City of Heroes Information

 

 

City of Heroes Enhancement Guide

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This guide assumes you understand the basics of Enhancements - if you have more general questions, check out this highly detailed Guide on the Official Forums.

General Mechanics

The Principal Rule of Enhancements: Single Origins are always better than Dual Origins, which are always better than generic training enhancements.

Base SO Percentage at equal level are either 20% or 33.33%

Base DO Percentage at equal level are either 10% or 16.67%

Base Generic Percentage at equal level are either 5% or 8.33%

Range/Cone Range, Damage Resistance, and Defense Buff use the lower value (5/10/20). All other enhancements use the higher value.

You get diminishing returns for each enhancement of the same type you put in a particular power. For example, take a series of endurance reductions with a base cost of 100:

Net Endurance Cost = Base Endurance Cost / (1 + (Sum of Enhancements slotted))

1 SO Slotted: 100 / (1 + .33) = 75

2 SO Slotted: 100 / (1 + (.33 + .33)) = 60

3 SO Slotted: 100 / (1 + (.33 + .33 + .33)) = 50

4 SO Slotted: 100 / (1 + 1.33) = 43

5 SO Slotted: 100 / (1 + 1.66) = 38

6 SO Slotted: 100 / (1 + 2) = 33

For 'add' enhancements, such as accuracy, the example runs as follows:

Chance to Hit = Base Chance * (1 + (Sum of Enhancement Percentages))

[The Base Chance to hit a 'white' foe is 75%]

Combining Enhancements

You can combine enhancements of the same type (or of the same effect, with Dual Origins) to create a higher level enhancement. If successful, the final enhancement will be one level over the higher of the two combined enhancements. If unsuccessful, only the higher of the two enhancements will be kept. A 20++ enhancement is identical to a 22 enhancement.

+3 = *1.15

+2 = *1.10

+1 = *1.05

0 = *1.00

-1 = *.90

-2 = *.80

-3 = *.70

So, for example, if you're level 15, and you have a 15++ generic damage training enhancement, the modifier to your damage is 8.33 * 1.10 = 9.1%.

Type 1 (most) Enhancers:

Level Diff	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	1	2	3
Training	0.00%	5.81%	6.64%	7.47%	8.30%	8.72%	9.13%	9.55%
Dual Origin	0.00%	11.69%	13.36%	15.03%	16.70%	17.54%	18.37%	19.21%
Single Origin	0.00%	23.31%	26.64%	29.97%	33.30%	34.97%	36.63%	38.30%

Type 2 (Defense & Range) Enhancers:

Level Diff	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	1	2	3
Training	0.00%	3.50%	4.00%	4.50%	5.00%	5.25%	5.50%	5.75%
Dual Origin	0.00%	7.00%	8.00%	9.00%	10.00%	10.50%	11.00%	11.50%
Single Origin	0.00%	14.00%	16.00%	18.00%	20.00%	21.00%	22.00%	23.00%

Balancing Damage vs. Accuracy

You cannot reduce your chance to miss below 5%, so the general consensus is that the best bang for the buck is a 2:1 ratio of damage to accuracy.

With a base 100 damage:

6 DO Dam Power - 20 attacks, 15 hit, 200 damage, total = 15x200 = 3000
4 DO Dam/2 DO Acc Power - 20 attacks, 19 hit, 167 damage, total = 3173

All Enhancement Types

The Power 10 Enhancements: (These are available at all stores)

Accuracy

Damage

Defense Buff

End Reduction

Healing

Hold Duration

Range Increase

Recharge Reduction

Damage Resist

Disorient Duration

And the rest...

Activation Acceleration

Cone Range Increase

Confusion Duration

Defense DeBuff

Endurance Drain

Fear Duration

Flight Speed

Immobilize Duration

Intangibility

Jump

Knockback Distance

Recovery

Run Speed

Sleep Duration

Slow

Taunt Duration

To Hit Buff

To Hit DeBuff

Store Locations

There's a Map Patch available that highlights various stores on the in-game maps. Very nice.

