Great guide - I love my MM to - lvl 40 Necro/Dark
I have a few questions though.
1.) Why the extra slots in hover? - I think you would be much better served by slotting the snot out of Darkest Night - nothing like bosses and minions whiffing like crazy to make your job easier.
2.) Why get Howling Twilight and Soul extract at all if you use them so seldom? I have stamina and run Assault/Tactics instead - the extra accuracy and damage really add up fast, and the perception bonus is a lifesaver. I almost never team, and if there is a team wipe, it is usually not safe to hang around and fire it off - faster to resummon your minions while the rest of the team hits the Hospital 
If you want to keep Soul Extract - maybe drop Team Teleport instead - you'll NEVER be on a team that needs it, and recall friend can function for anyone that might need help.
3) Maybe it's just me, but I only use Dark servant for EB and AV fights. Even on relentless, everything else just falls so easily, and I've never had Soul extract - maybe I don't know what I'm missing.
4.) Maybe you could pull that heal off of your GKs and put an extra recharge in Twilight Grasp or add it to Darkest Night - remember, DK debuffs DAMAGE as well as accuracy, meaning all your minions need fewer heals.
5.) What server are you on? - I would love to team with another 40 MM or team you with my FM/DA Brute to SMASH like crazy.
Happy hunting to you, and thanks for the great guide - you have talked me into trying Fear when I respec - I love it on my Brute, but my Lich spams it so much, I haven't bothered taking it on my MM.
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1.) Why the extra slots in hover? - I think you would be much better served by slotting the snot out of Darkest Night - nothing like bosses and minions whiffing like crazy to make your job easier.
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Because it's slow and I'm impatient. Besides, things usually die too fast for Darkest Night to really have an effect on the battle anyway (especially on teams). Darkest Night will be getting more slotting love in the 40's
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2.) Why get Howling Twilight and Soul extract at all if you use them so seldom?
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Because they're both extremely useful. I'll be putting recharges in Soul Extract in the 40's and maybe some Disorients in Howling Twilights, too. I didn't find Assault/Tactics to be worth needing Stamina. Essentially, to use those two powers I needed take 5. There are too many other useful things in this set. Without them I don't need Stamina unless I'm the highest level person on a team and doing all the damage against gigantic mobs of +2's and +3's. Which obviously doesn't happen all that often.
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3) Maybe it's just me, but I only use Dark servant for EB and AV fights. Even on relentless, everything else just falls so easily, and I've never had Soul extract - maybe I don't know what I'm missing.
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You don't. He survived versus Infernal a lot longer than me and the rest of my pets did. The heals and debuffs are tremendous.
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4.) Maybe you could pull that heal off of your GKs and put an extra recharge in Twilight Grasp or add it to Darkest Night - remember, DK debuffs DAMAGE as well as accuracy, meaning all your minions need fewer heals.
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I've thought about removing that last slot, but it probably wouldn't go in to Darkest Night quite yet. Like I said, things die too fast to use it most of the time anyway.
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5.) What server are you on? - I would love to team with another 40 MM or team you with my FM/DA Brute to SMASH like crazy.
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Heroes on Victory, Villains on Protector.
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Happy hunting to you, and thanks for the great guide - you have talked me into trying Fear when I respec - I love it on my Brute, but my Lich spams it so much, I haven't bothered taking it on my MM.
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Fearsome Stare is so good (even post-nerf and with MM numbers) that it's almost broken. Even if you don't pick up Petrifying Gaze, I would say that FS is a must.
That's a solid guide. Nice title 
One thing I would propose for consideration. Swap hover out for Air Superiority. Your build is very close to my own, with this one main exception. Hover is very counterproductive to the zombie/dark MM because the dark heal is very low range and thus requires you to be very close. Hovering above the battle is not doing you a whole lot of good when you must fall back down every few moments to heal, so your main use for it is to hover inbetween TPs. (which is only a luxury IMO, and I have raised a TPer to the 40s without hover to prove it)
That aside, Air Superiority is another one of those "so good it's almost broken" powers. With AS you can defeat mobs you would not easily be able to defeat without. With AS, purple freak tanks are safe to stand in melee with. With AS and TP foe, longbow flamethrowers (arguably one of our most dangerous natural predators) are a total nonissue. Leaving 3 slotted AS on auto, means that your MM will automatically permanently lock down any mob in melee range with him that you target, which synergizes perfectly with the heavily melee-oriented powersets. AS enhances the god-like PVE capabilities of the Zombie/Dark even further than your proposed build would allow.
I thought about taking Air Superiority for that very reason (and I've had plenty of characters with TP that never took Hover), but Hover is a quality of life thing for me. It keeps me from falling (especially when everyone who started playing on launch day hit 14 at the same time, so we were all in the same zone) and it gives me a little bit of movement without teleporting past something and back to it. This is especially useful when running one of the roughly 875 missions where you have to use Naylor's portal to get there. Nerva is a bit of a pain for a teleporter.
I will agree that Air Superiority is a great power and that there's nothing like letting falling damage do most of the work in PVP on my Stalker who has it.
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I thought about taking Air Superiority for that very reason (and I've had plenty of characters with TP that never took Hover), but Hover is a quality of life thing for me. It keeps me from falling (especially when everyone who started playing on launch day hit 14 at the same time, so we were all in the same zone) and it gives me a little bit of movement without teleporting past something and back to it. This is especially useful when running one of the roughly 875 missions where you have to use Naylor's portal to get there. Nerva is a bit of a pain for a teleporter.
I will agree that Air Superiority is a great power and that there's nothing like letting falling damage do most of the work in PVP on my Stalker who has it.
