Early Incarnates Mini Guide

[LKMarleigh]

Once you hit 50 you get a new contact pop up Mender Ramiel, you need to go and run his short arc in order to unlock the Incarnate UI, this is access via the powers button

 

You will unlock 6 Incarnate slots over time, the ingredients for these are crafted via Incarnate Threads and Empyrean Merits (Ignore Incarnate Shards, they are only used in the Alpha slot and the drop rate is so low that crafting would take forever)

 

Every time you level after 50 you gain a veteran level, every 3 veteran levels you gain a badge and 20 Empyrean Merits (edit: this drops to 15 merits at vet level 36) for the first 12 levels you also get 120 Incarnate threads for the levels which don't grant you the merits. This is a quick guide to help you spend those initial 960 threads and 80 merits more efficiently

 

Each Incarnate Power has 4 tiers. Each tier requires the incarnate power from the previous tier, except the 4th which requires two tier 3 incarnate powers (make sure you craft the correct ones for the tier 4 you want) the upgrades also cost various ingredients which are crafted with threads/empyreans

 

Tier 1 3 commons cost 60 threads

Tier 2 2 commons 1 uncommon cost 100 threads

Tier 3 2 commons and a rare cost 40 threads 8 merits (use merits to craft rare/very rare materials)

Tier 4 all of the above x2 plus 2 commons and a very rare cost 40 threads and 30 merits

 

It would therefore seem to make common sense to concentrate on getting all of your abilities to tier 3, the cost of this would be 200 threads per ability plus 8 merits, for a grand total of 1200 threads and 48 merits, luckily threads drop at a decent rate  so you should be able to get enough by the time you are level 12  to make all abilities level 3 then work on getting the tier 4s, you can also convert shards to merits and (probably best to avoid this though) you can at a pinch turn empyreans into threads. At the very least you can absolutely guarantee being able top craft tier 2 of every incarnate slot by vet level 12, try to avoid the temptation of crafting a tier 4 before all of your slots are unlocked

 

This isn't designed to be the ultimate guide to incarnates, just simply a guide to get you going as i've spoken to a lot of people in game who are confused about them (one of the biggest sources of confusions being the shards used for Alphas, if those recipes/ingredients were removed then i believe the system would be understood far more easily

 

hope this has helped at least someone, tc & hf

 

Addendum:

 

At level 50 after you do the Mender Ramiel arc you get Captain Nolan as a contact, he gives you a short non combat arc which leads you to Dark Astoria, and the first story arc there with Heather Townsend which rewards you with an incarnate crafting mat (its been an uncommon every time I've done it) which means you can get your Alpha to tier 2 as soon as you hit vet level 1, she leads to another story arc with Mu'Vorkan (more crafting mats) an repeatable missions with Ephram Sha which give you 10 threads for the first completion every 20 hours. Well worth doing those to accelerate the incarnate process

 

Addendum 2:

 

You get 20 Empyrean Merits every 3 levels to 25, then it drops to 15 until 50, 10 until 75 and 5 until 100, with nothing after

 

 

Update: On my brute i'm using the method of getting everything to tier 3, at incarnate level 10 I have all slots at tier 3, it's far more efficient than what i did on my first character, now i'll start on my tier 4 Alpha

[StPatty33]

Awesome guide! Very helpful for those that were most active prior to incarnate stuff, and the clarification for Vet Levels is rad too. Thanks again!

[Burnt Toast]

Just a note: You do not need to do Mender Ramiel's arc to unlock the Incarnate UI - once you hit (and level up to) 50 you start earning Incarnate experience and the UI is available.

 

 

Once you hit 50 you get a new contact pop up Mender Ramiel, you need to go and run his short arc in order to unlock the Incarnate UI, this is access via the powers button

 

You will unlock 6 Incarnate slots over time, the ingredients for these are crafted via Incarnate Threads and Empyrean Merits (Ignore Incarnate Shards, they are only used in the Alpha slot and the drop rate is so low that crafting would take forever)

 

Every time you level after 50 you gain a veteran level, every 3 veteran levels you gain a badge and 20 Empyrean Merits (edit: this drops to 15 merits at vet level 36) for the first 12 levels you also get 120 Incarnate threads for the levels which don't grant you the merits. This is a quick guide to help you spend those initial 960 threads and 80 merits more efficiently

