Henchmen Tactics

08/21/2005: Sikyanakotik

Backyard generals, rejoice! Thanks to the petcom commands and the pet window, Masterminds have unheard of control over their henchmen, granting access to a whole host of tactical possiblities. But just what can you do with complete control over the actions of six sturdy warriors? Let's discuss the possibilities.

Here are some basic tactics that I've come up with.

Advance Force
This is very intuitive, but still deserves mentioning. Since the Mastermind himself is far more vulnerable (and far less expendable) than his pets, it can be useful for him to send them ahead of himself into a waiting group of opponents. It can also be useful to send a scout through doorways and around corners, to avoid being surprised by an unseen mob.

The Wall
If you have a bit of time and a narrow corridor, you can use the goto command in passive or defensive mode, followed by a stay command, to form a human (or mechanical, or rotting flesh) wall. That way any foe that wishes to engage your or any squishies behind the wall would have to defeat your henchmen first. If your allies have a snipe attack, like advanced robots do, all the better; simply throw them into aggressive mode, and they'll pull, establish aggro, and protect you all at the same time!

Vicious Circle
A variant on The Wall is to surround yourself (or another objective you wish to protect) with a circle of minions. If you can back a against a wall, you can form a tougher semicircle with fewer minions, at the cost of your ability to flee if things get tough. If you're just trying to protect yourself, this tactic is much simpler to pull off than The Wall; a Follow Me command in Aggressive mode should do the trick. This can (probably) be very effective against waves of enemies trying to destroy a central objective.

Well, that's what I have so far. What tactics have you guys come up with?

08/21/2005: Master_Zaprobo

Ambush
Set your henches to Stay Here-Aggressive and leave in a likely position. Scout by yourself ahead, and use an attack (Rifle or Force Bubble) to draw the attention of a group of mobs. Head back to your cunningly hidden ambush point and watch the hilarity (good only for soloing).

Sentinel
Using Stay Here-Aggressive, you can effectively leave a rear-guard at points where you are vulnerable (like the early bank heist). Your hench under attack with then be able to warn you of reinforcements.

08/21/2005: Trama601

The Guantlet
Leave your pets spread out along a hall on either side using stay here, aggresive. Acout ahead and pick a group, draw aggro, then run back through the guantlet you have set up.

08/21/2005: Trama601

A Bunker tactic might be workable with the FF secoundary at level 38 plus.

Find a target, Uses the go here command too place your bost in range, and back up so your Wall shield covers them enough too keep melee from happening, but too keep them in range for ranged attacks. Granted the pets best attacks seem too be the melee ones, but as a rule of thumb form CoH melee mob attacks usally do the most damage.

A bait and switch might be workable too.

Set up near a set of mobs, Then send in a Basic henchmen too absorb the alpha strike of that group, possibly killing it outright, then send int he rest o the troops. Thus saving your larger and more powerful henchmen the fear of getitng that alpha strike.

08/26/2005: NYCvillain

Henchman Pulling
Target enemy you want to pull from a distance. Tell 1 henchman to "Attack my target." As soon as the henchman's attack animation begins, tell him to "Follow me." Run around corner.

This allows you to pull without risking taking an alpha-strike if it goes badly. Use in combination with other tactics above.. such as Ambush

08/26/2005: Khaiba

Diversion

Need to move past an area guarded by mobs? Send a loyal subject through with the Goto Location command on Passive, making sure he's within agro range of the targets. When he arrives, have him shout some insults and shift to Aggresive mode, opening up on the group you need to distract. Now just slip past with the rest of your entourage.

-Khaiba

08/26/2005: HellTouched

Patrol
This is simply Aggressive Follow. Many missions make it hard to find hidden mobs. With aggressive henchmen, if they see someone you don't, they'll start the engagement. If you've found yourself getting desperate enough in CoH missions to wander around in plain sight to find those lurkers - recon by gratuitous exposure - you can remain stealthy here and count on the henchmen spotting what you miss.

09/02/2005: manofmanychars

These tactics are suited for certain combos, as opposed to just general tactics. Also, they show a little bit of respect for your henchmen, which many people will shy away from. Also, this is for the first ten levels, as opposed to a permanent tactic (though they could be used a permannent tactics).