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Fair enough. Personally I take AS-> Fly, and then TP Foe with my MMs, but that's all preference.
Another thing I noticed, is that you list swift as counteracting the slowness of shadowfall. Shadowfall's slowness was removed a little while back, so swift is not offering a whole lot to your build. Hurdle is a great substitute and actually let's you go from "cone fear" range to "aoe heal range" much faster than sprint in battle. I had swift for the longest time, but I specced it out and didn't notice a big difference. Adding hurdle on the other hand improved my combat mobility a lot and added QoL to moving around the city and in missions without low celings.
My understanding was that the minor slow was still there. When was it removed (especially since I'm sure that I can notice the difference [however slight it might be] between having it on and off)?
Hmm it was sometime after I used my storm defender last (steamy mist had -runspeed but it was removed also) and before I started CoV.. so I would say sometime during the year 2005 
Maybe the people in this thread know.
I don't believe shadowfall's slow was removed either.
It's not huge (not like stealth for example) but still noticeable.
I initially made up a necro/poison MM. I can certainly see the advantages of a necro/dark MM, having lots of experience with /dark chars, but I wanted to try something new.
Poison is clearly inferior to dark at the lower levels (basically being a nerfed radiation set), but some threads I've seen claim it surpasses dark at higher levels. Do you have you any experience with Poison?
Partial Character List: http://www.warlock-inc.com/CharList.html
My only experience with Poison was a Ninja/Poison MM I made in beta that I never got past level 2. I've read some good things about specific builds, but I think it's an easy powerset to completely flub up.
And you're not the only person to say the -Speed was removed, it's just that I could swear it's still there. I always pick Hurdle over Swift unless there's a specific reason for taking one or the other (a character with stealth, a Stone Tank or Brute, things like that) so if that -Speed has been removed, then Hurdle is the better option of course.
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My only experience with Poison was a Ninja/Poison MM I made in beta that I never got past level 2. I've read some good things about specific builds, but I think it's an easy powerset to completely flub up.
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I got my zombie/poison up to 20 before I ruined it and rolled a dark.. I could never go back. Of course people say it gets better at the higher levels.. but I couldn't make it with that set. Melee pets + alkaloid is a bad combo.
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And you're not the only person to say the -Speed was removed, it's just that I could swear it's still there. I always pick Hurdle over Swift unless there's a specific reason for taking one or the other (a character with stealth, a Stone Tank or Brute, things like that) so if that -Speed has been removed, then Hurdle is the better option of course.
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I did some tests last night that were no means extensive, but basically timed myself running from point A to point B with it on, then off. Aside from human error margins there wasn't a difference (although I didn't run across a zone, just around in a mission)
I think it may be more of a "trick of the eye" situation, because I logged in my storm defender and he didn't "feel" sped up when canceling steamy mist, like my dark MM feels when I cancel shadowfall (I will definitely agree that it feels slower when first turning it on, and faster when off)
However I think that has something to do with the constantly moving/swirling disc-like nature of the dark effect. It's a trick on the eye that the "disc" feels like it's sliding slowly around (you don't see the tiles/floor traveling beneath you like you do with steamy mist) and when you turn the "disc" off, it feels like you speed up because your feet start passing things on the ground again that your mind's eye uses for reference to base speed upon.
Just a theory.
I think you're right about this. I'll add that to the list of things to change in the 41-50 version once I7 is released.
This is the most comprehensive guide I've seen for a true necromancer. Thank you so much!
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but I would suggest creating a button that sets your pets to aggressive at a specific location so that you can force them into melee combat. Zombies and Grave Knights are at their deadliest at close range, so being able to place them in a specific location is a must in boss and AV/Hero battles
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How do I do this??
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How do I do this??
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There are a ton of excellent guides out there about Pet Binds, and since I suck at making them I didn't really want to go there. If I'm remembering correctly, I placed another copy of the "Attack" button in my tray, then right-clicked on it and selected "Edit." From there, you'll see a window that spells out the actual macro that the Attack button uses. Alter the macro by replacing the text that reads "attack" with "goto."
Anyone who knows more about macro's can feel free to correct me or elaborate if I'm wrong. This is one of those changes that's easy for me to set up when I'm staring at the screen, but hard for me to pull from memory.
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How do I do this??
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There are a ton of excellent guides out there about Pet Binds, and since I suck at making them I didn't really want to go there. If I'm remembering correctly, I placed another copy of the "Attack" button in my tray, then right-clicked on it and selected "Edit." From there, you'll see a window that spells out the actual macro that the Attack button uses. Alter the macro by replacing the text that reads "attack" with "goto."
Anyone who knows more about macro's can feel free to correct me or elaborate if I'm wrong. This is one of those changes that's easy for me to set up when I'm staring at the screen, but hard for me to pull from memory.
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It's great to have all this valuable info in one thread for the Necro, so I will post my goto bind strategy here. It should be noted that this isn't my only goto bind, but my most used on. I also use Khaiba's binds in addition for individual group control, but this strategy covers about 95% of fights.
An easy way to send only certain pets into combat is to put one letter in their name they share, that no other pet has.
For instance I always want to send my zombies and knights to melee while my ghost and lich hang at range. I would name my pets as follows (just examples to illustrate point, not real names):
Group 1.) Melee:
Bob - Zombie
Nob - Zombie
Cob - Zombie
Slab - Knight
Crab - Knight
Group 2.) Ranged:
Harry - Ghost
Sally - Lich
Now notice that all the zombies and knights included a b in their name, which neither the ghost nor lich has. In addition the ghost and lich both have a y in their name that none of the zombies/knights have.
