Psylenz

Tonight it was the Triumph Issue 21 Convergence Party - more like a triple bypass with 4 root canals no pain killer.

They buff the incarnates until you die 10 times faster than ever before because everyone gets in button mashing frenzy. The screen fills up with smoke, and you d/c 3 times from a memory leak that doesn't exist on NCSoft side but your computer tells you to restart.

The praetorians NPCs are unmezzable, have zero recharge on attacks, and the devs fill Atlas Park with them.

What if they filled a zone with overpowered NPCs for the usual Imperial Defense Forces and no one came to play? Brainless button mashing for no xp, no strategy. How can you feel like you succeeded when it's a constant debt train from the hospital. Are they trying to deplete the nurses of inspirations in the hospital?

I for one am sick of it all. Just because this brute, that tank, , doesn't mean I am not able if I choose not to.. But boy oh boy we get the carpentry badges and so we endure whatever content spews from the Paragon City sewers.

Clearly since CoH has emasculated PvP the only way to prove one's worth is with the Praetorian self-flagellation.

A new dark/dark blaster some some nice melee blapper type attacks. It's a decent pairing.

My first Mastermind, first villain level 50 is a Robots/poison. It's a big game hunter. With Issue 21, I have been considering some of my previous combinations in lights of what I have seen with Poison on a new corruptor (beam rifle, it seems to work quite well). The extra splash seems to make a real difference in the time it takes to take down spawns.

Poison Trap has been reworked and when I checked it on test, it performed VASTLY better than the old crappy poison trap. (The poison gas trap is still a bit better in the trap set, but I am very happy with the rework.)

If you want to be more proactive with robots, and since fitness is inherent now, you should be able to fit in at least one of the Robot Mastermind attacks. I suggest the photon grenades. I like to stack the stuns from this power with the protector AoE stuns they get with the level 32 upgrade. It's a decent way to grab aggro in bodyguard and also clip a bit of the intial damage with the stuns.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.951
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

The Hood Revisted v3: Level 50 Magic Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Thugs
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Concealment
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Call Thugs -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Nucle(3), SvgnRt-PetResDam(3), EdctM'r-Acc/Dmg(5), EdctM'r-PetDef(33)
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Nictus-Heal(A), Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(5), Nictus-Acc/Heal(7), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(7), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(9)
Level 4: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(11), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(11), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(13)
Level 6: Equip Thugs -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(27), LkGmblr-Def(27), LkGmblr-Rchg+(29)
Level 10: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(34), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 12: Call Enforcer -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Nucle(13), HO:Cyto(15), HO:Cyto(17), Achilles-ResDeb%(17), HO:Nucle(50)
Level 14: Empty Clips -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/Rng(15), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43)
Level 16: Shadow Fall -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Ksmt-ToHit+(19), Aegis-Psi/Status(19), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(23), Aegis-ResDam(23), Krma-ResKB(25)
Level 18: Gang War -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(37), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(40), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), C'Arms-+Def(Pets)(43), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(43)
Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 22: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 24: Fearsome Stare -- Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-Dam%(29), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(36), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(36), Abys-Fear/Rng(36), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(37)
Level 26: Call Bruiser -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Nucle(31), HO:Nucle(33), S'bndAl-Build%(34), ExStrk-Dam%(34)
Level 28: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 30: Petrifying Gaze -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(31), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37), Lock-Acc/Rchg(46), Lock-Rchg/Hold(46), Lock-%Hold(50)
Level 32: Upgrade Equipment -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 35: Super Jump -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 38: Dark Servant -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(39), ToHitDeb-I(39), ToHitDeb-I(39), HO:Endo(40), HO:Endo(40)
Level 41: Dark Embrace -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(42), S'fstPrt-ResKB(42)
Level 44: Soul Tentacles -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(45), Posi-Dmg/Rng(45), Posi-Dam%(48), Ragnrk-Knock%(48)
Level 47: Tactics -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 0: Born In Battle
Level 0: Demonic Aura
Level 0: Force of Nature
Level 0: High Pain Threshold
Level 0: Invader
Level 0: Marshal
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Supremacy
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Heal(31), Numna-Heal(33)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21), P'Shift-End%(25)


I threw this together, took fitness to inherent, added tentacles back in. I used some more Hami-Os to squeeze out some slots. I put another Recharge Intensive Pet bonus in Gang War. The proc in Howling Twilight is wasted since it has an auto-hit slow/-recharge featured. I put some more of the LotG recharge bonus in. I like having my stealth in sprint rather than combat jump. Shadowfall looks good; you have some very good psy resistance in there with IO bonuses, too.

Short and sweet, I keep robots on defensive. With tactics, you can roll the front foes back with kb to stack up the burn patches.

Demons, I like to put both the lieutenants on aggressive. They both do melee attacks. The ember demon uses an AoE heal which I want to be on the gargoyle. The Demon Prince I want on defensive because his first reaction to the mastermind grabbing aggro is usually the ice block. My mastermind aggro's the foe I want to be held.

Zombies work best by having the first tier at range for an initial toxic attack, so I leave first tier and Lich in defensive and follow in a swarming fashion with the grave knights on aggressive.

Thugs, especially /poison, I leave the bruiser on aggressive. He is an aggro absorbing/debuffing machine. Gang war is great in that mix.

My first Storm, my first 50, is a Storm/Rad. I liked from the early levels that radiation blast did defense debuffing, prior to beginner's luck. Freezing rain with radiation blast like neutron bomb does make a difference on targets that resist defense debuffing. Rad blast is also low on end cost for neutrino bolt and x-ray beam. Neutrino bolt is also good to mule the devastation hold proc and other handy procs if you want. A number of rad blasts are also short on animation time, good for the mobile, active stormy.

