New Detonation info

[Uncle Yuan]

I just hit 38 with my Bots/Traps MM and I'm not sure what to get.  I have everything I want from my Primary and Secondary.  I'm not real interested in Detonation (my Traps 38), so I'm thinking about another Pool Power.  My transportation is Flight, I have Fitness, but only for Swift (do not want or need Stamina) and have taken Leadership as far as I want.  I don't see the need for for Hasten (so no speed).  I know a lot of folks like Medicine - anything I should know about this set?  Is the interrupt a big issue?  If not Medicine, then what?

[GhostMachine]

I'd suggest Teleport Foe, which comes in handy for the Trip Mines (assuming you took them at 35), since you can teleport an opponent (Minions and Lts only) on top of the mines (and mines DO stack). Trip Mine + TP Foe is one of my staple combos as GhostMachine, and I'm probably going to take TP Foe on Colonel Stryker (36 Mercs/Traps MM) once he hits 38. I'm not taking Detonator, either.

[Uncle Yuan]

I'd suggest Teleport Foe, which comes in handy for the Trip Mines (assuming you took them at 35), since you can teleport an opponent (Minions and Lts only) on top of the mines (and mines DO stack). Trip Mine + TP Foe is one of my staple combos as GhostMachine, and I'm probably going to take TP Foe on Colonel Stryker (36 Mercs/Traps MM) once he hits 38. I'm not taking Detonator, either.

I respecced out of that when I got rid of TP for my travel power.  How would you slot it?  My experience is that it failed pretty frequently w/one Acc, and the recharge time is quite long.  2 Acc, 2 Recharge?  For that matter, what about trip mines?  I have 1 rechg in it now and it's still pretty pokey.  2?  3?

[captainspud]

Medicine is vital. It is way, WAY better than Repair.

Hasten isn't necessary-- it can be helpful if you've got a free slot in the 40s, but really all it does for you is cut your summoning time down by 1/3. I took it, but I could easily drop it.

TP Foe's a gimmick. If your play style gives you time to use this, you're playing too slow.

I'm happy to see you didn't consider Detonate. It's a terrible power.

I'm not sure what else you do/don't have... check my Bots/Traps guide for a list of decent powers to take.

*shrugs*

[GhostMachine]

Ignoring Spud's comments, I'd go with 2 acc, 1 recharge for the TP Foe, 1 or 2 acc, 1 or 2 recharge, 3 dmg (or a IO set later on) for the mines. I use an IO set for the mines on GM, but I don't remember which one at the moment. Keep in mind that mines only last about 4 to 4 and a half minutes before they self detonate, so you can't lay down a ton without a recharge boost anyway.

And despite what Spud says, Trip Mines *do* come in handy. Time Bomb is somewhat useless, I hear, but villains don't get that power - Detonator is kind of similar, but even more useless since you sacrifice a henchman to use it. Keep in mind that mines do Knockback, and you can even have a mob get knocked into another mine if you're lucky, but its better to just stack them right on top of each other if you're using them against only one mob.

I use Fly as my travel power on GM, too, but I have Recall Friend and Teleport Foe. I mainly used RF to teleport around my Auto-Turret before that got nerfed; now I just use it to yank people somewhere safe for rezzes (I have Phase Shift, so I usually act as the rescuer if I'm still in one piece after the you know what hits the fan) after they've been defeated or to tp people to missions or if they get lost in one.

Still haven't decided which Patron Pool to take on Stryker when he gets to 41, or if I should skip a PP altogether.....(leaning toward Black Scorpion or Scirroco, though)

[captainspud]

Sorry, Ghosty-- you are exactly the person I referred to in my article when I talked about "the guy who holds up every fight to lay eight mines". It's unnecessary and doesn't add much-- sure, the mobs go down quicker once the fight starts, but everybody else gets bored out of their skulls waiting for you to finish. Teams want to fight, not wait for one person to do his thing while their buffs wear off.

Trip Mines are a soloing tool, with applications in teaming. They can break up a tightly packed room, and they're useful to lay at the feet of a distracted EB or AV. Other than that, though, all they do is slow the team down.

TP Foe would be more useful if it wasn't so freaking inaccurate. As it stands, having to sit through three whiffs and recharges just to get one hit makes it an awful power. Once again, it holds up the team and makes people bored and angry.

[Uncle Yuan]

My MM is primarily a soloing toon, so GMs ideas have merit for me.  Frankly, when I do team with my MM enemies tend to go so fast I rarely have time to get my acid mortar out, much less get sophisticated with tactics and traps.  If there's a big fight I may toe in and drop a poison trap, but that's really about it.

