Now why would you want to ignore you primary for the most part?
You can do it, but if you do, warn any teams you may play with...it's an intentional self-gimp for concept reasons, and while some teams might not care, especially if you have a good secondary, other teams may feel you are misrepresenting yourself as a mastermind if they don't know in advance that you plan to use less than half of your (considerable) strength.
Right, just tell your team "You are all my pets, now go forth and cause meyhem."
Well, you do have dual builds. If it's something you want to play around with when solo, use your second build to do it.
Personally, I think it'd be rather painful and somewhat ineffective. But that's purely opinion. You mention, for instance, Nin/Poison, and ask if you'd be close to a defender. The answer: No, you'd be worse.
Your buffs/debuffs wouldn't be as effective as a Defender (or Corruptor, if we had Poison corruptors.)
Your attacks - you'd have far fewer. Snap shot, Aimed shot, and the multishot... that's three. You're now equal to a leve four Defender, as far as number and availability of attacks. You're still squishy, you have no bodyguard mode to make you less squishy, you have no inherent for all intents and purposes, you have no further attacks coming (that's three powers, three pets you're not taking, two upgrades you're not taking, and Smoke bomb which you're... not taking.) Yes, it's now easier to fit in stamina, leadership, travel powers and... um... something else (since, as /poison, you'd skip Poison trap most likely,) but you're not getting anywhere near as much mileage out of them.
If it's about wanting to use a bow - push for Archery to be ported to Corruptors.
Like I said, if you *really* want to do it - do it as a second build. At worst, you'll have to wait 15 minutes between switching to get pets back. And if you DO do it, warn teams so they know what to expect.
As Menphis said, you wouldn't be completely worthless, but you would be a completely worthless Mastermind.
Simply put, except for filling, when teams invite a MM, they expect either an alpha receiver, a powerhouse or both. And you'd be neither.
Except for the lower levels where the early heal in /Dark is great; I don't think I've ever been invited due to my secondary powers. Now, Poison might be different as it is exclusive to MMs and it does some nice debuffing that I'm not sure if you can find anywhere else Redside.
And one last thing, as I said in another thread months ago about Petless MMs....seriously, I see no point in not getting the pets, as in, you're free to get and not use them (still warn your team beforehand tho.), keeping them as BG fodder if needed.
If you're predicating your entire existence on the expectations of some random gaggle of internet jackanapes, then be forewarned they'll likely be disappointed. This is the sort of thing you do for yourself, really; you'll never convince a random PUG of your 'support' value regardless of your secondary.
As far as how 'bad' it is, until SO's or a decent IO slotting it's a lot like running a Controller. Pre-Containment. Afterwards it's a lot more in line with soloing a Defender, but your buffs, heals, debuffs and so on will always be at a disadvantage to a Corruptor's or Defender's.
The monkey wrench in all of this is that there are neither archery Corruptors nor Poison anything-but-Masterminds, but if your concept's not enough to make actually playing your character as stated fun for you, you should alter your concept to include pets. I don't think it should be that hard - it's never hard for a 'support' type to explain why he has troops.
(My 2 inf - and yes, I played a petless Mastermind all the way to 50 and enjoyed the hell out of it.)
(Also, now I wonder if the name 'Internet Jackanape' is taken anywhere. He'd have to be a Stalker. Huh...)
I have heard of some masterminds using the Thugs primary and full secondary + all leadership powers to be a very effective buffing character with weak blasty powers. I tried it, and it was VERY weak without a team. Nevertheless, some of my SG mates have reported good results with this combo.
Petless Masterminds are kinda like playing a Tank without any defense powers. It's doable, but in the end, why gimp yourself that much?
As a /Poison without pets you'll also be giving up one very good debuff power; Noxious Gas. It's a debuff that is applied to your highest tier melee pet( as the level of debuff power varies by pet tier).
If you want a support chracter for Villains, go with a Corrupter. Your buffs/debuffs will be stronger, and you'll have more oportunities to support you're team.
Grizz
"When Chuck Norris can't go on, Petra Majdič perseveres!"
its an interesting idea i guess, but I've found that the MM primary-attacks are not all that good unless well enhanced.
IMO, this build isn't the way to go. if its about the bow, use it with trick-arrow. if its about poison, the moves from necro would be better since you would have no redraw, and the moves also have some secondary effect.
if i wanted to be petless, I would do thugs/storm, and I would take gang-war. Storm has some strong late powers, and gang war alone can save your life if used properly. The guns would get you along ok early, especially in teams once you have empty clips
Ninja would be the absolute worst to go for a petless with. The ninja/ MM bow attacks are possibly the worst attacks in the entire game. You'd be better off ignoring your entire primary and picking up Jumpkick, kick and Air Sup.
The only reason I've seen people go petless for is conceptual so they can get an alien energy rifle (bots) or dual pistols. (thugs)
Poison, Pain or Dark are probably the best secondary's to go petless with. I second that you might want to go Thugs instead of Ninja's.
But honestly if the reason for doing this is to function as a support toon and not for concept, why not just roll a rad/rad corrupter?
