Farming Incarnate Salvage - 1 salvage roll every 15 minutes!

[Oklahoman]

I was in a Rikti mothership raid last night, and a couple of players bailed because someone else was running a BAF and they "needed the iSalvage." I shared this tip with them and they were surprised, so I thought I would share it with you here, as well.

 

You can repeat the Heather Townshend arc (Burden of the Past) in Dark Astoria multiple times, and each time choose an incarnate component at the end as a reward. It says you have to wait 20 hours before selecting it again, but much like the Summer Blockbuster Double Feature, this is not true. You can run the arc again and pick up another component at the end. It's a roll, of course, so you're more likely to get common than uncommon, etc. But you can and will get rare and even very rare drops from this arc.

 

And, you can probably solo it in about 15 minutes (or less) once you get the hang of speeding through it. Keep in mind this is all about the salvage, not getting XP or threads. Mothership raids can get you those if you're trying to do this quickly. And, honestly - don't do it quickly if you've never done it before. No telling how long we'll have COH this time, so enjoy all the arcs you can first.

 

There are 4 missions to the Heather Townshend arc, and here is how you can speed through them. You can go to Oro and use any of the pillars to start the arc, then click again on the pillar to get transported to the contact. You can also run these from your base if you place a Pillar of Ice and Flame there.

• Mission 1
  
  • If you teleported here, turn around 180 degrees and go to the mission. It's a cave. Talk to Sigil and click through the dialog until she runs away.
    
  • Zip through the winding caves ignoring everyone until you find the spot marked on the map. There will be a cowering character here surrounded by lots of bodies. Click on her and zip through the dialog. She'll get eaten by something from Super Mario, then zip through to the next point on the map.
    
  • You'll finally arrive at an angel looking character - the Knives of Vengeance assassin. Ignore anyone else here, just blow her up as quickly as you can and exit the mission.
    

  [*]Mission 2

  • You'll need to talk to Heather, but it's on your way to the next mission anyway. Just click through the dialog and move on.
    
  • This one takes place is an abandoned office. First off, you're looking for 3 Knives of Vengeance assassins. There will be 4 total in the mission - you can ignore the one at the end of a hallway interrogating someone. The rest are randomly scattered, but you'll learn where they appear. You will have at least 1 and maybe 2 on the first level, and at least 1 on the second level of the building. Find them, blow them up along with the other NPCs with them to collect the 3 clues you need.
    
  • All you need to do now is find Sigil and Kadabra on the very bottom level of the building. They're having a domestic dispute, so let them sort that out. If you are a MM, you can set your pets to GOTO a spot directly behind Kadabra, about halfway to the wall, and set them to aggressive during this time.
    
  • After they finish their argument and other knives come in and go, you'll have 2 waves of bad guys come at you. If you are a MM and you placed your pets as I described, they will be all over it. Otherwise, kill off the waves as quickly as you can and go talk to Sigil again to exit the mission.
    

  [*]Mission 3

  • If you are savvy, you can fly to where you know the next mission will take place and hit R as you go, then quickly call Heather to get the mission assignment. Otherwise, just call Heather, get the mission, and head out.
    
  • First, endure the little argument all these guys have, then talk to Hua Tov. Tell him you're an incarnate, and that he should bring it on, and blow him off the face of the map. Head to the doors behind him.
    
  • There are 3 items to touch, and a Ancestral Warden and company to defeat. The 3 items are randomly placed on the map, but you quickly learn where they probably are. There is ALWAYS at least one at the very end of the map. There could be 1 or 2 at the intersection as you come in - if there are two at the intersection, ignore the hallway to your left and fly straight to the end of the map. Otherwise, 1 or 2 may be in the hallway to your left. Blow up whoever you need to so you can awkwardly touch the glowies without interruption.
    
  • At the end of the map you'll find the Ancestral Warden and at least a couple of henchmen. Blow them all up. If you need the final glowie just fly around this area till you find it. Exit the mission.
    

  [*]Mission 4

  • You can call Heather and head to this mission, which is very close to the mission you just left.
    
  • Ignore everything and fly to the very end of the map. If memory serves, at the rooms you will go RIGHT, RIGHT, fly up the stairs and zip along the wall until you find the tunnel, LEFT, the STRAIGHT and STRAIGHT again. You'll learn the map with repetition, especially as you identify some wayfinding points to help you remember. You should end up in a room with Sigil, Kadabra, and a lot of Knives of Vengeance. If you are a MM, position your pets in the middle of the circle of Knives before you talk to Tempest.
    
  • I always select that both are not dying today, but I don't know if the others would provide a speedier end to the mission. This fight for my level shifted incarnate MM literally takes about 5 seconds, but expect it to be tougher if you are just getting started as an incarnate.
    

 

Talk to Sigil and then you're golden. You should get your time for the Oro run, and as a +3 level shifted MM I can consistently do the run in 15 minutes. I think my record is 12 minutes and change. Expect it to take longer when you are starting out and improve as you learn the maps and become more powerful.

