung up on the FFG.
Seeker Drones:
This is a totally awesome power, provided you don't have these little boogers following you around all the time. They show up on your pet window, but you can't tell them what to do. This can be bad, for example, if you have a pair out and following you in PvP so you don't get totally bushwhacked by someone--pass too close to a group of NPC mobs and the drones will attack. They're also solid, and can't be walked through.
Despite annoyances, there is no better alpha-soak in the game, IMO. A 'DoTN fluff-bomb' is close, but not close enough. Got a team with no brute that's up against an AV, but no one wants to take the alpha strike? No problem! Get just at the max range of the Drones' summon range, press the button, and POW, two whirling seekers hit the AV and group, possibly stunning the minions and certainly debuffing most of the group's accuracy. So long as your bots and your team immediately attack as soon as the drones go off, the return-fire from the AV and group will be spread out amongst the party instead of concentrated on one person.
Stances and Commands:
Your various mastermind commands have differing effects on each robot type.
Passive: For all bots, this will make them just stand there until you give them a direct attack order.
Battle Drones will use all attacks at their disposal when in passive and ordered to attack.
Protector Bots when in passive will use all attacks at their disposal, but will not heal your bots or bubble anything.
The Assault Bot will, in passive, go through his entire attack chain, AoE's included.
Defensive: For all bots, they won't attack something unless that something attacks them or attacks you, then they'll turn and blow it away.
Battle Drones in Defensive are pretty good. You can toss them into a big furball with a direct move or attack order, and once they finish off their target they'll turn and attack anything that has hit them or you recently. They won't actively seek new targets, just respond to threats.
Protector Bots should be in Defensive at all times unless you specifically want them to not use their heal-beams or their bubbles. While Defensive, they will bubble everything they can (including your FFG, acid mortar, and (blech) seeker drones.) This can disrupt their attack chain if they decide to heal or bubble as a boss is coming at them. With Upgrade Robot in place, they will use all of their attacks (2 3-shot bursts and photon grenade), but will save the seeker drones for stuff that gets too close.
The Assault Bot is decent enough in Defensive. He just blows stuff up and defends you and himself. Full attack chain.
Aggressive: All bots will actively attack any target within their detection radius.
Battle Drones on Aggressive are little demons with guns. This is a decent set-up if your mission is fairly easy, as you can just move them somewhere and let them spray-n-pray everything to death. Works quite well after you get Upgrade Robot.
Protector Bots set to Aggressive are stun-dealing machines. They seem to concentrate a bit less on healing your bots (though they'll still do it, just not as soon as possible), but they whip out the seeker drones and photon grenades like mad. If you set them to aggressive, move them up near the battle to trigger their use of the seekers.
The Assault Bot on Aggressive will, quite simply, lay waste to everything in front of him. He'll cycle his attacks nonstop until everything's dead. The only problem is that he will get into melee a bit more readily, and so has to be watched.
GOTO:
This could be the built-in GOTO button you get with the default mastermind power bar (not something I advise using, really), or a custom macro/bind you make that has the GOTO command in it. Using this brings up a targeting reticle like the one you use to teleport, drop caltrops, and so on. Point, click, and the bots move to that spot to the best of their ability.
While your Battle Drones have Super Jump as a movement power, your other bots are not so blessed. Your other bots will move like any NPC mob can; that is to say, they have a built in jump that's better than your own by quite a margin. However, your bots will easily get hung up on railings and sometimes will have trouble with ramps that cross back and forth.
One thing to know about GOTO is that if you issue the command while the bots are in active combat with something, the GOTO command is 'queued'. That is to say that if the bots are using an attack power at that moment, or running after something, they will either finish the attack animation or continue running for a bit before following the GOTO order. If they were chasing something and are in Defensive or Aggressive, they very likely won't stay in place once they get to where you pointed at, either. Chances are they'll begin to chase it again.
Stop:
I do NOT recommend using the built in 'Heel' button you're given, as it not only issues the stop command but puts your bots in Passive mode as well. While this has its uses, I've found that it's better to simply get them to stop moving without changing their stance, so they can defend themselves. Thus, I made a macro like so: /macro STOP "petcom_all stop" This stops all pets in their tracks.
Unlike GOTO, issuing a STOP command is instantaneous. If they're attacking or chasing something, they will stop moving immediately or break off the attack. If in Defensive or Aggressive and working on a bad guy, they will stop their current attack, drop the target, and re-aquire a new one depending on if they're being shot or if something is close to them.
