What is a good Toon ( non Scrapper/Stalker) that plays well on just SO's ?

I have a free account that I want to use to start playing on. I have built so many IO toons Ill be honesty I really dont have an idea what would play well on just SO's.

Any advice.

All of them actually.


Every AT can play perfectly well using just the old school SO's. You don't get some of the big bang and flash that you do from IO sets, but you still get a solid character that can get the job done.

This game, and every AT except the Arachnos ones, existed for years before IOs were ever introduced. Supposedly the high-level game (with the possible exception of Incarnate content, which won't be an issue on a free account anyway) is still balanced around SOs to this day.

Anything will do just fine. Not "I solo AVs" fine or "I run all my missions on +4/x8" fine, but "perfectly good and capable of doing pretty much all content, especially as part of a team" fine.

A great alternative to a scrapper is a brute. Better defenses than a scrapper, better dps than a tank. A great compromise between the two, IMO. Good survivability and good damage output. My favorite solo AT used to be scrapper, but now that brutes can play blueside from the very start, I've switched to them as my go-to- solo AT instead.

And when you say SOs, I presume you also mean lvl 30 generic IOs, which have roughly the same enhancement bonuses as SO+, but never need to be replaced.

WP/ anything brute.

brute ss/willpower. nice smooth ride. even on SOs

Both my Energy Blast/Electricity Manipulation Blaster and my Katana/Willpower brute stack up quite nicely at 50 on SOs.

I am playing a kin/son def with only a few IO set bonuses.
I highly suspect that it would do well with only SOs.

It provides it's own +rech and it's own +dam as well as -dam for enemies. Additionally, it brings well appreciated buffs and debuffs to teams--even teams which are already monsters.

The obvious answer to me is Mastermind, but that would involve paying the unlock fee on a free account.

Either the ss/wp brute or the kin fender or corr. As noted, most anything CAN work, but certain things are going to work really well even without help.

Super Reflexes/Martial Arts Tanker. With Weave you will easily softcap all of your defenses very early in the game, I think mine is at level 28 or so and has 45%+ defense to all positionals.

It strikes me Energy Aura is a really good SO-only set these days. +Defense, +Recharge and +Endurance all with no IO bonuses or procs. Not too shabby!

WARNING: I bold names.

rad/sonic defender works pretty darn well with just SO's.

An illusion/rad controller can also do quite well on SO's alone

Anything works good with only SO's. Since I am very slow in adding IO's and sets the most of my 50's are still on SO's (I even forget KB protection the most of the times).
Any AT work ok on just SO's so don't worry whatever you choose.

Well, keep in mind that you can still use "special enhancements" - Hydra/Titan/Hamidon enhancements, synthetic or otherwise. My main character is *still* full up on HOs in her main build and uses generic IOs for the remainder (which used to be SOs), and the difference between the SOs and IOs is pretty minimal.

She does use the defense -KB in Maneuvers and would be loath to lose that, but that's available on the Paragon Market for only a buck-fitty so would be easy to get back if I wanted to spend points.

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I love elec armor on a tanker and it pretty much goes with anything. The only thing that gave me any problems were Vahzilok, and Vanguard.. with the vanguard just pop power surge and you'll have your toxic resistances. Its a good trial/TF set especially in the lower levels do to the huge resistance to elec damage and solid resistances otherwise and no matter what sort of team you add Elec armor will just get better and better.