It affects only your powers, whether they target yourself or other people.
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All Incarnate buffs act like an SO slotted into all of your powers that can take one of that type, and they are subject to ED... the higher tiers being less so than the lower. The way I'd look at the Alpha slot is to look over the build and think of powers that could benefit from more enhancement. Chances are most if not all of your attacks are already at the ED cap for damage so Musculature won't give you a lot of return... roughly 12% more enhancement for the uncommon if I remember the figures. On the other hand the Cardiac could be very useful... how many of your powers are fully slotted for endurance reduction? I'll bet the answer to that is "not many". Spiritual for recharge is another useful one because again it's likely that the majority of your powers aren't already slotted fully for recharge.
To make a long story short the alpha slot is a "ghost" SO enhancement in every power that can slot that type of SO. It does nothing in itself, it only enhances existing powers. Well, the Rare and Ultra Rare abilities do have a level shift making you effectively level 51.
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the defense buff its very lame and really wasnt worth opening. i think i got like 2% more defense at the end of the day..total lame like the dam resist was
at least the tier 1 and tier 2's wont do much for defense or resistance, because as a tanker, you've probably already maxed them out with regular slotting. However i'd love to see the higher tier alpha slots, with 2/3rd of the enhancement ignoring ED. should make for some intersting building. Come on Mids!! I wanna check it out! 
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I need to crunch the numbers on this but I remember thinking the rare defense buff would make a SR or Shield nigh broken on SO slotting.
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Originally Posted by kangaroo120y
at least the tier 1 and tier 2's wont do much for defense or resistance, because as a tanker, you've probably already maxed them out with regular slotting. However i'd love to see the higher tier alpha slots, with 2/3rd of the enhancement ignoring ED. should make for some intersting building. Come on Mids!! I wanna check it out!
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Why would you think that? Once you're softcapped that's pretty much it. If you're not softcapped then it could help by a few percentage points getting you to the cap.
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Originally Posted by abnormal_joe
I need to crunch the numbers on this but I remember thinking the rare defense buff would make a SR or Shield nigh broken on SO slotting.
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I can see it as a good idea for def debuff environments like the ITF and the second Apex mission. Those few percentage points could mean the difference between living and dying.
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Originally Posted by Djeannie
Why would you think that? Once you're softcapped that's pretty much it. If you're not softcapped then it could help by a few percentage points getting you to the cap.
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I think that's where the damage one will come into play. Being able to add 30+% of non-ED capped damage with the Very Rare could make a really big difference I think. |
Originally Posted by kangaroo120y
at least the tier 1 and tier 2's wont do much for defense or resistance, because as a tanker, you've probably already maxed them out with regular slotting. However i'd love to see the higher tier alpha slots, with 2/3rd of the enhancement ignoring ED. should make for some intersting building. Come on Mids!! I wanna check it out!
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Really, at the Very Rare level I think almost all of them could make a big difference because of that ED exemption.
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The damage Alpha boost won't add 30% to your overall damage. Here's why:|
Originally Posted by Dromio
I think that's where the damage one will come into play. Being able to add 30+% of non-ED capped damage with the Very Rare could make a really big difference I think.
Really, at the Very Rare level I think almost all of them could make a big difference because of that ED exemption. |
Say you have a power that does 100 damage. You enhanced it to 95% post-ED. This makes it do 195 damage. The tier 4 damage Alpha boost would bring that up to 127.25% enhancement. Now, your attack does 227.25 damage. That is about 16.5% more damage.
Now let's say you have Rage from Super Strength. Before the Alpha boost, you would be doing 275 damage. After, you would be doing 307.25. That's a 11.7% increase.
How much use you will get out of the damage Alpha boost depends on your build. There is nothing stopping you from making more than one tier 4 and swapping them out until you figure out which ones you like the best.
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Note the part about SO slotting.|
Originally Posted by Djeannie
Why would you think that? Once you're softcapped that's pretty much it. If you're not softcapped then it could help by a few percentage points getting you to the cap.
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A rare alpha could help those two sets reach softcap while saving IOs for different goals.
I realize most folks have build for softcap but this would allow you to focus more on recharge, damage, regen, whatever without sacrificing that survivability.
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Let's say you have 40% defense from powers alone that are all enhanced to 57% post-ED. This is a close scenario to what a Shield Defense Tanker might experience. After adding the tier 4 Cardiac Alpha, you would have 43.66% defense. That is basically one set bonus in each category. The recharge Alpha boost would more than make up for three purple sets worth of recharge.
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Originally Posted by abnormal_joe
Note the part about SO slotting.
A rare alpha could help those two sets reach softcap while saving IOs for different goals. I realize most folks have build for softcap but this would allow you to focus more on recharge, damage, regen, whatever without sacrificing that survivability. |
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A shield tank with 3 generic IOs per defensive power and similarly slotted weave would have 36.7% def per mids. Unslotted he would base at 25% which is what the Alpha would calculate against. With the rare you could get by with 2 level 50 generics to ED cap and get an additional 3.35 or so to all vectors. Almost exactly 40%. You also managed to free up 3 slots.|
Originally Posted by Syntax42
Let's say you have 40% defense from powers alone that are all enhanced to 57% post-ED. This is a close scenario to what a Shield Defense Tanker might experience. After adding the tier 4 Cardiac Alpha, you would have 43.66% defense. That is basically one set bonus in each category. The recharge Alpha boost would more than make up for three purple sets worth of recharge.
