Best IOs out there with amazing set bonuses

I realize all this information is in Mids - but every now and then I come across an IO set I wasn't aware of, and when trying to softcap a build (or get as close as possible) - knowing which powers take those 'really effective IOs' would be super handy ahead of time. I'm sure we all have lists or remember certain ones to take, but I figured I'd ask for any that really stood out, and I'm going to list mine off the top of my head.

This is meant to be a list where folks can post specific IOs that they saw and said "wow" to, or IOs you always smile when they slot 'em

: Defense
Luck of the Gambler: Recharge Speed
+7.5% recharge - slot up to 5 of these across your build wherever you can fit 'em, unique set bonus - doesn't conflict with other 7.5% recharges for the rule of 5

: Resistance
Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%
Gladiators Armor: TP Protection 3% Def (All)
Both of these provide +3% Defense to all, though the Gladiators is a PVP IO so is super expensive.

: Melee (PBAoE)
Obliteration -
6 slotted, you get 3.75% melee, 1.88% smashing/lethal, 5% recharge, 9% accuracy, and a chance for smashing proc (in an AoE, mind!) - plus you get good damage/rech/accu enhancement numbers.

: To-Hit buff (e.g. can slot in build up, aim, rage, tactics, etc.)
Gaussians Synchronized Fire-Control -
6 slotted, you get +2.5 to all three positional defenses (Melee/Ranged/AoE), or 1.25 to every defense but Toxic (in addition to a chance for build up Proc)

: Immobilize
Enfeedbled Operation -
6 slotted, you get +4.38 to Melee, plus +3.75% Recharge

: Pets
Blood Mandate -
6 slotted, you get +3.75 to AoE and Ranged, as well as 1.88 to fire/cold/energy/negative

: Travel Powers
Blessing of the Zephyr -
2 slotted you get 1.25% defense to ranged, 0.63 to energy/negative
3 slotted you also get 1.88 defense to AoE, 0.94 to fire/cold, plus Mag 4 knockback/knockup resistance
( Slotting travel powers may seem odd, but if you're close to the soft cap and only have a few slots, it's a good way to get there without butchering the powers you've already chosen. )

Now that we have enhancement converters, some of the 'rarer' IOs in these sets can more easily be obtained.

As you can probably gather, I'm working on maximizing positional defenses - I'm sure others are going to S/L, or Ranged, or Recharge, and have some great picks for that.

as far as defense goes, Rectified Reticle is nice.

I recently discovered Regenerative Tissue.
I mean its always been there staring at me, but I always turned to Doctored Wounds in the past, but I'm always looking for HP bonuses and RT does the job nicely. The percentages are low but its only a few seconds difference usually.

I'd say Oblitz and Adjusted Targeting are pretty amazing

Obliteration needs a caveat that there really isn't much Endurance Reduction in the set. It can turn into a real problem for some Endurance-heavy PBAoEs.

Kinetic Combat - Low cap but HUGE S/L bonus for 4 slots

Scirocco's Dervish - As an alternative to Obliteration, provides AoE and Psi Defense and more even enhancement.

Gaze of the Basilisk - Caps at 30, but 7.5% recharge for 4 slots.

Sting of the Manticore - Not many powers get to use it, but that 5 slot +7.5 recharge is nice.

The Health Procs are obvious (Miracle, Numina, Regenerative, Panacea)

There's also
Thundestrike in Ranged attacks. with 6 slots, 3.75 defense to ranged AND Energy/Negative Energy.

This page on the wiki is an excellent resource for finding sets with good bonuses:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Invent...hancement_Sets

The best sets are always the most expensive ones. :P

Whenever looking to "sorta slot" a character (meaning I go "Ok, this power is a Ranged Attack, which sets can it take? I'll go look at the options" rather than working from a pre-planned full build), invariably I find the most useful sets are the ones that cost like 25 mill+ in recipe form, each. I try and see if I can settle for a secodary choice, but the numbers/options etc. on that one set are always so obviously better...

I disagree with that, Clave, purely because of the aforementioned Thunderstrike set.
It's cheap and has awesome set bonuses and enhancement values.

I'd also add an honourable mention to:

Eradication
4 slots give you +Endurance, +Energy Def, and a huge +HP. It lacks endurance reduction like Obliteration, but thats what the other two slots are for.

