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My apologies for the lateness of this post. Not that anyone was waiting for it, but I've had this build completed for about 2 1/2 weeks now, and I see that a lot of IO questions that are coming up recently could have had some info tossed their way with this post.
NOTE: This will be VERY long, but I'll put the results first for those just skimming.
First off, some pictures:
Complete list of all set bonuses on character.
Primary and Secondary with Part 1 of Pool Powers
Primary and Secondary with Part 2 of Pool Powers
Primary and Secondary with Part 3 of Pool Powers
BONUS TOTALS (All numbers are %'s)
Final Bonuses
Acc: 30
Dmg: 9
Fear Reduction: 2.2
Fire/Cold Resist: 2.84
Healing Powers Increase: 4
HP: 12.02
Immobilization Reduction: 8.8
Mez Resistance: 50
Psi Resistance: 13.86
Recovery: 36
Recharge: 47.5
Regeneration: 113
Disorient Effect Increase: 3
To Hit: 6
Toxic Resistance: 1.26
Set Bonuses
Acc: 30
Dmg: 9
Fear Reduction: 2.2
Fire/Cold Resist: 2.84
Healing Powers Increase: 4
HP: 12.02
Immobilization Reduction: 8.8
Psi Resist: 8.76
Recovery: 11
Recharge: 32.5
Regeneration: 68
Disorient Effect Increase: 3
Toxic Resistance: 1.26
Unique IO Bonuses
Mez Resistance: 50
Psi Resistance: 5.1
Recovery: 25
Recharge: 15
Regeneration: 45
To Hit: 6
Comments: Before I go on, remember, ALL bonuses break ED and stack on top of everything else you already have in a power. That is the beauty and power of Bonuses.
The Acc, To Hit and Dmg bonuses are nice. I'd say I can somewhat feel the +Dmg. It's nothing crazy, but it basically always takes off those slivers of health that would usually remain before. The Acc and To Hit are a bit harder to track, but I will say that for me to miss, well, it takes something pretty major, like two Masks of Vitiation, for me to whiff consistently.
All of the Resistances except for the Psi damage type aren't that apparent when I'm out and about fighting. I'm sure they do their job, but because of my +Regen, I hardly notice it. The Psi Resistance I do notice, especially when I fight Carnies. It's not laughable by any means, but it definitely doesn't sting like it used to. I'm not hesitant at all to go after MIs or Ring Mistresses.
The Disorient Effect increase is there, but I pretty much ignore it since I have Power Boost as it is. Then again, every little bit helps, so I won't knock it.
All of the Mez Effect resistances and reductions are nice, but the real powerhouse is the 50% Mez Resistance. When fighting minions or a Lt. I sit there and take any mez that may actually land on me. I don't worry about BFs unless I'm fighting a Boss, but even then, the resistance cuts durations down by a little less then half. It really is trippy to be able to run into a fight, get stunned and then 1 sec later snap out of it, whereas before any mez effect seemed to last a freaking eternity. And we all know as Blasters that mez is a killer.
HP, Regen and Recovery are absolutely amazing, with emphasis on Recovery and HP. I have 1590 HP atm with all the accolades and to put that into prespective, a lvl 50 Dark Armor Scrapper that I ran into had 1600 HP. That's freaking insane. I don't know how many, if any, of the accolades they had, but I was still pretty impressed. In terms of Recovery, I never run out of Endurance. Ever. I can take a Mask of Vitiation from Dark Ring Mistress and still be chugging along with my 2 toggles and wailing away. I won't gain any End, I kinda stall out the effect. If I get hit by two, then I start to drop. A Sapper is pretty laughable at this point as well. I can drop to 0 End, but it will start to refill a second later. Regeneration at this point is also nice, but by no means killer. It basically allows me to have 0 downtime between fights as I recover my HP back in almost no time at all. It's in no ways Regen Scrapper level, but it is really nice to have and you can definitely feel the effects of it. Most minions and Lt. by themselves can't outdamage your Regen rate.
Finally, the Recharge bonus is huge. How huge? HUGE. I list the Recharges later on, so I'll comment on them then. But any +Recharge you can get is awesome to have. Stack it as much as you can.
