I've found my ninja/poison suffers from 'too many foes = dead' issue. Any single strong foe is reduced to a crying toddler, before swiftly punting him down a flight of stairs. /Poison's heal is excellent, though it needs 6 slotting to shine. Aside from that, if you *know* what you're up against (infernal's spawns), bring enough purples and circulate them to the jounins/Oni, and take the spawns first (retreat/hold your ground depending)
Anything that deals a lot of AoE is going to be a problem for you, as you lack the /FF, /Traps, /Dark advantage of buffing the ninja's defence, but you do have a very impressive array of debuffs and a strong heal
Certain ATs will have problems with certain EBs. EBs are not intended to be soloable by any AT/powerset combo.
In the case of Infernal, he will inevitably give MMs problems, since not only does he have AOEs, he also summons pets with AOEs.
I really should do something about this signature.
I always thought that EBs were not meant to be soloable. And I, too, had to resign to use inspirations to beat them.
To get back OT, at LEAST infernal's AoE attacks do not do knockback except his Whirling Fiery Axe. (When will we be able to put auras on our weapons like him? :P)
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Infernal and Calystix were two of my three most hated EB opponents when soloing my Bots/Dark MM (the other was Lilitu, but only because I ran into her around a corner once and she AE held my pets and I, then owned us). And my MM had a cone fear to control the summons so I can only imagine the nightmares you're having with /Poison's lack of AE control and meleeing pets. Even without their summons, Infernal in particular is easily capable of wiping out several pets with one Pendulum attack.
Don't be afraid to run away when it starts going bad - on one of my soloing successes against Infernal I actually went through 4 sets of pets, running away between each pet wipeout. Using lots of Lucks and trying to take aggro yourself (turning Infernal's attention away from your pets so his cone attacks don't hit them) can work too, but it can be dicey - he'll still have a 7.5% chance to hit you and can easily take most of your meagre HP with one hit.
But yeah Infernal and Calystix are horrid for MMs - if it just proves too tough just drag in a friend to help - a brute (to tank them) or a dom (to control him/them) would probably be best.
Calystix is a real pain for villains at low levels, just like Frostfire can be on heroes. The amount of deaths I've taken (solo) at the hands of Calystix is too great to count, usually succeed by outleveling the mission, then come back and kick butt at +1 or +2.
However, the OP thinks infernal is hard for an MM. Try soloing Baracuda and Metal Shift as a Dark/Kin Corr. With the help of the friendly freak beginning with O, I just about managed to defeat Baracuda. However, Metal Shift was a much harder proposition, especially when he unleashes his slag pile. Gave up after 3 failed attempts (using countless insps), and will return to kick both their butts soon, as my corr is now +1 on them.
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only EB/AV I had any trouble with on my MM was Synpase really, oh and GW was a pain. For those with AoEs use agressive, for those with STs use Bodyguard. Synapse wouldn't stay on my tar patch though, which meant keeping pets where I wanted them was impossible.
But then Necro/Dark is stupid for control and survivability, have no idea what poison brings safety wise but debuff wise it looks a bit stronger.
MMs are the hardest to just use the spam insps method of dealing with EBs unless you have provoke, then you can BG mode, purple up and just wipe them out. I dont have provoke, and maybe with no self heal its a bit risky, but it could be worth a try
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They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
It seems that the ol' hit'n'run technique is worth a shot. I have just got Magus Mu'Drakhen as a contact and Infernal pops up there so I will give it a go and report back.
I have solo'd Calystix a couple of times successfully but I think that was more luck than judgement. Seem to remember taking the aggro of his pets while mine beat him to a pulp but that was a while ago so I could be wrong.
I mentioned Frostfire on heroes before. I have recently discovered if you stay at range then his pets won't attack. its only a problem if you get into melee range with him. Also confusing his pets works wonders (if you are a mind/illusion troller) so thats worth baring in mind. I suppose a similar tactic would work on Infernal but you would have to be a mind dominator to pull that off, of course.
Further comments appreciated.
Life is one big practical joke that we as the human race have yet to see the punchline to. Once you work that out the rest is easy.
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It seems that the ol' hit'n'run technique is worth a shot. I have just got Magus Mu'Drakhen as a contact and Infernal pops up there so I will give it a go and report back.
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Infernal really varied in difficulty for my MM the 3 times I faced him - it was back in I6, so I'm struggling to recall which one was harder and which was easier, but I think I found him easy on Rutger's arc but a nightmare both times on Mu'Drakhan's (Infernal aside, that was a horrid contact as an MM anyway as Baphomet wasn't much fun either and I already mentioned earlier the event that made me hate Lilitu, even though she's usually easy).
But then someone was saying on another post (actually it may have been on US forum) that Infernal's pet-spawning has been fixed lately and he's back to always spawning demons now as soon as his summon is ready for use. I've occasionally had Infernal fights (from I6 up until recently) where he summoned no demons at all, but then I've also had fights where he summoned twice. Never saw Infernal summon demons the few times I did the Tarikoss SF either (though Calystix always brings his golems in immediately when I've done Leviathan SF).
