Mastermind help

[Nebu]

I've been goofing around in CoV again as the game is a great escape when I have short blocks of time.  I've been playing a Necro/poison mastermind and wondered if there were any ranged options that I should consider.  The zombies are great for melee damage, but run amok even when I spam the passive key. 

Any suggestions on a fun mastermind build?  I don't care if it's optimized, I'd just like a build with a range focus.

[eldaec]

You probably want robots then, robots favour ranged, and have knockback - which is always teh fun.

Picking a secondary solely for the stated aim of playing from range, I'd go forcefield, more knockback, good stacking def with protector bots etc.

Mercs favour ranged even more than robots - but with less cool stuff like knockback. And no lasers ofc.

[Nebu]

I was considering merc/FF, merc/dark, or robots/dark.  Necro/poison is great against bosses, but I get destroyed by numbers and they always pull things I don't want them to. 

Thanks for the input.

[Hutch]

I was considering merc/FF, merc/dark, or robots/dark.  Necro/poison is great against bosses, but I get destroyed by numbers and they always pull things I don't want them to. 

Thanks for the input.

Merc/Dark works well. Mercs tend to stay together, at range, so they tend to stay within range of your pbaoe buffs and your heal.

[CmdrSlack]

I have a thugs/traps MM and so far, it's been really good on the ranged side of things.  Once you upgrade the thugs, their attacks have a chance to knockback/knockdown enemies and they tend to be very happy to just plink away with their guns.  Also, you get pistols for your weapon.  IMO, they look pretty boss.

[eldaec]

but I get destroyed by numbers and they always pull things I don't want them to. 

What level?

All MMs are a pain in the butt to play around levels 20-25.

Once you get the big guy at 26, then any MM will decimate all before him when playing solo.

[Nebu]

What level?

I usually get to about level 20 and then reroll.  Perhaps I should just stick with one longer to see the greatness.

[eldaec]

The other thing about MMs is to look harder at the pools.

You can drop all the primary attacks unless you want them solely for style points. Make room for Leadership, Concealment, Medicine, etc.

[Nebu]

The other thing about MMs is to look harder at the pools.

You can drop all the primary attacks unless you want them solely for style points. Make room for Leadership, Concealment, Medicine, etc.

Great advice. 

My current MM is necro/poison and I've been doing exactly as you suggest.  I learned that after I got my first 2 MM's to 20 and deleted them. I have been taking pet stuff, debuffs, and leadership as well as my travel power. 

[Lantyssa]

I find Robots/Dark is very powerful.  I avoid getting the gun attacks and slot up my robots and my Dark powers.  It is a little slower because my robots do all the killing, but very safe.

Whatever combination you use though, if you haven't already, I like putting all my pet binds on the numpad.  It makes controlling them fast and efficient.

[CmdrSlack]

I wish there was a decent alternative to numpad for a lefty like myself.  I can't use a mouse right-handed with any real efficiency, so all of my movement keys are bound to the numpad.

[Jimbo]

Control of your minions is what I do, I love playing my mastermind and have a kick ass little character that is MM robotics/dark.  Set up your commands to have all attack, all go to, all follow, all stay.  Then I make keys for all aggressive, all defensive, and all passive.  I've played MM as necro/dark, and it is fun, but you have to keep the zombies in meele ranges so liberal use of the all go to command, then jump in and heal with the dark heal.  As a MM necro/dark I never took the ranged attacks.  Went something like this:
+---------------------------------------------
+ Built with SuckerPunch's Online Planner
+ http://www.cohplanner.com
+---------------------------------------------
Name: N/A
Level: 22
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Necromancy
Secondary: Dark Miasma
+---------------------------------------------
01 => Twilight Grasp ==> Acc(1),Acc(3),Heal(3),Heal(5),Rech(5),Rech(7)
01 => Zombie Horde ==> Acc(1),Acc(7),Acc(9),Dam(9),Dam(11),Dam(11)
02 => Tar Patch ==> Rech(2),Rech(17)
04 => Darkest Night ==> EndCost(4)
06 => Enchant Undead ==> Rech(6)
08 => Recall Friend ==> EndCost(8)
10 => Howling Twilight ==> Rech(10)
12 => Grave Knight ==> Acc(12),Acc(13),Acc(13),Dam(15),Dam(15),Dam(17)
14 => Teleport ==> EndCost(14)
16 => Assault ==> EndCost(16)
18 => Soul Extraction ==> Rech(18)
20 => Tactics ==> EndCost(20)
+---------------------------------------------
01 => Sprint ==> Empty(1)
01 => Brawl ==> Empty(1)
02 => Rest ==> Empty(1)