 

Each Incarnate Power has 4 tiers. Each tier requires the incarnate power from the previous tier, except the 4th which requires two tier 3 incarnate powers (make sure you craft the correct ones for the tier 4 you want) the upgrades also cost various ingredients which are crafted with threads/empyreans

 

Tier 1 3 commons cost 60 threads

Tier 2 2 commons 1 uncommon cost 100 threads

Tier 3 2 commons and a rare cost 40 threads 8 merits (use merits to craft rare/very rare materials)

Tier 4 all of the above x2 plus 2 commons and a very rare cost 40 threads and 30 merits

 

It would therefore seem to make common sense to concentrate on getting all of your abilities to tier 3, the cost of this would be 200 threads per ability plus 8 merits, for a grand total of 1200 threads and 48 merits, luckily threads drop at a decent rate  so you should be able to get enough by the time you are level 12  to make all abilities level 3 then work on getting the tier 4s, you can also convert shards to merits and (probably best to avoid this though) you can at a pinch turn empyreans into threads. At the very least you can absolutely guarantee being able top craft tier 2 of every incarnate slot by vet level 12, try to avoid the temptation of crafting a tier 4 before all of your slots are unlocked

 

This isn't designed to be the ultimate guide to incarnates, just simply a guide to get you going as i've spoken to a lot of people in game who are confused about them (one of the biggest sources of confusions being the shards used for Alphas, if those recipes/ingredients were removed then i believe the system would be understood far more easily

 

hope this has helped at least someone, tc & hf

 

Addendum:

 

At level 50 after you do the Mender Ramiel arc you get Captain Nolan as a contact, he gives you a short non combat arc which leads you to Dark Astoria, and the first story arc there with Heather Townsend which rewards you with an incarnate crafting mat (its been an uncommon every time I've done it) which means you can get your Alpha to tier 2 as soon as you hit vet level 1, she leads to another story arc with Mu'Vorkan (more crafting mats) an repeatable missions with Ephram Sha which give you 10 threads for the first completion every 20 hours. Well worth doing those to accelerate the incarnate process

[Generator]

Just so I'm clear, in I-25 is Incarnate XP now just awarded after 50 from doing regular Joe Hero stuff?

[LKMarleigh]

Just so I'm clear, in I-25 is Incarnate XP now just awarded after 50 from doing regular Joe Hero stuff?

 

Yes everything you do post L50 earns Incarnate XP, you will also earn 'normal' xp which gains you veteran levels, you will unlock all of your slots around Vet level 9

[Generator]

I won't lie, that's another change I'm not really crazy about.  But hey, one man's opinion.  Either way, thanks for the info.

[wheresmycow]

Yes everything you do post L50 earns Incarnate XP, you will also earn 'normal' xp which gains you veteran levels, you will unlock all of your slots around Vet level 9

Oh really?  That makes things a lot more convenient.  Respect to those who aren't into it, but it's nice for the group I play with.

[wheresmycow]

Does anyone have any particular insight on the incarnate abilities themselves?  I'm eyeing Vigor in the Alpha and Melee in the Hybrid for my WP/Titan Tanker, but the other slots I'm still up in the air on.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

Does anyone have any particular insight on the incarnate abilities themselves?  I'm eyeing Vigor in the Alpha and Melee in the Hybrid for my WP/Titan Tanker, but the other slots I'm still up in the air on.

My personal take:

 

Alpha: This is the most variable since it depends a lot on your build. Vigor is probably not the worst choice for Willpower. You get more regen/healing and the accuracy bonus is great if you don't have IO sets (most IO'd builds have a ton of accuracy but SO build tend to need more accuracy for incarnate content). You might also want to consider Spiritual since you get the healing for your primary and recharge to help with improving your attack chain.

 

Judgement: All of the Judgement abilities are pretty similar. From what I recall Ion was generally regarded as "the best" due to the higher target cap and chaining effect but the difference was small enough that I preferred to select based on what fit thematically. Without knowing anything about your character other than the powerset I'd suggest Vorpal as being thematically appropriate.