RECHARGE TIMES w/ HASTEN (All times in seconds)
Shriek: 1
Scream: 2
Shout: 3
Amplify: 28
Screech: 7 (Perma Stun)
Dreadful Wail: 125
Power Thrust: 2
Energy Punch: 3
Bonesmasher: 5
Total Focus: 7
Build Up: 28
Power Boost: 23 (8 sec downtime)
Boost Range: 22 (Perma)
Hasten: 148 (28 sec downtime)
Snow Storm: 9
Frozen Armor: < 1
Hibernate: 75
Comments: As you can see, the recharge times on the Sonic attacks are nuts. Shriek itself is always up. Always. Screech takes a bit to recharge, but the Stun from it lasts so long with and without Power Boost that I hardly ever worry about it wearing off. I just throw it back out at whatever I was trying to control. Dreadful Wail is the only thing I'm not that happy with, but that's because the Positron's Blast set that I put into it doesn't have a lot of +Recharge. At just a little over 2 mins, it's up often enough, but with my older slotting it was up even more often.
Aim and Build Up at this point can be alternated almost permanently. Since both last 10 secs, you can activate one and it will begin to recharge. Once it wears off, you activate the other and 10 secs have gone by. After the other wears off, 20 secs have gone by and waiting a measly 8 secs for the first to come back is hardly anything. This is also in a perfect situation that assumes you'll be able to chain them one right after the other. More often then not, you'll be mid battle and activate one a few seconds after the other, so the essence of them being perma will be in effect. I'm very happy with them.
Power Thrust is basically perma if you want to just keep knocking stuff around with it. The other three power attacks from EM are on such short recharges now that I've basically become an EM Scrapper. I throw in a Sonic attack every now and then, but just attacking with EM is fast enough now. And yes, a 7 sec Total Focus is VERY nice, lol. Also, Boost Range is perma at this point, which is cool and Power Boost has an 8 sec downtime, which is very easy to live with. It's always up and ready for the next fight.
If I can find a Kin to give me 1 SB, I can have perma Hasten. A 28 sec downtime otherwise is fantastic. I've forgotten what it was like before, but the way it is now is more then enough for me.
With regards to my Epic powers, Snow Storm has a decent recharge now with 9 secs. I use it more in PvP than in PvE, so 9 secs is clutch in getting it back up when it fades off a target. My armor comes back so fast that if it ever toggles off it's ready to be retoggled, lol. Hibernate is the big gun of the set and at 75 secs, PvE-wise it's outstanding. It's always up and ready for when I need it. Heck, I use it instead of Rest after a nuke just to get my power back up faster. In PvP it could probably be better, but I won't complain because I have had people ask me if I have the damn thing on perma or something. 75 secs makes me very happy.
RANGED ATTACK SLOTTING
Devastation: Acc/Dmg || Acc/Dmg/Rech || Acc/Dmg/Rech/End || Chance to Hold
Thunderstrike: Acc/Dmg/Rech || Dmg/End/Rech
Final Stats
Shriek: Dmg 95.2 || Acc 80.3 || End Red 36.3 || Rech 76.3
Scream: Dmg 95.7 || Acc 82.6 || End Red 38.3 || Rech 78.0
Shout: Dmg 95.9 || Acc 83.1 || End Red 38.4 || Rech 78.5
Bonuses from Slotting (x3)
Regeneration: 12
HP: 2.25
Dmg: 3
Recovery: 2
20% Chance to Hold (Mag 3)
Comments: I went with a mix of Devastation and Thunderstrike because I didn't like the Tier 4 or 5 bonuses from Devastation. I could care less about Defense
My motto has always been that as a Blaster, I'm going to get hit, especially in PvP, so all the Defense in the world, while nice, won't be fantastic. The stacked bonuses were very nice, which is another reason I threw in some Thunderstrike, for the Recovery.
As you can see, the final stats for the attacks came out nicely. Good recharge and decent End Redux. Also, having a Chance to Hold in all of my attacks is unbelievably fun. I've gotten lucky and actually chained that Chance and held a Boss twice. It's hilarious when there's no Electric Blaster around because everyone is trying to figure out who threw out the Tesla Cage animation. Oh yeah, sorry, forgot to mention, those Chance to Holds, when they hit, play the Tesla Cage animation. Odd, but still cool. I really liked this slotting and find it optimal for what I wanted.
