Upgrade Items

 The brief:

Delay upgrading your items until you are doing Nightmares and Distortions regularly to earn the resources you need.

Until then, assemble two gear sets in your P-Equipment screen from your found items:
1) DPS set high in [Main Damage] (or [Critical Chance] and [Damage to Elite]) and
2) Support/Tank set high in [Main Defense] (or [Protection from Elite] and [Protection from Control]) 

Research builds carefully first: even excellent players disagree as the best combinations of attributes.  Inspect other players' gear and read guides, then choose exactly what you want to make. You'll make new sets each invasion, so your decision is not permanent.  

To change a weapon secondary stats, get a new one and get lucky. When a weapon is old, you can modify the generation and increase the main numbers, but that will only change the numbers, not what it does.

The deets

 Upgrade current generation epic purple or yellow mythical gems and jewelry using Pure Matter, Marks, and tens of millions of credits.  The items are in the fourth tab of your B-Bag.  The upgrade interface is in your Bag tab for "Upgrade"

Step-by-step summary after you've decided what you need to make:
     1) First, gather resources, including Sparks, [Credits], [Pure Matter], high-integrity epic gems or jewelries, and Marks from running many Nightmares, Distortions and other sources listed in the Invasion Calendar. Upgrading items is expensive: a perfectly rolled item might cost 5 million credits or more if you're unlucky.  
    2) Second, open the upgrade window from your Bag. Select and upgrade a high-integrity epic gem or jewelry item to mythical status using [Credits] and [Pure Matter], or if you are lucky enough to pick up a mythical item, use that.  If the item already has some of your chosen attributes, even better.  Current generation items offer better superiority buffs, but older gen items are cheaper to upgrade.
    3) Third, use "Modification" to open a menu to change that item's qualities as you wish. Build guides elsewhere help you decide what you want.  The qualities you lock with a click get a solid box and will not change when you click [Modify] and the others will.  You have only a chance to get the quality(s) you want each time you modify ("roll") the item.  
     4) Fourth, fine tune the item using your Sparks of Simplicity (key stats), Morale (PvP buff), Frugality (saving credits, best when rolling only one or two qualities) and finally one Evolution (taking all qualities to maximum values).
     5) Fifth, when you need high superiority for a prize or the small buff it gives, upgrade your CURRENT GENERATION mythical items' integrity using Marks. Each type of item uses an unchangeable type or types of Mark to upgrade. The interface shows you what you must spend.
     6) Last, WEAR THE BEST, SELL THE REST.  Sell Sparks of Luck, Memory, and Perfection.  Sell excess Marks and Matter. Sell low rarity gems and jewelry. Sell older items you no longer need.
     7) Repeat this process each invasion as the current generation rises. You get faster as you master the interface and become familiar with the sets you want to wear.  Good luck

Elder Priorities

The briefing 

New elders:  Spend faith and/or make teams to:
do your daily directives and complete [Operations],

Keep earning and saving  [KoE] (save 2.6 million), [Credits] (save 80 million), [VM]s (wait for sales), [Argents] (wait for sales) and [Trophy Booster Stars]* to get boosts in rank and skills,

Earn and spend [Transform] for new classes, [Cognition] in Hall of Elders (in AELION Orbit starting with Mercy), [Eidoi] for Invasion Atlas, Start your Terra and Thea adventures to earn Ether (Terra skills) and Alerium-9 (Thea skills),

Finish your [Bastion quests] for all the symbols,

Your Hall of Travels with your [Divine Deeds].

To prepare for end-game content: ask strong players their schedule to do Ingar Tests, Distortions, the Invaded region "Cog Farm" quests, Trava, and Chava.  Join them whenever you can to earn then use Exoskeleton parts and pieces, Avatar Trophies, Cognition, and other valuable drops.

*Save your Trophy Booster stars til you have 57, then buy three or more cheap Might cards from Hall of Trophies, then pop all the Stars you saved,  That will unlock Trial ranks and then Nightmares. Then your game triples in size and complexity again.

Trial Rank Elders

Now upgrading your gear becomes worthwhile  as you gather current generation items from your trials and nightmares. Completing your [Invasion Atlas] and [Operation] daily becomes possible

Always relatively useless:  Story quests part 2 and 3. Hostile Territories.

The Deets:

Still true:

 Daily or more often, have fun, be a friend, and check and handle F9, 9, L, N, B,  Invasion Atlas, Y > RECENT,  K >ToK, >Cath, >ToD,  Shift K. Choose what incidents to run and gain prizes from: Panth events, Ops, Dirs (with Catch-up or good loot. Use God form on Groups. Stim grey dirs for better prizes). Look for and give /invites.

