Sometimes it’s easier (and more flexible) to change the selection priorities (aka selection hierarchy) with a simple mel script than use the Preferences window in Maya.

You can use the simple selectPriority MEL command to change the values.

For example:

selectPriority -cluster 10;
selectPriority -locator 5;
selectPriority -handle 100;
// For special nodes (with no selection categories) you can use the -byName flag and the name of the node type
selectPriority -byName "alembicHolder" 95;

Cheers, D