SCREECH SLOTTING
Stupefy: Acc/End || Acc/Rech || Acc/Stun/Rech || Stun/Range || Chance for Knockdown
Final Stats
Acc: 70.8
Rech: 44.4
End Red: 26.5
Stun Duration: 47.7
Bonuses from Slotting
Recovery: 2.5
HP: 1.88
Stun Duration: 3
Rech: 6.25
20% Chance to KD (Mag 3)
Comments: Again, I didn't slot all of the set because the Tier 5 bonus didn't interest me. I opted out of the End/Stun because Endurance wasn't going to be an issue later on for me and I can increase my Stun time with Power Boost. The added Chance for KB is great, even when Screech doesn't stun something like a Boss right away. It will send whatever it hits flying away. It's a great double whammy when PvE'ing and seeing someone get thrown back, get up and then do the drunk walk. I've managed to have it land once in PvP and sent someone flying over a rail, which surprised them since it was from range. Oh yeah, Screech is ranged, don't forget, so it's a ranged Stun/KB power now with the Stupefy slotting
DREADFUL WAIL SLOTTING (Note: This is no longer a valid slotting)
Positron's Blast: Acc/Dmg || Dmg/End || Dmg/Rech || Dmg/Acc/End || Chance for Energy Damage
Common IO: 1 Recharge
Final Stats
Acc: 46.3
Dmg: 93.9
Rech: 68.9
End Red: 46.6
Bonuses from Slotting
Recovery: 2.5
Fire/Cold Res: 1.58
Acc: 9
Rech: 6.25
20% Chance to do Energy Damage
Comments: Well first off, Dreadful Wail was fixed and now only accepts Stun and PBAoE sets, so you can't slot it this way anymore. It was a great set to slot because of the huge Recharge and Acc Bonuses, and the PBAoE's are lacking on any +Recharge bonuses. The only thing I don't like about this set is the lack of Recharge in its enhancements. It does phenomenal Damage, mild Accuracy, but that's not that big a deal because we're Blasters and generally only use our nuke with Aim+BU. Anyways, the only other thing about it is the Chance for Energy Damage which is quite nice. You can tell that it's hit when even the Lt. mysteriously just drops to their knees. It's great for giant herds.
MELEE ATTACK SLOTTING
Crushing Impact: Complete Set
Final Stats
Energy Punch: Dmg - 101.0 || Acc - 66.6 || Rech - 66.6 || End Red - 68.3
Bone Smasher: Dmg - 101.4 || Acc - 68.5 || Rech - 68.3 || End Red - 68.9
Total Focus: Dmg - 101.5 || Acc - 68.9 || Rech - 68.9 || End Red - 68.9
Bonuses from Slotting
Immobilization Resistance: 2.2
HP: 1.13
Acc: 7
Rech: 5
Psi Resistance: 2.5
Comments: Crushing Impact is a beastly set. I mean just look at those Damage numbers. It's on par with typical HamiO slotting if I'm not mistaken. Anyways, I picked Crushing over Mako's because, once again, I didn't care for it's Tier 4 or 5 bonuses. Crushing's Acc and Recharge bonuses are great, and the Tier 5 Psi Resistance appealed to me since I had never had any before and had planned on building some up from other IOs. Nothing much else to report. My melee attacks do fantastic damage and DPS since they also get that +9% Damage boost and have such low recharges.
SNOW STORM SLOTTING
Pacing of the Turtle: Chance for Recharge Slow
Bonuses from Slotting
20% Chance to cause -20% Recharge to Target
Comments: I can already Power Boost Snow Storm if need be, so I didn't bother to slot anything else into it. However, since it's a toggle power, sticking a Proc into it is hilarious to me. The power checks every 10 secs to see if the effect takes place, of course, and the -Rech that Snow Storm does chained with the -Rech that the Proc can do is just crushing. I've only ever actually had one person verify that it did hit because they said their usual power dots suddenly went from small (because of Snow Storm) to tiny. I think there was a discussion about the effects of it not working correctly, but I'm not sure where it ended. Either way, this is more of a "fun" slotting then efficient.
