Alpha Slot Abilities

Overview

The Alpha Slot is the first "level" of the Incarnate System, which launched with Issue 19, and requires a Going Rogue retail code to utilize.

The Alpha Slot was initially supposed to launch with Going Rogue, but beta feedback said without content to play with the Alpha Slot, the system felt incomplete, so it was pushed back[1].

Issue 19 will only include the Common and Uncommon boosts with the more powerful ones being added at a later date.

Power Boosts

The Alpha Slot Incarnate Boosts give their enhancement aspects to every power that a character has that can utilize it. For instance, if a character has a boost that reduces endurance costs, every power that takes endurance to use would be decreased (almost every single power a character has access to). If a character has a boost that increases Fear duration, Touch of Fear would be increased, but Power Bolt would not, since it does not have Fear. If a power cannot slot a certain enhancement (such as Recharge in Mind Link), the boost does not apply to that power.

Powers can be boosted by more than one aspect if they are applicable; Electric Fence can benefit from Musculature's Alpha Slot primary aspect, Damage, and also the Immobilize and Endurance Modification aspects.

Boosts come in four rarity levels. The higher the rarity level, the more materials are needed to create them. Materials to create them are gathered through defeating enemies, Task Forces/Strike Forces, and most other activities.

Common
Uncommon
Rare
Very Rare

Part of the bonuses given by Alpha slotted boosts bypass Enhancement Diversification, even if a character's power is slotted to the final threshold. Depending on rarity, boosts will bypass ED with anywhere from one-sixth to two-thirds of the boost.

To calculate the total enhancement value use the following method:

1. Add up the values of all enhancements in the power plus the portion of the Alpha Boost that is affected by ED.
2. Apply ED to this value.
3. Add the portion of the Alpha Boost that is not affected by ED for the total enhancement value.

Examples

Example 1: A character's power slotted with three Recharge Single-Origin Enhancements will have 99.9% increased attack rate pre-ED which becomes approximately 94.9% once ED is applied without the Alpha Slot.

• Slotting a common Spiritual Alpha Slot boost (33% increased attack rate) ignores ED for ¹⁄₆ of its effects but ED is still applied to the remaining ⁵⁄₆. The power therefore has a total ED affected enhancement value of 99.9% + ⁵⁄₆ * 33% = 127.4% which after ED is approximately 99.1%. The remaining ¹⁄₆ of the Alpha Slot's enhancement is added to this giving a final enhancement value of 99.1% + ¹⁄₆ * 33% = 104.6%
• Slotting a very rare Spiritual Alpha Slot boost (45% attack rate, stun, and healing) ignores ED for ²⁄₃ of its effects but ED is still applied to the remaining ¹⁄₃. The power therefore has a total ED affected enhancement value of 99.9% + ¹⁄₃ * 45% = 114.9% which after ED is approximately 97.2%. The remaining ²⁄₃ of the Alpha Slot's enhancement is added to this giving a final enhancement value of 97.2% + ²⁄₃ * 45% = 127.2%

Example 2: A character's power slotted with 2 Recharge Single-Origin Enhancements will have 66.6% increased attack rate which since it is less than 70% is not affected by ED so remains at 66.6%.

• Slotting a common Spiritual Alpha Slot boost (33% increased attack rate) ignores ED for ¹⁄₆ of its effects but ED is still applied to the remaining ⁵⁄₆. The power therefore has a total ED affected enhancement value of 66.6% + ⁵⁄₆ * 33% = 94.1% which, since it is greater than 70% is affected by ED resulting in approximately 90.9% post-ED. The remaining ¹⁄₆ of the Alpha Slot's enhancement is added to this giving a final enhancement value of 90.9% + ¹⁄₆ * 33% = 96.4%
• Slotting a very rare Spiritual Alpha Slot boost (45% attack rate, stun, and healing) ignores ED for ²⁄₃ of its effects but ED is still applied to the remaining ¹⁄₃. The power therefore has a total ED affected enhancement value of 66.6% + ¹⁄₃ * 45% = 81.6% which, since it is greater than 70% is affected by ED resulting in approximately 80.4% post-ED. The remaining ²⁄₃ of the Alpha Slot's enhancement is added to this giving a final enhancement value of 80.4% + ²⁄₃ * 45% = 110.4%

Intent

During Beta for Issue 18/Going Rogue, the developers stated that the intent was for the Alpha boost power slotted to function as normal enhancement (TO/DO/SO/Common IO) for what powers it affected. It is not meant to benefit powers through the multi-aspect or Set IO exploit/work-around.

