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m (New costume, yo! Issue 16 let me change the color of the poison, so new costume colors too.)
(Complete revamp of the article. Feel free to comment on its talk page!)
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== Another Day, Another Beaker ==
 
== Another Day, Another Beaker ==
 
[[Image:GuyPerfect_BtB_Costume2.png|165px|right]]
 
[[Image:GuyPerfect_BtB_Costume2.png|165px|right]]
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Another day, another beaker. Working at WetWare Engineering has its ups and downs. The pay is great, but working as a research assistant could bear to be more exciting. Instead, it's boring. Dreadfully boring. Time that could be spent performing actual research is replaced instead by refilling the researcher's no-spill coffee cup and gazing longingly at the eyepiece of the microscope while it's already in use. Just how long does this kind of internship even last? Such were the sentiments of Rachel Biggers, the assistant of research in the Biological and Cybernetics department. She'd rather go work at a coffee shop, where at least there will be a sense of satisfaction in filling cups all day long.
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They laughed when I went to work at WetWare Engineering, saying I'd never have the patience to reverse-engineer biological slop. They laughed when I crafted my own little combat narcotics, claiming chemical warfare is worthless if it wears off so fast. They laughed when I told them I would infiltrate the Arachnos flier when it attacked Zigursky Pennitentiary and stow away to the Rogue Isles. And even Arachnos laughed when I told them I wasn't interested in recruiting for henchmen. I've got my own ideas; my own goals... There's no reason I have to obey some preconceived laws of the universe just because everyone else does. That's not the way I'm wired up.
  
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Rachel is an endeavorous type who finds inspiration in every corner of life and seeks ways to put these ideas to use. Using the knowledge and techniques that she learned at WetWare, she privately conducted her own research and development on various short-term narcotics. These toxins could either be beneficial or detremental to the subject affected by them, but their effects are entirely harmless and wear off after a few seconds. She sold a few recipes to the highest bidder on an underground scientific website run by one of Dr. Vahzilok's former colleagues, but didn't find the proceeds worthwhile. Many villains in the Rogue Isles are making good use of these narcotics, which they simply call poison, but they're only making a minor splash in the grand scheme of things. Rachel eventually took to finding other ways to apply her skills and curiosities.
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My name is Rachel Biggers, though friends call me Bobbie. Long story. I say friends, but I don't suppose that's entirely accurate... I've never really been too close to anyone. I can't stand the way people embrace tradition like it's the only way to do things. Heck, if people weren't constantly shoving it in my face, I'd forget about Christmas and be happier for it. I long for the day when I can stand out doing my own thing--proving to everyone else that it not only works, but works well--and watch as their jaws sway in the breeze in amazement. The rules of life can be broken, but they say it can't be done. If I present myself as a living example, on the other hand, how can they hope to refute my hopes and dreams?
  
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Not too long ago, Rachel found through her channels that Arachnos was planning to execute a jailbreak on Zigursky Penitentiary in Brickstown, supposedly to retrieve someone whom they thought possessed the qualities necessary to fulfill some kind of destiny. Rachel saw quite a bit of opportunity in such an event, and got straight to work. She integrated her poison technology into a combat-capable suit and tested it out on some of the lesser gang members in Paragon City before instating herself into the Zig. It's not certain how she managed to infiltrate such a powerful prison and register herself as an inmate without ever even having been arrested, but if the records say she should be there, then prison security isn't going to argue with it.
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I'm a registered villain now, but I'm not super in any way. I have no extraordinary strength or ability to shoot flames from my fingertips. I'm unremarkable in every way, except one: I'm smart and I'm determined to make the most of it. If it weren't illegal for non-metahumans to arbitrarily fight crime in Paragon City, I'd be spending my time there. Registered heroes are allowed to beat up anyone on the streets who happens to have blue skin even if they're not breaking any laws, but civilians like me get in all sorts of legal trouble if we attempt to put a stop to a warehouse raid or bank robbery. I figure I can beat up the same villains for the same reasons in the Rogue Isles, and no one will even toss me a suspicious glance. A win-lose situation, perhaps, but it gives me an opportunity to do what I believe I can accomplish.
  
