Nooooo too many powers! (DS/dark)

So, here's the thing. I really like teleport. It's a good fit for my character concept. I really like leadership on MMs just because there's so many pets to get the bonuses. I have been told that Provoke is really useful for keeping pets alive a bit longer -- especially since as a /dark, I have an AoE heal, so spreading damage out is awesome. And at least a couple of people have told me not to skip all the whip powers, because a -res debuff is useful. Oh, and some people recommend hover if you're going to use teleport to travel. Everything in /dark is good except Black Hole...

So I can pretty much get all the powers I really need by about 60, assuming I don't do a PPP/APP.

Heeeeelp.

Okay, here's an example attempt at making this work. I just wrote off Fitness. Unenhanced, the stamina drain of all toggles is 2.6 end/sec, but obviously enhanced it'll be quite a bit lower. Haven't even really looked at enhancements or sets, just trying to get a feel for where the powers come in.

Answers to questions:

* Teleport because it fits the character conceptually.
* Didn't take the whip until late because everything before that seemed more important. I may have been wrong.
* Didn't have enough slots for a second (or third) whip power; I went for the longest range.
* Hover because it makes teleporting a lot easier/safer.
* Taunt because bodyguard mode and an AoE heal work really well IF I can cause things to attack me instead of my scrawny little demonlings.
* Tactics because the demonlings are two levels below me and have a really hard time hitting even slotted for accuracy. (And +to-hit is multiplied by accuracy, so once they're around 60-70% accuracy, +to-hit becomes quite valuable to them.)

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

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Charlene White: Level 48 Natural Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Demon Summoning
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Presence
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Summon Demonlings

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Some thoughts:

A lot of people have chimed in that Crack Whip is all the Taunt they need. You may be able to get by without Provoke, if you take that.

Petrifying Gaze is a so-so power. If, when you add slots, you can't find enough to really lock an enemy down for a long time... skip it. It is the only other Dark Miasma power I could recommend avoiding. Remember, both the Servant and the Demon Prince are going to have single target holds too...

Don't make the mistake of thinking Dark Miasma for MM is the same as Dark Miasma is for other ATs. Most notably, Twilight Grasp is a much different, weaker thing on MM. With only a ten foot radius around you for the heal, you will be LUCKY if you can hit two of your pets with it. It still heals for a lot, but you aren't going to be seeing Green numbers over all your pets with this power. So keep that in mind.

On a personal note, you may get more mileage out of Recall Friend than Teleport Foe. It's useful for bringing your pets to you, especially when they encounter some piece of geometry that confuses them.

That's all I can really think of, off the top of my head. As a Demon Summoner, you need to be in the thick of things, with your demons. Be sure to emphasize your own personal survival, too! Tankerminding doesn't pay off if you can't protect yourself!

Good luck with your build.

Personally this is what I would do for pre-sets on a DS/DM (If needing to take Teleport and Hover)

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Natural Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Demon Summoning
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Flight
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Summon Demonlings -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(3), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(15), Dmg-I(17), EndRdx-I(19)
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(5), Heal-I(5), Heal-I(33), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(33)
Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(7), RechRdx-I(11), EndRdx-I(37), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 4: Darkest Night -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(7), EndRdx-I(11), ToHitDeb-I(40), ToHitDeb-I(46)
Level 6: Enchant Demon -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Crack Whip -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(9), Dmg-I(9), Dmg-I(36), RechRdx-I(37), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 10: Recall Friend -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Summon Demons -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(13), Dmg-I(13), Dmg-I(15), Heal-I(17), Heal-I(19)
Level 14: Teleport -- Range-I(A)
Level 16: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Shadow Fall -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(23), EndRdx-I(23), DefBuff-I(43), DefBuff-I(46), ResDam-I(46)
Level 24: Fearsome Stare -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(25), Fear-I(25), Fear-I(45), ToHitDeb-I(45), ToHitDeb-I(45)
Level 26: Summon Demon Prince -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(27), Dmg-I(27), Dmg-I(29), Hold-I(29), Hold-I(31)
Level 28: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(34), EndRdx-I(34), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(31), DefBuff-I(31), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 32: Abyssal Empowerment -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 35: Tactics -- ToHit-I(A), ToHit-I(36), ToHit-I(36), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 38: Dark Servant -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(39), Heal-I(39), Heal-I(39), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 41: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Hover -- DefBuff-I(A)
Level 47: Dark Embrace -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(48), ResDam-I(48), EndRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Soul Tentacles -- Acc-I(A), Immob-I(50), Immob-I(50), Immob-I(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Supremacy
Level 4: Ninja Run

