New Players - Enhancements (DOs & SOs - use em)

[Troo]

Enhancements can be used to increase the effectiveness of powers. Accuracy, damage, endurance, defense, resistance, ect.

Training Origin (TO), Dual Origin (DO) and Single Origin (SO) can be acquired as random drops when defeating enemies, completing tasks (missions, story arcs, task forces, ect), or bought from vendors.

 

Dual Origin and Single Origin enhancements must match a characters origin (magic, mutation, natural, science, technology) to be 'slotted' in a power.

Enhancements at a characters current level or 1-3 levels higher (+3) or 1-3 levels lower (-3) may be slotted.

Example: A level 15 tanker can use level 12 to level 18 enhancements but not a level 25 (at least, not until they get to lvl 22)

 

Extra enhancements maybe sold to vendors or markets (Auction House for heroes, Black Market for villains). Recommendation - Just sell them to the vendors.

 

What about Invention Origin (IO) enhancements? Lots of posts about builds, set bonuses, & uber builds costing billions. Don't worry, that'll become relevant soon enough.

It's good also to know that IOs are not required to have fun and be successful. IOs showed up in Issue 9, before that SOs and 'special' enhancements were what most high level characters used in their builds.

 

Example build

Level 15 Tanker (Shield Defense / Electrical Melee) [pics of build posted in reply below]

Note: Phalanx Fighting using 2 allies

 

Dual Origin Enhancements

Defense Melee, Ranged and AoE = 33.2% (pretty good) use one Luck inspiration and +12.5% to defense for 60 seconds = 45.7% (Awesome! 45% is the effective defense cap (see Link for Def Soft Cap))

Resistance ranges from 15% to 18% (again, pretty good) (note: except psionic)

 

Single Origin Enhancements

Defense Melee, Ranged and AoE = 37.9% (pretty good) again one Luck inspiration and we're capped defensively.

Resistance ranges from 15% to 21% (again, pretty good)

 

Training Enhancements - well, they are better than nothing while acquiring DOs or SOs.

 

Example build - Level 27 Tanker (Shield Defense / Electrical Melee)

Single Origin Enhancements

Defense Melee, Ranged and AoE = 45.7% (done for now)

Resistance ranges from 23.4% to 36% for anything that gets through (again, pretty good)

 

9 Powers and 41 slots to go

 

Example build - Level 40 Tanker (Shield Defense / Electrical Melee)

Single Origin Enhancements

Defense Melee, Ranged and AoE = 48.1%

Resistance ranges from 23.4% to 42%

 

Example build - Level 50 Tanker (Shield Defense / Electrical Melee)

Single Origin Enhancements

Defense Melee, Ranged and AoE = 51.6%

Resistance ranges from 23.4% to 42%

Very viable tank. Getting end heavy if selecting to run additional toggle powers like Maneuvers and Assault all the time. Power selections and slotting can shift around to achieve preferences. IOs can gain a little bit more.

 

Invention Origin Enhancements

Defense Melee, Ranged and AoE = 52.4%

Resistance ranges from 23.8% to 44.9%

 

 

Additional comments for new players welcome.

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Troo

[Troo]

Level 15 Dual Origins

Level 15 Single Origins

Level 15 Single Origins

Level 40 Single Origins

Level 50 Single Origins

Level 50 Invention Origins

 

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1477&c=597&a=1194&f=HEX&dc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

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Troo

[Lost Ninja]

You can come out of DFB after 4 (with double XP) runs at around level 20. You can craft and slot IOs of near SO values (Level 25 IO) that you don't need to upgrade at 22. The game before level 20 is so fast these days I really don't see the need to worry with TO or DO at all and SOs are really only worth slotting ad hoc if they drop and you can slot them. No sooner will you get your full DO build slotted and they'll all be out of date and you'll need to repurchase the next lot. Frankly slotting DOs or SOs unless you plan on not levelling beyond the range of those slots or for some reason don't want to use IOs is a waste of time and Inf.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Lost Ninja

[Extor Prime]

DOs and SOs are a waste of money. 