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Sure enough, in came Arachnos and out went the Destined One. And of course, Rachel followed. She managed to escape detection and boarded the flier that Arachnos had waiting outside the prison, and stowed away while the target inmate was also brought on board and returned to the Rogue Isles. Disembarking at Fort Darwin in Mercy Island, no one seemed to notice that she wasn't supposed to be there. Just as well. If any of those Arachnos personnel were bright enough to realize that something was amiss, it would be difficult to talk her way out of it. But fortunately, it didn't come to that.
+
Bob the Biohazard is my villainous handle. I can get away with it because my gas mask alters my voice, and my costume has disguised the fact that I'm a woman. The mask isn't just for filtering air intake, mind you: in battle, it dispenses a powerful sedative in a huge cloud in front of me. In fact, my costume as a whole is a custom combat suit designed to introduce the fruits of my WetWare training to the battlefield. Every time I bust down an evil laboratory, I get more toys to play with, so I'm constantly improvising and improving my chemical arsenal. The way I see it, even though I'm not super, I can still take you on by making you less super.
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+
−
After registering with the Arbiters, Rachel was taken in for an assessment and classification in the Arachnos record books. Her combat suit completely hides her identity, and the special potion-emitting gas mask she wears alters her voice to divert suspicion of her true nature. Masquerading as a male villain, she was officially registered in the Rogue Isles under the moniker Bob the Biohazard. Psychological testing revealed Rachel's--or Bob's, as it were--ability to plot and execute schemes in a role of battlefield commander to be superior to other villains, and she was thusly identified as a Mastermind. When asked where she would be recruiting for minions, she expressed no interest in doing so. Much to her delight, none of the personnel took her seriously, which is just what she wanted. Now she would be able to set out on her own and finally have a job worth waking up to in the morning without the ever-watching eye of Arachnos keeping tabs on her activities.
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The idea of taking down Lord Recluse on his own turf was a wonderful notion, and Rachel couldn't pass up such an opportunity. She'd also get to spend every hour of every day bashing in the heads of ''real'' villains. She'd even get to lay some smack-down on Longbow, who have a history of opposing the Vanguard, an organization defending the entire world from the Rikti menace. It's a win-win-win situation, and it sure beats sitting around in a lab coat all day every day. Once she makes a name for herself in the Rogue Isles, Rachel plans to bring her new Bob the Biohazard identity back to Paragon City where she can fight evil as a bona fide hero.
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Another day, another beaker. Rachel prepares for her activities once again by concocting a new round of poison for her combat suit. Each time she busts some evil laboratory, she gets some more toys to play with, and is constantly designing new and unusual ways to intoxicate her foes. Though only armed with a pair of handguns and relatively weak body armor, Rachel has finally found one place that makes her happy in a twisted sort of way.
+
  
 +
All I have to fight with are a pair of lightweight firearms and my own two fists, but I can build better bullets; I can make myself stronger with new potions; I can improve my body armor. It's just gonna take some time and a lot of money, but I'm in the right business for that. I will become super, at least to an extent, and then I will return to Paragon City to show them what I've become. Another day, another beaker, and it won't be much longer before it will be my turn to laugh.
  
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{{clr}}
 
== Character Details ==
 
== Character Details ==
  
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|-
 
|-
 
|'''Threat Level:'''
 
|'''Threat Level:'''
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|34
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|35
 
|-
 
|-
 
|'''Primary:'''
 
|'''Primary:'''
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|-
 
|-
 
|'''Updated:'''
 
|'''Updated:'''
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|November 26, 2009
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|November 27, 2009
 
|}</DIV>
 
|}</DIV>
 
| Width=16 | &nbsp;
 
| Width=16 | &nbsp;
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[[Image:Fitness_Health.png|Fitness/Health]]
 
[[Image:Fitness_Health.png|Fitness/Health]]
 
[[Image:Fitness_Stamina.png|Fitness/Stamina]]
 
[[Image:Fitness_Stamina.png|Fitness/Stamina]]
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[[Image:Flight_ArialAssault.png|Flight/Air Superiority]]<BR>
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[[Image:Flight_CombatFlight.png|Flight/Hover]]<BR>
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[[Image:Flight_ArialAssault.png|Flight/Air Superiority]]
 
[[Image:Flight_TravelFlight.png|Flight/Fly]]
 
[[Image:Flight_TravelFlight.png|Flight/Fly]]
 
[[Image:Teleportation_RecallTeleport.png|Teleportation/Recall Friend]]<BR>
 
[[Image:Teleportation_RecallTeleport.png|Teleportation/Recall Friend]]<BR>
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== Why on Earth!? ==
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== To Gimp or Not to Gimp ==
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If you read through the wall of text that is the character biography, you'll probably be wondering what was or was not going through my mind when I decided to make a [[Mastermind]] with no Henchmen. If you're not disappointed enough already, also know that the build focuses on melee damage as well as ranged. A gimp doomed to fail you say? Well, maybe so, but I've played this concept in the 30's before a number of non-performance-related issues convinced me to delete it. Well, things are different this time, so I've re-rolled.
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The question passed down through the ages is "Why make a [[Mastermind]] with no [[Henchmen]]?" The answer, quite unsurprisingly, is generally "Because I can." It's something different to do, and after making a few characters that completely demolish anything that manages to squeeze its way into the targeting reticle, it's a welcome change. The game's been in easy mode for the last few years, so why not do something people think is impossible and make a decent character out of a Mastermind with no Henchmen? The initial knee-jerk reaction to the suggestion is typically that such a character is doomed to fail. Even after being presented with evidence that it may be closer to "limp out of it barely breathing" rather than "fail," people still seem to insist that it's a dead end and the only way it can end is if you wind up dead. Well, that's their problem, I suppose. If I can prove otherwise, I just might have my chance of making history in the course of character builds in the community.
  
