StrykerX

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I've always been a little annoyed at having a single signature character other than Statesman or Recluse as a team-based mission boss. (At least at level 50, at 40 it makes sense.) According to the CoX backstory, Statesman and Recluse are more powerful than any other standard hero or villain due to their being Incarnates who got their powers directly from the Well of the Furies. Likewise, I can see giant monsters, the Hamidon, and alien warlords as legitimately stronger than any player. But according to the in-game lore, every human hero other than the big two has about the same limit to their potential... in other words, the Freedom Phalanx and Recluse's lieutenants are basically very experienced, fully purpled out level 50s. They should be tougher than a normal level 50 character, but an even match for one that has a high end build and is played well.

Unfortunately, the game has real limits on how well the AI can operate. I personally suspect there are artificial limits on the AI imposed by a need to limit how many CPU cycles each mob uses up, but even if there aren't no game AI is a match for a human. That means that AVs pretty much have to be unmezzable bags of hitpoints because the game itself cannot support a more sophisticated approach. I do like TFs that end with a team of bad guys or some sort of artificially enhanced enemy, since they fit the lore better, but sometimes you have to have a lone signature villain (or hero). What I'd like those fights to be like is the equivalent of fighting a fully IOed level 50 with a full tray of inspirations, but the AI can't do it. So a bag of hitpoints that hits ridiculously hard is what we end up with.

At least a lot of fully IOed 50s can take down an even level AV, so it's not totally immersion breaking. But honestly, a fight between two Green Lantern / Wonder Woman level enemies (which is where I see a purpled out 50 being, with Superman and Darkseid being Statesman and Recluse) should be epic, not ten minutes of standing there pounding each other until one falls down.

Ok, so maybe IOed 50s and AVs are all the Hulk and the Thing.

I might make a pistols character if the set looks good enough from a gameplay perspective... from a concept perspective I lean more toward rifles for my gun-toting characters. About the only concept I can really get excited about for dual pistols is a Matrix / John Woo style gun fu guy... but there are going to be thousands of those so I'm not really that keen on joining the herd.

Now if they turn the Pulse Rifle from Robotics into a full blast set... I've got half a dozen concepts in mind for a laser gun wielder. I just refuse to make a petless MM just to run with one.

My Energy/Energy Blaster will be getting blue-white pom-poms to match his blasts. He'll also be getting blue-white Fire Shield if possible.

I'll also make an Energy Blaster of some sort with pure white blasts, like the Legacy Chain get. I've wanted that ever since I saw those guys.

My Fire/Kin Corruptor... probably red or black flames. My Fire/Kin Controller... either the default or perhaps blue.

Most of my other characters are either weapon based or have minimal effects, though a neon purple Rad Blast sounds fun. Or maybe bright orange.

Very nice build. A bit too expensive for me, and a few more compromises than I'd like to make to get fully soft-capped, but it definitely looks effective. I didn't realize you could soft-cap a Blaster without Weave and not completely neuter all other aspects of the build.

Too bad the two LotGs alone cost more than all my alts on that server have combined.

(As for not always having room to stay above melee range... well, that's what all the fly enhancement in Hover is for. You can still shoot and run with it just like Sprint, only in three dimensions. If you can't go up, go back.)

I took the sleep grenade instead of the freeze ray because I'll already have stunning shot so I wanted AoE control... yes it breaks on damage but I find an AoE sleep to be extremely useful at times when solo. Plus the sleep sets are dirt cheap, even the purples (this is an under-50 build so I didn't include any of those but at 50 I might be able to afford the Sleep purple set.)

It does feel weird as heck not taking Bone Smasher or Total Focus but it's a pure ranged build so I took no melee attacks other than Power Thrust (required) and Stun (to stack with Stunning Shot on bosses). Depending on how things go I may swap out Stun for Total Focus... it adds significant damage but takes longer to animate. Heck, I might swap out Sleep Grenade for Total Focus and have three stunning attacks, though the idea is to stay airborne and away from melee at all times.

As for Conserve Power, I took it on my Energy/Energy Blaster and never needed it except to use before Nova. Archery's "nuke" is crashless and I'm running fewer toggles than the Energy/Energy so I can't imagine I'd actually need Conserve Power. If I do I can always drop Power Boost for it though... I have plenty of veteran respecs.