[Seigmoraig]

Getting a suit of Generic lvl 25 IOs at level 22 will run you around 2.5 million inf. New players might wonder how in the love of Statesman can you get that kind of inf ? Well starting at level 10 (iirc) you will start to get Invention Salvage and Invention Recipe drops from enemies you kill (You can see these from the "Salvage" and "Recipe" buttons above your powers bar).
Recipes are hit and miss as to which are worth something so it's a good idea to look them up on the /ah (just type /ah in the chat window) to see if they are worth crafting or just vendoring, typically only pieces that have procs or passive auras are worth something.
As for the Salvage you will get Rare (Orange) salvage that can be sold on the /ah for 500,000 inf each. Selling these will easily let you get a full set of level 25 IOs quite early, possibly not right at level 22 but easily before level 30.

Hope this helps !

[Itikar]

Also, always check yellow recipes on the black market. It happened to me more than once to find orange recipes that sold for a comparable sum to the generic merchants, and on the other hand yellows that went on the auction house for millions.

[swordchucks]

7 hours ago, Seigmoraig said:

New players might wonder how in the love of Statesman can you get that kind of inf ?

Selling rare salvage is a good strategy, but you can also use Reward Merits to buy saleable salvage (converters, boosters, catalysts, etc. - you want to check the AH for the going rates and do the math to figure out which gives the best merit to influence ratio).  You can get 5 reward merits for getting all the exploration badges in a zone or you can get them from running mission arcs and TFs.  You only need ~10 to finance those early IOs.  Vidiot's Maps helps a ton with finding exploration badges (link below).

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by swordchucks

[Lost Ninja]

I keep thinking about creating a PB, flying around AP & KR for 10 merits (5 each), then re-rolling and doing it again. Personally I'd use the Special Salvage that I used the merits to buy (because I love crafting and it's the cheapest way to get the special salvage) but anyone could do this and if you know the locations well it won't take that long... takes longest getting the costume just right TBH... 😄

 

edit:

After half an hour, one throwaway costume and one death I got 20 merits and banked them (sent them as an Enhancvement Catalyst) by sending them (via email) to my @Global Name. Can't say I'll do it a lot, but it was an easy way to make something I can use or sell (~1.5m Inf on /ah). As a multi-boxer I could easily do this with 3 accounts, so 3 Catalysts in about 30mins. Zones covered were AP, KR, Galaxy City (echo) & Hollows. KR by far the hardest, most badges in non-safe areas had spawns on/near them. Echo: Galaxy City (from SG base) might not be that easy to find for a total novice, and I wouldn't recommend Steel, Skyway or Perez as a level 1. Grind up to 4 and grab stealth (or SS) and they might be doable too.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Lost Ninja

[RobotLove]

Since this isn't in the guide section, I'm going to make a light criticism.

Particularly the 50 IO build's many 3'ofs are running hard into ED. The performance gains on a 3rd 50 are fairly negligible, and you're usually better off adding more end redux or recharge, or shuffling those slots elsewhere.

I realize these builds were made in Mids/Pines and the limitations that program has with enhancement levels, but what you have is something that is more suited to level 35 IO's. If that is the intent you may want to mock up the builds in the game (test server is available for quick leveling) and go by screenshots of those instead.

Since this seems to be aimed mostly at new players, it's important to convey good slotting basics.

[Doc_Scorpion]

2 hours ago, Lost Ninja said:

You can come out of DFB after 4 (with double XP) runs at around level 20.

My advice to new player - don't do this.  Not more than once anyways.  There's so much more to the game that rushing and grinding. Rushing and grinding out levels leaves you on an endless treadmill of rushing and grinding - and thus skipping out on all the content.  Veteran players, focused on billion inf uber builds do this, but you really shouldn't.  There's some awfully cool storylines out there, and plenty of interesting places to see in the City.  Get out there and explore, get out there and play the game the way it was meant to be played.

[Lost Ninja]

37 minutes ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

My advice to new player - don't do this.  Not more than once anyways.  There's so much more to the game that rushing and grinding. Rushing and grinding out levels leaves you on an endless treadmill of rushing and grinding - and thus skipping out on all the content.  Veteran players, focused on billion inf uber builds do this, but you really shouldn't.  There's some awfully cool storylines out there, and plenty of interesting places to see in the City.  Get out there and explore, get out there and play the game the way it was meant to be played.

Not my advice either, I was more meaning that you can easily skip the first 20 levels just by doing the most common thing at low levels (certainly on Reunion) and for "new" players it will be the thing they'll see advertised most. Personally as a non-new player I street sweep to 6-7, then do up to Frostfire in the Hollows and then move onto Talos Paper/Tip/Arcs and throw in a bunch of Oroubous in there too for variety.

