Question on Incarnate Trials

[Mansome]

I wanted to ask are there any cool downs on incarnate trials or diminishing returns? Like if you do it again before 20 hours is up? Also what is the most cost effective way to craft the incarnate powers? I been kind of cautious about creating these because how long it takes to get certain items. I get threads all day long but the shards are few and far between. I did notice that I can get these even when exemplared not just at level 50. Does this also apply to purple recipe drops too?

[Queen Nefertiti]

Trials have no cooldown. I've done a few back to back and never had a problem. As for crafting, craft away and don't worry about supplies. You don't need shards at all. I believe that's a legacy from the original way of crafting incarnate components. Nowadays you need threads and empyrian merits. Up to vet level 12 you get 20 emp merits every third ding and 120 threads on the other dings. After vet 12 you just get the merits every three dings until level 99. By vet 12 you should have everything slotted to at least tier three, if not tier 4. The only hard part is deciding which power to take, but it is usually pretty obvious with your power sets. Lore is probably the hardest to pick. Some people are worried about best pet for DPS, others pick it for character reasons, others pick because they just like the look of a particular set. One thing to be aware of, there are multiple recipes for each thing. Scroll down to find stuff easy to make. The top ones need hard to get supplies, the lower down ones are easy to get.

[Ukase]

There are a few more things to know, in particular, about shards vs. threads. 

Always check your shard inventory before you craft anything. Sometimes, these drop and you didn't realize it. So many people just ignore shards, considering them to drop too rarely to be of any use. I looked at my tank parked in the hive and found 37 shards had collected in the course of 2 weeks. (about 30 hami killings). 

There's a lot of good reasons to use threads for the alpha, of course. It's faster. By all means, use threads to go from an empty alpha to t-3. That gives you a level shift. In incarnate trials, you'll want that shift! But then...stop using threads for alpha. Focus on playing, and craft nothing until you're vet level 3, at least. 

Yes, you could craft and maybe go t-3 on judgement or even lore or destiny - but is that the right move? Suppose you did, and then you finish heather townsend's arc and get a rare reward table? Or an uncommon. Then you'll have used various threads to make the uncommon, and once you've crafted an enhancement, there's no breaking it down. Be patient. Let your threads accumulate a bit. At vet level 3, you'd have at least 240 threads and 20 emp merits, not including what dropped and various reward tables. With more ingredients on hand, the better choices you can make. You played for 50 levels without that judgement nuke. A vet level or two without it isn't going to kill you. 

Obviously, you do what's right for you, but I suggest you forgo judgement and interface until you have Lore and Destiny to tier 3 for those level shifts. 

 

While you have that first t-3 alpha crafted, you will get shards. If you do MSR's or a lot of rikti content, use those vg merits to get the Gr`ai Matter component. If not used in a recipe, they can be broken down into a shard. They add up! Why spend 100's of threads when you may already have the shards? 

And try to avoid breaking down emp merits for threads. Emp merits should really only be used for very rares, and maybe rares. Depends on how many reward tables you see. If you're doing multiple iTrials a day, you'll get your rares through those tables. The very rares are hard to come by, but if you do UGT - you'll get one or the other every time.