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With the advent of [[Dual Pistols]] coming with (or before) the [[Going Rogue]] expansion and the introduciton of [[Leviathan Mastery#Knockout Blow|Knockout Blow]] and retention of [[Leviathan Mastery#Bile Spray|Bile Spray]] for Masterminds, I've made a decision. Bob the Biohazard ''must'' have guns and shark vomit. [[Corruptor]]s will be getting the guns, but they don't have access to the shark vomit. Ergo, Bob the Biohazard must remain a Mastermind. This is the ''what'' of the situation. Now for the ''why''...
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Combat effectiveness is a two-fold interweaving of one's survivability and aptness to dispatch one's enemies. If you can take a hit and dish one out, you'll come out on top. Masterminds have a different approach to this equation than any other archetype, however: they come in seven distinct pieces, and any one piece will be terribly inadequate in battle by itself. To remove all six Henchmen from a Mastermind, therefore, is to trim off six sevenths of what the Mastermind as a class was designed to be in the first place... and that's a lot to make up for. Fortunately, it's not as hopeless as it seems. A lot of a Mastermind's potential is lost due to babysitting the Henchmen, so they generally underperform compared to what they're technically capable of. [[Invention Origin Enhancement Sets|Set bonuses]] also give a convenient way to buff one's base stats, and by the look of things, a Mastermind with no Henchmen can actually be made more effective than certain other stock archetypes.
  
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[[Poison]] is... well, it's downright amazing. A relatively uncommon decision with Masterminds, which itself is a relatively uncommon (on most servers, at any rate) decision when choosing an archetype. You simply don't see much of Poison, and most people don't have any extensive experience with it. But that doesn't change the fact that it's completely awesome. It's generally overlooked in favor of [[Radiation Emission]], so Corruptors tend to ignore the fact that Poison even exists. What's left are the few Masterminds who pick the set, and of course they'll be playing it as though they were a Mastermind, which kinda cobbles together the aspects of their primary and secondary powersets.
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I've chosen [[Thugs]] for the [[Dual Pistols]] attacks, as at the time of this writing, it is still prior to the release of [[Going Rogue]] and I want to be the one who says "been there, done that" when it's all said and done. I also opted for [[Poison]], because it's a really cool concept and powerset design and you simply don't see a lot of it. Besides, it's the only buff set that's currently exclusive to Masterminds. If I'm gonna be different, I'm gonna be different, darn it! So I get Thugs and Poison and no Henchmen and I get to see what I can do with it. Sounds like fun! I'm using the alternate build feature to level Bob the Biohazard using Henchmen (since that's a much more efficient way to level), and I've designed a Henchman-less build that I think will actually be reasonably effective.
  
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'''Why #1''': I will be playing Poison as a Corruptor would to showcase its features without having the usual Mastermind aspects getting in the way. I simply find this fun to do.
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Let's take a look at the problem with a point-for-point perspective:
  
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Next comes the issue of archetype attribute modifiers for Mastermind. Masterminds have the lowest HP of any archetype and no defensive capabilities, which places Bob the Biohazard in a rather compromising situation. Masterminds can draw HP from their Henchmen when in Bodyguard mode, but with no Henchmen, this Mastermind is completely unprotected. Next, Thugs only gives access to three ranged attacks, which, coupled with the Mastermind's low ranged damage output, makes for a rather unimpressive display when dispatching enemies. The archetype's inherent power, Supremacy, is completely worthless in this situation and all of the aforementioned drawbacks need to be addressed. Ah, but I have a plan!
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:{|
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|-
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===Hit Points===
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The deciding factor of a character's survivability during battle is whether or not their [[Hit Points]] are greater than zero. If you can keep the HP above 0, you will live and therefore succeed. The most direct approach to keeping this number greater than zero, of course, is by raising the starting point. To buff one's hit points is to make one last longer in battle. This is part of a two-fold survivability technique that also incorporates [[Damage Resistance]], but we'll get to that in a moment.
  
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'''Why #2''': Can a Mastermind with no pets, but with clever use of Set Bonuses, outperform the average character? I intend to find out.
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Of all the archetypes, Mastermind has the lowest base hit points: weighing in at only 803.2 at level 50. The next-lowest are [[Defender]] and [[Controller]] with 1017.4 HP (requiring the Mastermind have a +26.7% boost to HP to match it), followed by [[Corruptor]] and all four [[Epic Archetypes]] at 1070.9 HP (+33.4% boost), then [[Blaster]] at 1204.8 HP (+50% boost). Anything else is effectively out-of-reach, because the likelihood of a Mastermind being able to boost his own hit points even 50% are pretty slim due to the number of Enhancements that can be slotted and the [[Law of Fives]].
  
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In the end, I remember how much fun it was to play the character even though it underperformed. So I've decided to play it again, even if I can't get it to overperform.
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Fortunately, there are three +HP [[CoV Accolade Powers|Accolades]] that make up for that first +20%, meaning IO set bonuses need only account for +6.7% to match Defender and Controller.
  
