As far as I know, this guide is up to date with all current Mastermind powersets. It does include Demons (although they did forget to add Demons to the original list of powersets, the guide does include them).
Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
An interesting guide, but it just gives you what you can find on your own. It lacks the in-depth analysis that only someone who has played the sets can give you!
The core of the primaries has remained stable over many many issues. The stickied guides at the top cover everything but demon summoning.
The main change of recent vintage is a global adjustment to mastermind henchmen behavior: they now favor melee rather than range and will run into melee range even if they are primarily "ranged" pets.
In addition, I would highly recommend you check out Zaprobo's general guide to the modern mastermind.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
...[I]t would be more proper to say this game is slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly dying.
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A 1 page summary wouldn't be a bad idea. Here's something quick and incomplete, is this the kind of info you're chasing?
Robots
pros: great AOE, defence for pets and MM
cons: late bloomer, some KB
pets attacks: mostly ranged
pets heal each other: protector bots heal after 1st upgrade
defence based pets
pet stupidity alert: protector bots like to charge into melee
Necro
pros:
cons:
pets attacks: mostly melee except Lich
pets heal each other: Lich has pbaoe heal
??? based pets
pet stupidity alert: pretty good with current AI
Demons
pros:
cons:
pets attacks:
pets heal each other:
resist based pets
pet stupidity alert: pretty good with current AI
Thugs
pros:
cons:
pets attacks: mostly ranged except for bruiser
pets heal each other: no
defence based pets
pet stupidity alert: Arsonist constantly gets himself killed
Mercs
pros:
cons:
pets attacks:
pets heal each other:
??? based pets
pet stupidity alert:
Ninjas
pros: brutal ST damage
cons: extremely fragile
pets attacks:
pets heal each other:
??? based pets
pet stupidity alert:
Pros and cons eh? Let me see what I can whip up while "multi-tasking" on a conference call.
Demons
Pros
Decent resists
have +resist aura that affects you and teammates
have targeted heal for other pets, pbaoe heal that affects you and teammates
Slow effects are pretty effective
A LOT of variety for damage types
Melee-centric so new melee ai doesn't adversely affect them
Attacks are worth taking and using, primarily due to -res
Con
Lieut pets are endurance hogs, probably the worst in game.
One word - "aaaaaaarrrrrrrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo "
Worthwhile attacks makes build tighter
Summary
Very self-sufficient, can work well with a non-carebear secondary. Mine was (is, she still exists, though not played much) /Storm. I was pleased with this combo and only wish I had slotted the Miracle and Numi uniques early to deal with the endurance issues I had throughout (80% due to Storm, 20% due to spamming attacks from primary). If you can deal with the noise, this is a solid choice.
Mercs
Pros
Before ai was changed, these guys would stay at range (except the brawling medic).
Boss Merc has my favorite entrance and just looks bad-azz.
Medic will sporadically heal and use stimulant, including on you.
Cons
A "pro" is supposed to be mez effects but they're too inconsistently used to really be a positive.
Damage is sacrificed for these mez effects.
Summary
Not self-sufficient, they definitely need babysitting. A lot of people will put Mercs as the least effective primary. I am one of them. I paired my Mercs with Traps. This combo "worked", meaning I could beat all the EBs no problem, but I'd give more credit to Traps for than Mercs.
Necro
Pro
AI change got Grave Knights to melee easier, which is where they're more effective (Broadsword attacks that crit are sweet)
Neg Energy attacks give desirable secondary effects.
Each pet can self-heal
Soul extraction may be my favorite "utility" power, for the extra pet
The Lich (boss) is pretty darn good, like a Dark/Dark corr
Con
Totally resistant to slow. "How is that a con?" you may ask. All pets freak out with fire patches and caltrops. Most of them move out and attack. Necro will spaz out all over the map. ALL OVER.
Squishy, very prone to being one-shot, especially against Lethal and Fire.
