Build/IO help and explanation

[graeberguinn]

Need some info on how to actually build a character. Pretty much could use build 101 and IOs for dummies. 

 

After reading many posts in the forums I feel I have a good understanding of power selection and IO slotting for specific goals for each character but...when it comes to actually doing it in game I'm a bit lost.

 

Looking for anyone who can help me make sense of where to buy enhancements/recipes, what is the difference between AH vs merit vendor, crafted vs attuned vs purple vs pvp vs AT enhancements. At what lvl can you start building a character? Around 22-25 I usually slot basic IOs and some random enhancements like KB-KD. I'm also confused with some enhancements as to influence vs merits and how do you earn them to have a completed build. 

 

I have read some post where players talk of IO ing out a character way earlier than 50. And I have many stalled alts in the 30s due to not being fully satisfied with the build or unsure what direction to take them. 

 

If you pick up what I'm saying then any help would be most appreciated. 

 

 

[Snarky]

Lot of questions.  Good questions. 

 

To make money, avoid merit vendor.  Not your friend.  Use Reward Merits to buy Enhancement Converters.  Learn to use the enhancement converters to craft low level cheap recipes and transform them into LOTG 7.%% globals, or anything of value.  Sell those.  

 

Now that you have money buy attuned enhancers from the Auction.  Always buy Attuned.  EXCEPT Purples.  They are naturally attuned.  Buy those standard.  

 

Attuned enhancers level with you, and if you exemplar (reduce your level to do low level content) those bonuses go with you down to the minimum level of the enhancer sett -3.  PvPs go to the floor.  PvP enhancers are tricky.  They have two st bonuses.  The 2nd is for PvP maps only, the 1st is standard content PvE.  

 

I i/o my toons starting at level 10.  But I know where I am going on my toons right from the start.  Or have my Mids open and am building the thing while sitting in a farm lol.  

 

MiDs!  Get MiDs.  Available on these message boards.  Download some good builds based on what you run.  Look at those, play one or two if you can afford to build it.  If you like Invulnerability Armor anything look for Hyperstrikes Invulnerability templates.  Powers are blank, Armor is kitted out with enhancers based on AT.  You can get a look under the hood as to the set bonuses he uses to create a solid base, without power set bonuses being in the way.  Its a nice lesson plan.

 

Almost any enhancer set is better than Single Origin enhancers.  The bonuses just start to rock.  Even if you cannot afford a full Winter IO PvP purple build there are a LOT of really strong builds set up with enhancers that cost 5-10 million a set TOPS.  They may not be the very finest Porsche, but that VW will still scream.  (VWs were designed by Dr. Porsche btw)

 

 

[Doomguide2005]

What the @Snarkyone said.

 

Get Mids, use Mids, learn Mids.   It is by far the best way to learn about builds and creating them.  Check out the Guides section for guides involving your set(s).  The Archetype and specific AT forums are the best place to, ideally, post your own builds for critique and feedback.  That's where you'll generally find folks most interested in discussing those ATs and builds.

[Kala]

Every IO set has a level requirement, and if you want to slot set IOs at that level you absolutely can. The earliest ones you can even slot at level 7.

 

That said, set IOs aren't cheap and if you don't have a level 50 character to earn inf for you, and you don't want to learn how to earn money playing the market, it's probably going to be cost prohibitive to get stuff like a full set of ATO enhancements, or even get into sets much at all.

 

The "good enough" approach is to just slot regular crafted IOs starting from level 22 (lower level crafted IOs don't give you enough stats to carry you to 50, but 25s are sort of the breakpoint). Then when you get more slots at higher levels, slot level 30s (or higher if you want), but don't replace the 25s unless you respec.

 

General attack slotting recommendation for attacks you're using is one accuracy, three damage, and then end reduction and recharge in the last two slots as needed, or put the slots elsewhere. This is for base 1.0x accuracy powers; those with lower base accuracy may need more accuracy slotted. ED is the system that basically says don't slot more than three of one type of bonus in a single power as a rule of thumb, but I won't break that down fully here.