Attack:
Like the STOP command, issuing an attack command results in an immediate response. If in the middle of an attack animation, that animation must finish, but immediately after doing so, the bots will lay into thier new target. You can also stop your bots chasing with this--target something close, issue an attack command, and pow, the bot turn around and blast it (moving back to you if this new target is out of their current range).
Follow:
Personally, I only use follow when I'm A) soloing, B) travelling, C) my team is utterly steamrolling everything in their way, or D), we're on an outdoor map. Follow with the bots on passive is good for moving about in city zones, and follow>defensive works fine for that too. Follow>aggressive is for soloing even-con or old missions... just walk around and let 'em lay waste to everything.
Note that Follow seems to be the 'default stance' for bots. Example: If you order your bots to STOP and then set them on aggressive (or any other behavior), and then the bots attack and destroy a target, they will immediately afterwards set themselves to Follow and come to you. However, if you're close to them already, they will still set themselves to Follow but not come to you, since you're close. Getting your bots to stay in one particular spot during a battle (so the assbot can make best use of cone attacks, for instance) is a dicey proposition.
CoV really needs a 'go there and don't move from that spot no matter what, but continue to blow things up' command.
Dismiss:
You won't have to use this often, but it's way cool looking for the bots. They fly up into the sky on plumes of flame and smoke. If one of your bots becomes stuck somewhere, you can dismiss and resummon.
Elevators!:
Your assault bot will, without a doubt, get stuck in the walls near elevators on a fairly consistent basis. I think this is because he's so big. You can dismiss and resummon, or go back down the elevator and back up to see if he makes it on the second or third try.
You can avoid this fairly consistently by taking particular elevators in your missions. For the tech lab tileset, take the elevator with the 'backward facing' door (the one that faces away from you as you enter the room). Make sure your camera is looking directly at the door when you click the elevator. This will avoid your assbot being stuck about 3/4s of the time doing it this way.
For office tilesets, use one of the elevators furthest away from the back wall. I haven't found problems with other elevators (like the one in the 'destroy all infected' mission).
Also note that you as a mastermind should go up elevators very last or very first. Going up at the same time as your teammates will result in a major traffic jam and a high probability of a stock bot or two.
My Mastermind Philosophy:
I'm of the opinion that MM's should, in general, avoid taking more than one of their personal attack powers if at all possible. This is because I think that if you're going to be a MM, you should go whole hog and use your pets for all the heavy lifting. You yourself are there to support your pets, and while personal attacks are good, they do draw aggro, and aggro on you is bad. If you die, all your pets die with you. Bad solo, worse on a team as your whole army's attack power goes away instantly, along with whatever aggro they were holding from the rest of the team.
I took Pulse Rifle Burst for a few reasons: Triage Beacon wasn't used nearly as often as I had in low levels, I wanted a tool for finishing off low-health baddies, and it's got fairly reliable knockback. Also, if I'm on a a team where people don't 'get' the concept of masterminds, this shows them that I'm 'doing something'. Plus it packs a fairly hefty punch.
My Power Tray, Macros and Binds, and the Uses Thereof:
I have all three power trays visible, and I have them set up like so. Forgive the crude diagram, there's only so much one can do with raw text, and a picture,while neater, would require a big set of labels.
ROW 3: Repair, Caltrops, Acid Mortar, FFG, Equip Robot, Upgrade Robot, Battle Drones, Protector Bots, Assault Bot, Sprint.
ROW 2: Drone-Go, Protector-Go, Assault-Go, All-Go, All-STOP, *blank*, *blank*, Rest, Tactics, Seeker Drones.
ROW 1: Drone-Attack, Protector-Attack, Assault-Attack, All-Attack, Pulse Rifle Burst, Web Grenade, TP Foe, *blank*, Assault, Triage Beacon.
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Row 3 is generally for stuff I don't use every second of every battle. From left to right is 'used more' vs 'used less'. The first four I can easily activate with my left hand without having to stop moving for long, while the rest I click manually.
Row 2 is pretty much just movement commands for the bots along with STOP. Rest and Tactics I click manually, while Seeker Drones is bound to a key and the icon is here simply so I can keep track of its recharge status. All the movement commands are easily activated via Alt-X, where X is 1-5.
Row 1 is the very proactive commands, all the attack commands for the bots, plus my personal attack, web grenade, and TP Foe. Assault, Triage, and TPFoe I click manually, everything else is a quick keypress away.