Now you use two binds:
/bind t petcom_name b goto def (use whatever key you like for "t")
/bind g petcom_name y goto def (use whatever key you like for "g")
Note above: If you don't want the pets in defensive mode when they arrived (which will make them man up to whatever mobs attacked them), then you can put them on aggressive by substituting "agg" for "def" in the bind. This will make them attack whatever's in their range (and possible attack it before it attacks them) but is potentially dangerous when used in a team setting.
Using these two binds and fitting pet names, you can send some pets to melee when they all start at range, or send some pets to range when you all get jumped at melee.
Also, this isn't only useful for the 26+ necro with all his pets. In can be used with two zombies and a graveknight (level 12) for instance. You can make the knight go to melee and the two zombies hang at range (although one would usually try to rush melee anyway, you can pull him back with this command) Just follow the naming guidelines above to give each group a mutually exclusive letter and you're all set.
And just to include the simplified version for completeness, if you want a goto bind that moves all pets to melee, use:
/bind <key> petcom_all goto def (or agg)
Excellent Guide.
Informative, clear, well-written and funny.
Every Necro/Dark MM should read this one!
Some thoughts from my time on the Test Server and some general thoughts on playing a Necro/Dark that have developed since I hit 40:
First of all, I'm really looking forward to having a respec since there some things I can't wait to tweak in my build. With the changes that are being implemented in I7, these changes are even more important since I'm going to have some extra slots to move around.
There are some pools I'm changing my mind about and some tactics that I wish I could take better advantage of. First of all, anyone who has played a Stalker knows that they level most effectively when you're blazing through Newspaper missions. I've started doing this with my MM for some quick Infamy (since I have so very many alts to fund) by turning on Shadow Fall and Hover, sneaking slowly through the maps by sticking to the ceiling or teleporting past mobs crowding doorways, spawning my pets in the last room, completing the objective and moving on.
This isn't the most effective way to sneak to the end of a mission, so I'd like to find a faster way to move through these (especially with the juicy Mayhem Missions coming out soon - I'll want to get to those as quickly as possible). Since the servers have become more stable, I'm going to drop Hover (which was only there to aid Teleport anyway) and possibly Gloom so I can pick up either Hasten and Superspeed or Grant Invisibility and Invisibility.
Of course, I'll have to test this to see if Superspeed and Shadow Fall stack (I believe they do), but I prefer that option since it will give me two different ways to get across a map.
I've never been a big fan of the Concealment Pool (even though I'm taking Stealth on all kinds of characters I didn't before thanks to PVP), so I'd prefer to take the Superspeed route but the Concealment route has advantages, too.
These are both pools that I kind of poo-poo'd on in the original guide, but I can see uses for them now that I didn't before. Hasten still won't be all that useful with the gigantic reduction in recharge time on the pet upgrades, but you could always use it to get that AV or Hero held a little sooner (yes, I've done it plenty of times before).
Just thought I would share some early opinions and make sure everyone knows that I'll be updating this as soon as I have a chance to get a better grip on the Patron powers.
Since I don't feel I stated this emphatically enough in previous posts, you will not need recharges in your pet upgrades any longer (unless you have ADD or something, that is). When I tinker around on Test, I run out of endurance before I can upgrade everyone because they recharge so quickly that I don't have any time in between to regain any of it. So if you're building for I6 leave them in there, but if you're planning an I7 and beyond build stick those slots elswehere.
I'll have an updated version of the Guide soon-ish. I'm tempted to go ahead and write one up based on other people's early opinions of the Epic Pools (since I won't be able to test them all on Balor anyway), but I'll wait for it to actually drop since who knows what kinds of things might change between now and when I7 is released.
This Guide is dead and out of date. My new I7 Guide can be found in my sig.
I did my MM so completly different now I am wondering what to do *sigh*
Geek Boys Necromancy/Dark Miasma Mastermind Guide
This is an update of my previous guide to reflect my experiences in the last few levels.
The first thing I want to go over are some of my ideas on how to play a Mastermind. If you dont agree with these principles, then its likely that you wont agree with a lot of the things that I have to say in this guide.
1) You are not here to do damage. If you see orange numbers over someones head, then its because your pets are damaging them or youre not doing something right. It may not seem that way at level 4, but if you stick with it to level 40 youll see this is true. Dont invest in anything that does damage other than your pets. Period.
2) Pets r dum. Really. You cant simply fire and forget them or you (and your team) will die. A lot. Those pet controls that youre given at level one are mostly sufficient to keep your pets going (though there are a lot of good guides for fine-tuning them), but I would suggest creating a button that sets your pets to aggressive at a specific location so that you can force them into melee combat. Zombies and Grave Knights are at their deadliest at close range, so being able to place them in a specific location is a must in boss and AV/Hero battles. This will also help keep you alive since the games AI will be more concerned with the mob coming at them than the guy in the back providing debuffs.
3) Pet AI is not an excuse for you being dumb. You can control them with the tools that the developers have given you, so do it. This AT requires micro-management. If you dont like it, then you need to move on.
4) You suck at PVP. Get over it. The stuff you can do in PVE more than makes up for it.
5) I interchange the words pet and minion. If youre really anal about that, then this will annoy you. Dont bother complaining to me about it, because Im not going to care. Yes, I get that theres a difference, but they are synonyms in the current vernacular of most of the player base (myself included).
Powers:
This is just the standard list of powers, what they do, and what I think of them. Ill post my build at the end, but you dont have to follow it. There are a lot of variations that work, but I have my own opinions on what works best. I pulled the numbers from ThePacsters excellent guide, so if theyre wrong let him know.
