Unless the power is interruptible, you can't really do anything about the activation time. How I wish you could...
With ED in place the best you can do for maximum healing with SOs is slot 3 heals and some combination of Recharge Reduction or End Cost Reduction, which will
let you get the power off more often for less. Basically, once the bonus gets into the 90% range, stop trying to increase it.
With IOs, things get interesting... and costly. Regenerative Tissue has a single IO that increases your Regeneration, Miracle has one that improves your
Recovery, and Numina's Convalescence has one that does both. But these are crazy, crazy expensive. And don't help you get bigger green numbers
over your teammates' heads.
You can look for IO sets (for other powers, as well as heals) that give a global bonus to heals. Don't slot IOs that aren't useful just to get a global
bonus, and don't make a build that isn't up to par without the global bonuses--but do have some kind of focus in mind for globals if you pursue sets.
They stack nicely, and set bonuses are not limited by ED. And remember, global bonuses last for two minutes after the power is activated, so a click power that
recharges quickly is just as effective as an aura or passive in that regard.
You can also use combination IOs (Heal/Rech, Heal/End, Heal/Rech/End) from various sets. This is like using Hami-Os, but you can get them earlier and probably
cheaper. (Not sure what HO's are going for these days.) You can get Heal enhanced up the point ED kicks in and have a substantial bonus to Rech &/or
End Red with four or five slots instead of six, and use those slots elsewhere.
With Badb (MA/Regen scrapper without Stamina) I developed a combination of these strategies as I went. Most of her attacks are only five slotted with single
sets, and the damage may not be quite 3 SOs worth, but it's close, and I have ~50% boosts to Accuracy and either Recharge Rate or End Reduction, sometimes
both. Her three self-heals are six slotted with mixed partial sets... 2-4 IOs in 2 different sets to get the 'low-hanging' bonuses I wanted to stack. A
single vanilla IO or an SO fixed powersets that were underperforming compared to my old SO slotting--and was much cheaper than buying high level IOs. For
global bonuses, I emphasized Recovery, Regen and Recharge, and I managed to get a boost to Accuracy and Max HP and End, as well. Overall, Badb's very
effective, has almost no downtime, and does it all without Stamina. I haven't played with the procs (Chance of whatever) IOs, but I hear good things about
them, too.
It can be expensive and the number of choices confusing, but don't worry. It's pretty easy to make an IO build better than SOs. A single aspect IO
starting in the low 30's is equivalent or better than a SO. Ease your way into it when you have time and influence. I shifted Badb from SOs to IOs a power
or two at a time starting around level 35. I didn't finish IO slotting until just before 50. It also pays to be opportunistic and keep an eye out for a
good deal while you're selling.
With ED in place the best you can do for maximum healing with SOs is slot 3 heals and some combination of Recharge Reduction or End Cost Reduction, which will
let you get the power off more often for less. Basically, once the bonus gets into the 90% range, stop trying to increase it.
With IOs, things get interesting... and costly. Regenerative Tissue has a single IO that increases your Regeneration, Miracle has one that improves your
Recovery, and Numina's Convalescence has one that does both. But these are crazy, crazy expensive. And don't help you get bigger green numbers
over your teammates' heads.
You can look for IO sets (for other powers, as well as heals) that give a global bonus to heals. Don't slot IOs that aren't useful just to get a global
bonus, and don't make a build that isn't up to par without the global bonuses--but do have some kind of focus in mind for globals if you pursue sets.
They stack nicely, and set bonuses are not limited by ED. And remember, global bonuses last for two minutes after the power is activated, so a click power that
recharges quickly is just as effective as an aura or passive in that regard.
You can also use combination IOs (Heal/Rech, Heal/End, Heal/Rech/End) from various sets. This is like using Hami-Os, but you can get them earlier and probably
cheaper. (Not sure what HO's are going for these days.) You can get Heal enhanced up the point ED kicks in and have a substantial bonus to Rech &/or
End Red with four or five slots instead of six, and use those slots elsewhere.
With Badb (MA/Regen scrapper without Stamina) I developed a combination of these strategies as I went. Most of her attacks are only five slotted with single
sets, and the damage may not be quite 3 SOs worth, but it's close, and I have ~50% boosts to Accuracy and either Recharge Rate or End Reduction, sometimes
both. Her three self-heals are six slotted with mixed partial sets... 2-4 IOs in 2 different sets to get the 'low-hanging' bonuses I wanted to stack. A
single vanilla IO or an SO fixed powersets that were underperforming compared to my old SO slotting--and was much cheaper than buying high level IOs. For
global bonuses, I emphasized Recovery, Regen and Recharge, and I managed to get a boost to Accuracy and Max HP and End, as well. Overall, Badb's very
effective, has almost no downtime, and does it all without Stamina. I haven't played with the procs (Chance of whatever) IOs, but I hear good things about
them, too.
It can be expensive and the number of choices confusing, but don't worry. It's pretty easy to make an IO build better than SOs. A single aspect IO
starting in the low 30's is equivalent or better than a SO. Ease your way into it when you have time and influence. I shifted Badb from SOs to IOs a power
or two at a time starting around level 35. I didn't finish IO slotting until just before 50. It also pays to be opportunistic and keep an eye out for a
good deal while you're selling.