I give up... What about Inventions?

Oh, boy... It's the thread that refuses to die since I just can't seem to let it... I apologise for dredging this thing from the abyss for, what is this, like a third time now? I promise, this will really, honestly, seriously be the LAST time. After this, I WILL let it sink and die. Pinky swear!

The reason I'm resurrecting this thread is I have one last question, and it's the one I have no realistic answer to - Inventions and Masterminds. Of the four ATs I play, Masterminds are the one outlier. All the others - Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers - I can build pretty much the same. Sure, their builds are never really identical, but their general play style an power set selection means I can use similar approaches. Not so with Masterminds, and to be honest... I wouldn't know where to begin. What do Masterminds need more of? Defence? I wouldn't think so, but do they? Endurance reduction? In the days of 45 end point upgrades and no Stamina maybe, but now? I don't know. Recharge? For faster resummoning? Some kind of proc for something or other?

Here's my problem - one of my 50s is a Mastermind, a very OOOLD Mastermind, since before Inherent fitness by quite a bit. He's a Mercs/Traps Mastermind, and I'm aware that Mercs aren't considered a very strong powerset. Masterminds, unlike most other ATs, seem like they'd benefit from multi-aspect enhancements so, so very much. With the Spec Ops, for instance, I can slot these guys for accuracy, damage, endurance reduction, hold, stun and immobilization. Well, I could if I had twelve slots, but I can't with only six, four of which are taken up by accuracy and damage. I could do multi-aspect enhancements, but since those come in sets, I don't think there are any sets which cover all of these, plus I'm not sure there even are all that many useful sets for henchmen.

Basically what I'm saying is I don't have idea one what to do with a Mastermind. I'm not even talking about "best" builds or even specific builds, I don't know where to start. What kind of stats do I want? What kind of sets are even available? Is the Mastermind "ATO" worth using and what does it do? I've heard horror stories about Masterminds in iTrials (mostly from the Techbot), but I've heard precisely nothing about them in Dark Astoria. I don't even have any real idea as to whether it will be easier or harder for a Mastermind. I know the AT can be somewhat overpowered against some enemies and pure garbage against others, but where doe Dark Astoria like? What do I need to make up for? No idea. It's literally been five years since I've played a level 50 Mastermind with his Epic shield

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I cant help you with a merc/traps in DA. But defense is a decent idea.

If you put full blood mandate sets in your pets, and perhaps pick up defense in some other sets and find a place for steadfast global defense IO, that will stack well with your force field generator.

Another decent option for Mercs/Traps is to put as many of the chance for -resist IOs in the pets that take them, as well as your acid mortar. Also put the chance for damage procs in the pets that take them. Then use mix-and-match frankenslotting to get the pet numbers where you want them (dam, acc, end, etc). This approach can help the mercs deal with doing mediocre smash/lethal damage.

Also, much more generally, the IO set bonuses you want depend greatly on your primary and secondary. Robot/FF probably doesnt need much recharge (but can get plenty) but probably youd want defense. Thugs/storm would favor recharge due to gang war and the cool storm powers, but defense could be a close second. So basically, it comes down to the specific combo (in terms of what to look for).

Cant offer any mastermind advice for DA tho ... My thugs/dark hasnt tried yet.

Lewis

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Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan

One thing to keep in mind is that it can be useful to give your pets various procs. (Achilles Heel -res for mercs is a particularly "easy" choice)

Don't overdo it though: AH doesen't stack, but with just the three basic mercs keeping their shooting up they can keep a constant resistance debuff up relatively easily.

Other than that... I don't really know either. Honestly, I'm in the same bucket as you are with MM's. "What the hell should I build for?"

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"Men strunt �r strunt och snus �r snus
om ock i gyllne dosor.
Och rosor i ett sprucket krus
�r st�ndigt alltid rosor."

This always seems to be the case with Masterminds - you never really know what to build them for. "Depends" is the most common answer. Mind you, I haven't really played "support" ATs to any significant degree, so maybe that's just how Support sets work, I don't know. Mastermind primaries themselves seem to be this complex mixture of player abilities, henchman abilities and how they interact with the secondary, so I don't know if I CAN get a direct answer

What I do want to say, however, is that I'd rather stick to Uncommon sets if at all possible. I appreciate people wanting to give me stuff (that's how I got most of the Mako sets last time), but I'd really rather not use them unless I absolutely have to, and with Masterminds... I'm just not convinced I have to. I'll see what I can do... I'm not playing that character yet, but I should be soon, all things going to plan.

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Yeah, my first 50 was a MM, and while I've done some basic IO-ing (pretty much just sticking some cheap sets into whatever positions I find useful) I really don't have any idea of what to actually do with her.

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"Men strunt �r strunt och snus �r snus
om ock i gyllne dosor.
Och rosor i ett sprucket krus
�r st�ndigt alltid rosor."

Can't help with the MM part but for the /traps part you want three things, recharge, more recharge, and even more recharge.

A friend of mine has a bots/traps setup as a tankermind (aoe taunt from presence + bodyguard mode) that is extremely powerful and durable.

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Recharge sounds like a good idea. Acid Mortar, Poison Trap and Seeker Drones all benefit from it. This probably means I'll shoot for the Spiritual Alpha for the recharge, but we'll see. I'm trying to have the guy run all three Leadership toggles, but that might be solvable through slotting. We'll see.

I want to post a build for Nathaniel here, but like I said - he's been 50 since before Fitness was inherent. Whatever build he has ain't gonna' be workable one way or the other, so I'll be respeccing no matter what. Probably do a Commons build first and then use the second for Sets.

When it comes to Mercs, I'm not sure I want to bother with slotting control for the Spec Ops. Their control powers aren't very good, being on a 60 second recharge, I believe, and being that they have no real idea when to use them. The Commando doesn't really do anything beyond damage so he's simple. I guess the only real problem would be the Soldiers, whom I want to slot for healing somewhat.

Say, here's a question - is slotting the Medic for heal a good idea? I hear doing this causes healing henchmen to wait until the people they're healing are hurt more than they would be otherwise, so the heal would be worth it, thus potentially not being able to heal the other soldiers in time if his heal stat is too high. Is that true or am I remembering wrong?

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In my opinion MMs are all about the pets. They do most if not all of your damage and keeping them alive keeps you alive. There are three different pet sets that provide aura protection (defense/resistance) for pets and those are a great start. Recharge is nice to make sure you can always summon new pets when/if you need them. On MMs I tend to take powers that will benefit my pets like the leadership pool. I also like putting the slow set damage proc IO in caltrops so they do extra damage. However two of those procs cap out below 50, so if you are only using 50 IOs then they would not be an option.

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