As secondaries go, /Thermal or /Poison might be good choices, as they both bloom fairly early and can be effective even pre-SOs, whereas /Traps, for example, can be great, but is a bit more reliant on higher-level enhancements. /Poison focuses on single targets, generally, but at low levels, so will most pets, so that's probably not a bad idea anyway. As for Primaries, Robotics or Thugs would probably be your best bet. If you're doing this with a friend who's planning to play an equivalent (or similar) character, I'd definitely say to go Thugs, as the Leadership skills from the Enforcers will stack across both of your sets of henchmen, giving some nice bonuses especially at low levels.
2 X Thugs/dark would be amazing. You get an early heal, tar patch, darkest night, and howling twilight to really soften up alpha strikes. Whenever I19 hits, you would NOT necessarily have to take stamina at level 20. Good luck.
Triumphant Defenders Forever
Psylenz FF/Psi, ArticQuark Storm/Rad, Symon BarSisyphus Bots/psn, Max VanSydow Thugs/Dk, Cyclone Symon Bots/stm, Blue Loki Ice/Cd, Widow 46526
HelinCarnate:OMG it is so terrible. I have the option to take 3 more powers but no additional slots. Boo F'ing hoo.
Thugs or Demons are probably the best bet for fast early leveling. Thugs do good damage and get AoEs early, and Demons are tough with decent damage and a mix of damage types that are generally less resisted. As far as secondaries go, /Poison has early -resist debuffs and would probably be good for fighting small numbers of higher level enemies. /Thermal is also good simply because it keeps your pets alive well. /Traps and /Storm are also good but don't really take off until the teens so if you only want to get to 20 they probably aren't that great. Ninjas might also be good but only if you can keep them alive... they have high damage but die easily. Maybe Ninjas/Thermal would work.
Of course if you just want to speed to 20, a Brute may be a better choice. I'd suggest Claws/Willpower... Claws are lighter on endurance use (important at lower levels) and Willpower gives you some early downtime reduction due to increased max health and regeneration.
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
Well, it seems he is going to be playing a brute. He has some vallian character he actually wants to play, but I really don't. Just looking for something to add some damage and maybe a little support to that so we can blast through levels as quickly as possible. I prefer ranged ATs and mastermind has always been fun to me.
I hadn't considered /Poison, but that's an interesting idea. Heal, and single target debuffs. We are going to team when we can though, so that might not be best idea.
Ironically, we are almost polar opposites in what we like to play. We both want try try the same villain archetype: Widow, but he wants to go Night and I want Fortunata. I don't think he will like it but we will see.
I just ran a dark/dark brute to 22 in just a few days and the end issues were there like usual..... but with the heal involved I was quite pleased. 
Plus the damage is nice 
@Patrick Magellen
Infinity & Freedom Servers!
If you're going to be teaming with a Brute you may want to try a Fire/Rad Corruptor. The debuffs will help, you'll have pretty good ranged damage, and you'll have a heal and Accelerate Metabolism which any Brute will appreciate. A /Thermal MM would also be useful since it has good healing and can give the Brute a little extra protection... I'd go Demons/Thermal because they work very well solo at low levels so when you can't team you'll still be good.
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
Erm..Im going to get flamed for this but if you ONLY want the VEATs then...
Get a Brute and do level 4 boss AE map...I think it was RIP or Cage Consortium who have the level 1-4 boss.
But if you really want a mastermind and you plan to use it after anyways then...
Thugs isnt really a good choice for 1-20...none of them are really o.o The best choice would be ninjas because genins just pwn that much (4 attacks by level 6, all recharges in 8 seconds or less) while the rest usually only have 2-3 attacks by level 6 with longer recharge rates. I highly suggest not making a toon for rushing with your friend because brutes are the fastest soloing AT from 1-22. No seriously, fury is THAT awesome at low levels and him killing fast will be enough for you. Your main job would most likely be to keep him alive.
Just to give you an idea of the speed, you can get your brute from 1-22 in around 12 hours of gameplay while level pacted and the brute is doing all the work. o.o ofc this is killing level 4 boss filled ae maps but hey o.o
Yeah a Dark/Invuln brute doing those 1-4 RIP bosses would do it rather well. Although I don't like the AE, but I understand your frustration with the EATs. It is rather silly to get a character to 20 to unlock.
