Looking for some advice on Gang War...

I just got my Thugs/Traps/Mace MM to 47 and am slotting him up with some sets. I'm just finishing out his leveling build at the moment, not spending the big bucks for a good build as he's well down my list for Incarnate content at the moment (I have 24 other 50s on my main server and only 5 are to +3 so far).

Anyway, to get to the point: I have Gang War 4 slotted with Call-to-Arms IOs using L30 A/R, A/D/R and E/D/R plus the Def Aura. That gives 39.2% Acc, 34.8% Dam, 56.6% Rech and 17.4% EndRed. I have two other slots which I'd originally just planned to slot with the Expedient Reinforcement A/D/R and E/D/R triples in this leveling build. However, I'm now thinking I may just want to throw the two Res Aura IOs in there instead. I used to use Gang War a lot either to spread aggro or to hem in foes I think are apt to run. But with Seeker Drones slotted, an AoE Immob to reduce scatter, Scorpion Shield, Provoke and IO Def bonuses I'm not finding as many uses for it. So I'm thinking that extra 20% Res for everyone might be worth more than a somewhat more effective Gang War itself. However, my goons are at around 49% Def as is and usually only die when they're out of range of Aura IOs anyway, so I'm not sure which way to go.

What do you think? Am I under-utilizing Gang War? Should I slot it with better enhancement and use new strategies to get more out of it? Or should I just slot the buff IOs in there and toughen up my grunts a bit?

If you have six slots, use them. I tend to do mine as

Level 18: Gang War -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(19), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(21), C'Arms-+Def(Pets)(21), EdctM'r-PetDef(23)


Easy recharge, and three of the four pet aura IOs. I normally have the fourth as the whole set in the t1 thugs.

Honestly, I can't tell you if the resist IO helps all that much, but the 20% resists on top of the near softcap (I'm /dark) means that, for the most part, my thugs are pretty survivable.

Perhaps something else could work, but this is just my personal preference. I only use Gang War in an emergency, so it gets plenty of time to recharge.

Honestly, as /traps, i can't imagine too many times where you'll be overwhelmed enough that you need Gang War that often, especially once you start reaching into your bag of tricks. Maybe someone with better testing between the two would know better, but I can't imagine such a case where just using your traps would be more effective.

Gang war is magnificently useful for the 2 defense pet auras and the 2 resistance pet auras. As some may not know this aura is based on a radius from the mastermind and affects all pets. Because you do have so much defense already with forcefield generator and the enforcer's defensive maneuvers, I would be tempted to four slot call to arms and two resistance aura bonuses to get the recharge bonus