Lichloved: A Definitive Necromancy/Force Fields...
By
Lox_Def,
Posted on: 2006-04-27 13:48 in Player Guides
Force Fields
Force Bolt
Endurance Cost 7.5
Recharge -- 4
Range -- 80
Description:
Throws a bolt of force at an opponent, knocking them down.
My Thoughts:
A staple soft-control power of the set. Can easily juggle bosses and many elite bosses, and is pretty cheap. I couldn't be happier with it. Stick an Accuracy or two to make sure it hits.
Deflection Shield
Endurance Cost 11.5
Recharge -- 2
Range -- 80
Description:
Creates a basic shield around an ally that grants extra defense against Smashing, Lethal, and Melee attacks.
My Thoughts:
Staple Ally buff to the set. Your pets, Corruptor, Mother, Dominator, Brute, and Best Friend will ALL love it. It gives defense and lasts quite a while.
Insulation Shield
Endurance Cost 11.5
Recharge -- 2
Range -- 80
Description:
Creates a basic shield around an ally that grants extra defense against Fire, Cold, Energy, Neg. Energy, Ranged, and AoE attacks.
My Thoughts:
Just as Deflection Shield, only different damage types. Staple.
Detention Field
Endurance Cost 18.0
Recharge -- 40
Range -- 80
Duration -- 30
Description:
Captures a foe in a shell, leaving them visible yet unaffected by those in normal space.
My Thoughts:
Some love it. I personally have never used it, it didn't appeal to me. Could be okay for a nasty boss or the like.
Personal Force Field
Endurance Cost -- 0.38/s
Recharge -- 120
Range -- Personal
Description:
Toggling on this shield makes you near immune to all attacks. Has a long recharge for the Mastermind version.
My Thoughts:
Great turtle power if you don't like taking any damage. Removes all AoE buffs from your pets, such as Supremacy. Take if you like it.
Dispersion Bubble
Endurance Cost 0.75/s
Recharge -- 15
Description:
Creates a large bubble around the caster that protects all allies inside from all attacks and secondary effects (hold, disorient, immobilize).
My Thoughts:
Another staple buff, easier to use. Position yourself near your pets with this one, it grants mez and attack protection. Slightly expensive, use an endurance reducer or two.
Repulsion Field
Endurance Cost 1.5/s
Recharge -- 20
Description:
Creates a small field around the caster that repels all foes in melee range. Cost is increased for each repeled victim.
My Thoughts:
VERYshort range. Only effective to juggle bosses and prevent stalker AS in PvP. Other than that, Force Bubble beats it by a landslide.
Repulsion Bomb
Endurance Cost 15.0
Recharge -- 10
Range -- 70
Description:
Throws a bubble of force at a foe which knockbacks and possibly disorients all affected targets.
My Thoughts:
Has recently been changed, so numbers may be incorrect. Often regarded as a great power, some hate the knockback. Think AoE force bolt with a bit of disorient.
Force Bubble
Endurance Cost 4.59/s
Recharge -- 15
Description:
Creates a VERY large bubble which propels opponents away from the caster and all allies inside, preventing many melee attacks.
My Thoughts:
Incredibly useful. I find it keeps nasty stuff like Freak Tanks out while your pets blast. You can position mobs in corners with this, it's very handy. Very expensive, though.
Reccomended Pools
Leadership
A great buff set for a mastermind. Assault gives you SO much more damage, and tactics helps when your henchmen are attacking 5+ mobs. Maneuvers is negligible.
Fitness
Another great set. Initial mission buff is intensive without this. Also, Health provides sleep protection, covering your only status hole, in addition to healing. Reccomended.
Concealment
What's cooler than zombies? INVISIBLE zombies. Seriously, though, concealment adds a lot of potential survivablity for you and your pets, provided you don't use Invisibility or Phase Shift, as they shut off your buffs such as Assault or Supremacy. Nice to set your Grave Knights to passive, send them to melee while invisible, then have them open up. Works for Zombies too, or even Ninjas.
Speed
Hasten helps heaps with the initial buffing. I've teamed with MM's without it, and people have dropped team for the time it took to get set up. Also a good option for travel, Super Speed's slight stealth stacks.
Travel
This is up to you, and a no brainer. Getting there faster is ALWAYS preferable. Fly and Teleport offer the chance to move your henchmen with you, whereas super speed and super jump are faster. Take your pick, any of them is good. In the Rogue Isles, speeders have a disadvantage as the maps are VERY vertical.