Divide and conquer (Necro/Dark)
Go into the fray with your zombie, blasting enemies that he isn't attacking. This will divide aggro, and also damage. That way, Twilight Grasp will generally heal both of you to full health.

Dual Snipe (Robot/FF)
Stand with your robot, both of you blasting foes at a distance. Use force bolt on those that get to close. Bubbling the bot might be a good idea.

"Sic 'em, Brad!" (ninja/poison)
Have Genin go into the fray, while you stay back and use Alkaloid to heal him. Finishing damaged foes with bow powers and debuffing the Genin's target would be wise, probably.

Thanks to the following MMs for teaming with me, as I made the robot and ninja strategies up based on watching them and their pets:

Boy Toy (and Brad): Ninja/Poison, the name of the strategy she used is the quote she says when she uses her attack macro.
Juno: Robot/FF, I apologize for forgetting her robot's name.

By the way, in case it's too far down on my sig, I am:

Death Wielder (accompanied by Lurch)

09/10/2005: merganzer

This one will deserve a hearty "Mwaaahahahaha!" in pvp:

Using stealth target an opponent. Preferably a nice squishy Defender or a pleasantly wounded Tanker/Scrapper.

Go around a corner and hang out with your ninja minions who are set to aggressive/stay.

Activate teleport foe.

When it successfully executes press macro for /em dance.

Press your macro that does /local "Mwaaahahahaha!"

Stealth up and do it again or do a tactical retreat (group teleport) and set it up again for the next squishiest player in the group.

Further Evil Doings:

Grant Invisiblity on your pets and walk up to your pvp target with pets on passive.

Target the pvp player.

Command the pets to attack/aggressive.

Press your macro that does /local "Mwaaahahahaha!"

Hit phase shift.

If your minions win in 30 seconds, cool.

If they look like they aren't going to win by about 20 to 25 seconds, activate your travel power and set it up again.

m.--

09/13/2005: Promethian_Star

Divebomb
group fly over mobs, switch to normal fly or hover and parachute your minions on the mob all set to agg. (ok not the best idea but fun)

Hello / Goodbye
Group TP yourself and minions in all set on stay agg , then Tp yourself out using solo tp instantly to a safe distance, saves that bit where minions get hit when running in.

09/20/2005: Master_Zaprobo

Rapid Reaction Strike Force (PvP)
PvP Zones can see a Mastermind Team being deadly. Form a "base" - an out of the way area where you can summon and upgrade in privacy.

You then need a designated porter (Recall Friend), and a designated spotter or two (Stealth, Travel Power, Recall Friend).

Spotter TPs in Mastermind with a fully summoned/buffed set of henches set to aggressive. Mastermind retreats to safe distance, less than 170 Yards away as the henches engage the enemy. Once all henches are defeated, Mastermind is ported back out to the base, and a new wave is ported in.

09/20/2005: SuckaChump

Human Shield
Anyone know if this can work? For those with a FF secondary, use a combination of Personal FF, Aid Self, and Provoke to be an aggro magnet and human shield, while your henchies blast/slash away in complete safety.

09/20/2005: Master_Zaprobo

To use Provoke you would have to have PFF disabled. Otherwise, workable (Provoke > PFF (slotted for 4x recharge and 2x defense) > Aid Self > Repeat)

10/07/2005: Stormcaller

Force Recon
Simple tactic. Use Go To on your pets to move them to doorways, into rooms, or around corners. Along with Aggressive, you've got an expendable scout. If you can get the positioning right, they'll alert off each other if they get attacked. If you want to get real fancy, tack on some emotes and petsays. Always fun to have your mercs run over to a doorway, look inside, and yell, "Clear!"

Splitting Heirs
This works best in areas where you can enter a room from either of two entrances, and you have a team. Higher level Masterminds might be able to pull this without any help. Position your minions at one entrance, outside of aggro range. Now move the team to the other entrance. Now using Attack My Target or Follow Me, get your minions to come charging into the room, attacking whatever's in sight. Timed to match your allies' frontal assault, you get an effect akin to Black Hole or other offensive intangibility powers, but without the irritability factor. To ensure the 170 foot limit isn't breached, you can use stealth powers to just cross the room.

