Nyghtmaire

As requested:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...ht=scrapperloc

(Would have been sooner but i got lost in the awesome of the linked thread!)

I nominate this thread for the Most Creative Trolling of the month. Mo

Seriously M.Prankster, check some of the OP's posts in the various build threads. Manic self-entitlement is soooooooooo uber and sexy ...

Edit: Black-Assassin hit it on the head.

Mu mastery all the way! The immobilize has -kb. This will keep stuff in your assbots's burn patches. It is just stellar; makes me giddy just thinking about it

I understand where you are coming from. But there are many reasons to take a power: lack of anything better by way of other options, soft/hard mitigation options, casing set bonuses. Mastermind attacks, by themselves are pretty underwhelming. However, isn't an attack preferable to doing nothing? At the very minimum, triggering an attack could be seen as a net-gain so long as the mastermind didn't lose the opportunity to do something more beneficial, or caused an endurance deficit thereby preventing useful action later in the fight.

The reservation I have with Bots/FF character is specifically with two powers: Photon grenade and Repulsion Bomb. Both 'attacks' are potent mitigation tools. The photon grenade will stack with the protector bots' stuns: photon grenades and seeker drones. Repulsion bomb now has juicy knock-down and an additional chance to stun (stacking again with the stuff mentioned above). Creatures stunned and/or knocked-down don't attack.

Both attacks also take some excellent sets for recharge, various positional defenses, recovery, etc...

I also notice that in Psylenz's build edit, the bots are defense soft-capped in regular content with one protector bot bubble (tier 1 and 3 actually get 2 bubbles apiece):

17.72% (deflection/insulation shield)
11.74% (dispersion bubble)
4.11% (Maneuvers)
7.5% (1 prot.bot bubble)
5% (Edict of the Master unique)
-------------------------------------
46.07% range/melee and 56.07% to AoE from Command of the Mastermind ATO (could be 61% if it were upgraded)

Tier 3 and Tier 1 bots thus have 53.57% to range and melee and 63.57% to AoE as presently built.

So, the bots are taken care of as much as they can be as regards their defense numbers.

The mastermind herself has a def rating (with one protector bot shield) of:

28.1% melee
38.1% ranged
41.2% AoE

Altogether, it's not bad for a build that isn't chasing defense numbers. Sure, the OP could get soft-capped herself, at least to the range position, without much effort. Could also do it without getting rid of any of the attacks.

Finally, the existence of incarnate powers doesn't help your position as much as you may first think. Judgment AoEs are on a 90 second static cooldown, so this is not exactly something the mastermind will be spamming. Also, the interface powers make even mastermind attacks pretty freakin' potent. Hell, the reactive radial flawless interface increases force bolt's damage ten times. Should musculature be alpha-slotted, these attacks become significantly more valuable (and much stronger than the veteran attacks) without any additional slotting in the individual power.

Check the mids - math don't lie. Once IOs and incarnate powers get into the picture, you can do stupid/crazy things with a build -- breaking 'accepted wisdom -- that would have been unthinkable even 18 months ago.

I'm slowly coming around to this new paradigm. That and FF really *is* mind-numbingly boring at times.

Um...I think you're putting your henchmen in bodyguard mode here....

And ninjas *by themselves* are the issue. Pretty sure the /time and /ff secondaries are routinely referenced as the combinations with the greatest synergies. Now if the op addressed the hidden gem of ninjas/sonic ... like woah then...

Nonetheless, glad you like the set and welcome to the forums!

But with the pbaoe effect (and the resultant ability to hit more than one ninja/minion), that seems like a good trade-off, I.e. a reduction in spammability. It is also a quality of life improvement in that it removes one additional step in the usage of the power - targetting.

Loving this direction! On one hand I wonder if the set would be better for the tier one to have a long - recharge hold such as ... dare I say ...'face-sucking' ability as the level 32 upgrade? Maybe the person all attacks could be rad blast def debuff pistols.

And tier 7 needs to be a gangwar style spawn cast on an enemy - causing a stun while the little aliens come out of the mob.

I'm into this - make it so Devs! No more magic; we need more sci-fi!

I tested Necro/Sonic on the proliferation beta last summer; it wasn't pretty once the difficulty was boosted. I still have nightmares... Disruption was fine, but keeping the lich protected at range while the others were in melee was a pain. Zombie heals were ill-timed (almost by design I began to suspect), the only controls were from the lich (slotted for hit debuff) and PPPs (ran with Soul Mastery on the test). Bodyguard was out against many adversaries to avoid the minions being whittled away by a constant stream of damage, and any AOE at all would bring about catastrophic minion failure.

Demons on the other hand -- like night and day.

Your initial post didn't include those limitations (which are fairly substantial), and I'm not seeing how anyone could have guessed you wanted an SO-only build for level 30.

Why are you seeking an SO-only build? Is it for when you don't maintain a subscription? And when you specify SO-only, are you also eliminating the ATO set?

With these limitations, don't you think we need more information? Like - what content do you intend to be running? Because if you're just doing basic missions at standard difficulty solo, it frankly doesn't matter how you slot with a bots/traps past what you already have. I would even guess that you could get away with no-slots for this combo on standard difficulty.

In the end, I don't know if anyone is going to be able to add better information than JayboH has already provided. There's only so much you can do build-wise with SOs... Make sure you have sufficient accuracy on all your powers that need it, defense in the powers that take it, and recharge for everything else.

PS And skip the attacks! (or not, if you happen to like them)

"
Yeah- the tagline is pretty mangled, mixing the German numerals with and English ending. Think 'die' as in "we're all gonna die."

Edit: it's easier to read on the movie poster. The dripping blood helps the interpretation ...

I just send one of minion to kill the remaining enemy. One bind, no endurance, can be executed while doing something else, ... I mean we have a minimum of six henchmen. I can spare one to mop up while the others are sent to the next spawn.

Overall, (and of course the caveat 'play however you feel like playing' is in effect) I don't understand to resistance to treating henchmen like attacks. Controlling henchmen IS doing something (it is not the player doing nothing); player still has to press a button on her/his computer or mouse and interact with the user interface to accomplish something in-game.

And our henchmen - even the weakest tier 1 with SO's - do better damage than our primary attacks. This tension is the actual ""inefficient use of endurance" dilemma. Why pay for something (currency = endurance and activation time) when you can accomplish the same thing for free in less time?

Sure, there is an argument made for taking BM or demon attacks for the additional effect, as well as another one here or there. And for vanity - I feel it. Fun = I support fun, too. But there is almost always something better to be doing than using one of the primary attacks from the standard of cost/efficiency.

OP - I sketch out a build with all the must-haves, and then I might, if I have the space and I've been drinking since the morning, might include an attack. On my second build. Even on demons.

Agree all the way - now I'm lusting for a Necro/cold based off the film Dead Snow. EIN ZWEI DIE!

Please Dev's - make it so...

You could always use the Contagion interface power to simulate the effect you're after. That would give a chance of confusion everytime you caused damage. How deliciously random!

I haven't seen anything explicitly on this point on the boards, other than an issue with the thugs primary (See here).

Certainly the proc itself appears to affect AVs differently - instead of percentage per stack it reduces HP by 1000/stack. Still might be useless, just not sure. Everyone seems to have Reactive though - so something seems better than nothing...

And cognitive seems so appropriate, like "OMG there's a zombie chewing on me HEEELLLPPP!!!!"