[Xenolith]

I solo with my 37 MM (thugs/traps) and find a lot of use for some things that wouldn't be useuful for multi, especially when you are fighting non-shooting foes.  I can't wait to get detonation to deal with those bosses that won't advance into my...erm...trap.  :)

[GhostMachine]

First of all, no one in their right mind would walk right up and drop a Trip Mine at the feet of an AV or most EBs. What I do, and this won't be possible for a soloing MM without a hold, is Tesla Cage a mob and walk up and drop a mine at its feet. Most of the time, the mine will be more than enough to blow up said mob.

Second, I've rarely, if ever, had TP Foe fail more than once on a mob that it was capable of teleporting. I can probably count the # of times it has on one hand.

Third, you shouldn't have to lay more than 3 or 4 mines in most situations, anyway once they're properly slotted.

Fourth, they can be used to set a trap. Lets say you've got someone in your group who is herding mobs. What you do is go to a point you know the herder will be dragging the mobs through or directly to but far enough away that you won't have to worry about them attacking you while you lay mines. You drop a few mines and hopefully blow up a few mobs when the herder drags them back. (I love using them during some of the RWZ missions - if I have the time to actually use them, that is)

[Midnight]

I had a whole writeup but honestly this covers my only point:

Detonator's damage is higher than most blaster nukes.

[GhostMachine]

I had a whole writeup but honestly this covers my only point:

Detonator's damage is higher than most blaster nukes.

This is going by SherkSilver's builder (yes, I know its out of date since it doesn't include the most recent powersets, but I still use it to figure out a few things from time to time), and the powers are unslotted:

Detonator total dmg: 12.667
Thunderous Blast total dmg: 13.889
Nova total dmg: 19.4434
Dreadful Wail total dmg: 19.446
Inferno total dmg: same as Dreadful Wail
Blizzard total dmg: 25.05

It only beats Assault Rifle's Full Auto and Archery's Rain of Arrows, and Detonator has a longer recharge time (600) than all the Blaster final nukes. Plus you have to sacrifice a henchman to use the Detonator.

Unslotted Trip Mine (MM version, anyway): 11.265, Recharge 20

[Verfall]

You say you don't want stamina, but damn if it doesn't make setup times shorter. Ditto for hasten. On my bots/dark I save hasten for set up and eb's+. Dark does get a lot more use out of hasten mind you, but the help with set up speeds is invaluable.

I know people say MM's can play without stamina, but I just hate downtime, especially when teaming.

[MJB]

I don't have a bots/traps MM but I feel the need to chime in. My thugs/dark MM praised the day he picked up hasten. The cut in set up time alone was more than worth it.

-MJB

[ThePrelate]

I think Medicine is invaluable.. for your pets, yourself, your player teammates.. it's always a good choice :)

[Midnight]

Mids' Hero Designer v1.3 (Database Issue: 11 - Updated: 30/11/07)

Rain of Arrows: 150.1
Full Auto: 156.9
Thunderous Blast: 236.3
Nova: 271.1
Inferno: 419.7
Blizzard: 501
Dreadful Wail: 271.1

Detonator: 305.9

You can also resummon a henchman almost immediately. As I recall the third tier pet takes only 2 minutes to recharge and you're probably not settind detonator off at every single mob. Sure rebuffing him is a pain, but there's no endurance crash like a Blaster/Corruptor nuke.

[Uncle Yuan]

I read a post somewhere that implied that Detonator's damage is proportional to the rank pet its used on, i.e. Assault Bot does more damage than Combat Drones.  True?

I'm now contemplating taking this.  Especially since none of the Patron Pools are lighting my fuse.

[captainspud]

That's possible. I only ever tried it on minions, and it was pathetic considering the investment.

[Verfall]

TW uses it on his Bruiser I believe. It seemed stupidly powerful from what I remember.

[Ephemeris]

Sometimes I wish I could strap the bomb to a teamate. :D

[Tortuga]

Sometimes I wish I could strap the bomb to a teamate. :D

Ooh!! Pick me! Pick me!

[Uncle Yuan]

Here's the result from a thread I started on the CoH forums:

Detonation is considered to originate from the affected pet, so pet level and Inspirations affect the damage done.

Same mechanics as Noxious Gas.  It's a multiplier based on the pet.  Tier 1 pets are .75, tier 2 is 1.00 and tier 3 pets are 1.25.  Take you base Detonation damage and multiply it accordingly.

So, drop a couple of reds on your boss and turn him loose to nuke!

[Midnight]

Does this mean I win?

[GhostMachine]

I picked up Detonator just for the heck of it on my Mercs\Traps MM (I have a free respec I plan on using eventually, and it was either that or Serum or Tactics), and it does some pretty nice damage. Aside from the fact you have to have your pet near the target when you trigger it (you target the pet you want to go boom, not a target, when you use it), I like it. It would probably be a better choice for MMs with melee henchmen.

And man, I didn't realize just how outdated\wrong on stats SherkSilver's builder was - I know its pretty much no longer being supported. I've been using Mids' for about the past two weeks.