Quick Question: +Health Set Bonus

I always think of this at work and forget to check when I'm home: does the +Health set bonus affect Mastermind pets or only the toon? These are hit points, right?

Thanks

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And while I'm at it: +Damage. I'm planning of giving my lone lvl 50 MM some love this week and trying to plan out his IO build. Traditionally I have pursued +def and +rech on different characters but the MM is so different than the other characters I play, I need to put better thought into it.

The reason +Health and +Damage even piqued my interest is because I was only just now reminded that the purple IO is completely different in set bonuses for pet damage so there must be some benefit for +Health/+Damage appropriate for a MM and more usefull than +Acc/+Rech/+Recovery.

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Nearly all Set Bonuses will be for the Mastermind only and not the pets, with the exception of certain IOs like the four aura IOs and the Soulbound BU proc that explicitly state they are for pets.

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With great power comes great RTFM -- Lady Sadako
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server

So what bonuses should be pursued for a Mastermind, or maybe, are ideal? +Damage doesn't seem like a very quality attribute since attacks are performed through the henchmen.

I understand the IO's for pets but I'm speaking specifically of set bonuses. While I imagine that things like +Defense would only affect the caster I imagined there might be a possibility that something like +Health could affect pets since they kind of are a part of your health (and damage). It makes sense that it would only affect [me] but the idea only popped into my head when I saw so many bonus that are traditionally for Masterminds (although they aren't the only ones with pets) revolve more around Damage and Health.

It was a longshot but I figured I'd ask.

thanks for the response.

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As with most things in the game there's no One True Way to go with this, but here's a few approaches I've seen with respect to Masterminds and IO Sets:

1) The Tankermind approach. Some powersets are better-suited to this than others. The basic idea here is to make yourself as tough as possible using a combination of Bodyguard mode and +Defense from IOs (and to a lesser extent, +HP and Resistance. Avoid Regen because its effectiveness is tied to your total HP, which is never going to be all that high) so that you can effectively tank for your pets. You'll still have low hit points, of course, but you don't need to tank for very long, just long enough for your pets to demolish whatever you're facing.

2) The high-recharge approach. This is kind of a staple across the board and it really depends on what your powersets are (especially your secondary), but having very high recharge allows you to quickly replace your pets cannon-fodder style as well as keeping any very powerful click powers you may have in your secondary coming back fast (Howling Twilight comes to mind). This is the approach I took for my Mastermind. Most of the Purple IO sets offer good recharge, so that can be a factor in a build like this.

3) Frankenslot. Ignore Set Bonuses entirely and take Set pieces from many different Sets to enhance your individual powers in extraordinary ways. I typically do a bit of this no matter what I'm going for, but if neither of the above really appeals to you then this is another great way to a very effective character.

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With great power comes great RTFM -- Lady Sadako
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server

At work again so I can't post my current build (this is when I have the most time to read forums )

The Mastermind in question is Necro/Dark. My initial thought was to pursue high defense at the expense of everything else since most of my damage is neg energy. Recharge is the usual go to and I've considered what exactly that would affect; never crossed my mind to keep replenishing pets.

I've been staring at the list of enhancements and respective set bonuses all day hoping I'd see something that would stand out based on the accepted IOs but I think I'm just going to default to my usual +Def/+Rech. I'm an admitted set bonus hoor so only for a handful of powers do I consider Frankenslotting (I just love looking at the bonuses in my description while waiting for a trial to que.)

Thanks for the reply and the ideas. Back to staring at the Invention Origin Enhancement Sets page!

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I've got a Necro/Dark myself and I ended up going mostly for recharge on his build. I like being able to use Howling Twilight on nearly every mob if I want to. Such a great power, an autohit stun that has the side benefit for being the best rez in the game!

Hope some of all this was helpful to you, and good luck on IOing out your MM!

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With great power comes great RTFM -- Lady Sadako
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server

I went Tankermind on my Necro/Dark and used all 3 of the above methods.

With the -tohit you can put out if you can get 20-30% personal defence you will be very survivable, then stack the recharge to get the good powers back faster, I frankenslotted powers like Fluffy to make him as effective as possible.

I negated the alpha's with Fearsome Stare, then tried to get the aggro onto me (Presence pool) to help the pets stay alive. I mostly stayed in the middle of most mobs though to take full advantage of all the auras and heals.

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