Necromancy:
Dark Blast: Level 1
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 2.78 [Type: Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 6.5
Recharge -- 4
Range -- 80
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy
Your basic single target blast. Not necessarily a bad attack, but its got a low base damage and its not going to get much more powerful even if you slot it. While I think its a good idea for you to have a single attack, this isnt the one that I would suggest.
Also, if you take this at level 1 instead of your Zombie Horde, then youre an idiot.
Slotting: One accuracy. Tops.
Zombie Horde: Level 1
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90
[Levels 1 - 5] -- 1 Zombie
[Levels 6 - 17] -- 2 Zombies (-1 Level)
[Levels 18+] -- 3 Zombies (-2 Level)
Status Resistance: Sleep, Fear, Disorient, Slow
Damage Resistance: [40%] Smashing, Cold, Negative Energy, Toxic, Psionic
Initial Abilities: Zombie Brawl
Enchant Undead: Projectile Vomit [Ranged Cone], Zombie Vomit [Melee AoE]
Dark Empowerment: Siphon Life
Your journey to being a God among mortals begins. Your first pet is a useful companion from level 1 all the way up. At first youll love him and cherish him, but soon youll realize just how expendable these guys are and throw them around like the cannon fodder they were born (and expired and re-animated) to be. Zombie Brawl does great damage right away at level 1, but these guys really start to shine once you hit level 6 and they start vomiting on everything. Remember how much it hurt when that first Vazhilok took you down with their toxic damage? WELL WHO HAS THE PEA SOUP NOW, PUNK!?
A word on the final upgrade: yes, its nice for your zombies to be able to heal themselves. It isnt absolutely necessary, though. Youll want that first upgrade on them before you go into battle (at least when you have a choice in the matter), but the second one should only be added as needed. They fire it off with a decent amount of intelligence, but for the most part they go down in 2 or so hits in higher level missions anyway. The little bit of healing they do for themselves isnt going to keep them alive long term. Thats your job.
Slotting: How you slot this depends on what other powers you take. If you have the Leadership Pool, you can probably get away with one or two Accuracies, but everyone else should consider going with two or three Accuracies since these guys will eventually be spawning at 2 to your level. Since youll be fighting things that are +2 and +3 to you, that puts your minions chances of hitting without Supremacy (the automatic buff to Accuracy and Damage that minions receive while theyre in range of you) and some decent enhancements at next to nothing. I personally recommend going with three Accuracies and three Damages since their other aspects arent really worth slotting. The Accuracy Debuff and Heal are nice, but not substantial enough to make a big enough difference to be worth the slots.
Gloom: Level 2
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 4.8888 [Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 10.66
Recharge -- 8
Range -- 80
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy
A single target blast that does damage over time. If youre going to take a single attack for pulling and debuffing, this is the one to take. Great Damage per Endurance spent, but youre still not going to be one-shotting much of anything. Ever. I go through plenty of fights where I never use this and find myself using it as a debuff more than anything else. It doesnt do enough damage to grab agro from your pets most of the time (and why would you want to?), but every little debuff helps.
This was really useful at low levels, but the closer you get to 40, the less youll use it. I imagine going from 41-50 youll use it even less. As a side note, I took Dark Blast at first and respecced into Gloom later. I wish Id had it from level 2 on since it really is so much better than Dark Blast. If youre picking one or the other (which you should be), I would suggest going with this one.
You can really get by just fine without any attacks at all since youll have so many more interesting things to be doing during combat in later levels. If you really want to min/max this, then I would suggest taking Gloom to get you through to the 20s when you can respec and get rid of it entirely. Ive kept it through my respecs, but Ill probably be dropping it once I7 comes out and they hand us a free respec.
Slotting: It might be tempting to put more than just that initial slot in here, but dont. A single Accuracy will do you just fine. Besides, you need those slots for your buffs and debuffs.
Enchant Undead: Level 6
Endurance Cost -- 16.25
Recharge 6
If you dont take this at level 6 then youre an idiot. Really. Permanently buffs your pets (at least until they die or are Dismissed) in super-fantastic and necessary ways. The buffs are detailed in the individual pet descriptions.
Slotting: A single recharge is sufficient, but you may want to add an Endurance Reduction as well. It doesnt cost that much to use it on its own, but when youre buffing 6 pets right after summoning them, it can be painful. Plenty of folks out there will tell you not to put anything other than an Endurance Reduction in there since the Recharge Enhancement is really just a matter of convenience. Sure, it will let you get your pets ready to go a little faster, but it isnt really necessary. To be honest, the more I think about it, the more I think that Im going to respec out of that second slot and just go with an Endurance Reduction. Sure, Ill miss that few seconds I save, but my debuffs are just crying for more slots.
Life Drain: Level 8
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 1.1212 [Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 15
Range 60
A ranged attack that heals you and debuffs the target. This power become superfluous as a /Dark. If your secondary is something that doesnt have a self heal in it, you might want to take this. Otherwise, I wouldnt advise wasting the power slot when there are so many things that are so much more useful.
I never even thought of taking this, but in my experience with Siphon Life on my Regen Scrapper, I can see how this could be useful. It does damage, heals you, and debuffs an enemys accuracy all at once, which is nice. It doesnt do any of these things particularly well, though. Again, its fine if youre reading this guide to build something other than a /Dark, but otherwise I would avoid it.
Slotting: Accuracy and Heals only. The damage will be poor and the debuff wont be significant enough to be worth the slots.
