I can only speak firsthand to bots/FF, bots/traps and necro/dark.
None of them are effective in traditional blueside Hami tactics. Any of them are OK in a redside hami i.e. MMs are only there to taunt with their sacrificial pets.
They're all fantastic in ship raids. The lich spams heals like crazy, your passive buffs help more people, and there are huge crowds for your pets to AOE.
They're all crap at speedruns, don't even bother. Kill-all or kill-most is where you'll shine.
Bots/traps is a stereotypical AV build. It also provides lots of defence for the entire team and absolutely mulches crowds. Mine has moLRSF, moBSF, moSTF, not sure about Khan.
Disclaimer - MMs aren't great at the new TFs.
Necro/dark isn't an allstar TF build like bots/traps but it adds a ton of survivability to the team. I love to see a Dark Miasma toon on my team no matter what AT.
Bubblers are nice to be teamed with but I find them boring as hell to play, ymmv.
Teaming with a good stormy is a rare pleasure. Teaming with a bad stormy...
I'd say for your primary power set either Robotics or Thugs. For the secondary power set it's your call, every secondary is good, short of Trick Arrow for Masterminds so you really can't go wrong I think. I do agree Traps is probably the best, does the most against AV's and offering the most diversity with of debuffs, buffs, and some healing. I have seen Bots/Storm MM's that can pump out alot of damage in Task Forces.
I can speak for ninja/storm and mercs/TA.
My ninja/storm is so good he's now my global, and I run all my end-game content with him (Only tried Apex, haven't gotten to Tin Mage yet). He's a beast both solo and on teams. You'll have to learn how to use storm very well, though, because otherwise your pets will die. Panic buttons like Tornado and Hurricane help when things get hairy, which is rare thanks to the combo your Oni and you pull with Freezing Rain + Rain of Fire. The jounin can be used for speed runs because they get hide with the lvl32 upgrade.
Mercs/TA was a pain to solo with. It works pretty well if you Glue Arrow well, and works even better once you get Oil Slick. It's still tough taking out EBs with large burst damage and/or resistance to holds/slows. TA is ridiculous on teams, however, probably even moreso than Storm, though most people won't notice because there are very few orange numbers involved. -Res, -Def, slow, -Dam, -end, holds... you can basically turn the whole mob into a litter of puppies if you needed to. Personally, though, I don't think it was worth the trouble, though. Leveling storm was so much easier and took far less work and deaths, only to be only slightly less effective on teams.
I offer a third suggestion: Mercs/Storm. Having played both the primary and the secondary, I know they would go very well together, but mine is only lvl33, so I can't give an honest opinion about how he'll perform at endgame level.
As others have said Bots/Traps is probably the best MM for general end game teaming and TFs. The two Incarnate TFs hit MMs hard but ranged pets are not hit quite as hard as melee pets.
Regarding Hami raids, the general preferred tactic is not particuarly great for MMs. With that in mind you're more dependent on your secondary for which I would say Pain is probably the best since it provides healing and regen (not quite on the level of Empathy but not to bad). Except for Force Field and Trick Arrow the other sets all have some Hami Raid useful powers with Dark and Thermal probably being the best.
It's been a little time. I did this particular mm's first level 50 TF, an ITF, on my Demon Summoning/Thermal. We had no tank nor brute nor empath 
. Two scrappers were excellent. We had a Robot/FF MM, a kinetic controller, another controller, a dominator, a bane spider. We absolutely rocked that ITF, chomping through the content to our objectives. We finished in one hour and ten minutes, and I got 8 shards on my mastermind. Everyone was thoroughly pleased.
The interaction between the melee transfusions and my two sources or warmth heals (the MM and the ember demon) kept us all nice and in the green. I am very happy with this mastermind's thermal secondary. The demon prince is a true BEAST!
I haven't done a Lady Grey with this mastermind yet, but I am sure he will thrive with his pets of multifaceted attacks.
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.
Just chiming in Bots Traps. Bots because of the damage type they do and Traps because its that good.
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
From what I can tell having played a Bot/Dark to 50 that was pretty good and deffinetly made for a fun fight. I currently have a Demon/Thermal MM currently at lvl 30 that is also very fun to play especially when you see how much res you can build on your pets.
