Author: Masterdude
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Writing this guide is difficult because even with a specific pairing of powers, there are several different ways you can play a character. One caveat I have with most guides is that they're either too narrow in scope or written by people who have only a theoretical knowledge of the material they are writing about. Some are misleading or just outright wrong. The problem is that I am merely just another perspective out there on how to play an archetype. I will do my best to describe both of my chosen powersets and write about all of my experiences with it.
A couple things I want to get straight before going deeper into this guide:
1) While I've dabbled with the low levels of the other powersets, I am not any sort of expert with them, theoretically or practically. While many of the insights in this guide could be applied to a character that uses only one of the two powersets mentioned, playstyle is significantly changed for the most part.
2) Despite what some other guides (all of which theoretical at best) propose, Mastermind simply is NOT a good player versus player job. While I've only been able to play as this particular combination, I have been exposed to all the flaws of it and can pretty safely say that barring some obscure combination or playstyle I'm not aware of, you simply can't stand up against most players. Mastermind works in player versus enemy because of the hate system, which allows pets to hold hate and take damage. Players are not so encumbered and pretty much all of them know that the way to end the fight is to just simply kill the controlling master. Masterminds don't get native defense or damage reduction to any significant level, nor do they have very high hit points.
I've also noticed that my pets took a severe damage cut in player versus player, almost to unfair levels. Even against Controllers, my full half-dozen pack of robots would only be able to take off at best a third of their HP in a single volley. Go up against a Scrapper or a Tanker and you're just screwed. At best, you can lay down covering fire if you team up and hope for that very rare chance that a status effect goes through.
3) If you have a suggestion of a different playstyle that can be acheived with Robotics/Force Field or see an oversight, feel free to let me know politely.
4) As of this writing, I am level 48. Because the next two levels don't offer any significant changes to my planned playstyle, I think this is sufficient for me to write about all 50 levels.
Anyway, on to the guide.
Table of Contents
1. Powersets
1a. Robotics
1b. Force Field
1c. Power Pools
2. Tactics
3. My Personal Build
4. The Mastermind Bind Set
1. Powersets
Here, I will detail at what level you can access each power and my thoughts on them. I will also list recommended slotting and give a priority number from 0-5, 0 being "do not get this" and 5 being "you can't justify skipping this".
1a. Robotics
Robotics is a ranged oriented set. Damage is primarilly Energy/Smash, with some Fire attacks as well. Robots all have resistance against Sleep, Fear, Disorient, Lethal, Cold, and Psionics.
Pulse Rifle Blast - Level 1
An Energy/Smash ranged attack. Many guides will discount it as being pointless, but all things considered, it's actually pretty decent. I would consider it to be a good power to take for the low levels, then respec out of it at the higher levels if you choose to do so. My build still includes it because there is something to be said about self-defense.
Slotting: 1-2 Accuracy, 3 Damage, 1-2 Recharge
Priority: 2
Battle Drones - Level 1
The grunts of your personal squadron. Battle Drones have low HP and basic attacks, but are still an important element in your team. While not as flashy as the Assault Bot, the damage of all three of them adds up to pretty comparable numbers. They start out with just a basic single target shot and a melee attack. Equip Robots gives them a single target with knockdown and Upgrade Robot gives them an area of effect damage over time that is very good for clearing crowds of minions.
Slotting: 3 Accuracy, 3 Damage
Priority: 5
Pulse Rifle Burst - Level 2
A more powerful shot from your pulse rifle. Has a decent change for knockback, making it good for keeping opponents pinned down. It does pretty good damage, but once again, Mastermind is based around pets and not around personal weaponry. Even from the standpoint of a pure pets Mastermind, though, it's decent for the knockdown.
Slotting: 1-2 Accuracy, 3 Damage, 1-2 Recharge
Priority: 3
Equip Robot - Level 6
The first tier of upgrades for your robots. Equip Robots gives both Battle Drones and Protector Bots their equivalent of Pulse Rifle Burst. Protector Bots also get Repair, which gives 30% HP base. Assault Bot gets dual laser blast and flamethrower.
Slotting: 1 Recharge until 32, then replace with 1 Endurance
Priority: 5
Photon Grenade - Level 8
An area of effect attack that has a chance to disorient. I highly recommend you do not get this. The radius is narror and when it does hit more than one target, it takes the focus away from your pets. It very rarely disorients and the damage is also pretty crappy. More a liability than a useful power.
