Put your pets in Follow mode and Defensive mode. Now, whenever you take damage, your pets will each take a share and you'll take two shares of damage. For example, if you have 1 pet, it'll take 1 share of damage and you'll take 2, 1+2 = 3, so you'll take 2/3 of the damage. Get hit for 60, you'll take 40 and your pet will take 20.
As you get more pets, this increases. At 6 pets, you're taking 2 shares of damage to 6, 1 for each pet, so you're taking 1/4 the damage. Get hit for 60, you'll take 15 and each pet will take 7.5.
If you want to make use of BG mode, and in the later levels you usually do, you need to keep the aggro on you. If an attack hits a pet, it won't count. The attack has to hit you. So you need to be active in the fight, or at least using Challenge or Provoke from the Presence pool.
Does that help?
De minimis non curat Lex Luthor.
That helps a ton! I've been running a Necro/Storm and took provoke and regretted it, but now i see the use in it. Thanks, I dont need to respec after all.
One other thing... the pets don't have to be on Follow. They're in Bodyguard mode any time they are affected by Supremacy and are in any Defensive mode other than Defensive / Attack. That means you can use Stay or Goto to position them while in Defensive stance without losing Bodyguard, which is ideal for avoiding AoEs that would hit them in Defensive / Follow. Just keep them within 60 feet and in line of sight.
(Yes, since Bodyguard is based on Supremacy you have to be in line of sight. Even if you are closer than 60 feet if something like a corner is blocking a pet from recieving your Supremacy buff that pet will not Bodyguard you either.)
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
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Now that I didn't know. Everything I've read on BG Mode says Follow/Defensive. It does make sense, though.
De minimis non curat Lex Luthor.
Having personal attacks helps maintain aggro too... although taking your attacks seems to be considered heresy on this board 
Personal attacks should be a matter of choice for the player. It all depends on how active and now much Endurace you secondary uses. For my MMs using /Traps I've taken all of the personal attacks. /Traps is very end friendly and most everything is fire and forget.
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Personal attacks should be a matter of choice for the player. It all depends on how active and now much Endurace you secondary uses. For my MMs using /Traps I've taken all of the personal attacks. /Traps is very end friendly and most everything is fire and forget.
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It's a bit of 50/50 trying to hold aggro with attacks, you can do more burst damage, but your henchmen get more Threat. Without Provoke you will probably find your foes turning back and forth to take on you and then your pet, whichever hit him last. I've noticed this early on on my Ninjas, anyway, at higher levels you will probably only have trouble pulling aggro off Tier 2 and 3. (As the more pets you get per Tier, the less damage each of them does)
I actually wish we could slot our attacks for Taunt, it would give them a definate purpose, but those MMs that didn't want to Tankermind could leave them unslotted so they wouldn't draw as much aggro, like they do now. Just make it like how knockback works in melee attacks, if you don't slot it, you just get knockdown.
And did you know that Grave Knight Siphon Life attacks Taunt? 
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I actually wish we could slot our attacks for Taunt, it would give them a definate purpose, but those MMs that didn't want to Tankermind could leave them unslotted so they wouldn't draw as much aggro, like they do now.
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I've been flirting with the idea of a taunt-aura in one of the MM patrons, for some time now. Something like slotting taunt enhancements into oppressive gloom, would be great.
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I've been flirting with the idea of a taunt-aura in one of the MM patrons, for some time now. Something like slotting taunt enhancements into oppressive gloom, would be great.
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While that's a good idea, all Patron Sets would need such a aura power, and I doubt any more will be added. Plus, I don't think a taunt aura is a very good idea, you would have to turn off the aura, losing its benefits, to lose the taunt, and I don't think you want that. Unlike a Tanker, which benefits from holding aggro all the time, a Mastermind must be ready to shift aggro around to be at his most effective. It is EASIER to draw all aggro yourself, yes, but it is not necessarily BETTER. Henchmen do have the same Threat rating as a Brute or Scrapper. (But not the damage)
I prefer making the taunt a click power. Although in some cases, as with Gang War, it can be helpful to draw and hold aggro for a long period of time. Still, the fact that the attacks are not really effective at dealing damage means you will not lose anything by stopping their use, if you start getting too much aggro. Much the same as you might stop using the knockback from your attacks to stop mitigating damage, if you start to take too much.
Although I didn't think about making the Patron attacks or auras slottable for Taunt, though, it would be in line with doing the same in the Primary. And again, you would have the choice, you can slot for Taunt if you want that functionality, but avoid it if you want to go with a more fragile build that can't take Tankerminding.
Also, except for individual exceptions like the Grave Knights, I don't think henchmen should be slotted for Taunt. They are too difficult to control, the AI will be unable to logically decide when to Taunt and when not to. That's an ability better left in the player's hands.
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One other thing... the pets don't have to be on Follow. They're in Bodyguard mode any time they are affected by Supremacy and are in any Defensive mode other than Defensive / Attack. That means you can use Stay or Goto to position them while in Defensive stance without losing Bodyguard, which is ideal for avoiding AoEs that would hit them in Defensive / Follow. Just keep them within 60 feet and in line of sight.
(Yes, since Bodyguard is based on Supremacy you have to be in line of sight. Even if you are closer than 60 feet if something like a corner is blocking a pet from recieving your Supremacy buff that pet will not Bodyguard you either.)
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Right. I also believe that BG Mode will not work if you go from Aggressive to Defensive. You have to go to Passive first then to Defensive.
Nevermind, I guess they will go in Bodyguard Mode from Aggressive to Defensive.
http://boards.cityofvillains.com/showfla...e=4#Post5276068
Is there any icon or indicator you can see to tell you that you are in bodyguard mode?
On your pet window, go into advanced controls and show your pet buffs.
The Supremacy icon in pet buffs shows whether or not your pets are in BG range. The shield icon in stance shows whether or not each pet is in defensive stance. Then, the crosshair icon in command shows whether or not each pet is attacking.
Crosshair icon, no shield, or no supremacy = pet not contributing to BG.
In other words: no, there's not. You can figure it out but not from just looking at an icon.
That would be awesome, though. We should have an icon that shows the number of pets contributing to BG. Like most other icons for buffs and debuffs, it would show in your icon/power list and you could set it for display type (numeric, stack or normal). That would be fantastic. Hey, devs! Do us a favor, okay?
--If we can have huge sig images, why can we have only five lines of text?
--...faceplanting like a Defender pulling an AV (Nalrok_AthZim)
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Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
...I have the patience of a coffee-fueled flea...
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Now that I didn't know. Everything I've read on BG Mode says Follow/Defensive. It does make sense, though.
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Most of the guides and such only mention that, but I've confirmed it for Stay and GoTo; very handy for AV fighting in particular, where the PbAoEs can quickly drop your pets.
Once I have a wide assortment of pets, I"ll often leave 2-3 in Bodyguard and have the others "attack my target". That gives me enough "resistance" to damage to keep me alive against almost anything long enough to shift more if necessary, while giving me enough focused damage to drop bosses and such in reasonable times. Thats where having a variety of keybinds set up is good.
Can someone give an example of using BG mode? I haven't used it yet myself, but it sounds like any pets in BG mode can't attack at the same time, so are you just sacrificing their damage so they can soak up yours?
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Can someone give an example of using BG mode? I haven't used it yet myself, but it sounds like any pets in BG mode can't attack at the same time, so are you just sacrificing their damage so they can soak up yours?
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When in Defensive mode, pets will attack anything that attacks you. Or them, I think, but primarily you.
Of course, this leads to the problem that... your pets are idiots. Even early in the game, they can crush things fast... if they learned to concentrait their fire. Which gives you the situation - do you stay in body guard mode while your pets each attack whichever target catches their eyes, or do you direct them to take on one enemy... and loose your protection?
-This Space Intentionally Left Blank.-
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Can someone give an example of using BG mode? I haven't used it yet myself, but it sounds like any pets in BG mode can't attack at the same time, so are you just sacrificing their damage so they can soak up yours?
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Here's a video of an all Mastermind Imperious Task Force. This video is from when you had to upgrade all the pets individually.
You will see in the video that I don't use any pet commands. I simply use bodyguard mode at all times. My strategy is to run at the enemies and get myself shot. Once I get shot my Thugs will defend me and fire against all my attackers and any other enemies in the area. My thugs will also attack any foe who attacks any of the thugs.
You can sort of see in the video how I get attacked and then my Thugs draw their weapons and fire.
OK I understand now. I was getting hung up on the part someone mentioned about their icon in the pet windows being the little target, which I thought appeared any time they attacked, rather than just when you order them to directly. So you don't have to keep them perpetually by your side, not attacking, you just have to not issue an attack command.
Can someone explain BG mode? I found a guide but the link was dead.