Basic SO and IO slotting advice

[Doc Ranger]

So I don't see myself acquiring the cash for these crazy expensive sets anytime soon so I would like some advice on slotting the basic SOs or IOs for my Grav/Time and Dark/Dark troller. How many slots to put in each power and what to put in there to optimize a basic SO/IO build.

 

Thanks guys!

 

Loving the two new trollers I have built based on watching the threads here and getting more feedback via PMs. Never played either of these sets and I must say they are both super effective and fun in their own ways. I am hitting low 30's with both right now but I'm not sure how many slots of what type of enhancement I should be putting in these powers and all the builds many of you pros post are with all the high end IO sets.

 

Thanks again!

[Dahle]

Check these out, they are just old guides and for the most part have basic slotting advise.

 

Dark/ (I understand the /Dark is different on Controller's but I found it interesting):

https://web.archive.org/web/20120906040858/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=286168

 

/Dark (not a bad little rundow, again not the same as Troller /Dark though):

https://web.archive.org/web/20120904183818/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2354744#post2354744

 

Grav/ (On of the better ones that i have looked over for this primary):

https://web.archive.org/web/20120905003230/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=168019

 

What server are you on?

[Doc Ranger]

Thanks. I’m on Excelsior.

[Dahle]

Darn. I've got some stuff from leveling I coulda shared on Everlasting.

[Rathulfr]

Here are a few things I've learned along the way.

 

[*]Don't buy TOs/DOs/SOs at all.  Just use drops until you get to 22, when you can/should slot level 25 IOs.

[*]For levels 1-22, sell all Salvage and set-bonus Recipes in the AH for cash.  Each orange salvage should net you about 400K Inf.

[*]Sell normal IO recipes (no set bonuses) to vendors -- they don't sell well in the AH, so you'll make more from the vendors.

[*]At level 22, you should be able to fully slot your character with crafted IOs for under $2-4 million Inf.  These will last you until you hit 50, so you never need to keep buying SOs every 5 levels.

[*]When you're ready to start buying IO sets: Attuned set IOs cost the same as their non-attuned equivalents, so always buy the Attuned versions.  If you get/craft a set IO that you want Attuned, just sell it on the AH, then turn around and use the money to buy the Attuned equivalent.

[Doc Ranger]

Thank you for the advise on how to gain more cash. I was hoping for more info on how many slots to put into these powers and what enhancements to use when I can't afford the big stuff.

 

 

[Dahle]

Could you give us an idea of exactly which power's you are using?  Some slotting depends on what you are using and not.

 

[Doc Ranger]

Sure thanks.

 

For the Dark/Dark I plan to get everything except Shadowy Binds and Black Hole. Mystic Flight, Hasten if necessary, Assault and Tactics.

 

For the Grav/Time I plan to get everything except Crush and Dimension Shift. Same additional pool powers.

[EggKookoo]

At level 22, you should be able to fully slot your character with crafted IOs for under $2-4 million Inf.  These will last you until you hit 50, so you never need to keep buying SOs every 5 levels.

 

Do you do this by buying IO recipes at the AH and crafting them yourself?

[Erydanus]

First I want to address the IO issue. I did a cost analysis and its here: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,3042.msg20592.html#msg20592

 

The cost to outfit a character at level 22 with IOs you craft yourself, assuming you bought the recipes directly from the table and overpaid for the salvage at the marketplace ($15,000 influence no less, which sounds SUPER overpriced but when I wrote it the market prices were bouncing around and for some IOs getting 3 yellows might have cost you that) is 2.1 million.  ACTUAL estimate if you do craft yourself and bank what you need is much less. If you have invested in making a crafter character who has the memorization badges definitely less than half.

 

On to the recs. Warden PMed me asking about a Dark/Dark build strictly for teaming so I have prepared some. I have a few intro comments. First, it looks to me like the meta is currently heavily favoring damage and control is not really very appreciated though buff/debuff is. Once nukes come into play it gets exaggerated but even at lower levels the brutes and tanks are racing toward the foes and as a controller you have approximately 3 seconds to do something useful so the following build is about doing the 1 thing you can do in this situation: spam fearsome stare like you are a spectral terror pet come to life. In addition to that locking the feared mobs into place and sliding a tar patch under them is about the most you can do control wise, so those 3 powers are enhanced above all other controls in this build. On the secondary side, everything's pretty good it's just a matter of priority. By the way make a macro for Tar Patch to hold the command:

/powexeclocation Target Tar Patch  

as this will place the tar patch under your current target - probably whoever you targeted for Fearsome Stare.  This may glitch if they're on a platform or weird height though.

