Bots/Traps of Bots/Dark?

Hey all, I'm planning to try my first swing at a Mastermind (starting in Praetoria) and was wondering wich powerset combination would work better with bots. My playstyle can vary to the playstyle of either set, so I would like to know the pros and cons of each. Thanks

Same question as OP. Posted here instead of a new thread to not clog things up.

That said, I'm 34 Bots/Dark. The bots are kind of squishy and I don't feel like I'm doing GOOD damage, I feel the damage is just mediocre. I have considered multiple times rerolling as Bots/Traps. I never solo, just TFs/teams.

Looking for some input for/against rerolling, etc. Just seeking general advice.

Also, I have softcap to S/L on a few other toons and it is quite powerful. Doing that for a bots/traps with FFG and running in Bodyguard mode..is it as survivable as it sounds? What about throwing Provoke in the mix?

Also, is FFG the only trap that follows you? KBing stuff out of my -RES Tar Patch is getting old...

Best,
MT

I say Traps.. Its fire and forget..

Where as Dark has toggles that can get knocked off for various reasons..

With Traps your getting defense cap through your powers which directly affect you, EG FFG .. Where as with Dark your getting defense cap from Darkest Night and other debuffs. If your anchor runs away so does your defense cap. Some will say that is what the hold is for.. But again if you want to rely on a hold to keep a Anchor in place by all mean.. And make sure it sticks every time you use it. Further it can be hard to hold an AV.

Dark is good I just personally feel Traps is better. As I always boast I can solo without my pets with traps, because of Trip Mine. There is not much you can do solo without your pets with dark.

But look there is no DOOOOM if you go dark.. I just think Traps has a bit of an edge and it certainly fits in with Robot Thematically.

I've found taking a def shield works better against most enemies than a resistance shield. I tested in out with my 2nd build and it just seems to work better 99% of the time. Plus with musculature slotted everything is DEAD before they can hit me anyway.

I do miss the dmg and anti-knockback from electrifying fences though, and my anti mezz procs were nice too.

MT in your instance of Bots Dark I would go with Mace Mastery Shield. Since it offers defense against Smash and Lethal which are the most common type of damage types.

Now with the debuffs and bonuses from Invention sets it might be over kill, I don't know your build. You might consider creating a new thread and posting your intended 50 build or a build with lvl 35 IOs as some are starting to do.

Nonetheless between Darkest Night and the Shield your S and L defense might be in the 60s or 70s which again is over kill. But as I commented your relying in Darkest Night which has a big hit debuff number attached to it to be around to effect the other mobs near your anchor. If your anchor runs off so does your defense cap. Your pretty much screwed. This is sort of hedging the bets and hoping when that happens that your dealing with mobs that deal smash and lethal damage and that your MM shield value is high enough to block some hits until you can reanchor darkest night or try to place a hold on your anchor from running off again when he returns.

The game plan with Dark is you try to get either the 7 damage types defenses to mid 20s or the 3 positional type defense ( ranged, melee, aoe ) in the mid 20s. Then with darkest night slot that up enough that it will add its hit debuff value which is pretty much equal to defense number wise to your total defense numbers to obtain the soft cap of 45%..

So if you have Ranged defense of 25% and you slot Darkest Night to a - HIT value of 25% your total Range Defense is 50%.. 5% over the defense cap. So your pretty good as far as any and all range attacks go. But if your melee defense is only 5% then your melee defense is 30%. Not bad really, better then nothing. But some hits will come in.

Of course the damage type defenses come into play.. The game automatically picks the highest number in your favor. So though your melee is 30% defense. If your energy defense was 25% added to darkest night -hit 25% and you got hit with an energy melee attack. You would have 50% defenses vs that energy attack.

I have a Dark Electric Defender that rides the wave this way.. Sometimes its great.. And sometimes the anchor runs off or dies and I instantly get slammed with a bunch of hits. Sometimes I can pull off a heal and reanchor other times I face plant.

With Traps my FFG has to die before I have this issue. And FFG is really one tough beast.. Further the recharge is so fast for FFG that it does not matter. You can kill my FFG all you want I think my recharge on it is 10 seconds. Nothing really ever kills it that fast but some big AV attack. So I am pretty much summoning it before it dies or if I feel its been out too long and it should be expiring soon.