Cognition

The brief

 Spend [Cognition] in the Hall of Elders (in Orbit in the Capital) for permanent buffs. When you unlock your Elder, that's the only place you can spend it. "Cog" comes from Directive rewards, most invasion missions (Distortions, Training Avatar, Champion Avatar) and can be farmed in the Invaded Region.

"Cog Farming" the invaded region takes several strong players. New Elders can join. When Final Report bosses spawn, be near one, go god then elder god (do the "god" command twice, spending about 700 faith),  hit the thing, and survive til all are killed. Spend the resulting [Greater Divinity Development] points to fill the Aspect of Mercy tab first.

 The details: 

 During Cog Farm, players in an invaded region complete personal quests and two region-wide quests to build "resistance" to 100%, which causes four special bosses to spawn. If all four of those "Final Report" bosses are killed within a few minutes of spawning AND you damage one while in your elder aspect god form (alt-C after you are in divine form) AND you survive, you get a hefty cognition reward.  The new abilities you must use consume about 700 faith the first time you try. The resistance drops to zero and players can repeat the cycle.

Before you try cog farming in a new invaded region, go there and
 1) interact with all the map-marked NPC's fully
 2) visit all teleport points to unlock them
 3) find the allied Camps and enemy Bases that are named on the map  
 4) Find routes to each of them.
 5) Locate at least one of the four boss' spawn points and how to get there. They are NOT named on the map; their location is only shown when they spawn. 

You need three skills to cog farm:
  1) when the Invaded region says "Final Report" (happens when players compete regional "camps", "rituals", "missions" and raise the "RESISTANCE" to 100%), you need to be at a spawn point.
  2) When your opponent spawns, go god or be that already, then go elder, using the same command twice: the default is Alt-C for god then Alt-C again for elder. 
 3) left-click hit your opponent at least once quickly, often as you like, then
 4) stay alive until all of the Final Four are dead as the rest of the farmers kill them. If all that happens, you get the cognition and usually a pop-up confirming it. 

  Get verbal guidance with your first few cog farms using Discord voice chat. Pay attention to region chat and cog channel chat.  When leaders stay "stop", heed them.  While most of the farm is easy and obvious. the crucial 5 minutes of summons, traveling, assuming Elder form, boss spawning and slaying when everyone plays a part can be bewildering and expensive:  a complete 4 cycle hour cog farm session would cost  2630 faith before discounts.

   Anyone can start a Cog Farm anytime.  It demands coordination, strength and speed from at least two strong speedy players, easier with more. Players with invaded region for their directive can easily complete the directive during the farm:  camps, rituals, random bosses and cog bosses offer lots of resistance (30-50%) and directive (8-30%) progress.

  In NA server, OS runs Cog Farm on Tue and Fri at 5 Pacific time. Every elder god on the server is welcome to join them and the "Cog Farm channel" so you can see when farms happen. They use OS Discord https://discord.gg/nbMHsEpP voice chat rooms for verbal guidance.  Chat channels include sign up and duty assignments to ensure the complicated Farm happens smoothly. Cog Farm leaders (both in OS are named Pickle lately) coordinate three or four cycles in the course of the cog farm hour. Sometimes a season achievement needs rotation among assignment, we'll rotate you thru the forts to get it.

-------------------------------

When you gather enough cog, you gain a [] token.  Spend it right away in your K>Capital>Orbit>Halls of Elders.  First, fill all the spots in the Aspect of Mercy (middle green) tab.  The buffs there discount and lengthen your Elder form, those abilities, and a few buffs for support classes.  On completion, you gain 10 [] each week.

After Aspect of Mercy, then what to fill next depends on your main class type (if you have one) or scatter your coin for every-day buffs then fill the rest.

See also:  Elder God abilities

Chat Tut

 

CHAT CHANNELS Tutorial

 Short Version:  Navigate your chat channels using [Enter], [Up/Down Arrows],[Backspace], [Escape] and Y keys.  Accept and send chat and /invite in your channels with abbreviations accurately. Join the Aelinet channel.Have Fun!

 Long Version

 Choose your posting and reply channels these ways:
#1 Press [Enter] to open your chat hud reply feature and control where your chat goes using up/down arrows.
  #2 To reply to a personal chat directly, [backspace] forces the chat hud to reply to the last personal chat channel it saw.
  #3 If the chat target you want isn't there, escape from chat and use your Y chat screen selection menu on the left, using SEARCH or RECENT headings to find your recipient.  