 

 

This build also has hasten, and I must stress Hasten doesn't have to be perma to be helpful. Save it for when you need faster recharges or are about to go into a big fight and have blue inspirations ready because not only does it give you an eventual end crash, it does mean you're spamming powers faster. You might not need it. There's enough recharge in the build you may be fine just using the powers as they are.

 

Heart of Darkness is not taken yet in this stage. It's low accuracy and PBAOE and it's just not going to be useful. Later it would be nice to have in case of an ambush or the team being swarmed. Meanwhile you can just use the autohit Howling Twilight in a pinch, or as a boss -regen killer, or just to rez your teammates if they die. I guess. Possess has a special role in this build. If you encounter a foe like a Sky Raider Engineer, ideally you would just use your hold on them, but that would aggro their entire group. So you can't. But you can Possess them without getting aggro, and then when they summon their forcefield generator it'll be friendly. KILL THE GENERATOR ASAP. As soon as the engineer dies the generator will unconfuse and buff the raiders. Tell your team to blow up the generator before the engineer, unless you have someone who can snipe the engineer before the fight from within shadowfall. Oh and just in general confuse bosses if you can and think of it as placate.  Combat Jumping protects from immobilize and can carry a knockdown protection. You can buy the recipe for that for 20 merits if you can't afford the AH cost.

 

The build is presented as a leveling build you could respec into. Stage 1 is level 22 with level 25 IOs available. I don't guarantee this would be that great to work toward in the order I've laid things out as.

Stage 1: Level 25

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Stage 1: Level 49 Magic Controller

Primary Power Set: Darkness Control

Secondary Power Set: Darkness Affinity

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Leaping

 

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Dark Grasp -- Acc-I(A)

Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(5), Heal-I(5)

Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(3), RechRdx-I(3)

Level 4: Living Shadows -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(19), Acc-I(19), EndRdx-I(25)

Level 6: Possess -- Acc-I(A)

Level 8: Fearsome Stare -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(9), RechRdx-I(9), ToHitDeb-I(11), ToHitDeb-I(11), RechRdx-I(13)

Level 10: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13)

Level 12: Darkest Night -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(15), ToHitDeb-I(17), ToHitDeb-I(17)

Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15)

Level 16: Shadow Fall -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(25)

Level 18: Haunt -- Dmg-I(A)

Level 20: Fade -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(21), DefBuff-I(23), DefBuff-I(23)

Level 22: Combat Jumping -- Krm-ResKB(A)

Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Health -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(7), EndMod-I(7)

------------

 

Continued in next post.

 

 

 

[Erydanus]

Hit the charmax from the color codes I think. Continuing on.

 

Stage 2: Level 40

 

Then to evolve the build to about level 40 I would go in this direction. I went ahead and took SuperJump (slotted with a stealth proc) and then Acrobatics. Why? Two words.

Night. Ward.  There is a heinous mission in Night Ward you will thank me for the -immob in Combat Jumping and the -hold in Acrobatics. Acro also has -knock so if you blew off getting a Karma earlier you'll have lots of -knock now. I just wouldn't normally run it on top of everything else all the time. Of course these are your flexible slots where you could take other travel powers or leadership if preferred but with Shadow Fall, Fade, and Soul Absorption I think you're doing enough for the team and you should take care of your own self! This build really dives in deep with the commitment to the team buffs and the big crowd moves. It makes me grit my teeth that the single target hold is untouched and the haunts just have some damage shoved in them for a real pinch, but that's how it goes.

 

Epic choice is up to you - consider ice though! Hibernate puts your character in an untouchable state while you regen and recover.

 

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Stage 1: Level 49 Magic Controller

Primary Power Set: Darkness Control

Secondary Power Set: Darkness Affinity

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Leaping

Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery

 

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Dark Grasp -- Acc-I(A)

Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(5), Heal-I(5), Acc-I(36), RechRdx-I(37), Heal-I(37)

Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(3), RechRdx-I(3)

Level 4: Living Shadows -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(19), Acc-I(19), EndRdx-I(25)

Level 6: Possess -- Acc-I(A)

Level 8: Fearsome Stare -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(9), RechRdx-I(9), ToHitDeb-I(11), ToHitDeb-I(11), RechRdx-I(13)

Level 10: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13), Dsrnt-I(36)

