As far as I know its that the Bots can deal thier dmg at range while you use Traps to otherwise immoble or keep the AV/Hardtarget at bay. Demons like to melee and AV's tend to hit pretty hard up close
Bots/Traps is very good against AVs for several reasons:
1) Bots focus on ranged damage, and AVs tend to be more dangerous up close.
2) Bots are tough. They have healing and force fields that give them decent defense, plus innate resistances. Traps adds Force Field Generator to make them even harder to hit. Add in a pet defense aura IO and Maneuvers and you can basically softcap most of the bots' defense, making them extremely hard to hurt.
3) Bots also provide a +defense shield to the Mastermind. Add in FFG, Maneuvers, and some IOs and you can softcap yourself (or get close) and use Provoke or Challenge to take the aggro yourself. In bodyguard mode with high defense you are almost immortal if you keep the bots out of AoE splash range, and since Goto Defensive and Stay Defensive also give Bodyguard as long as they're within Supremacy range (60 feet) you can park them on one side of a Triage Beacon, stand on the other side, and alternate Web Grenade and your taunt to keep an AV standing still shooting you while the Beacon heals the Bodyguard damage. You even have -damage debuffs in Seeker Drones to help farther.
4) The Assault Bot has -regen in a couple of his attacks, and Poison Trap also has a lot of -regen. Nothing speeds up an AV fight like killing their regeneration. The -resist from Acid Mortar helps too.
Bots/Traps is an almost perfect combination of debuffs, positional controls (caltrops and web grenade), mitigation, and solid damage. After all, people have soloed Giant Monsters with Bots/Traps MMs using SO only builds. My own (fairly cheap build) Bots/Traps MM has something like 40% Ranged and 35% AoE defense and Challenge (I only tank AVs). I can keep an AV or EB stuck in a web and shooting at me while my bots burn him down, and even with less than softcapped defense I can keep the bots going with just Triage Beacon and a rare Aid Other while keeping myself healed with Aid Self. With a higher end build I doubt I'd even need those... the Beacon alone would probably be enough.
EDIT: I forgot one of the big benefits of Traps: Force Field Generator protects from stuns and holds. You can't taunt or web if you are stunned or held, so it really boosts your ability to hold aggro and keep the bots from getting trashed.
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
Demons do more damage then bots, due to the -resistance they have, and hell on earth.
They are also more resistance then bots, due to all the +resistance the have (native, plus the resistance shield the ember demon gets)
But, as already stated, outside of that they are a healthy blend of melee and range, which if your not paying attention, some melee AoE can really trash the demons pretty quickly.
Also bots have two healers, and repair, as well as defense to stack on their resistance. Demons only have healer (granted, he has 2 heals, one single target, and one PBAoE) and resistance + resitance < defense + resistance.
If your going for casual to semi-hardcore demon/traps and bot/traps will do about the same.
If your going for hardcore to just plain crazy talk, bot/traps will pull ahead.
I don't know if Demons were intended to be Ranged pets. If you can keep them at range then I don't see an issue with them. But I do think when an AV drops a an AOE, it might be an issue for your pets within range of the attack. I do notice when my pets ( Robots ) get too close and get hit with an AOE I need to make sure I move them back out of AOE range and even try to make sure the AV is not facing them.
1. Why Soft Cap is Important : http://dechskaison.blogspot.com/2011...important.html
2. Limits: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Limits
3. Attack Mechanics: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Attack_Mechanics
4. Rule of Five: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Rule_o...e_Law_of_Fives
Hi all,
My wife and I took a brief hiatus from the game but came back with the latest expansion and the new content. We've done some tentative duos but so far we're still looking for something to progress beyond Praetoria. I'm a bit removed from Masterminds and have read several times on the boards about the power of Bots / Traps. However I'm trying to determine whether this power against AVs and other hard targets is due to the secondary of the primary. Thus could you pair Traps with the Demon Summoning and be equally viable?
Any thoughts on the viability of Demon / Traps or insight into why Bots / Traps is so dominant?
As an aside, hearing how indomitable the Bots / Traps combination is could my wife play something with Trick Arrow that has no heals or perhaps something else? We thought about leveraging Oil Slick burn patch with the Assault Bot patch of any lingering effects from the Demons (admittedly my knowledge on their abilities is limited).
Again, all thoughts are welcome!