Protector Bots tend to run out of endurance in very long continuous fights, like AVs or steamrolling through one mob after another. If given even a few seconds between spawns to recover they tend to be fine. I think it's not so much their heals that drain them as their AoEs and bubbles.

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The aoe taunt is the gem of the set. It's pretty much the only power anyone takes from that set.

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Actually, the single target taunt is nice too. I prefer it over the AoE for AV soloing since it recharges much faster... alternate spamming Challenge and Web Grenade to keep an AV permanantly taunted and stuck at range. Provoke is great for tanking general spawns though.

I've really been enjoying my Archery/Energy Blaster and I decided to go ahead and IO him out in a few levels (he's 27 now). I came up with a build that focuses on a mix of ranged defense and recharge... I'm nowhere near softcapped but I figure having 26% ranged defense and over 40% haste and accuracy will be better than trying to softcap and neutering my other bonuses and power selections in the process. He's designed as a pure ranged attacker, with a good mix of AoEs and single target damage. Oh, and I went with Munitions Mastery for concept reasons... I want him to be a pure Natural origin (the flight is explained by rocket boots) so Munitions was a better fit.

How does this look overall? Any suggestions would be welcome, other than adding things like LotGs or Miracle uniques... even the Positron's Blast sets are straining my budget a bit. (The Blessing of the Zephyr sets won't be there at first, but I'm hoping to be able to afford them later.)

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Arrowforce: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Archery
Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Flight
Ancillary Pool: Munitions Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Snap Shot

[*] (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage[*] (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance[*] (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge[*] (15) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (19) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[*] (27) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 1: Power Thrust
[*] (A) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Knockback[*] (5) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Knockback[*] (5) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Knockback[*] (46) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Endurance[*] (50) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Endurance/Knockback[*] (50) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Damage/Knockback[/list]Level 2: Aimed Shot
[*] (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage[*] (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance[*] (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge[*] (15) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (21) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[*] (27) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 4: Fistful of Arrows
[*] (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage[*] (9) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance[*] (9) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge[*] (17) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range[*] (21) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 6: Blazing Arrow
[*] (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage[*] (11) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance[*] (11) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge[*] (17) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (23) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[*] (25) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 8: Build Up
[*] (A) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge[*] (25) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge[/list]Level 10: Swift
[*] (A) Flight Speed IO[/list]Level 12: Explosive Arrow
[*] (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage[*] (13) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance[*] (13) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge[*] (19) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range[*] (23) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 14: Health
[*] (A) Healing IO[*] (46) Healing IO[/list]Level 16: Aid Other
[*] (A) Healing IO[/list]Level 18: Aid Self
[*] (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance[*] (40) Doctored Wounds - Heal[*] (42) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge[*] (43) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge[*] (43) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 20: Stamina
[*] (A) Endurance Modification IO[*] (29) Endurance Modification IO[*] (29) Endurance Modification IO[/list]Level 22: Hover
[*] (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range[*] (31) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance[*] (31) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)[/list]Level 24: Fly
[*] (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range[*] (31) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance[*] (33) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)[/list]Level 26: Aim
[*] (A) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge[*] (40) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge[/list]Level 28: Stunning Shot
[*] (A) Stupefy - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (36) Stupefy - Endurance/Stun[*] (36) Stupefy - Accuracy/Endurance[*] (36) Stupefy - Stun/Range[*] (37) Stupefy - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge[*] (42) Stupefy - Chance of Knockback[/list]Level 30: Stun
[*] (A) Stupefy - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (37) Stupefy - Endurance/Stun[*] (37) Stupefy - Accuracy/Endurance[*] (39) Stupefy - Stun/Range[*] (39) Stupefy - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge[*] (40) Stupefy - Chance of Knockback[/list]Level 32: Rain of Arrows
[*] (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage[*] (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance[*] (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge[*] (34) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range[*] (34) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[*] (34) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 35: Boost Range
[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (39) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 38: Power Boost
[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 41: Body Armor
[*] (A) Resist Damage IO[*] (42) Resist Damage IO[*] (43) Resist Damage IO[/list]Level 44: Sleep Grenade
[*] (A) Lethargic Repose - Accuracy/Sleep/Recharge[*] (45) Lethargic Repose - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (45) Lethargic Repose - Accuracy/Sleep[*] (45) Call of the Sandman - Accuracy/Sleep/Recharge[*] (46) Call of the Sandman - Chance of Heal Self[/list]Level 47: LRM Rocket
[*] (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[*] (48) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range[*] (48) Detonation - Damage/Recharge[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge[*] (50) Air Burst - Damage/Recharge[/list]Level 49: Surveillance
[*] (A) Accuracy IO[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl
[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint
[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest
[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Defiance

