The Not-so-secret guide to Secret Master, brought to you by the good people at Up to No Good.ForewordOver the course of the last year and a bit the members of Up to No Good have been running Secret Master on a weekly basis, hammering out tactics to reliably beat each of the six Secret Master taskforces, and while we have been a rather closed group we feel that it is only right to present to the wider Rebirth community the fruits of our labour.
Presented here in are the tactics we have used to successfully clear Secret Master content. Are they the only tactics that will work? Probably not, but they are the tactics we have used to achieve victory numerous times. If you find something that works for you that isn't presented here then more power to you! Share it with us and we can expand our common knowledge!
What is a Secret Master run?"Secret Master of" (SMo) task forces are a set of existing end-game task forces with extra limitations applied that reward exclusive badges and enhancements. The badges are rare given the extra difficulty of this mode, and the enhancements provide valuable bonuses as well as altered set bonuses in these challenges.
The limitations required are:
- No Deaths*
- No Temp Powers or Incarnate Abilities
- No Inspirations
- Enemies Buffed
- No Set Bonuses (excluding bonuses from challenge enhancements which are gained from running SMo content)
*No Deaths can be failed and still complete. However the Secret Master badge will not be awarded, and one less challenge enhancement will be awarded. If lesser badges such as "Master of" haven't been earnt previously they'll get awarded if the SMo run is successfully completed.
Roles and Team CompositionThe extra challenge rules of SMo mean your team will have to lean more into class role than in the rest of the game. If you are used to being unkillable on your blaster because of incarnates and set bonuses, be prepared to be back to being squishy. Your blaster is still highly valuable, but mostly in its original role of applying max damage. As another example, while a tanker is not required, you may find it too difficult to keep ambush aggro off of your teammates without the tanker's increased aggro cap.
Some SMo's are more sensetive to party makeup than others. This will be mentioned at the beginning of the guide for each one.
Enhancements and SMo BuildsEnhancements continue to function in this mode, but set bonuses do not unless they come from the challenge sets.
Challenge sets include:
- Imperial Might (ITF)
- Forced Indoctrination (Lady Grey)
- Liberty's Belt (Ms Liberty/Lord Recluse)
- Inexhaustibility (Kahn/Barracuda)
- Synapse's Agility. Note: Synapse's Agility has a chance to drop for completing any task force with a time requirement, but still counts as a challenge set for SMo rules.
Procs from normal sets will generally work, unless they apply some buff to your character (ie Miracle +recovery, Decimation Chance for Build Up, various travel stealth IOs). Debuff procs do work. Note that Panacea and Performance Shifter procs do not apply a buff but a single infusion of health and/or endurance and therefore still function in this mode. However, no ATO procs work in SMo.
Pets have an exception to some of these rules and can fire Procs that buff themselves. Namely, this applies to Soulbound Allegiance Chance for Build Up and The Haunting Chance to Summon Ghosts.
Be aware that accolade powers do still work in SMo and take advantage of it. This can be especially helpful with Elusive Mind for the psi damage in multiple task forces.
For your initial setup of a tailored SMo build count on primarily normal IOs, which you can replace with challenge sets to increase stability and damage output as you complete the run.
While guides exist for the normal versions of these task forces, below we will provide tactics we have found successful on SMo runs. The same general rules apply for all of them: play it safe, take the necessary time and stick together as a team. It is recommended for everyone without a flight power to pick up a temporary jet pack for these in either the Shadow Shard (heroes) or Grandville (villains); these are excluded from the No Temps rule.
Challenge Set AquisitionThese IO sets are rewards for completing SMo content and randomly from time challenges on other task/strike forces.
Challenge set pieces are rewarded as follows (you can get up to three from a SMo run):
- One piece for completing the task/strike force no matter how many deaths
- One piece is for completing the task/strike force if it's a WST and you've not completed another WST on the toon you take along.
- One piece for completing the task/strike force successfully with no deaths. (This will also get you the badges)
Team CommunicationsUsing Discord or some other voice chat software can be crucial to success as the time needed to type out adjustments to the plan can be costly compared to a quick spoken word, especially if your team isn't used to working together. While it is completely understandable that people may not have mic or may not feel comfortable speaking to others, it can be enough to simply have one leader speaking and everyone else just listening.
Being able to call out loose foes, or new targets, or any other adjustments without having to stop fullfilling their role to type can make all the difference.
