- Stealth isn't really essential so choose as you prefer (Stealth and Grant Invis might be a nice concept build for a Ninja Master). The small amount of +Def will stack on your Ninjas.
- Smoke Bomb is well worth it as it grants the "Hidden" status that Stalkers use so your Ninjas can crit. Set a ninja to passive, Smoke Bomb, Send him next to a mob, and then tell him to attack. Instant pet Stalker!
Dark has Shadow Fall for stealthy needs though. Would you need invis too?
[ QUOTE ]
Dark has Shadow Fall for stealthy needs though. Would you need invis too?
[/ QUOTE ]
Well pets are not always in the Shadow Fall radius, so Grant Invis might help there perhaps.
[ QUOTE ]
- Stealth isn't really essential so choose as you prefer (Stealth and Grant Invis might be a nice concept build for a Ninja Master). The small amount of +Def will stack on your Ninjas.
- Smoke Bomb is well worth it as it grants the "Hidden" status that Stalkers use so your Ninjas can crit. Set a ninja to passive, Smoke Bomb, Send him next to a mob, and then tell him to attack. Instant pet Stalker!
[/ QUOTE ]
I was wondering whether Invis might give them Hide status allowing them to critical on their first attack. If not it probably isn't that much use except:
i) The +Def it gives might be more endurance efficient for 6 minions over 2 minutes than Maneuvers is ( haven't worked it out ).
ii) It could be used for moving pets into position before an attack or allowing me to stealth them through missions.
Either of those is a minor nicety compared to other things and would considerably change when I get the powers in my build. I guess I would then work in Smoke Bomb at 18.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
[ QUOTE ]
I was wondering whether Invis might give them Hide status allowing them to critical on their first attack. If not it probably isn't that much use except:
[/ QUOTE ]
From what I recall, Hide and Invis are two similar, but different states, so just being invisible won't get you a crit on your opening strike as a Stalker/Ninja pet.
There's a dev post somewhere which clarifies this, but I frankly can't be bothered to look it up :P
:edit: OK, so I can be bothered :P
Here.
Only mentions stealth, but I'd say you're pretty safe in assuming that it covers invisibility as well.
Warning:
The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.
I was suspecting that that would be the case. Smoke Bomb it is then. Question answered, thanks!
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
Hidden and Stealth are two seperate modes - I can crit from Hidden mode on my Stalker without being Stealthed (mobs are aggro'd on me, but don't hit due to being +Def base with Energy Aura)
So the two states are completely different. The confusion happens becuase the Stalker skill Hide has a Hidden and Stealth component.
Smoke bomb is an amazing power and really comes into its own when you get the Oni.
Smokebomb, pet goto <edge of group of mobs>, pets attack.
Oni will unleash a Crit firebreath...truly a thing of beauty.
However i do believe stealth pool stacks with Shadowfall...oh hang on, that might be stacks with stalker hide...bah i've undermined my own confidence in that one....someone else better answer it.
[ QUOTE ]
Smoke bomb is an amazing power and really comes into its own when you get the Oni.
Smokebomb, pet goto <edge of group of mobs>, pets attack.
Oni will unleash a Crit firebreath...truly a thing of beauty.
However i do believe stealth pool stacks with Shadowfall...oh hang on, that might be stacks with stalker hide...bah i've undermined my own confidence in that one....someone else better answer it.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't think Shadowfall stacks with anything other than Hide or Superspeed.
I have another question about my Ninja/Dark.
I have been using Twilight Grasp to heal my 2 ninjas and have noticed that it is not a very reliable heal. It has a small area, so I have to expose myself to danger and sometimes I miss, so I sometimes end up not healing the Pet I really need to heal. I imagine things will get worse when enemies with large AoEs come into the game.
This makes me wonder whether getting Aid Other from the Medicine pool might be worthwhile, as the heal in that is ranged and single target. This would mean getting rid of the Leadership pool ( which I haven't got yet ). It seems to me that Tactics is the main reason I am getting the Leadership pool. However I can replace that with an extra Accuracy in each of my henchmen's at about the same slot cost. Does this seem sensible?
