Possessed Mines and Possessed Rockets (oh my!)

[Piece of Mind]

Didn't see a thread for any of them, so decided to gather them all here for reference (in time for Halloween month too). These malevolent, macabre machines have really cool designs (at least I think so), but how good are they in practice?

The possessed mines come in four flavors - Warrior, Magus, Gunner, and Assassin.

Possessed Mine (Warrior)
Talisman slots
Warrior, Sentinel, Warrior
Attacks
Attack - physical damage to a single target.
Flash (3 Power) - physical damage to a single target/critical strike chance (%?)/blind chance 35 %.
Comments
Meh. Attack is the most basic attack, and flash isn't particularly appealing, even if it only costs 3. Pass.

Possessed Mine (Magus)
Talisman slots
Magus, Magus, Warrior
Attacks
Extract - high magic damage to a single target.
Detonate (5 Power) - magic damage to a single target/freeze chance 60%.
Explode (passive) - does true damage to all enemies based on enemy's HP (and user's HP, post-update) to all enemies.
Comments
Interesting passive, it does nothing as long as the mine is alive but could theoretically inflict decent damage upon death. If you have a way of reviving the mine, you can go on to explode another day (actually, does explode work all the time or just once per round? Someone get back to me). Extract isn't particularly exciting (how high is high?) but Detonate is a decent single-enemy disabler.

Possessed Mine (Gunner)
Talisman slots
Magus, Sentinel, Magus
Attacks
Expire - physical and magic damage to all enemies/block beneficial effects chance 50%.
Detonate (5 Power) - magic damage to a single target/freeze chance 60%.
Comments
Expire is good. Blocking beneficial effects can be powerful (see also: Pharaoh Sun Spirit) and can make or break a character. Detonate isn't bad either, but the lack of passive hurts.

Possessed Mine (Assassin)
Talisman slots
Assassin, Assassin, Warrior
Attacks
Expire - physical and magic damage to all enemies/block beneficial effects chance 50%.
Preserve (5 Power) - heals all allies based on user's max HP/extends duration of beneficial effects.
Explode (passive) - does true damage to all enemies based on enemy's HP (and user's HP post-update) to all enemies.
Comments
I've already commented on Expire and Explode above, and they're both on this one along with a heal+stat boost enhancer which would work well after, say, Soldier Eddie's fury. And the Explode passive is always welcome. Attack and Magic are the highest stats. This looks to be the best of the mines in my opinion, working on figuring out a talisman set right now.
Addendum: Extra thoughts and analysis courtesy of Kardas:

I've been thinking: since the Assassin Mine's attack consists of 2 hits per character, it could do decently with proc Talismans. The Void set is good for its survival, and similarly Vampire Talismans help keep it alive. Your damage will go down a little bit though.

Still, I've been using it with full Skill Shards for a few months now, and I think I can give it a bit of an in-depth write-up.

Pros:
- Damage is pretty good, as is the case for an Assassin. ATK and MAGIC together may be inferior to straight up True damage, but it's easier to buff (with a PDK or Warrior CotD for instance).
- Heal is still quite strong, and even better if you have a lot of buffs running.
- Rules in the Gunner Dungeon. A Gunner LoL casting a Fury whose effects got blocked becomes a lot more manageable.

Cons:
- That health is still crap. I get it, the Mine is a glass cannon whose death explosion deals damage to people but:
--> The damage is lackluster and the Mine is still worth more alive
--> Requires a reviver (Pharaoh, Vampire Hunter, Grim Reaper, PWS) in the party to truly make use of it.
--> Easily exploited by enemy Angel of Fear and Assassin/Warrior CotD. Using him in Underworld makes that into a liability.
--> The Prisoner laughs at that Passive.
- The required red Talisman makes little sense because:
--> MAGIC is marginally more important for the Mine because that is needed for the heal.
--> Ruins a set up of 2 sets of 3 Talismans. A Void and a Vampiric set would be an interesting supportive glass cannon variant. A purple and Thief/Invisibility/Energy/Blind/Freeze set would also be fun options.
--> If you want more health via a set of Health Talismans, the ATK and MAGIC stats of the Mine will be thrown out of balance, which is annoying.
- For an AoE attacker blocking Beneficial Effects, the Pharaoh Sun Spirit is still better because:
--> PSS's blocking beneficial effects function is AoE like his attack, unlike the Mine.
--> PSS can take more of a hit.
--> Less hamstrung by required Talisman slots.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I still like the Mine and think it's the third best Assassin you can get out of a common GA soul (topped by Storm Eddie and the Assassin Golden Son), but it's got a lot of untapped potential.