It's not too late, to whip them, whip them good.

In my little masterminding world, things are definitely being shaken up by Issue 21 proliferation. The gold standard is a close competition between Bots/Traps and Thugs/Traps.

Demon Summoning, I can't say. I haven't witnessed nor played a tweaked out build. Saying that, traps is so flexible, I cannot foresee Demons playing worse than Bots or Thugs/Traps.

I have played and experienced Bots/Storm and Necro Storm. It's not an obvious pairing, I have a mid-level Demons/Storm. The big AoE debuffs work very well with Demons. Hurricane puts a new twist on tankermind tactics especially with judicious amounts of gale.

I would rate /Traps as tier A, and then Storm as tier A-/B+. I would agree on teams, most of the time teammates don't allow mm/storms to maximize their full potential due to prejudice with the holy trinity and anti-kb sentiment, their loss.

I have seen Demons/Dark in a level pact with my Demons/Poison. I also have a Demons/Thermal at level 50 which is a beast. Between tohit debuff, heals (both of which are pet friendly, tactics differ) and enough debuff to make them effective, Dark and Thermal are about the same in utility. Dark's debuff is more of a defensive type debuff, and thermal is gushing with damage mitigation in resistance and heals.

At this point, for the AoE attack style of the demons, I prefer the debuffing sets such as Traps, Storm, Dark and Thermal. Now the change in this is Poison has been buffed. I haven't played my MM/poison builds, but starting a beam rifle/poison corruptor, I can see that the buff to the poison set is less than huge, but quite noticeable.

I haven't played Demons/TA or Demons/Pain. I won't quantify them other than saying the debuffs should work with Demon's AoE attacks. Forcefields is the standard on the defensive builds. Forcefields doesn't do a lot to increase damage of any pet. Build for defense and build for pet endurance. I foresee a cardiac alpha slot over a Nerve to be sure.

Someone else will have to attest to Demons/Time manipulation.

This brings us to the new Sonic Resonance. I jumped simultaneously into a new Bots/Time and a Demons/Sonic. It's a synergy thing. I put the sonic shields up, lead with sonic siphon, put the lieutenants on aggressive, and I currently found my success level to be at +1/X3 ... at level 31, without the level 32 empowerment AoE upgrades. It's outperforming my expectations. For me, it's outperforming Bots/time. I took the medicine pool. Most of the time I patch up a tier 1. I wouldn't know what I would do with sonic cage at this point. I don't have clarity yet. It's a big debuff set really with sonic siphon and sonic disruption. The shields are effective; I do notice when I lapse in re-applying the sonic shields.

I don't know yet where I would rate Sonic for a secondary, but it's far more offensive than forcefields. The set has no -regeneration powers; I wouldn't put it in the class with traps, dark, or thermal. I am happily exploring the higher content and wonder what liquefy might do for the demons

Even an average necromancer/necroposter can knock the cobwebs off this one...

Have others put this build through the paces? I have a level 31 Demons/Sonic on Exalted. I wouldn't say it is overpowered, but it is much better than 'survivable'. I put the hoolahoop of sonic doom on the gargoyle, hellfire on the Demon Prince, the lieutenants on aggressive and shift into butt-kicking mode.

I am pushing to level 32 abyssal empowerment to really rock out. It's been a fun ride so far, even if I haven't solo'd Lusca yet.

I would like to test this out, myself. Time Crawl is super useful. Temporal mending seems like a Doctor's Wound 5 slot candidate as well as temporal selection. In my opinion, temporal selection seems made for ranged squishy damage dealers, and lieutenant pets . Time Juncture is end hungry (.52 base compared to assault's .39). Set's don't help with -dmg, its best feature. Five slots of dampened spirits gets a nice 5% recharge set bonus, but it is a tight build. Min/maxing at level 50 you could get by with fewer slots of Hammi-Os. I am throwing something together to get the bird's eye yet grower build.

Let me play devil's advocate: Oh sure you have 3 sources of resistance buff, mezz protection, and a big resistanace debuff by level 12, but the journey to 50 is a blink of an eye through AE that no one remembers doing in a game of all iTrials all the time with uber incarnate buffs, heals, and rezzes.

Ok I felt a little sick for even saying that. I think sonic is a good set. It's not the end all. Sonic resonance has synergy (certainly with melee and blapper types). The big mezz resistance itself should make you the envy of non-permadommed dominators, controllers, defenders, blasters, and corruptor. A good number of the kheldians like not changing form to Dwarf to break mezz.

The easiest Khan TF I have been involved with was with 5 damage dealers, a sonic, a forcefield, and a storm defender, and the storm said right off he was NOT going to be a heal bot. The sonic and the forcefielder made good on that promise.

After much naysaying about sonic with masterminds, my Demons/Sonic has a far easier time with the new signature TF than my Bots/Time does, FAR easier.

On my masterminds, I do not use group fly (group travel) to haul pets across zones. I move out at top speed; whatever pets catch up, catch up. They will 'pet tp' to you at intervals. Resummon at the mission door.

I use group fly for two distinct situations: one, where I want the pets to move with me to a position without the insane aggro-crazy pathing up stairs or ramps. The other time I use group fly (and the only instance I use it for extended periods while fighting) is against the Knives of Artemis and the piles and PILES of insanity creating caltrops. If you are a teammate is such situations: tough noogies.

Bots/Storm, Pile them all up on a wall or in a corner and burn patches of DooooOOOoooOoom!