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The Steadfast unique puts you at 43%. A Glad Proc or a Set of Gaussians puts you over softcap.
It may, or may not, be the most effective way to maximize an alt. That decision varies greatly depending on your build focus and the content you want to face. It is difficult to argue against this as the most efficient way to reach softcap.
On a SR this is even more true since you would save a slot each on seven powers rather than three.
I'm pretty sure you meant Nerve not Cardiac.
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I'm working on a Common IO+Alpha on my Kat/SR Build. With the Common IOs he's at 39.08% defense to all position.
The Nerve Radial Boost is 20% to defense, 1/3 immune to ED. So that's roughly 6.66% extra slotting that will apply to the toggles, the auto, Weave, and Combat Jumping, roughly 1.51% extra defense. The ultra rare might be in the 3% range.
Not too horrible. But also not ideal. But I use my main build for that.
We know the defense may not be all that worth it but I want to know about this taunt enhancement. Do we know if this has any hidden stats or boost to our threat level which is usually at 4.0 or 400%?
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Yes, I meant Nerve.|
Originally Posted by abnormal_joe
A shield tank with 3 generic IOs per defensive power and similarly slotted weave would have 36.7% def per mids. Unslotted he would base at 25% which is what the Alpha would calculate against. With the rare you could get by with 2 level 50 generics to ED cap and get an additional 3.35 or so to all vectors. Almost exactly 40%. You also managed to free up 3 slots.
The Steadfast unique puts you at 43%. A Glad Proc or a Set of Gaussians puts you over softcap. It may, or may not, be the most effective way to maximize an alt. That decision varies greatly depending on your build focus and the content you want to face. It is difficult to argue against this as the most efficient way to reach softcap. On a SR this is even more true since you would save a slot each on seven powers rather than three. I'm pretty sure you meant Nerve not Cardiac. |
You have to look at the alternative Alpha slotting and what they replace, too. As you pointed out, a tier 4 Nerve saves you 1 slot in each of your defensive powers, at best. It could save you one set bonus, instead. Accuracy is almost never an issue at 50 due to set bonuses and defense debuffs. If you use the Spiritual Alpha instead, you gain 35% recharge, which is equivalent to 3.5 purple sets. That's about 14 slots you don't have to use for recharge bonus, if you discount the base slot per power. So, if you use the Nerve to soft cap and want perma-Hasten, you may have to spend a couple billion on purple sets. If you use the Spiritual instead, you may have to spend a couple hundred million to reach the soft cap. It seems pretty obvious which one is more valuable.
Value depends on the goals you have for that alt. I'm not a fan of making a sweeping assumption then declaring what is "best" for everyone. That way lies FOTM builds....and boredom.
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Exactly. I always evaluate a character and determine just which alpha boost will give the best return. For my Invuln/Stone tanker that answer is Cardiac; for my Stone/Fire on the other hand the Spiritual is most useful.|
Originally Posted by abnormal_joe
Value depends on the goals you have for that alt. I'm not a fan of making a sweeping assumption then declaring what is "best" for everyone. That way lies FOTM builds....and boredom.
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Conventional wisdom seems to say that an Ill/Rad controller is best served by Spiritual for more recharge, but on mine I found that with 217% global recharge my biggest want was for endurance.
Figure out what you most need in your build, figure what will give you the most return on investment and the decision is easy; and will probably change from one character to another.
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I agree with this assessment. Some builds don't need more recharge. Some builds benefit from healing. Some builds don't need endurance reduction. It all depends on your individual build. I was just pointing out that a mathematical analysis can help determine an objective value of the Alpha boosts.
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Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome
Exactly. I always evaluate a character and determine just which alpha boost will give the best return. For my Invuln/Stone tanker that answer is Cardiac; for my Stone/Fire on the other hand the Spiritual is most useful.
Conventional wisdom seems to say that an Ill/Rad controller is best served by Spiritual for more recharge, but on mine I found that with 217% global recharge my biggest want was for endurance. Figure out what you most need in your build, figure what will give you the most return on investment and the decision is easy; and will probably change from one character to another. |
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I agree with this as well. My main Kat/SR build is at the defense cap, with gobs of recharge, accuracy, and everything else. Still no purples, but those will be obtained when they are obtained. He has no need for the +acc Alpha. Right now he has the +rech/+heal, but might lean towards +dmg once I check the numbers closer. |
Originally Posted by abnormal_joe
Value depends on the goals you have for that alt. I'm not a fan of making a sweeping assumption then declaring what is "best" for everyone. That way lies FOTM builds....and boredom.
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The secondary build is more of a advanced-normal build, just to see what can be done with only level 50 common IOs and the alpha slot. I must admit I was impressed I could hit 39% defense to all and sustain the endurance use thanks to inherent fitness and Physical Perfection. I'd be easy to cap with a Steadfast and 6 slotting Build Up, but that would defeat the whole purpose.
I enjoy switching builds around every now depending on what I feel like doing.
I might eventually use the third build with just standard SOs to see what its like.
Does anyone know if the Incarnate ability, Nerve Radial Boost, which states that it increases Defence Buff effects by 20%, does that increase your own Defence from your own abilities or just things like FF that are placed on you?