Guide to IO sets...??

You can take a look at the sticky thread, where you can find a lot of guides with suggested builds. They can help you get started. Paragon wiki has a comprehensive list of IO sets and their bonus. We usually assemble and post builds using the Mid's planner. If possible, you should use it.

Below is what I do to make a build from scratch:

1. Make an SO build. An SO build is a good starting point, as it tells you approximately how slots should be allocated to each power, and which attributes of a power should be enhanced.

2. Ask yourself which kind of bonus you want for your character. For regeneration, you can focus on recharge to perma dull pain with hasten, and to speed up reconstruction and instant healing. Your secondary focus can be higher regeneration, and some defense (probably melee or s/l defense).

3. Strip off the SO such that you have a build with empty slots. Put IO sets into the empty slots. Pick the IO sets that can both enhance your power properly (for example, an attack is slotted like an attack that can do damage), and acquire the set bonus that you desire. You can mix and match different IO sets in one power.

You also need to know your budget. If your budget is like few tens of mil, you probably want to stick to generic IO and uncommon IO set (yellow color). With a few hundred mil to something like a billion, you can have a build with a lot of rare IO sets (red color). With unlimited budget, you can pick purple IO sets, and pvp IO sets. You don't really need to have all the inf right now. You can aim for a build that you can afford within a reasonable amount of your time. Expensive is not equivalent to better, pick the IO set with the bonus you want.

5. During the above processes, you may find that you want to move some slots around, or pick a different power.

6. After you're done, click "view active sets" in the Mid's planner to find out if you violate the "rule of 5." In short, you can't acquire the same IO bonus for more than 5 times.

7. Export your build here and let us complain. Tell us your goal, and budget. We can see if your build can be tweaked in some way.

8. Make changes according to our suggestions.

9. If we're not sick of you yet, goto 7. Otherwise, done!

I never knew that lol. I pretty much know what IOs I need for certain bonuses in the powers I use regularly, but that would have been very useful when I first started using Mids.

Contact me in-game: @CheeseSlicer