 

Interface: So my preference here was to select one of the DoTs. In general for incarnate content stuff dies to fast for the debuffs to matter much so you might as well go for damage. SO given that I'd suggest picking the one with the DoT that you feel is the best thematic fit for your character

 

Lore: From what I recall the Cimerorans had the best DPS but all of them are pretty strong so if you want to pick something thematically appropriate it's not a big deal.

 

Destiny: For you I'd recommend either Barrier or Rebirth. Both will significantly enhance your survivability, Barrier by giving you extra defense and resistance (which is very useful for Willpower) or Rebirth by giving you even more regeneration (I recommend the regen version of Rebirth over the Max HP version).

 

Hybrid: Melee is probably a good choice. Extra defense or resistance is always useful for Willpower and the radial tree has an option for a Taunt aura which is something else that Willpower can struggle with.

[wheresmycow]

My personal take:

 

Alpha: This is the most variable since it depends a lot on your build. Vigor is probably not the worst choice for Willpower. You get more regen/healing and the accuracy bonus is great if you don't have IO sets (most IO'd builds have a ton of accuracy but SO build tend to need more accuracy for incarnate content). You might also want to consider Spiritual since you get the healing for your primary and recharge to help with improving your attack chain.

 

Judgement: All of the Judgement abilities are pretty similar. From what I recall Ion was generally regarded as "the best" due to the higher target cap and chaining effect but the difference was small enough that I preferred to select based on what fit thematically. Without knowing anything about your character other than the powerset I'd suggest Vorpal as being thematically appropriate.

 

Interface: So my preference here was to select one of the DoTs. In general for incarnate content stuff dies to fast for the debuffs to matter much so you might as well go for damage. SO given that I'd suggest picking the one with the DoT that you feel is the best thematic fit for your character

 

Lore: From what I recall the Cimerorans had the best DPS but all of them are pretty strong so if you want to pick something thematically appropriate it's not a big deal.

 

Destiny: For you I'd recommend either Barrier or Rebirth. Both will significantly enhance your survivability, Barrier by giving you extra defense and resistance (which is very useful for Willpower) or Rebirth by giving you even more regeneration (I recommend the regen version of Rebirth over the Max HP version).

 

Hybrid: Melee is probably a good choice. Extra defense or resistance is always useful for Willpower and the radial tree has an option for a Taunt aura which is something else that Willpower can struggle with.

I was considering Vigor because I have a lot of toggles and Titan Weapon just eats up a lot of endurance.  In the build I've designed, I do end up picking up Physical Perfection from Energy Mastery as my Epic, but it doesn't look like it'd be enough.  All told, the recovery looks like 4 endurance/second, with toggles eating up about 1.5 e/s.  There's also about 42.5% global recharge, putting a lot of attacks over 100% recharge.

 

For Hybrid, I was leaning towards core so I could get more upfront regeneration and resistance, although the taunt aura is very attractive.  I did slot a taunt IO into Rise to the Challenge though and Taunt is four slotted with Mocking Beratement so that it's more potent and it comes off of cooldown every 4.5 seconds or so.  Would have be enough?

 

As for the rest, I'll go with what you've suggested.  Those were sound reasons.

[Johnnykat]

In regards to seeing character with a "+" symbol after the level 50. How do you get the "+" symbol to show up, I have multiple Vets and none of them show the "+" symbol. I even ran the Ramiel OB arc, thinking it would unlock the "+" ...I've searched the forums and old wikis and no luck either. Can anyone here help explain how (and does it even matter) to show the "+" symbol for any game content like Incarnate Trials, etc?

 

Thank you in advance!

[LKMarleigh]

In regards to seeing character with a "+" symbol after the level 50. How do you get the "+" symbol to show up, I have multiple Vets and none of them show the "+" symbol. I even ran the Ramiel OB arc, thinking it would unlock the "+" ...I've searched the forums and old wikis and no luck either. Can anyone here help explain how (and does it even matter) to show the "+" symbol for any game content like Incarnate Trials, etc?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

I think you are talking about the level shifts? You get a level for some of the tier3 and 4 incarnate abilities, so you need to craft the abilities and equip them

[Impact]

I have a Tier 2 alpha slot that I'd like to upgrade to Tier 3.  It looks like I'll need shards, not threads, to craft some of the components.  Threads I know how to find, but information on shards is pretty sketchy.  Are they just random and unlikely drops?  Are there other ways to obtain them?