The macros and binds are like so:
/macro D-GO "petcom_pow battle goto"
/macro P-GO "petcom_pow protector goto"
/macro AS-GO "petcom_pow assault goto"
/macro AL-GO "petcom_all goto"
/macro STOP "petcom_all stop"
The first three above command each individual tier of henchmen via GOTO commands. The fourth sends them all to one spot, and the fifth makes them all stop moving.
/bind C "powexec_name seeker drones"
This is a handy key to whip out the seekers. In PvE, I don't need to use the key, but in PvP, which can get quite laggy, I needed the bind because clicking on the power-tray can sometimes not work for you.
/macro D-AT "petcom_pow battle attack"
/macro P-AT "petcom_pow protector attack"
/macro A-AT "petcom_pow assault attack"
/macro AL-AT "petcom_all attack"
These four are like the movement commands; individual tier control, and an 'all attack this' button for concentrated fire.
For setting stances, I use this:
Khaiba's Numeric Keypad Mastermind Controls
While the full setup from the Keypad controls can indeed handle everything including pet movement, I don't like moving my hand from the mouse or my left hand from the keyboard. Thus, the binds above are only for setting passive/aggressive/defensive and /follow status on my bots. However, one of these days I'll probably rework the whole set of files to a custom set-up. Not any time soon, though.
The Uses Thereof:
This is where we get to the fun part, commanding the bots for various situations.
Typical solo mission set-up: Drones and Assault Bot on Aggressive, Protector Bots on Defensive.
Typical team set-up: Drones and Assault on Passive, Protector Bots on Defensive.
Outdoor missions, or street-hunting: everyone on Aggressive, but sometimes Protectors on Defensive if things are hard.
Now, when it comes to battle, I have a mix of techniques I use, everything from positioning to straight up tanking through invididual attack commands.
Positioning:
Since I've gotten the Assault Bot, and especially Upgrade Robot, positioning is how I do most of my work. With all bots set to Aggressive, I just move 'em into position and let all those beautiful AoE's do the work. Typically, I'll send the assbot straight up the middle, the protector bots just to the side and behind him, and the drones either a few steps behind the assbot or off to one side of the group of baddies so there's a nice crossfire effect. The assbot lets loose with his missiles (and flamethrower, if I move him close enough), the protectors will seeker drone anything that gets close, and the drones are busy making like a salad-shooter full of beam cannons.
Of course, having all bots on Aggressive, while it results in a very pretty show, can be problematic on teams. In that setup, Aggressive bots like to close to melee if I don't watch them like a hawk, and on a team, there's usually a couple of melee'ers in the mix. I like to be known as a helpful, efficient, and good mastermind, so on teams I work things differently.
If the mobs are difficult, I'll use the 'typical team set-up' listed above. Then I'll make sure to move all bots so that they are out of the way of melee-types, but keep the protector bots near the assault bot. Then I do a little mental geometry, figure out which bad guy to target for both the assault and drones, and use that particular guy to line up their cone and AoE attacks. Example: Team and I are coming down a warehouse hallway, and up ahead there's a fairly circular group of baddies, with a LT in the back and maybe a boss in the middle. The assault bot gets sent up the center of the hallway (though a bit to one side), the protector bots behind him and to the off-center side, and the drones are all the way on the opposite wall of the hallway. This leaves a nice path through the center that my teammates can use. The assbot will be told to attack something near the center of the group, while the drones will get an attack order that lets them fire across the whole group (this I do by targeting something on the opposite side of the group from the drones). The protector bots, on Defensive, will keep the heal-beams going and will stun-spam anything that shoots at the assault bot. While all this is going on, I've flown near the front line of the battle and dropped an acid mortar just to spice things up.
Ah, but what did I do before all those wonderful AoE attacks? A lot of positioning (pretty much the same style--bracket the group in some fashion), but I made sure to give a lot of individual attack orders as well. For example, I'd use the drones to take out LTs one at a time, the protector bots to wipe up minions, and the assault bot to work on the boss. Usually the drones and protector bots would be done before the boss was dead, and then I'd have them focus fire on the boss to finish it off.
As a side note, when you've just got the Equip Robot power and 1/3 acc/damage in all bots, your Battle Drones make up almost half of your single-target firepower. If you have three identical mobs with this setup, and you send the three drones after one, the two protectors after another, and the assault bot after the third, the drones will kill thiers first every time. It'll usually be a close finish between the protector and assault bot. Remember, the assbot is an AoE machine, his only really big single target attack is the dual plasma shot, and that doesn't come up too often.
