I "think" I want Mercs/??

if the Mercs mm needs fixing since its apparent that many ppl say its the weakest then id like to see the pets being boosted and also serum by god it needs boosting cause the demon's version is so much better but it also helps by puttin in the right IO's to get the best effect from them, in bodyguard mode thier leathal and with the addition of the dark servant it makes it harder for the mobs but nothing beats the sound of yr own mini army empting every magazine they load into thier assault rifles

I just had a dumb idea to address Mercs.

You see...the most bada$$ mercenaries in the cox universe are Malta.

So I'm just sayin.....



tier 2 pets: Maltaesque Gunslingers

tier 3 pet: Maltaesque Zeus Class Titan

Dumb I know, but n00bs can dream.....can't they.

So... what can I expect from my lowbie Mercs/Poison?

When I started him, I thought the Spec Ops stealth could work well with the tier 9 from Poison. Does this hold any truth?

But what if I play around with pet controls? I could send the Spec Ops in on defensive or passive mode, so he doesn't attack anything that can't see him.

Another question: If I set the medic to "passive", will he still heal his teammtes or not do anything at all?

Merc/Traps Merc/TA, merc/storm, and merc/dark all quite synergistic IMHO. Merc/Dark being quite survivable. Your mileage and insanity may vary though.

Well, the concept I have for him is pretty solid: Commander Toxicant, a member of a militia of mutant supremacists who want to exert power over the "lesser evolved". Every one of his mercs has their own minor mutant powers, which aren't really enough to be useful in combat and become full-fledged villains, but that hasn't stopped them from considering themselves superior enough to humans to take up arms.

I was actually mostly worried about the Poison set when I started, since single-target debuffs are mostly useless against regular foes, and the other tools seem less than ideal for supporting his henchmen. Now this thread has made me fear that his primary will also be painful and I'd like to know what I'm getting into.

Is there really any reason you can't do thugs/poison with that concept? Just because they're a militia doesn't mean they have to dress paramilitary.

And the Bruiser and Enforcers fit your concept much better than the spec ops and commando since the bruiser uses some Super Strength attacks and the enforcers have team buffs giving them the minor powers you mention. The commando and spec ops just have guns.

I do not know why people have exagerate the problems with mercs. Yeah their timers need some work, serum needs to be reworked, and some other smaller fixes, but they are not as bad as some people are saying.

The knockback is still better then bots, the AI using aoes are no worst then any other MM set, and their damage is not near as bad as people are saying. They do have the weakest damage, it is just not as bad as some are saying. I remember someone tested damage on vault doors a few years back, and they found that mercs did about the same damage as bots without the burn patches.

I also find a lot of the medics problem is people fighting at range. Being Traps I find my medic charges in less then my bots and thugs. But my Merc/trap fights at a much closer range, so my medic isn't having to run up from the pack.


I will end with saying, is being the weakest member of the strongest group all that bad. After all there are a lot of sets much weaker then mercs.

I must be doing it wrong because my Merc/Traps MM seems to kick tremendous *** everywhere he goes. I get at least half the kills in teams. I'm hardly ever in danger of getting hurt. I can solo or team easily but while there's there's enough tactical flexibility I don't get bored to tears (see: Robot/FF MM), I don't even have to micromanage much at all unless I want to.

My build tends to focus more on my MM as a damage dealer and an active participant in things. He wades into a fight with Air Superiority, Sands of Mu and the heavy rifle attack. Things bounce. Most of my mercs stick close and don't wander off so they benefit from Superiority (though, yes, I do get wandering medic syndrome sometimes but if he dies I just summon him back, big woop), medic heals, bubble defense, and my own Aid Other.

Taken as a group we're tough as nails.

But, you ask, what about crowd control via Spec Ops and those pesky timers? Just as with everything else. Don't sweat it too much. They're a bonus. I tend to look on them mainly as ways to disrupt an alpha or an ambush, not a way to micromanage an entire encounter with anal retentive, Controller-like, precision. While things are stumbling around or getting tangled up in Spec Ops web grenades I'm setting up my traps on the fly.

The hell with prep time. I don't need no stinkin' prep time aside from what my Spec Ops boys buy for me. I just run into the thick of things and start setting up the fieldworks.

One guy mentioned Spec Ops sniper shots and I think that bears repeating. If you don't want to just rush in on some group tell one of your Spec Ops guys to shoot. Between their stealth and the range on those rifles there's a decent chance you'll get a clean pull. If there's a particular Lt. or Boss that is a particular threat, just "Go To" your stealthed Spec Ops operators next to him and then tell him to "Attack My Target". Odds are the target'll get a riflebutt in the face or some other equally inconvenient disability.

If it's a boss that's perceptive you might want to lob a smoke grenade (temporary power) over there to help your guys out.

Is the Commando stupid? Sure. But hell with it. Don't sweat the details. Just let him do his thing. He's basically your tank (to the extent you're not) and most of the AoE damage he does serves to pull aggro onto him as much or more than it's intended to do serious damage.

Just keep healing him when he's low, assuming you did take Aid Other, and he'll keep doing his job. Heck, throw some damage inspirations his way too.

So between Commando's tanking, Spec Ops somewhat random crowd control and taking a more active combatant approach to pool and primary powers for your MM, Mercs can be very effective in a variety of situations with quite a bit of flexibility.

Is it the best Mastermind Primary? That answer will always depend on what you're trying to do. If the answer is "everything, all of the time" I'd say it's damn close.

Just remember except for your Commando's flamethrower you're looking at virtually 100% lethal damage. The most commonly resisted and the highest resisted damage type in the game. You will come to despise robots and freaks who can show up with 50-75% resist to your minions. That Achilles heel will reduce the impact of enemy resistance, and in the few cases where the enemy has none, it is still a damage boost.

the nice thing is almost all your dudes attacks have a -def component so you don't need to worry about accuracy as much in longer fights.

Mercs/TA I have found to be very fun. I love the debuffs that I get from the Merc and TA and being able to reduce resistance in more than one way helps with the lethal damage from the Mercs.

They need to work on the recharge time on Mercs...but other than that they are awesomesauce. I don't know about you guys but Out of all the other MM sets opening up with Mercs is my favorite part of the set. They just SHUTDOWN a mob with their Alpha...but after that things get kinda....normal. I always love it when my mercs Alpha though, it reminds me of the 4th of July.

I know I'll get flamed for this, but Mercs has been my favorite MM primary before the introduction of Demons. In my opinion there is at least one reason to take Mercs over others, and that is that they are a ranged set that doesn't make the enemies run away.

Thugs and Bots both cause a ridiculous amount of enemy scatter due to fear effects in burn patches and such, and it drives me up the wall. Knockback I can sort of handle, and with the right secondary (Storm, for instance) I can even make it work in my favor. But the fear flag on area damage powers is just a ... bad word... to deal with, and I find my henchies go running off after runners and draw aggro from nearby spawns entirely too much.

And I don't really like melee pets. So Mercs have been my favorite. My Mercs/Storm is amazing, and my Mercs/Pain is ok.

I'd actually argue that Mercs is the best synergistic fit with /Storm of all the primaries.