The possessed rockets are three - Magus, Warrior, and Gunner (if there's a fourth I haven't seen it).

Possessed Rockets (Magus)
Talisman slots
Magus, Magus, Magus
Attacks
Trigger - physical and magic damage/bleed chance 30%.
Scramble (3 Power) - magic damage to all enemies/raises Magic of all allies for 2 turns.
Comments
Straightforward and functional, if unexciting. Scramble could be a good support move for a magic-based team.

Possessed Rockets (Warrior)
Talisman slots
Warrior, Warrior, Warrior
Attacks
Target - physical damage to all enemies/accuracy lowered chance 50% for two turns.
Launch (3 Power) - physical damage to all enemies/block beneficial effects chance 30%.
Comments
Damaging all is good, blocking beneficial effects is good. Stats-wise this is pretty strong, hits for quite a bit and is getting buffed in the next update (multiple hits), so keep an eye on it. If it had the Gunner's passive ability it would be perfect. The required talismans help a lot, just load up the Warrior talismans and go to town.

Possessed Rockets (Gunner)
Talisman slots
Gunner, Gunner, Gunner
Attacks
Target - physical damage to all enemies/accuracy lowered chance 50% for two turns.
Detonate (5 Power) - magic damage to a single target/freeze chance 60%.
Energize (Passive) - gain 1 extra Power every turn.
Comments
Deals both physical (Target) and magic (Detonate) damage, and jumpstarts your Power, and the talisman slots were recently fixed so it's a lot more flexible. This also looks like arguably the best of the rockets, tied with the Warrior. I initially wanted to turn it into a Power factory with the Power-stealing talismans (why be a Powerslave, after all?). Could also go mixed damage with various AoE effects.

How about you? Any comments, critiques? Anyone manage to get something good out of these, or have some devastating talisman combo for them?

E: fixed talisman slots.
E2: formatting.
E3: updates and cleaning up!

[Nekroliun]

Talisman slots for the gunner mine are blue green blue

And for opinions, i think that some of them are amazing (assassin mine) and some are... meh (warrior mine) but most are nice...
i could see myself leveling one some time later...

[aur0ra85]

I feel like the warrior rocket will be a beast post update with multiple hits (fire talisman). All of them got buffed.

[Baba-8301]

Red rockets definitely do a job in rifts. Solid damage and block beneficial effects are handy for soldier and sentinel LoL. I use them as the 4th character in assassin as well.

[Piece of Mind]

Thanks for the info Nekroliun! Updating original post accordingly.

[Kardas]

Fantastic post! A little bit of formatting would make it easier to read though. The Assassin Mine looks sweet. I'll work out a talisman build for him some time.

Do you know with what star rank the gunner and assassin mines drop BTW?

[Baba-8301]

2* if I remember correctly.

[Kardas]

For both the Gunner AND the Assassin Mine?

[Spambot9274]

For both the Gunner AND the Assassin Mine?

Just checked my roster, all mines drop at 2 star, SO YOU BETTER GRIMD THE HELL OUT OF THOSE REGULAR GUNNER SOULS!

Also idk on what star rockets drop but my gunner rockets dropped at 3*...

[Kardas]

Huh, here I was thinking the Assassin one dropped as a 3*...

As for the rockets, the Warrior one is drops at 3* and the Magus one drops as a 2*

[Nekroliun]

Huh, here I was thinking the Assassin one dropped as a 3*...

As for the rockets, the Warrior one is drops at 3* and the Magus one drops as a 2*

Well thank god it doesnt... wouldve had to grind ages for it...

[Vaseodin]

I thought the assassin is a 2*. Not sure.

Anyway, there are several effective builds for the assassin. If you want a good healer, put a freeze set on it. If you want maximum damage output, go with a physical attack build. If you want a middle ground, or want to be versatile with pairing him up with some damage boosters (pharaoh dog king, child of the damned, etc.), use purple talismans on him.