Grave Knight: Level 12
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90
[Levels 12 - 23] -- 1 Grave Knight
[Levels 24+] -- 2 Grave Knights (-1 level)
Status Resistance: Sleep, Fear, Disorient, Slow
Damage Resistance: [40%] Cold, Negative Energy, Toxic, Psionic
Initial Abilities: Hack, Slash, Dark Blast
Enchant Undead: Disembowel, Gloom
Dark Empowerment: Head Splitter, Siphon Life
These are your warriors. Their awesomeness cannot be fully explained without seeing them fully buffed and in action. Their sword attacks do get the occasional Critical hit, which is enough to bring a tear to your eye. Their ranged damage is nice, but you definitely want these guys on the front lines when youre fighting anything other than minions and lieutenants.
While one might complain about the blandness of the zombies look, these guys look cooler with each upgrade.
Slotting: Again, this depends on what other powers you have. With the Leadership Pool adding to your accuracy, you can get by with having a have a single one in there. My current build has 2 Acc, 3 Damage and a Heal. Your mileage may vary, but Ive found that the Heal is more useful to me than an Accuracy Debuff. Since all of your minions attacks debuff accuracy anyway, an enhancement there isnt going to make a big difference once everything is stacked up. The Heal isnt going to really make that big of a difference either, but it will help in their overall survivability.
Soul Extraction: Level 18
Endurance Cost -- 13
Recharge -- 600
Duration -- 300
[Zombie] Soul Extraction => Spirit
[Grave Knight] Soul Extraction => Tortured Soul
[Lich] Soul Extraction => Wraith
Status Resistance: Sleep, Fear, Immobilize, Slow
Damage Resistance: [40%] Smashing, Lethal, Cold, Negative Energy, Toxic
Initial Abilities: Fly, Phase Shift, Ghastly Blast, Life Drain, Necroplasmic Grasp
The ultimate OH SHI- power. This resurrects one of your dead pets as what is essentially a ghost to help you out of a tough spot. This does spawn different minions based on what its cast on, so if you have a choice of who to cast it on, choose a Grave Knight or Lich. The recharge on this is ridiculous, so I save it for boss battles since thats where youre most likely to get overwhelmed anyway. These are on a timer, but its a fairly long one. You dont have to worry about it despawning in the middle of the boss battle it was spawned in, but dont expect it to hang around for the whole show if you pull it out on the first mob in a mission.
The main thing these do is debuff and hold, so dont rely on these guys for a lot of damage. Sure, they help in that department, but their holds are invaluable at higher levels when youll have yourself, your Lich, and your Extracted Soul spamming holds on those bosses and AV/Heroes.
Slotting: Some people slot this with tons of recharges to make it permanent (or, I believe, almost permanent). I can see the usefulness in that, but Ive grown accustomed to using this one only in prolonged battles or when Ive been overwhelmed. Having one of these around all the time would be nice, but I dont feel the need to spend the slots on it. This is largely a matter of playstyle, of course. I will admit that once I get some extra slots in the 40s, Ill probably be adding some recharges to this so that I can have one out more often. I just couldnt fit it in with everything else I wanted to slot up.
Lich: Level 26
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90
[Levels 26+] -- 1 Lich
Status Resistance: Immobilize
Damage Resistance: [40%] Cold, Negative Energy, Toxic?
Initial Abilities: Dark Blast, Torrent [Ranged Cone Knockback]
Enchant Undead: Tenebrous Tentacles [Ranged Cone], Life Drain
Dark Empowerment: Fearsome Stare, Petrifying Gaze
HOLY GOD, YES! These are the final pet from your primary, and they are uber. Their damage is nice, but their main use is to debuff your mobs for you at higher levels. Theyre basically like having a no pets-MM with you at all times once you have Dark Empowerment.
At each stage of being a MM, you start feeling a bit weak right before you get your next pet. Well, once you have your Lich youll never feel that way again. Once theyre fully equipped, theyll have a hold, a cone fear, a cone knockback, a self heal, and some decent ranged attacks to boot. Whats not to love?
Okay, there is something thats not to love. Ill admit that Torrent can be a pain, but for every time this guy knocks someone out of your Tar Patch, hes saved your can ten times. This is an occasional annoyance, but it isnt as big a problem as some people make it out to be.
Slotting: This is one where you can go wild. Depending on whether you have Leadership, you can go with one or two Accuracies, you can slot for Hold, Immobilize, Heal, To Hit Debuff, Fear, Damage and a partridge in a pear tree. My only real advice is to 6 slot this ASAP and dont concentrate solely on damage since it isnt his primary function.
Dark Empowerment: Level 32
Endurance Cost -- 22.75
Recharge 60
Say it with me now: IF YOU DONT TAKE THIS, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.
This is your final buff for your pets. It works just like Enchant Undead, but the timer is longer and it uses a lot more Endurance. I usually wont go into battle without my Lich and my two Grave Knights fully Empowered. The powers they receive from Dark Empowerment are what defines this powerset.
Slotting: Depends how patient you are. A few Recharges and an Endurance Reduction go a long way. Just remember that youre not going to be firing this off in combat all that often, so the slots are probably better spent on things that will keep you alive in a more proactive way.
Dark Miasma:
Twilight Grasp:
Endurance Cost -- 9.75
Recharge -- 8
Range -- 80
Healing Radius -- 10 [PBAoE]
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy, Enemy Damage, Enemy Health Regeneration
A Point Blank Area of Effect Heal that debuffs the crap out of your enemies. You dont have a choice in taking it, but if you did you would be an idiot not to. In my opinion this is one of the best heals in the game even if it does require a to-hit check. Yes, it hurts when it misses and yes, it has a smaller radius than the Defender version. Its still great.
