Positron's (and Pohsyb's) Guide to Masterminds 2.0

Hello All! I have read a few posts asking for this Guide and actually found a linky to it that Red_Tape had posted. So I decided to put it back on the boards

CAVEAT: This is from the Beta Boards and I have not edited the original post. Any changes and feedback is appreciated to properly update!

- /s/ Kenja, "Because a Master Mind is a terrible thing to waste!"

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Positron's (and Pohsyb's) Guide to Masterminds 2.0

Henchmen Powers

Each Mastermind powerset has three Henchmen powers, the first one is available at level 1, the second is available at level 12, and the last one is available at level 26.

The L1 Henchmen power can summon up to three Henchmen. You get one Henchman at level 1 to 5. At level 6 you get your second L1 Henchman, and at level 18 you get your third. When you get your second L1 Henchman, they are both summoned at 1 level below you. When you get your third L1 Henchman they are all summoned 2 levels below you. There is no option to summon less than those numbers.

The L2 Henchmen power can summon up to two Henchmen. You get the second L2 Henchman at level 24. These Henchmen tend to be ?support? Henchmen, for example the Protector Bot has a Force Field power and when upgraded gets a healing power.

The L3 Henchmen power summons one Henchman at your level. This is your most powerful Henchman.

When summoned your Henchmen will have your name under theirs. This is so you can tell whose Henchmen belong to whom. You can also name your Henchmen by right-clicking them and selecting ?Rename?. From that point forward that Henchman is going to be summoned with that name. You can rename your Henchmen at any time.

Slotting Henchmen Powers

These Henchmen powers are all capable of having Enhancement Slots put in them. These slots affect the Henchman that are summoned. If you put Damage Enhancements into those slots, then the summoned Henchmen will do more damage. If you put Defense Buff Enhancements into those slots, your Henchmen will have better Defense. Henchmen powers can not take Recharge Reduction enhancements.

Supremacy

Masterminds have an inherent, unslottable, power called Supremacy. This power is an ?aura? power that increases the Accuracy and Damage of your Henchmen that are close to you. This ensures that Masterminds that want maximum effectiveness out of their Henchmen are somewhat at risk themselves of attack.

Pool Powers

Leadership powers like Tactics or Assault are applied to your Henchmen as well as your allies and your allies? Henchmen. The Leadership Pool is a perfect match for the aspiring Mastermind.

Teleport Friend will work on your Henchman to summon him to you. Group Fly and Group Teleport will take all of your Henchmen with you.

Traveling With Henchmen

Henchmen can NOT travel across zone boundaries or into mission maps. You must resummon them on the new map. If you get too far away from your Henchmen on any given map, they will automatically resummon themselves near you (keeping any buffs they had).

Inspirations

Inspirations can be used on your Henchmen by dragging the Inspiration from your tray onto the name of the Henchman you want to inspire in your Pet Window. You can not use an Awaken Inspiration on your Henchmen, but they will gladly accept all other Inspirations and use them immediately.

You can also drag the Inspiration directly onto the Henchmen you wish to inspire.

Upgrading Your Henchmen

There are two Upgrade powers in each Mastermind Primary powerset. These add powers onto your Henchmen. The powers added vary by the Henchman being upgraded. For example, Zombies get a vomit-like ranged attack, and Battle Drones receive a Snipe attack with the first Upgrade power. Your Henchmen will use these new powers as part of his attack routine.

Henchmen AI

Henchmen either ?Prefer Ranged? or ?Prefer Melee?. This means the type of combat that they want to be fighting in the majority of the time. This does not mean that they will only use Ranged or Melee attacks. Robot Henchmen prefer ranged attacks, but will use their melee attack if the enemy is close enough. They will not back out of melee range just to use ranged attacks.

Henchmen that can cast buffs will do so to ensure that you and all of your other Henchmen have the buff. Henchmen that heal will heal the most damaged legal target when the healing power is recharged. (Protector Bot healing can only heal other robots, not characters).

Giving Your Henchmen Commands

When you start as a Mastermind, you have three pre-made Macros set up for you:

* Attack: This will send all your henchmen to attack your currently selected target, and then attack other targets within their aggro range.
* Hunt: This will make all your henchmen follow you and attack things that come within their aggro range (this is the default Pet behavior of City of Heroes).
* Heel: This will make all your henchmen return to you, follow you, and never, ever attack anything until given a new order.