 Players commonly get the same daily directives, especially in Party and Trial slots.   Ask your friendly channels "Is anyone interested in [your directive (s)]?  Chances are someone is and you can team up for more efficient play.  

Invites use abbreviations: "+3" means there are three open slots in the mission. "nm#" means it's a NightMare (locked for players below Trial rank) with the level 1-9 noted. "GC" stands for God Carry, when host will solo this and guests chase and nab drops.  "End" or "Free" or "F" means the mission is almost over: join to get the completion only. Other abbreviations stand for the mission name: HT= Hespilon Temple.  CA = Crashed Airship, OO = Operation Ophelia, etc

 Aelinet, a server wide chat channel, is good to have. It's much like Pantheon Arcanum chat, but multi-pantheon and reaches almost all the Elder and Junior Gods on the server. You can see and post /invite to missions are there regularly. When you see one you need, click it quickly before it fills or expires, and you will find yourself in a group doing that mission together. 

trick:  If you click an "exit" or "leave" button in SF, you can, with bad luck and no fault of your own, leave a chat channel. Instead, type /leave in any chat, which removes you from a battle team, but never a chat channel.

BTW,  

 Use the [Invite] button only when the recipient is expecting an invite from you, or you KNOW they will welcome it.  Otherwise, it's annoying spam and gets in their way.  

 F11 lets you leave an instance without completing it, and separates you from your battle team.

 To invite a person or chat room to your team, open any chat they can see, type /invite at the start of the line (or forward slash shareGroup. Once you start typing it will auto complete and you can just hit enter. Add a few words of what it is, like "OOnm4 gc + 4" and enter) Alternatively, you can right click any players name in the chat list and invite to group from there.

  F12 log off and on fixes many things easily, like Buggy game: like sound dropping out or items not appearing in your inventory.

time for bug report? (worked six times out of six for me) at https://support.my.games/sf_int

 

 

Dirs and Ops

 

The brief:

 Complete Directives and Operations daily if you can. See your Dirs via Shift-K > Aelion and your Op tapping Y > Operation. Quit a Op quickly if you can't win a prize, and try again. Your directive group missions completed Gold in Divine form give best Ops and Deeds rewards. You can't skip a Dir, but you can stim a dull one to Gold and get better prizes

Details:

You get new gold Directive missions and prizes daily, twice on Wednesday and Saturday. If you don't do a gold directive, another one is stacked on top of it, up to a depth of 7.  If it's 7 deep already, the new one pushes the oldest off the bottom. 

Prioritize for your best Directive prizes:
 [Followers] for Cathedral Might,
 [Scientific Development]  for ToK Might,
 [Trophy Booster] to HOARD for a [Hall Trophies] sale, and...
 [Divine Deeds] for your [Hall of Deeds]

Other valuable Directive prizes are:
 [Victory Medals] HOARD until a [Hall of Trophies] sale,
 [Premium Days] use on days when you game a lot,
 [Premium Boosters] click for extra daily prizes,
 [Argents] HOARD for legendary weapons and other must-have items on sale,
 [Sparks of Transform] HOARD for new classes, 
 large [Credit drops] and [Knowledge of Enemies] HOARD: spending them while you get catch up are mostly wasted, and you'll need millions later: . 

 Spend everything else as you wish, especially Followers, Scientific Development, Divine Deeds, Premium Boosters, Premium Days, Sparks of Transformation, and Construction Credits

DAILY DIRECTIVES

Start your missions with a team from Pantheon or Aelinet chat using /invite.  [Find a group] rarely works. Also, listen for the ping on your channels for chat and /invites for your best directives while you complete them and your ops.  There isn't a way to skip a Directive unless you're running Nightmare Distortions at near ranks. The reward under a meh Directive prize can be desirable and easy to get.

Completing any Squad, Group or Invasion quest enters you in a daily Operation to earn additional prizes in competition with other players. Your goal is to complete enough directive missions with or without help within four hours to fill your personal operations bar with op points, then fill the total bar, then out-perform everyone else in the Operation for high and highest point totals to earn additional prizes and qualify for a more difficult stage tomorrow with better prizes.  

  Anytime, the data in your Y>OPERATIONS>I(nformation) window shows if you have a current or previous OP.  If you're in an op, try to get you a high place in it. Using your divine form solo in gold Group directives is cheap and effective at securing a speedy completions, Divine Deeds, and your personal and total ops points bars fastest at low stages. If you're out of gold missions, use a Stimulant to promote your directive to Gold for more points and better prizes.  Hover your cursor over the up arrow to see what you can earn.