Slotting: I suggest having 2 accuracies in here even if youre running Tactics because YOULL NEVER WANT THIS TO MISS. Get 3 Heals and a Recharge if you can spare it. The debuff is nice, but I wouldnt bother enhancing it.
Tar Patch: Level 2
Endurance Cost -- 9.75
Recharge -- 90
Range -- 120
Duration -- 45
Debuff -- Enemy Speed, Enemy Resistance [-27.76%]
Take this power. Love it. Kiss it. Comb its hair and read it bad poetry. Whisper sweet nothings in its ear at night.
Really, I cant stress this enough: TAKE THIS POWER. It is incredible without ever having to slot it. Slows are always nice, but when you combine that with the debuff to your enemys resistance? Oh yeah, baby. You know Daddy loves you. Who loves you? Thats right. Daddy does.
Slotting: The best part about this power is that you dont ever need to put an extra slot in there if you dont want to. No, you wont get to stack them without putting some recharges in there, but it comes up often enough to be placed on every other mob or so. Usually youll kill things so fast that you wont need it, but when it comes time to take down that AV/Hero youll be blessing me for telling you to take this. Recharges as needed, but I dont see the point in putting a Slow in there.
Darkest Night:
Endurance Cost -- 0.33 per second
Recharge -- 10
Range -- 70
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy, Enemy Damage
This is a great debuff that reduces the Accuracy and Damage of everyone surrounding the anchor you cast this on. The base debuff is very powerful, so when you slot this up it becomes ridiculous. I havent been able to put anything other than a second Endurance Reduction in there, but whenever Ive fought Dark Defenders in the Arena, this power was my bane.
Slotting: A single Endurance Reduction is probably plenty, but I have two of them in there since Im running without Stamina. Accuracy Debuffs would also be nice, but I havent been able to fit them in yet. Ill probably be adding some in the 40s once that opens up.
Howling Twilight: Level 10
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 0.8333 [Negative Energy]
Endurance Cost -- 32.5
Recharge -- 180
Range -- 20
Debuff -- Enemy Disorient
This is the sets resurrection power. It is a Point Blank Area of Effect power that disorients and damages everyone in a small radius around the target while also resurrecting any teammates within a small radius. Small radius. Are you catching my point here?
An extremely useful power if only for the Disorient. It does not resurrect your pets, so dont bother trying it. I took this power pretty late in the game, but I cant deny its usefulness on a team or when you need to slow down that mob just a little more.
Slotting: Its an auto-hit, so I would suggest slotting for Recharge only. If you team more than I do, you may want to invest more in it than I have.
Shadow Fall: Level 16
Endurance Cost -- 0.325 per second
Recharge -- 15
Range -- 40 [PBAoE]
Status Resistance -- Fear
Damage Resistance -- [20%] Energy, Negative Energy, Psionic
Defense -- [2.8%] All
This is a team Stealth toggle that I love. I havent noticed the reduction in movement speed, which shows that its really minor (if you take Swift toull more than make up for it). No, you arent completely invisible, but it lets you get close enough to get yourself set up for Fearsome Stare or any other powers that you want to aim with precision. Youll really notice the difference in how quickly things attack your pets when you have this off.
Slotting: Youll need two Endurance Reductions in there and then its up to you. You can slot for Damage Resistance (smart) or Defense (not so smart). Of course, I originally slotted for Defense since attacks that dont hit you do no damage at all, but a percentage of 20% is better than a percentage of 2.8%. The Defense is nice, but it isnt worth the slots.
Fearsome Stare:
Endurance Cost -- 10.66
Recharge -- 40
Range -- 80 [Cone]
Duration -- 20
Status Effect -- Fear [Enemy]
Debuff -- Enemy Accuracy
A cone Fear power that many people will claim is no longer necessary. Thats because theyre comparing it to its previous, broken state. This power is still incredible without you ever having to put anything other than an Accuracy in it. Once youve cast this, anyone affected will not be able to attack you unless theyre attacked as they stand there and shiver like little sissies. When they do attack, their accuracy is debuffed, so its less likely to hit you anyway.
Slotting: The recharge is pretty decent on this, but along with Accuracy you may want to put a few in there. The debate is whether to slot it for Fear Duration, To Hit Debuff or Recharge since having two applications stacked is better than having a single attack that lasts a little longer, but if something is attacking you through the Fear, you want them to miss. The duration is nice out of the box, but you can never have too much of this very good thing. You cant go wrong no matter how you slot this, really.
Petrifying Gaze: Level 28
Endurance Cost -- 9.75
Recharge -- 16
Range -- 70
Duration -- 12
Status -- Hold [Enemy]
A single target hold. No, it isnt as nice as it used to be, but I still find this to be very useful. Great for getting that Flamethrower locked down before he can turn your Undead Army into shish kabobs.
Slotting: Accuracy, Hold Duration and Recharge. In an ideal world I would suggest two of each in that order. No, this doesnt hold things as long as it used to (it was nerfed before CoV came out), but taking out all the enemies in a mob who do fire damage is incredibly important. Remember that this fits your real purpose, which is controlling the mobs to keep your pets alive so they can kill them.
Black Hole: Level 35
Endurance Cost -- 16.25
Recharge -- 120
Range -- 50
Duration -- 30
Status -- Intangible [Enemy]
This makes a group of enemies Intangible. This means that while they cant attack you, you cant attack them either. I can see how this could be useful, but I have no desire to take it. This power has the ability to make your team very, very mad at you.
For the record, I have never played with anyone who uses this power or even has it in their build. Ive been playing since October of 2004. You do the math.
Slotting: Accuracy and Recharge, maybe. Slotting it for Duration seems like a bad idea since you would only be using it to catch a breather or run away.