My level 50 Dominators:
Madame Mindbender 50 Mind/Energy
Fly Agaric 50 Plant/Thorn
Nate Nitro 50 Fire/Psi
If you want to be a support character with poison, there is still no reason to ignore the primary, except for simple concept. If you summon and upgrade your stuff at the beginning and simply set them to BG mode, you can happily focus on debuffing the hell out of the foes and still contribute significant damage.
Well I was also thinking I could try Necro/Dark and get Torrent, ST I would have a fair number of attacks, heal, rezz, and fake hard CC via Tentacles+Fear and use the Dark Pet instead of the Necro pets since they are weak without the buffs. Now does Soul Extraction work on the Dark Pet?
The thing is I worry if I play a Corrupter I will be seen as a Blaster and I prefer support more then attack. I like Controllers. And I don't find Dominators to be close to them in style at all since they lack the added support tools.
Another combination I was thinking of was Thug/Pain I could still get I could still use Gang War if needed. All of the extra healing tools might make up for the lack of a pet.
In the end I am just looking to have fun since what I would really like is to see Poison given to Defenders and Controllers. I want a Plant/Poison Controller 
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Well I was also thinking I could try Necro/Dark and get Torrent, ST I would have a fair number of attacks, heal, rezz, and fake hard CC via Tentacles+Fear and use the Dark Pet instead of the Necro pets since they are weak without the buffs. Now does Soul Extraction work on the Dark Pet?
The thing is I worry if I play a Corrupter I will be seen as a Blaster and I prefer support more then attack. I like Controllers. And I don't find Dominators to be close to them in style at all since they lack the added support tools.
Another combination I was thinking of was Thug/Pain I could still get I could still use Gang War if needed. All of the extra healing tools might make up for the lack of a pet.
In the end I am just looking to have fun since what I would really like is to see Poison given to Defenders and Controllers. I want a Plant/Poison Controller
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If you play a Corruptor, you won't be seen as a Blaster. You will be seen as a Corruptor. Try and play as a Blaster and you fail. Try and play as a Defender and you fail. Play as a Corruptor = Win!
Dual builds are there for a reason. Have one be your solo build, and another as your support character. Don't skip your Primary damage powers though, try and take AE attacks, attacks that debuff or CC, but focus on your secondary for heals, buffs, and debuffs. There are no 1 to 1 parallels with Heroes and Villains. Don't try to play as a Hero AT on Villain side. Just ask Stalkers who try to play as Scrappers.
d000000000000000000000000000m, that is all.....
In short, there have been quite a few posts on the subject and why it's so unpopular, including from the one person I know of who has taken a petless build to 50. Personally, I would recommend skipping one or two Tiers if you are really set on it, but if you just want to run around as a duo with you and your Tier 3, you'll at least have twice the strength, and won't have much trouble corralling your "partner".
The thing to remember about Masterminds is that you are not only 75% of a Corruptor in your blasts, you are ALSO 75% of a Corruptor in your Secondary. The only place in which you are equal is in Defense and Resistance, everywhere else you're weaker than a Corruptor. So if you want Controller level Secondaries, you really have to go with a Corruptor, not a Mastermind.
The thing is, your henchmen are not just a good part of your offense, they're a good part of your defense as well. They absorb damage for you and your team, and even in some cases have buff/debuff powers of their own. So you're really using those pets not to defend the team by using your buff powers on them like a Defender would, but to draw fire like... well, like a Tanker would. Which is why MMs are called the Tankers of the villain side.
If you want to be "pure support", protecting your allies with your Secondary, then you probably have two choices. One is to go with Corruptor, and concentrate on your Secondary and not blasts. Maybe there are teammates which would be suprised by this, but there are Defenders that do very well by concentrating on the blasts in their Secondary, when they have a Primary to support that, so I'm sure a Corruptor can do the same. What I find interesting is that no one has come up with a name for such a Corruptor, like "Offender" for Defenders, but maybe it's just that most people just assume a Corruptor will have a strong balance between his Primary and Secondary instead of just blasting.
The other alternative would be to take your pets, or even just two of the three tiers of pets, but don't slot them or upgrade them. Concentrate all your slots on your Secondary. You won't do as much damage, but most upgrades don't effect the defensive capabilities of your pets, only their damage. They get the same HP no matter how you upgrade or slot them. You might want to upgrade Protector Bots so they get the shields, (oop, I mean the heal, they get shields out of the box) but if you happen to miss the other bots when you upgrade them (or they die and have to be resummoned) who cares? They're just cannon fodder to die and be resummoned as needed.
Of course, lower damage means they'll have trouble holding aggro, but you can take Provoke and use a Tankermind strategy. Just make yourself a totally defense oriented tank that happens to buff your allies as well. And if you want to go with /Dark, you can use the Fear powers as psuedo controls. Which should actually get you kind of close to an Illusion Controller, actually...
[edit] If you do want to consider going defensive with your henchmen, I took a look over the upgrades available:
Necromancy - You will want the second upgrade for Siphon Life on the Zombies and Skeletons. The Lich gets Drain Life with the first upgrade, and Petrifying Gaze/Fearsome Stare on the second.