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In the build I've prepared, total hit point boost comes to +40.25%, which is well over Defender and Controller, and happens to overshoot Corruptor as well. This brings Bob the Biohazard to 1144.5 HP, which is effectively unheard of for Masterminds. I'm convinced a +50% build is possible, but I had to balance the HP buffs with the damage buffs, so some of the boost had to be cut out to make everything fit.
  
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== Number Theory ==
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===Damage Resistance===
 +
Next up for survivability is Damage Resistance, which eliminates incoming damage; making the Mastermind lose fewer hit points each time he gets hit. When coupled with a boost to the hit points themselves, this means a smaller and smaller percentage of the Mastermind's total hit points are lost every time he is attacked, so the higher the resistance, the better.
  
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Masterminds come in seven pieces, usually: the Mastermind himself, then six [[Henchmen]]. All of which have low damage and low hit points compared to characters of other archetypes, but the catch here is that just one player is in control of all seven pieces. More aggro, less impact of enemies ganging up on a single target, damage from more angles, and of course higher overall damage output. For the concept of Bob the Biohazard to play out, those six henchmen need to be cut out of the picture, which leaves this particular Mastermind at only one seventh what it could be if it bothered to obey the laws of the universe.
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IO set bonuses have a variety of damage resistances, but they usually require 5 or 6 of a set to be slotted in the same power, they are only minor boosts, and they only apply to one or two damage types. From IOs, the only one I'd consider slotting in Bob the Biohazard is [[Shield Wall: Teleportation Protection, +Res(All)]]: it's a +3% Resistance buff to all damage types and only requires one Enhancement. Plus, it's teleport protection to boot! But alas, this particular Enhancement has "really expensive" written all over it, and the fact that it's a PvP Enhancement doesn't help, so I'm not counting on this one ever making it into the build.
  
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To outperform stock archetypes of any kind, the base stats of the Mastermind will need to be boosted. Of course, this is only nominally effective, as any self-respecting character of another archetype will find ways to boost their own stats, thereby surpassing the Mastermind once again. But for the sake of this experiment, we're going to say that it won't happen that way. The Mastermind will outperform ''something'', assuming the something doesn't buff itself outside of ordinary Enhancements.
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Otherwise, the only Damage Resistance a Mastermind will get comes from toggle powers. Fortunately, Mastermind gets the same Damage Resistance [[Attribute Modifiers|modifier]] as [[Tanker]], which is the highest in the game. There's [[Fighting#Tough|Tough]] from the [[Fighting]] pool, which grants Masterminds +15.0% Resistance to Smashing and Lethal damage. There are also the shields from the [[Patron Power Pools]], which grant +27.5% Resistance to Smashing and Lethal and some other themed damage type. For Smashing and Lethal, therefore, there's 42.5% resistance, which can be Enhanced to around +64% with Single Origin Enhancements. In PvP, if for some reason something possessed you to take a petless Mastermind into PvP, this would apply to ALL damage types, meaning you'd shrug off two thirds of all incoming damage in addition to your HP buffs.
  
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Since the Mastermind has, for the most part, the lowest stats of any archetype, it'd make sense to set the sights on the next-lowest archetype and work up from there. In this case, we're talking [[Hit Points]] and [[Damage Scale]] specifically:
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In the build I've prepared, Damage Resistance from the toggle shields comes to +66.75%. If somehow that Shield Wall finds its way in, this will be bumped to just short of 70% resistance, which itself is barely shy of the [[Hard Cap]] of 75% Resistance for Masterminds.
  
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* Masterminds have 803.2 HP at level 50, and [[Defender]]s and [[Controller]]s both have 1017.4. This means that if the Mastermind hopes to compare on this front, his HP will need to be boosted by at least 26.7% just to match that 1017.4, let alone surpass it.
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===Knockback Protection===
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* The Defender becomes the target again for damage output, as it's the next-weakest class with dedicated ranged damage. The melee damage modifiers for Defender and Mastermind are the same, but Defenders have 0.65 ranged damage and Masterminds have 0.55. This means the base damage of the Mastermind needs a boost of at least 18.2% to match that of Defender.
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The remaining survivability simply comes in the form of Knockback protection. There's a simple fact that you can't fight very well while laying on your back, so staying on your feet is important. [[Karma]], [[Steadfast Protection]] and [[Blessing of the Zephyr]] all offer Enhancements that grant 4 points of -Knockback to the character, and multiples of each can be slotted in the same build.
 +
 
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The build I've prepared makes use of leftover slots and powers, and accounts for 8 points of Knockback protection.
 +
 
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===Damage===
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The other half of the combat effectiveness equation is how much damage you can dish out. While the Mastermind doesn't have the lowest [[Damage Scale]]s of all the archetypes, they're not very high. The values for Mastermind are 0.55 for both melee and ranged damage. While this places Mastermind on par with Defender and Controller for melee damage, Defender has a 0.65 ranged modifier (requiring a +18.2% boost to match it), and the next lowest is Corruptor at 0.75 (+36.4% boost) for both attack types. There are enough different kinds of damage boosts in IO set bonuses that require only two or three Enhancements from a set, so getting a Mastermind to do +36.4% damage is not out of the question.
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In the build I've prepared, total damage boost comes to +22.0%, placing Bob the Biohazard's melee and ranged damage modifiers at 0.67. Again, it could theoretically be higher, but things were trimmed out to allow for both hit point and damage boosts.
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|}
  