  Tactically, start your Ops when you have enough time and teammates to complete it and when there are few other players to compete with you.  Start with a short Invasion quest, like Sudden Attack, to find an op you can win.  Decline the op if an ally is in it, the timer is near completion, other players with high scores are in it, or you likely can't gain enough points to complete or win it in time. You'll be offered a new op when you do the next qualifying mission. 

   New empty ops are not available four hours before daily reset (midnight to 4am Pacific time).  All players get their op stage reset to the first one every two weeks.  Then, competition for op points and high placement on the board is fierce.  As days progress, it's easier and easier to win a top rank and you get the same prizes as the first day winners at each stage.

 Completing a you own directive gold group mission with an S rating by achieving all mission and extra goals gives you many ops points and prizes.  Junior Gods do not have the option to use Trial settings or Nightmare settings, which  scale up ops points and prizes, so Elder Gods and Trial Rank gods have an advantage in scoring points as stages rise.

  Each Operations stage requires more ops points than the last. At Rank 100, you peak at stage one or two.  A 350 Rank Elder will peak near stage 5.  Trial and Max Rank players should be able to complete ops daily with high scores in a solo op.  If you reach Stage 8 from Stage 6 or 7 without winning a 500 Argent prize, your first first-place win in Stage 8 gives you those 500 Argents. There is no stage 9: at "last day" stage 8, there is no competition, just cooperation to complete the total op.

 In need, you can play ANY Group mission at all for a fair amount of ops points, including your Bastion and Story quests.  Run Squad missions without divine form if you can, since they are easier and offer fewer ops points. Your Invasion directives offer the fewest ops points by far, and other invasion missions even less.
 A comprehensive list of all playable areas is available thru your Directives screen in the "Adventure List" icon in the lower left corner. Areas there are sorted by type with icons across the top of the window: three people shows Group missions, mountains show regions, and so on. 

What briefing next?  Chat Channels, Dirs and Ops, Adepts and Faith, Using Stars, or your Daily Priorities?

 

Junior Priorities

The brief:

   IMPORTANT:  Hoard the [Trophy Booster] Stars you earn in your bag. Stop spending KoE, Credits, Argents and Victor Medals for now.  Spending them now will cost you lots later. Ask a commander why and when it's wise to spend them, or see your Discord guides and channels and voice in your browser @ https://discord.gg/dmSQ7sY

 Daily [Directives] and personal [Operation] give Junior Gods the good to great rewards. Make teams and/or spend faith.  Solo, finish all your [Bastion] quests. Earn seasonal mounts. Story quests are less important. Ignore Thea, Terra, Hostile Territories, Distortions, Nightmares, and Cognition quests until you unlock your Elder God or a leader invites you personally to one. 

The deets:

This briefing starts with "Cultivate friends from everywhere." We expect and encourage new gods to let higher rank players assist with their directives - we know they are tough, and ALL of us got help from others.  Let us pay it forward for you

Make friends by giving other players a commodity that the game cannot give them: Respect. Use simple manners like "please" and "thank you" (tyvm) a lot, say "afk" and "back" when others are working with you, "sorry" when your err, acknowledge requests from others, especially group hosts and team leaders, follow instructions and help if you possibly can. You get the idea.

After that, you can provide an even rarer commodity: Admiration. When another player does something you truly admire, tell them in public chat. It can be part of a thank you. "How did you do that cool move?"  "How can I get a copy of your nifty item".  Give criticism in private, if at all.  Nothing is more humiliating than a public chastisement, or causes more anger when it's embarrassing or unwarranted.

Last, originate communication often. "Welcome back", "I'd like your advice...", even "I'm glad because you...", are great things to tell anyone. Gives honest praise whenever you can. Add "answer all your communications, (even if it's been a while since it was sent) to your daily list, then start a few. (This works beautifully in real life, too.)

Daily (if not more often) tend to your:
 Adepts (L), (manage them)
 Prizes (F9), (accept them)
 B-Bag (open boxes, use the best items, sell the rest, buy necessary slots), 
 Sales (N), (consider dailies and packs, but usually don't buy)
 I-Invasion Atlas (spend [Eidoi]),
 Community Chat (Y>Recent) (review, reply, be friendly), 
 Shift-K to [Hall of Deeds] (spend your [Divine Deeds]),
 Shift-K Tower and Cathedral (visit for daily rewards, spend nothing), and
 Shift-K AELION screen...