FROZEN ARMOR SLOTTING
Aegis: +Psionic and Mez Resistance
Impervium Armor: +Psionic Resistance
Impervious Skin: +Mez Resistance
Luck of the Gambler: +7.5% Recharge Speed/Def || Defense
Karma: +Knockback/Knockup Protection
Final Stats
Defense: 40.2
Bonuses from Slotting
Regeneration: 10
2.1% Psi Res + 20% Mez Res
3% Psi Res
30% Mez Res
+7.5% Recharge to all powers
Mag 4 Knockback/Knockup Protection
Comments: This is easily one of the major powers in my build. It has the Mez Resistance which I've talked about, as well as the other chunk of my Psi Res, Defense and global Recharge bonus and my KB/KD protection. The beauty of Ice Armor overall is that it takes both Resist and Defense IO sets, so it's easily customizable, as you can see. The Defense given by it is a bit enhanced by the Defense from LotG, and I can always keep it on thanks to my Recovery rate. I love the power
A note on Karma IOs. For PvE purposes, one is good. One for PvP is NOT enough. You WILL get thrown around. I stuck two in my build and found it to be more then enough for PvE and good enough for PvP to where only a few builds were able to knock me around consistently. So if you plan to do a lot of PvP'ing, figure out a way to get at least a Mag 8 protection going.
One final note, slotting the Impervium Armor: +Psi Resist WILL give you a permanent Psi Aura effect. Even if my shield is down it still appears. Why is this the only enhancement to actually give off an effect, I have no clue. Personally, I like the way it looks. You can see it around my character in the first picture.
HIBERNATE SLOTTING
Doctored Wounds: Complete Set
Final Stats
Heal: 96.9
Rech: 97.2
End Red: 72.0
Bonuses from Slotting
Fear Reduction: 2.2
Fire/Cold Res: 1.26
Healing Powers Increase: 4
Rech: 5
Psi Res: 1.26
Tox Res: 1.26
Comments: I once again opted for the Uncommon set over the Rare set because of the bonuses. More recharge and some Psi Res. The set gives great Recharge and Healing overall. I just watch my HP bar shoot straight up in chunks whenever I activate it. The Recovery it also gives is good and stacks with the +Recovery I have going on already.
HEALTH SLOTTING
Numina's Convalesence: +Recovery & Regeneration || Heal
Miracle: +Recovery
Regenerative Tissue: +Regeneration
Common IO: Heal
Final Stats
Heal: 83.3
Bonuses from Slotting
Regeneration: 12
20% Regen + 10% Recovery
15% Recovery
25% Regen
Comments: This is the other monster power of my build, and the most expensive. Ask anyone who's been out looking for a Miracle and parts of Numina's set, these IOs are VERY hard to come by, but their benefits are extreme.
The Regen Tissue and Numina's unique add on a significant portion to my Regen rate and the Miracle is also a big part of my overall Recovery. Since Health is always on, all the effects from the IOs are constantly on. Plus, the set bonus from having two of Numina's set PLUS the effects of Health itself modified by the two Heal IOs in it stack up onto my overall Regen rate quickly. I didn't 6-slot it for lack of slots in the final build, but if I could, I totally would have. There are some people out there slotting another part of Miracle for the added +Rec, which is a good move.
After I9, Health is a VERY powerful power to have if you slot it in this kind of way. I'd recommend it to anyone dipping into the Fitness pool at all. I love the power and combination I've been able to pull out of it.
SUPER SPEED SLOTTING
Celerity: +Stealth || Run Speed
Final Stats
Run Speed: 42.4
Bonuses from Slotting
Immobilization Resistance: 2.2
+Stealth for 120 secs
Comments: I put the +Stealth that's available into SS for PvP purposes. SS is an "always on" power in PvP, so I figured it'd be of the most benefit in there. Also, for stealthing PvE missions, the +Stealth from the IO and the +Stealth that SS gives you can stack and help each other out. I didn't slot it out anymore because I use Sprint all the time now thanks to my +Recovery and because I have Swift slotted out for an extra little push. The 120 secs works out well and last long enough for stealthing if you turn the power off and let it kick in. For PvP, the +Stealth isn't that huge, but every little bit helps and any kind of surprise you can muster is always a plus. I've snuck up on people with it before and they've confirmed that I do have to be closer to them then before for them to be able to see me.
COMBAT JUMPING SLOTTING
Luck of the Gambler: +7.5% Recharge Speed/Def || Def/End
Kismet: +To Hit
Karma: +Knockback/Knockup Protection
Final Stats
Defense: 15.9
End Red: 22.7
Bonuses from Slotting
Regeneration: 10
+7.5% Recharge to all powers
+6% To Hit to all powers
Mag 4 Knockback/Knockup Protection
Comments: This is another important power in my build as it has another global recharge IO and the other half of my KB/KD protection. It also has a +To Hit bonus which, isn't THAT noticeable, but as always, every little bit helps. Someone somewhere else calculated the exact effects of having the Kismet Unique and it does help a bit. Plus, Power Boosted Aim+BU and this make my To Hit numbers gigantic. I can hit anything, ANYTHING in PvE and PvP if I'm powered up in such a way.
