Mageman's Guide to Basic Slotting

For those of you new to CoH/CoV, you will see that as you level you get a choice of either a new power, or adding slots to powers you have already chosen. This can also help people who have played a while review what works best for your character.

Although this post is NOT to tell you what powers to choose or when to add slots to them, this may help you make the make a choice of when to add slots into them and/or what Enhancements to add to them.

First of all let's cover starting your character. The first thing you choose is Hero or Villian. Next you select your Class (example Hero's have Tanks, Villians have Brutes - this will change in an upcoming expansion). The next thing is your Origin. This is important as it determines what you have to choose from later on. Here's a basic idea of how the five origins work:

Natural <--> Technology <--> Science <--> Mutant <--> Magic <--> Natural

It actually works better with a picture, as a circle. An easy way to remember it is like your a Mutant - were you mutated by Science or Magic? There are two that I find I really like. First is Natural since both the Blackwand and the Nemesis Staff (Veteran Reward) get a damage boost for being Natural - the Blackwand also gets a damage boost for Mutant and Magic, Nemesis Staff also gets a boost for Science and Technology. The second choice for me is being a Mutant not for any special reason other than SOs named in such a manner that with SOs it's easy to recognize the name with how it enhances a power.

To me, there are 6 different kinds of Enhancements. Most people will disagree with this, but this is MY POST - and I'm writing it on a double XP weekend!
First - Training (often refered to as TOs). They can be used by any of the 5 Origins. Since they are used by all five of the origins, they are the weakest of all the enhancements. You can purchase them as level 5, 10, 15, and 20.
Second - Dual Origin (DOs). These can only be used by 2 of the 5 Origins. By using the chart above, you can see that if your origin is Technology, you would need either Science/Technology or Natural/Technology DOs. They give twice the bonus as TOs and cost three times as much. You can purchase them as level 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40.
Third - Single Origin (SOs). These can only be used by 1 of the 5 Origins. Example: If you are of Magic Origin, you can only use Magic SOs. They give twice the bonus of DOs and cost three times as much (four times the bonus as TOs, nine times the price). You can purchase them as level 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50.
Fourth - Normal Invention (Often refered to as IOs, I will refer to them as NIOs). These replace your TOs, DOs, and SOs. They look like the TOs with a hexagon around them. These are crafted rather than bought. They can be gotten at level 10+, every 5 levels. These are real nice since they don't "expire" (you out-level them), although they tend to be more expensive than SOs of their own level. At level 30, a NIO is about the same as the level SO. At level 10+ you can run a mission and get a free NIO of up to level 25.
Fifth - Special Invention (Also refered to as IOs, to prevent confusion, I will refer to them as SIOs). These are real nice and give you a "set bonus" - the set bonus gives you additional abilities depending on how many of these are slotted in the SAME POWER. As far as I know, you can only have one of each of these slotted on your character. Like NIOs, they don't "expire" as you level. They are very expensive.
Sixth - Hamidon (refered to as HOs). These are similar to SIOs that they are rair (only dropped of special creatures) and may add to several abilities (like Accuracy and Damage) at the same time. Theses were all the rage before SIOs, now they're pretty much ignored since the SIOs can be so much better with their set bonuses.

All of these enhancements add to a power's ability. Example, you can get Enhancements that add to Accuracy thus making it easier to hit with a power. If you add more than 3 of the same TO, DO, SO, or NIO Enhancements, the bonus you receive for adding more will drastically be reduced. So at best, you should only get 3 of any type (example: Damage) enhancements in the same power.

Most Enhancements can be slotted 3 levels earlier than it's level. The only exception to this is a few SIOs that are level 50 and can only be slotted when your character is level 50). When the TO, SO, or DO Enhancement is higher than your character, the number is green and will add a slightly higher bonus to it's ability. When your character is the same level as the TO, SO, or DO, the number will show as white, meaning your getting the exact bonus of the enhancement. If your level slightly exceeds the level of the TO, DO, or SO, it will turn yellow showing that you're recieving slightly less bonus than it should.

When you are more than 3 levels higher than a TO, DO, or SO, the color of the number will turn red showing that you get NO BONUS from having that Enhancement. Once the enhancement number turns red, you can't place it.

You can upgrade TO, DO, and SO slotted Enhancements. There are a few rules that you need to remember when doing this:
1) The new enhancement becomes a + based on the higher level of the two enhancements. Example: You have a level 20 Damage DO slotted and a level 22 Damage DO that you want to upgrade. If successful, you will get a level 22+ DO. The + means that it is the same as a level 23 Enhancement. If, for example, you combine that level 22+ DO with a level 23 DO, you will get a level 23+ instead of a level 22++.
2) Unless the enhancements are exactly the same level, then there is a chance of failure. The higher the difference in level between the two enhancements, the greater the chance of failure.
3) The new enhancement must be usable by your character. Example, if you're level 27 and put in a level 30 SO, into a slot containing a level 25 SO. Since you can't use a level 31 enhancement (that would be 4 levels higher than your character), the level 30 SO will just replace the level 25.
4) An Enhancement can only be upgraded twice (thus being a ++). So if you use bought SOs, the best you can get is a level 50++ (the same as a level 52). However, if you find a level 51 or 52, you could upgrade one of those thus getting you the equalivilant to a level 53 SO.
5) If the slotted enhancement turned red, it can still be upgraded.
6) You can't upgrade with a RED enhancement. You can't place it, so you can't use it to try and upgrade.
7) The enhancement must be of the same type, and usable based on your origin. So you must use a Damage TO to upgrade a Damage TO, a Recharge DO to upgrade a Recharge DO (although I believe that they don't have to be exactly the same like Natural/Technology), and an Accuracy SO to upgrade your Accuracy SO.

