Please tell me I didn't make a mistake!

My thugs/Poison is now level 50. I'm beginning to understand the basics with Incarnates. He has some endurance problems. I decided to choose agility instead of cardiac. Right now I created my first agility enhancement for my alpha slot. Did I do the right thing?

Get Cardiac T1. Switch. Test.

It doesn't really take to long to get the threads or materials for a new T1, so yeah, just do as Klaw says. Make a T1 cardiac and test it out, see if it helps with your stamina problems.

Yeah you're really better off making a cardiac.

See Alphas work as if you're sticking that kind of enhancement into -any- powers that can take it. As a thugs/poison, your cardiac is pretty much just boosting your Stamina. it's not a bad boost, but you're much more likely to see improvements with Cardiac where the endurance reduction will apply to -every- power you're using.

Thanks guys. I appreciate it. Back to the drawing board.

If you have end problems then the obvious solution is Cardiac. Crafting another tier 1 Alpha isn't a biggie... it only takes 12 shards to craft, or 8 shards and a component. A good ITF run can frequently get you what you need.

What about tanks? My will power/super strength just hit 50.

Alternatively, you could do two SSAs (or one twice) and take Threads and Astral rewards, then do three DA arcs and take the Salvage, Thread, and Merit rewards. Odds are you'd end up with a Common, 20 Threads, and 3 Astrals (break down to 12 Threads). This makes you 8 Threads short of a T1 for any slot (if I remember my Salvage costs correctly).

If there are any SSAs or DA arcs that you haven't done yet, you can also run those for the first time completion rewards, and if you complete all 7 DA arcs, you can talk to Gabriel for 2 extra Empyrean Merits.

If you've done the WST, you can break down the Notice of the Well for 40 Threads, but I personally don't do that until after I've got a T4 Alpha, just in case I decide to craft it via Shards/Notices.

I tried the cardiac. It works much better! Thanks

I certainly felt similarly confused and worried with my first Incarnae and still bug thhe more experienced players on my server with questions about things I don't quite get (Hello, Hybrid; I hear you're useful, but I still don't get it.) As others have said, a T1 turns out to be fairly easy to craft.

As an aside, however, there's an entire subforum dedicated to builds where you can get advice and they seem fairly helpful and friendly.

I want to get clear understanding. I chose Cardiac for my MM. Does that simply mean each individual slot that accepts a end reducer is powered by Cardiac 33%? In other words, if I have a power with six slots, all of those slots are benefitting?

No, Alpha powers are added to each power, not each slot. So your Cardiac power gives you an extra 33% cost reduction in every power that can be slotted for cost reduction. Basically it's as if you had one extra slot in every power, and put a cost reduction SO in each of those extra slots.

Thank you Hopeling! You cleared the smoke for me

Heres my next question. If I have a damage power fully slotted with 3 damage io's in that power (bringing me to 99% I believe) And if I choose Musculature, will that choice be too much or should I consider another incarnate ability?

All Alpha powers, including Musculature, partially bypass enhancement diminishing returns (commonly referred to as ED, for historical reasons and because it's shorter). Specifically, 1/6 of the bonus bypasses ED for a tier 1 power, 1/3 for a tier 2, 1/2 for a tier 3, and 2/3 for a tier 4. So Musculature is nice, even if your attacks are slotted to the ED cap (which they usually are).

However, since part of the bonus IS subject to ED, you can change your slotting to take advantage of that, if you want to. Two generic level 50 damage IOs, plus the portion of Musculature that doesn't bypass ED, will put you at or very near the ED cap for damage, so you lose almost nothing by removing the third damage enhancement, and then you can use those enhancement slots for something else.

Oh, ok. Im beginning to understand. Before I chose agility (I changed it to cardiac) and I noticed the inherent fitness power stamina at 109% I thought it didn't make sense because I always went along with the ED system.

However, You did mentioned that it's ok to choose musculature even if I have 3 dam io's for that particular power. I'm still lost about that.

Part of the boost from Musculature bypasses the ED cap, and that's the part you actually care about, because every build slots for damage. You'll pretty much always be running into that ED cap. If that ruled out Musculature, it would only be used in rare corner cases.

A Musculature Total Core Revamp (for example) will take you from 99% to 125% damage enhancement. That's a pretty solid increase, despite ED. But if you then remove the third damage IO, you only drop from 125% to 119%. Musculature isn't wasted, Musculature is making a signficant difference. 99 -> 125 is a pretty significant difference. 119->125 is a much smaller difference. Either way, Musculature is giving you a nice boost, but if you want, you can swap that third damage enhancement to something else and not lose much.

Also, Musculature increases the damage of your Judgement and Lore powers, once you get those, and that's a nice perk too.