so noone canhelp newcomer in game?
I have a lvl 29 Bots/Dark mm. The few times I have been into Sirens, I have been totally trashed by heroes there. They ignore my bots, go straight for me and I go to hosp. quickly.
My holds are quickly negated by hero insp's and I am too squishy to last long enough for my bots to do enough damage.
I did see an Bots/FF mm cope well pre-I7 using PFF, but nerf may have ended this.
Sorry, but that is all I have at the moment.
Robots are perceived as the most damaging primary, Im sure other primaries have good points too, but I dont have personal experience.
Of the secondaries, I think dark, forcefield and poison are perceived as good, although the nerf to Personal forcefield hurts FF masterminds. Poison is loaded with excellent debuffs and utility powers, but is lacking in personal defense (you'd need to be good in utilizing bodyguard and get aid self from power pool propably).
Dark has area heal which works well with bodyguard, but Im not sure about its other good points.
My personal favorite is robots/poison, good damage+debuffs, in test server event I took down scrappers in one on one situations like they were nothing. But personal defense is where bot/poison lacks, you need good survival instincts and mobility. However bodyguard increased MM survivability hundredfold 
YOu just need to learn how to use it.
EDIT: Oh and I refuse to believe that there is such a thing as "best". This game is great for its variety
I find dark secondary works surprisingly well.
My MA IDs:
Fiend Space: 211464
This is something what I had in mind for my own MM..
Last 2 powers are just for flavour, Im not sure of hte usefulness of team tp, I hear it sucks, but I want to try myself. I think that PPPs suck mostly, it isnt worthwhile getting the other hold imo, because first priority is always to hit enemy with neurotoxic breath. So the PPP armor is the only patron power to take.
In PvP controlled zonal fight should go something like:
lay poison trap, tp foe to it, neurotoxic breath - after which the bots will replay the combat scene of "Empire strikes back" on enemys backside and you just keep spamming envenom, paralytic poison, neurotoxic breath and other goodies. With noxious gas and envenom taking out granite tanks isnt so tough I think.
I didnt have aid self in my original build, dunno how it works but I suspect it can't be that bad
BTW don't pay much attention to slotting lvls, I just put them there quickly.
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
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Name: Mad Tinker
Level: 50
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Robotics
Secondary: Poison
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01) --> Battle Drones==> Acc(1) Dmg(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(7) Acc(7)
01) --> Alkaloid==> Heal(1) Heal(9) Heal(9) Rechg(48)
02) --> Envenom==> Acc(2) Acc(5) Rechg(11) Rechg(23) Rechg(46)
04) --> Weaken==> Acc(4) Acc(5) Rechg(11) Rechg(23) TH_DeBuf(31) TH_DeBuf(37)
06) --> Equip Robot==> EndRdx(6) Rechg(43)
08) --> Stimulant==> IntRdx(8)
10) --> Hasten==> Rechg(10) Rechg(17) Rechg(17)
12) --> Protector Bots==> Acc(12) Dmg(13) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) Acc(15) EndRdx(31)
14) --> Super Speed==> Run(14) Run(40)
16) --> Aid Self==> Heal(16) Heal(29) Heal(33) IntRdx(33) IntRdx(34) Rechg(39)
18) --> Neurotoxic Breath==> Acc(18) Acc(19) Acc(19) Rechg(21) Rechg(21) Slow(43)
20) --> Hurdle==> Jump(20)
22) --> Health==> Heal(22)
24) --> Stamina==> EndMod(24) EndMod(25) EndMod(25)
26) --> Assault Bot==> Acc(26) Dmg(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Acc(31) EndRdx(33)
28) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(28) Acc(34) Acc(34) Range(40) Range(40) IntRdx(48)
30) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(30) Range(46) Range(46)
32) --> Upgrade Robot==> EndRdx(32) Rechg(37) Rechg(43)
35) --> Paralytic Poison==> Acc(35) Acc(36) Hold(36) Rechg(36) Rechg(37) Hold(42)
38) --> Noxious Gas==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39)
41) --> Charged Armor==> DmgRes(41) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(42)
44) --> Poison Trap==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Rechg(45) Rechg(45) Rechg(48)
47) --> Elixir of Life==> Rechg(47)
49) --> Team Teleport==> EndRdx(49) EndRdx(50) Range(50) EndRdx(50)
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01) --> Sprint==> EndRdx(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Supremacy==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
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PS. THis is just one idea to make a MM, I don't think there is a flavour of the month -build yet with masterminds.
Two words. Bodyguard mode.
[color=dodgerblue] Aid self might be handy due to the new u cant die in 1 hit if your on full health u may find as soon as ur hit (as long as ur paying good attention) u could quickly pop aid self to live a bit longer n run or find where ur beign attacked
If you like controlling, the Mercenaries primary is for you, the Spec Ops both have wide variety of mez effects at their disposal, from web grenade (-jump, -fly, immob) to AoE stun/hold effects.
If you prefer debuffing, go for Necromancy. I seem to recall them all having -acc at the end.
