Psylenz

Seven years in one game -- that is quite a legacy, especially for a MMO. As part of my salute, I would like to thank the devs especially for supersidekick which took this game to a whole new level.

In the progression of how masterminds summon, you used to summon 3 sets of pets and equip/upgrade, 2 actions for each pet. The second upgrade used to be on a PAINFULLY long recharge. Also when masterminds launched, your pets did NOT zone with the mastermind. These are what we call the BAD OLD DAYS.

Now we have 3 pet casts and 2 equip/upgrade casts. If you don't want a certain set to get a buff, you can move the pet set away from the AoE, it isn't that big. They did indeed change the endurance costs and recharge time per cast, but don't make me ever go back to square one.

Tactics does help quite a bit with the need for kinetic powers to hit targets. Stealth and superspeed do indeed stack and it's quite viable for manuvering into position to maximize fulcrum shift. The epic sleep AoE power helps with this feature, too, down the road.

Dual pistols itself is handy for kinetics because of the 3 AoE powers. With the damage debuff in swap ammo, you can really impact incoming damage stacking with siphon power and fulcrum shift.

IO sets help with niches that your primary and secondary powers in themselves do not feature, for instance a resistance set IO enhancement for -knockback on your kinetic can be VERY handy. You can slot it in a power such as increase density and not even have to activate that power to get the bonus.

On my kinetics, I really like the speed boost + grant inviz combo to help teammates 'stealth' through some missions. A lot of kinetics and defenders would take powers in the concealment pool in order to slot defense IO sets, specifically the Luck of the Gambler +7.5% recharge bonus. Invisibility on a defender is 10% defense base across the board (except psy), so it isn't shabby for that angle either.

There's nothing wrong with your slotting style. Myself, even if I don't go full sets, I often spring for the level 35 generic IOs at level 32, since they are stronger than level 35, 40, 45, SOs and they don't lose effectiveness. Generic IOs are easy to understand and are quite cheap to build - usually. Sometimes the salvage for accuracy can get very salty. I would say that the majority of players wait until at least the mid 40s before purchasing their final IO set enhancements and recipes.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.91
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

TesIa Teen: Level 50 Natural Dominator
Primary Power Set: Electric Control
Secondary Power Set: Electricity Assault
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Tesla Cage -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(3), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(9), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(13)
Level 1: Charged Bolts -- Entrpc-Heal%(A), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Entrpc-Acc/Dmg(5), Entrpc-Dmg/Rchg(5), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 2: Chain Fences -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(7), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(7)
Level 4: Lightning Bolt -- Entrpc-Heal%(A), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Entrpc-Acc/Dmg(11), Entrpc-Dmg/Rchg(11), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 6: Jolting Chain -- Acc-I(A)
Level 8: Conductive Aura -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(13), EndMod-I(15), EndMod-I(15), EndMod-I(17), Heal-I(17)
Level 10: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Havoc Punch -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(21)
Level 14: Static Field -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(23), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(25), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(25)
Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 18: Paralyzing Blast -- BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(29), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(29), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(31)
Level 20: Build Up -- AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(31), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(31), AdjTgt-Rchg(45), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(45)
Level 22: Charged Brawl -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(33), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(33), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Synaptic Overload -- CoPers-Acc/Rchg(A), CoPers-Conf%(34), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(34), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(34), CoPers-Conf(48)
Level 28: Static Discharge -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(36), Posi-Dmg/Rng(46)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Gremlins -- ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(A), EndMod-I(37), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(37), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(39)
Level 35: Thunder Strike -- Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(40), Oblit-Dmg(43)
Level 38: Voltaic Sentinel -- Acc-I(A), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(40), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(40), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(42), ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(42), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 41: Sleet -- ImpSwft-Dam%(A), Achilles-ResDeb%(43)
Level 44: Frozen Armor -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(45), S'fstPrt-ResKB(48)
Level 47: Tactics -- AdjTgt-ToHit(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(48), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(50), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(50), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Dmg-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Domination
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A)



This build I made without purples. It's not really cheap, but easily achievable with hero/villain merits.

The alpha slot I took was for endurance drain: musculature, and the damage bonus to the dominator primaries is more than a little significant.