Slotting: If you choose to get it, just slot it like any other ranged attack.
Priority: 0
Protector Bots - Level 12
The support units of your squadron. Their damage is relatively low, but they give Force Shield to all NPC allies and you, doubled up on the other NPCs except themselves with two of them. Why they don't double up Force Shield on you, I am still not quite sure about. Equip Robot gives them their Pulse Rifle Burst equivalent and Repair, which, while hardly reliable (cooldown seems to be about a minute), will often be sufficient to go through battles without having to heal them yourself. Upgrade Robot gives them Seeker Drones (almost completely useless and often a hassle as they clog the area) and Photon Grenades, which oddly work way better coming from them than they do coming from you.
Slotting: 2 Accuracy, 3 Damage, 1 Endurance. While Healing would be good in theory, it doesn't seem to change that they use it when a pet falls past the 70% HP mark, rendering it a bit pointless. Also, the Endurance is mostly superfluous, but you get more enhancement slots than you usually can even find uses for and reducing endurance cost can make a difference against Sappers, Mu, and other such foes.
Priority: 5
Repair - Level 18
Good in theory, but the recharge on it is brutal. Even fully reduced, it's around 45 seconds or so (unsure about that specifically). The endurance modification is a bit pointless because robots don't use that much endurance to begin with. Aid Other is way better and can be used on other pets and teammates as well.
Slotting: 3 Recharge if you choose to get it.
Priority: 1
Assault Bot - Level 26
The bad boy in all its glory. Big frame, big guns, and a menacing grimace. While it has the most HP and the best attacks, it is not really a reliable tank, so don't expect to be able to build your tactics around only having to heal it. Starts out with a single heavy laser blast and a melee attack. Equip Robot gives it a double laser blast and a flamethrower. I'm not a big fan of the flamethrower because its radius seems to be narrow and its damage is lackluster, plus the fact that if it's ready and the Assault Bot is within the range to use it, it will use it 99% of the time. Assault Bot really shines when you get Upgrade Robot, though. Swarm Missiles are huge area of effect damage and Incendiary Missiles lay down patches of fire that do pretty significant damage over time. If the Assault Bot uses missiles, the Protector Bots use Photon Grenades, and the Battle Drones use full auto blast, that's often enough to clear a full patch of minions. Definitely can't skip this.
Slotting: 2 Accuracy, 3 Damage, 1 Endurance.
Priority: 5
Upgrade Robot - Level 32
This is almost more important that your Assault Bot. Gives your robots their area of effect attacks. Battle Drones get full auto blast, Protector Bots get Seeker Drones and Repair, Assault Bot gets Swarm and Incendiary Missiles.
Slotting: 1 Recharge
Priority: 5
1b. Force Field
The Force Field set is a combination defense and crowd control set. In my opinion, it wasn't the best thought out set, but it still has some good powers.
Force Bolt - Level 1
A basic knockdown attack. It's actually very good for keeping opponents off your back, with a recharge much faster than most enemies' recovery time from knockdown (although knockdown doesn't seem to stack). It's mandatory, so no real argument about this one.
Slotting: 3 Accuracy, 3 Range. Depending on how you choose to use it, you could probably skip the range.
Priority: 4
Deflection Shield - Level 2
The basic defense against Smash, Lethal, and Melee. Also gives some resistance to Toxic. Like all ally click powers, you can't use it on yourself. The types of damage it gives resistance to are usually not that big a deal, but it does what it does. I didn't have this in my original build (will work it in when I get a respec), but I would recommend working it in, if just for teams and for when you need that extra push over the cliff.
Slotting: 3 Defense
Priority: 3
Insulation Shield - Level 4
Guards against some of the types that Deflection Shield doesn't. Fire, Cold, Negative, Energy, Ranged, and Area of Effect defense, with resistance against endurance drain. I would say this is more useful than Deflection Shield, since a lot of the more damaging attacks are based on these types. Same as Deflection Shield, I didn't have this in my original build, but would recommend working it in.