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For Mercs, is there any secondary effect worth slotting?

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Not really. Spec Ops get controls like stuns and immobilizes, but on very long recharges. You're better off with an Achilles Heel proc and 2 Acc/3 Dam.

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For Thugs, is Maneuvers worth a slot or two?

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Definitely. Since they also get Tactics you can probably go 1 Acc/3 Dam/2 Def just fine if you don't want to use sets.

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For Bots, is it better to ignore the damage aspect in favor of the +def and heal?

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I wouldn't. Protector Bots actually do good damage. You can slot everything using Hami-Os, but if you're not level 50 and rich I'd go with 2 defense, 2 Acc/Dam, and 2 Acc/Dam/End (or 2 Acc/2 Dam if you can't afford sets).

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*I read somewhere that pets won't heal until there has been enough damage to use the whole heal. By that I mean, if the heal will do 100 points, they won't use it on a target that is only down 95. For this reason, it was suggested not to enhance the heals, since that would make the healing pet wait longer before using it. Is that Correct?

Thanks

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I've heard the same thing, though I haven't confirmed it first hand.

Even without Stamina the summons and upgrades are no big deal on my Bots/Traps... I lose about a full bar of endurance summoning all three tiers, FFG, and using both upgrades, but if I just wait about 30 seconds before turning on any toggles it's fine. With good endurance slotting I can run all three Leadership toggles and still gain enough endurance to drop my traps. I do have to carry a few blues if I solo an AV to handle combat resummoning and Web Grenade spam, but it's no big deal. For non-AV fights I just wait and replace lost pets after the fight is over... one or two lost Battle Drones are not a big deal and it's very rare to lose more than that.

Don't think of Howling Twilight as a rez, think of it as an AoE debuff that happens to raise defeated teammates.

5 Stupefy is handy for the recharge if you can spare the slots, but a recharge or two is fine on a tight build. They're mainly useful for taking alphas and debuffing AV damage, neither of which needs much of any slotting other than recharge.

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If you are going solo, bots/forcefields MM is the way to steamroll the highest difficulty missions.

Still slower than a team, and boring. Fastest 50 solo though, I've been told

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Not even close to fastest. Bots are pretty slow from 1-25 and not that much faster from 26-31, and /FF adds no debuffs or damage to speak of. It's very safe, and makes a great tankermind / group focused MM, but something like Thugs/Dark or Thugs/Traps will be faster.

For pure solo leveling speed, I'd agree on a Brute. Fire/Shield if you have a rich alt to provide IO support, Fire/WP if you're going to be supporting yourself. If you'd rather group, I'd go with SS/Shield or SS/Fire if you have a rich alt, DB/WP if you don't... SS does fantastic AoE damage if you can afford a lot of +recharge, but at SO levels you actually get better AoEs from Dual Blades. Likewise, /Fire or /Shield isn't going to handle large swarms without IO help as well as /WP can.

Of course if you rely on outside buffs you can go with any combo... SS/Fire with a Kin and a Thermal would be fantastic. But I find that on most servers "fast" and "looking for a team with good buffs" rarely go together... you're probably better off with something that can survive on a buffless PUG if need be unless you have a good SG that teams a lot.

(Of course if you have a really, really high boredom threshold you can always make a Fire/Fire Brute and run AE missions against custom groups full of nothing but Fire Melee lieutenants or bosses, but I think I'd go stir crazy by level 25 doing that. Maybe sooner.)