Tanking:
One of the other roles of the mastermind is to be the team tank (or tanks, if you want to be precise). We're well-suited for the role, as we have a steady supply of damage and a limiteless supply of henchmen to send into battle, and our henchmen (robots in particular) are fairly hardy little beasties. How do you tank for your team?
Lots and lots of individual attack orders. See something going after your team's only Corruptor? Target it and send your battle drones after it--the three of them will yank aggro away from a single squishy fairly quickly. Need to take some heat off your Brute? Order your assault bot to flamethrower the whole group (move it up and target manually, then give an attack order). Doing that is almost guaranteed to draw attention from the Brute for a few seconds, long enough for him to pop some greens if need be. Mostly, you'll use your Drones and the Assault Bot to tank--your Protector Bots should be doing the job of protecting things, namely your bots. However,Protectors are a decent choice to send after runners that flee to an already cleared area, particularly if there's still plenty of baddies left in the main group and your team need the other bots' firepower. You can substitute drones for this if you like, or if you think your assbot will need repairs shortly.
You can also 'tank' by forming walls with your bots. If you're in an area with decent sized-hallways (think warehouse/tech-lab), you can leave a path open for your melee-types to go through, then give move orders to your bots such that they form a line across the hallway that the rest of the team can use as a shield from melee attacks. You can use Caltrops to cover any holes or to simply form a second line of defense. If you're really good, you can even form the bots into a funnel-shape and force any melee-ers to go through it to get to the rest of the team--this is excellent if you (or a teammate) has something like Trip Mine or Poison Trap (and Caltrops, don't forget those!) to place as the narrow end.
Tanking a boss is relatively easy. Order all bots to attack it. Chances are, they'll keep it knocked flat on its back.
Speaking of Knockback:
Your bots do lots of knockback. Not as much as would a Robotics/Force Field mastermind, but they do plenty. This can be problematic at times. Namely, your bots may knock something so far back that it lands in the next group of bad guys. As a Bots/Traps MM, you have a great tool for fixing this--Web Grenade. If you see a non-desirable chain-knockback situation about to happen, toss a grenade at whatever's being tossed around. Presto. Unless it's a boss (which will need two grenades to keep it from moving), no more knockback.
Of course, sometimes, you want knockback. Maybe you want it for the damage mitigation it provides, or maybe you want to throw everything into a handy corner so your assbot can roast the whole group in peace. Controlling this will take careful positioning. If you want pure damage mitigation and you have lots of room (outside, big empty room or somesuch), move your bots so they bracket the group on three sides. Chances are, anywhere from two to four of the baddies will end up making like volleyballs as your various bots knock them around. No room, or a hallway? Pick a wall, move the bots so the baddies are between them and that wall, and open fire.
Small Spaces:
The bane of every mastermind are maps with tiny hallways (certain rooms in the tech tileset) or non-Troll-type caves, or Arachnos bases with lots of crates. If you're solo, this isn't a huge problem. If you're on a team of 2-3 people with no other masterminds, it's not much of a problem, as you and your bots can take the rear and act as fire-support. On a bigger team, though? Easy solution: don't summon your battle-drones. Use just your protectors and the assbot. Sure, you won't bring as much firepower to the table, but you won't be clogging things up so much, either. And with less bots to look after, you can pay more attention to positioning, or having the bots work over particular enemies. This also frees up your battle drones to be alpha-sponges, too. If there's a tricky room ahead, drop your drones right into the middle of the baddies to soak that alpha strike. They'll pop up on Defensive stance and go down fighting, damaging the baddies for the team, soaking the alpha-strike, and generally being what good expendable henchmen should be.
Teams will LOVE you for doing this. Granted, henchmen are precious when it comes to firepower, but there are times when brute force isn't needed so much as careful consideration. That's why we're masterminds, after all!
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I'm not going to post a specific build with slots and power-by-X-level selections. I'm not into the cookie cutter business. There's enough info here that with the manual and some legwork, my build can be recreated fairly easily. There's also, I hope, enough info here that someone that wants to build their own Bots/Traps in a similar, but different method can make an informed choice.
I do know that the build is heavily tied into my tactics and binds--the powers I've selected won't serve you nearly as well if all you do is have the bots on Follow/Aggressive. This build only turns into a 'WOW! How'd you DO that?!' build if you take the time to command your bots in an efficient manner. Do things right, though, and teams will both wonder where the bots have been (ie: not in the way) and why everything is falling over dead so fast.
If you want to see all this in action, look me up. I'm on Protector.
Arc ID#1160 : "In the Shadow of Statesman" -Finished
Part Two--Under Construction