empyrean merits: save OR spend

[wjrasmussen]

Just hit 50 the other day, now up to veteran level 2.  Should I save or spend empyrean merits?

[Kismette]

Go for the Incarnate Thread and Empyrean route to craft Incarnate Abilities and spend them on rare and/or very rare Incarnate components.

[drbuzzard]

As Kismette said, they should be saved for rare and very rare incarnate salvage. The cost to craft those from threads (and influence) is astronomical.

[golstat2003]

With that said after you have gone as far as you want in the Incarnate path, nothing wrong with converting them into Reward Merits and then those Reward Merits into enhancement converters and making some money, err inf on the market. It's what I do after I'm Tier 4'd out on my Incarnates. 🙂 

Edited December 16, 2020 by golstat2003

[wjrasmussen]

4 hours ago, Kismette said:

Go for the Incarnate Thread and Empyrean route to craft Incarnate Abilities and spend them on rare and/or very rare Incarnate components.

That was my gut feeling but you never know. 

[wjrasmussen]

That brings up another thing.   In alpha, I have Muscular core level 2 done.  Now I had just unlocked judgement and interface.  

 

Should I get the first tiers on judgement and interface now or wait until I got alpha to tier 3?

[GuardianSaint]

I would push the Alpha to tier 3 as that grants a +1 level shift when doing high level content.

[srmalloy]

If you already have a tier 2 Alpha, do a WST to get a Notice of the Well; that with 8 shards worth of components will get you your tier 3 alpha, saving the threads for your Judgment and Interface slots -- shards can only be used for your Alpha boost, so if you can save your threads for the others, it works out better.

[drbuzzard]

My order for incarnates is:

Alpha to tier 3 stat

Lore to tier 3 when opened, followed when you can by Destiny.

Judgement and interface can sit, and maybe get to tier 1 or 2 if you have spare stuff lying around after Lore and Destiny.

Hybrid I'll usually get to higher tier before judgement or interface.

 

Here's my logic:

Tier 3 alpha is a universal level shift so that is a huge deal. Also if you've picked carefully, it should have a notable effect on your performance all the time.

Lore tier 3 is  both a level shift and extremely valuable in the BAF trial, which is the most commonly run one on Excelsior at least. Catering to what will get you more incarnate salvage just seems prudent to me.

Destiny tier 3 is another level shift, and can be important in some builds.

Hybrid can be a pretty damned important tool, and the passives aren't really bad.

Judgement is an OK nuke on a 2 minute timer- Meh (lots of targets and generally flashy, but every 2 minutes? Ok, not a bad thing, but no game changer)

Interface: The DoT is nice, and a few of the other effects are OK, but often are traps (reactive, I'm looking at you).

[wjrasmussen]

51 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

If you already have a tier 2 Alpha, do a WST to get a Notice of the Well; that with 8 shards worth of components will get you your tier 3 alpha, saving the threads for your Judgment and Interface slots -- shards can only be used for your Alpha boost, so if you can save your threads for the others, it works out better.

what is WST?

[SuperPlyx]

WST = Weekly Strike Target , it is the task force or strike force that has been selected for that week. It will give double merits as well as a Notice of the well the first time it is run by a character.

There is normally 2 or 3 different ones each week. I thought there was a list on the forum of what the current list is but I can't seem to find it.

[Heraclea]

Eventually I will get all my chosen incarnate powers to t4 on my most played 50s.  At this point empyrean merits get hoarded.  When you collect 50 of them, you can turn them into a Transcendent merit.  These go in emails to myself.  This way every fresh level 50 can collect a Transcendent merit and turn it back into 50 Empyrean merits.  This will be enough to get their Alpha, Lore, and Destiny built up to t3 immediately upon unlocking.  After those, the rest of the system can wait and will be upgraded in the fullness of time if I like the character well enough. 

[roleki]

I'm a weirdo, but as soon as I get 12 Shards, I roll up my T1 Alpha with those useless things, then T3 when I hit enough Emps, either through content or hitting VL3.

 

I never convert emps to threads, because threads are easy to get, while emps are kind of a pain to accumulate.  I would rather exercise a little patience than run short of emps when I am crafting 2nd or 3rd slot choices once my first choices are T4'd.  

 

As for the order I slot Incarnates, I go Alpha, Destiny, Judgment, Hybrid, Lore, Interface.  Destiny is second because it is usually very important to the build, and Judgment after that because that helps me earn Catalysts that much faster; everything beyond that is kind of fluff.

Edited December 20, 2020 by roleki
Somehow channeled my Mom's typing skills there

[Snarky]

only use empyreans for VR or Rare.  period.  my opinion of course.  ONLY VR OR RARE.

 

All else falls naturally into place by running the 50, threads make commons, generally you get overloaded in uncommons and can downgrade those to commons toward end of T3-T4 work

[wjrasmussen]

Now I have to find a way to get into WST

[Sakai]

3 hours ago, wjrasmussen said:

Now I have to find a way to get into WST

Just watch the LFG channel. Adverts all the time. 

[wjrasmussen]

1 hour ago, Sakai said:

Just watch the LFG channel. Adverts all the time. 

Thanks.  Got my +1 tonight!!!

[KC4800]

I convert 95% Empy Merits into Rare or VR components, but will sometimes convert 1 or 2 into threads when I need common components and Ive run out. Also I check to see if I have enough Shards to convert into threads, sometimes I can do that and then I wont have to waste an Empy Merit. Last resort and all.

[GuardianSaint]

For characters that are stealthy and solo with relative east, the Burden of the Past arc from Heather Tonwsend is a 4 mission arc available via Ouroboros to 50s that can be run in about 12 minutes with a little practice.  You can choose to get a random incarnate salvage drop at the end, and you will get an emp merit as well.  I've had a character with full level 4 incaranates across the board by vet level 8 or 9 spamming that arc.  There is a guide to running it somewhere in these forums, and it makes it simple.