I'd suggest not going Ice/Ice. It's very safe but it's also pretty slow. I'd suggest Ice/Mental... that gives you holds and good single target damage in your primary plus some decent AoEs and utility in your secondary. Frost Breath + Psychic Scream is a good AoE opener and both powers have -recharge, plus you have two holds to deal with bosses or annoying mobs like Sappers.

Fire/Ice is another interesting set. You can hit a group with Shiver, then jump in and fire off Ice Patch and Chilling Embrace to slow everyone to a crawl and cause them to fall down... just the thing to make Rain of Fire more effective. You can also use Ice Storm, but Rain of Fire hits harder and can be followed up with Fireball.

Best thematic fit: Bots/Traps (you're as untouchable as the others)

Best support: Necro/Dark (Dark's controls and debuffs complement single target damage dealers well, and with Necro you have even more controls) or Thugs/Pain (heals are the big thing your team lacks, and Thugs add a ton of damage and work well with /Pain).

Of course if it's just the four of you it doesn't really matter too much... with good slotting and a skilled player, any MM combo on your list can solo 4-man Relentless spawns, and with Bots or Thugs you'll probably clear spawns faster than the other three together can.

I'd suggest Bots/Traps if you want to kill the AVs and Heroes solo too.

Looks decent over all, but I saw a few areas you may want to tweak...

- Poison Trap doesn't really need all that hold enhancement. Since the fix / nerf / whatever you call it, it really doesn't hold effectively enough to warrant the extra slots.

- Extra Fly Speed in Swift only provided a couple of MPH difference. Better to put the slot in Hover or Fly itself.

- The Leadership powers are overslotted. Two end reduction is plenty, and a third defense in Maneuvers adds less than one percent. Those slots are better used elsewhere.

- You want two end reduction in the upgrades. They eat a ton of endurance.

- Slot Photon Grenade for Stun, not damage... the difference is about 2/3 of a Brawl so you lose very little in exchange for more mitigation. Pulse Rifle Blast, on the other hand, needs heavy damage slotting if you're going to bother using it at all.

- If you are going to be a flier, slot it with a full three Fly Speed.

- Slot up Web Grenade more. You want to be able to stack it to keep bosses and EBs immobilized.

- Knockback in Assault Bot? Gah! His burn patches are your best AoE damage... you do not want him knocking things out of them. I suggest an Edict of the Master pet defense bonus IO instead... even if you use all SOs for the rest of the build, that's the single best IO you can get. It only costs a few million and SOs are cheap, so by the time you can slot it you should be able to afford it.

I'd suggest something like this:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Technology Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Robotics
Secondary Power Set: Traps
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Battle Drones -- Acc(A), Acc(3), Acc(3), Dmg(5), Dmg(5), Dmg(7)
Level 1: Web Grenade -- Acc(A), EndRdx(19), RechRdx(33), Immob(40)
Level 2: Pulse Rifle Burst -- Acc(A), Acc(7), Dmg(9), Dmg(19), Dmg(40)
Level 4: Caltrops -- Slow(A), Slow(43), Slow(46), Range(48), RechRdx(48), RechRdx(48)
Level 6: Equip Robot -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(46)
Level 8: Hover -- Flight(A), Flight(9), Flight(50)
Level 10: Photon Grenade -- Acc(A), Acc(11), Dsrnt(11)
Level 12: Protector Bots -- Acc(A), Acc(13), Dmg(13), Dmg(15), DefBuff(15), DefBuff(17)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight(A), Flight(17), Flight(42)
Level 16: Swift -- Flight(A)
Level 18: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(21), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Force Field Generator -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(23), DefBuff(23)
Level 24: Acid Mortar -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(25), RechRdx(25)
Level 26: Assault Bot -- Acc(A), Acc(27), Dmg(27), Dmg(29), Dmg(29), EdctM'r-PetDef(31)
Level 28: Seeker Drones -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(31), RechRdx(31), Acc(33), Range(33)
Level 30: Triage Beacon -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(34), RechRdx(34), Heal(34), Heal(36), Heal(37)
Level 32: Upgrade Robot -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(43)
Level 35: Trip Mine -- Acc(A), Acc(36), Dmg(36), Dmg(37), Dmg(37), RechRdx(39)
Level 38: Poison Trap -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(39), RechRdx(39), Hold(40)
Level 41: Maneuvers -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(42), EndRdx(42), EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Tactics -- ToHit(A), ToHit(45), ToHit(45), EndRdx(45), EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Assault -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Vengeance -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Supremacy

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uh...is my Protector Bot SUPPOSED to bubble my Acid Mortar?

