Since I don't hate myself enough: Ninja MM.

Yeah. Topic. I hate myself a bit more now.

Regardless, I pretty much know 'the' secondary is Force Field, but I also don't like the set so much. It's a largely one-trick pony in a game where +DEF buffs are all over. Although I wouldn't be opposed to it.

I'm not /too/ worried about Stupid Mastermind Tricks via. Soloing. If I want to solo as an MM, there's honestly better primaries for it. My question is, which secondary would actually give the most survivability to ninjas? Or increase their damage output? In a game filled with AoE Defense buffs, there's less of a worry my Ninjas won't be hit by Cold or Force shields. And with most people packing Maneuvers, it's also larger. Add in a single FFG or D.Bubble, and well...

So, right. Any opinions would be superb. I'm thinking Thermal might yield the highest survivability yield at already softcaps, but Dark Miasma's arsenal of tricks is to be noted. Storm Summoning is also there... and there's also Pain, sort of?

Hm.

Defence-wise, you have:
Force Fields (~30%, ~11% for you), Traps (~15%, all for you), Storm Summoning (~11%, ~6% for you) and Dark (~5%, all for you)

Resistance-wise, there's:
Thermal (~24%, none for you), Pain (~18%, all for you) and Storm Summoning (10%, none for you).

(Dark, Storm Summoning and Thermal also have better resistance against certain types, but I'm ignoring that for now. Also note that the Storm Summoning values include both Recharge-Intensive Pet set auras in Tornado.)

Ninjas specifically really need their defences, so I'd suggest either of the three top contenders - Force Fields for unmatched defence, or Traps/Storm Summoning for utility, including questionable heals, resistance reduction (awesome!) an various extra pets.

In a primarily team-based environment, I'd go for one of the slightly less defensive sets, probably Storm Summoning, as I personally dislike traps. Freezing Rain is awesome for all types of battles, Tornado deals significant damage against targets it can't knock about, and when playing solo, good Hurricane use can make up for a lot of the lost defence from Force Fields.

Hm? What's the second portion of Storm Summoning's defense?

6% from Steamy Mist, 5% from the Call to Arms: Defense Bonus Aura for Pets IO slotted in Tornado.

Oh-ho-ho! Very good So that's a potential 10% from both +Defenses, and if I wanna be cute, +20% Resistance.

Hum~

I'm going to have to throw my hat in the ring for traps.

First, you get FFG which adds a good bit of defense to you and your henchmen, isn't a toggle (so if you get mezzed it doesn't surpress). For healing you also get triage beacon. Which while isn't GREAT can help.

For soft mitigation you have:

Caltrops (messes with mob AI)
Poison Trap (great hold, and the puking animation is 'hold' as well)
Seeker Drones (abosrbs the alpha and debuffs accuracy and damage)

For +offense:
Acid Mortar (debuffs defense and resistance)
Trip Mine-Interruptable AoE bomb...not great, but can be combined with ss+stealth to toe bomb invisibly in most situations
Detonator: blows a henchman to heck and back...more damage.

I have a Bots/Traps that I do love, and I know the strength of traps... but that strength is AoE Centric, which Ninjas don't exactly have a name for.

The major perk is the FFG's mez resistance, but that can be duplicated with Clarion, if I don't want to take the Barrier route. Or the +Max HP route. Either or.

As for the rest of the set, mm. As I said before, +Def isn't an issue in the game anymore. While I don't think +RES is going to go leaps and bounds for the ninjas and their survivability?

To a note for Storm, with proper skill, Hurricane Walling things is a great way to keep survivability going for them. They can't be rolled over if things can't stand up, anywho.

A shame Steamy Mist has no S/L Resistance, but hey. Can't have it all.

So, hm. Storm brings with it massive -To Hit, damage dealing capabilities, +Defense, and additional +DEF and +RES due to Tornado slotting. Also a decent ST Heal, wee.

Proper Hurricane use promotes a crippling, staggering amount of -To Hit, though. And even BETTER use is "LolPermaknockdown" with Wall Shenanigans.

Mmm. I'm leaning toward /Storm, although I can't deny /Dark and /Thermal for their AoE healing and also good shenanigans.

Although I get to decide between 49% S/L Defense with Mace Mastery, or 70% S/L/E Resistance with Mu Mastery. The soft cap is probably more valuable, although the logic is "Defense Buffs So Common Anyway".

And against trash, Hurricane's 38%-odd-something To-Hit is effectively getting me capped. Hrm.

Electrifying Fences can also proc Reactive Interface, but Web Envelope's -Recharge stacks with Snow Storm...

Decisions suck~

Just throwing this out there, if you really hate yourself, you'll try a human form Peacebringer and a stalker.

If /FF is not available, I think I'll go with either /Dark (hooray on the increase radius of healing) and /Storm.

/Storm's tornado allows you to slot one more set of +5% defense and +10% resistance and Hurrican is very good for soloing or small team.

I have tried Ninja/Trap once until lvl 20. Ninjas run extremely faster and it's a bit hard for FFG to buff all the times. You may need team teleport.

I will not make a ninja/ta or ninja/pain. Pain has good +resistance but it offers no +defense on its own. The 18% resistance is not going to make any meaningful difference on the pets since they have no other resistance to stack with (only Oni has some resistance but Oni is always the last to die anyway). /TA just doesn't debuff hard enough to help the pets survive. You can try bodyguard mode with /ta but I hate letting ninjas run on their own. They chase and they chase super fast.


Honestly, I am not a fan of Robot/Thug because I just see them too much. Ninja/FF makes Ninja very good IMO. It's not as good as Robot/Trap but it's enjoyable.

And for your information, I do think human Peacebringer is the worst thing in this game. No synergies in forms, knockbacks everywhere, and no mez protection. I don't hate all knockbacks but at some point you gotta stop knocking back all the time since it doesn't really add more safety. And what's worst is your Ninjas chasing mobs that just get knocked back. :P

Ninja/Storm... toss in Team TP and you have an an stoppable party of death with little to no micro-managing to get the most out of BG mode as well as powers that keep groups of mobs slowed, running, and agro'd on you... thus, squishy ninjas live.

It's a lovely synchronized chaos that makes me giggle like a school girl when groups fall in seconds and I all I do is focus on targeting the next group for the team TP.

I can see the value in team teleport, but i've never had significant drama with pet management and positioning. Just, the two powers needed to build up to Team Teleport ultimately makes me go "Hm". It comes down to dropping the Fighting Pool, which'll make me sad, or the Leadership Pool, which'll also make me sad.

Mostly, though, this wouldn't be my choice of Soloing Mastermind. I'd rather use Thugs or Bots or anything else AoE centric. This is more for teaming shenanigans and general "pissing on AVs through ST damage."

And I know where this is where Ninjas shine; taking down a single target in a glorious manner. And in a team, there's hopefully a few defense buffs going around to soft cap the little jerks.

I also feel /Storm is a good way to go for even more AV damage dealing, with Tornado and Lightning Storm being beautiful in that department. As well as Freezing Rain being so brutalizing.

So, yeah. That's just me.

Heh, at the speed they move, and the reported AI issues that people had with them and management (at the time I made mine) I thought I would go with team TP to manage them, and it worked out swimmingly.

After a bots/traps, Thugs/pain, Necro/dark... I just wanted something else with a different feel... and I was surprisingly happy with the results; its pure chaos and chaos is love.