Any Frankenslotting guides out there?

Hello. I've been checking but can't find any such guides, and of course all of the Google results that seemed like they might have some info are broken since the forums were moved/changed. I have a 42 fire/kinetics controller, and I play other characters too so I think the best I'll ever do for this guy is some Frankenslotting on the critical powers. I'd like some actual information of what (partial) sets are recommended for which powers.

Also, is Frankenslotting something I should wait to do till level 50? Or are there lower level IO's I can get that would be worth the effort (and maybe cheaper)? I probably would do some of the more critical powers, maybe not everything. I just need some slotting suggestions/recommendations. Thanks in advance.

I have never come acrossed any specific guides for frankenslotting, probably because the true goal in frankenslotting is to maximize enhancment bonuses without paying any attention to set bonuses, so the actual options are endless.

I start frankenslotting around L22, when i can slot L25 IO's which seem to give me the best return when compared to SO's as the dual aspect IO's give you 20% enhancment to each aspect. This means that when you have 2 slots in which you would normally put, say an accuracy and a damage SO, giving you 32%-38% enhancment to each depending on SO level, you can slot 2 different accuracy/damage IO's and get 40% to each aspect that won't degrade as you level. I certainly don't wait until 50 to frankenslot - I don't even wait until 50 to slot up full sets for the set bonuses as I have certain favorite sets that give good general bonuses and are not too expensive, like crushing impact sets for melee attacks which give you +7% global accuracy, +5% global recharge and +1.12% HP for a 5 piece set.

At level 22 I generally try to 5 slot attacks and put damage based dual IO's in them with the goal of getting 100% damage enhancment (or as close as you can get with ED) and then another 100% split out between accuracy, recharge and end reduction. The exact amount of each depends what I want to do - I normally try to get at least 40% accuracy but in order to reliabley hit +2's (mission difficulty level 3) you need 60% accuracy in slotting or global accuracy to make up for it.

Other than that it all depends on what you need to get out of a power. I frankenslot my controller and dominator controls up at 25 as well but since they don't need to cap any one aspect (usually) I don't 5 slot them, 2-3 slots focusing on accuracy, recharge and a little end reduction or control duration is frequently enough, although important controls (e.g. seeds of confusion on my plant controller/dominator) will also get 5 slots.

Basic guidelines:

1) Dual aspect set IO's (acc/dam, acc/recharge, etc) give 20% to each aspect starting at L25. They go up after that but it is pretty slow so a L30 is slightly better but not enough to matter. 2 Identical dual aspect IO's are always at least slightly better than 2 SO's that enhance each aspect. So 2 ACC/DAM IO's are always a good replacement for 1 Accuracy and 1 Damage SO.
2) Triple aspect set IO's (acc/dam/recharge, acc/recharge/hold, etc) give 16% to each aspect starting at L25. IF you can get 3 triple aspect IO's that enhance the same things they make a good replacement for 3 individual SO's with the same enhancment. For example, 3 ACC/HOLD/RECH IO's will give you 48% enhancment to each aspect which makes them a hugely better choice over 1 SO of each type in the same 3 slots. The catch here is that it is hard to find 3 triple aspect IO's that enhance the same things - many control sets have enough triple aspect IO's you can frankenslot them effectively but few damage sets do. However slotting 1 triple IO in place of a double when you have 4-5 slots will frequently let you pick up a some extra enhacement in one area with minimal loss in another.

Some examples of Frankenslotting powers:

Example 1: Attack power with 5 L25 IO's - 3x Acc/Dam, Dam/End, Dam/Rech, will give you 95% damage after ED capping, 60% accuracy, 20% end reduction and recharge.

Example 2: Attack power with 5 L25 IO's - 2x Acc/Dam, Dam/End, Dam/Rech, Acc/Dam/Rech gives you approx 92% damage after ED, 56% accuracy, 20% end reduction and 36% recharge.

Example 3: Single target hold with 3 L25 IO's - 2 x Acc/hold/recharge 1x end/hold gives 32% Accuracy and recharge, 20% end reduction and 52% hold duration.