 

As I said, select the incarnate salvage component (I hope you get Very Rares each time!), talk to Heather to close out the arc and get an SO as a reward, then repeat. The text will say you can select the incarnate salvage only once every 20 hours, but that's not true - just run the arc again and you can select this again, and again, and again.

 

I haven't tried it with a group to see if it goes faster. And, of course, certain builds will manage it better than others, but pre-shutdown I would routinely run this every morning with my Empath Defender and finish in the same amount of time once level shifted. I've found Ion Judgement settles a lot of arguments. :)

 

Have fun out there! Hope this helps.

 

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Heather_Townshend

 

NEW!

- Video proof of me running this in 15:30 with an Empathy Defender and a couple of Mapserver errors!

 

[Fedifensor]

I was able to finish this in 13:56 with only an Alpha slot unlocked.  I wanted to share a few additional tips:

* Being invisible to foes is invaluable.  I have Super Speed and a +Stealth IO, and that allowed me to ignore virtually all foes except the ones required for the mission.

* The Reveal prestige power is cheap (I believe 10k from the P2W vendor), and it makes navigating the maps much easier.

* AoE powers also help.  I'm playing a Fire/Fire/Fire Sentinel, so I just hit Aim, Inferno, Fire Sword Circle, and Fire Ball when I needed to take out a group.  Inferno recycles in 40 seconds for me, so it would usually be up again when I got to the next fight.

* The final fight can be a bit rough if you haven't pre-buffed.  I used a Defense inspiration and the Backup Radio power before the fight, and that worked well.

 

Once done, I can run to the Base Portal, use the Portal of Ice and Fire in the base, and start the process all over again.

 

[nihilii]

Great guide!

 

For teams who haven't done the arc at all before, it's worth noting anyone who's in the finale gets a reward roll.

 

That is to say, if you have 8 players... You can start the DA arc together. Autocomplete the first 3 missions. Then turn off autocomplete at the end. And run each's person finale, back to back.

[Edit: used the wrong word here, I meant the "collaborative mission" complete. Not the autocomplete that lets you skip a mission every 3 days. Sorry!]
 

16 components for every team member (8 rolls + the common/uncommon that drops naturally), and 8 empyrean merits which is worth a rare in itself, in about 40 minutes. Beats running Apex + Tin Mage!

 

Edited August 21, 2019 by nihilii

[Robotech_Master]

Did this with five other people who hadn't done the mission yet.

 

We had autocomplete set to "always ask," but it didn't even bother asking us at the end of the last mission, it just acted as if it was turned off and only completed the mission of the one running it.

 

(Highlights included the mission owner on one run "accidentally" choosing to tell them to kill the hostages rather than saving them both ("Oops!"), and we then had to fight a monster and some mobs that showed up to kill them. But we still got the Incarnate component choice at the end.)

 

I only got 3 Commons and 3 Uncommons out of it, though. Meh. :P

[Razia]

Not sure if I understood your guide correctly, but this doesn't work for me. She isn't in my contact list anymore (I already finished her arc) so I walked up to her but I can't do any Mission for her. What am I doing wrong?

[subbacultchas]

Not sure if I understood your guide correctly, but this doesn't work for me. She isn't in my contact list anymore (I already finished her arc) so I walked up to her but I can't do any Mission for her. What am I doing wrong?

Once you finish her arc, to do it again you'll have to do it in Oro.

[Razia]

Oh man, I am so stupid. Could've thought about this myself. Thanks!

[subbacultchas]

Nah, you're good Razia. Everybody missed something obvious every now and again, and there are rarely any truly dumb questions.

 

However, those rare ones stand out. Once had a lady ask if her being pregnant was going to set off our security alarms.

[SchnauzerXL]

Thank you for the information.  I have used it and shown it to a few people.

[chigiabelo]

I noticed that it doesn't really matter if you save the 2 at the end or not. If you fail to kill the Knives, you get the reward anyway.

 

[Garble]

For mission #2, make sure you kill the Winged characters AND anyone near them.

 

I wound up redoubling the map a few times because I didn't spot one of them the first time.

[MerryMayhem]

I am still unlocking my slots so I need experience so I am running these fighting everything I encounter on my way to objectives at +4. Even without stealthing / speedrunning, I can do this storyarc in around 35 minutes.

 

[HelenCarnate]

Wow.  I thought this was going to be one of those where someone claims 15 min and it takes twice that.  I burned through in 10 on my brute once I got the missions down.  I have been starting my own collection of lore pets now thanks to this.

[tunch]

I just did my first run.

 

Selected both lives, failed and died in encounter. Gone to hospital and voila, had my incarnte salvage thing at the hospital ^^

 

I think if we let them both die, there wont be a fight and mission completes but I have to check it when I run this again

[Oklahoman]

Thanks for the additional suggestions!