Expedient Reinforcement
Stupefy
Both sets give a +Recharge AND +Ranged Defence bonus, two of the most sought after build goals.

Ooh, don't forget "Call to Arms." 6.25% recharge in 4 IO's.

Panacea. Not that I actually have a set outside of test.

Even the PvE-only bonuses are great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brillig It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.

My top 5 non-pvp non-purple sets (I mostly build melee, can you tell?). The list is numbered, but it's not a ranking. One thing that helps me identify when a set is truly fantastic is when I start burning slots or even whole picks just to pick it up, which I'll allude to frequently.

1) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control. I have put Tactics in builds just so I can slot this. The small bonuses aren't bad; I'll take run speed over 2% mez resistance most of the time and HP, damage, and recovery are great. The six-slot bonus is obviously phenomenal and the proc is fantastic.

2) Numina's Convalescence. Pretty glorious in an auto-power if you have another heal because it almost all synergizes; heal %, maxhp, and regen rate. (The only low point is the hold resist, which I wish were Stun resist or something else entirely. The ranged defense bonus isn't a strong synergy necessarily, but very lovely nonetheless.) Also good in many actual heals, since as a proc it affects target-of-power. To be honest, I'm not sure how it works in PBAoE heals, but that might be the best use of all. I've six-slotted Health for this on a number of melee builds and regardless the proc is almost always my first merit buy on a character if I don't have a spare.

3) Blessing of the Zephyr. I don't always take travel powers, but when I do, it's usually... to mule for this set because I'm building positional defenses. Winter's Gift is an honorable mention, with a huge single-type resist bonus right out the gate and a fantastic global.

4) Red Fortune. Luck of the Gambler gets all the love -- hey, it's a great set. But I find myself "tolerating" LotG whereas I actively try to get a six-set of RF where I can fit it. Sure, the recharge bonus isn't as big, but it comes with some other great bonuses; resistances, global damage, and a good positional defense buff. It works well in almost every build that uses Defense.

5) Overwhelming Force. Sure, it's brand new, but I've already reconfigured two builds to use it. Technically an Attuned Enhancement set and not IOs, it offers basically the same kind of bonuses (and unlike the other Attuned sets, isn't archetype-specific). And what good bonuses they are. Orange-level regen and global damage, and yellow level but almost universally handy maxhp and defense. Plus the six-slot KB protection and a proc that works wonderfully whether or not you have a KB power you want to slot this in. It's not an ATE set, sure, but like the other yellow set on the list it leverages what it's got pretty well.

And another comment for a set that I think is pretty awful.

Dishonorable Mention : Titanium Coating. Okay, maxhp and melee defense; great. But nothing special for a yellow in those two entries, and the other three bonuses are practically worthless. Even if you want status resistance, there are sets that give a better bonus -- status 2.5% -- as a single entry, often in the first three. And how many characters building Resist actually want status resistance anyway? Many of the other resist sets are kind of meh, but they make up for it with fantastic procs or globals. This set is just bad. It should have its resistance entries merged into a single "status resistance 2%" as the third entry (the four-item bonus) and something else actually useful as the fourth, like an e/n or s/l resistance bonus. The first entry could be whatever; movespeed even would be fine, although 8% regen or a small s/l defense buff would be even nicer.

Anything with knockback protection is a gamechanger for AT's without the easy-mode toggle/clicks for status protection. While the straight up IO's from Karma, Steadfast Protection and Blessing of the Zephyr comes to mind, I have to say that Gladiator's Armor and Fury of the Gladiator usually covers what I need for knockback protection in three slots while actually helping the power I'm slotting! No need to use slots as knockback protection mules with these sets.

Mostly playing defenders, the damage procs - all and any - have had given slots in my builds. I'll probably have to revise this after the changes, but having two damage procs in each AoE (Positron's and Javelin Volley) really made a noticable difference in larger spawns for my defenders. Low base damage makes anything extra shine much brighter.

On the same page, the two -Resistance IO's from Achilles' Heel and Fury of the Gladiator really are great. It's quite noticable on hard targets when they grant themselves a -20% resistance debuff - even more so if they happen to stack! I'm a bit worried that the upcoming changes to procs will gut the fun from Radiation Infection with it Achilles Heel and Short Circuit with Fury of the Gladiator.

My post was made well before those changes were announced -- and yeah, I was amused when they were.

It's not quite necro, but it's close!