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
Once you get SOs Twilight Grasp is fine - you do have to go in close to your pets, but I haven't yet had a problem with this more than once or twice. I have two ACC SOs on Grasp and it hits everything but bubbled Raiders more than 90% of the time now.
Also, because it's a heal that has to hit, it's more powerful than an aura heal. So I'd advise against the medicine pool.
Best thing about Grasp is it works on almost anything - I can even suck HP out of the vault door on bank missions. 
Yeah, I wouldn't mess about with the medicine pool. Just work on your placement for using grasp well. The hitting is rarely a problem once you get some SO...its the aura range that will fox you. Its just a fact that you will tend to lose the odd genin, but thats no biggie, so dont worry.
My main tactic is to use goto and then I follow in and do the heal. I have no problems with agro or going into melee range at all and of course your setting up for a 250+ AE heal, so even if you get hit, your healing it a second later.
As for the AE mobs, yup, there a bastich, no two ways about it. Especially the demolitionists and the longbow special ops and Nullifiers. I took to offing those instantly out of preference to minimise AE damage. Or certainly with the special ops, teleport foe on them to kill them before I rush the main group.
As for leadership...Well its one of those sets that is obviously useful as its a 'whole team thing' so for a MM its an attractive powerset. My Ninja have an excellent survivability and damage output and I put that down to the fact that I run well slotted tactics, manouvers, assault and shadowfall. Which is also doubled up by my main grouping partner doing the same. That being said, you do have to compromise on powers to buy that many pools. I personally need to respec as I took teleport group which has not worked out like I wanted at all and I think I need Stamina to be honest as I do run a lot of toggles to assist my ninja whilst I command them.
[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:[/color]<hr />
I personally need to respec as I took teleport group which has not worked out like I wanted at all and I think I need Stamina to be honest as I do run a lot of toggles to assist my ninja whilst I command them.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hi, can you explain a little more why you will respec out Teleport Group ?
I'm probably playing my ninjas like yours, running right behind them, with the Leadership powers on without Stamina (thanks to 2 EndRdx in each).
I chose Superleap as my travel power because I always had a lot of fun with it. But I also took Teleport Foe to deal with those nasty AE mobs.
I was thinking about respecing out the 2 Superleap powers to complete the Teleport pool with Teleport and Teleport group, but now I wonder...
[ QUOTE ]
Also, because it's a heal that has to hit, it's more powerful than an aura heal. So I'd advise against the medicine pool.
[/ QUOTE ]
Aid other is just as powerful as Twilight Grasp, however it is single target and autohit.
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I wouldn't mess about with the medicine pool. Just work on your placement for using grasp well. The hitting is rarely a problem once you get some SO...its the aura range that will fox you. Its just a fact that you will tend to lose the odd genin, but thats no biggie, so dont worry.
[/ QUOTE ]
I did end up getting Aid Other from the medicine pool, as I worked out that if I run the whole Leaderpool and Shadowfall and Darkest Night I would have more end going into toggles than I have endurance recovery.
I still haven't decided whether to get and run Tactics, I suspect I will, however rather than getting it at 20, I'll be getting it a bit later, probably around 24.
Aid Other works wonderfully in conjunction with Twilight Grasp, allowing me to top up Henchman health when things go wrong. After all, 2 heals is better than 1. With Hasten running as much as possible I doubt I need to slot recharge, so 1 or 2 heals will be fine in it.
You say that losing Genins is no biggie, I agree that I can get new one in combat no problems, however everytime I do I feel like I've failed, if I lose both it feels like a team wipe. Maybe I shouldn't get as attached to them and treat them like the idiots they are.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
I used to hate losing Genin, to the point where I considered coming up with a new name for each one as he died. Then I hit the higher levels where the Genin get to be three or four levels below the mobs I am fighting and, if I'm honest, (and they're not listening), they turned into a handy distraction while the real magic goes on elsewhere. A lot like Debbie McGee.
