Ok, here's the scoop.
Pretty much everything with /pain is grabbable, but you should most likely avoid enforced morale.
Once you get enough healing bonuses into Nullify pain and Soothe you'll be able to drop Share Pain, although I don't know for what exactly.
The Presence Pool Provoke taunt will keep plenty of the unwanted aggro on you, although with this set (including bonuses to pet resistance from the IOs) you won't even need to worry too much about keeping the aggro.
This set DEFINITELY blooms much later, and also requires a lot of Franken set love.
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Pretty much everything with /pain is grabbable, but you should most likely avoid enforced morale.
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Personally, I take it on my /Pain MMs for the Confuse protection. That means I don't need to take two Leadership powers for it.
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Once you get enough healing bonuses into Nullify pain and Soothe you'll be able to drop Share Pain, although I don't know for what exactly.
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I'd keep it, given how Bodyguard makes the -heal penalty trivial.
I take everything but the rez on my /Pains. As for greater survivability with Necro, I find that the Lich helps a lot. I usually send him in to take the alpha. He seldom dies ( and if he does, you get the strongest ghost out of it anyway ), he heals himself, and he debuffs the enemy even as he takes the alpha strike.
Then, I send in the Grave Knights, and generally keep the Zombies with me as Bodyguard fodder and vomit launchers.
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
Thanks everyone. You've at least told me that this is not a bad combination. I'm looking forward to the death, decay, and decimation that my character will be capable of.
But I have two more questions for now.
Does the -heal penalty stop regeneration too?
Until I get grave knights and lich, am I unable to solo? The zombies pump out a lot of damage, but as soon as I fight a boss critter I can't kill him fast enough.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
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Thanks everyone. You've at least told me that this is not a bad combination. I'm looking forward to the death, decay, and decimation that my character will be capable of.
But I have two more questions for now.
Does the -heal penalty stop regeneration too?
Until I get grave knights and lich, am I unable to solo? The zombies pump out a lot of damage, but as soon as I fight a boss critter I can't kill him fast enough.
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Patience on this one. You can solo even without the Grave Knight, but a boss might be too much for your little minions of death to handle at this point.
An no, the -Heal penalty BARELY takes off a portion of your regeneration, especially once you get Soothing Aura.
Once you do get the Grave Knights you'll start to put the hurting on enemies, especially once you get the second upgrade.
Remember those suckers can crit, and it's all the better when one gets Painbringer, hah.
The biggest thing I've noticed with my zombie/pain MM is that every team I've joined expected me to be the primary healer, which meant they expected me to focus on the Pain powers over the necro powers. I ended up making my second build into a "Support Role" and passed on all the necro attacks and even the soul-making power (forgot the name, but the one you cast on a dead pet). For soloing, though, I kept my original build which is very, very light on the healing.
I also have to agree that the zombies seem to be too fragile. I'm losing a zombie in almost every fight, but I think it's because the grave knights stand back too long and use their ranged attacks. I imagine this is something I can correct with better binds.
This combo gets better.
Period.
I say this because I run the same combo, and had a tough time for awhile, mainly endurance problems while keeping my zombies alive. Hang in there. These are a few goals that helped me get through:
1. World of Pain...get it, slot it, this is your biggest defense for your followers.
2. Lich....major debuffs and range support.
3. Your second 'equip' upgrade...this was a game changer. I had seriously considered scrapping my MM, then this happened. Get it ASAP.
and finally 4. Anguishing Cry (name? at work atm)...absolutely wrecks enemy defense and resist. Slot it for accuracy because it can miss. You know when it hits, because AV's drop like no ones business. My buddy and I duoed Ghost Widow on difficulty 4, and the fight was too easy.
One more pointer for the road, at lower levels the damage is important. As you get your guys 6 slotted, I suggest putting 1 defense debuff and 1 to-hit debuff in each (zombies tier 1 only take to-hit debuffs I believe). The debuff factor really helps alot.
Anyway, my few cents. I hope this helps.
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The biggest thing I've noticed with my zombie/pain MM is that every team I've joined expected me to be the primary healer, which meant they expected me to focus on the Pain powers over the necro powers.
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All my MMs play this way. Solo, the primary is important. On a team, I concentrate on my secondary and the pool powers (mostly Medicine for me). Sometimes I don't even bother to bubble the pets, just the team.
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I ended up making my second build into a "Support Role"
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I did this too. My level 50 Bots/FF has one raiding-team build and one screwing-around-solo build. It's one of the things that makes MMs interesting, imo.
So I didn't want to do the traditional necro/dark, and the next thing that worked with the set was pain domination. I don't see a guide to it anywhere, but I just wanted to ask a few questions. I want to be team friendly, but not solo gimped.
Since /pain gives a lot of self +DMG buffs, should I be taking the necro/ attacks? Which ones? Pool attacks?
I'm only level 8, but my zombies seem particularly fragile. When I try to heal them they still die, except my endurance is gone too. Do these sets just not work together, or does it get a little better later?
Share Pain?
Is bodyguard mode suggested with such fragile zombies?
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.