He was fun but kept running out of endurance, I might respec him and take stamina first, the leadership, and just use the travel powers from the mayhem missions.

My current MM is Dark Forge a robotic/dark who is a ton of fun, I can solo or group very nicely.
His current build:
+---------------------------------------------
+ Built with SuckerPunch's Online Planner
+ http://www.cohplanner.com
+---------------------------------------------
Name: Dark Forge
Level: 22
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Robotics
Secondary: Dark Miasma
+---------------------------------------------
01 => Twilight Grasp ==> Acc(1),Acc(3),Heal(3),Heal(5),Rech(5),Rech(7)
01 => Pulse Rifle Blast ==> Acc(1)
02 => Battle Drones ==> Acc(2),Acc(7),Acc(9),Dam(9),Dam(11),Dam(11)
04 => Tar Patch ==> Rech(4),Rech(13)
06 => Equip Robot ==> Rech(6)
08 => Hover ==> Flight(8),Flight(19),Flight(19)
10 => Howling Twilight ==> Rech(10)
12 => Protector Bots ==> Acc(12),Acc(13),Acc(15),Dam(15),Dam(17),Dam(17)
14 => Fly ==> Flight(14)
16 => Swift ==> Flight(16)
18 => Health ==> Heal(18)
20 => Stamina ==> EndMod(20),EndMod(21),EndMod(21)
+---------------------------------------------
01 => Sprint ==> Empty(1)
01 => Brawl ==> Empty(1)
02 => Rest ==> Empty(1)

With DF I've been able to do any mission on the lowest setting and breeze threw it.  On a team, I'm a heal machine, I can sick my pets on what ever the tanks are hitting or take an alpha strike, and I have an awesome rez and debuff.  I will pick up the dark debuff powers and the dark buff powers next, and group fly.  The robots get cool rocket boots with group fly  :-D

[Nebu]

Thanks for all of the good feedback guys.  I think some of my issues are not staying with a toon long enough and some is playing on the 3rd-4th difficulty setting.  I'll experiment with a few builds tonight and see if anything really grabs me.

[Lantyssa]

I wish there was a decent alternative to numpad for a lefty like myself.  I can't use a mouse right-handed with any real efficiency, so all of my movement keys are bound to the numpad.

Get a usb standalone.

[hal]

Different things work for different people. I hate melee pets. ranged works so much better. I haven't done bots but thugs and merc are much more pleasant to be around for me. As for secondary I am trying to give traps a go. I am told that force field generator changes the game big time. Gotta pull to mid teens to get it but the early levels aren't that rough for a mastermind.

[Lantyssa]

Not exactly my build, but close:

Level: 20
Archetype: Mastermind
Primary: Robotics
Secondary: Dark Miasma
01 => Twilight Grasp ==> 1xAcc,3xHeal,1xEnd
01 => Battle Drones ==> 2xAcc,3xDam
02 => Tar Patch ==> 1xRech
04 => Darkest Night ==> 1xEndCost,3xToHitDeBuff
06 => Equip Robot ==> 1xEndCost
08 => Hover ==> 1xFlight
10 => Howling Twilight ==> 1xEndCost
12 => Protector Bots ==> 1xAcc,2xDam,2xDefBuff
14 => Fly ==> 1xEndCost
16 => Shadow Fall ==> 1xEndCost,3xDamRes
18 => Assault ==> 1xEndCost
20 => Group Fly ==> 1xEndCost

You'll note the focus on Dark Powers.