These days, when I have time for a set up, I send in a smoke-bombed Oni. As soon as I tell him to fire, the Genin go in to cause a nuisance and pull the aggro back off of Oni and then the Jounin go in to do the real dirty work, by which time smoke bomb is recharged and whichever Jounin looks best placed gets the second bomb.
It's a critical fest from the people who can do real damage and the Genin are there purely to make sure that this happens. Which means they die, a lot.
So I too felt like a failure when I lost one of my gray-clad clowns, but now I've turned completely around and I expect to lose some, now and then and instead feel like a triumph when I keep all of them alive through a whole misison.
*As for aid other being as powerful as TG - sorry about my bad there. I do have AO on my dominator and, even slotted, it always seemed weak compared to my MM and TG.
Yet more proof that you shouldn't listen to Jacqueline. Except when she says that you shouldn't listen to her.
[ QUOTE ]
I used to hate losing Genin, to the point where I considered coming up with a new name for each one as he died. Then I hit the higher levels where the Genin get to be three or four levels below the mobs I am fighting and, if I'm honest, (and they're not listening), they turned into a handy distraction while the real magic goes on elsewhere. A lot like Debbie McGee.
[/ QUOTE ]
However I'm not sure I like the idea of my Genin's marrying my other pets...
I just got a Jounin and he completely eclipses the 2 Genin.
[ QUOTE ]
It's a critical fest from the people who can do real damage and the Genin are there purely to make sure that this happens. Which means they die, a lot.
[/ QUOTE ]
I guess Genin are cannon fodder, that makes me feel more evil..
[ QUOTE ]
*As for aid other being as powerful as TG - sorry about my bad there. I do have AO on my dominator and, even slotted, it always seemed weak compared to my MM and TG.
[/ QUOTE ]
No probs, accurate power strengths are so hard to find in this game. Twilight Grasp is not a great heal, however it also does acc and damage debuffage according to the description... I think the heal in Rad is also a bit poor, not like the Kinetics one which is truly awesome.
[ QUOTE ]
Yet more proof that you shouldn't listen to Jacqueline. Except when she says that you shouldn't listen to her.
[/ QUOTE ]
Now I'm confused, I guess that's more proof not to listen to Jacqueline.....
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
[ QUOTE ]
Hi, can you explain a little more why you will respec out Teleport Group ?
I'm probably playing my ninjas like yours, running right behind them, with the Leadership powers on without Stamina (thanks to 2 EndRdx in each).
I chose Superleap as my travel power because I always had a lot of fun with it. But I also took Teleport Foe to deal with those nasty AE mobs.
I was thinking about respecing out the 2 Superleap powers to complete the Teleport pool with Teleport and Teleport group, but now I wonder...
[/ QUOTE ]
I did basically the same, taking superleap to be stylistically like the Ninja which all get superleap, but they dont use it to travel, which would have looked [censored] awesome, straight out of a movie with all the ninja jumping over rooftops. So I respecced and took group teleport so I could carry my Ninja army with me. BUT
I'm fairly sure it's bugged..well, I know it is..When you teleport about 80% of the time your Ninja will drop out of the air like rocks as soon as you appear not getting the few seconds of hover needed to complete the next port. So they end up following you on foot. That problem combined with the prohibitive endurance cost of teleport made it unusable...Even slotted up pretty well you can't cross a zone with it and of course as soon as you arrive at the mission your out of endurance and have to rest up to even begin summoning your henchmen, and then wait again to train em....the whole process extends itself way beyond worth. At least with superleap I arrived on full end to begin summoning.
Perhaps in conjunction with normal teleport for zone crossing, might be worth it, but you have to slot that up a lot to make it worth it too. I just felt it was a mistake on my part.
My second attempt at a mastermind is a Ninja/Dark Miasma.
I have a question about the Ninja part.
Does the stealth pool help at all ( Grant Invisibility )?
Is the hide effect from the Smoke bomb power ( the one you can get at level 18 ) worth getting?
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.