 

I would take some exception to the "Play the game the way it's meant to be played..."

 

Play the game the way you enjoy it. If that is door sitting in an AE farm far be it from me to tell you that that isn't fun... we can educate people as to things that might be enjoyable, but we shouldn't force our view of what makes the game great on them. Personally I always though hanging around at Galaxy Girl's Feet was a bit silly and pointless, but I know some people got a huge amount out of that.

[Shred Monkey]

If I was a new player and followed this guide because I didn't know what IO's were, I'd be pretty upset once I did learn what IO's were and that I wasted all that time and inf following this guide.

 

My advice for starting out is to slot for accuracy and recharge (using mainly your own drops and the 5 P2W enhancements) until level 17.  Then start filling in level 20 IOs as you can afford them (continue to use the P2W enhancements until you decide you have something better.) 

 

How you get to level 17 is up to you, but while you do, save your inf for IOs instead buying DOs and SOs that will expire.

[gameboy1234]

If we're talking about new players, TOs, DOs, and SOs are one of the things that the dev team should "fix".

 

First off, there's way too many of them.  "Origins" should be dropped and you should just be able to slot whatever Enh you have, regardless of your origin.

 

Second the whole TO, DO, SO thing should be dropped and replaced with one "schedule" of enhancements than vary by level, and range from level 1 to 50 in effectiveness between DOs at level 1 and SOs at level 50.

 

Third once a player out-levels an Enh.,  they should all still function, just at half value.  Combining Enh should be automatic (works 100%) and provide a small boost over the larger one's value.

 

Finally I think with better access because of removing Origin and the wider level bands, I think Enh should drop a lot less often.  This would be better because the darn things would not be clogging up your inventory as much.  It'll be much better that way.  And having an Enh drop will be much more meaningful that way too.

 

----

 

And to new players: Buy Invention Origin Enhancements at the Auction House.  The drops are all pretty much garbage and can be sold.  Players going for badges will be dumping Invention Origin on the auction house at cheap prices, esp. below level 25.  You can get totally cheap Enh that work better there.

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by gameboy1234

[Leogunner]

8 hours ago, Shred Monkey said:

If I was a new player and followed this guide because I didn't know what IO's were, I'd be pretty upset once I did learn what IO's were and that I wasted all that time and inf following this guide.

 

My advice for starting out is to slot for accuracy and recharge (using mainly your own drops and the 5 P2W enhancements) until level 17.  Then start filling in level 20 IOs as you can afford them (continue to use the P2W enhancements until you decide you have something better.) 

 

How you get to level 17 is up to you, but while you do, save your inf for IOs instead buying DOs and SOs that will expire.

I wouldn't recommend using level 20 IOs.  They are only marginally better than DOs and worse than SOs.

 

Lvl 25 IOs are only slightly worse than SOs and when you're going for the long haul (keeping those IOs in a power from lvl 22 to 40), missing that 12% accuracy or what not will start to bite you.

 

I'd recommend buying accuracy DOs and nothing else and use whatever dropped enhancements you get (along with the P2W enhancements).  At lvl 22 (when the P2W enhancements don't give the proc anymore), it's time to put some bids in the AH.

 

You'll need to figure out a way to make some inf if you haven't been participating in TFs or other events.  Running a low level TF can get you some nice merits.  Someone mentioned Catalyst which cost 20 merits for over 2mil inf.  That's not too hard to get if you've ran a full story arc + a TF (might even get a pricey recipe or salvage drop too).  You can also play the market.  For example, there are recipes that cost 20 merits with a salvage + inf cost of around 10k that then sells on the market for over 7mil.

 

Also, don't just sell your IO recipes you don't want or use.  Look and see if they sell on the market for more or if their crafted form can net you some profit.  Some people do buy level 20 or lvl 15 IOs.  And lvl 25 to lvl 35 IOs are a premium and sell quickly (but just keep an eye on market saturation and crafting prices).

 

My advice to newer players is, if you want to do DFB, don't spam it to lvl 20.  Stop running it at around lvl 12 or so and start soloing mission arcs or if a team is doing something like the Frostfire arc, visit the contacts and grab the missions yourself to complete along the leader.  Jump on those low level TF calls.  Get those merits.