Example : Mind Link does not accept Recharge enhancements. However, you can slot a multi-aspect Set IO or special enhancement such as a Hamidon Origin Enhancement with recharge reduction and benefit from reduced recharge. However, if you have the Spiritual Alpha Boost, Mind Link's recharge time will not be reduced. Even slotting the Spiritual "Total Radial Revamp" or "Radial Paragon" alpha boosts will not, despite the fact that they will enhance Mind Link's To-Hit Buff.

Level Shift

Rare and very rare Alpha Slot boosts apply a level shift, which effectively increases the character's combat level.

Boost Types

Cardiac

Cardiac primarily deals with reducing Endurance costs. Cardiac also increases Range, Damage Resistance and some Status Effect durations. The types and amounts of each type depend on what is slotted. Hover over icons for more details.

	Boost	Core Boost	Radial Boost	Total Core Revamp	Partial Core Revamp	Partial Radial Revamp	Total Radial Revamp	Core Paragon	Radial Paragon
Rarity
Primary	33%	33%	33%	45%	33%	33%	33%	45%	33%
Secondary		20%	20%	20%	20% 20%	20% 10%	20% 10%	20% 20%	20% 20%
Tertiary						33%	33%		33% 33% 33%
ED Bypass	1⁄6	1⁄3	1⁄3	1⁄2	1⁄2	1⁄2	1⁄2	2⁄3	2⁄3
Level Shift

Musculature

Musculature primarily deals with increasing Damage. It also modifies Immobilization Duration, Defense Debuff, Endurance Modification, ToHit Debuff and Run Speed. The types and amounts of each type depend on what is slotted. Hover over icons for more details.

	Boost	Core Boost	Radial Boost	Total Core Revamp	Partial Core Revamp	Partial Radial Revamp	Total Radial Revamp	Core Paragon	Radial Paragon
Rarity
Primary	33%	33%	33%	45%	33%	33%	33%	45%	33%
Secondary		33%	33%	33%	33% 33%	33% 16.5%	33% 16.5%	45% 33%	33% 33%
Tertiary						33%	20%		33% 33% 20%
ED Bypass	1⁄6	1⁄3	1⁄3	1⁄2	1⁄2	1⁄2	1⁄2	2⁄3	2⁄3
Level Shift

Nerve

Nerve primarily deals with increasing Accuracy. It can also increase Hold Duration, Defence Buff, Confuse Duration, Taunt and Fly Speed. The types and amounts of each type depend on what is slotted. Hover over icons for more details.

	Boost	Core Boost	Radial Boost	Total Core Revamp	Partial Core Revamp	Partial Radial Revamp	Total Radial Revamp	Core Paragon	Radial Paragon
Rarity
Primary	33%	33%	33%	45%	33%	33%	33%	45%	33%
Secondary		33%	20%	33%	33% 20%	20% 16.5%	20% 16.5%	33% 20%	33% 20%
Tertiary						33%	33%		33% 33% 33%
ED Bypass	1⁄6	1⁄3	1⁄3	1⁄2	1⁄2	1⁄2	1⁄2	2⁄3	2⁄3
Level Shift

Spiritual

Spiritual primarily deals with increasing Recharge Rate. It can also increase Stun Duration, Healing, ToHit Buff, Slow Movement and Jump. The types and amounts of each type depend on what is slotted. Hover over icons for more details.

	Boost	Core Boost	Radial Boost	Total Core Revamp	Partial Core Revamp	Partial Radial Revamp	Total Radial Revamp	Core Paragon	Radial Paragon
Rarity
Primary	33%	33%	33%	45%	33%	33%	33%	45%	33%
Secondary		33%	33%	33%	33% 33%	33% 16.5%	33% 16.5%	33% 33%	33% 33%
Tertiary						33%	20%		33% 33% 20%
ED Bypass	1⁄6	1⁄3	1⁄3	1⁄2	1⁄2	1⁄2	1⁄2	2⁄3	2⁄3
Level Shift

External Links

• Incarnate Lore on cityofheroes.com
• Alpha Slot details on cityofheroes.com