The level 27 Katana/WP experiment

I have an acquaintance in game who, upon reaching level 27, fills every slot with level 30 generic IOs. Level 30 generics, she reasons, are as good as green SOs and they never expire. The last time she did this, she spent about 10M buying/crafting the salvage, recipes and IOs she required. The process is not an easy one for her because she's at the constant whim of shortages in the market, and have to, at times, pay many times the going rate for the things she wants.

Seeing her struggle, I volunteered to completely outfit her next level 27 character with frankenslotted IOs. I told her that I could kit out her character for less than what she paid and that she'd have a more effective character at that level than one outfitted with generics.

This is the proposed build I've been using:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Tuesday: Level 27 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg:30(A), F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg:30(3), F'dSmite-Dmg/Rchg:30(11), Dmg-I:30(13), Achilles-ResDeb%:20(15)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Heal-I:30(A), Heal-I:30(5)
Level 2: Flashing Steel -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg:30(A), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg:30(3), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg:30(11), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:30(13), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(25)
Level 4: Mind Over Body -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:30(A), ResDam-I:30(5), ResDam-I:30(15)
Level 6: Build Up -- AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:30(A), AdjTgt-Rchg:30(7), RechRdx-I:30(7)
Level 8: Divine Avalanche -- F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg:30(A), B'Snap-Acc/Rchg:25(9), S'dpty-Def:30(9), S'dpty-Def/Rchg:30(23)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- EndRdx-I:30(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I:30(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I:30(A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx:30(A), H'zdH-Heal:30(17), Heal-I:30(17)
Level 18: The Lotus Drops -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg:30(A), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg:30(19), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx:30(19), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:30(23), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(25)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- EndMod-I:30(A), EndMod-I:30(21), EndMod-I:30(21)
Level 22: Fast Healing -- Heal-I:30(A)
Level 24: Swift -- Run-I:30(A)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg:30(A), F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg:30(27), Dmg-I:30(27)
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I:30(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I:30(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:30(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

As of yesterday (I started 2 days ago), I managed to acquire all but one of the pieces in that build, craft the necessary IOs and have them waiting for her when her scrapper reaches level 27. Here's the price breakdown of what I paid (all IOs are level 30):

Code:

						
	IO	Recipe Cost	Salvage Cost	Craft	Total Cost	Notes
1	Bruising Blow Acc/Dmg	5,000	8,000	87,400	100,400		Originally Smashing Haymaker
2	Bruising Blow Acc/Dmg	20,000	8,000	87,400	115,400		Originally Smashing Haymaker
3	Focused Smite Acc/Dmg	55,000	39,000	43,700	137,700	
4	Focused Smite Acc/Dmg	55,000	39,000	43,700	137,700	
5	Focused Smite Acc/Dmg	55,000	39,000	43,700	137,700	
6	Focused Smite Dmg/Rech	50,000	8,000	43,700	101,700	
7	Damage			1,000	6,000	41,300	48,300	
8	Damage			1,000	6,000	41,300	48,300	
9	Heal			1,000	6,000	41,300	48,300	
10	Heal			1,000	6,000	41,300	48,300	
11	Heal			1,000	6,000	41,300	48,300	
12	Heal			1,000	6,000	41,300	48,300	
13	Harmonized Heal/End	1,000	36,000	43,700	80,700	
14	Harmonized Heal 	1,000	3,000	43,700	47,700	
15	Cleaving Blow Acc/Dmg	160,000	42,200	43,700	245,900	
16	Cleaving Blow Acc/Dmg	160,000	42,200	43,700	245,900	
17	Multi-S Acc/Dmg		150,000	9,000	43,700	202,700	
18	Multi-S Acc/Dmg					
19	Multi-S Acc/Dmg/End	101,000	4,000	43,700	148,700	
20	Multi-S Acc/Dmg/End	101,000	32,000	43,700	176,700	
21	Multi-S Dmg/End/Rech	85,000	8,000	43,700	136,700	
22	Multi-S Dmg/End/Rech	85,000	8,000	43,700	136,700	
23	Multi-S Dmg/End 	60,000	41,000	43,700	144,700	
24	Multi-S Dmg/Rech	80,000	7,000	42,440	129,440		Level 29
25	Steadfast Res/End	0	29,000	87,400	116,400	
26	Resistance		0	0		10,000	
27	Resistance		0	0		10,000	
28	Bonesnap Acc/Rech	15,000	65,000	78,400	158,400	
29	Serendipity Def	15,000	1,300	43,700	60,000	
30	Serendipity Def/Rech	15,000	10,000	43,700	68,700	
31	Endurance Redx		0	0		50,000	
32	Defense			1,000	82,000	29,000	112,000	
33	Jump			500	2,000	16,600	19,100	
34	Endurance Mod		24,825	7,500	33,100	65,425	
35	Endurance Mod		24,825	7,500	33,100	65,425	
36	Endurance Mod		24,825	7,500	33,100	65,425	
37	Run			2,000	27,000	27,300	56,300	
38	Run			2,000	27,000	27,300	56,300	
39	Adj Target Rech/ToHit	75,000	34,000	43,700	152,700	
40	Recharge		0	0	0	75,000		Originally Adj Targeting Rech
41	Recharge		0	0		10,000	
42	Recharge		0	0		10,000	
43	Accuracy		500	27,000	40,040	67,540	
44	Achilles Heel Proc	100,000	3,000	23,700	126,700	
						
		1,530,475	739,200	1,636,980	4,071,655
					
					
	TOTAL	7,978,310

Total cost 7,978,310

So, what did I learn from this:

1. If you are even a little bit patient, you can grab fully crafted generic IOs or their corresponding recipes for next to nothing. You'll see on my chart above that I grabbed a number of IOs for 10k, and the recipes for 1k. A crafted recipe that you buy for 1k is approximately 45-50k in cost when you factor in salvage. If you buy the recipe right off of the invention table (like I had to for the end mod pieces), the cost increase by about a third, around 70k.

2. A frankenslotted build is probably more expensive than a comparable fully generic build *IF* you are impatient. If you are like my acquaintance, a generic build is probably more expensive. The full build above was around 8M. I'm fairly certain I can do the whole build 3M with just generics...that's even assuming I have to buy recipes right off the invention table and craft each one myself.

3. PBAoE recipes and IOs that are not max level are rare and hard to come by. The cost for the multi-strike and cleaving blow recipes above reflect the fact I had to put in overnight bids plus a premium I paid to ensure I would get any recipes listed. Due to the increase of solo farming at 50 and less AE activity, less than max level recipes are already showing signs of scarcity.

4. I could've paid less by simply using AE bronze rolls and not even bother paying for recipes. That's why there's a Steadfast Res/End in the build. Crafted, that IO goes for around 5-10M, about the price of the entire build. However, I rolled the recipe with a bronze roll, bought the salvage for it and crafted it. A lot of max level 30 recipes, such as the Bruising Blows, could've been acquired using the same method. However, I rushed through the buying process. I'm just pointing out a mistake.

5. I actually broke even on the build. When I was putting in lowball bids for the Achilles Heel proc (100k), I manage to win two of them. I stored one IO and relisted the other, it sold for 9M, which minus listing/market fees brings me a tiny profit overall.

Anyway, if you made it all the way to the end, I hope enjoyed my little experiment. It was eye opening for me as well.

Snfffff... the sweet smell of capital intelligently applied. Smells like America on a good day.

One question: How much savings do you think people get from having SG storage space available to them? Cause the "buy in advance and be patient" thing, which I recommend, only works if you have places to store stuff. Just occurred to me.

The assumption there is that you're going to hit 27 and slot everything instantly all at once. As mentioned by Rodion, you don't necessarily have to do that.

Let's see what we CAN 'instantly' hold and use- these may not be exactly correct- just as a sort of personal challenge.

* 10 personal tray slots
* about 12 personal recipe slots
* about 32 personal salvage slots
* about 16 Went slots
* about 30 vault salvage slots

The best case is that we can store 58 or so salvage at Wents (10 each alchems, improvs, and bones; 9 each runes and demons; 8 circuit boards.) This takes up six went-slots. And then we could craft ten items, each of which uses a recipe and three pieces of salvage, and store those in our tray. We've handled 10 recipes and 88 salvage, leaving us room for the extra salvage on our person and in the vault; the recipes are going to overflow.

Even that is unrealistic, because those recipes are going to use some of that salvage- so we could store, I dunno, 42 pieces in 6 went-slots and still craft 10 in advance?
That gives us
42 in wentworth's
30 crafted
32 stored on our person
30 stored in the vault
_____
134 salvage.

Salvage: shouldn't be much of a problem. This doesn't even include the factoid that you can pick up at least 12 of those (the Improvised Cybernetics) at bargain basement prices any time you want. Runes are USUALLY cheap as well.
Recipes, that's going to be the bottleneck. Maybe.

I count 19 generic recipes on that list. 44-19 = 25. 10 of those 25 are the "pre-crafted" ones. I don't know which ones on that list are massively oversupplied- if 5 of those are oversupplied, those can be picked up for a few K each when the time comes.

It's been a very long time since I tried to operate on anything like this tight a budget. The 6,000,000 inf man was the last time I did this.

I remember (possibly inaccurately) that it's the big things that kill you, and most of the big things here are crafting costs. If you paid 10K more for each generic recipe, that adds 190K to the total cost of the project, for instance. If you replaced one of your PBAOE Acc/Dam pairs with an Acc and a Dam, you'd probably end up spending LESS. (Yes, there's a slight loss of performance. )

So if you have no SG, and you ding by flying over that location badge in the Steel Canyon university with a full load of salvage and recipes, and decide you're not going to stab another Freak until you're all set up... you can probably do it that afternoon, not counting your (considerable) prep time.

I'd much rather have an SG bin to use, myself.

Fulmens, that's exactly why i started my own SG. I only have my, my wifes, and my cousins toons in it so i can leave everything unlocked. I have 9 salvage bins and 7-8 recipe bins.

