Call to Arms: Defense Bonus Aura for Pets

Definitely, the EotM and SR uniques should be picked up. The CR taunt and placate resistance unique isn't necessary for bots, although it might be for the other MM henchmen types.

A fair question is where to slot it. For the one bots MM I do have, I slotted the EotM and SR uniques with the protector bots instead of the drones, preferring instead to fully slot the assault bot and drones with full Blood Mandate sets. I've noticed over time, though, that as you rise levels and increase the levels of your BM IO's, you're maxing out on damage and accuracy, so a 5th and 6th IO of the BM set may not be as necessary for the drones at the higher levels than as at the earlier levels. The 5th and 6th BM enhancements provide Area & Ranged Defense by 3.75%, plus 1.88% fire/cold & neg/energy defense, so there's a trade-off in dropping those 5th and 6th BMs on the drones. Even so, I'm still pondering about moving the EotM and SR uniques into the battle drones to free up two slots for the protector bot.

Which begs the other question, what do you load into the protector bots? So far, I've got the 2 uniques mentioned, plus 2 generic Def and 2 generic Heal slotted in the protector bots, with the idea that the protector bots are more for buffing the other bots and staying in defensive mode to provide my MM consistent bodyguard protection, although I will often have them shift to the attack by having them fire at the same target as the other bots. Moving the 2 uniques to the drones leaves open the possibility to load the protector bots with at least two offensive IO's such as a pair of BM doublets/triplets for accuracy and damage (acc/dam & acc/dam/end), while dropping the 2 generic Heals which don't seem to get used nearly as often as the generic Defs.

Deciding on these two questions, I think, depends a lot on the role(s) you expect the protectors bots to play.

(Edited to add: This thread probably belongs in the ATs/powers thread instead of the market thread.)

There is another set of those Defense / Resistance uniques in the regular pet IO sets. Check them out!

You could slot your tier 1 pets with

Defense unique (Edict of the Master)
Resistance unique (Sovereign Right)
Acc/Dam/End (any set)
Acc/Dam/End (any set)
Acc/Dam (any set)
Acc/Dam or Dam/End (any set)

That's just an example and there probably are better ways to slot your pets.

Drones need much more accuracy then the other pets, since once you have all 3 they will be 2 levels below your own. This means potentially, they would be facing up to +5 enemies. I personally think Battle Drones are the best of the 3 pets for slotting the full BM set. That gives them max accuracy and max damage with some end reduction (which they really don't need).

You are giving up on a fair amount of potential damage by having the Protector Bots slotted that way. No accuracy or damage enhacmenet at all? They won't hit anything, and even if they get lucky they won't be doing much damage. ProBots need end reduction too. Watch how often their blue bar drops. It seems they use more end than either of the other two pets. I think they are a great candidate for frankenslotting. Max defense, at least 50% accuracy, as much damage as you can fit in, followed by end reduction.

I would drop the heals as well. The heals have a fairly long recharge and don't get used that much. My opinion is that the uniques are best placed in the Assault Bot. It needs the least amount of accuracy enhancement, since it is even level to the MM, and doesn't seem to use that much endurance. You can fit all that it needs into 4 slots, leaving 2 for the uniques.

Should be in the MM forum for sure.

Good point there, actually, about the drones level penalty and the need to maximize their accuracy in particular. Given that, I agree on the 6-slot BM here.

This is why I was pondering it. In most situations, they seem to hit pretty often even without the enhancements (possibly due to the -def bebuffs by the acid mortar in /traps), but with three attacks (laser blast, laser burst and grenades) along with the seeker drones, it seems worthwhile to maximize the accuracy and damage of those attacks. Good observation, too, that they're the only bots that seem to have an endurance problem in a protracted fight.

Completely agree on keeping the defense at least double slotted (at the higher levels, anyway, maybe triple-slotted at the lower levels until reaching the 90%-95% defense mark with three). With your suggestion, the protector bots could have 4 BM of acc, dam, acc/dam, and acc/dam/end (or a frankenslot of 4 mixed set IO's to get the desired mix of set bonues) to go with the 2 generic defs, maximizing their attacks.

You may have just sold me on your suggestion to slot the uniques in the assault bot and gear the prot bot for attacks. I haven't tried bots in the Mid's builder yet, but if Mid's works for pets/henchmen, I'll try out some of the numbers. Compared to what I already have, your suggestion leaves the drones the same at max acc/dam, slightly reduces the assault bot numbers but not significantly in holding the 2 uniques, and converts the prot bots into mini-assault bots with the def shields still present. The only downside is the loss of the 2nd set of BM set bonuses (with a full set already in the drones) for the 5th and 6th IO's in the assault bot's set.

Thanks for your constructive suggestions which I'll definitely consider whether I respec or not.

Here's my slotting on my Bots/Traps AV soloer.

Battle Drones
Blood Mandate Acc/Dam
Blood Mandate Dam/End
Blood Mandate Acc/Dam/End
Sovereign Right Acc/Dam
Edict of the Master: Def Bonus

Protector Bots
Blood Mandate Acc/Dam
Blood Mandate Dam/End
Blood Mandate Acc/Dam/End
Sovereign Right Acc/Dam
Common Defense IO
Common Defense IO

Assault Bot
Blood Mandate Acc/Dam
Blood Mandate Dam/End
Blood Mandate Acc/Dam/End
Sovereign Right Acc/Dam

Every bot gets the 3 Blood Mandates and Sovereign Right for ED capped Damage and about 74% Accuracy, plus some END Reduction. That's about maximum return for minimum slots. I usually have one or two Acid Mortars out at a time, plus there's Supremacy, so the Drones don't really need to have capped Accuracy.

Actually I think I replaced the Defense IOs in the Protector Bots with Enzyme HOs. Why? That's an exercise for the reader. I didn't bother with the unique Resist IO. Most of my bots have soft capped Defense (Maneuvers, FF Generator, Defense IO, and Protector Bot bubbles), so they rely on not being hit. The Protector bots have a long recharge on their Heal, and it's big enough already that I don't bother slotting it. Plus I have Heal Other (which I do slot well).