I would use one set for health (green overwhelming talisman), but it's not required since you have heals, or if you pair it with a damage blocker like war dog or green bat. The assassin mine is so good, I have upped 2 of them to 5 stars and one has maxed skills. I highly recommend the character.

[Piece of Mind]

Fixed formatting to make it more readable!

The Assassin Mine definitely drops as a 2*, I've already gotten two of them this way. I agree that it's the best mine (possibly also the best Possessed anything) but I'm finding my main problem with making a build is its versatility. It's three things at once - mixed attacker, strategic healer, and suicidal damager - with glass-cannon stats, and trying to focus on one aspect is rather detrimental to the others. And the mandatory talisman slots don't really help*! It's a lot harder to figure out than the more straightforward "pile on Health Overwhelming or Strength Fierc and win". It's a challenge. I love it.

*Still not as bad as Gunner Rockets.

[Kardas]

I'd say drop the focus on the suicidal damaging thing. It's a nice thing when it happens, but you're better off keeping the mine alive. Unless you're running some type of bomb squad headed by Pharaoh Eddie, which would actually be a fun gimmicky team.

My Assassin mine is currently lv80 at 4* and I've been cooking up some possible Talisman loadouts. I'm assuming maxed Talismans here BTW. Note that I plan to use mine in concert with a Pharaoh Dog King, so I'm interested in keeping his magic damage high:
Loadout 1: 3 Freeze Talismans, 2 Resilience Talismans. Has rather good magic damage (and freeze!), but your health will be pathetic. Seriously, at 4* lv 80, the Mine has only 1465 HP! With this set of Talismans maxed, you'd be at 7175 HP. I don't know about you, but I like my characters to have at least 10K HP at rank 4 or above.
Loadout 2: 2 Holy Talismans, 3 Assassin Talismans. Probably the most magic damage you can extract from the Mine. Your health however, is still just as bad as above. You could also use Void Talismans instead of Assassin ones if you're not running Magus Allied Soldier.
Loadout 3: 1 green (Overwhelming), 2 Holy, 2 Resilience. This will still give you good magic damage but your HP is now 13010, which is a lot safer IMO. I haven't settled on a loadout yet, but I'm eyeing this one.

These following loadout probably works best for a balanced mine:
Loadout 4: 1 green (Overwhelming), 3 Freeze/Assassin/Void/Vampiric, 1 Strength (Fierce). A balanced possibility if you still want to run a 3 Talisman set. The Strength Talisman is there so you get the Strength bonus if you make the Mine a 5*, and it will give you more offensive oomph (and HP!) than any single blue Talisman. Using Freeze will top up your magic damage and give you, well, a Freeze chance, Assassin is best for damage, Void is good for protection, and Vampiric is a possibility if you want a chance at Lifesteal.

If you want a mine that's strong on physical damage (at the cost of your heal), these are probably your best bets:
Loadout 5: 3 Strength (Fierce), 2 Resilience. You need to fill those required purple spots, and the Resilience Talisman is currently the only Assassin 2-set (despite what the description tells you). This works nicer at rank 5, where the red Talisman slot opens up for you. Your Mine is also a little tougher than a full magic loadout, at 8645 HP, but that's still iffy. You can also swap out the 3rd Strength Talisman for a green Overwhelming, for better Health.
Loadout 6: 2 Strength (Fierce), 3 Assassin/Void/Vampiric. Using the Assassin set will net you the most damaging Mine loadout you can have at 4*. Loadout 5 is better for 5* Mines though, and will also grant you 500 extra HP.

As for what defenses to focus on: The Gunner is the Assassin's nemesis, and their damage types are pretty all over the place, going from physical (Soldier Eddie's basic attack), to magical (Allied Bomber Boy), to true (Prisoner), to random (Newborn of Light), so I would suggest keeping your DEF and MR roughly even.

[The Educated fool]

Huh, here I was thinking the Assassin one dropped as a 3*...

Mine definitely did, (from a regular soul), because I've definitely never evolved it, and it's 3* now. Then again, some characters have dropped at different levels at different times... I know Sentinel Pyro Soldier can drop as both a 3* and a 4*, because it has done it for me.