I farm AE still. I have a normal BM farm with bosses, lt.s and minions so the rewards are 100%. I hit the 1500 tix cap on each run. I run 3 toons on it. One toon gets a gold roll, 1 toon gets silver rolls and the other gets bronze rolls. I sell the crap rolls and craft and keep in a storage bin the rest. Occasionally i sell, but not too often as i play and IO mine and my wifes toon.

I also farm PI. I craft and keep alot of purples that drop. (1 in about 4-5 runs)

By doing this i just IO'd an Arch/MM blaster last week. I have 3 LotG 7.5% rech, a miracle, perf. shifter proc, numina proc, 4 sets of purps, a couple posi's, and decimations. Hasten is 5 seconds from perma. How much did i actually spend on this build? Less than 20 mil. as i had the majority in bins for when i hit 50 on her.

Even if you are in a SG, like i was, it would still benefit you to create your own SG on an alt just to store "goodies".

This is all very interesting.

Thank you for this.

Its really impressive that you and Fulmens managed to do this so easily. True skill is making the difficult seem easy. I am in the middle of doing the same thing for two of my toons redside and it seems to be a much more difficult task for me.


I wanted to do a franken slot build for them when they reached level 25 and I started bidding for the recipes when they were level 20. Anything I could slot more than one of I would bid over multiple levels, I had a third toon who is at 40 clearing out her slots and placing bids for things that the two of them didn't have slots for.

One of the big problems I am having is the slow turnover on the redside market. On one of the two I tried converting my tickets into rolls instead of my usual salvage, now I have slots tied up with things which are moving very very slowly. I also find I have bids for items that have none for sale and just aren't moving.

I think the best I could have managed would have been to put bids up when they hit 21 or had the cash and then put them away for a couple of weeks. Come back, craft whatever had filled then decide what to do.

BL, i dont know how fast you gain rolls or drops, but in my exp if i just place the item really low, it sell immediately. I usually just place everything at 222 and if i get 5-10 mil instead of 15, i dont care. I drop it off and go to make more. The only thing i really try to make inf on is high inf stuff like purps (if i sell them) or procs. I've made a ton and IO'd both of our toons just by sellin fast and accumulating the inf. I don't even use WW to drop salvage any more, i just delete or sell at the store. But, that's just me.

Followed this thread from the one about shortage of mid level IOs. Just to share my recent experience...

I just re-upped after a 3 week break, which started right as 2XP was winding down, and noticed I had a fairly newly minted lvl 27 Spines/Dark scrapper w/yellow SOs and some red DOs even. So, I decided to completely overhaul his slotting via frankenslotting (plus a Numina/Miracle, a Theft +end proc and a -KB, all of which I have in abundant storage, but we won't count those for this discussion). I wish I'd kept better track of expenses, but I did all my attacks which consist of 1 ST, 1 ranged & 4(!) PBAoE, all 4-5 slotted, and I don't think I bid more than 150K on anything. Nor did any of the recipes call for rare salvage. A few of the bids didn't fill immediately and I haven't checked (been 2 days), but I bid a bit over the last 5 high price, and they were selling every few days, so I have little doubt they'll fill.

So, my attacks alone, I'm looking at, let's say 200K per slot, which is way more than what they'll be since I often paid closer to 10K for a recipe, but just to be conservative. So that's 6 million for just my attacks (well, prolly closer to 4). Now, I have a lot of attacks, largely because of the 2 damage auras, and those tend to cost more than defensive or other IOs, but since there are more powers to fill, even at a lesser cost, let's say the rest will take me another 6M to fill out.

So, conservatively 10~12M to fully frankenslot a lvl 27 toon w/o being particularly cheap about it (but w/o paying silly NAO! prices either). I could prolly do it for 8M too, I just didn't feel like it. Really, sounds about right, and far, far superior to any SO or generic IO slotting even w/o any set bonuses (of which there are a few useful ones, even through frankenslotting).

Edit: The bidding, crafting & slotting took prolly around an hour or so. If you include adjusting the build in Mids' for a lvl 30 frankenslot build, another 10 min. Of course I was slotting on the fly, and using the Steel, Wents<->University worn path frequently. And I'm less than 1/2 done, but the non-attack slotting should go faster too, so I figure a total of 2 hrs to get the whole thing done from conception to fully slotted. 3hrs tops. Then again, I don't care about my defenses nearly as much (as long as Dark Regen is well slotted) so I might just say screw and stick some throwaway SOs in my armors for a few more levels, until I get slot lvl 40 Reactive Armors in all of them.

I just frankenslotted my new Spines/DA Scrapper... started around level 30 and am now 34 and fully IOed. It was a little more expensive than your Katana/WP, but a lot of that was due to the types of IOs needed. The AoE sets and resist sets are harder to frankenslot dirt cheap and I wanted a -KB IO as well as a 6% accuracy... I had quite a few 100-200k recipes and the Steadfast -KB and Kismet 6% accuracy were both several million. Still, I was able to do it over the course of a few days using only the inf that character had earned, so the fact that I spent 20 million instead of 8 doesn't really bother me. The ability to actually play a Spines/Dark and not run out of endurance every 30 seconds is worth it.