Demons/Pain
Like Thermal, you get the resistance buffs and extra healing, but more than that, /Pain encourages you to be in melee with it's PBAoE debuff. The demons are likewise very melee heavy.
Necro/Thermal
An odd pairing at first glance, but Forge can easily be perma on two targets, perfect for the Grave Knights. You also shore up the inherent resistances that allow the henchmen to run free. Further, who can resist flaming zombies?
Ninja/Storm
I move storm in here because storm likes to play in melee and can heavily debuff tohit to compliment the ninja defenses. I find it thematic, and the controls aid survival of the henchmen and positioning of enemies for maximum damage.
Mercs/Traps
Mercs like to stand and fire, traps like to stay in one place as well. The acid mortar gives you the -resist your lethal damage will want and Caltrops can keep enemies out of melee with your henchmen. Being thematic is another bonus.
Robots/Dark
Not exactly thematic, and for as much as I've ranted about bots/traps, I think Bots/Dark is even more powerful. Dark has controls to help keep enemies in place and burning. Actually, /Dark itself is plain phenomenal. Any one of the primaries would do well to pair with /dark.
Thugs/Poison
You roll a Thugs/Poison for one purpose, and that's to put Noxious Gas on the Bruiser and let him go to town.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
2 things, on ninja/ff where are you getthing those values from with the 56% defense? How is this even possible. On ninja/storm thats actually a bad combination if your using the hurricane. If your pushing the mobs back all the time the ninjas never get a chance to hit what ever your attacking. You would pretty much have to use the geometry of the map your on for every single spawn point just to make this work.
As for as best pairings go I am gonna say Ninja/Thermals, simply because you have the resistance shields which allow the ninjas to live more than 1 to 2 hits to be able to do the damage you buff up with forge. And you have heals to patch them up as needed.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
Quote:
All Ninja pets have at least a default 7.25% to all defenses|
Originally Posted by EvilRyu
2 things, on ninja/ff where are you getthing those values from with the 56% defense? How is this even possible. On ninja/storm thats actually a bad combination if your using the hurricane. If your pushing the mobs back all the time the ninjas never get a chance to hit what ever your attacking. You would pretty much have to use the geometry of the map your on for every single spawn point just to make this work.
|
Add in 2x Unique Pet +Defense IO's thats 10% right there
=17.25 Defense
Add in Maneuvers 4%
=21.25 Defense
Add in Dispersion Bubble 11.5%
=32.5% Defense
Add in FF shields for another 18%
=51.5% Defense
That's without a Nerve Core which adds another(On average) .9% to Dispersion bubble, and 1.3% to the individual shields for a total of another 2.1% defense
=53.6% defense not my promised 56 which only applies to the Jonin who have 11.25% not 7.25% not the Genin or Oni. But they end up at 57.8 so that's even better than I promised.
And that's without adding power boost into the mix which is enough to toss out five double strength bubbles which are not 18% but 27%! So you can via power boost get your Genin past 53.6% all the way to 62%
Jorrus 50 MercPoison Mastermind / Samuel Geary 50 Warshade/Triform
Relenia 50 DB/Will Scrapper / Jonas Geary 50 Cold/Storm Controller
'They don't call it a "Free Fire Zone" because it's filled with kittens and butterflies"-Obsidius
Necro/Thermal is very formidable. One of the biggest inherent weaknesses of zombies is fire, but NOT if they are shielded by their master
Necro/Storm seems counterintuitive, but I have seen it work wonders. The hurricane is better as a scalpel than a sledgehammer.
Thugs/Poison is the quintessential /poison build. Bruiser is a monster when he is debuffing with the noxious gas.
Robots/dark and Robots/traps both rock really hard. So many AoEs, so many stuns! I usually take photon grenades just so my mastermind can join the stun fun.
Demons/Thermal is a really rough and tough customer. Just at the upper levels when your demons are set for slotting, the big debuffs come along and make the AoE massacres even more breathtaking.