Energy/energy is a fun blaster set. You are correct about melee. Some of the melee attacks are terrific 'finishing shots' (I hear the narrator say "Flawless Victory" sometimes when I finish with a good energy melee smackdown.) In the low levels, work on your rhythm. You can get good self-preservation from the knockback. I really like torrent for ripping through aggroe'd groups of minions. Alternating the knockback or energy/energy between multiple targets is fun and productive. With practice, you can actually contribute to keeping foes in a nice kill zone, too.

Many people would suggest, as would I, Fire/Dark corruptors for sheer tar patch>fireball>rain of fire AoE badass fun. The dark secondary provides a lot of great self-preservation features, too.

My .02 influence: the tohit debuff on hurricane is stronger on a defender. That's a good good thing. Storm can bring a lot to a demon's mastermind. O2 can protect from endurance drain. I am a fan of using the hurricane to herd foes into teammate's AoE. Steamy mist has very nice resistance values for fire, cold, and energy (i.e. praetorian clockwork, CoT and Rikti) to stack with your teammate's demon's resistance aura.

First villain and first level 50 villain: Robots/Poison

The two glaring needs are: tier 8, trap crap power and additional AoE help.

Alkaloid could use some end cost love, but if it's to be like O2 from Storm, then maybe a little boost to some resist in addition to the toxic damage resist.

Envenom. I like the suggestions, but the one I favor is to leave this one single-target, non-stackable BUT ALSO NON-Resistible. That would be the boss killer.

Weaken. I can see leaving it single target and non-resistible. A small AoE splash like acid arrow would fit the theme, too.

(Envenom and Weaken both recharge fast enough an experienced mastermind can tag the boss and lieutenants. Have you guys seen what poison does to Rommie and the nictus when Rommie is debuffed to be healed and the nictus heal is debuffed?)

I like Neurotoxic breath; my only dream would be a higher chance for hold on the first chance to hold.

I like Elixir of Life as is. Since it does have a crash, perhaps some heftier post-rez buffs for the target. Remember, many chemicals are cure or kill. If it cures the teammate, it should pack a wallop against the foes.

They will NEVER make antidote AoE. It's too much like clarity and clear mind. One BIG thing poison and antidote lack is +perception.

Paralytic poison is a great power that can self stack and it can stack holds with neurotoxic breath. A bit of -resist would be thematic for a lot of poison's that make their victims more 'squishy'.

The trap power is the real clinker. Either make it function like static field (dressed up differently of course) or traps' poison gas trap. I hadn't considered the static field option previously. That would give it an additional soft control function not far afield from the original intent(?) of the trap.

Noxious Gas is fine as is. Masterminds can't cast serum on teammates. Making it a buff/debuff to a non-minion teammate would probably require a higher end cost.

Of all these things, we need to get tier 8 fixed. Flat out, no negotiation yay or nay, anything has to be better.

Back in the long long ago, Kin/Dark was a popular defender build. At one point, Kin/elec, Kin/rad, and Kin/dark were almost equal in popularity. The pluses as you noted are the -tohit in dark blast, Although some cones are narrow, the +damage from kinetics leverages the cones well in dark blast.

Tab key, targetting, and reticles are my biggest kvetch about game play in CoX.

Necro/Thermal is very formidable. One of the biggest inherent weaknesses of zombies is fire, but NOT if they are shielded by their master

Necro/Storm seems counterintuitive, but I have seen it work wonders. The hurricane is better as a scalpel than a sledgehammer.

Thugs/Poison is the quintessential /poison build. Bruiser is a monster when he is debuffing with the noxious gas.

Robots/dark and Robots/traps both rock really hard. So many AoEs, so many stuns! I usually take photon grenades just so my mastermind can join the stun fun.

Demons/Thermal is a really rough and tough customer. Just at the upper levels when your demons are set for slotting, the big debuffs come along and make the AoE massacres even more breathtaking.

The only ninja I will consider playing is Ninja/FF. Those kamikaze assassins need their bubble lovin'.

