Your pets are your damage. Take them, slot them, upgrade them. After a while you'll be a death machine, take a few attacks so you don't get bored, and so you can show off that awesome blaster.
Masterminds have low modifiers for buffs (which include heals), so they're not really the focus of the AT.
Oh, and for the record; it's best not to use the word 'healer' around here, especially in the Defender boards. Heals are the least effective form of damage mitigation in the game, but a lot of people from other games don't seem to get this. This particular forum will laugh it off, but it's a recipe for drama elsewhere.
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So I'm new to the game and I just got a bots/ff to lvl 10. I like it as I'm more of a buffer/healer. Before I choose to keep lvling this I want to compare it to a mm that is more active/offensive just to make sure the greater defense makes up for the lack of offense. So what is the most offensive dmg output mm combination?
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If you want "offense", /FF is the last choice. Robot/FF starts out extremely low on offense too.
Robot isn't that good until lvl 32 with 2nd upgrade. So basically you chose the least offensive combo.
If you want offense AND defense (you don't deal offense if your pets just die too quickly!), try Robot/Dark, Robot/Trap and Robot/Storm.
Another good primary for newbie MM is Thug. Thug starts out a lot more offensive than Robot.
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.
In general, the order goes: (from most damaging to least damaging)
Thugs
Ninjas
Necro
Mercs
Bots
Necro and Mercs might be reversed there, I can't really say with Necro for sure. Necro certainly does less damage than Ninjas, and Mercs does more damage than Bots. (Although barely, and only pre-32)
In terms of single target damage, it is more like this:
Ninjas (by a LARGE margin)
Thugs
Necro
Mercs
Bots
In terms of AoE damage it is like this:
Bots (post-32, by a LARGE margin)
Thugs (also by a fairly large margin)
Mercs
Ninjas
Necro
Bots (pre-32)
Thugs is overall the highest damage, but Ninjas beats them out in single target damage. Bots becomes incredibly powerful after 32, although for the most part you need really large groups to outdamage Thugs. (Basically, it's all in the Assault Bot and his Incindiary Missles)
Defensively, it's pretty much the opposite:
Bots
Necro
Mercs
Thugs
Ninjas
Ninjas are REALLY fragile, but I think that's because they are intended to be used stealthily, like a Stalker. They aren't really meatshields like the other MM Primaries are.
And again, I can't be sure about Necro, although I'm pretty sure they're in that gap between Bots and Mercs. Although Necro has to take a lot of damage from being in melee, they all have high resistances and self heals. Thugs' Bruiser can also be really resiliant, it's the Punks that die at the drop of a hat.
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So I'm new to the game and I just got a bots/ff to lvl 10. I like it as I'm more of a buffer/healer. Before I choose to keep lvling this I want to compare it to a mm that is more active/offensive just to make sure the greater defense makes up for the lack of offense. So what is the most offensive dmg output mm combination?
[/ QUOTE ]Masterminds do good damage with every combination. Just dont make the mistake of wasting power picks on the personal weapon attacks. Once you get to the upper levels they do hardly any damage to the stuff you fight. Keep in mind that if you have room in your build to take those weak attacks then that means you skipped something that could be more beneficial to your pets or the team. I recommend leadership and fitness pools for all masterminds so you are able to perform at the best of your abilities. Also like the other person said dont ever say the world "Healer" on the defender boards. They act retardedly crazy when folks say that word for some reason. They act like its the worst thing in the world or something. Keep one thing in mind no one form of damage mitigation in this game works 100% of the time. So at some point heals, buffs, control, and debuffs will all fail given the situation. Thats why I say neither one is better than the other because its like rock paper scissors almost.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
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In general, the order goes: (from most damaging to least damaging)
Thugs
Ninjas
Necro
Mercs
Bots
Necro and Mercs might be reversed there, I can't really say with Necro for sure. Necro certainly does less damage than Ninjas, and Mercs does more damage than Bots. (Although barely, and only pre-32)
In terms of single target damage, it is more like this:
Ninjas (by a LARGE margin)
Thugs
Necro
Mercs
Bots
In terms of AoE damage it is like this:
Bots (post-32, by a LARGE margin)
Thugs (also by a fairly large margin)
Mercs
Ninjas
Necro
Bots (pre-32)
Thugs is overall the highest damage, but Ninjas beats them out in single target damage. Bots becomes incredibly powerful after 32, although for the most part you need really large groups to outdamage Thugs. (Basically, it's all in the Assault Bot and his Incindiary Missles)
Defensively, it's pretty much the opposite:
Bots
Necro
Mercs
Thugs
Ninjas
Ninjas are REALLY fragile, but I think that's because they are intended to be used stealthily, like a Stalker. They aren't really meatshields like the other MM Primaries are.
And again, I can't be sure about Necro, although I'm pretty sure they're in that gap between Bots and Mercs. Although Necro has to take a lot of damage from being in melee, they all have high resistances and self heals. Thugs' Bruiser can also be really resiliant, it's the Punks that die at the drop of a hat.
[/ QUOTE ]I totally agree here. One thing to try is to create binds or macros to make controlling the pets easier. I know for me in order to keep my sanity while playing ninjas I pretty much had to create macros.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
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So I'm new to the game and I just got a bots/ff to lvl 10. I like it as I'm more of a buffer/healer. Before I choose to keep lvling this I want to compare it to a mm that is more active/offensive just to make sure the greater defense makes up for the lack of offense. So what is the most offensive dmg output mm combination?