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I've done a lot of crunching on the numbers that I'd like to use with this particular Mastermind build; using powers I want to have, raising the stats to the levels I want, and enhancing everything so it fits my personal criteria for "acceptable performance." My standards are generally pretty high, too: I like at least 1.9X Accuracy on all powers if I can manage it, for example. The following are the goals I defined prior to specing the build:
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Bob the Biohazard has a few extra toys thrown in, too:
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* No "purples" or PvP sets will be used, due to their low availability. Sets should be at most Rare.
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* The [[Poison]] powerset, along with [[Leviathan Mastery#Bile Spray|Bile Spray]] from [[Leviathan Mastery]], fit in with the "biohazard" concept really well, so the character will need take that Epic pool.
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* The character will use melee as auxiliary damage in light of the void left by excluding the Henchman powers. Since [[Leviathan Mastery#Knockout Blow|Knockout Blow]] happens to be in Leviathan Mastery as well, this works out really nicely.
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* Following up on the "biohazard" scheme, additional Toxic damage should be introduced. The only way this is possible for this character is to make use of two [[Gladiator's Javelin: Chance for Toxic Damage]] enhancements, and PvP IOs are extremely expensive on the market. Either way, their inclusion has been accounted for. This seemingly violates the first specified goal, but keep in mind that these Enhancements are being used for concept purposes and not in the same way as the other IO sets.
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* As stated above, the character's base HP must be boosted by at least 26.7% and its base Damage must be boosted by at least 18.2%.
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* Since there are no Henchmen to distract enemy aggro or provide the protection of [[Mastermind_Strategy#Bodyguard|Bodyguard]] stance, survivability is paramount. Damage resistance and hit points should be maximized in the build, and knockback protection should be present.
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* The character should be fun to play. Like, duh!
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After much time, counting and mixing/matching Enhancements with powers, I've prepared a build that accounts for all of these, and actually surpasses my expectations:
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* Since it's, you know, a chemical warrior thematically, it only makes sense to go for [[Leviathan Mastery#Bile Spray|Bile Spray]] from [[Leviathan Mastery]]. The gas mask would make that look awesome too. And since it's Toxic damage, there's not a lot that's going to resist it, which is of course a bonus.
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* 1144.5 HP - Set bonuses, when stacked with the [[CoV Accolade Powers|Accolades]], make for a 40.25% boost to hit points; a much higher boost than the specified requirement. Not only does this surpass Defender and Controller, but it trumps [[Corruptor]] and the [[Epic Archetype]]s as well (1070.9). I am convinced that a 50% boost is possible, which is the amount needed to match [[Blaster]] hit points (1204.8), but I wasn't able to work that much into this build AND keep powers enhanced the way I wanted. I had what I thought was a 50% HP build, but I'd forgotten about the [[Invention_Origin_Enhancement_Set_Bonuses#The_Law_of_Fives|Law of Fives]] and had to re-examine which sets I used.
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* Speaking of Toxic damage, there's a particular enhancement called [[Gladiator's Javelin: Chance for Toxic Damage]] that adds Toxic damage to ranged attacks. Now, this is a PvP Enhancement, so it will be hard to come by (at the time of this posting, it's going for 400 million on the Black Market, and I need two of them), but it's just too perfect to pass up. The [[Invention Origin Enhancement Proc Damage Scaling|amount of damage from a damage proc]] at level 50 is 71.75 damage, and this particular proc has a 20% chance of working. That means every five times Bob fires off [[Thugs#Pistols|Pistols]] or [[Thugs#Dual Wield|Dual Wield]], there's going to be that much damage on top of it. Now here's the thing: Enhanced, Pistols is going to do 59.68 damage and Dual Wield will do 78.76... that is, because of my low Mastermind ranged damage, those Enhancements will roughly double my damage output when they work. And it's Toxic to boot, which is like a chemical bullet. It's a win at so many different angles that I simply can't pass it up.
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* 0.67 Damage Scale - Damage boosts from set bonuses come to an even 22%, which is 4% more than what I was shooting for. Since Mastermind ranged and melee scalars are both the same, this makes the dual pistols ''and'' makeshift [[Super Strength]] clones more powerful than Defender attacks, and are technically closer to [[Corruptor]] level than traditional Mastermind level. There's still a lot of room to buff damage with IOs, but between available Enhancement slots and those used for hit points, I had to cut it short to make it all fit.
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* The void left by omitting the Henchman powers is being filled by auxiliary melee damage. It sounds like a terrible joke to make a melee-capable Mastermind, but with the level of survivability we're talking about, it's not such a bad idea. I've taken [[Fighting#Boxing|Boxing]] and [[Flight#Air Superiority|Air Superiority]], which are kinda like weaker versions of [[Super Strength#Jab|Jab]] and [[Super Strength#Haymaker|Haymaker]] from [[Super Strength]], respectively. The icing on this particular cake is that Leviathan Mastery happens to have a [[Leviathan Mastery#Knockout Blow|true copy]] of [[Super Strength#Knockout Blow|Knockout Blow]], which is one of my favorite attacks in the game. So again, here's to Leviathan Mastery.
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* 66.75% Damage Resistance - Smashing and Lethal in PvE; all damage in PvP. Bodyguard at full effect will trim off 75% of all incoming damage to the Mastermind, although the damage is distributed to each of the Henchmen. In this case, Bob the Biohazard will shrug off two thirds (rather than three quarters) of all Smashing and Lethal damage, which are the most prominent forms of damage in the game. This stat comes from toggle powers rather than IO set bonuses.
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* With the release of [[Issue 16]], the poison doesn't have to be that dingy yellow/green anymore. So I've colorized all the powers according to the buff or debuff they do: purple for the mez protect, teal for the -speed, etc. Fighting with this character is much more spectacular than it used to be, so I updated the costume colors to celebrate. [[:Image:GuyPerfect_BtB_Costume1.jpg|Click here]] for the classic Bob the Biohazard colors.
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* 8 Knockback protection - A couple of spare Enhancement slots make Bob the Biohazard one steadfast renegade.
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At least on paper, it's looking like a Henchman-less Mastermind can indeed outperform various base stats of other archetypes. Again, it'd be trivial for those other archetypes to buff their own stats to get far out of reach of the Mastermind, but that's not the point! We'll see how this goes in a month or two when Bob the Biohazard can start slotting level 50 Enhancements.
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Bob the Biohazard is nearing level 50, so the build I've been dreaming of will become a reality before too long. I've just recently finished slotting [[User:GuyPerfect/Little Elmo|Little Elmo]], a character I made for the express purpose of farming Enhancements for Bob, so all is ready to make this happen. In the end, I hope to have a capable Mastermind with no Henchmen and make it work well. Maybe the community will even take notice? Only one way to find out...

