Purple Sets have a relatively limited selection of set bonuses. In general when people refer to "purpling" a build the bonus they are going for is the 10% recharge bonus for 5-slotting a set which nine of the ten sets have.
As such the characters that benefit the most from purple sets are those than benefit from high global recharge.
For melee characters the benefit from high recharge can come in one of two ways:
1. It allows you to tighten your attack chain therefore increasing your DPS (possibly including dropping an attack power)
2. It allows you to change slots you were using for recharge into slots that increasing your survivability (for example suppose you had Crushing Impact slotted in two attacks, slotting Hetacomb in one of those attacks would provide the same Recharge bonus as both CI sets allowing you to slot a Mako's Bite set in the other power giving you more damage, HP and ranged defense).
Other character types benefit from high global recharge in that it gives them higher uptime on their most powerful abilities. Some popular examples include:
1. Phantom Army for Illusion Control
2. AM for Radiation Emission
3. Domination for Dominators
4. Pet powers for Crab Spiders
5. Fortitude, adrenalin Boost and the Auras for Empathy
6. Eclipse and Dark Extraction for Warshades
In either case the important thing to realize is that slapping purples into a build willy-nilly isn't always the way to make the best character around. They primarily increase your global recharge but global recharge is not always the thing you primarily need.
I have a BS/INV scrapper that I have done this with, plus added PVP IO sets to attacks and res. Let me tell you he rocks big time!
Sets that are pretty solid on their own can really benifit from purple sets. SR for example is pretty easy to soft cap. Once there you can stack additional recharge and get a tighter attack chain.
Other sets like say fire armor are somewhat squishie. While the high recharge is nice to get your heal up as fast as possible, in most cases you are better off stacking some defense so you don't have to use the heal as often. Farming builds are another story.
Regen is another that does well with massive recharge but again adding defense in most cases is just as good since you don't have to heal as often.
Widdows and Forts are ones that really benifit from high recharge. Make mind link perma and you are golden. They also benifit because they have the option for ranged, melee, aoe and targeted aoe in each build. Forts can add hold, stun and confuse to the list as well.
I am looking to Purple IO out a character and am seeking some advice.
I imagine all builds would benefit from purples, but are there any builds that go from great with IOs to godly with Purple IOs?
I typically enjoy playing melee based characters, but would be open to other suggestions.
Thanks.
50's
Darth Keiv DM/Reg, Crack'ed Justice BS/Reg, Crack'ling Cage Fire/Rad,
Crack'ed Earth SS/Stone, Crack'ed Brawler DM/WP, Crack'ed Legend Axe/WP,
Crack'ed Current SS/Elec,Crack'ed Ice Ice/Kin, Crack'ed Cacophony Son/Son,
Crack'ed Widow SOA, Crack'ed Bully Thugs/Dark, Broil-O Fire/Kin, iCrack'ed DB/WP.