What are the best SO-only characters?

I find masterminds work well on SO's many times, with the exception of maybe using a few 'effect' io's here and there (pet +def/+res, -kb and the like) masterminds do just fine with powers/power pools. Especially since the pets can never get +recharge, and bonuses from sets stop with the mastermind, never carrying over to minions.

MMs would be the correct answer.

I'll just throw this out there, but /devices for blasters does fairly well with a basic SO build. Devices isn't a powerhouse set that you can integrate into your attack chain, but if you're not in any hurry you can kill just about anything shy of arch-villains and giant monsters with zero effort.

While I have less experience with it, I'm guessing Traps is in a relatively similar boat.

Nihilii: thanks for the long post, it brought up a few that wouldn't have occurred to me.

Combat: Staff/Willpower is a great idea, I wouldn't have thought of that as it's so new.

As to why I wanted a list of ideas? Well, my kids now team with me on free accounts, so SO's only, and I just fancied the challenge of an SO build for an alt occasionally. The IO icons make all builds look a bit too homogenous. Plus it feels nostalgic.

For a tank, on my second account which I was intending to take F2P I rolled an Ice armor/elec melee tank. This is VERY playable on just SOs although you will suffer badly for lack of endurance till the late 20s.

If you have noticed some of these characters you have been saying are great with SO have to be bought to play.
So Masterminds, Veats, Heats, Controllers are out.
And all those powersets some are even paid for VIP.

It is easier to point out sets that don't preform that well with SO, I love Dark Armor but it is so hard to play with just SO.

Here is a fun one. Brute or Scrapper Dark Melee/Electric Armor. It works really really really good with only SO just don't miss it does have the problem that it is very single target but it can't tank very well with SO. I wonder how it would be on a Tanker but I don't play Tankers.

To my knowledge no other powerset needs IO as much as Dark Armor. There are some that just underpreform with SO or in general.

Sorry, I didn't make it back to the forums yesterday!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roderick I'm only singling you out because you posted, I would ask this question of anyone else who said the same thing:

No worries at all.
I know keeping IOs completely out of my game is weird, but I don't feel embarrassed about it or anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roderick Do you ever use Set IOs? For example, do you stick a Karma: Knockback Protection in Combat Jumping or Hover on a blaster? Do you put Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge in characters with a lot of defense powers? Do you mix up a few dual- or triple-aspect IOs in a power to get the better enhancement value in fewer slots than SOs (or even common IOs) provide? I ask this because my girlfriend plays the game, but - like you - isn't interested in putting in the amount of work necessary to max out a build. However, she will look at a Devastation: Damage/Recharge and think "I need more Damage and Recharge slotted in my Executioner's Shot. Let's slot that!" Likewise, she will pick up globals like the KB protection one, when she knows that it's something that will benefit her. It's a matter of personal perspective, I know, but I don't see any difference between your attitude and hers, but I see a pretty big difference between how the two of you actually play and slot.

Nope, I don't/haven't ever done any of that.

I did make a build, finally, for my main, Electric-Knight using an intelligent Frankenslotting approach (much like Ironblade talked about... which I completely agree with... if I were to ever delve into using IOs, I'm pretty sure that is how I'd almost always go about it... seems to be the best bang for the buck, in my rather limited opinion, hehe).

I just chose individual pieces of the different sets to get me as much recharge, damage, accuracy as I could without losing anything and while picking up a few small bonuses along the way.
However, that was a long while ago and I still have not made the build in-game.

Although... I did start it, by crafting some of the enhancements and I actually (only just remembering this) slotted a couple of dual (or was it triple) IOs into Short Circuit. As that is a power that I can see benefiting from having more than I can accomplish with just standard slotting.


Just thinking about getting all the ingredients and recipes for each of the different pieces of sets starts to make my eyes glaze over... I really can't explain it.

The only other thing that I think plays a factor is that I pretty much do all my slotting at once... not here and there, along the way.
I'll get myself started on the IOs around 17, if not earlier (I don't tend to speed through the levels). 22 and 27 and so on. I try and put my bids in way ahead of time, so I can just scoop them all up when I'm ready and slot them up as quickly as can be. I buy extras for the levels in-between and/or to sell back for profit.

It may be a much smaller difference to switch to using other IOs (and they may give a much bigger benefit) than I imagine, but I've just become so comfortable with it and haven't had any reason to break out of it. And I don't really enjoy the process, so... I just do what I already know and spend as little time, energy and thought on it as possible, hehe.
It is strange, because it is about the exact opposite of how I approach just about everything else in my life... LOL.


Sorry for the continued thread derail!


EDIT: Maybe a big factor is that I tend to have to put a lot of time and research into things that I do (if I am going to do something, I have to do it masterfully, haha...)... So, that means adding this and that and comparing and contrasting and there just seems like way too many options for me to want to bother with!

And... to the OP, obviously I'm comfortable with any and all sets as SO-only, but...

I was going to mention that my Bots/FF MM is perfect without anything more.
However, OmnipotentMerlin makes a great point in that MMs (and some other ATs and sets) need to be bought/unlocked.


For me, the elec/elec/elec Blaster works wonderfully without any sets or bonuses.
I think it is because of the utility and versatility of the set. I just love the combination. It's the perfect playstyle for me. Keeps me on my feet as I leap in, hold, sap, blap and blast however I choose with each encounter.
Not everyone enjoys playing a Blaster like that though.

I love my Elec/Elec/Elec blaster. Then again I like to play my blasters as blappers. So fun does good damage and can drain all that end away so fast. Though if you play one expect to die and die alot, though it is kind of fun to run in and sap a huge group and see how long you last. With a blaster I expect to die every now and then.