Revision as of 07:16, 28 November 2009

Another Day, Another Beaker

GuyPerfect BtB Costume2.png

They laughed when I went to work at WetWare Engineering, saying I'd never have the patience to reverse-engineer biological slop. They laughed when I crafted my own little combat narcotics, claiming chemical warfare is worthless if it wears off so fast. They laughed when I told them I would infiltrate the Arachnos flier when it attacked Zigursky Pennitentiary and stow away to the Rogue Isles. And even Arachnos laughed when I told them I wasn't interested in recruiting for henchmen. I've got my own ideas; my own goals... There's no reason I have to obey some preconceived laws of the universe just because everyone else does. That's not the way I'm wired up.

My name is Rachel Biggers, though friends call me Bobbie. Long story. I say friends, but I don't suppose that's entirely accurate... I've never really been too close to anyone. I can't stand the way people embrace tradition like it's the only way to do things. Heck, if people weren't constantly shoving it in my face, I'd forget about Christmas and be happier for it. I long for the day when I can stand out doing my own thing--proving to everyone else that it not only works, but works well--and watch as their jaws sway in the breeze in amazement. The rules of life can be broken, but they say it can't be done. If I present myself as a living example, on the other hand, how can they hope to refute my hopes and dreams?

I'm a registered villain now, but I'm not super in any way. I have no extraordinary strength or ability to shoot flames from my fingertips. I'm unremarkable in every way, except one: I'm smart and I'm determined to make the most of it. If it weren't illegal for non-metahumans to arbitrarily fight crime in Paragon City, I'd be spending my time there. Registered heroes are allowed to beat up anyone on the streets who happens to have blue skin even if they're not breaking any laws, but civilians like me get in all sorts of legal trouble if we attempt to put a stop to a warehouse raid or bank robbery. I figure I can beat up the same villains for the same reasons in the Rogue Isles, and no one will even toss me a suspicious glance. A win-lose situation, perhaps, but it gives me an opportunity to do what I believe I can accomplish.

Bob the Biohazard is my villainous handle. I can get away with it because my gas mask alters my voice, and my costume has disguised the fact that I'm a woman. The mask isn't just for filtering air intake, mind you: in battle, it dispenses a powerful sedative in a huge cloud in front of me. In fact, my costume as a whole is a custom combat suit designed to introduce the fruits of my WetWare training to the battlefield. Every time I bust down an evil laboratory, I get more toys to play with, so I'm constantly improvising and improving my chemical arsenal. The way I see it, even though I'm not super, I can still take you on by making you less super.

All I have to fight with are a pair of lightweight firearms and my own two fists, but I can build better bullets; I can make myself stronger with new potions; I can improve my body armor. It's just gonna take some time and a lot of money, but I'm in the right business for that. I will become super, at least to an extent, and then I will return to Paragon City to show them what I've become. Another day, another beaker, and it won't be much longer before it will be my turn to laugh.


