Congratulations on surviving the struggles of reaching security level 50! ....Now what? Now you get to become an incarnate!! When you train to lvl 50, you'll get a pop up that Mender Ramiel wants to see you. His short arc can be challenging for some, so don't be afraid to ask in coalition if you need help and remember to drop your difficulty to +0x1 (or even -1x1 for some ATs)
Now you have your Alpha slot unlocked, what now? Now you get to fill it!! Click Powers -> Incarnate Abilities and try not to panic. The first tab is the Equip tab, this shows your progress on unlocking other incarnate slots and what powers you currently have equipped. The Create tab shows you the list of all the incarnate abilities currently available in the game and the Convert tab is where you go to get the incarnate components (salvage) you need to craft your powers!
Your Alpha is all you have unlocked, so let's focus there. Alpha is the most confusing because you can craft the power with 2 types of base salvage: incarnate shards or incarnate threads. Overall, threads are easier to get than shards. A lvl 50 Task Forces can drop shards, but they may not be prolific. Personally, I shun shards in favor of threads. 10 shards + 1,000,000 inf = 10 threads every 20 hours.
So how do you get Threads? Incarnate trials and incarnate missions!! Remember all those people that wanted to talk to you right after you got your lvl 50 security clearance? One of them was Captain Nolan in Peregrine Island (PI). Go see him! He's the start for the Dark Astoria (DA) mission arcs. He sends you off to investigate some murders; most of these are solo missions, so just run through them. Once you've been sent to talk to Heather Townshed, you've officially unlocked the start of the DA arcs and can invite other VIP members to join you for some fun! Incarnate threads drop from these missions and when you finish a contact's arc, you get a Reward Menu. I recommend taking Incarnate Components. Common components cost 20 threads, and you may get to chose uncommon, rare or very rare! The thread reward is only 10 threads. The other rewards are for under lvl 50 people that joined you.
The other (and slightly faster) method of getting threads is incarnate trials. If you're a fresh 50, I suggest Behavioral Adjustment Facility (BAF). You can probably survive in Lam, Keyes or TPN as well. I'd stay away from DD, MoM or UG until you're at least +1 or higher! Magi isn't even an option until you've unlocked all your other incarnate slots. At the end of each incarnate trial, you'll receive a piece of incarnate salvage from one of the rarity levels.
Now you have some threads, a few pieces of salvage and an empty Alpha slot. Time to craft! Common components cost 20 threads each and you need 3 pieces of common salvage to craft the tier 1 Alpha power. Take some time to look through each Alpha power, look at the top of the tree (tier 4) to get a good idea what the power can eventually become. You can only slot one side of the tree, so make your choice count! It takes some work to reach tier 4 (some people get to tier 3 and call it good enough -cough-Slackers-cough-)
I'm not going to go through what each Alpha power can do, that's your homework. For this tutorial, we're going to just use "Resilient" as our power. (Not a good choice for most toons, read it and you'll see why!) Click the icon on the very bottom (T1) and you'll see a list to the right. You can use EITHER of these recipes to craft this power. The top is always components gotten with shards, the bottom is thread. (Remember, Alpha is the ONLY slot that utilizes shards, all other slots are thread only.) Since I'm slightly anti-shard, we'll look at the thread recipe.
For Resilient, we need 1 Biomorphic Goo, 1 Arcane Cantrip and 1 Meditation Techniques. If you haven't been lucky enough to get these as reward choices in your iTrials/iMissions, click on the Convert tab! (You'll want to research which powers you want BEFORE running trials/missions so you know what salvage to take from reward menus. Or you can just go POTLUCK! and randomly pick, your choice!) Now click on Incarnate Thread for another menu to appear, and finally on Common. Now, find the items we listed below and purchase the ones you don'g own for 20 threads each. Back to the Create tab! Now when you click on the bottom icon, you have the option to create the power. Click eet!! Now move to the Equip tab and click on the Alpha box. Look! over to the right is the power you just created! Right click and equip it! Congratulations, you can now do Apex and Tin Mage TF without being nerfed!
But T1 power isn't enough for you! How do you become stronger! Well, back to the Create tab and Resilient. Now click the 2nd level up. Notice that you have 2 choices. Decide which is right for you and look at the recipe list. Notice that there's a 4th item required? [Resilient Boost]? That's your T1 power. Yup, to upgrade to a higher power, you have to sacrifice your lower power. Back to the Convert tab, buy the components you may need and craft away! (One of those components will be an Uncommon item, 60 threads each!) Remember to slot the upgraded power in the Equip tab!
T3 Alpha is the only power I consider using shards to craft. When you do the WST on a 50, you'll receive a Notice of the Well as a bonus reward. This means you can craft your T3 for 8 shards and your Notice. T3 Alpha is also where you receive your level shift to +1.
T4 requires a bit more work. Notice the recipe list is really, really long and lists 2 powers in the [power] brackets? Yup, you have to craft 2 T3 level powers to make your T4. The second T3 doesn't matter, just start at the bottom and craft your way up to a DIFFERENT T3. You have to have 2 of the 4 T3 powers to craft your T4 powers, doesn't matter which two. You don't get an additional level shift for T4, just a stronger power, this is why some choose to stop at T3, T4 requires some time and diligence.
As you unlock your other incarnate slots, look at the create tab and decide which powers work best with your powersets and play style. Remember, there are no RIGHT answers to which power to take (there are a few wrong ones however, so do your research.) Currently, 3 of the incarnate powers are passively on (Alpha, Interface, Destiny) and 3 require a power on your bar to activate (Judgement, Lore, Hybrid).
Hope this helps!
@Amethystt1
Feedback Followup
Missed a couple things in the first write up. When working on building your T4 power, you will have the T3 that is currently slotted and the 2nd power that your are building up so you can make the T4.
When you run incarnate trials you will receive Astral and Empyrean Merits. These can be used to purchase goodies in Ouroborus (and other places) or used on your incarnate stuff. Astral merits can be converted into thread and are fairly easy to come by, so I convert them in a pinch. Empyrean merits are rarer, so I horde them. They can be used on the Convert tab to purchase Rare or Very Rare components. Sometimes the Random Reward Table Gods hate you and this is the easiest way to get that last item you need!
When I lead trials, I prefer to have people let me know if this is there first time in a trial so I can give critical instructions. Some trials can be completed by following the crowd, but some need you to do the right thing at the right time. So please take a moment to /tell the league leader if you're new to a trial or aren't too familiar with it!
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I know this may get me labeled as a grammar nazi, but your title should be: