Masterminds eh? Good choice. Bots and thugs are popular because they provide support as well as good damage. Ninjas are great damage but more like paper tigers, powerful but squishy. Most take Bots/traps, which is a great combo. Bots or thugs paired with /FF will give you softcapped DEF. I've had the most fun with bots/DM, thugs/FF, and nin/TA. Good luck with any you choose, they're all great for soloing.
Just about any primary is good for soloing, really. Some are stronger than others, but they'll all get the job done for a basic solo character. The only set I wouldn't recommend is Mercenaries, because they have a lot of issues. If that is what you choose, however, you won't find the game unplayable.
Secondary-wise, there's even more variety. Poison and Pain are often looked on as black sheep, but again anything can get the job done. Traps is probably the all-around strongest, and Force Fields can stack a ton of defense as previously mentioned.
You'll get all sorts of opinions, though. Probably some which directly contradict mine. I say just pick something that sounds fun and try it out.
Well, in my experience - and honestly all I play are masterminds, you can go with a few sets and do pretty well, but the key seems to be strong damage mitigation. Sets that I've played and liked are:
* Bots/traps - epic. This guy soft caps positionals and manages 60/60/40 sle resists. Seriously rough as coffin nails, he rolled right on through without a pause until incarnate trials. The pets have around 50+ defense too. (remember on incarnate trials that 45 def is not the cap, its 60)
* thugs/traps - also epic. You can soft cap pets here too, but its trickier to soft cap yourself. Damage can be a little better than bots, sometimes not.
* anything/ff - ff its awesome, especially with the changes coming to make its shields targeted aoe, but I found it boring.... But the ability to generate high def and keep enemies away make it solid. But dull to play in my mind.
* anything/dark - dark rocks, instead of high defense you go with high -tohit. Get as much defense and resist as you can without making yourself gimpy, then debuff them down to the floor. You can easily generate more than -100 to hit and you get a great aoe heal. But watch out! Arch villains and similar mobs have huge resists to debuffs!
Mercs are better than most people say, my mercs/dark does great, even in itrials.
PS. I would avoid Ninjas and Necro as a primary -- they can be awesome in their own ways, but melee pets are just more challenging for a new MM. Same goes for secondaries like Poison and Trick Arrow, best saved for advanced players.
Thanks for all the help and tips. I'l give Thugs and Bots a try and see how I like them. so far all I know is that I dont like Zombies or Mercenaries.. But I'l make a Bot Mastermind and a Thug Mastermind and see how they play ^_^
An important thing about Bots; don't be surprised at low damage in the lower levels. Much of their damage is concentrated in the Assault Bot which you don't get until 26. Until then, they're pretty tough henchmen but kill slowly.
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
If you want a controllermind go for Demons/Dark and when you reach the Patron Arcs pick soul mastery. (I know this is very specific information for a higher lvl, but its the higher levels where MM come into their own really (And yes I do understand people have differing preferences)). The Demon Prince, combined with select powers from Dark Miasma, and other powers from Soul Mastery allow you to lock down entire groups of mobs with holds and stuns.
I would recommend TA highly, even if its considered "advanced," because in the higher levels when you get yourself Oil Slick Arrow you can blow groups of mobs to pieces with several minions from Robots, Thugs, Ninja's and Demons. It does an incredibly amount of damage.
TA also has an incredibly hold in the form of EMP Arrow, which is fantastic for holding down huge groups of mobs.
Actually, I might recommend something with /pain for a newbie. You can keep yourself alive and your pets will have a hard time dying at all.
Thugs/Traps - awesome, awesome combo. Grab Aid Other at some point.
Demons/Pain - see above.
Bots are considered really good, but the 6 second animation time on everything makes me grit my teeth while trying to level one.
Mercs are terribad, but I never could get one up to the commando level.
Necros hit HARD at high level.
Ninjas are hard to control for the majority of players.
Dark is considered the best overall secondary, followed by Traps, but they are all pretty decent with the exception of Poison. Don't pick poison. That whole set could use an overhaul.
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
Do not go with Thugs/Trick Arrow. The redraws will drive you out of your mind.
I have a ninja master that does fine with Ninja/Traps. But concealment is very much how we complete missions.
My Demons/Weather steamrolls everything. When soloing, I put the whip on autofire and act like a tank mage. We go so fast there's no point in using my secondary debuffs.
My pet peeve is people who refuse to acknowledge it when I tell them my character has unlimited power. If I rp attack them they are of course disintegrated beyond the ability of any hospital or magic to restore. Yet despite this they refuse to delete their characters and still keep playing them as if nothing happened. ~Mandu, 07-16-2010
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I never noticed much of a problem with redraw. Just drawing the bow at the start of the fight and twanging arrows until the Thugs kill everything.