Once I get the two Res procs slotted I will easily be able to cap my pets Res at ~%80 which is very nice although I am still deciding wether or not to either focus my build on capping my Res or going for the S/L Def softcap route. If I have time I may do both eventually via seperate builds.
Quote:
With that much buffing, your scrappers were probably as survivable as the average solo tank.|
Originally Posted by Psylenz
an ITF, on my Demon Summoning/Thermal. We had no tank nor brute nor empath
. Two scrappers were excellent. We had a Robot/FF MM, a kinetic controller, another controller, a dominator, a bane spider. |
A granite tank would have been superfluous on that team, he'd gain very little survivability from the buffs. Stacking bubbles and crab defences and therm resists onto a scrapper built for damage OTOH...
There's a lot of ways to build ridiculously good teams, and MMs can be a big part of the mix.
Quote:
I should have emphasized it was the powersets more than being masterminds. The defense stacking and resistance shielding would make an empath defender as sturdy as an ice tank I would think. For instance, a thermal corruptor and a FF defender with the heals and buffs from the kinetic in presence of teaming leadership of a SoA is just as much kick butt.
|
Originally Posted by anonymoose
With that much buffing, your scrappers were probably as survivable as the average solo tank.
A granite tank would have been superfluous on that team, he'd gain very little survivability from the buffs. Stacking bubbles and crab defences and therm resists onto a scrapper built for damage OTOH... There's a lot of ways to build ridiculously good teams, and MMs can be a big part of the mix. |
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.
Quote:
Yeah, I'm always happy to see the better support powersets on a team, whether MM, Defender, Corr or 'troller. Those powersets are so fantastic that even the watered down versions given to MMs become overpowered on teams with a couple of complementary builds that are played half-decently.
|
Originally Posted by Psylenz
I should have emphasized it was the powersets more than being masterminds.
|
Quote:
Bull. The only problem MMs should have with the Incarnate TFs is the halberd patches during the Battle Maiden fight. And if you've got a bind/macro to move your pets out of the way and even a modicum of reaction time, you shouldn't have to constantly resummon the pets, either.
|
Originally Posted by anonymoose
MMs aren't great at the new TFs.
|
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
Cut the forumically correct crap. Survival isn't the issue, contribution is. Pets being -6, -5 and -4 deal ridiculously low damage, as the purple patch gets exponential fast (efficiency against a +6 foe isn't even a third as against a +4 foe). Even if you're lucky enough to play one of the sets where the tier3 is a damage dealer, your tier1 is essentially useless and your tier2 doesn't fare all that much better. What you're left with is a character doing less damage than a corruptor/defender with weaker buffs/debuffs as well.
Are MMs unplayable? No. Are MMs even bad? No. Still, at some point you've got to draw the line, otherwise relative words mean nothing. If you say MMs are great you're going to have to say any other AT is super double plus great, and that's just stupid. Chanting "everything is awesome, play what you enjoy" over and over isn't anywhere near helpful (and even more than a little patronizing, on several levels) when people are asking for performance advice. So MMs are OKish at the new TFs, but they are definitely not great by any definition of "great" from anyone out of Little League.
On the bright side, the Rare Alpha (which includes a level shift) is coming soon and will do a lot to alleviate these issues.
Quote:
Yeah I was wondering how that would affect MMs, does it bump the pets a level? |
Originally Posted by Nihilii
On the bright side, the Rare Alpha (which includes a level shift) is coming soon and will do a lot to alleviate these issues.
|
/me drools rabidly
Quote:
Apparently not. Scuttlebutt on the forums says that rather than working like a lackeying up to a higher level, simply the ToHit and Combat Modifiers (http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Purple_Patch) change.|
Originally Posted by anonymoose
Yeah I was wondering how that would affect MMs, does it bump the pets a level?
/me drools rabidly |
And since it's not an actual change in level, I really hope the dev's have been on the ball and got Mastermind pets to get the same boosts.
Hi, i'm nyttyn, and I love masterminds. Specifically, I love all the builds. This is a bit of a issue, since I want to bring one to 50 to do hami raids, statesman/arachnos TF, etc, but im not sure which power set to focus on. So, which combination of powers is the best set for endgame? Thanks!