Darkest Night - The to-hit debuff is large (and the damage reduction nice) and worth slotting for -to-hit.
Repair - At this level Repair is not a necessary power.  Twilight Grasp and your Protector Bots will be plenty sufficient.
Tar Patch - Eventually I want to slot 3 Recharge and 3 Slow.  With ranged pets and a ranged heal, this helps control, and it enhances your damage.
Shadow Fall - Psychic and Negative Energy protection.  Love it.
Howling Twilight - Good if you like grouping.  Can be swapped for something else.  Nice 'Oh Shit!' power, if you remember to use it.

You won't really need Stamina with this build, but you will want Endurance slotted in the more often used ones.

[Sky]

My lvl28 or 32 or whatever MM is mercs/traps. Great build, but I play on easy mode.

If I ever get a respec I'll remove most of the merc attack powers (keeping the big blast one, dropping burst and grenade, though grenade is ok, too). I'm mostly sunk into the traps pool: web grenade, poison trap, ff gen, caltrops, triage beacon, great power line imo. And mercs rock, but watch the medic. He's fragile and useful and has the shortest gun range so he's always running out front.

The most valuable skill (read on the MM forum for hints) is a goto button macro. Being able to set up the troops singly and collectively is very useful. Gotta go now, and I'm not playing CoV atm, but I really enjoyed my MM!

[Nebu]

Update (not that anyone cares):

I played the following to 20 to see what the builds were like.  I played at the 3rd difficulty setting and mostly soloed.

1) Necro/poison: Fun build. Good damage.  Retarded melee pets run into aggro even when you spam the heel or goto commands.  Poison gives the ability to debuff a single target well and the single heal is often enough to keep one pet up.  Not much cc yet is a problem with bigger pulls.

2) Robot/poison: Further exploration of the poison line.  This was a bit better once I got the pet with the heal/bubble.  Ultimately the clanking sounds from the bots and the inability to get out of rooms prompted a switch.

3) Robot/Dark: Very effective build.  Some cc (tar patch), ae debuffs, and a great ae heal.  This coupled with the bubble made for a lot of fun.  This build felt almost too overpowered to be fun.

4) Merc/Dark: Very powerful.  Solves many of the problems of the robots and the addition of the healer helped a lot.  I like the root and stun ability of the spec ops and imagine this build gets even more powerful at higher levels. 

Funny thing... after playing all these masterminds, I decided to play my heros again.  My ice/ice blaster is so much more fun even though it's less powerful.  I guess it feels more like I'm in charge of things.  I'm having some fun with this game again and it's been a new life trying out the new builds.  I'm sure I won't stay long, but it's been a fun ride the past couple of weeks.

[eldaec]

Talking of heroes, the Illusion controller is worth a mention as a solid MM.

Three invulnerable punch-voke tanks as 'tier 1' pets; when playing solo or small group your tier 2 is in effect a permanent aoe hold available for every fight; and tier 3 is a solid blaster pet.

[Jimbo]

3) Robot/Dark: Very effective build.  Some cc (tar patch), ae debuffs, and a great ae heal.  This coupled with the bubble made for a lot of fun.  This build felt almost too overpowered to be fun.

Ya can allways come play Planetside with me and Strazos  :-D

But yeah, I have allways said that mm/Dark was pretty freaking powerful.  Most of the builds don't recommend taking your shooting powers because you server yourself better by buffing up the pets and your dark power.

Hell, dark anything is pretty intense, try out a ice/dark corrupter, or dark/electric defender.  Sure it is made for grouping with a great heal, debuff, buffs, and holds, but even solo it works great.

[Nebu]

You guys still playing Planetside?  I had some fun the week or two that I played with you guys, but it never really struck me as a game I'd staty with for long.