[Adeon Hawkwood]

For Hybrid, I was leaning towards core so I could get more upfront regeneration and resistance, although the taunt aura is very attractive.  I did slot a taunt IO into Rise to the Challenge though and Taunt is four slotted with Mocking Beratement so that it's more potent and it comes off of cooldown every 4.5 seconds or so.  Would have be enough?

If you've got taunt slotted up then you're probably fine. Putting a taunt IO in Rise to the Challenge isn't that useful though. The problem is (and the reason I say Willpower can have trouble with taunt) is that Rise has a REALLY short Taunt duration (1.25 seconds) compared to other Taunt auras (which are more like 17 seconds) so if an enemy leaves your immediate vicinity the Taunt effect wears off almost immediately. As a side effect slotting Rise of Taunt isn't actually that useful, it's got such a small baseline that the increased effect won't really matter (you go form 1.25 seconds to 1.78 seconds).

 

So having Taunt slotted up well is going to be more useful than slotting Rise.

[wheresmycow]

If you've got taunt slotted up then you're probably fine. Putting a taunt IO in Rise to the Challenge isn't that useful though. The problem is (and the reason I say Willpower can have trouble with taunt) is that Rise has a REALLY short Taunt duration (1.25 seconds) compared to other Taunt auras (which are more like 17 seconds) so if an enemy leaves your immediate vicinity the Taunt effect wears off almost immediately. As a side effect slotting Rise of Taunt isn't actually that useful, it's got such a small baseline that the increased effect won't really matter (you go form 1.25 seconds to 1.78 seconds).

 

So having Taunt slotted up well is going to be more useful than slotting Rise.

Ah, gotcha.  Well then, removing that taunt IO then and putting the final piece in for Rise.

[LKMarleigh]

I have a Tier 2 alpha slot that I'd like to upgrade to Tier 3.  It looks like I'll need shards, not threads, to craft some of the components.  Threads I know how to find, but information on shards is pretty sketchy.  Are they just random and unlikely drops?  Are there other ways to obtain them?

 

Scroll further down, every alpha slot is craftable with threads, shard are only useful for using the once a day recipe to turn them into threads

[Impact]

Many thanks, that helps!

 

A different question:  I am totally confused by Lore pets.  Some folks in help chat say that some of them have various special abilities like -Regen, other people say that those were removed and no longer apply.  Some say this or that pick is way better at DPS, but others say they're balanced and the differences (again) were removed.

 

Anyone know the truth?

[Rylas]

I have a Tier 2 alpha slot that I'd like to upgrade to Tier 3.  It looks like I'll need shards, not threads, to craft some of the components.  Threads I know how to find, but information on shards is pretty sketchy.  Are they just random and unlikely drops?  Are there other ways to obtain them?

 

Scroll further down, every alpha slot is craftable with threads, shard are only useful for using the once a day recipe to turn them into threads

 

I'm not finding where threads can create some of the higher tier Alpha components. The Tier 2 Musculature I want to craft requires an Infinite Tessellation. Which requires a Dimensional Keystone. Both require shards to be crafted. Is there somewhere I'm not looking that allows threads to create these items?

[LKMarleigh]

I have a Tier 2 alpha slot that I'd like to upgrade to Tier 3.  It looks like I'll need shards, not threads, to craft some of the components.  Threads I know how to find, but information on shards is pretty sketchy.  Are they just random and unlikely drops?  Are there other ways to obtain them?

 

 

 

 

I'm not finding where threads can create some of the higher tier Alpha components. The Tier 2 Musculature I want to craft requires an Infinite Tessellation. Which requires a Dimensional Keystone. Both require shards to be crafted. Is there somewhere I'm not looking that allows threads to create these items?

 

 

You are looking at the wrong recipes, scroll past the recipes that require shard ingredients to the recipes that require thread ingredients

 

[tricon]

I have now my first lvl 50 with every Tier 3. Needed only 6 veteran lvls for it, thanks to all the rewards from the stories.

