When do IOs start to out perform SOs?

I was wondering at what level should I put IOs in?

Some info to base your decisions:

paragonwiki.com/wiki/Enhancements#Relative_Enhancement_Values

Early game.. level 10, 15 and 20 IO outshine Training and Dual Origin.

Later one by level 35 IOs are just a bit lower than an SO when first slotted at 27 but are about equal by 30 to 34

From 40 on on .. IOs are much better than their Single Origin counterparts.

Hope that helps :-D

IMO-

Immediately- they never expire or go down in stats as you level.

By adding up the bonuses from each component. Yes, the individual % will be less, but the cumulative bonus will be higher than a single stat SO. By putting in 2 of the same dual stat IOs from different sets (ie, frankenslotting), you'll get better results than placing an SO into each of those two slots

I slot lvl 10 IO's at lvl 7.

At lvl 17, I respec out my lvl 10's and store them for the next char, and then buy lvl 20's.

Rinse, repeat at lvl 27 etc., etc., etc.

At around 35ish, I start to Frankenslot or craft the mid zone IO's like KC's.

At 47, I use mostly drops for 50's because I don't find that anything past lvl 40 - 45 really makes that much difference in my abilities.

YMMV

GF

I slot IO's much earlier now, since I can (finally) earn INF a bit easier than I used to.

I don't bother with IOs until level 35.

36.66 +2 SO
36.70 Level 35 IO

And that's why. While I see the logic behind frakenslotting all the way, I don't find that the benefits outweigh the time spent crafting. I'd rather spend all my time killin.

I prefer to put set IOs or common IOs at lvl 20 and keep them under lvl 30 because high lvl SOs don't work when you exemp for a SF like Tarikoss or Silver Mantis which has a max level of 20 and 25. Having the IOs still work while doing 1st respec (max lvl 33) really helps with those pesky vines.
Since my common or set IOs are between 20-30, they will still work while I do the SF and when I'm doing my lvl 40 missions.
Any TO/SO drops that I get go to the market or quartermaster.
When I get to 50, I use my 2nd build and slot it with 35-50 sets (depends what I can find). This 2nd build will be for performance so I can survive ITF and RSF.

I tend to do a lot of sets very early. The thing is, at level 17, if I have a bunch of frankenslotted stuff, I may end up with not only better bonuses than I'd have from SOs, but also with, say, +10% regeneration, +9% recovery, and so on -- especially helpful pre-Stamina.

I begin slotting SOs at 25. While a see a lot of folks arguing about how +3 SOs are better than IOs, I don't usually have +3 SOs in all of my powers. I can't afford that any more than I can afford 2 mil inf IOs. So a large majority of my SOs are in the yellow.

If I HAVE a level 25 IO I can slot, I will slot it, for the convenience of knowing that I won't have to replace it again until I get into the 30s and can replace it with something that will ALWAYS be better than my SOs.

Actually, the truth is I will place any IO I happen to pick up. I have a crafter I email all my Recipes to, and then even if I'm 10 or 15 I will slot it. When I get to 22, though, I use a respec to cash in all the pre-25 IOs I have slotted and start over.

Of course, if the IO is useless to me (Stun on a character that has none, Range in anything but a Teleport power, or Intangibility) I'll discard it. And I won't buy an IO. SOs are much cheaper, and I'm not paying that much for a difference of just 5%.

Paragonwiki has an excellent graph covering enhancement strength (presumably,
that's the link ZombieMan posted, but I didn't check it).

In case he supplied a different link the one I'm talking about is here

As an approximate rule of thumb though, you can use these estimations.

For Single Attribute enhancements

L10 IO's dominate over TO's
L15 IO's kick DO's butt...

L25 is slightly less than an even level SO
L30 is appx equivalent to a +1 SO
L35 is appx equivalent to a +2 SO
L40+ is better than a +3 SO

For Dual Attribute enhancements

L20+ Dual Set IO's exceed +3 SO's (in pairs -- ie. 2 L20 Acc/Dmg IO's are
better than a +3 Acc SO and a +3 Dmg SO)


For Frankenslotters

You can usually max the core attributes of a power in 5 slots and gain an
additonal 1.5-2 SO's worth of other benefit with L25 set IO's (not even
counting set bonuses)

ie. for an attack, for instance, you can typically get 60%/90% (Acc/Dmg)
along with 30-50% Rch and/or Erdx in 5 slots.


Regards,
4

I appreciate the build guides that feature level 17 frankenslotting advice.