Robots - You just want the first upgrade, for Repair, as I said. Second upgrade will give you Photon Grenade and Seeker Drones on the Protector Bots as well, but all other Bots just get attacks. And since the Seeker Drones tend to get your Bots stuck, it might be better to just use upgrade 1...
Ninjas - Probably not a good choice due to them always being in melee, but the only defensive upgrade is Hide for the Jounin, and Char for the Oni, both on the second upgrade.
Mercs - The Medic is good out of the box, but the Spec Ops get Flash Bang and Tear Gas on the upgrades, so you'll probably want them both.
Thugs - Probably the best choice, they are perfect out of the box. Enforcers gets Manuevers to start, and their other Leadership powers when upgraded are all offensive. (Tactics and Assault) The Bruiser can get Hand Clap (first) and Foot Stomp (second) but they both mess up the AI so bad they probably don't really help in the end. So you can just use your ranged minions as Bodyguard fodder while you and the Bruiser act as dual tanks.
Jade thank you for the insight, you explained a lot, I did post a Necro/DM build in another thread, if you wanted to look it over and tell me what you think. I am only taking the Grave Knights. I did think about the Thug Enforcers with their Leadership buffs but I feel like Necro/DM is more thematic and Fear + Immobilize act as a hold, so I would get more of a Controller feel.
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I know this seems odd, but since I rarely play Villians I was wondering if someone could tell me how bad it would be to make a Petless Mastermind. I would of course use pets until level 50, but at level 50 I just want to run around as a support character not an army general. So if I went Ninjas/Poison would I be completely worthless or would I be close to a Defender?
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I prefer rolling an Empathy Defender who only takes Healing Aura myself. Or perhaps a Kinetics Defender who only takes Transfusion. Yes brilliant. I may be on to something here...
I wanna roll a Willpower Tank only taking High Pain Tolerance from the primary 
Need I go on...
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Jade thank you for the insight, you explained a lot, I did post a Necro/DM build in another thread, if you wanted to look it over and tell me what you think. I am only taking the Grave Knights. I did think about the Thug Enforcers with their Leadership buffs but I feel like Necro/DM is more thematic and Fear + Immobilize act as a hold, so I would get more of a Controller feel.
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Well, one nice thing about Dark Miasma is that you get another pet in Dark Servant... and you are going to take your Dark Servant, right? You can take him instead of your Lich, or just take both, and have a team of four with your Grave Knights.
The Lich and Dark Servant are very similar in many ways. The Dark Servant is definately a defensive pet, with lots of Fear and Immobilize powers, instead of dealing a lot of damage. Plus, he heals. Everyone. And you don't have to upgrade him or anything. (Although you do have to keep calling him back)
Don't forget also that you want at least one pet to summon a Ghost from, if you take Soul Extraction.
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I know this seems odd, but since I rarely play Villians I was wondering if someone could tell me how bad it would be to make a Petless Mastermind. I would of course use pets until level 50, but at level 50 I just want to run around as a support character not an army general. So if I went Ninjas/Poison would I be completely worthless or would I be close to a Defender?
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Would you be close to a "Defender" for supporting ability? The answer is NOT EVEN CLOSE.
To give you an example: Defender's Darkest Night has 37.5% debuff on Damage. MM's version is only 22.5%. This may seem that much but when you throw in Twlight Grasp' damage debuff. Defender is 6.25% and MM's 3.75%..The difference gets bigger and bigger if you can enhance the debuff values.
What MM has an advantage is using "pet" debuffs like Freezing Rain and Tar Patch. Those use pet values so it's the same value on every AT.
If you want to support and blast yourself most of the time, pick a secondary that has more "pet" debuffs. I would say /storm is a good choice and /trap.
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
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I know this seems odd, but since I rarely play Villians I was wondering if someone could tell me how bad it would be to make a Petless Mastermind. I would of course use pets until level 50, but at level 50 I just want to run around as a support character not an army general. So if I went Ninjas/Poison would I be completely worthless or would I be close to a Defender?
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NO NO NO NO NO and did i mention NO!!! If you think about it to make pets good you just need 5 power slots all the rest can be support but remember your an MM you need some powers. Keep you pets! If your going to do that might as well make an Corr.
Had a VG mate make an alt VG with nothing but Thug/Pain Petless MM's. No Pets, all the attacks (Gang War included for effect). I heard they steamrolled as a Superteam of sorts. Whenever I'd play with those toons in SF's and general teaming outside the Superteam environment it felt like I was teaming with weak support toons with unslotted attacks. They looked cool, though. And, it was most likely fun in the ST.
Just an outside perspective. Do what ya like.
@Quarktease
The Unofficial Official of Nothing Official
Proud member of Nites of Darkness/Shut Your Pie Hole
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If your going to do that might as well make an Corr.
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Only after they get Pistols.
We all have added pistol corr to our wish list along with customizable minions and flaming zombies (therm)
I know this seems odd, but since I rarely play Villians I was wondering if someone could tell me how bad it would be to make a Petless Mastermind. I would of course use pets until level 50, but at level 50 I just want to run around as a support character not an army general. So if I went Ninjas/Poison would I be completely worthless or would I be close to a Defender?