I've got a lvl 21 bot/ff now, so all 3 henchies of this tier in tow.
To be honest, as they're lower level I give them all the help I can. My alt has no attacks of his own and as such I have Assault and Tactics running and slot wise I have 3 acc and 3 damage on them.
They hit and do damage quite a bit and between the Prot bot and my aid other we keep them going, and the ff buffs stop them getting hit as much.
Works for me. 
Don't underestimate the strength of tier 1 units; especially when slotted up.
Mine are two accuracy/three damage, and they consistently hit while putting out significant damage. While they're delicate - a solid couple of hits from a Boss will make them crumple - I think it would be folly to ignore them.
2 ACC and 3 damage , is good enough together with Supremacy and Tactics/ assault.
Yes Tier 1 are cannon flodder so use them as cannon flodder. dont buff them up too much with the tier 9 equip.
Since most of the time one or two will die , so just resummon them equip them the first enhancement off you go.
Or alternative tactic is to use them as body guard near you . pretend they are not there, and use tier 2 and 3 as your main assualt group .(that was even before the new body gaurd function was added)
If you dont slot them , the problem is that they are then totally worthless , you might as well skip them .
They can´t hit a thing unslotted especially at higher levels, even if they hit a thing there sad damage is even sadder 
Well am so used that my tier 1 pets die that usually resummoning them isn´t a big hassle .
Have instead put 0 slot in the first equip (so only the standard first slot)
Well guessing from the new thug set , muwahaha it seems they are now accepted to die !!!
Worthless punks and toss in gangwar to cause mayhem. even more decoys 
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Don't underestimate the strength of tier 1 units; especially when slotted up.
Mine are two accuracy/three damage, and they consistently hit while putting out significant damage. While they're delicate - a solid couple of hits from a Boss will make them crumple - I think it would be folly to ignore them.
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Definately agree. They may be meatsheilds, but they sure pack a punch. I solo on Invincible with my MM...and unless I'm against certain Longbow bosses (or some of the Heroes in Mayhem missions) I have no trouble. Apart from Demolitionists that is. Stupid burn patch makes my pets panic!
I've got them: 3/2/1 - Damage, Accuracy, Defense Debuff .In my team they are the damage dealers and if they get defeated it sure shows. I play on Ruthless story arcs too and the fodder moments i've had happen usually against some really tough elite bosses, like Longbow Ballista (total nightmare! He one shotted the Brute). Normal bosses dont seem to be very dangerous unless they come in some nasty 2 boss team. Hey and i'd really advice you to slot the little guys too give them a change to shine 
Thanks for that guys I was probably going to slot them it
was just one of them crazy ideas I get from time to time to try and be diffrent.
I would still like to hear from any body though who has slotted diffrently to say maybe the usualy 3 dam 2 acc combo.
I may still try it myslef and respec the out if it doenst work.
Thanks again
If my memory is correct i have them slotted at 2 acc and 2 dam SOs. they do fine in the hit dept, playing a bots MM i can't speak for all, but i agree with one of the previous posters in that since I7 i've kept them on bodyguard duty, and have the rest attack. With the added dam resistance from Bodyguard and heavy defense from leadership, traps and the Prot Bots i then tend to wade in and use Air Superiority and Web Grenade for CC purposes, at that point after i take some damage they tend to pitch into the fight and do pretty well while staying in Bodyguard mode. (not really relevant but i do all that on Ruthless)
It all depends on your style and tactics but don't underestimate the tier 1s, as bodyguards or cannon fodder just remember that they may be weak but there are 3 of them. Strength in Numbers and all that
Pretty sure I have them kitted with 2 Accuracy, 2 Damage, 1 Accuracy Debuff and 1 Healing. They tend to last quite well against anything other than major AoE/Cone attacks or Flamethrowers. Usually only lose 1 per mission (playing on the second most difficult setting) unless the boss creams them.
depending on the type of mastermind, a 3 acc 3 dam for 1st tier henchemn is a good thing (tm). Not slotting these babies gonna put yourself in a world of trouble. And also to the poster saying not to Equip tier 1s - utter foolishness. When my team of bots open up fire on a mob with 6-8 "goodies" in there, they drop faster than a en/en-blaster in RV. The sheer total DPS from tier 1 Henchies must _not_ be ignored.
Had a good team cpl nights back, we entered a room with about 30 baddies. I swear, them were all dead almost faster than I could switch targets. 2 MMs btw. Pure carnage.