[The_Cheeseman]

Don't bother slotting enhancement drops, and definitely never buy them from NPC stores, it's a huge waste of inf in the long run. Do Death From Below four times to get all four of the available buffs, and sell all enhancements you get to a vendor. Use that cash, and any additional you get via reward merits, at level 22 to outfit yourself in level 25 basic IOs. You should also consider frankenslotting some of the cheaper set IOs to get better total enhancement values, and if you buy the attuned ones, they'll level with you. You can start frankenslotting at level 7, with the right sets.

Training enhancements do basically nothing, and you will save millions of inf by buying level 25 IOs and not having to replace SOs every few levels. Origin-based enhancements are a relic of the past, and no longer relevant in CoX, except as a source of inf.

Edited October 5, 2019 by The_Cheeseman

[Itikar]

On my first character I did not use enhancements till level 22-25 and it was just rough, very rough, especially for the accuracy. On my new character, a defender, I have so far slotted a set of TO at level 7, then switched to DO at level 12 and replaced them at 17 again, and at 22 I am planning to go for level 25 IOs and then keep them till level 50. The early levels in Praetoria have been much smoother  with enhancements, although the most useful have been by far the accuracy ones, and to a lesser extent endurance modifications in stamina and endurance reduction in endurance heavy toggles. Recharge also is not too bad either, while damage is certainly not useless but not the best bang for one's buck at early levels.

[Leogunner]

22 minutes ago, The_Cheeseman said:

Training enhancements do basically nothing, and you will save millions of inf by buying level 25 IOs and not having to replace SOs every few levels. Origin-based enhancements are a relic of the past, and no longer relevant in CoX, except as a source of inf.

Low level TOs, DOs and SOs (talking lvl 1-15) are practically worth pennies.

 

While saving up every penny can get you just a bit closer to the needed price for your crafted IOs, I'd hardly suggest it's a worthwhile endeavor. You'll have more fun in the low levels if you can actually hit foes by using that change to buy some extra Acc or using the endurance redux, recharge redux and such if they drop.  Lol don't bother trying to make money with enhancement drops.  It's all about merits, salvage and recipes.

[Myrmidon]

Merits can give you a 3-1 Enhancement Converter ratio, which can be sold for 80k-90k in Wentworths. That alone can net you plenty of Influence for those level 25 Common Invention Origin Enhancements.

 

Merits can be acquired easily by joining Task Forces and playing Story Arc missions (which will have a book next to the Contact in the window).

[Lost Ninja]

21 minutes ago, Itikar said:

On my first character I did not use enhancements till level 22-25 and it was just rough, very rough, especially for the accuracy. On my new character, a defender, I have so far slotted a set of TO at level 7, then switched to DO at level 12 and replaced them at 17 again, and at 22 I am planning to go for level 25 IOs and then keep them till level 50. The early levels in Praetoria have been much smoother  with enhancements, although the most useful have been by far the accuracy ones, and to a lesser extent endurance modifications in stamina and endurance reduction in endurance heavy toggles. Recharge also is not too bad either, while damage is certainly not useless but not the best bang for one's buck at early levels.

Accuracy is a pain at low levels, but given how fast they pass I haven't slotted DOs at all since IOs were added and I only ever slotted SOs on live because my enhancements tray filled up and I always hoped that the next few would be better than the ones I slotted (sell price wise), with 7 trays to go at that hasn't happened yet in HC (managed to fill my salvage up once).

 

2 minutes ago, Leogunner said:

Low level TOs, DOs and SOs (talking lvl 1-15) are practically worth pennies.

 

While saving up every penny can get you just a bit closer to the needed price for your crafted IOs, I'd hardly suggest it's a worthwhile endeavor. You'll have more fun in the low levels if you can actually hit foes by using that change to buy some extra Acc or using the endurance redux, recharge redux and such if they drop.  Lol don't bother trying to make money with enhancement drops.  It's all about merits, salvage and recipes.

They aren't worth buying at any level. Slot ones that drop, especially the odd DO/SOs that you get from DFB, but totally not worth buying for the tiny improvement in Accuracy that they give. And even if that doesn't save you that much it's something. You level fast enough (even avoiding DFB) at low levels that as soon as you have stuff slotted they're no longer functioning.