Guess it all comes down to what you are looking for. Damage means much, but it isn't everything in PvP
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[url="http://www.the-cow.net/"][color=red]The CoW Network (Blog) /[/url][url="http://www.collegeofwar.com/"][color=blue]/ College of War[/url]
Ninja/Trick arrow imo.
i'd say ninja, mercs or robo primary combined with dark, poison or TA secondary. Playing MM in pvp doesnt mean "send pets in and hang back while they do the job", send your pets in without active support on your behalf and you'll be eatin dirt in notime as players (of course) ignore pets and aim for you.
Tricky part of playing a MM in pvp is like said, people will ignore henchmen and aim for you, thus your big friends are debuff and cunning. Thats right, cunning! Dont just bullrush em following your pets as they just jump through your pets and still aim for you, even with bodyguard mode you'll be dead in no time. Poison for instance, though it has no self-support, the animations are excellent as they are quite hard to track. This enables you to send your pets from 1 way, attack the other way and keep moving. Your pets can do quite decent damage to the enemy as long as they stay alive. If you keep moving and dodging, the target has to check through all those pets to find you and by the time they found you, you can plant them.
So summarized:
powersets - robo/nin/merc primary with dark/poison/TA secondary
love your debuffs
use your head when movin around
"god, how many devs did hami have to sleep with to get ED?"
Total Cat @Stagefright
Bodyguard mode is surprisingly effective, I've found. Anything which makes the mastermind up to four times tougher to kill is good in my books. All it requires is good pet management & maintenance (i.e. keeping them alive, making sure they don't run off, etc) and intelligence & observation in battle.
But of course you need a good secondary powerset to support it, and that's why I suggest Dark Miasma. Twilight Grasp is perfect for it. Any of the damage you take will be instantly healed if you've got a couple of good accuracy enhancements on there (the healing factor is huge), and any pets nearby will be healed too. Throw in the various debuffs of Dark Miasma and your opponent won't be able to land a hit very often (Darkest Night ftw). Throw in Necromancy if you want even more ToHit debuffs.
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Two words. Bodyguard mode.
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Providing someone doesn't TP Foe you away from your Henchs, as you in to be near them for Bodyguard mode to work.
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Two words. Bodyguard mode.
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Providing someone doesn't TP Foe you away from your Henchs, as you in to be near them for Bodyguard mode to work.
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Afaik you don't. (henches tp to you if you get too far, remember). I was tp foed by a /dev blaster during test server event and I lived thru it couple of times.
Unfortunately I dont have high lvl MM now, so I cant test.
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Afaik you don't. (henches tp to you if you get too far, remember). I was tp foed by a /dev blaster during test server event and I lived thru it couple of times.
Unfortunately I dont have high lvl MM now, so I cant test.
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They only auto TP to you if you get them a set distance away from the MM.
You don't have to TP them far, just so that they don't get Bodygaurd and your henchs don't auto TP to them. I'm sure any scrapper/tanker/blapper could kill an MM in the time it takes their hences to run to them.
Helps if you TP them so that when the henchs do come running, they will have things in there way.
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Afaik you don't. (henches tp to you if you get too far, remember). I was tp foed by a /dev blaster during test server event and I lived thru it couple of times.
Unfortunately I dont have high lvl MM now, so I cant test.
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They only auto TP to you if you get them a set distance away from the MM.
You don't have to TP them far, just so that they don't get Bodygaurd and your henchs don't auto TP to them. I'm sure any scrapper/tanker/blapper could kill an MM in the time it takes their hences to run to them.
Helps if you TP them so that when the henchs do come running, they will have things in there way.
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Yes, but what I tried to say that I didnt manage to get to a situation where bodyguard didn't function.. Do you know the distance when bodyguard stops functioning then? Afaik the henchman auto-tp is about 200 yards.
In RV test server event I moved my henches in a sort of 'moving fortress' fashion, ordering henches to stay put, and use SS myself. After I got the about 200 yds away, all bots dropped from the sky to the same spot. Repeat procedure as much as I wanted, ensuring that all my henches were ready to fight from their 'base of operations', and I had a place where I could retreat to if I got into trouble.
If I spotted enemies, I laid down a poison trap in midst of my bots and tp foed enemy to it. Doing this I avoided the possibility of my bots being scattered all over the countryside.
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Do you know the distance when bodyguard stops functioning then? Afaik the henchman auto-tp is about 200 yards.
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Bodygaurd stops working once your henchs stop getting Supremacy, so thats 60 ft.
aye, iirc its 170 yards for henchies to respawn, and supremacy is 60 ft. Bodyguard is only for henchies in supremacy range, so tp the MM to a distance <170 yrds but >60ft, and he wont have bodyguard mode to help. Hence why you shouldnt solemnly rely on bodyguard mode. Personally I dont use bodyguard mode too often in pvp as I tend to be aggressive with robo/poi and kill my foe before they get a chance to gun for me. When they finally start hammering me is when i swap to bodyguard.
"god, how many devs did hami have to sleep with to get ED?"
Total Cat @Stagefright
what best pvp spec to mm? ???/???