I solo on highest setting (am lvl 36) and frequently get ppl in team just to get bigger spawns. Did some +6s too. That was interesting But my bots prevailed.
Yeah, I second that. And pleeeease do buff them. Fully equipped tier 1 bots blast the snot out of tightly packed groups of enemies with their energy auto-fire. This way you pack a heavy load of alpha strike. An orange-red CoT spawn dropping dead in 3 seconds truly is a sight to behold.
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
Ninjas/FF FTW. Don't underestimate those little guys when bubbled up. It may take only a 2 or 3 hits from an Elite Boss to pound one into the ground, but, heh, even an Elite Boss will whiff at air a lot before he gets those 2-3 hits.
Add Aid Other into the mix and most of the time you never have to re-summon them in a solo mission. In a group they have a harder time, though, since there my first priority are the other players.
I have the standard 2xAcc, 3xDmg slotting on all my robots, and I always fully upgrade the 1st tier battle-drones - they add significant damage. If more than one of them gets killed (e.g. on an Elite Boss fight) I really notice the drop-off in damage. Sure, they don't do as much damage as the other pets, but they still contribute a lot, even on higher difficulties (I mainly solo or duo on Ruthless - I'd be on Relentless if AVs/Heroes didn't spawn solo on that difficulty) - they can even draw aggro from the Assault/Protector Bots sometimes.
On the "not empowering the tier ones" I never do with my meatbags anymore because I don't want them standing there doing the pukey thing. I want them in getting smacked about the place. But that was only because they'd puke and then stand there like, erm, zombies.
But pre level 12 I'd buff them up, max firepower. After that they'd mainly be alpha strike absorbers so no puking for them. The exception would be against AOE heavy enemies. Giving them upgrades causes them to get spread out a bit more as some melee and others hold back for pukies, avoiding the worst of the AOE hopefully.
2*acc 3*damage with suppremacy and tactics despite the fact they must spend their life staring at purples they raley miss.
your thugs/dark arnt you Miss. Tier 1's are ranged aren't they so you should be able to keep em close and heal them with TG
My little Bots rarely die and there are 3 of them so damage is good. they only produce little numbers but oh so many litle numbers
on upgrades i always give em both at the beggining and if they do fall, mostly to AOE attacks, i summon and give em the first then the second on the hoof.
Only wish once you had upgraded them you couldn't upgrade them again. I run with window scale at 85% and with all the buffs its sometimes tricky to spot the upgrade against each off them.
Ho Hum
I always make sure my tier 1 robots get fully upgraded, their knockback effect is still effective even against +1 (+3 to them) bosses. The full auto power is great for tightly packed groups and provides excellent support for the missile fire from my assault bot. The thick cloud of little orange numbers above a mob is quite a satisfying sight.
I've not tried the other MM types so I can't really comment on them, however ignoring tier 1 robots or not slotting them would be a noticable handicap to any Robots MM.
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My question is what do you guys usualy slot the 1st set of henchies with if at all.
Many thanks in advance.
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Personally, as a Robotics/Traps, I slot them 3 acc, 3 damage. And I run Assault and Tactics as well.
I know other people in this thread have said this, but not slotting your minions is a loony idea. At all levels, they will be providing a significant chunk of your damage output.
Especially for Robotics, a fully upgraded set of Minions all deciding to go SoE on a mob can drop that spawn to about 25-20% health in one fell swoop. And if you've managed to get an AoE immobilise on the spawn too, and Stompy decides to use Incendiary Swarm missiles, then that group of opposition isn't long for this world.
As far as thugs goes, I believe the tier 1 and 2 pets are ranged and get AoE's eventually, so similar rules should hold true.
Also, pretty much any high level MM will notice a drop in their damage output from losing even just one Tier 1 pet. I know that I do... They don't do particularly big lumps of damage, but they do lots of little lumps.
Warning:
The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.
I have mine 3 slotted for accuracy and damage: they die very often but still can do a fair amount of damage.
I do my missions on relentless.
Quick question to try and gauge few opinions on this.
As we all know our 1st set of henchmen depreciate in strength as we get the 2nd and then the 3rd.
Now if your playing on anything but the easiset difficuly lvl they tend to be mainly cannon fodder some may say they are still fodder on easy as well.
Im mulling over the idea of not even slotting them at all and spend the slots else where.
My question is what do you guys usualy slot the 1st set of henchies with if at all.
Many thanks in advance.