[Leogunner]

6 minutes ago, Lost Ninja said:

They aren't worth buying at any level. Slot ones that drop, especially the odd DO/SOs that you get from DFB, but totally not worth buying for the tiny improvement in Accuracy that they give. And even if that doesn't save you that much it's something. You level fast enough (even avoiding DFB) at low levels that as soon as you have stuff slotted they're no longer functioning.

The problem is, you're assessing value to something that is going to be subjectively different.  I'd agree that buying and slotting a bunch of defense/resist/healing DOs in the low level get you very little return, but accuracy is NOT something you should dismiss if you want to enjoy playing on teams or sidekick up.

 

So I'll just disagree.  I wholeheartedly recommend, if you're in the pre-SO levels, to grab accuracy DOs.  2 in an attack will net you 35% accuracy which is not to be scoffed at when every miss is burning endurance.

[Lost Ninja]

2 minutes ago, Leogunner said:

The problem is, you're assessing value to something that is going to be subjectively different.  I'd agree that buying and slotting a bunch of defense/resist/healing DOs in the low level get you very little return, but accuracy is NOT something you should dismiss if you want to enjoy playing on teams or sidekick up.

No I'm assessing the value that at low levels (pre 22) you will level so damned fast, especially doing higher level content or in a full team, that you will spend Inf on something that will probably be utterly worthless in one or two missions. That to me seems utterly worthless. And I'm only looking at Accuracy, anything else isn't any better, the five you can get from the P2W vendor are all that are worth slotting before 22.

 

YMMV

[ILIWAPCT]

11 hours ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

My advice to new player - don't do this.  Not more than once anyways.  There's so much more to the game that rushing and grinding. Rushing and grinding out levels leaves you on an endless treadmill of rushing and grinding - and thus skipping out on all the content.  Veteran players, focused on billion inf uber builds do this, but you really shouldn't.  There's some awfully cool storylines out there, and plenty of interesting places to see in the City.  Get out there and explore, get out there and play the game the way it was meant to be played.

Agreed. Most of the comments here miss the point the OP is making... NEW PLAYERS

 

should just play the game. Their's a lot to learn and plenty of time to learn it. Lots of content to enjoy. Mistakes and decisions to be made. 

You don't have to rush to 50. New players should be using TO's, DO's, SO's etc. 

 

I was reading a arbitrage guide where the author had a level 50 tank on a rikti raid that kept failing because he had NO enhancements and was saving for his "end game" build. The author went to the market and bought him some resistance IO for free. 

 

[srmalloy]

12 hours ago, Lost Ninja said:

I keep thinking about creating a PB, flying around AP & KR for 10 merits (5 each), then re-rolling and doing it again. Personally I'd use the Special Salvage that I used the merits to buy (because I love crafting and it's the cheapest way to get the special salvage) but anyone could do this and if you know the locations well it won't take that long... takes longest getting the costume just right TBH... 😄

Do the exploration badge run for AP and KR, then make yourself an SG base with a teleporter linked to Echo: Galaxy City, run Galaxy's exploration badges, then go to the tram in Echo: Galaxy City and go to Echo: Atlas Park, and run the exploration badges there. That will double your merit accumulation to 20, and you go back to the Echo: AP tram, take the Ouroboros portal to Ouroboros, run up the spire to get the exploration badge, which gives you an Ouro portal you can drop (but not use until 14), then go back to AP.

[Leogunner]

2 hours ago, Lost Ninja said:

No I'm assessing the value that at low levels (pre 22) you will level so damned fast, especially doing higher level content or in a full team, that you will spend Inf on something that will probably be utterly worthless in one or two missions. That to me seems utterly worthless. And I'm only looking at Accuracy, anything else isn't any better, the five you can get from the P2W vendor are all that are worth slotting before 22.

 

YMMV

Like I said, we'll just have to disagree.

 

If you're min/maxing xp, yeah you'll be past lvl 22 in no time.  But a normal pace that also does TF and story arcs in the low levels, you'll still get more mileage than 2 missions.  Even if you are getting 1 to 2 levels per mission to invalidate getting DOs when you can, those missions are likely filled with orange and red  or higher foes.  If you have literally nothing slotted for accuracy, you might as well sit at the door.

[Without_Pause]

13 hours ago, Shred Monkey said:

My advice for starting out is to slot for accuracy and recharge (using mainly your own drops and the 5 P2W enhancements) until level 17.

 

I'll gladly take end reduction over recharge during early levels.