How does your Mastermind run the Lambda Sector trial?

Assuming that you're on a team that prefers to spike the crates and tubes in the second phase of Lambda Sector instead of dungeon crawling through, what's your preferred strategy for running the trial with a Mastermind? Do you:

A) Try and keep up with the non-MM players while dragging your henchmen along behind you in case you need them, only to train every mob around them on your position?

B) Ditch your pets for the entire second phase and try and spike the objectives with the rest of the team, leaving yourself very vulnerable in the process?

C) Do the same, but you actually have some sort of +Stealth power?

D) Try to crawl slowly through the narrow corridors on your own and hope you don't get splattered by +conning mobs with AoEs as they run randomly all over the map trying to catch other players?

E) Not play Bots/FF? >_<

It must be your fault for picking the worst archetype!

I do a variant of A. I drag my pets as much as possible (mostly set on passive) but I also make a lot of use of strategic resummoning (I can resummon my drones every crate and the toher bots every two). It's not the best option but it gets the job done.

I'll also sometimes separate from the main group and spike a crate on my own (especially on smaller leagues). It's not necessarily the best option but it is a way to get my bots into play for a longer duration.

Similar to Adeon. I run Thugs/Dark with Superspeed, so I've got stealth -- until an enemy sees my pets, nobody will attack me (and with so many turns in both halves of phase 2, anyone that does see my pets will take a while to find LoS to me).

When phase 2 starts, I'll dismiss my pets so there's no issue at the beginning. Once I get to the first target, I'll resummon and take it out. Then, I start dragging my pets behind me, superspeeding through the area. I've got 30-some global recharge, plus Hasten and Frenzy (and Force of Nature if I really need it), so I can resummon my pets whenever necessary.

If things get hairy, I've got Demonic Aura. And, as of a couple days ago, I've got Barrier Partial Core Invocation.

Sticking with other members of your team also hleps when it comes to phase 2 of the Lambda trial. Whether you use them as support or a distraction for the enemies to munch on, they're helpful.

Run. Fast. Try like hell not to get spotted.
Die. Lots.
Yaaaaaaay!

Yeah, in case folks hadn't guessed I really dislike Lambda for shafting me, and much prefer BAF.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Go in with my pets, when they die, and they will, don't fret about it, depending on how long is left on current target, resummon, or wait till next target to resummon.

When recovering from a death, don't summon pets till at a target.

With my demon/pain I ditch the demon squad and go healbot with resistance debuffs with a buddy. We split off from the rest of the team and duo crates. It actually works p. well.

C. for the most part. My Bots/Dark MM has Shadowfall and the Freebird proc in Hover which gets me through just about all but the roaming seers. I dismiss my pets during that phase of the run, scout out and target the crates or canisters depending on what team I'm on, and then use my Debuffs and single shot power to help take it out with the team. I also toss my heals when needed and have Leadership buffs going too, to help the team while they're attacking the objects, so I definitely can say I don't feel useless during this stretch.

I generally start to move on just before they're finished to reduce any aggro I may get and let my stealth kick back in again. I'll admit, it's not the most satisfying play, but the most useful function I have felt I can fulfil during that part. It helps if I think of my teammates as his army of minions doing his bidding.

What? He's a megalomaniacal supergenius. It works for him.

I hover along Tankerminding anything I come to.

I keep an eye on the map and go in reverse of most of the team, crawling slowly to the targets. I've noticed a higher reward tier doing this

Or sometimes I will dismiss and debuff for people around the targets, tho then I tend to only get xommon (i've never had 10 threads and im aware its not supposed to make a difference)

Quote:

Originally Posted by VoodooGirl [*]Watching out for the Spinning Disco Portal of D00M!*

Usually I go in stealthed (shadowfall + Celerity stealth IO) and summon the zombies where I need them. Letting them follow me all the way always gets a number killed.

Close to me I can still tank with them as I have heals to spare between me and my pets and IO sets.

I just run through like everyone else. I use the Rebirth +max Health to start so my bots are a bit more resilient. I stop at crates and drop my traps on them and start hitting them myself. I keep tapping my defensive/follow macro to keep the pets in a state that they don't draw their own aggro, because at this point I have them around for bodyguard mode and that's about it.

Also, like Adeon, sometimes I just go off on my own and take out crates/canisters as I go.

Pretty much C. I play mercs/poison so I just debuff the crap out of whatever group is around the container. If the team slows down at any of them I use it to resummon the ones that died. Sometimes when they charge forward and I still have most of my pets I just say screw it and kill whatever is leftover at the container before I catch up.

Just remember, it's not that devs hate villains, it's that devs hate masterminds.

I haven't been running with my Mastermind (yet) but I've been taking to gathering all the squishies together, encourage the mastermind to deploy pets, then, together, steamroll foes rather than jump past them.

Things work amazingly well when the team doesn't abandon one another and although it IS much slower than stealthing to the target, we're not pressed for time while getting the objectives... and nobody dies... much. Its a shame its so tough to pull this off with the habits others have already taken to heart.

having run with chase on those runs, yeah, they do work out well, the ixp flows threads are plentiful and everyone has fun. if you can convince people it works out well.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Update:

MO Lambda attempt yesterday. All T2-T3 Incarnates.

In that case my MM run this trial as if it was just another mission or tf. No problem at all!

My Mastermind orders my Dominator to run it for him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze Nice build

Merc/Traps MM here, with no stealth power (I used to have +Stealth in my teleport ability, but I specced out of TP not long ago, and haven't replaced that +Stealth IO yet).

The first few Lambdas I did with my MM was with a team that actually took it's time and squashed everything in our path. We stayed together, defeated many enemies, got a lot of iXP, and easily accomplished the objectives.

However, every run after that I was always left in the dust by people that knew the maps better than me, or had a character more suitable to hit-and-run tactics. I would try to keep-up with the team, but invariably it worked best if I simply just crawled-along on my own. It wouldn't have been as bad if I could ever have gotten Lore up to T3 (and thus the +1 incarnate shift), but I've only gotten 2 Rares ever with this toon (one of which came from a MoBAF run).

I also found the acid run would usually go better than the crate run. Things were a little more open, so I could maneuver a little easier.

I finally did get Destiny unlocked, and I don't plan to ever run another Lambda with my MM. BAF's on the other hand, my MM absolutely dominates on, so I'm not *too* bitter about how rough Lambdas were.

Now if I can just get those damn Rares.

by pretending to be a discount defender, just using the Pain dom half