Is the AoE attack worth getting?
cant comment on empty clips i never took it on my dark thug mm . my pets do all the damage i need .
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The power has a few drawbacks. Recharge is a bitty long, only decent damage with proper slotting wich you can use better at other powers and additional aggro from mobs can put you in danger.
Leadership helps alot, specialy with the stacking of the thugs leadership already
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An attack that takes almost 20% of your endurance bar for quite underwhelming damage... with the endurance-eating Dark secondary on top of that... uuuhmmmm, no.
Empty Clips looks cool and that´s it.
Just wait for your arsonist and be happy about his crazy fire AoEing.
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.
Hi Unthing.
Basically what others have said: at low levels, I did pick up one of the attacks (Pistols I think, didn't try Empty Clips). It helped a little, but I found that after a few levels, my henches were doing much more damage than me, so I focussed on my secondary (and getting Stamina). In the mid-30s I just dropped the blast and respecced into Leadership (Assault, Tactics, Vengeance) and I don't regret it (there's always some squishy dom/corr around on the team to help with Vengeance, yes you know who you are... ). You can certainly get by without them, but as other said, they stack with the Enforcers' toggles (and Supremacy), so it all adds up. I did have to sacrifice the rez and Petrifying Gaze, but might grab them as my last 2 powers (44 atm).
CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>
My main reason for asking is because unlike my pets, I am likely to get my positioning right and get the whole spawn everytime rather than waste them. I suppose I could get better at ordering them around though. The slot expenditure of the AoE attack may also be a problem.
If it is only worthwhile at low levels then I'd probably be better with the 11.25% damage buff of Assault. It costs less slots too. I think I might go in that direction.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
Actually, AoE for MM's is more useful at high levels when your henches are doing enough damage to pull aggro away from you, and you have slots spare to enable slotting for damage (all MM blasts are weak without slotting).
The ST blasts by comparison are worth more at low levels rather than high. That said I have, and still use my Pulse Rifle on MZ at L50 to pick off lone mobs so my henches can move onto larger groups to more effectively use their AoE.
It all depends on your playstyle though - with Dark you will already be consistantly activating powers (Petrifying Gaze, Twilight Grasp, etc.) so it may be more worth your while to focus on that as your "endurance drain".
If slots are at a premium then Assault would be your better option (2-3 EndRdx rather than 1-2 Acc, 2-3 Dam, 1-2 EndRdx for a fully slotted blast!)
Dark itself has loads of slot hungry powers so clips really isnt worth it, as master zaprobo said your better off with asssult only 2 slots needed while the rest can go to more usefull powers.
I'd wait until your patron set before taking any blast type attacks, by that point all your usefull powers are well slotted
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I just started a Thugs/Dark mastermind because I like the Dark set.
Dark is a really good set for corner pulling as I found with my Corruptor. I was wondering if it is worth my while getting the AoE attack ( Empty Clips at level 8 ) rather than relying on my unreliable henchmen to do effective AoE attacks.
It is that or a leadership power.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.