Thermal vs any other secondary

Chill of the night is a power the Dark Servant has always had, base value is like -30% tohit i think. SOs i like to do 3rech then 3 tohit debuff in Dark Servant. Having 3 rech, 2 tohit debuff and 1 heal works good too.

Thermals was a blessing to the Ninjas thats for sure. They were way too squishie for the damage that they did. With Thermals they can now live long enough to do the damage they were always meant to do, finally putting them on par with the other pets that get inherrent resistance where as ninjas got paper thin defense. Forge seems to help really nicely on the jounin. Gonna have to spec into a recharge build to make sure its up longer for all the pets. I have tried ninjas with every secondary and thermals was the easiest by far to level up with. Pets only died when in praetoria but thats mostly due to all those insane ambushes you get.

..oh, and just to add to all the other thoughts about how good DM is when you understand how it plays;

I have a dark defender that when on 8 man teams usually get the "pull and herd" role. Basically that means I run into the next room with Super Speed and shadow fall (invisible), target a nice anchor that I know will run through most groups on the way back and while running past hit him with darkest night (the toggle debuff).

Once back to with the rest of the team, I cut the corner, drop tar patch and serv my team a tightly packed, huge bunch of foes that can't hit, move real slow and drop like flies. Tank grabs aggro, team mauls and as soon as less than 17 baddies are aggroed to me, more start to drop in, so we stand and fight a non-stop, looong and epic fight.

Having many different AT's at 50, I know there are lots of them that can do the same, but my dark defender is only 30 and absolutely excels in keeping the team alive and serving neutered mobs...

I just wanted to chime in here and say that my necro/dark is an unstoppable juggernaut of destruction. I actually respec'ed out of Howling Twilight because I just never found myself needing it (but then, I don't usually try to solo at x8, I prefer more casual play). With all 4 of the pet Def/Res IOs, plus Leadership Toggles, plus fluffy frankenslotted for major -to-hit and healing, I rarely have to do much more than toss Fearsome Stare and start blasting with random jank like Soul Tentacles and vet attacks. Though, it is nice to know that I have some powers in reserve in case I actually run into a challenge somewhere.

Also, I want to throw a big shout-out to damage procs, especially the Cloud Senses proc. Necro is a bit light on the damage, so these procs help a ton. Nearly every attack that the Lich and the Dark Servant use has a -to-hit component, so the Cloud Senses proc actually allows them to put-out some respectable damage numbers over time. I am also quite happy with both a Touch of Lady Grey and an Achilles's Heel proc in the Grave Knights, since all of their melee attacks have a -def component, as well (I also stuck an Explosive Strike proc in them for use with Disembowl and Headsplitter, but that was just for S&Gs).

I also have damage procs in Fearsome Stare, Tar Patch, Darkest Night, and Twilight Grasp, which, while often not terribly noticeable in an individual battle, speeds up my overall kill rate significantly, especially against hard targets. Damage procs are, in my personal opinion, the bread-and-butter of Masterminds, since our and our pet's attacks do fairly pitiful base damage, naturally. Necro/Dark, as I mentioned, has tons of room for damage procs in almost every power, and uses them very efficiently, so I think they should be considered carefully for any build.

Then again, some procs are a bit expensive (Cloud Senses goes or 35mil+ easily) but I soloed my MM almost exclusively, so it was a long road and allowed ample time to procure funds along the way.