Level 50 IO Set Slotting

Hi i am a returning vet, and i remember very little about the game. i was wondering is their a generic guide that explains the nuances of slotting a character up with IO sets at 50.

You bet there is.

But I'd like to mention that it's well worth your while to start using sets before level 50. I start fitting things around level 30.

Seconding what others have said, if you are level 50 and newly-returned to the game probably the *last* thing you would want to do is buy all your IOs @ level 50. The crafting costs of level 50s vs level 49s (or really anything from level 41-49) is a lot more than the extra enhancement value. [Needless to say, if you want to IO out a newly returned level 50, you want to craft stuff yourself]. Here's a quick and dirty IOing guide:

1.) Some powers only take one type of IO and don't take sets. Buy recipes and craft stuff for these powers @level 50. There are badges for memorizing level 45-50 recipes and you get +1 recipe slot for earning them. I find it worthwhile.

2.) You can earn hero merits (villian merits redside) for doing the Signature Story Arc (1 the first time, and 1 per week afterwards for a total of 2 the first week you do it per character). You can also gain hero merits for doing ten tip missions (5 per day) and then running an alignment mission. The first alignment mission gives 50 regular merits, each subsequent one gives 1 hero merit. This can be a solid way to get expensive recipes on a budget; if you are like many characters you have stamina 3 slotted. 2 level 50 end mod IOs plus a Performance Shifter +end proc (I like level 21 because the salvage is less expensive and level makes no difference) is better than 3 level 50 IOs. If endurance is at all an issue, you could also slot Miracle +recovery in Health (and eventually Numina's +regen/recovery). With a decent amount of attention, you could have all 3 of those within 2 weeks (2 hero merits from SSA, run 10 tips 50 merits, run ten tips 1 hero merit, run SSA a week later, do tips second week).

Depending on your character, you can get some nice bonuses this way. LOTG +7.5% recharge global bonus IOs are expensive, but they are only 2 hero merits. Do you have alts? They can help earn hero merits for you.

3.) The incarnate system gives you extra abilities. You can unlock the alpha slot by running Mender Ramiel's arc in the O-zone. You can gain incarnate components by running various level 50 content. If you get your Alpha to Tier 3, you get a level shift which will dramatically increase your power @ level 50. You can get deeper into the weeds than your Alpha slot, but this will be a huge bang for buck. Regardless of the other effects of the Alpha enhancement, you'll be level 51. That's bigtime.

4.) You can use set IOs as mini-HOs by "frankenslotting" them. Ignore the set bonuses, buy cheap recipes that give you the enhancement value you desire and craft them. By frankenslotting, you can effectively 7, 8, or even *9* slot powers. This works really well for controllers; 4 acc/hold/rech IOs is essentially 6 SOs worth of enhancement value.

5.) You can also slot some solid sets that give decent bonuses. You might pay a little more, but if you can pick up some +rech, + hp, +end/rec, +acc without breaking the bank, why not? Thunderstrike and Crushing Impact are the two sets that I like a lot. If you aren't picky about what level you get, and you are willing to leave bids out for a week or so over several levels, you can pick up these recipes under 500k. There are some relatively cheap control sets that give good bonuses.

6.) Some IOs work the same no matter what their level. Other IOs work as set bonuses so generally the lower the IO, the better. Here's a list of them :

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Table_of_Special_IOs

7.) Finally, don't forget your accolade powers. Some of them (in particular the +hp and +end ones) are very useful:

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Hero_Accolade_Powers

Welcome back!

I also want to point out something obvious but for some reason completely eludes many people.

A lot of the "best" IO sets cap out at level 30 or 35 or 40. If you're waiting until 50 to slot one, I have to ask... why?

I meet a ton of people who don't do IOs until 50. they say "I run on SOs until 50 then I make my final build." Then they slot 4 sets of Kinetic Combat (max level 35) and the Miracle Unique (max level 40). Or Basilisk (max level 30). Or the Steadfast Protection Unique (max level 30).

Paying for, and dealing with the hassle of 15 levels worth of SOs for 20+ slots is really silly.

But people do it all the time.

If it makes them happy, great it's a small inf sink. Still it's silly.