Slotting: 3 Defense
Priority: 3
Detention Field - Level 10
Detention Field can be situationally useful. Put it on a troublesome enemy and it won't bother you as you kill its teammates. It doesn't work against Elite Bosses very well and it's rare to come across lower that you want to hold off on as you kill the companions, but it has its uses.
Slotting: 3 Accuracy
Priority: 3
Personal Force Field - Level 16
This basically makes you almost unhittable in exchange for removing you from influencing a battle. Extremely useful for retreats or when you get overwhelmed, but once you put it up, your pets have to think for themselves. Still, I recommend getting it when you hit level 16.
Slotting: 1 Defense
Priority: 4
Dispersion Bubble - Level 20
Area of effect defense against everything, resistance to immobilize, hold, and disorient. Combined with their native resistances, I don't think I've ever actually seen any of those status effects hit one of my robots. With double Force Shield and this, your robots will have pretty much all the defense they need for normal battles all the way to 50.
Slotting: 3 Defense, 3 Endurance Reduction. I mostly slotted the 3 Endurance Reduction due to a lack of things to slot in the 30s, but it's entirely up to you.
Priority: 4
Repulsion Field - Level 28
I never took this power, so I don't have actual field experience with it. In theory, it sounds like it's basically a lower level Force Bubble, but with a lot more endurance drain and also knockback instead of just simply repel. I'll probably test it on Training Room when I get a respec, but honestly, this power seems lame.
Slotting: Probably Endurance Reduction
Priority: 1
Repulsion Bomb - Level 35
I didn't take this power either. Sounds like basically a one time use Force Bubble that you plant somewhere. Also seemed lame.
Slotting: I don't even know
Priority: 1
Force Bubble - Level 38
This power pretty much removes melee attacks from the equation where most Bosses and lower are considered. Unlike Repulsion Bomb (and I think Repulsion Field from its debion), it is on full time, always active, never costing more to scale with the opponents. I highly recommend this power if you plan on playing Robotics or Mercenaries.
Slotting: 3 Endurance Reduction
Priority: 4
1c. Power Pools
There are also the general use power pools as well. I will start with the ones I recommend, then proceed to the others.
Medicine
Aid Other is extremely vital to playing as a high level Mastermind. It's unavoidable. While you have some leeway as far as when you can get it, you pretty much need to have it by the time you get your last pet. It's a first tier ability, so it doesn't require any filler to get. There's no way to justify not getting it. The other abilities are a bit lackluster for Mastermind, although Stimulant could be potentially useful.
Leadership
The only real set of powers to enhance your pets further. Sadly, they aren't really that effective as a Mastermind, but they're still pretty good. Skip Maneuvers, get Assault and Tactics. Vengeance only works with the dead bodies of players, though, so only get it if you're basing your character on team play.
Fitness
Keeping several toggles up full time is costly to endurance. Stamina is a pretty big boost to your recovery. I recommend getting Swift, Health, and Stamina in that order. While Hurdle is a decent boost to jumping, it doesn't have the same sort of utility as Swift. When you get Stamina, give it two more slots at your earliest conveniance.
The following range from mildly recommended to pointless.
Concealment
Pointless. The defense bonus is negligible and they don't give good enough stealth to let you skip past patches. I still remember one guide that recommended getting them for use in player versus player, but that's also flawed by the fact that most people will not let themselves get killed by pets so easily. You can get the temp power Invisible pretty easily and Phase Shift is hardly worth wasting two powers to get.
Fighting
I never got any of these. They go against what you play Mastermind for. Two melee attacks and two self only defense abilities. Hardly seem worth wasting slots on.
Flight
A travel power. It's what I personally got, since I'm a bit lazy. If you choose this as your travel set, get Hover instead of Air Superiority. Even from the perspective of a more hands on Mastermind, Air Superiority is too much of a hassle and there's plenty of times where the extra Defense or just simply staying out of reach for cheap that Hover provides is good. Group Fly is a bit too situational to care about as a Mastermind.
Leaping
Another travel power. Neither of the starters are very good for Mastermind. It works for travel, but it's not really anything on a tactical level.
Presence
I never got these. Seemed like it was geared more for Brutes/Tankers.
Speed
More travel. Hasten would make more sense for a Mastermind than Flurry, but since there really aren't a whole lot of click powers to use as the archetype, it's not really that useful. Whirlwind could be sort of a lower level repel ability, but I don't know. Super Speed is, well, super speed.