 

My process was after reaching lvl 50 to go through all the Signature Story Arcs. Each chapter of Who Will Die and Pandora's Box will reward you with 10 threads as a option the first time you play through it:  https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Signature_Story_Arc

 

After that I played through all the Dark Astoria Story arcs up until you need to run a taskforce. Got a bit lucky with some of the rewards because I ended up with 2 very rare for T4 components as rewards for some of the story arcs, most of the others are

uncommon.

 

Overall a painless process that makes it easier to go with alts through it compared to how many times I needed to run on the old live servers through the incarnates trials.

 

[Cinnder]

Thanks so much for this guide!  I wouldn't have understood this new system of veteran levels without it.

 

...

• It would therefore seem to make common sense to concentrate on getting all of your abilities to tier 3
  
• try to avoid the temptation of crafting a tier 4 before all of your slots are unlocked
  

...

 

Can you explain these two points please?  I'd like to understand why you make each of these suggestions.

 

 

At level 50 after you do the Mender Ramiel arc you get Captain Nolan as a contact, he gives you a short non combat arc which leads you to Dark Astoria, and the first story arc there with Heather Townsend which rewards you with an incarnate crafting mat (its been an uncommon every time I've done it) which means you can get your Alpha to tier 2 as soon as you hit vet level 1, she leads to another story arc with Mu'Vorkan (more crafting mats) an repeatable missions with Ephram Sha which give you 10 threads for the first completion every 20 hours. Well worth doing those to accelerate the incarnate process

 

Note that all the old repeatable solo DA arcs are available, continuing from Mu'Vorkan all the way through to the finale.  However, while you can choose threads or merits at the end of each arc, there is no longer a reward for completing the whole story.

 

After that I played through all the Dark Astoria Story arcs up until you need to run a taskforce.

 

Where did you get a task force contact, and is that new?  I ran through the entire Incarnate DA story solo over the past couple days and didn't encounter anything I couldn't complete on my own.  Not that it was always easy... :-)

 

[tricon]

[...]

 

Where did you get a task force contact, and is that new?  I ran through the entire Incarnate DA story solo over the past couple days and didn't encounter anything I couldn't complete on my own.  Not that it was always easy... :-)

 

After you finish your epic battle with Mot you can call again the Dream Doctor. He has a personal story for ya like the others and

then you can do the first intro mission and that leads to the incarnate trial: https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Dilemma_Diabolique_Trial  a guide is here: http://web.archive.org/web/20121003093304/http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/game_updates/issue_22/dilemma_diabolique_strategy_guide.php

[Cinnder]

[...]

 

Where did you get a task force contact, and is that new?  I ran through the entire Incarnate DA story solo over the past couple days and didn't encounter anything I couldn't complete on my own.  Not that it was always easy... :-)

 

After you finish your epic battle with Mot you can call again the Dream Doctor. He has a personal story for ya like the others and

then you can do the first intro mission and that leads to the incarnate trial: https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Dilemma_Diabolique_Trial  a guide is here: http://web.archive.org/web/20121003093304/http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/game_updates/issue_22/dilemma_diabolique_strategy_guide.php

 

Thanks!  I never knew there was any sort of contact-based intro for that.  Back in the day I think I must have just done it via the LFT window.

[LKMarleigh]

Thanks so much for this guide!  I wouldn't have understood this new system of veteran levels without it.

 

...

• It would therefore seem to make common sense to concentrate on getting all of your abilities to tier 3
  
• try to avoid the temptation of crafting a tier 4 before all of your slots are unlocked
  

...

 

Can you explain these two points please?  I'd like to understand why you make each of these suggestions.

 

 

A tier 4 costs more than double a tier 3, as you have to craft a tier 3 and then the tier 4 which requires a very rare. After incarnate level 11 you get no more threads for levelling, but do get merits, merits are used to craft the rare/very rare components

 

initially you are thread rich but merit starved, threads are the main component required in crafting up to tier 3

[Cinnder]

A tier 4 costs more than double a tier 3, as you have to craft a tier 3 and then the tier 4 which requires a very rare. After incarnate level 11 you get no more threads for levelling, but do get merits, merits are used to craft the rare/very rare components

 

initially you are thread rich but merit starved, threads are the main component required in crafting up to tier 3

 

So, use threads to get all my Tier 3s and save merits for the 4s.  I get it now.  Thanks very much.