The other nice thing is that the effect is always on since I leave CJ on for the Immob protection and jumping boost. Any Defense added to CJ is negligible since the overall Defense boost from CJ is low, so I slotted LotG in there for the Regen bonus above everything else.
COMMON IO AND HAMIDON ORIGIN SLOTTING
Amplify & Build Up: (3) Membrane [Rech/ToHit/Def] -> Rech - 95.0 || To Hit - 56.0
Power Thrust: (1) Nucleolus [Acc/Dmg] -> Dmg - 33.3 || Acc - 33.3
Power Boost: (1) Common IO [Recharge] -> Rech - 42.4
Boost Range: (1) Common IO [Recharge] -> Rech - 42.4
Swift: (2) Common IO [Run Speed] -> Run Speed - 83.3
Hurdle: (2) Common IO [Jumping] -> Jump - 83.3
Stamina: (3) Common IO [Endurance Modification] -> End Mod - 99.1
Hasten: (3) Common IO [Recharge] -> Rech - 99.1
Super Jump: (1) Common IO [Jumping] -> Jump 42.4
Sprint: (1) Microfilament [End/Travel] -> Run Speed - 33.3 || Jump - 33.3 || End Red - 33.3
Comments: Amplify and BU were given Membranes to maximize their slotting. I used to have them 6-slotted with 3 Recharge and 3 To Hits, but this has done the exact same.
Power Thrust got a Nuc for damage and accuracy balance. Power Boost and Boost Range got just 1 Recharge since I have more recharged stacked everywhere else, along with Hasten.
Swift and Hurdle were still given 2 slots for Suppressionless purposes in PvP.
Stamina and Hasten were 3 slotted with IOs for maximum effect and stacking.
Super Jump only needs 1 IO and Sprint got a Micro for multi boosts to movement speed for PvP purposes.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I LOVE, I mean LOVE my final build. I feel incredibly more powerful and my character overall is a blast to play. I find myself having trouble pulling away from him to play something else because he plays like no other now. My favorite part of the build is what I've been able to achieve with Mez Resist, Recovery and Recharge. Not having to ever worry about Endurance is a godsend. It makes me try and remember what 6-slotted Stamina was like before. My new recharge rates astound me and not having to worry about Mez as much as before makes for a totally new, and reckless
, playstyle.
Truly, IO's have led to what true Enhancement Diversification is. Being able to get End Red and some other effects into things that I never thought I'd be able to before has made my build incredible. Heck, I finally was able to drop Acrobatics for once on a character thanks to the KB/KD IO's
I cannot stress enough how amazing it feels to have a final and complete build with all these bonuses shooting out of my character. Oh, as for some tips I picked up:
<ul type="square">[*] Remember that not everything HAS to be a lvl 50 IO. You only lose a few % points on lower level ones. I tried staying between 41-50.[*] 2 IOs ~ 3 SOs. Save slots wherever you can, you're going to be dying for them.[*] Have an IO build planned out for the most part before you go shopping for expensive stuff. Don't regret spending a small fortune on salvage for stuff that you end up not wanting.[*] Don't save, spend. Try and not waste your money needlessly either, but if you REALLY want to become powerful, you're going to have to save and you're going to have to kiss those millions of Inf goodbye right away. People ask me why it is that I was able to put together all my stuff, well the answer is that I spent everything I had as I made it. I was always broke, I saw no reason to save. The goal is to complete the build.[*] Don't be afraid to be creative or try and mix and match things that you normally wouldn't. You can come up with some awesome combos with powers if you take the time to do your research.[/list]Really, that's about it. Playing like you always do and being lucky are about the only other influences you can have for finishing a build eventually. I played and saved like a madman for an entire month in order to be able to finish it as quickly as I did.
The worst part, like I had mentioned in the Health comments, is getting the Power Two of Miracle and Numina's. Those will always be high priced and tough to get, with emphasis on Miracle. I think Miracle and Numina's: Health are the toughest things to get a hold of in the game right now.
I hope this helped out anyone willing to read all or parts of it. I have had tremendous success with this character and plan on making another template for my next Blaster to work on. Thanks for reading!
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Splendid! I have a Sonic/EM that Ive been quite enjoying, and this only bolsters that. Well played.