Teleportation
Probably the most useful of the travel powers, to be honest. Teleport Friend also works on pets, so if a pet gets stuck or otherwise too far away, just use it to fix that. Teleport Foe could provide some herd thinning, but isn't really necessary in most cases (plus from what I heard, if a higher tier enemy gets pulled with it, all the lower tier ones will notice regardless of distance or perception). Teleport is the same as usual and Team Teleport seems unnecessary. I'm probably going to respec into this as my fourth pool once I hit 50.
Patron Power Pools
I took Mace Mastery as mine. I don't really know the other three patrons that well, but on the surface, they seem to just give the same effects with different additional effects. Web Envelope and Web Cocoon both generate way too much hate, making it pretty crappy to use as a Mastermind in normal situations. It's useful for one of the tactics I'll outline below, though. Their actual effects never work on Boss or higher even with three Accuracy slotted and Tactics active. Mace Beam Volley has too short a range, too narrow a radius, and too crappy a damage output while also drawing attention of multiple enemies on you. I never took Scorpion Shield because it only covered three types, two of which have never really been much of a problem. I'm definitely taking them out when I get my respec.
2. Tactics
Here's the part where I mention some of the tactics I've developed over time. I'll also mention some theoretical stuff that I haven't really explored yet, but might give some ideas. Much of this can be applied to other archetypes. I'll post more as I think of/remember them.
---Single Targets Only---
While all sorts of keybind sets out there exist that allow you to micromanage your pets down to groups and singles when it comes to orders, I recommend just doing a all on single target approach. Before 32, do it in scale of weakest to strongest. You can typically kill minions fast enough that removing them from the battle is worth it compared to the extra damage the lieutenants and/or bosses put out in the meantime. Once you hit 32, the area of effect is often sufficient to kill minions by itself. I recommend aiming for the lieutenants in a patch to try to hit as many minions in the area of effect as possible. If you have a group that also includes a boss when you do that, just pick off the minions after your first volley.
---Knockdown Spam---
While this might seem sort of obvious, I'll mention it here anyway. If you have an opponent that is a bit problematic but can be affected by knockdown, by all means, abuse it. Put Force Bolt on auto, use Pulse Rifle Burst every time it comes up. Get them up against a wall and just keep pounding them with it. It's near impossible to maintain a perfect knockdown chain of inactivity, but if you can pull it off, that works even better.
---Active Healing---
Against any dangerous opponent, always be active in your healing. Don't assume the Protector Bots will do it for you. Try to always keep your pets above yellow.
---Resummoning During Battle---
Only resummon when the full tier gets killed off or you don't see any more potential deaths in the tier upcoming. Since third tier is always a single and almost always the most powerful, you'll pretty much always want to resummon and re-equip those immediately.
---Target Cycling---
If you choose to take the Pulse Rifle powers, one thing I suggest is changing your pets' target when their current one is at lower than 10% HP, then finishing it off with your Pulse Rifle. It cuts down on overall time pretty dramatically and also gives you more to do.
---Save Your Temp Powers---
If you don't absolutely need to use your temp powers, don't. I can't say how many times I've found my hoard of temp powers useful for harder bosses.
---Inspirations---
You can give Inspirations to your pets by dragging the icons onto them, but they can't rapid fire consume them like a player can. Unfortunately, if you try to dump a lot of an inspiration into one pet all at once, the extras will be consumed without any effect. Keep this in mind.
---Inspiration Tanking----
This is a pretty major one that I developed in the forties to solo Elite Boss level signature enemies. Many of the signature heroes and villains will do lots of area of effect for a ton of damage, basically wiping out your grunts within seconds. This tactic instead uses the unorthodox tactic of the Mastermind as the tank. Basically, you get 4 Health, 4 Endurance, 4 Damage Reduction, 8 Defense Inspirations together. Start out with 4 Defense and 2 Damage Reduction on, get the attention of the boss as your pets attack. With your other toggles on, this should provide near maximum Defense and enough Damage Reduction to lower the chance of being cheapshotted. Use your other Defense and Damage Reduction when they wear off. Use Health and Endurance when needed. This is sort of a blitz tactic because you basically have two minutes to defeat your target, after which, your options become a bit limited. You could combine this with Demonic at the end for another minute of near-invulnerability or you could use either Phase Shift or Personal Force Field to remove yourself from the battle. Usually, the latter two only work if it's nearly down and you just need an extra bit of time to take off that last bit of HP.