Here is an example of blaster I frankenslotted right at L22. Any powers that do not have a specific IO in them just have SO's - I don't slot generic IO's until I can slot L30 IO's. I have some set bonuses because I tend to use Ruin IO's in most of my single target ranged attacks as they fairly common and cheap - but I slot whatever I can get without spending to much on them:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 37 Mutation Blaster
Primary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shriek -- Ruin-Acc/Dmg:25(A), Mael'Fry-Acc/Dmg:25(3), Salvo-Acc/Dmg:25(7), Ruin-Dmg/EndRdx:25(11), Ruin-Dmg/Rchg:25(23)
Level 1: Subdual -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Scream -- Ruin-Acc/Dmg:25(A), Mael'Fry-Acc/Dmg:25(3), Ruin-Dmg/EndRdx:25(7), Ruin-Dmg/Rchg:25(11), Mael'Fry-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:25(17)
Level 4: Howl -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:25(A), AirB'st-Acc/Dmg:25(5), Det'tn-Dmg/Rng:25(5), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng:25(13), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg:25(19)
Level 6: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Shout -- Ruin-Acc/Dmg:25(A), Ruin-Dmg/EndRdx:25(9), Ruin-Dmg/Rchg:25(9), Mael'Fry-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:25(13), Mael'Fry-Acc/Dmg:25(15)
Level 10: Hasten -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Psychic Scream -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:25(A), AirB'st-Acc/Dmg:25(15), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx:25(19), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg:25(21), AirB'st-Dmg/Rchg:25(21)
Level 14: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Concentration -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(17)
Level 18: Sirens Song -- LgcRps-Acc/Rchg:25(A), Empty(23), Empty(29)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(25)
Level 22: Super Speed -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Amplify -- Empty(A), Empty(25)
Level 26: Drain Psyche -- Empty(A), Empty(27), Empty(27), Empty(29)
Level 28: Combat Jumping -- Empty(A)
Level 30: World of Confusion -- Empty(A), Empty(31), Empty(31), Empty(31)
Level 32: Dreadful Wail -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Telekinetic Thrust -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Empty(A)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 2% Enhancement(Knockback)
• 2% Enhancement(Knockup)
• 40.7 HP (3.37%) HitPoints
• MezResist(Sleep) 3.3%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 4.95%
• 3.75% Resistance(Energy)
• 6% RunSpeed
• 1% XPDebtProtection

• 2.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 2.5% Defense(Energy)
• 2.5% Defense(Negative)
• 1.25% Defense(Ranged)
• 2.25% Max End
• 16% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 2.5% Enhancement(Confused)
• 36.3% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 2.75% Enhancement(Terrorized)
• 5% FlySpeed
• 76.3 HP (7.5%) HitPoints
• 5% JumpHeight
• 5% JumpSpeed
• MezResist(Immobilize) 4.95%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 3.3%
• 8.5% (0.14 End/sec) Recovery
• 5% RunSpeed

I look at frankenslotting more for the level 15-25ish area. By level 35, I'm looking more at full sets, but even then some powers get frankenslotted. Blind from Ill gets heavily frankenslotted. For sets, go for the cheaper ones since any bonuses are better than none, and you can keep those in there until you can build up a better amount of influ.

IO sets

Enhancement values

ED

A good frankenslotting guide would be a good thing.

Thing is, it would have to be either really short and abstract, e.g.,

"OK, here's the idea: slot as many triple- and double-aspect IOs with enhancement types you actually need or can benefit from, without regard for which sets they belong to-- for example if you have something that just needs recharge and damage, and there're three sets the power takes that all have a damage/recharge, slot one of each."

Or it would have to be FRIGGIN exhaustive, and probably would then become dated fairly quickly.

Sounds like a great project for Paragonwiki, where many people can contribute what they know about specific IO sets and anyone can fix it up when things change. That would at least be better than waiting for one person to write Frankenslotting combinations for the whole IO system in one go, and freezing that in time.

Frankenslotting is just a matter of going for a certain performance from a power and only striving for the bonuses you want. Its not hard to look at other enhancement sets and reading them and thinking, I only need the first 3 enhancements of that set and I could do with 2 enhancements of the other set.

Every time you frankenstein you lose out on a set bonus but clearly there are bonuses that don't really matter.

Ever feel like there's a whistle that only you can hear?

Here is the guide I consider standard.
This is the guide I wrote when inventions were new and shiny.

I think every "Frankenslotting" build should have a couple of set bonuses or uniques. If you don't have knockback protection, get it. Game changing effect for a squishy. Karma, Steadfast, Blessing of the Zephyr, Kinetic Crash are good IO's; I've never run Acrobatics because Superjump is not the travel power for me. Also you should have somewhere between one and two "SO's" of accuracy in every power- generally I try for one or two global Acc bonuses and at least 45% slotted Acc in a given power. Most people like more Acc than I do.

Other than that, if you figure that each part of a triple is "half an IO" and each part of a double is "a bit more than half an IO" (three gets ya two) and an IO in the 30-45 range is "close enough to an SO" that makes the math simple and almost right.

An example of the math- I usually do this at level 25:

Acc/Dam (Any set, whatever's cheap)
Acc/Dam (any other set)
Dam/End [or Dam/Rech for a really juicy power]
generic Damage

Gives you "Bit more than 1 acc", "about three damage", "half an End."

have fun!