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Yes. Protector Bots bubble every buffable pet you have, including Acid Mortars and Seeker Drones. The annoying part is that they bubble you last so sometimes they skip bubbling you because there's an Acid Mortar sitting 200 yards away that's higher on their list than you.

With Masterminds, your secondary is the main thing to look at when determining what IOs to get. Your pets are going to be slotted for max damage, enough accuracy to hit stuff, and possibly one or two enhancements for defense or controls depending on the pet. Your personal attacks will generally be skipped on a high end build. The primary is easy, and doesn't really benefit from any IO bonuses except recharge, and if you lose pets so fast you need high global recharge you're doing something wrong...

Some secondaries (like Storm) benefit greatly from recharge. Others (like Force Field) barely benefit at all from it. Defense is always good, as is +HP. +Damage is usually a waste since it doesn't boost pets, but /Storm can benefit from it.

With /Dark, a Scrapper-style recharge and recovery build makes sense. Dark is an endurance hog and it has some long-recharge powers... in particular, getting Tar Patch up every spawn is a big help. You have good to-hit debuffs, so defense bonuses will also be particularly useful. I'd also look for some +HP since MMs are very squishy outside of Bodyguard... even in Bodyguard +HP is really useful since each extra hit point is effectively four more.

Think of him as a Katana/Dark Armor Scrapper... a relatively low endurance primary that grants some defense, good resistances, and a high-endurance secondary with some handy long recharge click powers.

I'd suggest a Bots/Traps. With some IO slotting they can soft-cap their defense solo, much less teamed with two SoAs. It fits well with the whole high-defense theme you have, provides debuffs, and brings a ton of AoE firepower once they hit 32. You've already got hard single targets covered, so a MM than can mow down crowds of minions and bring some debuffs to speed up AV killing should be a good fit. Depending on your friend's budget for IOs, he can also just build as a Tankermind and tank... well, pretty much everything while the rest of you kill things one at a time.

Thugs/Dark would also be useful... it would give you heals and debuffs plus high-defense minions, but less tanking ability. Or even Thugs/Pain for that matter... lots of healing and some decent tanking, but fewer debuffs. Or just have him go Necro/Dark and keep the entire room debuffed into the middle of next week and cowering in fear as you stroll around assassinating people.

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My first attempt was a corruptor. At this point, my only experience was with blasters, and had trouble getting a character going.

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Not surprising. Corruptors play more like offensive focused Defenders than Blasters. If you want a Blaster-like experience redside, try a Dominator after the next issue (or put up with a /Kinetics Corruptor for 38 levels until you get Fulcrum Shift).

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1st: Is it true Masterminds run at difficulty 4-5 as early as lvl1 solo?! How is that possible?!

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Some people do. So do some Blaster players for that matter. Any decent solo build can run on max difficulty at low levels... it all depends on your tolerance for downtime. Masterminds do have an edge there since they can let the pet take a beating and then resummon it to heal it up. Still, most MMs that do that have veteran attacks (they really hit hard at low levels) and a lot of experience. After nearly five years of playing I can solo any class at any level on max difficulty if I'm patient enough. I'm not anywhere near that patient... but if I was I could do it.

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2nd: Is it completely true that its not a good idea to get the personal attacks of each set? What about bodyguard mode? Wouldnt the personal attacks attract enough aggro for the mode to be useful?

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Personal attacks are very useful at low levels, and very skippable at high levels. I'd take both single target attacks and use them often, then respec out of them (or use your second build) once you hit around level 24.

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3rd: I dont suppose there is a way to rein in wayward minions who run headlong into melee, is there?

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There are several. You can manually order an individual pet to follow you by right clicking it or using the pet controls (assuming you enable individual controls). You can also use a keybind (there some good ones in the Guides section, I like the numpad binds myself). Or you can just hit your default Follow macro to call all your pets back to you... just be sure to edit it and change it from Follow Aggressive to Follow Defensive so you'll get Bodyguard. Unfortunately, there's no way to stop the idiots from occasionally deciding they'd rather brawl than shoot though, you just have to call them back after they start to run off.