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Originally Posted by Ashtoreth_NA
Do not go with Thugs/Trick Arrow. The redraws will drive you out of your mind.
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
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Sooo.... I'm a newbie MM Player because I play a Thug/Pain. |
Originally Posted by JayboH
Actually, I might recommend something with /pain for a newbie. .
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Tryed...
Bots/Traps... Hated it
Bots/Therm..... was ready to cut my own eyes out from having to reshield (will be better in a bit).
Thugs/Dark.... meh... not my cup of tea.
Thug/Pain is just fun to play, its very Chaotic, fire and forget combo. Maybe that does make it Newbie friendly but certainly doesn't make someone a newbie for playing it.
Its a great Tankermind combo, as you and your pets are super tough and your packing heals on top of it.
Is it a AV/GM solo king? Nope.. your only debuff is Angushing Cry, and a few other odd things you can pick up. Is it rocks solid vs everything else. yes, Big Yes.
Main: Praetor Imperium Elec/SS/Mu
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Are we looking at the same Bots here? The attacks all have a 1.87-second animation, while the non-attack powers all have a 2.03-second animation.
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Originally Posted by JayboH
Bots are considered really good, but the 6 second animation time on everything makes me grit my teeth while trying to level one.
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Perhaps he's confusing animation times for how long it takes for powers to recharge in the very early game. When the Bots have just one or two attacks it can feel like a long time between shots. Not like the light show they turn into later on.
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Originally Posted by Katie V
Are we looking at the same Bots here? The attacks all have a 1.87-second animation, while the non-attack powers all have a 2.03-second animation.
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
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Yes that's correct, which is why I mentioned "while trying to level one."
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Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
Perhaps he's confusing animation times for how long it takes for powers to recharge in the very early game. When the Bots have just one or two attacks it can feel like a long time between shots. Not like the light show they turn into later on.
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My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
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Using both the gun powers and the archery powers can be a pain.
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Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
I never noticed much of a problem with redraw. Just drawing the bow at the start of the fight and twanging arrows until the Thugs kill everything.
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My pet peeve is people who refuse to acknowledge it when I tell them my character has unlimited power. If I rp attack them they are of course disintegrated beyond the ability of any hospital or magic to restore. Yet despite this they refuse to delete their characters and still keep playing them as if nothing happened. ~Mandu, 07-16-2010
People take the gun powers?
Low levels thier useful here and thier, or just for pulling.
Main: Praetor Imperium Elec/SS/Mu
I start playing a month ago, and my only toon is a MM
"veterans" always recomend "bots/traps" but i gotta say that with my "bots/dark" im having a lot of fun.
Ok, between LVL20-32 its a bit difficult sometimes, but after a month, LVL33 ^^
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Debuffing has nothing at all to do with soloing av/gm's. They resist them 87%! Put it this way, if you debuffed one -100 to hit, thats only -13 tops. Thats assuming they don't have an otherwise boosted to hit like incarnate av's, which seems to be about +15. All that leaving them basically untouched.|
Originally Posted by Breog
Is it a AV/GM solo king? Nope.. your only debuff is Angushing Cry, and a few other odd things you can pick up. Is it rocks solid vs everything else. yes, Big Yes.
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Going to fight an av/gm, Defense! Defense! Defense! Then fill what's possible with resistance. Look at your to hit reducing debuffs probably can't get as high as 100 or so continually. If you can... (/Dark can) then you soft cap is effectively lowered while you to hit stuff is happening. In the above example, of you drop a -100 to hit, its resisted 87% down to measly -13. But look at the math: That means to soft cap against your enemy you only need a 32 def. Hilariously, with incarnates +15 to hit that means its 47.
But yeah, the lesson is that you want moderate defense even if you have very strong -tohit
Debuffing resists works the same way. A good solid -20 res debuff is really a poncy -2.6. That wont do squat.
This is why it's always been a total myth that /poison was good at fighting av/gm's. It can do elite bosses tops - none of its debuffing powers stack even.
That all said, there are usually advanced sort of tricks you can do to pull it off, but thats really another topic entirely.
But seriously. The only real power that mm's have is that they are smart enough to bring friends. Fighting someone tough? Well you've got six or so pets with you already, find a few other guys and bring them to. Even the very most stupid player is at least on par with the pet ai these days
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/Dark rules, even if it is a debuff set. Protector bots can give you +11.9 def with good slotting. Double that on the battle drones and assault bot. Scorpion shield can do like +20 def. Aaaaand there! You can pseudo-softcap if you use all you debuffs and your dark servant.|
Originally Posted by Wiros
I start playing a month ago, and my only toon is a MM
"veterans" always recomend "bots/traps" but i gotta say that with my "bots/dark" im having a lot of fun. Ok, between LVL20-32 its a bit difficult sometimes, but after a month, LVL33 ^^ |
Its ownage. There are probably even better ways to do that.