 

I added a video to the original post showing me solo it in 15:30 with an Empathy Defender, distractions, and a couple mapserver issues. Hope it is helpful!

[AboveTheChemist]

I've run this 3 times now on an Ice/Empathy controller, and usually finish right around 20 minutes with just a stealth IO for stealth and without trying overly hard to speed run it. Plus I haven't quite memorized every map just yet. I failed at saving them both the first time, but the other two times I have been able to save them no problem. Pre-buffing my pet is the key I think. I also just peacefully negotiate with Hua to save a little time having to fight him.

[Mjolnerd]

I think if we let them both die, there wont be a fight and mission completes but I have to check it when I run this again

There's still a (smaller?) wave of Banished Pantheon ranting about the "overwhelming weight of your sins" or somesuch. A pretty straightforward fight, but a fight nonetheless.

[HelenCarnate]

I've run this 3 times now on an Ice/Empathy controller, and usually finish right around 20 minutes with just a stealth IO for stealth and without trying overly hard to speed run it. Plus I haven't quite memorized every map just yet. I failed at saving them both the first time, but the other two times I have been able to save them no problem. Pre-buffing my pet is the key I think. I also just peacefully negotiate with Hua to save a little time having to fight him.

 

The cave map is random. I use the reveal power from the p2w vendor on that one and makes it much easier. I just have to remember to talk to the guy at the door first. I'm really good at forgetting that step.

[chigiabelo]

I've run this 3 times now on an Ice/Empathy controller, and usually finish right around 20 minutes with just a stealth IO for stealth and without trying overly hard to speed run it. Plus I haven't quite memorized every map just yet. I failed at saving them both the first time, but the other two times I have been able to save them no problem. Pre-buffing my pet is the key I think. I also just peacefully negotiate with Hua to save a little time having to fight him.

 

The first time I played that mission before shutdown was with my defender and he was not terribly well built. I did find that pulling the first couple of them and killing them quickly was the key for me.

[Vanden]

I've run this 3 times now on an Ice/Empathy controller, and usually finish right around 20 minutes with just a stealth IO for stealth and without trying overly hard to speed run it. Plus I haven't quite memorized every map just yet. I failed at saving them both the first time, but the other two times I have been able to save them no problem. Pre-buffing my pet is the key I think. I also just peacefully negotiate with Hua to save a little time having to fight him.

 

The cave map is random. I use the reveal power from the p2w vendor on that one and makes it much easier. I just have to remember to talk to the guy at the door first. I'm really good at forgetting that step.

 

I'm getting better at this! I'm down to two super jumps into the cave before I remember I have to talk to Sigil at the entrance.

[Ukase]

I'm a bit confused about how you auto-complete three of these 4 missions. I can only auto-complete 1 every 3 days..

[Display Name]

With the proper dialogue choices, you don't have to fight the Tsoo Hau Tov in the third mission.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Display Name

[plainguy]

16 hours ago, Ukase said:

I'm a bit confused about how you auto-complete three of these 4 missions. I can only auto-complete 1 every 3 days..

 

Trying slightly to grasp the auto complete as well.

 

But I think everyone on the team HAS TO HAVE this mission. 

Then you auto complete the first.

Then its completed for everyone.

Pass lead to someone else.

They auto complete the 2nd mission

Pass the lead to 3rd person 

They auto complete the 3rd mission.

 

Now you have to turn off the option that says complete missions if you happen to have the same mission as well..

You then run the last mission 8 times or whatever the number of players are on the team.

Everyone gets the reward  for each person. 

 

 

 

 

[SlimPickens]

On 7/9/2019 at 4:53 PM, Robotech_Master said:

Did this with five other people who hadn't done the mission yet.

 

We had autocomplete set to "always ask," but it didn't even bother asking us at the end of the last mission, it just acted as if it was turned off and only completed the mission of the one running it.

 

(Highlights included the mission owner on one run "accidentally" choosing to tell them to kill the hostages rather than saving them both ("Oops!"), and we then had to fight a monster and some mobs that showed up to kill them. But we still got the Incarnate component choice at the end.)

 

I only got 3 Commons and 3 Uncommons out of it, though. Meh. 😛

I missed this post when you first made it.

 

The person who may or may not have "accidentally" chose to kill them may or may not have been me.

 

 

Got this run down to 10-12 mins depending on what character I use now, I rarely even run incarnate trials anymore because of how effective this mission is in getting salvage instead.

[Oklahoman]

18 hours ago, Display Name said:

With the proper dialogue choices, you don't have to fight the Tsoo Hau Tov in the third mission.

I’ve found that if you kill Hau, then at the very end allow Sigil and Kadabra to die, you get an easier fight against a Ravager and a couple of wimps. But you get to the fight quicker if you select neither will die today. So if you’re not finishing as fast as you like maybe try that. 

 

But, yes, you can skip Hua but I think that changes the last fight.