 

In addition to that, slotting the high value one-off set IOs is good. That's the Performance Shifter proc in Stamina. Panacea proc in health if you can afford it, or otherwise Miracle recovery there. Both of those if you're really hurting for endurance, and also Numina's if you're still hurting afterward. Typically, every character wants a setup of 2-4 of these to help with endurance management.

 

Other solid one-offs are the Kismet accuracy proc (actually gives ToHit, which is better than accuracy), the two global +defense IOs that go on resistance powers, either KB protection or stealth in a travel power, and as many Luck of the Gambler global recharge powers as you have powers to put them in and inf to buy them with (but not more than 5). These are all nice, but not as important as the endurance management stuff.

 

Always buy attuned enhancements off the auction house. Sort by the level range 1-1 and buy the ones that don't have a number on them. These will level with you, so it's like replacing crafted IOs with higher level ones every level, but you don't have to do it or pay for it.

 

That's sort of the general basic plan. The following is here to provide information if you're interested, but you're fine leveling to 50 (and after) if you don't do any of it.

 

I won't address full-on mids buildcraft and set bonuses, but I will say that if you want to consider slotting set IOs sooner, pick them for their main overall bonuses and try to pick ones that modify several attributes, all of which you want. Do this primarily for the powers that you like using a lot, like your best attacks, or your control set's important AoE mez.

 

As a rule, the more stats an IO modifies, the better its overall effectiveness. Slotting two damage/recharge IOs is like slotting 1.25 damage IOs and 1.25 recharge IOs. If you want both damage and recharge, this is great. If you get a four attribute enhancement and you want all four things, it can be really good.

 

One stat: 1.0 effectiveness per stat, 1.0 overall

Two stats: 0.625 per stat, 1.25 overall

Three stats: 0.5 per stat, 1.5 overall

Four stats: 0.4375 per stat 1.75 overall

 

Beyond this, set IOs offer the same stats as crafted IOs, so a level 25 set IO that does only damage will have the same bonus as a level 25 crafted damage IO, but with the set IO you can get it attuned and maybe pick up a set bonus. Whether it's yellow or orange has no effect on the stats it gives, only the level and the number of different stats on it.

 

The cheaper IO sets you can even get for like 500k each; these probably don't have great set bonuses but you can get multiple stats on one enhancement, which as mentioned is more efficient, and you can get them attuned so they level with you (up to their level cap, anyway, which may only be 25 or 30 for cheaper sets).

 

As you reach higher levels, or just feel like you know enough and have the inclination to sit down and do it, you can put together a full set with mids, targeting your goals and set bonuses and such, then work toward what you've planned. Fully planned set IO builds are leaps and bounds ahead of a regular crafted IO or SO setup.

 

And again, if you know what you want, or a little of what you want, and you have the inf, you can start in on this at fairly low levels if you want to, and once you get into the 20-30 range there's not much you can't slot.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Kala
spelling/editing

[LiquidBandage]

1 hour ago, graeberguinn said:

Need some info on how to actually build a character. Pretty much could use build 101 and IOs for dummies. 

 

Looking for anyone who can help me make sense of where to buy enhancements/recipes, what is the difference between AH vs merit vendor, crafted vs attuned vs purple vs pvp vs AT enhancements. At what lvl can you start building a character? Around 22-25 I usually slot basic IOs and some random enhancements like KB-KD. I'm also confused with some enhancements as to influence vs merits and how do you earn them to have a completed build. 

 

I have read some post where players talk of IO ing out a character way earlier than 50. And I have many stalled alts in the 30s due to not being fully satisfied with the build or unsure what direction to take them.

I hear MiDs is a good resource, but I have never used it myself.

 

Many builds only take into account what the character looks like at 50. The journey from 1 to 50 can be a bit more amorphous as powers get slotted or added to the overall picture. 

One good resource is built directly into the UI interface. Click on POWERS -> COMBAT ATTIRBUTES and take a look at which powers affect whatever statistic the most then slot those powers as you level up (provided the desired enh impacts that aspect of the power). Every ten levels you get a free respec, so take advantage of it to experiment and make mistakes if necessary. Learning how powers work is way more valuable than following someone else's recipe for what they believe is the end-all-be-all of character builds. 