Check it out, regular mobs, even in incarnate stuff don't have anything like av/gm debuff resist, so your strong -tohit actually gets you father than a regular soft cap
as long as you keep it up and on them anyway
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Originally Posted by Lewisite
Debuffing has nothing at all to do with soloing av/gm's. They resist them 87%! Put it this way, if you debuffed one -100 to hit, thats only -13 tops. Thats assuming they don't have an otherwise boosted to hit like incarnate av's, which seems to be about +15. All that leaving them basically untouched.
Going to fight an av/gm, Defense! Defense! Defense! Then fill what's possible with resistance. Look at your to hit reducing debuffs probably can't get as high as 100 or so continually. If you can... (/Dark can) then you soft cap is effectively lowered while you to hit stuff is happening. In the above example, of you drop a -100 to hit, its resisted 87% down to measly -13. But look at the math: That means to soft cap against your enemy you only need a 32 def. Hilariously, with incarnates +15 to hit that means its 47. But yeah, the lesson is that you want moderate defense even if you have very strong -tohit Debuffing resists works the same way. A good solid -20 res debuff is really a poncy -2.6. That wont do squat. This is why it's always been a total myth that /poison was good at fighting av/gm's. It can do elite bosses tops - none of its debuffing powers stack even. That all said, there are usually advanced sort of tricks you can do to pull it off, but thats really another topic entirely. But seriously. The only real power that mm's have is that they are smart enough to bring friends. Fighting someone tough? Well you've got six or so pets with you already, find a few other guys and bring them to. Even the very most stupid player is at least on par with the pet ai these days |
Ummm.... *looks around for the newbie sign above my head*... Not seeing it
You left out the most important thing... Soloing GMs is about stopping thier Reg.
But then again I have never attacked any AVs or GMs in this game, and I dont currently have a 15 billion biuld tank.
Main: Praetor Imperium Elec/SS/Mu
I'v made a Thugs/Traps and gotten to lvl 5 so far. Going to try Bots/??? aswell but so far I like my thug. To 90% of the time he actually stays back and shoots the enemies, Unlike the Merc when I tried Mercenaries who would fire once and then run up to the enemies every single time he attacked a enemy..
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Thats, like you said, "if" you take the pistol powers, and still use them in the higher level. But theres more than likely better powers that could be used than these pistol powers. Unless of course you use for a concept.|
Originally Posted by Ashtoreth_NA
Do not go with Thugs/Trick Arrow. The redraws will drive you out of your mind.
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Otherwise, do go with Thugs/TA! (If you ever get around to it) Its great in both PVE/PVP
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Concepts are the true killer of characters. :'(|
Originally Posted by Lucius_EU
Thats, like you said, "if" you take the pistol powers, and still use them in the higher level. But theres more than likely better powers that could be used than these pistol powers. Unless of course you use for a concept.
Otherwise, do go with Thugs/TA! (If you ever get around to it) Its great in both PVE/PVP |
..Does anyone use the gun powers with secondaries other than Trick Arrow?
My pet peeve is people who refuse to acknowledge it when I tell them my character has unlimited power. If I rp attack them they are of course disintegrated beyond the ability of any hospital or magic to restore. Yet despite this they refuse to delete their characters and still keep playing them as if nothing happened. ~Mandu, 07-16-2010
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Woah no no, I wasn't intending to insinuate you where a noob or anything offensive like that -- I really didn't mean to offend sorry if I did. I'd much rather be friendly with everyone ;P We poor downtrodden MM's need to stick together in these harsh times |
Originally Posted by Breog
Ummm.... *looks around for the newbie sign above my head*... Not seeing it
You left out the most important thing... Soloing GMs is about stopping thier Reg. But then again I have never attacked any AVs or GMs in this game, and I dont currently have a 15 billion biuld tank. |
That said, the problem with killing a GM's regeneration is that they'll resist regeneration debuffs at the same 87%. So you'd really have to pile on a lot of -regen to do anything noticeable.
I haven't attacked any GM's by myself in aaaages, so I could be out of date on things but I've never seen anyone bother much with debuffing anything, they just resist it too much. I usually see the marathon method working.
Anyway /Pain is a great set that can do some seriously mean damage, throw in things like reactive and barrier and you'll eventually get through the rough early-incarnate stuff ok.
Hello everyone, So I understand this question might have been asked alot but I'm making a Mastermind and just cant chose my powersets so I was wondering whats a good choise for a beginner, Who will be mostly soloing? What pets to use and what secondary?