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4th: Going more specifically into the builds now:
A) Is /FF's two starter bubbles really required with Bots? Protector Bots have a bubble they cast well enough on their own after all..


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The whole point to Bots/FF is to maximize defense. Use both bubbles and slot them well for defense... also slot the Protector Bots with one or two defense SOs or IOs, and slot your Dispersion Bubble for defense. With all of that together your pets will be as hard to hit as Super Reflexes Scrappers.

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B) Do Mercs and Thugs do the same damage type (lethal)? I've seen how painful how resistances on it are higher up (heroside) and would like to avoid that.

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Thugs do a mix of Lethal, Smashing, and Fire damage. They also do so much damage that they tend to overwhelm even resistant enemies. Mercs do practically all Lethal, but they also have a lot of -defense attacks, which means that if you slot an Achilles Heel -resist proc in the first two tiers of pet you'll have good odds of debuffing enemy resistance. Secondaries with -resist like Storm or Traps also work well with Mercs. From a pure numbers standpoint though, Mercs are the weakest MM primary. They're still good though, the others are just even better.

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C) /Traps looks to be a all-or-nothing secondary to take. A lot of people swear by Acid Motar, Poison Trap, Trip Mine and even Detonator. That basically leaves nothing but a travel power, fitness pool, and very short on slots too.

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My Bots/Traps MM has every /Traps power except Detonator, the pets and upgrades and Repair from /Bots, the full Leadership pool, Aid Self and Aid Other, Challenge, and Charged Armor. /Traps is a very low-endurance secondary, so as long as you include some endurance reduction in Web Grenade and the Leadership toggles and don't use the personal attacks you can skip Stamina just fine. Since the personal attacks are only really useful in levels too low to get Stamina, I'd just respec out of them and into Leadership once you can slot SOs. And as long as you don't slot up the personal attacks (at least after you respec) you have plenty of slots for the pets and traps.

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5th: Lastly, since my concept revolves around a near-to-far future modern mastermind, and prefer to stay at range and simply support if ever, are there any readable guides, information or others that would help me keep at range, keep my minions at range (already have binds created for this purpose waiting and willing), and basically feel how a mastermind should feel: Laughing maniacally as his enemies are destroyed by his lackeys.

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It sounds like you want Bots/Traps. It's a pure ranged set with a very high-tech feel to it... lots of lasers and force fields. There are some good Bots/Traps guides in the Guides and FAQs thread. A couple of tips for you:

1) Edit your default macros. I suggest deleting the stance (aggressive, passive, etc...) and just having macros for Attack, Follow, Goto, and Stay. Maybe also have a Follow Passive macro as a "stop shooting and get over here now command. You can use the pet window or keybinds to do the fancier stuff, but having at least Attack and Follow as macros lets you use those easily since those two commands (in Defensive mode) are 99% of your orders.

2) Triage beacon does not suck. Some people will tell you it's worthless, and it pretty much is when you're running and gunning against single spawns, but in tough fights it shines. Drop a Triage Beacon, an Acid Mortar, and a Caltrop patch and you've got a nice little fortress to stand in with your botts as they fight multiple spawns or an Elite Boss.

3) Slot up Web Grenade. It's a great way to keep a boss or elite boss (or AV / Hero) out of melee, but it does use a fair bit of endurance when you spam it. Once you get in the 20s or low 30s stick a Trap of the Hunter set in there... it's a cheap set with nice bonuses.

4) Force Field Generator is the best power in any Mastermind secondary. Get it as soon as it's available, slot it with three Defense enhancements, and it's good to go. It provides around 15% defense to all fully slotted, as well as hold and stun protection. It's actually stronger than the /FF version. Just resummon it every couple of minutes to be sure it doesn't expire in mid-combat.

5) Seeker Drones are a great way to avoid damage. Summon them right next to an enemy group from out of aggro range and the enemies will waste their opening shots on the Drones, which will set them off and cause your Bots to attack. Sure you and your bots have a lot of defense, but isn't letting the enemy waste their alpha strike on a couple of flying stun bombs even better?