Levels 15 & 20 DO Stores - All 28 Training & Power 10 DOs

Freedom Corps Basic Training - Generic (Steel Canyon and Skyway City )

Freedom Corp Basic Trainer - Generic (Skyway City )

Image Inc. - Natural (Steel Canyon and Skyway City )

Cooke's Electronics - Tech (Steel Canyon and Skyway City )

Orion Labs - Science (Steel Canyon and Skyway City )

Subgenetics - Mutant (Steel Canyon and Skyway City )

Pandora's Box - Magic (Steel Canyon and Skyway City )

Levels 25 & 30 Stores - All 28 Training and DOs, Power 10 SOs

Freedom Corps Special Forces - Generic (Talos Island and Indepence Port )

Future Dynamics - Natural (Talos Island and Indepence Port )

Exarch Industries - Tech (Talos Island and Indepence Port )

Deimos Innovations - Science (Talos Island and Indepence Port )

BiotechniX - Mutant (Talos Island and Indepence Port )

Tabitha Fabish - Magic (Talos Island and Indepence Port )

Levels 30, 35, & 40 NPCs - All 28 DOs and SOs

Agent Six - Natural (Founders' Falls)

Mark IV - Tech (Founders' Falls)

Holsten Armitage - Science (Brickstown)

Penny Preston - Mutant (Founders' Falls)

Serafina - Magic (Brickstown)

Levels 40, 45, & 50 NPC - SOs for all 5 Origins

Ghost Falcon - All Origins (Peregrine Island)

Drops by Villain Group and Level

Drop Levels

Generics that drop from level 1 to 19 mobs will be Villain Level, VL-1, or VL-2.

Generics that drop from level 20 to 29 mobs will be Villain Level, VL+1, or VL-1.

Generics that drop from level 30 to 40 mobs will be Villain Level, VL+1, or VL+2.

Dual Origins that drop from level 15 to 29 mobs will be Villain Level, VL-1, or VL-2.

Dual Origins that drop from level 30 to 40 mobs will be Villain Level, VL+1, or VL-1.

Single Origins will always be Villain Level, VL-1 or VL-2.

Task Force rewards, Trial rewards, and Archvillain Drops may not fit these critera.

Known Drops by Villain Group

Training (Generic) Enhancements drop exclusively in levels 1 to 14.

Level 15 to 19 Clockwork have a very rare chance of dropping a Gadget (Tech/Natural).

Level 15 to 19 Vahzilok have a very rare chance of dropping a Genetic Alteration (Mutant/Science).

Level 15 to 19 Tsoo have a very rare chance of dropping a Focusing Device (Mutant/Magic).

All other Level 15 to 19 villains have a very rare chance of dropping any Dual Origin Enhancement

Level 20 to 24 Banished Pantheon occasionally drop a Relic (Magic/Natural).

Level 20 to 24 Freakshow occasionally drop a Gadget (Natural/Tech).

Level 20 to 24 Sky Raiders occasionally drop an Invention (Tech/Science).

Level 20 to 24 Tsoo occasionally drop a Focus (Mutant/Magic).

All other Level 20 to 24 occasionally drop any Dual Origin Enhancement.

Level 25 to 29 5th Column occasionally drop a Focus (Mutant/Magic) and a very rare chance of dropping any Single Origin Enhancement.

Level 25 to 29 Devouring occasionally drop a Genetic Alteration (Science/Mutant) and a very rare chance of dropping any Single Origin Enhancement.

All other Level 25 to 29 are the same as 20 to 24, except for a very rare chance of dropping any Single Origin Enhancement.

Level 30 to 34 Freakshow occasionally drop a Gadget (Tech/Natural) or a Cybernetic (Tech).

Level 30 to 40 5th Column occasionally drop a Genetic Alteration (Science/Mutant) or a Secondary Mutation (Mutant).

Level 30 to 40 Circle of Thorns occasionally drop a Relic (Natural/Magic) or a Dimensional Entity (Magic).

Level 30 to 40 Crey occasionally drop an Invention (Tech/Science) or a Technique (Natural).

Level 30 to 40 Devouring Earth occasionally drop a Focus (Mutant/Magic) or an Experiment (Science).

Level 30 to 40 Nemesis occasionally drop a Gadget (Tech/Natural) or a Cybernetic (Tech).

Contributor Acknowledgements:

Shadyman on the Official Forums

Katpaws on the Official Forums

ZealotOnAStick on the Official Forums

Project Eva