Whining about everything since 2006.
Ammo switching for Dual Pistols was my idea:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=135484
Just for fun I tried rushing a Claws/Willpower Brute to 20. The method I used was:
- No AE at all. I never set foot in the building.
- I was solo 100% of the time.
- Default difficulty level the whole way
- The only outside help was using an alt to email some low level Accuracy SOs from Yin's shop, no IOs or inf from alts. If you don't have an alt that has access to Yin's shop you can buy the SOs on the market.
- I did a mix of paper missions and normal contacts, including each Mayhem mission at least once, the Mr. Bocour arcs, and a couple other contacts.
- I did have all three veteran attacks, but rarely needed them past about level 4. I also had the preorder enhancements from Going Rogue which did help some.
If you want a VEAT fast, go Brute. Fair warning though: you may get too addicted to the Brute to make the VEAT.
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
Thug/dark, Demon/dark
Quote:
...|
Originally Posted by Vel_Overload
It is rather silly to get a character to 20 to unlock.
|
Has the "No longer need a 50" been forgotten so fast?
Quote:
This basically.|
Originally Posted by Terror1
Thug/dark, Demon/dark
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Dark because it gets it's -Resist so darn early (plus all the other goodies it gets, also nice and early). Demons have nice low-resisted attacks which also helps, and the whip attacks for piling on even more -resist.
Honestly, I'm not sure /Dark is the best choice in the 1-20 game. Tar Patch is good, but without SOs and some global recharge it's not an every fight power... at low levels it's one quicker fight every few spawns. Likewise Fearsome Stare isn't an every spawn power yet, which means you can't rely on its mitigation when selecting your difficulty. Don't get me wrong, /Dark is a great set, but it's a set that keeps getting better and better as you level up and doesn't really turn awesome until the 20s and 30s.
/Thermal, on the other hand, may lack early debuffs but it does do one thing very well: it keeps pets alive. I've made a Demons/Dark and a Demons/Thermal since GR came out, and I can say the Demons/Thermal leveled from 1-20 faster and easier than the Demons/Dark. The Demons/Dark turned into an absolute beast once I got SOs and felt like downright cheating once I got IOs and Fluffy, but the /Thermal absolutely obliterated most low level content due to the resists and heals.
Both are very good, but I'd say Demons/Thermal is going to get you to 20 a bit faster. Just my opinion though... people more familiar with /Dark than me may well be able to get more out of it early on.
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
I think Bots/Dark, Thugs/Dark, and Demons/Thermal can all do the job. Each has its own quirks. Hell on earth and gang war are big pluses to the thugs and demons. It would be an interesting demonstration to experiment with all three on a level 20 or bust mentality.
Fearsome stare is not up every fight, but then it's not even available until you get to level 20 on red-side.
Tar Patch, Fearsome Stare, Shadow Fall, and Howling Twilight are all very good, but the dark user is compelled to take Hasten. I did some analyzing, and you can 'over-slot' hasten in anticipation of the level 20+ respec. In other words, you are limited to 3 recharge slots in hasten only if you are devoid of respec possibilities.
Triumphant Defenders Forever
Psylenz FF/Psi, ArticQuark Storm/Rad, Symon BarSisyphus Bots/psn, Max VanSydow Thugs/Dk, Cyclone Symon Bots/stm, Blue Loki Ice/Cd, Widow 46526
HelinCarnate:OMG it is so terrible. I have the option to take 3 more powers but no additional slots. Boo F'ing hoo.
So, my friend and I are looking to get villains to level 20 ASAP for the villain epic archetype, since we discovered that Preatorians cannot unlock them, dispite what the instruction manual and in-game notices say (grumble.... angry...)
Anyway, I'm looking to make a mastermind that kills fast, as I like masterminds and want to reach 20 ASAP as mentioned.
I'm thinking based on what I have read on forums that Thugs is the way to go but arsonist doesn't come in till level 18 so, maybe Ninjas. Which is more damage?
Secondaries should probably be /Dark for Tar Patch, /Traps for Acid Mortar, or /Storm for Freezing Rain. Leaning toward traps since I could take FF gen as well during those last 4 levels to 20 for some defense.
Advice?