[Kardas]

I've been toying around with my Assassin Mine's Talismans since the Tuning Update, and I've come the the conclusion that you're better off with the Assassin set instead of the Resilience set in any case. Here's what I suggest as a Talisman set for the Mine:

3 Assassin (Shield), 1 Health (Ward), 1 Fierce (Safeguard). From here there are 3 ways to go. For maximized offense, add in another Fierce Safeguard. For maximum sustainability, add another Health Ward. Or add one blue (Arcane) to keep his ATK and MAGIC roughly even. This loadout should also keep your DEF and MR roughly equal.
I pick the Ward Talisman primarily to keep his heal up there. If you want even more physical attack at the cost of that heal, you could use Overwhelming instead.

[Reeb99]

The mines might be useful with glass cannon builds if you bring a revive character along. The Blue Pharoah spirit isn't at all hard to get and isn't bad at all now post patch.

[Kardas]

I plan to give my Gunner Rockets (and Gunner Bomber Boy) some attention, so I've been looking at Talisman loadouts now that their Talisman slots have been updated.

Gunner Possessed Rockets now have 3 yellow Talisman slots. Because they have no use for Special in their offensive stats, I think a Thief or Invisibility set would offer great support. Especially a Thief set because then your Rockets can give you both extra Power (due to the Passive) AND Fury.

There's one problem though. The Rockets' main attack uses ATK, and the power move uses MAGIC. Because you'll probably use the regular attack more (Detonate costs 5 PWR) and because the Rockets' MAGIC is higher than their ATK, I think it's better to add in mostly ATK. Not to mention, I'd think you'll use the Power move more for the Freeze chance than the damage, but I haven't tested that yet. Their DEF and MR are equal, and it's probably best to keep them roughly equal.

My theoretical Talisman loadout would be 3 Thief Will, 2 Strength (either Fierce or Safeguard) and one green (probably Overwhelming, though Ward can also do). Burning Talismans may also be fun considering the main attack has 3 hits. If you want to keep both moves relevant, it may be worthwhile to use an Assassin, Void or Vampiric set

Anything to add?

[iPoop]

I have nothing to add Kardas, other than to request to please keep us updated on your evaluations and progress. I too struggle with the proper talisman set for Gunner Rockets due to its two attacks relying on different stats (ATK or MAGIC).

[konstifik]

A void set plus a thief set would make them contribute with shield, power and fury, which could make for a good support toon. Can't really see the relevance for a a green talisman as the three yellow ones will give plenty of HP.

It's probably not worth it to specialize towards magic, as that would make you have to spend power every time to have an effective attack, and if you have a thief or invisibilty set on they won't trigger on the power move. So either a build balanced between attack and magic, or a pure attack build.

[mjmxiii]

Nice work gathering information on these toons. I have 4* LVL 80 Assassin and Gunner Possessed Mines, mostly because they look cool... Energy Talisman sets on both (helps raise their low HP stats and keeps team power at 12) with Assassin Barrier talis in Assassin's mandatory slots and Penetrating x2 in the mandatory slot for the Gunner. The only thing that has kept me from flipping them to 5* is their terrible timing. I never have been able to get into a rhythm with em in that sense. They work well with all of my Eddies and keep the power attacks fully loaded when the flow is right.

[Ringe666-7406]

Assassin mind is great with both healing and buff blocking... Decent damage too. Yellow rockets are good for 60% freeze chance (in team with red axis bomber or purple troll, freeze is almost mandatory), but it lacks AoE... I think high chance is redemption for that... As for the red rockets, I play them atm and they are strong af. A bit ungrateful for burning talismans since the target circle is not synced best, but does a really really high damage for a random char.

[Piece of Mind]

Heads up to fans of Gunner Possessed Rockets - they got buffed in the last few updates and now have 3 gold talisman slots and all-round great stats in addition to the Energize passive. I'm thinking 3 Thief and 3 Energy talismans for power and fury generator that makes use of the multiple-hit AoE basic attack. What do you think?

[Kardas]

I've been thinking: since the Assassin Mine's attack consists of 2 hits per character, it could do decently with proc Talismans. The Void set is good for its survival, and similarly Vampire Talismans help keep it alive. Your damage will go down a little bit though.

Still, I've been using it with full Skill Shards for a few months now, and I think I can give it a bit of an in-depth write-up.