Actually, thinking about it, when I fought Recluse twice the other day on "Time After Time" (once for me, once for duo partner who had a different patron) both times he summoned Banes twice when every single other time I've faced him on that arc (at least 8-9 times now) he has only summoned once. The usual Bane Spider Commandos spawned first time round, not long after the fight began, but 4-5 Bane Spider Scouts spawned the second time just before Recluse was defeated (this was on Ruthless in a duo - luckily Recluse went down just before the Bane Scouts got to me - I was dreading multiple stealth strikes 
).
Maybe the recent pet fixes Castle has been doing have affected every multiple pet summoner NPC - from memory I can think of: Infernal, Recluse, Frostfire, Calystix, Woodsman, and I think that's it. The Slinger begins fight with his pets already spawned, iirc - been a while since I did an LRSF. Oh I guess there's Arbiter Sands, but he always seems to summon as soon as he goes active.
I thought I would add an update to my original post as last night I managed to defeat Infernal with the aforementioned ninja/poison mm.
I used Valkrysts suggestion but concentrated on taking out his demons first and then concentrated on infernal.I started by attacking then when he summoned directed all my pets to take out his demons one at a time. The moment my pets were down I retreated and resummoned until the demons were all taken care of.
I then retreated again, resummoned, used my purple insps and let a full frontal assault on Infernal whilst repeatedly using my poison debuffs on him. I'm not sure but I think the affects of poison debuffs stack - he certainly seemed to be hitting me less and less as the battle went on.
He managed to summon a second set of demons towards the end of the battle but TBH it was all over by then so I just ignored them. They automatically die when he is defeated anyway.
Thank you everyone who took the time to reply to this post and help me out of a frustrating moment!
P.S - Valkryst - Lilitu was easy 
Life is one big practical joke that we as the human race have yet to see the punchline to. Once you work that out the rest is easy.
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I always thought that EBs were not meant to be soloable.
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Had to stick in my 2 Inf on this...
EBs are meant to be soloable by the right character, AVs are meant to be unsoloable. In practice, my Scrapper can solo EBs without much trouble (aside from one or two, Venessa da Vore being a case in point), and some AT/set combinations can solo some AVs.
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And I, too, had to resign to use inspirations to beat them.
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I must have missed something here, but I was never aware the soloing things required that you did not use Insps. There was me thinking that it meant, you know, not having team mates.
Perhaps people are having trouble with getting killed a lot because they think Insps are 'cheating' or something. 
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
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EBs are meant to be soloable by the right character, AVs are meant to be unsoloable. In practice, my Scrapper can solo EBs without much trouble (aside from one or two, Venessa da Vore being a case in point), and some AT/set combinations can solo some AVs.
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I think this is correct. I remember taking on Maestro as a tank and amazed how easy he was however it was a different story when I faced him with a fire/rad 'troller. However the same tank struggled to defeat Hercules while the fire/rad 'troller breezed over him!
Vanessa De Vore deals mainly in psionic damage (if memory serves) so some tanks and scrappers will find her hard. She is however easier for debuffers.
As for insps I always have one of each red, yellow, purple and orange up and running at all times when facing EB's. Makes life sooo much easier!
Life is one big practical joke that we as the human race have yet to see the punchline to. Once you work that out the rest is easy.
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I used Valkrysts suggestion but concentrated on taking out his demons first and then concentrated on infernal.
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Thank you everyone who took the time to reply to this post and help me out of a frustrating moment!
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No probs - I'm glad you got to feel the satisfaction of finally taking the big guy down.
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P.S - Valkryst - Lilitu was easy
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Good I only ever had a problem with her that first time with my MM, because I ran into her unprepared and got AE held. She's been pretty easy every other time I've faced her - even my Mind/Psi Dominator didn't struggle with her and he's probably had more "difficult EBs" than most of my Brutes, Corruptors, Stalker, and Mastermind.
But one thing I love about this game is that your powersets and tactics dictate so much which factions and which of their EBs/AVs are going to give you problems - just because an EB/AV was easy for one of your characters doesn't mean it will be a complete walkover for another. I like that, because it keeps the game a fresh challenge for future alt characters you make.
I solo alot as I like my characters to get all the storylines as they progress from level 1 to level 50. My current main villain is a ninja/poison mastermind and so far has done very well except for one small problem.
Every time I come to face Infernal he serves my [censored] up to me on a plate. The praetorian version on heroes is easy enough as he is basically just a tank but the one on villains is a different matter because he always summons three or four demons that easily take out my minions before having a go at me.
The only way I have found to beat him was to take the "Defeat Infernal" mission at level 32, level-up to level 34 by doing other missions and then do his mission. This way I am a lot more powerful than he is.
Does anyone have any fool proof ways of soloing infernal as a mastermind? or any other villains for that matter.
Incidently, its not just Infernal, any AV / EB that can summon gives me problems - Frostfire is the bain of my life!