Slotting IOs vs SOs while leveling

I just hit 22 and I can access lv 25 IOs and SOs. What makes the most sense? Buy SOs from the store or WW for now, then look at IOs at level 35? Not sure what the best bang for my buck is (not a billionaire )

ty

My first char I went SO. My 2nd I went IO so that I coould get a portable workbench when I hit 50. By crafting a lot and liberal use of the auction house, I have more than enough money, and I notice a huge difference with IOs.

Try to get your hands on as many Attuned Enhancements as you can such as Overwhelming Force and ATOs as another option... frankenslot and forget.

If you're using common IOs, I'd use SOs for 5 more levels, then switch to level 30 IOs. Level 25 Common IOs are roughly equal to SOs that are about to expire, while the 30s are close to (slightly above, IIRC) +3 SOs.

When you use multi-aspect IOs from Uncommon, Rare and Very Rare sets, the total bonuses are higher than a Single-aspect of the same level. By ignoring the set bonuses and slotting a combination of multi-aspect set IOs, you can get far more enhancement value than SOs would provide. It's pretty common to get the equivalent of 6 slots of SOs in 4 slots of IOs. This is the "frankenslotting" Zombie Man mentioned. Note that you can only slot one of each set IO in a power, so while a Kinetic Combat: Acc/Dam and a Mako's Bite: Acc/Dam in the same power is OK, two Mako's Bite: Acc/Dam in one power (even if they're different levels) is not.

Zombie: Remember that most Attuned Enhancements can only be obtained with Paragon Points and are untradeable, so you'd have to spend cash or your stipend to get them. The only Attuned Enhancenemts that can be obtained without spending Points are Overwhelming Force and ATOs, both of which are Unique, meaning that's 12 enhancements at most (18 when the new set of ATOs come out) that can be slotted without spending Points.

You won't go wrong slotting so's you just need to remember to replace them every 5 levels. If you want to start on your set bonuses now you can do that too but keep in mind that it may be better to save up till your sure of your build at high levels (unless you're a good marketeer and are able to get your investments back if you go wrong ).

For me, I usually slot a full set of SOs at 27, and then replace them with standard IOs as I pick them up, replacing SOs as need be until I no longer need them. Then I replace the IOs with sets when I get those as well.

Thank you! And where is the best place to buy common SOs? WW or just a vendor?

ty again

The vendor in Talos or Sharkhead is likely to be your best bet so you can just do it all at once. If cost were of utmost concern (as opposed to your performance or time), then putting bids in for SOs would likely net you them for cheaper, but people just don't put these up for sale too often (I assume, I honestly never look) so it would take a painfully long time and a large amount of effort.

The total cost of a damage SO buying a 25 and refreshing every 5 levels until 50 would be 270k, which is probably close to the "buy it now" price of a mid level damage IO. Certainly, you could pay less if you were patient, but it's rarely worth my time and effort until I can get better performance.

Speaking of performance, the wiki page on Enhancements is quite good and even has a graph and table showing where SOs outperform IOs (the aqua shaded section). For reference, here are the percentage increases for various schedule A enhs:

-1 SO: 30 
25 IO: 32 
+0 SO: 33.33 
30 IO: 34.8 
+1 SO: 35 
+2 SO: 36.66 
35 IO: 36.7 
+3 SO: 38.33

I usually start using generic IOs at 12 and don't bother with [T|D|S]Os. I hate catastrophic enhancement failure. I also don't like making people wait around while I refresh enhancements so that the catastrophic failure doesn't happen.

Thank you all so much. I have a 50 fire/kin from before and I just saw that I have 115 million on her, so buying the 270k is probably my best bet.

Thanks again!

If I happen to have the recipes and salvage, I'll always create/slot an IO over a store-bought enhancement even as low as level 15 (with the intention of replacing 15's and 20's no later than the low 30's depending on circumstances). Otherwise I use store-boughts up to 27 when I really start trying to use IO's. If I can't get the salvage for a decent price then I'll buy the SO instead. Some characters are luckier than others in the salvage department.

At the very latest all SO's and IO's below 30 are replaced at level 42 when salvage stops being a problem. I'm usually starting to slot sets about then as well.

I tend to stay on SOs till the mid 30s-40s before I buy sets. Mostly because I wait till I have a good feel for a character before I plan out a complete build in mids. But then I also do weird things like slotting my brute attacks with non-damage sets and letting fury make up the difference.