Here is what I recommend to buy enhancements (Assuming that someone hasn't given you 1,000,000 Inf);
Levels 1-11: don't bother with Enhancements at all. you just outlevel them way too quickly. The only thing I might do is any Accuracy Enhancements I find will get slotted, all others get sold.
Levels 16, 21, 26, 31, 36, 41, and 46: I don't recommend buying enhancements now, although slotting an enhancement that you found is ok. You can only buy yellow (-1 level) enhancements, and one more level and you can buy +3s (at level 17 you can buy 20s, etc).
Levels 12-15 and 17-20: Now is the time to buy those TOs. I realize that you could buy those DOs, the DOs are just too expensive. Since you are poor, you could only buy about 1/2 the DOs you would want and the rest of your powers would go unslotted.
Level 22: Now is the time to run that mission in the University. You will get a free level 25 NIO by doing it. If you run the mission any earlier, you won't get that level 25 NIO. If you do it any later, the best you can get is a level 25 NIO. So now the time is perfect.
Levels 22-25 and 27-30: Now is the time to buy those DOs. Again, you could buy those fancy SOs, but you're still too poor to do this.
Level 27, 32, 37, 42, and 47: after you've purchased MOST of the enhancements you need, get 3-5 NIOs. I recommend getting them for the following powers first: Sprint (including Prestige Sprint powers), Brawl, and Rest. Remember - those NIOs don't expire, so you never have to replace them with SOs or higher level NIOs! Just leave them alone and put 3-5 NIOs into different power(s).
Levels 32-35, 37-40, 42-45, and 47-50: All your saving INF has gotten you to this point! Now you should be able to afford those nice shiney SOs! And by buying a few NIOs occasionally, you should be able save even more!
Level 50: Once you have all your powers slotted with SOs and NIOs, now is the time to start thinking about replacing SOs with level 50 NIOs. After that, consider replacing all the NIOs under level 50 with level 50 NIOs or SIOs.

Notes;
- Although you can buy TOs, DOs, and SOs only at the 5x levels, you can find them at any level (example: you can buy a level 10 Accuracy TO, but you could find a level 8, 9, 10, etc.). You can also find them up to level 53.
- You may want to consider looking in the consignment house for your TOs, DOs, and SOs. They can frequently be purchased for 1/2 the price you would pay at the vendor. Just check the vendor to get a general price range so you know you're not getting cheated. And those non-5x enhancements are even cheaper.
- NIO Recipes are only found at the 5x levels. You can buy them from either the IO workstation (where you make the enhancement), from other players (consignment houses), or with AE or Merit tickets.
- Although you could purchase pre-made NIOs/SIOs from the consignment house, most of the time it's cheaper to get the recipe and the material to do it yourself.
- SIO Recipes can only be found or purchased from a consignment house, or gotten as a random recipe from the AE or Merit ticket vendors. Most can be any level 10-50, but a few are level 50 only.
- Once you put an enhancement in a power, the only way to get it out is on a Respec. Since this normally doesn't happen, consider them stuck. You can replace/upgrade them, but not get them back.
- You could save all your Respecs to get 10 NIOs/SIOs out of powers you have new NIOs/SIOs to put in. This way you can sell them at the consignment house so you could afford to buy more SIOs.
- You can't upgrade NIOs or SIOs. However, since they don't expire, you could be level 50 and slot a level 10 NIO or SIO (although why is another consideration).
- If you can't use an Enhancement when you find it, sell it to the appropiate vendor. You get slightly more Infamy/Influence by selling enhancements (including TOs) to the vendors that sell them to you. Example: a Mutant/Magic DO should be sold to a Mutant or Magic vendor.
- With your free NIO from the university, I recommend getting either an Accuracy or Recharge. If you find yourself using Brawl, get the ACC for it. Otherwise, get the Recharge for Rest.
- When in Supergroup Mode above level 25, you lose INF as a compensation for the Prestige (up to a loss of 50% of your INF). Either ask your SG for INF to compensate you for this or consider exiting SG mode.
- If you get the Prestige Sprint powers (at 12 Month Veteran Reward), I use 2-3 of them. Normal Sprint gets a Run Enhancement. One gets a Endurance Reduction (when running in an instance to chase a runner while conserving Endurance), the second gets a Jump Enhancement (for those low walls that you just can't get high enough), and a third gets a +Stealth SIO (when I can afford it, it helps when running through hazardous areas). Thus you have 4 powers you use occasionally, each one with only one slot.