Medicine
Seriously? Medicine can help what your forcefields don't catch, up until 32. At 32, your henchmen get self heals which make medicine obsolete. However, your teammates do not. Might be usedful for that, and Aid Self can't hurt. Optional, but nice. I find that I use it, but will respec out of it.
That wraps up the powers section. I might suggest
Khaiba's Mastermind Numeric Keypad Pet Controls.
I personally use them, and find that they're quite easy.
Don't forget to comment, and feel free to PM with questions or fixes.
"It's your money or your life madam. Oh wait! Today's Thursday! It's both."
Great post. First, I'm not sure what the protocol is for posts like this, I thought I'd toss out my thoughts for a PVP build of this same set. If this is a faux pas, please let me know and I'll delete the thread, thanks.
Dark Blast
If youre going to PVP, Ive found that the attack powers for the set just arent worth it. Youre going to need this and Glooms spot in order to max out some of your power pool skills.
Zombie Horde
Obviously a no brainer, you have to have your zombies.
Ive found adding two acc, three damage, then a debuff in them works well, your mileage may vary.
Gloom
Like dark blast, skip this, youll take up some power pool slots.
Enchant Undead
Great stuff here, no brainer. Dont add any slots to it, it recharges fast enough, 1 end reducer is enough.
Life Drain
Skip this, get aid self. Remember, if you are in a LOT of trouble, theres a good chance youre going to turtle up, at which point you can probably get in an Aid Self.
Grave Knights
Your bread and butter damage doers. 3 damage, at least one accuracy, the rest is up to you.
Soul Extraction
Dont slot SE out for recharge, in PVP your pets arent going to be dying much and if they are theres a good chance by the time they have, youll have it back up again. SE is worth getting though, they have fantastic mobility.
Liche
Despite his lame appearance, you have to take Liche. Slot him out for Fear, then experiment with the rest, I like tossing some items into hold and 1 into accuracy.
Dark Empowerment
Another No brainer. This is worth three slotting if you dont want to sit around for 8 hours buffing up.
Force Bolt
You have to take this. But it is your primary attack in PVP. With Personal Force Field down, this skill can literally disable anyone with out Knockback protection. As a bonus it detoggles. I slotted mine with 2 ranges, 2 recharges and 2 accuracy. With that on you can constantly attack with it, it also helps to whack folks outta the sky with, until we get our roots.
Deflection Shield
You have to take this skill (as part of the progression). I slotted mine up, but to be honest, in PVP I dont really use it except at the zone in. Mostly its a pain.
Insulation Shield
I didnt bother with this. Same reason, it doesnt do all that great (pets are low on hps anyway).
Detention Field
I kinda like Detention field, you may or may not. Its very handy when I need to resummon up some pets. Just slap this on your enemy and they get to watch you buff up. Whats really fun is that your pets can still attack the target (although do no damage), so the instant theyre out of it, you know it. This is also very useful if youre fighting a group with a defender, just put him on Pause while you kill his buddies.
Personal Force Field
You must have this skill. Period. Three recharges and some defenses cant hurt. Im not going to get into tactics in this thread, but you simply have to have this. When I get teleported, sniped, ASd, or am just in an Oh [censored]! moment, PFF comes on. Remember, use it to get the people off you then TURN IT OFF. You need to get it back up and recharged for the next time you fight.
Dispersion Bubble
I like dispersion bubble, I dont love it. Its a total endurance hog. The benefit is though that it puts a bubble around you that looks like PFF, so you can hop into PFF let them waste their alphas, then leave it while still looking like its on.
Repulsion Field
Im still experimenting with the idea of taking this. The problem is knockbacks dont stack. So if I have force bolt on auto already, why bother? Personally I say skip it.
Repulsion Bomb
This is another one of those damn skills that I keep thinking, Maybe I should take it, 100% to detoggle is nice. I tend to lean towards Skip this but you might have better tactics/luck with it.
Force Bubble
You simply must have it. Must. Its our 38 skill and it has tons of tactical uses.
Reccomended Pools
Leadership
Assault and Tactics are worth it. The damage from assault is 10% or so, but its for every guy near you, that adds up. Tactics gives you the +perc so you dont have to eat as many yellows to spot stalkers. Also, your minions will be blue to the bad guys, a little accuracy helps.
