why robots?

it seems like robot's are the most popular mm, imo, followed by thugs, then ninjas and necros are tied for 3rd and mercs are dead last =/

why does everybody always go with robots?
and why are mercs so over looked? imo mercs are pretty good, they have alot of debuffs/holds, and they're the only build that can heal everybody in your team (3rd summoned soldier is a medic and he has the ability to heal your minions, you, and you're teammates automaticly)

Because robots are kewl.

I don't know. I know I picked robots because of the concept of the character I had in mind. Which wouldn't work with zombies, thugs, ninja's or mercenaries. Mercenaries are my second favorite though, even though I have yet to play one fully.

I choose Robots for Master E(my Bots/FF MM) because he is part robot himself. And I choose robots because I can make up the story that when they are destroyed their AI gets downloaded into a new body which is kind of hard to do with mercenaries and the others. Of course I "roleplay" my robots as being semi smart and having a personality(and that is also why they have names like Craig, Destin, Desmond, Marshall, Malcolm and Martin)

From a mechanical standpoint, Bots are generally superior to the other sets. They have fair resistances - includind to both lethal, a common type, and psionic, which is a hole for most other people - and do mostly Energy damage with a bit of Fire - while the other sets do mostly Lethal or Smashing with a bit of Fire or Dark. Doing Energy damage allows the Bots to avoid the most common pitfall especially endgame - the ridiculous amount of Smashing/Lethal resistance in high-end foes.

Bots is also the only set whose protections - the Prot Bots Force Fields - actually help the MM itself. And Bots also have two healers, while other sets have one (Mercs) or none (all others, with a slight caveat on life-draining Zombies).

Thugs comes in second for much the same reason; between stacking Leadership buffs from the Enforcers, the Corruptor Arsonist and Brute Bruiser, Thugs offer a good combination of tough pets and good damage.

Mercs are last because they're the weakest of the sets; the Mercs do almost entirely Lethal damage, and their utility and non-Lethal attacks are on ridiculously high recharges so they don't come up often enough to make them particularly useful. Zombies avoids this pitfall with Dark damage, life-draining (thus self-healing) pets, and debuffs, while Ninjas have the Fire/Dark Oni. Mercs just don't have enough to overcome their short falls, especially their Lethal damage, which is probably the most resisted damage type in the entire game.

The short answer is, Bots and Thugs are the best at the two opposite ends of the spectrum; Bots has the best defense of all the MM Primaries, Thugs has the most damage. Ninjas technically has the highest damage, but it is mostly single target, and they don't tend to be as resiliant as Thugs. Necro is pretty much balanced across the board, which means they don't stand out.

There's also the factor that melee henchmen tend to be more difficult to manage, and take a lot more damage. Since Bots and Thugs are both (mostly) ranged, they again have the advantage, with which you decide on based on to which extreme you wish to go to.

Although recent changes to animation and AI might have made Mercs better, IMHO they have a lot of drawbacks that make them unpopular. They don't do a lot of damage, not more than Bots, really, and the Commando really doesn't get ungodly damage after 32 like the Assault Bot does. And unique among the Primaries, their defense is more in the form of control powers than reliable, constant defenses. Bots have their shields, Thugs has Manuevers, Necro has self heals that are spread out among the henchmen, Mercs has only the Medic, and the stuns and debuffs cast by the Spec Ops. These are too unreliable in the hands of the AI to provide an equivalent level of protection.

Even so, my three current MMs are Thugs, Bots and Mercs, and I like all three of them. I don't feel like Mercs are gimped when I play them, it just takes a different strategy. (I am still working on a Ninjas MM, she will probably go hero side when Going Rogue comes out, but right now she's only level 10) The good Smash/Lethal resistances mean they're not bad in melee, and you can keep them at range most of the time anyway, so it's just a matter of pulling more and taking advantage of the Spec Ops' strengths.

Conceptually, my Robots MM is also a cyborg as well. He comes from a future where most people have replaced their bodies with cybernetic parts. My Thugs/Dark MM has henchmen who are dead, if not zombies, so I have no problem conceptualizing her bringing back her henchmen after "defeat", either. With Mercs, I just figure the henchmen use the same medical transporter I do when I'm defeated, so it's just a matter of them getting healed up and getting back.

Actually, my Mercs (/Poison) probably has the most fun concept, which is why I play him. He's insane, he's an ex-soldier, but thinks he's a hippie type in a beautiful world of flowers and love. So his henchmen are actually the ones with the strategy, who are protecting their "meal ticket". They go around mowing down bad guys with their machine guns, while their leader sees them giving out flowers and singing songs. I think the quirky style with which I play him (and the comments I get from teammates ) makes it more fun for me than the gameplay aspects of it.

I will point out that, while Mercs is arguably the worst MM primary, it is still a Master Mind primary. The AT and the Summon sets in general are quite powerful, so even a poor MM set will perform better than a lot of sets from other ATs.

Bots was my first 50 mm, but I have one of each kind, they're all great. Bots are the toughest from what I've heard.

entirely off topic, it'd be cool if costumely speaking you could get arm blasters, or atleast something other then hands >_>;

With the tweaked ToT where you can now pretty much just sit at one door, with a lvl 26 bots/FF on a ToT team last night, I was literally able to park myself towards the middle back of the group and watch Dinner: Impossible and talk to a friend about it over PMs while the bots just stood there and fired and the group steamrolled on. The other Pain characters kept everyone healed to the point that my FFs were moot. Easiest 5 bars ever. @_@

good luck D.B.B.

pirate hooks?

Necro > Robotics

Mercs > Robotics

Robotics > Thugs

Robotics > Ninjas

Just my opinion. I enjoy Necromancery and Mercenaries far above Robotics simply because they're just so much fun to play with, and they are quite engaging as well.

Everything they've said is wrong.

There is only a single reason people take bots.

For the pew pew pew




If they insist otherwise, they LIE.





Well ok not wrong but pew pew overrides almost everything else awesome about robots.

Robots are awesome because they have focused energy beams that I like to call "lasers".

Some prefer it for appearance, some for bubbles/heals.

For me in order of preference

Necro > Thug > Merc > Ninja > Bot

Order based on what I personally find fun to play. In the end damn the numbers and have fun.

My first MM and Vill to 50 was Thugs/Poison. I liked him until the Endgame, when things come down to fighting groups of 15-20 things, it was just to hard to try and micromanage and keep alive my henchmen, But It was decent against tougher single target encounters. Also this set was pretty decent in PvP.


My second MM to 50 was a Nin/Storm. I really liked this set until the recharge Fix/nerf, whatever you want to call it neutered Lightning storm. Its still a Solid set that is fun to play. Also this set is decent in PvP

My third was a Bot/Dark. This MM makes My Tanker weep, and my Scrappers wail, its just coated in that much Awesome. with 40% to Melee and range def, and 60% S/L, and the ability to solo GM's and every AV but Statesman (cant kill that bugger, and iv'e tried allot), its seems overpowered compared to any other AT I have played. And one of the cheapest to IO out of any of my level 50's. This set is "ok" in PvP, allot of what makes him good in PvE gets taken away By diminishing returns in PvP, like 60% S/L going to 19% in a pvp zone =( , and the -tohit gets hit pretty hard by DR, esp since players have a higher chance to hit than NPC's.

I tried a Bot/Trap, and while it was decent, I only got to level 40. I found that for fast moving Groups, and farming, I like the mobility of /Dark

I'm working on a Nin/Thermal, mostly for PvP, I'm at 30 so far, its fun to play, So far I feel like its a bit ahead of My Thug/Psn in Pve, and may come out equal to my Nin/Storm.