---Shivan Shard---
If Inspiration Tanking doesn't work sufficiently, you could always use a Shivan Shard. They're decently easy to get from Bloody Bay and provide you with an Elite Boss of your own. Personally, I've always viewed it as a bit of a cheap solution that sort of killed the fun out of the game, but whatever. Need to finish your mission at all costs? Drop a Shivan, watch as it blasts Lord Recluse, emporer of evil to oblivion. Wee.
---Warburg Nukes---
These are white elephants because half the time, Warburg is an utter pain in the ass to do jack in. Crawling with Stalkers who's one thrill is killing people at all costs with no regard to . Anyway, while not quite the cheap factor that Shivan Shard is, they can provide a pretty big deciding factor in a battle. They usually don't give the sort of effect that spending about 20-25 minutes per nuke should or ever could with their single use.
---Specialized Assault Bot (theoretical)---
One idea I had during a mission was that perhaps it would be prudent to skip Equip Robot when it comes to the Assault Bot. I never do because I usually want my Assault Bot to have a full set of abilities to use in rapid succession, but if what you really need is just missile spam, it might make that more possible. Missiles become 2/3 chance, instead of 2/5 (which, if your Assault Bot is close to the targets, becomes more 2/500). I only really saw a potential use for this on Search Nemesis Army Base from Black Scorpion if you're insane enough to try to clear out the massive horde of Nemesis in the center (I was). Could probably apply this to the other two types, but it's not as big a concern for them since they usually default to area of effect right off the bat.
3. My Personal Build
Here's the build I will use when I get my respec. Pretty much based on supporting teammates more than myself. First paragraph is what levels I take the powers and second paragraph is what I slot. Much of the slotting is pretty much based on the fact that there's only so many slots one really needs and you run out of things to slot after a while.
1) Battle Drones
1) Force Bolt
2) Deflection Shield
4) Insulation Shield
6) Equip Robot
8) Aid Other
10) Teleport Friend
12) Protector Bots
14) Teleport
16) Personal Force Field
18) Assault
20) Dispersion Bubble
22) Tactics
24) Swift
26) Assault Bot
28) Health
30) Stamina
32) Upgrade Robot
35) Detention Field
38) Force Bubble
41) Pulse Rifle Burst
44) Pulse Rifle Blast
47) Vengeance
49) Stimulant
3) Battle Drones*2
5) Battle Drones*2
7) Battle Drones, Insulation Shield
9) Aid Other*2
11) Aid Other*2
13) Protector Bots*2
15) Protector Bots*2
17) Protector Bots, Aid Other
19) Insulation Shield, Deflection Shield
21) Dispersion Bubble*2
23) Tactics*2
25) Deflection Shield, Dispersion Bubble
27) Assault Bot*2
29) Assault Bot*2
31) Assault Bot, Stamina*2
33) Dispersion Bubble*2, Teleport
34) Teleport, Force Bolt*2
36) Detention Field*2, Force Bolt
37) Force Bolt*2, Assault
39) Force Bubble*2, Assault
40) Tactics*3
42) Pulse Rifle Burst*3
43) Pulse Rifle Burst*2, Teleport Friend
45) Pulse Rifle Blast*3
46) Pulse Rifle Blast*2, Teleport Friend
48) Vengeance*3
50) Vengeance*2, Swift
4. The Mastermind Bind Set
I compiled all the binds I use into a single file. To use it, download the file and extract it directly onto the C: drive. You've done it right if it creates a new folder with the path of C:Binds. Master.txt in the Binds folder has all the binds that you enter into your textbar. Just copy the full line starting at /bind. Feel free to modify the buttons where appropriate to your tastes. I have to give credit both to Mzzkc for the single button upgrade macro (which I slightly modified) and to Khaiba for the numeric keypad binds (also slightly modified in my version). The file can be found at http://www.geocities.com/gameamp.masterdude/binds.zip. I'll eventually find a better home for it, but I don't see it consuming enough bandwidth to get shut down, what with it only being a 20 KB file.
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