Looking for tips and advice from Robot/Traps veterans.

To start I want to say this combo is sweet and I love the play style. I am not having problems, just looking to get the most out of what I got. At the moment ph1x3r is level 30 and things are going well. I would like any tips and advice though. I am running missions at +1 level/+2 players and I rarely get in over my head. I am going to post my build.

Things that I am dealing with/pondering:

Is it better to use a higher team setting and not higher level setting? Is there a good way to go about mixing the difficulties?

I have Aid self and just don't use it at all.

Provoke has really made my missions go faster.

I want Hasten since it seems to mix with /Traps so well, so I may need to go SS and ditch the flight pool to fit other things in. Maybe even just have Hasten and use temp travel powers.

I just haven't really needed Stamina, not sure if that will change.

I have read not to slot healing in my Protector Bots since they only heal if they can use their heal in full. Is this true?

I am interested in capping defenses for me and my pets if possible. At the moment I have just under 21 million and I have been keeping a Knockback Protection IO, not sure if I want to sell it or not. I also have 106 merits in case that will get me anything good yet. I also have an Inv/SS tank that can farm quite well, but that kind of bores me.

Thanks for reading and any time you spend on this. I am also wondering about which cool Procs I should be trying to find as I level. Maybe just throw up bids here and there and see if I can score something while my funds are still building.

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

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ph1x3r at 30: Level 31 Natural Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Robotics
Secondary Power Set: Traps
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Presence

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Battle Drones -- BldM'dt-Acc(A), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(3), Acc-I(3), Acc-I(5), Dmg-I(5), Dmg-I(25)
Level 1: Web Grenade -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Caltrops -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Triage Beacon -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(7), Heal-I(7)
Level 6: Equip Robot -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(9), RechRdx-I(9)
Level 10: Acid Mortar -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), Achilles-ResDeb%(11)
Level 12: Protector Bots -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(13), DefBuff-I(13), Dmg-I(15), Dmg-I(15), Acc-I(19)
Level 14: Aid Other -- Heal-I(A), IntRdx-I(19), IntRdx-I(23)
Level 16: Force Field Generator -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(17), DefBuff-I(17)
Level 18: Aid Self -- IntRdx-I(A), Empty(23), Empty(25)
Level 20: Poison Trap -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(21)
Level 22: Air Superiority -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 26: Assault Bot -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(27), Dmg-I(27), Dmg-I(29), Empty(29)
Level 28: Seeker Drones -- Acc-I(A)
Level 30: Provoke -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Supremacy
Level 4: Ninja Run

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Im not a vet Bot/Traps player but I do love my lvl 50 one

A few notes from me:

* I didn't take Aid Other until quite late in my build as I didn't need it then. However if you up your difficulty then you might find you are using it more.

* Both Assault and Maneuvers are great on a Bots/Traps for the +Dmg and +Def (which stacks nicely with FFG/Protector Bots). Running those may make you want to reconsider Stamina (although that will become an inherent with I19!)

* You could drop Air Superiority and Hover and slot it with an End reduction and possibly defence. Again this will boost your Defence stacking with Maneuvers, FFG and Protector Bots. Again it may mean you might have to take Stamina.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger Quote: 16. Has Paragon Studios redefined "player" to require your mouse to subscribe separately from your keyboard? If your mouse has greater processing power than your gfx card, the answer is yes.

Why Provoke? I assume you're using it to start the fights so that your bots stay in bodyguard mode. It's your choice of course, but personally I prefer to use one of the pulse rifle attacks - it accomplishes the same thing (getting the mob's attention), does a bit of damage, doesn't eat up one of your power pool selections, and looks cooler

Basically you're headed down the right path, but frankly your slotting is quite "iffy"

1) You've drastically over-slotted the battle drones with accuracy, they may be -2 to you but they don't need that much accuracy slotted.

2) 1 Interrupt Reduction in Aid Self/Aid Other is plenty (1 takes you to ~0.67 sec interrupt time, 2 takes you to ~0.5 seconds - with level 40 generic IOs). Either put another heal or a recharge in place of that 2nd IR IO.

3) Acid Mortar isn't an auto-hit, so you'll probably want to put an accuracy in there eventually.

4) Drop the Heal IOs out of Protector Bots (or 1 at most), and either put in more Damage or a 2nd Defense IO in it's place. The "repair" power that the protector bots have is actually pretty powerful without further slotting and since you can't actually direct it's use most folks don't bother with slotting it up.

FYI - My slotting schema for my Bots is this: (with level 40 IOs - I plan with level 40's but I'll use anything from about 37+ when actually slotting - the % difference is minimal)

Blood Mandate: Accuracy
Blood Mandate: Damage
Blood Mandate: Accuracy/Damage
Brilliant Leadership: Accuracy
Brilliant Leadership: Damage

So with only 5 slots I get ~95% Accuracy and ~95% Damage out of the pets, then I can use the 6th slot for a Defense IO (protector bots) or one of the "pet aura" procs (battle drones and assault bot)

Traps MM's can pretty easily get away without Stamina, but having it does make a difference once you start dropping everything down and add in the TripMines (if you do). The good news is, with the new changes coming to make Stamina an inherent power, you don't need to worry about it at all.

Stamina becoming an inherent is something I am very much looking forward to.

I took Provoke because I am pretty much always in bodyguard and it doesn't (at least I think it doesn't) cost any end.

I posted my build just so people would know exact what I am using, a lot of the actual IOs being used are just whatever I had drop and felt like making.

I have Leadership on my Ninja/Dark and wow do I know how great it is. I'm just kind of being anti-stamina on this character for some reason, probably because to this point I have done well without it. Usually I play melee characters and not having stamina is a car wreck.

Thanks for the help so far, and Katie V I think when I play tonight I will switch from +1/+2 to +0/+3 and see how that feels and then go from there.

Wow Katie, I just had the most insane mission. In large part it was due to the Longbow character I was trying to save, who in turn agroed every possible group while waves of ambushes were coming. It was pretty awesome though, I am a little shocked at how well the Bots handled all that action, can't wait for 32 now.

Also, after reading my post I think I may have given a wrong impression. Eventually I would like to have defenses capped and I'm looking for things I may need as I get there. I am not expecting to be Uber now, just wanting to pick up things I need as I go.