Hami-Os what am I missing here ?

[Gravitus]

At first glance they seem outright inferior to ATOs , set IOS and the like and yet people want them .
 

I’m clearly  overlooking something here . Can anyone school me on why they are desired ? Thanks .

[Dahkness]

I love using them in fortitude! I only have to put 3 or 4 slots in the power. Saves me slots to fill out other sets I have. I use them to fill in gaps that saves me slots 

[EmmySky]

I know they predate IOs but I hardly think that sentiment makes people want them.  They were the original form of enhancing two attributes with one enhancement.  Maybe they offer higher percentages that other multi-enhancers?

[siolfir]

19 minutes ago, EmmySky said:

Maybe they offer higher percentages that other multi-enhancers?

This. It saves slots if you're just trying to enhance certain aspects of the power, saving you slots that you can use elsewhere (usually to get preferred set bonuses) or giving you a higher enhanced value for the same number of slots.

 

Like everything build-related, it's a trade-off: you don't get the set bonuses from HOs, you can use boosters to get the numbers from multi-aspect IOs, but the HOs have better initial numbers and you can't boost attuned IOs.

[LiquidBandage]

1 hour ago, Gravitus said:

At first glance they seem outright inferior to ATOs , set IOS and the like and yet people want them .
 

I’m clearly  overlooking something here . Can anyone school me on why they are desired ? Thanks .

The most mainstream reason is for one specific enhancement (one of the travel ones I think).

The other reason is for powers/pets that have multiple effects/powers. And by that I mean an attack that does two Mez effects (like a Disorient & a Hold). The Mez portion of the Hamidon enhancement affects both aspects. Or a Pet that has more than one power where each power has a different secondary effect.

[Darkir]

They are very useful in abilities like tactics, farsight, and venomous gas.

[Call Me Awesome]

HO's are the equal to 2 or 3 SO's worth of enhancement in a single slot so they're very useful in a slot tight build.  For example, the Cytoskeleton HO enhances Defense, To Hit and End Reduction... three things an Invuln wants in Invincibility.  It gives you 9 SO's worth of enhancement in only 3 slots and fully enhances every aspect of the power.

 

Set IO's don't give the same amount of enhancement even at 50... a dual aspect IO gives roughly 2/3 of an SO of enhancement to two different things.  The only exception are Purple IO's which enhance more than an SO's worth to each aspect.  If you're looking to maximize enhancement value in the minimum number of slots then HO's are the best, you just don't get any set bonuses.  A top end build will usually have both Set IO's and a few HO's in it.  Frequently I end up with an attack that I can't find slots for, so I use a Nucleus HO (Accuracy/Damage) to squeeze more damage and accuracy out of it.  Many of the Epic pools have a hold or immobilize as a prerequisite so rather than having a useless power or wasting slots I toss a Endoplasm (Accuracy/Mez) into it and call it good.  And of course lots of people want to enhance their travel speed and endurance reduction so you have the ever popular Microfillament (Travel/Endurance) HO.  Of course some are dirt cheap (Cough, Centriole (Dam/Range)) while others get really pricey.  This is due to the usefulness and rarity... Centrioles drop more often than Microfillaments and are less useful.

 

In the old days HO's gave you a 50% enhancement to each aspect, AND there was no ED cap.  As a result slotting 6 Nucleus (Acc/Dam) into an attack was  wildly popular getting you +300% damage and accuracy.

[VV]

Good question and good explanations. I get the impression that a lot of people were missing the same thing as the OP. I did a LOT of Hami runs until the zone caps killed them, and I noticed that most people did not choose Hami-Os as rewards.