Level 12: Darkest Night -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(15), ToHitDeb-I(17), ToHitDeb-I(17)

Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(37)

Level 16: Shadow Fall -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(25), DefBuff-I(29), DefBuff-I(29), DefBuff-I(31), ResDam-I(31)

Level 18: Haunt -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(40), Dmg-I(40)

Level 20: Fade -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(21), DefBuff-I(23), DefBuff-I(23), ResDam-I(31)

Level 22: Combat Jumping -- Krm-ResKB(A)

Level 24: Super Jump -- UnbLea-Stlth(A)

Level 26: Shadow Field -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), Hold-I(27)

Level 28: Soul Absorption -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(34), EndMod-I(34), EndMod-I(36)

Level 30: Acrobatics -- EndRdx-I(A)

Level 32: Umbra Beast -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33)

Level 35: Hibernate -- EndMod-I(A)

Level 38: Dark Servant -- ToHitDeb-I(A), ToHitDeb-I(39), ToHitDeb-I(39), RechRdx-I(39), Acc-I(40)

Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(7), EndMod-I(7)

------------

 

 

[Doc Ranger]

Thanks for the write up...that's exactly what I needed.

 

I am going to do some research into crafting. I still am not confident enough to use that process. So I've been selling what I get and buying what I need.

[Erydanus]

In answer to your followup PM, No I don't have a maxxed out set build to share. ^_^

[Doc Ranger]

No worries. This toon is so fun I might make it my first 50. I'll hunt around for info on sets to work toward.

[Rathulfr]

At level 22, you should be able to fully slot your character with crafted IOs for under $2-4 million Inf.  These will last you until you hit 50, so you never need to keep buying SOs every 5 levels.

 

Do you do this by buying IO recipes at the AH and crafting them yourself?

 

Yes, depending on which is cheaper at the moment, as market conditions allow.  My basic rule of thumb is never spend more than 50-75K each for a level 25 or 30 crafted IO (non-set IO).  A level 25 character with 40 slots to fill, spending $50K per slot for level 25 IOs, will spend 2M Inf.  Obviously, some cost more, some cost less, and sometimes I spend the full 75K on those I really want/need.  So allowing for that, it's not unreasonable to get up to 4M Inf total.

 

Considering that at levels over 30, each SO can cost between 50-100K each, and they "expire" in just 3-5 levels, buying IOs for 75K that last for 25 levels is a bargain.

 

[EggKookoo]

Considering that at levels over 30, each SO can cost between 50-100K each, and they "expire" in just 3-5 levels, buying IOs for 75K that last for 25 levels is a bargain.

 

Awesome, thanks. I have a lv36, so I bought a bunch of lv35 IOs (with some scattered lv30s as I couldn't find some 35s, but for less essential stuff like jump). Cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 5mil. Definitely a deal even at that level.

[Erydanus]

So allowing for that, it's not unreasonable to get up to 4M Inf total.

Again I modeled the cost and if you spent 15,000 on salvage and bought every recipe from the table instead of using drops or buying from the AH by placing lower bids, the cost to craft is almost exactly 2.1 mil so don't spend 4 mil. Just don't. If you have 1 character memorize all the level 25-30 recipes - which will require about 4 million actually and produce enough level 30 IOs for one character - that character will be able to produce IOs for 1/2 the normal crafting cost, no recipe cost (use "memorized" section on the table not the regular one), and just the salvage. That means future characters will only need less than 1 million to outfit.  You're going to be spitting out IOs that cost you 10-25k each to make depending on if you had to buy salvage.

 

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Memorization_Badges

[Doc Ranger]

So is it best to put standard IOs in until you hit 50...then start collecting sets?

[Erydanus]

It's completely your preference. On some characters I do generic IOs, on some I may do limited use of sets or just mix and match parts of sets. If you're in the position of not having a 50 yet and needing to build funds going with almost all generic IOs is probably best.

[Doc Ranger]

I found a purple recipe a couple of days ago and sold it for 14mil. I used 8mil to get all the memorization badges in the 25-30 range on one of my toons. I feel like I just slept at a holiday inn express last night. 

[Erydanus]

Next time you might craft the recipe then use an enhancement converter to make the purple turn into something worth 20-25 mil. :)

[Doc Ranger]

So my Dark/Dark is pushing 41 and I'm trying to save some cash for a decent IO build with some inexpensive sets or something. Do you have any suggestions for a mild build beyond 40?