Pros:
- Damage is pretty good, as is the case for an Assassin. ATK and MAGIC together may be inferior to straight up True damage, but it's easier to buff (with a PDK or Warrior CotD for instance).
- Heal is still quite strong, and even better if you have a lot of buffs running.
- Rules in the Gunner Dungeon. A Gunner LoL casting a Fury whose effects got blocked becomes a lot more manageable.

Cons:
- That health is still crap. I get it, the Mine is a glass cannon whose death explosion deals damage to people but:
--> The damage is lackluster and the Mine is still worth more alive
--> Requires a reviver (Pharaoh, Vampire Hunter, Grim Reaper, PWS) in the party to truly make use of it.
--> Easily exploited by enemy Angel of Fear and Assassin/Warrior CotD. Using him in Underworld makes that into a liability.
--> The Prisoner laughs at that Passive.
- The required red Talisman makes little sense because:
--> MAGIC is marginally more important for the Mine because that is needed for the heal.
--> Ruins a set up of 2 sets of 3 Talismans. A Void and a Vampiric set would be an interesting supportive glass cannon variant. A purple and Thief/Invisibility/Energy/Blind/Freeze set would also be fun options.
--> If you want more health via a set of Health Talismans, the ATK and MAGIC stats of the Mine will be thrown out of balance, which is annoying.
- For an AoE attacker blocking Beneficial Effects, the Pharaoh Sun Spirit is still better because:
--> PSS's blocking beneficial effects function is AoE like his attack, unlike the Mine.
--> PSS can take more of a hit.
--> Less hamstrung by required Talisman slots.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I still like the Mine and think it's the third best Assassin you can get out of a common GA soul (topped by Storm Eddie and the Assassin Golden Son), but it's got a lot of untapped potential.

[Piece of Mind]

Thanks for the insight Kardas! Would it be okay if I added it to the OP?

I did try to make use of the mine's weird talisman slots with 2 Shock, 2 Burning, and 2 those-Assassin-talismans-that-boost-MAG-and-only-require-two. Sentinel Rockets got a great boost in that both its stats and talisman slots got buffed, the Mine could use that too...

[Kardas]

Thanks for the insight Kardas! Would it be okay if I added it to the OP?
Yeah, that's totally fine

I did try to make use of the mine's weird talisman slots with 2 Shock, 2 Burning, and 2 those-Assassin-talismans-that-boost-MAG-and-only-require-two. Sentinel Rockets got a great boost in that both its stats and talisman slots got buffed, the Mine could use that too...
That sounds like an interesting idea. I mean, it won't help its Health at all, but those proc Talismans could be quite useful

[Piece of Mind]

That sounds like an interesting idea. I mean, it won't help its Health at all, but those proc Talismans could be quite useful

Only the devs (piece of mind be upon them) can help its health now

[Kardas]

Since the Assassin Mine got its Talisman slots changed I have a bit of Talisman commentary on it (and the Gunner Rockets)

If you have a character that deals both magic and physical damage, purple Talismans feel like a better deal as opposed to a red and blue set together, as without set bonuses, a fully maxed purple Talisman has as much ATK as a red one and as much MAGIC as a blue one, while also having their HP and DEF/MR bonus.

Since someone discovered that Void Talismans have a chance of Removing Beneficial Effects, I'd suggest equipping the Mine with those instead of Assassin Talismans, as it complements his Expire move well. Now that 3 slots are purple too, I recommend a Void (Shield) set, a Health (Ward) set, and one last purple (Barrier) Talisman. This will give you about as much offensive power as my previous 3 purple, 1 green, 1 blue, 1 red loadout with a lot more health.

Not sure if he'll be a good choice for PVP though, for 2 reasons:
1. Angels of Fear everywhere
2. That health is still low. If Caretaker complains about his Warrior Imp not having enough health even with 3 green Talismans on it, there's no way the Assassin Mine will. If you have a clever way around though, feel free to try him out in there.

As for the Gunner Rockets, now that multi-hit proc Talismans got nerfed there's not much of a reason to use Burn Talismans on him. Also, because his MAGIC is higher than his ATK, you'll get a bigger ATK bonus out of Assassin Talismans compared to Strength Talismans. Of course, Void and Vampiric are still good options to consider.