Character Details

Statistics:
Name:   Bob the Biohazard
Server: Pinnacle
Alignment: Badge defeatrecluse.png Villain
Archetype: V archetypeicon mastermind.png Mastermind
Threat Level: 35
Primary: Thugs
Secondary: Poison
Updated: November 27, 2009
  Powers: (Hover mouse)

Thugs/Pistols Thugs/Dual Wield Thugs/Empty Clips Poison/Alkaloid
Poison/Envenom Poison/Weaken Poison/Neurotoxic Breath Poison/Elixir of Life
Poison/Antidote Poison/Paralytic Poison Fighting/Boxing Fighting/Tough
Fitness/Swift Fitness/Health Fitness/Stamina Flight/Hover
Flight/Air Superiority Flight/Fly Teleportation/Recall Friend

  


To Gimp or Not to Gimp

The question passed down through the ages is "Why make a Mastermind with no Henchmen?" The answer, quite unsurprisingly, is generally "Because I can." It's something different to do, and after making a few characters that completely demolish anything that manages to squeeze its way into the targeting reticle, it's a welcome change. The game's been in easy mode for the last few years, so why not do something people think is impossible and make a decent character out of a Mastermind with no Henchmen? The initial knee-jerk reaction to the suggestion is typically that such a character is doomed to fail. Even after being presented with evidence that it may be closer to "limp out of it barely breathing" rather than "fail," people still seem to insist that it's a dead end and the only way it can end is if you wind up dead. Well, that's their problem, I suppose. If I can prove otherwise, I just might have my chance of making history in the course of character builds in the community.

Combat effectiveness is a two-fold interweaving of one's survivability and aptness to dispatch one's enemies. If you can take a hit and dish one out, you'll come out on top. Masterminds have a different approach to this equation than any other archetype, however: they come in seven distinct pieces, and any one piece will be terribly inadequate in battle by itself. To remove all six Henchmen from a Mastermind, therefore, is to trim off six sevenths of what the Mastermind as a class was designed to be in the first place... and that's a lot to make up for. Fortunately, it's not as hopeless as it seems. A lot of a Mastermind's potential is lost due to babysitting the Henchmen, so they generally underperform compared to what they're technically capable of. Set bonuses also give a convenient way to buff one's base stats, and by the look of things, a Mastermind with no Henchmen can actually be made more effective than certain other stock archetypes.

I've chosen Thugs for the Dual Pistols attacks, as at the time of this writing, it is still prior to the release of Going Rogue and I want to be the one who says "been there, done that" when it's all said and done. I also opted for Poison, because it's a really cool concept and powerset design and you simply don't see a lot of it. Besides, it's the only buff set that's currently exclusive to Masterminds. If I'm gonna be different, I'm gonna be different, darn it! So I get Thugs and Poison and no Henchmen and I get to see what I can do with it. Sounds like fun! I'm using the alternate build feature to level Bob the Biohazard using Henchmen (since that's a much more efficient way to level), and I've designed a Henchman-less build that I think will actually be reasonably effective.

Let's take a look at the problem with a point-for-point perspective:

Hit Points

The deciding factor of a character's survivability during battle is whether or not their Hit Points are greater than zero. If you can keep the HP above 0, you will live and therefore succeed. The most direct approach to keeping this number greater than zero, of course, is by raising the starting point. To buff one's hit points is to make one last longer in battle. This is part of a two-fold survivability technique that also incorporates Damage Resistance, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Of all the archetypes, Mastermind has the lowest base hit points: weighing in at only 803.2 at level 50. The next-lowest are Defender and Controller with 1017.4 HP (requiring the Mastermind have a +26.7% boost to HP to match it), followed by Corruptor and all four Epic Archetypes at 1070.9 HP (+33.4% boost), then Blaster at 1204.8 HP (+50% boost). Anything else is effectively out-of-reach, because the likelihood of a Mastermind being able to boost his own hit points even 50% are pretty slim due to the number of Enhancements that can be slotted and the Law of Fives.

Fortunately, there are three +HP Accolades that make up for that first +20%, meaning IO set bonuses need only account for +6.7% to match Defender and Controller.

In the build I've prepared, total hit point boost comes to +40.25%, which is well over Defender and Controller, and happens to overshoot Corruptor as well. This brings Bob the Biohazard to 1144.5 HP, which is effectively unheard of for Masterminds. I'm convinced a +50% build is possible, but I had to balance the HP buffs with the damage buffs, so some of the boost had to be cut out to make everything fit.

Damage Resistance

Next up for survivability is Damage Resistance, which eliminates incoming damage; making the Mastermind lose fewer hit points each time he gets hit. When coupled with a boost to the hit points themselves, this means a smaller and smaller percentage of the Mastermind's total hit points are lost every time he is attacked, so the higher the resistance, the better.