Fitness
Skip it, seriously. Even with three or four toggles running (you gotta slot em for end redux X 2) Stamina just isnt worth it. The only attack youll be doing is Force Bolt and it barely uses anything.
Speed
Skip it, even with the PFF nerf, I dont think its worth it. Up to you though.
Travel
Personally, I recommend hover (3 slots) and teleport
Teleport
Teleport Foe
Must have in my opinion. Your pets are your alpha, but if theyre running all buck stupid, youre not going to get any kills.
Teleport
Eh, worth having to get out of a pinch in a hurry. Up to you, you might want hasten and super speed
Medicine
In my opinion this is a must have. Remember, once people think youre in PFF theyre going to go after your pet, heal other does wonders cause your pets dinky-[censored] heals arent going to keep up. You also get heal self, that lets you patch up inside your bubble when you need to.
Again, no build is perfect, I have about 80 hours of PVP with Walks, this build has been working well for me. As I said earlier, your mileage, it may vary ;-) Happy haunt...er, Hunting
~Walks Among You, 40 Nec/FF~
My build has all 3 primary set attacks, no pff, no health pool. I have stamina, and leadership. I didnt get force bubble, because I dont pvp. Im basically set up like a blaster.. I do tons of dmg, and my defense (bubbles) are slotted great. Im only considering respecing to take out one blast, and get Maneuvers instead, because on test server when i respeced into it, my pets barely got hit at all, while under my dispersion bubble as well.
If you don't like to stand idley by while your pets do all the work, I suggest going ahead, taking the attacks, get stamina, and be a dmg dealer.
I respec'd into the pure Force Field style of the Necro/FF with zero primary set attacks, and I wouldn't be able to do it.. Just stand there and point and click the whole time. It was mind numbing boring, as I tested the build in a door mission.
Force Bubble kept the enemies at range distance, which made my pets leave the dispersion bubble to go into melee range which they love. Perhaps I need more practice with it, but it seems to only have benefits in PvP as a detoggler and another way to inturrupt Assassin Strikes.
PFF was useless, because with it on, you only affect yourself.. so it may be an oh @#$% button, but I dont really like it.
A misconception is that MMs blasts dont do dmg.. not true. My blasts do just as much as my pets, with only 3 dmg 1 acc on them. I used them sparingly, but they make a noticeable dent.
As the only AT in CoV that resembles a Blaster, I play it like a blaster. (Corrs are more like defenders only with dmg primary which still isnt as good as a Blaster imho.)
Sounds like fun will full around with a necro mm with my trial account 
Lichloved: A Definitive Necromancy/Force Fields Guide
Welcome to the first of (hopefully) many guides by wackodraco.
I've greatly enjoyed my experience as a necromancer dabbling in forcefields. An incredible route to having your demands and goals met, the function of these studies mesh well. The vision blurring effects of your dark minions will make the effects of your protective shields more dramatic and turn the tides of many battles. Study of the deathly arts is a very balanced operation, through the use of your Mindless undead for support, your legions of decay through their use of blades and dark powers, and the fearsome abilities of the liche, the undead who may come close to your equal. Your safety is assured through an assortment of forceful shields.
Necromancy Powers
Dark Blast
Damage (Brawl)--2.78 [Type: Neg. Eng.]
Endurance Cost -- 6.5
Recharge -- 4
Range -- 80
Description:
Fires a blast of darkness at a foe, damaging them and clouding their eyesight.
My Thoughts:
Eh...Dark blast is an okay power. Merely okay. It charges fast, and deals a click of damage greater than brawl, is a cheap power, but it moves VERY slowly. I've seen super speeders outrun a dark blast. It might be Tokay for pulling, but you probably won't need it. Take it if you want to run your pets on auto(not recommended).
Points for Cheap and Fast, but looses for being slow animation. Take if you like it.
Zombie Horde
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90
Description:
Summons one to three zombies to fight for you based on your level. Zombie progression is as follows.
Level 1-6: 1 Zombie, Level +0
Level 6-18: 2 Zombies, Level -1
Level 18+: 3 Zombies, Level -2
My thoughts:
A staple power of the set. These zombies function as cannon fodder, extra damage, and a tiny bit of aggression control. Only a fool wouldn't take this power.
Zombies could be smarter, which would make them run well on auto and prefer melee or ranged, but other than that, they're awesome pets.
Gloom
Damage (Brawl Index) -- 4.8888 [Type: Neg. Eng.]