The only ninja I will consider playing is Ninja/FF. Those kamikaze assassins need their bubble lovin'.
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:
Quoted|
Originally Posted by Psylenz
The hurricane is better as a scalpel than a sledgehammer.
|
For
Truth.
And you still have the sledgehammer available if things start to go sour.
Please note that so far there is a recommendation of {NULL}/Trick Arrow ...
It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...
Quote:
Disagree here because you don't take into consideration that you will need to keep ninjas buff all the time and under control inside FF. People will be drive crazy while trying to keep those Sugar/ADD pets buff and in check while attacking, and if they manage to get hurt you will have no mean to heal then. Outside of that, the lack of tool to manage mobs will make boring to play. You will end up like a buff bot for a NPC..|
Originally Posted by CptAdder
Ninja/Force
Little bit of an odd combo but Ninja's are melee like Necro's but are defensed based which Force helps tons, some will push Ninja/Traps which is my second choice but I'm swayed by the higher total defense that Force can bring which with IO's puts your pets around 56% defense which is needless to say... very nice. Agree/Disagree or purpose better pairings it's on you. |
/dark have the best Synergistic with ninjas.
You have two AoE heal, that heal over 60% of pets health. Slow/Fear/Control pet/-tohit, all are excellent for control the whole mobs. Finally dark work perfect for melee play style.
Ninja/FF is great on paper but different in actual play, Still a good combination.
.
I want /Fire stalker. Because nothing says stealth like dumping a can of gasoline on yourself and lighting a match. -Morac
Quote:
Thugs/Pain would be nice combo for me, so i need some help, cause i can't manage it to softcap them, maybe i miss something.|
Originally Posted by CptAdder
Thugs/Pain
With IO's alone it's possible to soft cap thugs with Maneuvers + 2 IO's |
13% Enforcer
13% Enforcer
4% Maneuvers
10% Uniques
= 40%
OK, overslotted maybe 1% more.
Thugs/Traps > Poison
...hell, anything is better than Poison IMO
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
Quote:
I'll disagree with this notion for Ninja/FF. All you have to do is 6-slot Force Bolt, your Tier 1 FF power, with Kinetic Crash. You now have a MAG 40(!) Knockback that recharges *quickly* to "drop kick" anything and everything into helpful terrain. I was using it at level 10 on the Valentine missions on Arachnos Lab maps to prevent humongous gobs of damage from Bosses. I'd just aim for the walls and *PUNT* and they'd get stuck in the geometry and never recover from their KB animation (meaning, they never got to do any damage ever again!). All I had to do was maintain "suppression fire" on them using my massive (unslotted for sets yet) KB power, and my little teams of PC were far safer (and had less downtime) than they otherwise might have.|
Originally Posted by Yorukira
Outside of that, the lack of tool to manage mobs will make boring to play. You will end up like a buff bot for a NPC.
|
Force Bolt can be a mighty offensive power ... even for a Tier 1 ... so long as you use it (correctly).
It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...
Quote:
I didn't knew that, That a smart way to use force bolt.
|
Originally Posted by Redlynne
I'd just aim for the walls and *PUNT* and they'd get stuck in the geometry and never recover from their KB animation (meaning, they never got to do any damage ever again!).
|
I want /Fire stalker. Because nothing says stealth like dumping a can of gasoline on yourself and lighting a match. -Morac
Dechs beat me to most of my suggestions, but I'll throw in my votes regardless:
Necro/Therm - Fire shields cover your zombies biggest weakness, Forge can buff your Grave Knights, Lich has support, all pets have self heals to complement your heals. Overall awesomeness.
Mercs/Storm - Bunch your mobs up with Hurricane, debuff them with FR, let your pets AoE/mez them to death. Lightning Storm, Hurricane, and Gale will keep mobs from smashing in your pets' faces. Remember the 3 P's: procs, procs, and procs 
Demons/?? - I haven't played enough Demons, but I'd guess (just looking at the sets) it would go best with Therm (stacked resistances/heals)
Thugs/Dark - Instead of buffing defenses, /Dark will focus on debuffing ToHit. Your pets will essentially be softcapped, but you'll also have two heals (yours and Dark Servant's), stuns, fears, and -resists on mobs.