IO set bonuses have a variety of damage resistances, but they usually require 5 or 6 of a set to be slotted in the same power, they are only minor boosts, and they only apply to one or two damage types. From IOs, the only one I'd consider slotting in Bob the Biohazard is Shield Wall: Teleportation Protection, +Res(All): it's a +3% Resistance buff to all damage types and only requires one Enhancement. Plus, it's teleport protection to boot! But alas, this particular Enhancement has "really expensive" written all over it, and the fact that it's a PvP Enhancement doesn't help, so I'm not counting on this one ever making it into the build.

Otherwise, the only Damage Resistance a Mastermind will get comes from toggle powers. Fortunately, Mastermind gets the same Damage Resistance modifier as Tanker, which is the highest in the game. There's Tough from the Fighting pool, which grants Masterminds +15.0% Resistance to Smashing and Lethal damage. There are also the shields from the Patron Power Pools, which grant +27.5% Resistance to Smashing and Lethal and some other themed damage type. For Smashing and Lethal, therefore, there's 42.5% resistance, which can be Enhanced to around +64% with Single Origin Enhancements. In PvP, if for some reason something possessed you to take a petless Mastermind into PvP, this would apply to ALL damage types, meaning you'd shrug off two thirds of all incoming damage in addition to your HP buffs.

In the build I've prepared, Damage Resistance from the toggle shields comes to +66.75%. If somehow that Shield Wall finds its way in, this will be bumped to just short of 70% resistance, which itself is barely shy of the Hard Cap of 75% Resistance for Masterminds.

Knockback Protection

The remaining survivability simply comes in the form of Knockback protection. There's a simple fact that you can't fight very well while laying on your back, so staying on your feet is important. Karma, Steadfast Protection and Blessing of the Zephyr all offer Enhancements that grant 4 points of -Knockback to the character, and multiples of each can be slotted in the same build.

The build I've prepared makes use of leftover slots and powers, and accounts for 8 points of Knockback protection.

Damage

The other half of the combat effectiveness equation is how much damage you can dish out. While the Mastermind doesn't have the lowest Damage Scales of all the archetypes, they're not very high. The values for Mastermind are 0.55 for both melee and ranged damage. While this places Mastermind on par with Defender and Controller for melee damage, Defender has a 0.65 ranged modifier (requiring a +18.2% boost to match it), and the next lowest is Corruptor at 0.75 (+36.4% boost) for both attack types. There are enough different kinds of damage boosts in IO set bonuses that require only two or three Enhancements from a set, so getting a Mastermind to do +36.4% damage is not out of the question.

In the build I've prepared, total damage boost comes to +22.0%, placing Bob the Biohazard's melee and ranged damage modifiers at 0.67. Again, it could theoretically be higher, but things were trimmed out to allow for both hit point and damage boosts.

Bob the Biohazard has a few extra toys thrown in, too:

  • Since it's, you know, a chemical warrior thematically, it only makes sense to go for Bile Spray from Leviathan Mastery. The gas mask would make that look awesome too. And since it's Toxic damage, there's not a lot that's going to resist it, which is of course a bonus.
  • Speaking of Toxic damage, there's a particular enhancement called Gladiator's Javelin: Chance for Toxic Damage that adds Toxic damage to ranged attacks. Now, this is a PvP Enhancement, so it will be hard to come by (at the time of this posting, it's going for 400 million on the Black Market, and I need two of them), but it's just too perfect to pass up. The amount of damage from a damage proc at level 50 is 71.75 damage, and this particular proc has a 20% chance of working. That means every five times Bob fires off Pistols or Dual Wield, there's going to be that much damage on top of it. Now here's the thing: Enhanced, Pistols is going to do 59.68 damage and Dual Wield will do 78.76... that is, because of my low Mastermind ranged damage, those Enhancements will roughly double my damage output when they work. And it's Toxic to boot, which is like a chemical bullet. It's a win at so many different angles that I simply can't pass it up.
  • The void left by omitting the Henchman powers is being filled by auxiliary melee damage. It sounds like a terrible joke to make a melee-capable Mastermind, but with the level of survivability we're talking about, it's not such a bad idea. I've taken Boxing and Air Superiority, which are kinda like weaker versions of Jab and Haymaker from Super Strength, respectively. The icing on this particular cake is that Leviathan Mastery happens to have a true copy of Knockout Blow, which is one of my favorite attacks in the game. So again, here's to Leviathan Mastery.
  • With the release of Issue 16, the poison doesn't have to be that dingy yellow/green anymore. So I've colorized all the powers according to the buff or debuff they do: purple for the mez protect, teal for the -speed, etc. Fighting with this character is much more spectacular than it used to be, so I updated the costume colors to celebrate. Click here for the classic Bob the Biohazard colors.

Bob the Biohazard is nearing level 50, so the build I've been dreaming of will become a reality before too long. I've just recently finished slotting Little Elmo, a character I made for the express purpose of farming Enhancements for Bob, so all is ready to make this happen. In the end, I hope to have a capable Mastermind with no Henchmen and make it work well. Maybe the community will even take notice? Only one way to find out...

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