Endurance Cost -- 10.66
Recharge -- 8
Range -- 80
Description:
Dark Blast's smarter cousin, Gloom is the attack you'll want. It deals decent damage, has a decent recharge, a long to hit debuff duration. The damage is DoT, but the attack has a very quick animation, unlike Dark Blast
My thoughts:
A decent power, if not used as much as it could be. The debuff on it is heavy, and can stack, but the attack will draw agression, suicide for a mastermind. If you truly, truly, truly, wanted an offensive skill aside from your henchmen, Gloom would be your go-to power. Otherwise, unnecessary.
Enchant Undead
Endurance Cost -- 16.25
Recharge 6
Description:
The first of two upgrade powers. Enchant Undead arms your choosen pet with new skills and abilities. This upgrade reloads fast, is relatively inexpensive, and augments your skills well.
Enchanted Powers:
Zombie Horde-
Projectile Vomit(Single Target, DoT Toxic, Range)
Vomit (Melee Cone, DoT Toxic)
Grave Knights-
Disembowel (Superior Melee Damage, Knockup, Defense Debuff)
Gloom (Single Target, DoT Dark, Range, ToHit Debuff)
Liche-
Fearsome Stare (Ranged Cone, Fear)
Petrifying Gaze (Ranged Single Target Hold)
My thoughts:
Mercy me. Enchant Undead is one of the coolest powers ever. It adds new skills to your henchmen, and uses a short timer and low cost. I NEVER let one of my henchmen lose it. Thankfully, it lasts forever, until your pets die or you move to a different zone. Take it. It doesn't need many slots, it rocks right out of the proverbial box.
Life Drain
Damage (Brawl) -- 1.1212 [Neg. Eng.]
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 15
Range 60
Description:
Ranged dark damage, self heal, and tohit debuff. I like this attack, I'm tried it on test. Adds to survivablity and is versatile.
My thoughts:
This attack is controversial for many, as all other mastermind sets get an AoE damage or control power in this case. I like Life Drain, it'll save you once in a while, but Aid Self is better.. Doesn't help your worthless pets or teammates though, but your pressence is all the assistance they deserve.
Grave Knights
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90
Description:
The second tier pet power in your set. This one will only summon one or two grave knights, but they are signifigantly more powerful than your Zombie Horde, and add a lot of lethal damage via their broadswords.
Levels 12-23-1 Grave Knight, +0 Damage
Levels 24+-2 Grave Knights, -1 Damage
My thoughts:
Grave Knights is cooking with gas. They are a bit smarter than the zombies, thankfully, and use their attacks and endurance more efficently. I love grave knights, the only better second tier pet, in my eyes, are the Jounin. Grave Knights still are pretty awesome.
Soul Extraction
Endurance Cost -- 13
Recharge -- 600
Duration -- 300
Description:
Soul Extraction takes the body of your twice-dead henchman and brings it back to life, in essence. It retruns them as a totally new pet, a ghost type.
Zombie=>Spirit
Grave Knight=>Tortured Soul
Lich=>Wraith
My Thoughts:
I haven't had much chance to use this. It is nice when I do, it creates a mini liche that debuffs and heals, but they are somewhat lacking in damage. You could easily get away with not taking this. Fun power, though.. This is the latest power you get in necromacy that is totally unique.
Take it if it sounds fun. Some stock it with recharges and make it near permanent.
Liche
Endurance Cost -- 19.5
Recharge -- 90
Description:
This power is your third and final pet in the Necromancy set. The liche is a mini dark/dark defender, and is very versatile. He will toss out controls and debuffs with he's not blasting.
Liche: Level 24+: 1 Liche, Level +0
My Thoughts:
I recommend him above all other necromancy pets, as he is the best looking, most versatile, and probably the most fun to use. I love liche so much, he keeps zombies going strong. He's almost as important as I, myself.
Dark Empowerment
Endurance Cost -- 22.75
Recharge -- 60
Description:
Dark Empowerment is the second and final pet upgrade power for necromancers. It is also the better of the two, giving more and better abilities to a henchman. It goes to liche first, then grave knights, and zombies are optional. Used often.
My Thoughts:
Get it. Slot it. Love it. If you don't, you're a fool, and why are you here?
That about wrarps up Necromancy. The set is balanced nicely, and takes a few uses. On to Forcefields!
"It's your money or your life madam. Oh wait! Today's Thursday! It's both."