This is a build I threw together a few months ago.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.91
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

DSDM: Level 50 Natural Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Demon Summoning
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Chill Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Summon Demonlings -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(3), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(5), BriL'shp-Dmg/EndRdx(5), BriL'shp-Acc/EndRdx(7)
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx(A), H'zdH-Heal(7), H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), H'zdH-Heal/Rchg(9), H'zdH-EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(13)
Level 4: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(13), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(15), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(17), DarkWD-Slow%(17)
Level 6: Enchant Demon -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(15)
Level 8: Lash -- Acc-I(A)
Level 10: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(21)
Level 12: Summon Demons -- Acc-I(A), H'zdH-Heal(19), BriL'shp-Acc/EndRdx(21), Dmg-I(23), Dmg-I(23), H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx(25)
Level 14: Hover -- Flight-I(A)
Level 16: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 18: Hell on Earth -- Dmg-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(27), ToHit-I(29)
Level 20: Fearsome Stare -- Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(31), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(48), Abys-Fear/Rng(48), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(50)
Level 22: Shadow Fall -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(25), Aegis-Psi/Status(34), ImpArm-ResPsi(36), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(36), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- Ksmt-ToHit+(A), Krma-ResKB(29), Ksmt-Def/EndRdx(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(37)
Level 26: Summon Demon Prince -- EdctM'r-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Dmg-I(31), P'ngTtl-Acc/Slow(31), P'ngTtl-Acc/EndRdx(33), P'ngTtl-Dmg/Slow(33), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(33)
Level 28: Crack Whip -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 30: Tactics -- AdjTgt-ToHit(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(37), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(40), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(46), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(46)
Level 32: Abyssal Empowerment -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(37)
Level 35: Petrifying Gaze -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(39), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39)
Level 38: Dark Servant -- Cloud-ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(40), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(40), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Cloud-%Dam(42)
Level 41: Flash Freeze -- IComa-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(A), IComa-Acc/Rchg(43), IComa-Sleep/Rng(43), IComa-Acc/EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Frozen Armor -- RedFtn-Def(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RedFtn-EndRdx(45), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(45), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 47: Hibernate -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Supremacy
Level 47: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(34)

Bodyguard mode is based on your pets being in the defensive/follow stance. The pets attack foes that attack you or your pets.

Demon Summoning benefits a lot from the cardiac alpha slotting. The endurance cost reduction affects the pets nicely.

It's not easy to simplify how the musculature works for damage because of the unique way that dominators build for perma-dom.

Take a power like havoc-punch. I have it five slotted with crushing impact for the recharge bonus. It's Mid's damage increase is ~95%. The common and uncommon musculature slotting won't boost the damage that much, but it is noticeable.

Now if you have a power like Tesla Cage, my Elec/elec/cold dom has only four basilisk gazes in that for the the recharge bonus to get to permadom. There are NO slots for damage, yet this power in itself will do a modest ~60 points of damage, on a tight recharge. Each and every point of musculature boost will improve the damage from Tesla Cage. The boost to the pets, gremlins and voltaic sentinel, isn't bad either.

On the dark side of slotting, a lot of recharge for the dark click debuffs, and a lot of to-hit debuff can make the combo very survivable. Do NOT underestimate the amount of to-hit debuff that the dark servant brings to the mix. The PbAoE debuff, Chill of the Night, on the Dark Servant is a base 30%. That can really neuter melee attacks on your dark servant and by extention, your mastermind.

Letting it rip with ice storm, blizzard on a tar patch with the target AoE attacks at blaster modifiers is greatly gratifying. The nature of the DoT means you can refill your end bar with an epic +end power before the boss/lieuts all die!

I would lean to nerve for the defense and hold buffs.

Do a bit of everthing. Run the special TF of the week. Do your 5 hero/villain tip missions for the special reward merits.

Most of the time I make the most influence when I am sleeping. No kidding. I memorize the level 25/30 recipe for damage, recharge, end redux, (heal and accuracy can be pricey for components.) Then I craft 10 level 30 dmg (or one of the memorized recipes) IO enhancers and sell them for 300K each. If your schedule gets too busy to refresh every day, it's no biggy, you just restock your shelves when you get to play again. Don't pay more than 30k for components. If you have to run some AE missions for AE salavage tickets, it's more variety in the action.

I don't like to skip Rikti zone raid events either. I have had some juicy drops from those from time to time. All the targets, all the AoE damage give you greater potential for a really juicy drop.