Mastermind

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This skill is significantly useful for stealth heists and heists with many civilians. However, it is not especially needed for a loud mission. Remember that have a Hostage dealy the assault wave by 10 seconds on DeathWishBasic is not particularly useful unless you have Inspire aced, but the damage boost is often helpful if you do. On Death Wish, the Ace is worthless because it only gives an additional 3% HP back. Having more HP when revived reduce the damage bonus given by Berserker Aced. Stick with the basic version.Considered a must have skill by many. Increased stamina is especially useful in Death Wish or in any difficulty for that matter. Without it, you’ll find yourself lagging behind often, especially if wearing heavy armor.Basic version is very useful. All sounds made by you will keep civs down. However, there are only a few maps that this is useful on, as guards can hear your noise as well. Aced version is useful, as many of the bonuses provided by it (Expert Driver, Security Access, etc.) prove to be highly useful. Escapes often are a killer, so you may want to purchase this skill to avoid them.Pretty nifty skill, allowing your teammates to get out of a jam if necessary. Very useful if they're downed and surrounded; the 30% damage reduction can help them get away.Stability, one of the generally important things you look for when modding a weapon. Lesser recoil means better handling on your weapon, and the better your chances are of ensuring the kill with these at play. If you plan on getting this skill, it is highly recommended to ace it.Basic is highly useful; a 15% damage bonus just by marking an enemy? Yes please. Aced is a little bit more controversial, but it often proves useful in stealth missions.Time to swap out pistols is not exactly crucial, but it can save yourself if you're out of armor. Increasing the fire rate will often cause you to waste ammo quickly, especially if you are using a pistol with a low ammo capacity (i.e. Deagle, Bronco). However, being able to shoot really fast with pistols allows you to take out special units quickly. Especially if paired with Low-Blow (Fugitive)One of those important skills you should have. If theres no civilians on the heist, then you look to the enemies to ensure that your teammates get out of custody.Nope. Most civilians end up dead, tied up, or freed by the cops. Nope. Also the chances of a civilian being near you when you go down are so low that you shouldn’t even consider this skill. Especially in Deathwish.If you wish to spec very far into the Mastermind tree, this skill is a must have. Acing it is much better than just leaving it basic, as aced Combat Doctor has 2x the charges of just basic, and on Deathwish that could be the difference between moving on or going into custody.Though it seems nice and cool to have an enemy cop fight for you, in truth, the skill is mostly a waste on Death Wish. The jokered cop will often die extremely quickly, and the points put into the skill will usually net almost nothing. Plus the AI isn’t the smartest. Acing it is just a bigger waste of skill points.Basic Kilmer is very nice, as the reload time bonus is actually rather noticeable. It’s a very nice skill to have if you want to advance to the next tier, and don’t wish to use your skill points on pistol buffs. Aced is rather questionable on Deathwish, but all in all aced is sort of nice to have, but not recommended. Stick with basic.Since Update #46, pistols are a very good choice for DeathWish (yes, you can drop that Loco). Basic for reload time is nice, but aced is what truly makes a difference. The aced version of this skill is a must have if you are planning to run pistols or Akimbo on Deathwish.In order to even have this skill in effect, you must first: Have the skill Dominator. Have the skill Joker. Dominate an opponent that has the ability to kill you in seconds. Then convert that opponent, and hope he doesn't die in seconds due to the immense damage caused by cops on this difficulty(Seriously, jokered guys die so quickly). This skill is a point waster.Regenerating health, cool! Not really. Health regeneration is very slow, and on Death Wish, you will likely take more damage than you regenerate. Not to mention that your hostages are usually freed unless carefully guarded. However, if you are proficient at avoiding damage, this skill does have its uses. But overall, not really worth the points.Can be useful, but since you're the Mastermind, why are you downed where no one can revive you ? People love this skill and others question its usability. All in all not recommended due to the camping play styles on Deathwish and only 3 uses in total unless you go into custody and get freed since your charges replenish after you get out of custody. Would be somewhat useful if charges replenished after assault waves as well.Basic is nice for the increased speed of picking your teammates up manually, but seriously, who only gets basic inspire? Aced Inspire is definitely one of the most vital skills on Death Wish difficulty. Being able to shout just to get your teammates up? Awesome. Another incredibly useful aspect of this skill is the ability to revive others even though you have a wall,roof, etc. between you and the downed player. This lets you sit in cover or a safe space, and be able to save your teammates without having to risk yourself being downed. In a difficulty like Death Wish, where enemies like Bulldozers can take down an entire team in mere seconds, the safer and faster you revive your teammates, the better.