 

Many/most characters/ATs do not develop into their full potential until the mid 30s either due to powers not being available or you just not having enough slots to spread around to make things effective. Don't give up on a character unless it is clearly evident that your expectations are not being met by the functionality of the power set(s). Sometimes activation times make things clunky when you want to one-two punch something. Or the scale of effectiveness does not match up with the power description (this is where MiDs or looking at the detailed info of your powers can really help). 

 

If you are going to craft basic IOs, I suggest only crafting two tiers of them (level 25 & 50). Level 25 basic IOs are essentially the equivalent of a level 25 SO enhancement, but they never turn off. And when you do a respec, you get to pop them all out (to potentially use on another alt, this saves a lot of money in the beginning). Don't get caught up in upgrading every five levels, it is a big inf sink and it doesn't provide that much of an upgrade over what you had in level 25 IOs for your effort. Designate one character to do all of your basic IO crafting initially and try to get patterns memorized (it halves the inf cost and you no longer need to buy that recipe). That way you can feed all of your alts IOs. Also, do some shopping on the AH for those basic IO recipes. You can get some good deals, especially if you are patient. Paying the exorbitant recipe price via the crafting interface is a massive inf sink that you can potentially avoid. 

 

If you know for sure that you have a firm grasp on how a power works within the framework of how you play as you level up, go ahead and slot a crafted IO set with whatever bonuses it confers. If you aren't sure, don't waste the time & inf on it quite yet (wait for after you hit 50 and unlock your Alpha). 

 

Learn the ins & outs of the Summer Blockbuster event (via the LFG interface). It rewards a random Overwhelming Force enh that can be used by any character and is great for young alts. In general, it helps to emphasize slotting your attack powers as you level up, especially at low levels. This makes it more likely that you can defeat enemies quickly (i.e. before they get to wail on you for multiple cycles). And fully slotting allows you to slot an enh set (like Overwhelming Force or ATO) to take full advantage of the set bonuses. 

 

Also, after you reach level 40, you can run the Market Crash TF and you get a purple recipe the first time you complete it. If you don't get a recipe that you like, don't worry, hold on to it. You can craft it then convert the resulting enhancement to a different enhancement (in the same set or across to a different set of the same rarity) with a degree of randomness. Eventually you will get something to your liking (at the cost of random drop resources that you accrue via playing the game). Pay attention to which Task Forces/Strike Forces are the weekly target (WST), they provide double merits the first time you complete them during the week. Open up the LFG window and scroll through to see which ones are the WST (highlighted in red). The WST changeover occurs Sunday night 9PM (Pacific). Completing most mission story arcs provides merits (20-ish) and can be done via Ouro too. Hamidon kills are 80 (for the first kill of the day, then 40 each afterwards). There are many avenues to generating merits, find what works best for you. 

 

If you have more inf than you know what to do with, buy whatever on the AH. If you don't, look at the merit reward kiosks for things like ATOs and purple recipes or the odd recipe (usually the one with a proc). Save your Empyrean Merits for covering the incarnate material gaps as you craft up the Incarnate powers. Threads vs Shards is only really a debate for your Alpha power(s). Everything else is based on Threads. So make your own decisions as to what best suits your desires at the time. 

 

If you just door sit on an AE farm, then ignore this post.

[LiquidBandage]

One thing I neglected to mention regarding slotting is this:

Do NOT get caught up in slotting for the peak of performance and optimal enhancements while you are leveling UNLESS you are confident in how the build performs and know that the investment will be worthwhile (i.e. you understand the mechanics and know that this power is a lynchpin to how the character/AT performs). Slot for overall character effectiveness first then tweak for procs and globals later on. 

[oedipus_tex]

It would help a lot to know what archetype you're most interested in, because builds do tend to depend on the character's class.

 

For Dominators, I have a build guide out there somewhere called "Building a Trust Fund Dominator" or something similar to that that walks through big picture for that archetype. There are similar guides for most other archetypes.