Dark Servant: Level 38
Endurance Cost -- 32.5
Recharge -- 480
Duration -- 240
Initial Abilities -- Petrifying Gaze, Tenebrous Tentacles, Darkest Night [Single Target]
Wow. I have honestly been surprised more than once at this guys effectiveness. Take him at 38, put three recharges in at 39 and enjoy near-constant Dark Servant love (I swear that isnt as racist as it sounds). He can hold, he can Debuff, he can do decent damage (though youre not going to have enough slots to add to that portion of him and it isnt his primary function anyway).
This guy has enough HP that I tend to spawn him into the middle of a mob to get their attention as I throw off Fearsome Stare and Petrifying Gaze before sending in my little army. If the spawn is gigantic, he might die before he either heals himself or I can get close enough to do it for him, but more often than not (and this includes AV fights) hes still standing at the end of a fight he started while Im respawning my zombies and a Grave Knight or two. My DS even managed to hold off Infernal (spawned as an Elite Boss) longer than I could stay alive. This includes my DS killing several of his Behemoth buddies as I desperately tried to heal myself and respawn my completely wiped out army.
Slotting: Youll want at least one Accuracy in there just to make sure that he can hit things. From there, youre an idiot if you dont throw in three Recharges so that you can make him near-perma. Conventional wisdom is that you should slot the remaining spaces with Heals and I tend to agree with that. Hold or ToHit Debuff Enhancements would also work, but dont seem as efficient as having a second Twilight Grasp healing ½ to ¾ of your health every time it goes off.
Power Pools:
Concealment:
You already have Shadow Fall. I dont see the need.
Fitness:
This one is a real quandary. Without the Leadership Pool, you dont really need Stamina until the later levels when your pets are dying often enough to need to bring them back more than once in a prolonged fight (and even then this rarely happens while solo). If you do have the Leadership Pool, then youre always going to be slotting for Endurance Reduction and using Inspirations. I decided that it was easier to use more slots than to free up three powers so I could use fewer Blues. This all comes down to how you want to play the game, though. I will admit that I would love to pick this up in the 40s, but well have to see how the Patron Powers works before I plan that far in advance.
Flight:
Yes, Team Flight works. I dont have it since I dont personally like Flight, but Ive seen it used. It is situational at best, though.
Leadership:
My GAWD is this useful. Yes, running those toggles is expensive, but the extra Damage and Accuracy is great. As every guide ever written about anything will tell you, dont bother with Vengeance. In the end, I decided to respec out of Leadership (as useful as it is) so that I could grab more of my debuffs and not be sucking endurance all of the time. In some ways Im more effective without it since I can debuff and heal for an entire prolonged fight, but I do miss the extra accuracy and damage (as well as the +perception especially in PVP or when Im fighting those stupid Spec Ops guys).
Leaping:
Super Jump is the ultimate utility travel power and it would be nice to have Acrobatics, but theres nothing here thats going to help your minions.
Medicine:
You already have a Heal and a Rez. I dont see the need.
Presence:
You dont want a Taunt and youll already be spamming Fear.
Speed:
Hasten seems unnecessary now that it isnt permanent and Superspeed is a big hindrance in CoVs vertically inclined maps.
Teleport:
This one was my choice. Teleport Foe is the best pulling power ever and is a good way to amuse yourself. I never stop being entertained by watching my minions kill a lone enemy so fast that they cant even draw their weapon. Recall Friend is extremely useful for teammates and minions alike. Teleport Team isnt as useful as it sounds, though it does come in handy getting through some of the Orenbaga maps when your pets are determined to fall down into some crevasse as well as for annoying teammates since you cant decline it. Ive done some interesting things with it, but it isnt as useful as you might imagine since your minions dont always float long enough for you to throw out the second TP.
My Build and Reasons Why:
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://home.comcast.net/~SherkSilver/index.html)
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Name:
Level: 41
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Necromancy
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Zombie Horde==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(9) Heal(21) Rechg(23)
02) --> Gloom==> Acc(2)
04) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(4) Rechg(25) Rechg(31)
06) --> Enchant Undead==> Rechg(6) EndRdx(34)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(25)
10) --> Hover==> EndRdx(10) Fly(11) Fly(11) Fly(13)
12) --> Grave Knight==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(17) Dmg(19) Dmg(19) Heal(21)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(15) Range(15)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(17) DmgRes(37) DefBuf(37)
18) --> Soul Extraction==> Acc(18)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(23) Fear(34) Fear(34)
22) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(22) TH_DeBuf(40)
24) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(24)
26) --> Lich==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Hold(31) Hold(31)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Hold(36) Hold(37)
30) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(30)
32) --> Dark Empowerment==> Rechg(32) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) EndRdx(33)
35) --> Team Teleport==> EndRdx(35) EndRdx(36) EndRdx(36)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Acc(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Heal(40) Heal(40)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> EndRdx(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
Level 1: No duh. If you dont take Zombie Horde at level 1, you shouldnt be playing a MM. No choice with Twilight Grasp, but its what you would take if given the choice anyway.
Level 2: Plenty of people skip getting an attack entirely, but Gloom will really help you through those early levels when you have one pet (and especially before you get Enchant Undead). This is entirely optional, of course.
Level 4: Tar Patch is absolutely necessary. The only debate for me was whether to take it at level 2 or level 4.
Level 6: Enchant Undead. If you ever look at any of my builds, I almost always take a travel or stamina pre-requisite at level 6. This is an exception to that rule. Take this at 6 because you NEED THIS POWER.