May not be the best build but it should help you build yours (Because all those toggles would be devastating without Stamina... due to DM needing to cast other things)

Provoke is really meh for mm's. It is very weak by itself because the pets attacks reduce it's taunt time severly. It can add taunt on top of your own attacks but I don't think it's worth the slot.

Then you don't need provoke .
Just walk up to a group and you will get the alpha or better yet use your attack or drop a tarpatch. Provoke is supposed to be used to keep the aggro on yourself all the time.

Hey seebs, I was just wondering if you could give bit of a run-down how you approach spawns. My hair stands up a bit when you mention 'pulls'.

I picked up a lot of my terminology elsewhere.

Anyway, it varies a lot. On my bots MM, defensive/follow, run in, drop PGT or caltrops. Usually that's all I have to do. The tricky part comes when, say, one group is too close to another for my comfort -- then I usually pick an outrunner, have the bots attack it, immediately hit follow, and run around a corner.

On the demons/dark mm, if there's anything I can easily pick off, and I'm not in a hurry, I tend to grab something with TP foe. If a group is reasonably isolated, I can just charge in and attack. If there's other groups nearby, I try to encourage them to come towards me and away from whatever else is nearby. I will happily open with some kind of ranged attack and hop around a corner -- that's why my tentative plan includes the long-range whip attack. Corners are nice for getting everyone bunched up around my darkest night anchor on a tar patch.

In general, if I don't feel the need to specially move the mobs away from where they spawned, I pretty much come up to them and attack. Since I have Shadow Fall up, that usually means I come pretty close and then attack. They all initially attack me, then the demons kill them. I laugh maniacally.

If you're wanting for more attacks, you could drop Tactics: you already get Supremacy, and as a DS/Dark you'll be in the thick of things with your pets anyway.

People say to grab Hover with TP because most people lag after the TP and may fall w/o wanting to. If you don't lagfall out of TP, then I'd say drop Hover.

I've never gotten any mileage out of Provoke. Personal opinion, but I'd drop it: once you slot up Fearsome Stare you'll hardly get hit by anything. That's all I see.

I've had many characters with TP, and have never needed hover.

Unless your comp or connection is horrible, you will rarely lagfall, and if you do, the 30 min jetpack that drops will more than suffice to level 50 and beyond.

Fair enough. I occasionally find hover useful for maneuvering inside maps, but nothing crucial; I could probably live without it. Thus far, lag's been pretty livable.

Is Supremacy really enough to make up for my little demonlings being two levels under even-con mobs? It seems like it provides a pretty significant effect (since its to-hit bonus is inherently multiplied by accuracy in most cases).

I've seen people arguing that with enough set bonuses to recovery, you can sort of bypass Stamina, but that would be something I couldn't do for a long time. My bots/traps has been okay with all three leadership toggles and no stamina, but /traps is frequently a lot less active than /dark. Obviously, if I add the whip attacks, that noticably increases my endurance usage, too. So I think I'm convinced, I'll abandon the leadership pool. I'm pretty happy with TP Foe, I might also get Recall Friend because that's pretty handy too. But if I drop leadership, I'll have more blue and two more slots.

I may try that, too. Until 32, I have little enough AoE that I'm playing mostly at +1/x0 rather than, say, +0/x2 or /x3, so I only have a couple of targets to worry about at a time, usually. I anticipate things changing at 32.