When I mentioned the to-hit debuffs I was thinking in terms of mitigating damage. I did forget about Fluffy's additional Darkest night though... with both stacked and Teilight Grasp that's a lot of -damage. I believe AVs resist movement slows, so I was worried that you'd have trouble keeping him at range without an immobilize, but with a good heal and that level of -damage you may be able to just let him get in your face.

Plant/Storm is a lot of fun. I have a low level one that I'm going to get around to playing more some day (but then I pretty much have a low level everything sitting around waiting their turn on one server or another) and I found he did quite well at low levels for a Controller. One thing that helps is that Roots does more damage than the other AoE immobilizes, so if you lead off with that, use your single target attacks, and then drop another application of Roots you'll have decent DoTs going on the whole spawn. Add that to Freezing Rain and you have halfway decent early game AoE (for a Controller, anyway) and with Seeds of Confusion you can use that AoE pretty safely.

I'd have to go with a Bots / Traps Mastermind. There are other combos that solo faster in low levels, and like most MMs the low 20s are a pain, but even in those situations you solo decently well. Bots / Traps can solo their way to 32 without too much trouble and after they get there they become absolutely incredible... the big deciding factor to me is the fact that at higher levels they can solo a fair number of AVs without IOs or temp powers, and can even solo a few giant monsters without a billion-inf super-build.

Just be sure to take a couple of personal attacks at low levels and get Acid Mortar as soon as you can... you'll solo significantly faster than Bots/FF. You can always respec out of the personal attacks later on (I'd do it at 24 or 26).

If you have no interest in soloing AVs, Katana/Regen or Katana/WP Scrappers are really good right out of the box. For redside, you can't go wrong with a good old fashioned SS/WP Brute. Really, almost any Scrapper or Brute is a solo beast, it's just that they need expensive builds to take on AVs and Bots/Traps MMs don't.

(Though after the Dominator changes, a Mind/Energy Dom is looking like an absolute beast...)

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Mind you, be careful- a lot of the older content follows some different (and frankly rather questionable) design doctrines, so you may find yourself frustrated and annoyed at constant FedEx missions, random zoning, and contacts who refuse to give out their cel number until you're on their third-from-the-last mission. If you stick to the newer areas (levelling via the Hollows, Faultline, Striga, and Croatoa), there's no real worries.


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This is true. The original zones are rather large blueside, and there are two zones for almost every level range. The missions involve more zoning than redside, so they take longer. However, the newer zones are better than anything redside has to offer.

I'd suggest leveling to 5 doing your normal opening contact missions (or join a sewer team, but you should really play the initial stuff once to see it). Then hit Kings Row and get your police radio, and run radio missions until you get a Safeguard mission and get your raptor pack.

Once you have a flight pack, hit the Hollows. The mission arcs there are very interesting. You may need to level up some since the second two arcs are 10+, but once you hit 10 go back for them. You can hit Faultline at 15 (you need to be 20 for the last 2 arcs), Striga at 20, and Croatoa at 25. All those zones are very good looking and have interesting missions. In particular, be sure to run a Hess TF in Striga... that one is a blast.

I really wish redside had a couple of new-style hazard zones like Striga and Croatoa. They're the most interesting low to mid level zones in the game... even the Hollows, now that it has been reworked to not constantly send you to the far end of a two mile wide zone past swarms of +6 purple mobs.

That's a tough call. You don't have Aid Other or Triage Beacon, so if you drop Repair you'll only have the Protector Bot heals to keep up with the Bodyguard damage. With your massive defense it might be enough, but I'd want a little healing. Personally, I'd drop Leadership and take Poison Trap and either Triage Beacon or Aid Other. If you plan on soloing AVs, I'd go with Triage Beacon... something like this:

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

If you aren't interested in AV soloing, I'd use the exact same build but with Aid Other instead of Triage... it's more useful in general, but Triage Beacon is fantastic for long stationary fights. Repair is a nice emergency heal but it's too long recharge to use for incidental damage... I like using Aid Other to handle Bodyguard damage or the occasional stray hit in between spawns and Repair to save my Assault Bot when he draws too much aggro. Against hard targets you'll be taunting so the only damage the bots will take is from stray minions and Bodyguard... Triage Beacon is the best cure for that but if your personal defense is high enough you can use Aid Other, or let the Protectors handle it.