You can switch the Henchmen interface to "Advanced mode" which gives you fine-tune control over your pets

Advanced Mode

Your Henchman interface lets you control two aspects of your Henchmen, their Disposition and their Commands. You can set these for each individual Henchman, or type of Henchman (L1, L12, or L26), or you can blanket set the same disposition and command for all your Henchmen at once.

There are three different Dispositions:

* Aggressive: Attack anything hostile that comes within detection range.
* Defensive: Attack anything that attacks me or my master.
* Passive: Don't attack anything.

They can also be given different Commands:

* Attack my Target: Attacks the thing you currently have targeted. When it is defeated, revert to Follow Me command.
* Goto: Goto a spot designated by the player. Stay there until given a different Command.
* Follow Me: Follow the player around.
* Stay: Stand still in this area, do not follow. (Stay is basically a "Goto the spot you are currently on")
* Dismiss: Destroys the Henchman.

These are used in combination. So "Aggressive/Follow Me" means "Follow me around, attacking anything that we get close enough to". Or "Passive/Attack My Target" means "Go attack this specific guy, and when you are done, don't attack anyone else."

"Attack my Target" is not "attack everything I tab to". AMT simply sends your Henchmen to attack your currently selected target.

The Disposition they are in (Aggressive/Defensive/Passive) is only relevant once that target is taken down. What happens then is the Henchman reverts to Follow Me orders, and what happens after that depends on the Disposition.

Example:
I have a spawn of Goldbrickers ahead. I target the Lieutenant and tell my Henchman to "Attack My Target". The Henchman then takes down the lieutenant. What happens next is is dependent on the Disposition the Henchman is in:

Aggressive: Checks to see if anything else is within aggro range. There is, so it starts targeting and attacking stuff in aggro range.
Defensive: Checks to see if it or its Master is under attack. If neither of those are true, go back to Master in Follow Me mode.
Passive: Ignore everything going on and return to Master in Follow Me mode.

The use of Dispositons and Commands for Henchmen is used exclusively by Masterminds and only on their Henchmen pets. Other summoned pets can not be controlled, nor will Dominators or City of Heroes Controllers get the ability to command their pets to this level of detail. Those pet powers have been balanced with a certain level of control in mind.

Strategy

I find it best when hunting at lower levels to leave Henchmen in Aggressive mode when soloing and Defensive mode when grouping with a Dominator. With Aggressive mode even after they finish off a target I specifically sent them after with Attack My Target, they usually stick around to take on the rest of the spawn as well. When playing with a Dominator, I have to be conscious of things he has mezzed, so I generally leave the Henchmen in Defensive mode and AMT'ing targets that are not currently being mezzed.

Slash Commands

The commands (which should show up with /cmdlist) are:
/petcom (your current pet)
/petcom_name (name matching pet)
/petcom_pow (power matching pet)
/petcom_all (all pets)

/petsay
/petsay_pow
/petsay_name
/petsay_all
Each of the petcom commands can be followed by one stance and/or one command. That probably sounds complicated so here are some examples:
/petcom passive (tell current pet to be passive)
/petcom_name "zombie 2" dismiss (tell "zombie 2" to leave)
/petcom_pow Protector attack aggressive (tell all pets created by "Protector Bots" to attack your target and be aggressive)

/petcom_all goto defensive (tell all pets to goto a spot and be defensive)

FYI: All of the words after the command, the game will search for a best match, so you don't have to type in the full words:
/bind mbutton petcom_name zom att def
That would bind a command to the middle mouse button to make all pets with name starting with "zom", in this case zombies, attack and be defensive.

The petsay commands work the same way, but will allow you to have your pet say something:

/petsay_all <em praise>You are the greatest!

That will make your Henchmen bow and worship you.

[ QUOTE ]
If you put Defense Buff Enhancements into those slots, your Henchmen will have better Defense.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not accurate. Adding a defense buff will increase the defense of, for example, protector bot shields, but not the henchman's inherent defense. If the henchman doesn't have a defense power, it won't accept defense buff enh.

-Checksum

Credit for that link really goes to pilcrow, here is his thread.

Great stuff!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you put Defense Buff Enhancements into those slots, your Henchmen will have better Defense.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not accurate. Adding a defense buff will increase the defense of, for example, protector bot shields, but not the henchman's inherent defense. If the henchman doesn't have a defense power, it won't accept defense buff enh.

-Checksum

[/ QUOTE ]

This is why you need to keep in mind that this post is from early beta, when they did accept defense enhancements.