Level 8: Im following my grab a travel pre-req ASAP rule here. I chose Teleport for a few reasons, but I took Teleport Foe specifically to be able to grab my opponents and place them neatly into my circle of death. It is a beautiful thing. Even if you dont take Teleport as your travel power, you should consider taking this power.
Level 10: I took Hover for utility alongside Teleport. This is partially because of the extreme lag that came up when I first reached level 14 (at about the same time that everyone else who started playing CoV at launch got to 14). I dont need this as much now and may get rid of it if the servers stay as stable as they have been lately. The knockback protection has its uses too, though.
Level 12: Grave Knight. If you dont take this at level 12 theres a good chance that youre currently dribbling onto your nappie.
Level 14: Travel power. Duh. I took teleport because I wanted something that would provide some support for my pets (Teleport Foe and possibly Teleport Team somewhere in the 40s) that would give me vertical movement. Plus, I like it. Sue me.
Level 16: Shadow Fall gives a defense bonus, stealth, and resistance to certain damage types to everyone near you. You have 6 to 8 pets. Do the math. I went with two Endurance Reductions so that I could make up for not having Stamina.
Level 18: Soul Extraction is a great panic power, but while a lot of people slot it with a ton of recharges so they can have one out constantly, I dont feel the need to use it that way. Ill leave it with the initial slot to help me out of tight spots. Thats enough for me.
Level 20: It feels so weird to be suggesting something other than Stamina at level 20. At any rate, my only regret is that I couldnt get this power sooner. Fearsome Stare is your number one crowd control ability (well, other than your Send in your pets and make everything die ability). No, it isnt as broken as it used to be and yes, the Defender version is better. Its still seven shades of awesome.
Level 22: Darkest Night is a great debuff and I only wish I could fit in sooner.
Level 24: AoE rez. Very useful whenever you deem a team worthy of having you along.
Level 26: Lich. Duh. Watch your effectiveness quadruple. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but getting this guy is a big deal. I slotted some of his aspects more than his damage, but thats because it isnt his primary use. Yes, his damage is nice, but those holds and debuffs will make your heart sing.
Level 28: This hold isnt nearly as great as it used to be and I should probably have put it in sooner. Im pretty sure I did originally, but this is a respec build as I fine-tuned what I needed and what I didnt. Keeps those Flamethrowers (fire damage HURTS) out of the mix.
Level 30: Great utility power for teams and for pets who are stuck. No need to slot it, though.
Level 32: Another NO DUH power. Youll weep with joy at how much this helps.
Level 35: Have fun annoying your teammates with this power that sounds more useful than it is.
Level 38: Fluffy! Another power youre an idiot for not taking. The recharge is pretty long compared to the Defender version, so dont expect it to be permanent without some significant slotting. Ill be slotting it for Heals since it will be throwing out Twilight Grasp, but you may want to enhance some other aspect of him.
41-50???
We dont know whats coming with these, but if theres a pool with something akin to Conserve Power, thats probably what Ill be taking regardless of the powers in the set. I really dont need anything else thats going to burn a lot of endurance on this guy since thats a constant battle. Depending on the usefulness of the upcoming Epic Pools, I may be taking Stamina through those final levels. Only time will tell.
I feel like Ive gone into more detail than I needed to here, but I can answer anyones questions if you want to post them in here. Im not necessarily an expert and Im neither a number cruncher nor a min-maxer (though I have my moments), so I know there are things I could have done to be more efficient. In fact, I may well do them in the future. As it stands right now, I can solo almost everything that I come across. No, I havent soloed any AVs or Heroes, but Ive come close (besides, youre not SUPPOSED to be able to do that).
Heres the build Ill probably be moving to once I get another respec (heres hoping theres a free one with I7 that I can use to cash in my enhancements at 42 hate to waste the cash and all).
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://home.comcast.net/~SherkSilver/index.html)
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Name: Balor 3
Level: 41
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Necromancy
Secondary: Dark Miasma
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01) --> Zombie Horde==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(7) Heal(9) Heal(21) Heal(23) Rechg(23)
02) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(2) Rechg(25) Rechg(25)
04) --> Darkest Night==> EndRdx(4)
06) --> Enchant Undead==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(8) Acc(9)
10) --> Hover==> EndRdx(10) Fly(11) Fly(11) Fly(13)
12) --> Grave Knight==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(17) Dmg(19) Heal(19)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(15)
16) --> Shadow Fall==> EndRdx(16) EndRdx(17) DmgRes(37) DmgRes(37) DmgRes(40)
18) --> Soul Extraction==> Acc(18)
20) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(20) Acc(21) Fear(36) TH_DeBuf(36) TH_DeBuf(36) Rechg(37)
22) --> Howling Twilight==> Rechg(22)
24) --> Swift==> Run(24)
26) --> Lich==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Hold(29) Hold(31) Fear(31)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Hold(31) Hold(34) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
30) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(30)
32) --> Dark Empowerment==> Rechg(32) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) EndRdx(33)
35) --> Team Teleport==> EndRdx(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> Acc(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Heal(40) Heal(40)
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01) --> Sprint==> EndRdx(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
Why the changes? Well, I dont use Gloom at all unless its by accident now. Swift will counteract the slow from Shadow Fall (as well as putting me a step closer to Stamina in case I can fit it in during the 40s) and I dont need the enhancements in Team Teleport since its situational at best. Everything else just comes from min/maxing a little bit and having a little more experience with the powers in these sets.
This guide isnt the be all end all, so if you find that some of this doesnt work for you, that doesnt mean youre doing something wrong.
Well, unless youre taking attacks. Really. Im right about this one. They suck and will continue to suck even if 37 slotted. Damaging things isnt your job. Ever.
So have fun out there.