Summary
I went for Necro/Dark, which is a pretty nasty combo.
Ninjas
Pro
May well be the best at taking out a single target, as you might expect from a bunch of MA and Katana users.
Have some degree of defense that stacks well with a def buffing secondary (meaning FF or Traps)
Con
Definitely need a support oriented secondary, otherwise very squishy.
Like Necro, they resist slows so they too are prone to run a LOT when encountering caltrops.
Summary
I paired Ninja with Pain Dom. Life changed when I took Provoke. With provoke, the resists and regen of PD, this character became quite powerful.
I think Ninjas have a "cool" factor, but that's a personal thing.
Robot
Pros
After the lvl 32 upgrade, astounding aoe capabilities. Performs better as spawn size increases.
Very tough (relatively) independently. They bubble and heal each other and will bubble you.
Con
They have a lot of kb which may be counter productive to your secondary and even their own burn patches.
A LOT of pew pew pew up to level 32, certainly to level 26.
Summary
I've made a few Bots over the years. Bots/Poison, Bots/TA (a CRAZY fun combo) and of course Bots/Traps, because everyone needs one along with their ill/rad, fire/kin and whatever other FOTMs they have room for.
This is a very strong primary. Rivaled only by...
Thugs
Pros
Thugs are sort of like a well balanced pug you put together that will listen to you somewhat. You get a Brute, a crazy blapper and other ranged support.
Leadership is what distinguishes Thugs. Maneuvers gives a solid foundation of defense that can soft-cap all pets when paired with FF or Traps.
Cons
Outside of Leadership, they don't support each other, so they need more support from you than Bots.
A lot of damage comes from a minion level pet, so he's -2 to you and his damage and to-hit reflect that. Also, he dies a lot.
Summary
My experience is with Poison, FF and Traps. Thugs worked well with all of them.
If you keep the Bruiser alive, he draws a lot of aggro, which keeps the rest alive
Global = Hedgefund (or some derivation thereof)
Subjective thoughts:
I mucked around with all the Primaries and I really enjoyed Demons and Thugs for Damage and also lol's.
The best attack set overall though is Robots but only after 32 once you get the Assault bot.
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Robot/Thug VS everything else. |
Originally Posted by Reppu
There's a lack of up-to-date Mastermind Primary information on these boards. As such, I'd like to request the community to share their thoughts, of the pros and cons, of the six primaries. Simply put, what each one does best, and what it lacks.
Something to help people decide what they want from their primary, when concept isn't enough. |
That's all you need to know. There's Robot users that swear MM is overpowered and there is Ninja/Necro user like me who thinks the game design is flawed because pets run in and just die. They can't survive any aoe from the REAL tough fights. I can care less about how you steamroll through easy content because any Primary can do that.
Basically when things get really tough, MM is at disadvantage and the reason Robot is a bit better is that they are mostly ranged (although they do run in after a while). I prefer Merc because it's more rare.
Demon is probably the most sturdy of the 3 melee oriented (Necro, Ninja and Demon).
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
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This is false. You don't do any dps when you are dead. All the math/numbers behind how awesome Ninja 'could' be is just meaningless. Yeah, keep dreaming about those potential damage numbers. I can't wait to take my Ninja/FF to Apex and see how fast my ninjas melt. :P|
Originally Posted by Deacon_NA
Ninjas
Pro May well be the best at taking out a single target, as you might expect from a bunch of MA and Katana users. Have some degree of defense that stacks well with a def buffing secondary (meaning FF or Traps) |
There is really no "pro" for Ninjas. It's really only for "concept".
And I am not even joking. I have tried quite a few high level Ninjas and I like them. It's ok to like something that totally sucks.
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
There's a lack of up-to-date Mastermind Primary information on these boards. As such, I'd like to request the community to share their thoughts, of the pros and cons, of the six primaries. Simply put, what each one does best, and what it lacks.
Something to help people decide what they want from their primary, when concept isn't enough.