The Supportive Magnet Magnetson

Magnet Magnetson, my City of Villains Mastermind, reached threat level 20 whilst defeating Dr Echo in yet another abandoned Arachnid base. I was informed by my supervillain trainer that my outfit was looking a bit shabby and to get myself over to the tailor to sharpen myself up. I was a little upset by this, after all the effort I went in to creating a new look for myself, but it was just his subtle way of pointing out that I could create a second outfit to change in to, not that I had to change the way I normally look.

I also got a new power that I could train, and I had a bit of a choice. I wondered if Group Fly would be worthwhile, but as most people pick a travel power anyway it didn't seem to be vital. Instead, I opted for a defensive bubble that emanates from me and protects anyone inside it, to help with the other defensive shields that are effective on a more personal scale. That was when Zoso reminded me that 'it can be fun to fly with robots', and I realised I had completely forgotten about my minions again, particularly when Group Flight could prevent the robots from dragging law enforcement to my location on bank jobs.

When I was gaining the early levels and the choice of powers that came fairly frequently I avoided the two shields that I could choose, as they could not be used on myself and I was not teaming with anyone or ready for pick-up groups at the time. It was a little while after choosing a different power, probably when I was on my next mission, that I realised I had some robot pals to take care of, and that they most likely counted as not being me, allowing me to be able to shield them. The next couple of power choices were the two defensive shields that I could use to protect team members, and my robots became more robust as a result.

I think I made these silly errors because this is effectively the first support character I have played. My warlock in World of Warcraft had some supportive abilities, but these were minor in comparison to his attack potential, and whilst my warrior in the same game wasn't strictly offensive when in a team she didn't really need to worry about other team members beyond worrying about what all the attacking mobs were doing. And even though the warlock had a minion to help out it was the minion who was the supportive character, the warlock the true power. I am finding that the Mastermind is the support character and the minions are the powers.

I essentially only have one offensive ability in combat, which is the combat rifle I picked at first level. I have bolstered my powers with robots, robot augmentation, and defensive capabilities to protect my robots and control the battlefield. During a fight my main role, at least solo, is to determine which mob the robots attack, cast a detention field around the strongest mob, and pick another mob to continually knock-back with another ability of mine. Apart from also ensuring that the defensive shields are maintained on the robots, and the new defensive bubble, I sit back and ensure that the combat runs smoothly. The robots shouldn't be running off anywhere, the mobs should be controlled and toppling steadily, I can boost effectiveness with inspirations. It's almost like playing the combat in an RTS, but from the front lines with my troops.

The tactics I use seem effective and have seen me progress with few hindrances so far, and I am having a lot of fun with it. I think I'm doing okay with the Mastermind archetype. I sometimes just need to remember that robots are team-mates too.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: city of villains, crossover games, magnet magnetson, robots, world of warcraft