Alpha Slots
I think it depends on what you're looking for and what your secondary is. I would probably eliminate Musculature as a choice for controllers (I think the secondary effects are Defense Debuff and END Mod).
With Grav/FF, I couldn't argue against the Nerve boosts.
Do you have one of those builds constantly low on END? It's something that doesn't happen frequently at level 50 as most IO sets have pretty good END reduction and a number of them boost +REC.
Recharge can frequently help a controller build, though. A lot of their big hard-control AOE powers take forever to recharge, so this certainly can't hurt.
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Do you have endurance problems? Cardiac (2nd tier and up) will completely negate endurance problems with minimal Stamina slotting IMO.
Want more recharge and don't have a lot of global recharge? Spiritual (oops @ Radial) will give pretty significant boosts to high-recharge items, even if you don't have any recharge slotted in them.
Accuracy and Damage I'm not real fond of. There are so many other options and boosts for both that I've not seen a ton of reason to use them. Maybe if I get around to my MMs, I'll dip into the damage one. I've only used Accuracy/Defense for my Cold Defender, but he'd probably do just as well with any of them.
That's my take.
I've already forgotten about most of you

Accuracy and Damage I'm not real fond of. There are so many other options and boosts for both that I've not seen a ton of reason to use them. Maybe if I get around to my MMs, I'll dip into the damage one. I've only used Accuracy/Defense for my Cold Defender, but he'd probably do just as well with any of them. That's my take. |
I've gone with Musculature on my scrapper and blasters primarily because:
1) My attack chains already recharge quickly (I think Autofire on my Assault Rifle blaster is down to under 30 seconds).
2) END is not any sort of problem on those builds.
That said, the damage boost is nice, but since blasters and scrappers are primarily slotted for damage, I don't think those characters are getting the most out of the alpha slots.
My MM went with Recharge mostly because all the secondary effects are something I can benefit from (+Heal, Slow, etc.) My pets are already heavily slotted for damage so I just can't see the Musculature set giving all that much out of it. The level shift is far more important.
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Arc # 316340 -- "Husk" -- Azuria loses something, a young woman harbors a dark secret, and the fate of the world is in your hands.
The level shift is far more important. |
The thing with MM and damage, for me, is because I'm still bitterly disappointed in Mercs compared to my other 4 or 5 MMs. I'm really torn on the alphas for the other MMs I have because they literally don't need anything else.
I've already forgotten about most of you

I'm thinking about doing the Recharge one (Spiritual) for my Ill/Emp, so that I can have Phantom Army out more often. I just don't like the idea of part of the Tier 3 being wasted, since the character has nothing that the Disorient bonus would fit into. The Heal would be natural, considering she's Emp. The ToHit Buff would apply to her Fortitude power.
For my Sonic/Sonic Corruptor, I'll probably end up going with Cardiac (End, Res, and Range)
The ones I'm kind of at a loss for are my Fire/Kin Controller, Plant/Thorns Dom, Storm/Elec Def, and Ice/Ice Def.
I'm leaning towards Spiritual for the Fire/Kin. And Musculature for both Defenders since they have a decent amount of Debuffs. Although the Ice/Ice could possibly benefit from Nerve for teaming since it has DefBuffs. The Plants/Thorns however, I have no idea.
I'm thinking about doing the Recharge one (Spiritual) for my Ill/Emp, so that I can have Phantom Army out more often. I just don't like the idea of part of the Tier 3 being wasted, since the character has nothing that the Disorient bonus would fit into. The Heal would be natural, considering she's Emp. The ToHit Buff would apply to her Fortitude power.
For my Sonic/Sonic Corruptor, I'll probably end up going with Cardiac (End, Res, and Range) The ones I'm kind of at a loss for are my Fire/Kin Controller, Plant/Thorns Dom, Storm/Elec Def, and Ice/Ice Def. I'm leaning towards Spiritual for the Fire/Kin. And Musculature for both Defenders since they have a decent amount of Debuffs. Although the Ice/Ice could possibly benefit from Nerve for teaming since it has DefBuffs. The Plants/Thorns however, I have no idea. |
For doms, I almost always default to musculature initially, and then potentially switch depending on the build itself. Just looking at the powerset, though, I'd say musculature.
For the fire/kin, it definitely depends on the build. If you're swimming in recharge, I'd either take a cardiac (you are, after all, the only one without a SB), or a musculature if you don't have end issues (transference can miss, you know), or spiritual if you're lacking a boatload of recharge.
for the storm/elec, I'd definitely say cardiac or musculature, leaning heavily towards cardiac. Musculature has a t3 with an endmod component, which should help you drain a bit more, and recover a bit more, but I think in the end cardiac would be a safer route to take. Those pseudopets cost a lot.
Ice/ice: spiritual for more recharge for your long recharge powers (benumb, heat loss, ice storm, blizzard, sleet). Let the heal component be "wasted," ice/ice loves moar recharge.
I hate to be the bringer of bad news... but Willpower sucks!!! you're better off rolling a regen
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^Professional Katana/regen build thread
Also, the newest mids does account for all the alphas and you can easily switch between any of them to see how it affects any power you want.
I've already forgotten about most of you

So after coming back to the game, and wrapping my head around what it takes to get the Alpha slot abilities, I find myself torn as to exactly which type of ability to slot into most of my characters. Nerve (Acc, Hold, DefBuff) was the obvious choice for my Grav/FF controller, but I'm kind of at a loss for what to use for other characters, even other controllers.
How did all of you go about deciding which Alpha ability to slot in? |
I just don't like the idea of part of the Tier 3 being wasted, since the character has nothing that the Disorient bonus would fit into.
|
My scrapper went with musculature but gained a boost to Defense Debuff. BONUS! This might be something that helps shape my decisions as other slots open up.
Arc# 92382 -- "The S.P.I.D.E.R. and the Tyrant" -- Ninjas! Robots! Praetorians! It's totally epic! Play it now!
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MA Arc:
Overload (Arc ID #405822) | Status: Final | Last Edited: 5th Nov 2010 for text fixes.
It kinda depends...
On my Kat/Regen I went Musculature all the way to the upper tier.
+Damage is good, Katana does -DEF so the Defense Debuff is helpful, Webnade in Epic to the Immob is kind of useful.
My Mind/Bubbler went Nerve (IIRC) for the Accuracy and Hold bonus and later on the Confuse bonus.
The VEAT MasterCrab went Cardiac...because 8 or so toggles is painful. Both the Crab and Bane builds are already softcapped.
I've tried to take Alphas that enhance the character's strength for the most part, Cardiac being the noted exception as it shores up a big weakness in endurance hoggity. I've also rarely gone to the ultimate tier, being happy with the second or third part of the tree for the most part.
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So after coming back to the game, and wrapping my head around what it takes to get the Alpha slot abilities, I find myself torn as to exactly which type of ability to slot into most of my characters. Nerve (Acc, Hold, DefBuff) was the obvious choice for my Grav/FF controller, but I'm kind of at a loss for what to use for other characters, even other controllers.
How did all of you go about deciding which Alpha ability to slot in?