Ninja/Storm - I will preach the Gospel of Ninja/Storm on these forums until I'm blue in the face! Unlike my other suggestions, ninja/storm will make *you* the powerhouse (as opposed to your pets). Depending on your EPP/APP, you can choose to softcap to ranged, S/L/E, or essentially softcap to either of these and get 60% resistance. Either way, use Gale/LS/FR to keep your foes off their toes, and let your pets go to town.
Fyi, Hurricane debuffs range, so you could even stand still with Hurricane and the mobs will keep trying to run up to you, so your pets will always be able to attack whatever, whenever.
Here is what I actually play:
Ninja/Trick Archery
Ninja/Storm
Robot/Traps
Merc/Traps
Thugs/Pain
Thugs/Trick Archery
Thugs/Poison
Zombie/Dark
Demons/Thermal
I'd play anything cept FF cos I'd feel like a proper leech.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
Im back from a long break lol...But the only 2 MMs Ive gotten to decent levels are
Robo/FField - Overkill on the defense
Ninja/Poison - I was able to solo an AV at low 24ish d00d! Ofc groups with henchmen will mean casualties 
Mercs/Pain - My favorite! I can tank really really well with it o.o this was supposed to be /therm but then I got into a group and I immediately went "OH HELL NO D00D TOO MUCH BUFFING!" Not to mension Pain gives me a big regen bonus...
Things Id like to try
Thugs/Traps
Necro/Pain
Necro/Dark
Ninja/Traps
Quote:
I get your numbers on my Thugs/Poison, Atago. I can't get them above ~40% defense either, outside of using incarnate powers.
|
Originally Posted by Atago
Thugs/Pain would be nice combo for me, so i need some help, cause i can't manage it to softcap them, maybe i miss something.
13% Enforcer 13% Enforcer 4% Maneuvers 10% Uniques = 40% OK, overslotted maybe 1% more. |
Simple question what are the best Mastermind/Secondary pairings, not thematically but as in the sets that best leverage the strength of each set. My own internal pairs are as follows
Demons/Thermal
Demons are mostly resistance based and Thermal offers Resistance shields plus heals to top off the pets who will takes hits, with IO's 65% resistance is quite possible for your pets.
Necro/Dark
Zombies are a very melee oriented set which Dark can top off with the heal plus Tar patch to ensure your enemies can't run away plus debuffing their resistances, and your pets -tohit benefits from Dark's -tohit for lots of pseudo defense
Ninja/Force
Little bit of an odd combo but Ninja's are melee like Necro's but are defensed based which Force helps tons, some will push Ninja/Traps which is my second choice but I'm swayed by the higher total defense that Force can bring which with IO's puts your pets around 56% defense which is needless to say... very nice.
Mercs/Storm
This one is second hand, but I've heard several people recommend Storm for Mercs who are the odd duck out of MM sets as they have very little defenses (Less than 2% and that only for Spec-Ops) and no real resistances to anything. But Storm comes with lots of soft controls which can help out.
Robots/Traps
The definitive gold standard, Traps does everything and Robots benefits from everything because of how well rounded they are
Thugs/Pain
Thugs have some resistances and some defense. With IO's alone it's possible to soft cap thugs with Maneuvers + 2 IO's in Gangwar, after that with Pain's ability to raise resistances and damage an heals it makes it quite possible to run Thugs/Pain setup with your pets at 50% Resistances to everything and soft capped defense with a standing 50%-80% damage buff.
Agree/Disagree or purpose better pairings it's on you.
Jorrus 50 MercPoison Mastermind / Samuel Geary 50 Warshade/Triform
Relenia 50 DB/Will Scrapper / Jonas Geary 50 Cold/Storm Controller
'They don't call it a "Free Fire Zone" because it's filled with kittens and butterflies"-Obsidius