If you want to get particularly complex, target someone in the room, then arrange your minions as described above. Move to a spot halfway between your team and your minions, back in a hallway. When your team's ready to attack, click Attack My Target, then Heel/Passive. Your minions will draw aggro and then pull back to you. Run for your team's position and dismiss your minions. Resummon them at the fight, and you'll have once more split the enemy into manageable chunks. Just make sure that they are manageable chunks. Your teammates might not be too happy if you manage to get them caught between two overly-tough spawns.

Take Care Of Them
All to characteristic trick when you're looking for a glowie. Send your minions in to grab all the aggro, then use the time to grab the item or maybe use that interruptible power. Nothing says 'Mastermind' quite like casually walking in and taking what you want while your minions deal with the defenders.

Crossfire
Works best when you can make use of stealth powers, and you have upgraded bots. Use Grant Invisibility or some similar power on your bots, then set them Passive and move them to flank a target. Make sure they're within aggro range of your target spawn. Now get someone on your team to snipe, while you switch your bots to Aggressive. The three-pronged attack, particularly when teamed with a Pulse Rifle or Energy Blast, should result in the enemy getting hit with knockback from three sides, not to mention the aggro. Continue to pound on them while they try to figure out who to hate more. If you're especially patient, you can even form mini fire teams at high levels- two Drones and a Protector on one side, third Drone, Protector, and Assault on the other. Theoretically you don't even have to participate. Just sit back and watch.

10/14/2005: Acradius

Tele-chuting! (For any Mastermind with Concealment and Teleport pools)

Step 1) Grant Invisibility or Smoke bomb all your minions, while Phase Shifting yourself.

Step 2) Find a group your minions can likely take on their own.

Step 3) Team Teleport into the middle.

Step 3.5) Have all of your minions macroed to say "SURPRISE!"

Step 4) Teleport out.

Step 5) Whistle innocently.

Step 6) If there are any survivors say something along the lines of "Minions? WHAT minions?" as you run for the hills.

10/15/2005: BlackRose

I have recently started sending one pet to scout on agg and find the mobs before we do. I also took down huge rooms by picking one section and sending the pet in to att on def mode and then once they pissed off the group I tell them to follow me. They run back the mobs follow them and run into the ambush of my teamates. So far this method works better than any snipe attack. They have never once agroed another mob *crosses fingers* I also appreciate the stay agg method they can fight like hell but they won't run off and agro another group. I have found this works best when you are AFK and trying to protect yourself in the event of roaming mobs.

10/24/2005: psyber624

This is for the /Dark Miasma MM's

Create bind files for each of your pets. As follows.
pat1.txt
bind divide target_enemy_near$$petcom_name zombie1 att agg$$bind_load_file pat2.txt
pat2.txt
bind divide target_enemy_next$$petcom_name zombie2 att agg$$bind_load_file pat3.txt
pat3.txt
bind divide target_enemy_next$$petcom_name zombie3 att agg$$bind_load_file pat1.txt
mpat.txt
bind mult target_enemy_next$$powexec_name gloom$$petcom_all att agg$$bind_load_file pat1.txt

what this does (and forgive me if the syntax is wrong, im typing this in at work, not from home) is send a different minion to each target in a group. Be careful here to not send minions after the next group if you have more minions that the spawn size. Then, wait till the minons have all HIT their respective mobs, then hit mult. This casts your attack, getting you the agg, and forces all minions to attack your target. Since Twighlight grasp is an AOE heal, this spreads the damage around to everyone and allows your heals to be MUCH more effective. The more people that are getting hit in your team, the better, as far as your concerned. This is easier to pull off without zombies (as their melee preference can spread them out a bit) but if you make sure to keep your boys always hitting the SAME mob in the group, they should stay nicely bunched.

As a side note to this, while their projectile vomit is nice, sometimes its better to NOT upgrade them so they will stay in a nice tight melee range. I havent noticed the close in vomit being chained with the melee attack, and they will split up with irritating frequency where one stays back to projectile vomit while the other goes in for a bit of mano-a-mano.

 

> Back to Saved From Beta main page <