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Bots/ff is a great combination post-32. Nice damage and virtually indestructible.....but honestly your damage isn't gonna be much better than the two drones you have now for like another 22 levels. I would recommend teaming alot to avoid getting frustrated by the amount of time it takes to kill something higher than a minion with a couple of drones. Oh, and in answer to your question depending on the enemy post-32 bots or thugs paired with /dark, /traps, or /storm is going be great damage.
Edit: forgot storm :P
even though thugs does mostly lethal dmg, their cones do so much dmg and recharge so insanely fast that the bruiser and enforcers have serious end issues if you dont slot any of the pet io trio's with end reduction.
i have both a 50 thugs/traps and a bots/traps and it's no contest - especially after i put the achilles heel io into enforcers. the arsonist and bruiser's dmg is pretty high when i can lay an acid mortar. when i'm farming i generally dont bother with the long recharge powers and the achille's heel proc is a perma acid mortar for the most part.
bots can do GREAT dmg if you can keep everything clumped up for the burn patches. but the bot burn patches recharge slow and it's not infrequent to have your assault bot sit there for 10 seconds at a stretch doing nothing - because everything is recharging.
i used to think the toughest primary was bots..and then i put all 4 pet uniques into gang war.
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So I'm new to the game and I just got a bots/ff to lvl 10. I like it as I'm more of a buffer/healer. Before I choose to keep lvling this I want to compare it to a mm that is more active/offensive just to make sure the greater defense makes up for the lack of offense. So what is the most offensive dmg output mm combination?
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Bots/ff is a great combination post-32. Nice damage and virtually indestructible.....but honestly your damage isn't gonna be much better than the two drones you have now for like another 22 levels. I would recommend teaming alot to avoid getting frustrated by the amount of time it takes to kill something higher than a minion with a couple of drones. Oh, and in answer to your question depending on the enemy post-32 bots or thugs paired with /dark, /traps, or /storm is going be great damage.
Edit: forgot storm :P
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You forgot Poison too.
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So I'm new to the game and I just got a bots/ff to lvl 10. I like it as I'm more of a buffer/healer. Before I choose to keep lvling this I want to compare it to a mm that is more active/offensive just to make sure the greater defense makes up for the lack of offense. So what is the most offensive dmg output mm combination?
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Bots/ff is a great combination post-32. Nice damage and virtually indestructible.....but honestly your damage isn't gonna be much better than the two drones you have now for like another 22 levels. I would recommend teaming alot to avoid getting frustrated by the amount of time it takes to kill something higher than a minion with a couple of drones. Oh, and in answer to your question depending on the enemy post-32 bots or thugs paired with /dark, /traps, or /storm is going be great damage.
Edit: forgot storm :P
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You forgot Poison too.
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if you ONLY solo, poison and storm are just fine
they are piss-poor on a team. you don thave the survivability in poison, and the knockbacks in storm will irritate the brute if you have one, and make managing your pets on huge spawns extremely annoying. anytime there's a storm mm with me - whether i'm tanking huge spawns on my brut or my thugs/traps - i insist they leave hurricane off and use NO RAINS unless everything is immobolized. those that cant or wont are booted. i hate micro-managing while also having to tank for 8 mans. when i'm alone? no big deal.
i dont mind chaos, as long as it's moderately controlled. and quite frankly thugs and bots dmg takes a nose dive when you cant keep a spawn clustered. solo where spawns are 3 minions, 1 minion 1 lt, 1 lt or 1 boss - poison and storm are just fine.
if you ONLY solo, poison and storm are just fine
they are piss-poor on a team. you don thave the survivability in poison, and the knockbacks in storm will irritate the brute if you have one, and make managing your pets on huge spawns extremely annoying. anytime there's a storm mm with me - whether i'm tanking huge spawns on my brut or my thugs/traps - i insist they leave hurricane off and use NO RAINS unless everything is immobolized. those that cant or wont are booted. i hate micro-managing while also having to tank for 8 mans. when i'm alone? no big deal.
i dont mind chaos, as long as it's moderately controlled. and quite frankly thugs and bots dmg takes a nose dive when you cant keep a spawn clustered. solo where spawns are 3 minions, 1 minion 1 lt, 1 lt or 1 boss - poison and storm are just fine.
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Bots/Storm at level 50 is a fun combo solo or teams.
Bots/Traps at level 50 was fun till the Poison Trap changed. Not so much fun now.
Mercs/Dark was first MM to 50. Seldom used because of the all the fun with Bots/Storm.
Storm is top tier on teams, if you know what you're doing. You only need 3 powers, O2 / FR / hurricane. Steamy would be good except for the stupid perception bug. FR is like having all of TA in one power, and hurricane lets you herd guys into AoE debuffs if used properly. Only crappy Storms suck on teams. Good stormies herd guys up and lump spawns together into one big AoE cacophany of pwnage.
Yeah I realize that there's maybe like 99.5% bad stormies, but that's just due to player incompetence.
Anyway, Necro is tons more survivable than any set except for bots due to massive -tohit/fear. Mercs is far less survivable than thugs despite higher resistances. Thugs have 7.5% base defense per enforcer, and it's slottable. Sure the arsonist faceplants a lot but that's one pet. I can solo with my thugs mastermind without any powers running, using only micro, and have a way lower casualty ratio than with mercs. I realize this is partly because the spawn dies like 300 times faster, but death is a great form of mitigation.
What perception bug?
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]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
:/
When are they gonna give mercs some loving?
So I'm new to the game and I just got a bots/ff to lvl 10. I like it as I'm more of a buffer/healer. Before I choose to keep lvling this I want to compare it to a mm that is more active/offensive just to make sure the greater defense makes up for the lack of offense. So what is the most offensive dmg output mm combination?