What's a good MM Build with Thugs?

Kryziz

I have not played in a while, but when I saw the thugs powers, I though I should give the game another go.



Just wondering if traps would be a good secondary power, or maybe something else?

How should my slotting/power sets go from 1-20 and is fitness a good choice.



Could use the help, wow kinda burned me out.

TheKraken

Anything I could say has already been said, and better, on the City of Heroes website, so to start I'll link to their forum page with all the Mastermind Guides.  There are 5 guides on Thugs specifically, and the other guides can be of use as well, for their info on secondary power pools.

boards.cityofvillains.com/showflat.php

 

With my Thugs char I took Poison, mostly because I had never played that pool before.  Its a fairly active power set, and the first four powers available are also the best, so you have access to nice tools right from the early levels.  You will need the Fitness pool for Stamina if you take poison.  Its nice having a single target heal, but Alkaloid uses vast amounts of Endurance for the small green numbers it produces, so it needs 2 Endurance Reducers.  The next 3 powers are your debuffs, and though 2 of them are only single-target, they are very nice.  Slot each with 1 Accuracy, 1 Recharge and 1 Endurance Reducer to start, add another Accuracy if you commonly fight at +1 or +2.  The hold you later gain access to is nice, for dealing with the nasty mobs like Longbow Nullifiers and Malta Sappers.  Do NOT take poison trap, its not the same as the from the Traps secondary; its an AOE sleep and thugs affected mobs will immediately wake up once attacked.  Its so useless, it boggles the mind.  In later levels you gain alot of synergy with your Brute boss-level minion and Noxious Gas.  Noxious Gas is a point-blank aoe debuff that you can anchor on teammates, or one of your minions.  Put it on your Brute, send him into the middle of a group of mobs, and have the other minions stand back and blast once the Brute gets agro.

One other set I will speak about, because I know alot about it, is the Traps secondary.  My higest villain is robots/traps MM and I can say its a very useful set.  The first power, Web Grenade, some may feel as of limited usefulness, but when I fight bosses or elite bosses, I will spam it non-stop and reduce the ability of the mob to act because of the -recharge aspect of the Grenade.  The immobilize effect of the Grenade is much less useful than the -recharge aspect I feel.  There is no way increase the duration of that part of the effect, so just slot it 2 Accuracy and 1 Endurance Reducer so you can throw it non-stop during battles with EBs.  Caltrops are ok, and with limited selection of powers by level 6, you may be force to pick it; I used it less and less as I leveled, mostly because all I felt it was doing against high-level foes was getting me agro instead of my minions.  Triage Beacon is of use only if you are willing to 6 slot it with 3 Heal and 3 Recharge because it doesn't increase regeneration enough to be noticable in quick fights, and it has a long recharge.  Personally I would just go with Aid Other from the Medicene power pool instead, if you feel you need a healing power.  Acid Mortar is a nice debuff, though I've found its of even more use for an unstated ability: it gets agro alot, leaving you and your minions a bit safer.  Seeker Drones are also great, they have debuff effects to them, but their primary use its to take the alpha strike, as they have such a large summoning range to them, you can drop them in the middle of a group of mobs from very far away.  Slot both Acid Mortar and Seeker Drones both with 1 Accuracy and 2-3 Recharge enhancements to start, add in some debuff enhancements when you get extra slots.  Force Field generator is very handy, get it as soon as you can.  It protects you from Holds in addition to adding you the defense of anyone inside its bubble.  Slot it 3 Defense ehancers and remember to re-summon it just before big fights, as you don't want it to disappear in the middle of combat.

 

TheKraken

Just realized I didn't address a build for you.  Really, the only way to go is the same as for other Masterminds, get the 3 pet summoning powers as soon as they are available, and the 2 pet upgrade powers.  Not really much too it.  Attacks from your primary pool are typically not worth having; they do too little damage, for too much Endurance, and just get you agro.  Unless you want one just because you think they look cool, I say avoid them.  Air Superiority from the Flight power pool is better than every single attack from a Mastermind primary.