[Directives] give juicy "catch-up" prizes over the [JOIN] buttons:
 [Followers] immediately boost your Cathedral Might,
 [Scientific Development] coins click in Bag to boost your ToK Might,
 [Trophy Booster] stars  HOARD until a [Hall Trophies] sale, and
 [Divine Deeds] spent in your [Hall of Deeds] in the [Capital] give buffs and abilities. 

  Use [Divine Deeds] to fill the first  three [Hall of Deeds] tabs (Knowledge for Support, Willpower for Tanks, War for Damage) about in the order presented to unlock Elder God status. To get the six Avatar Trophies you need to unlock the first three HoD tabs, take every "Trava" (Training Avatar) invitation you can.
  Players who solo a lot should unlock the fourth tab [Halls of Travel] with Victor Medals then spend credits for the first six nodes.

Other valuable Directive prizes are:
 [Victory Medals] to hoard until a [Hall of Trophies] sale,
 [Premium Days] to use on days when you game a lot,
 [Premium Boosters] to use right away for extra daily prizes,
 [Argents] to save for legendary weapons and other must-have items on sale,
 [Sparks of Transform] to save for new classes, and
 large [Credit drops] to hoard for now.  You'll need 2.6 million later. Do buy open spaces to enlarge your Bag as you need them. Don't spend credits in the Cathedral or KoE in the Tower while you are in catch-up

 After your 1) daily Directives and Operations ("Dirs&Ops"),  2) [Bastion] quests (range easy to hard) offer additional skills and resources. Open all you can: they overlap with each other and your directives so one mission can get you many completions. You can use use a [Stimulant] to bypass one bastion quest anytime.

  3) The two [Inghar Test Area] group adventures  in Tacit Dunes province (ITA and ITAP) need at least two strong players to complete even one round there.  They award [Argents] and other prizes to all participants every week, and special prizes every two weeks.

 Less important are 4) Seasonal (easy) and Story quests season 2 or 3 (vary easy to hard),  5) You can safely ignore quests in Thea, Terra, Hostile Territories, and Distortion quests (all very hard) for now although they give buffs and prizes. Guides and rising rank make them easier as you continue playing. 6) You cannot join most Nightmare quests (unlock with Trial Rank) or Cog quests (unlock with Elder God status) yet.

  7) When a Pantheon leader or trusted Elder arranges and invites you to a special mission or class or duty, try to accept it if at all possible. The personal prizes might not seem great, but the jumps in status, leader boards, team play, experience, training, and future invitations are surprisingly rewarding.

Now, let's get your Adepts and Faith maximized!

Summary

 Every day check and handle F9, 9, L, N, B,  Invasion Atlas, Y > RECENT,  K >ToK, >Cath, >ToD.  Often, check Shift K> Directives and Y>Operations and run them to earn Followers, Science, Deeds, and Premium Boosters that you spend fast.  Save and hoard TB stars, Argents, and Victor Medals for items on sale.  Use stims on grey dirs for better prizes. 

 Use god form on group missions to earn the most [Divine Deeds]. Rarely go god on squads (they are easy) or invasions (very expensive, so use a team) or trails (give no deeds for gods). Look for and give /invites.  Ignore the "find a group" button. Bi-weekly, try to join a ITA and ITAP team in Tacit Dunes for prizes.  Take all the Trava's you can to get Avatar Trophies to unlock your Hall of Deeds

Using Stars

the Stars briefing:

  Earn and save your stars until you 1) Get 57 [Trophy Booster] stars in your bag, including any you have already bought or used, then 2) buy three or more Trophy Boosters from Hall of Trophies (during a sale is best) and finally, 3) click the stars to fill your Tower and Cathedral trophies and gain 120 permanent ranks. 
  While you gain and hoard your TB stars and VM, do your Bastions, earn your other Directive catch up prizes, gain rank and Elder God.

The deets

(This redundant version still needs editing.  AG)

 The game will give you 57 [Trophy Booster] stars maximum as directive prizes to fill the 60 Trophy slots in ToK and Cath. You have to buy three or more. If you pop all your TB stars first and buy the last three, they cost 42 000 VM in the Hall of Trophies. If you buy the first three to ten Boosters during the HoT sale they are 500 VM each. Prices go up the more Boosters you've applied.

  Timing matters.  If you buy TBs but fail to fill all 60 slots before the current invasion ends, you have to buy more at a high price in the next invasion to complete the slots. 

   Safest, cheapest way is slowest, too:  Click no stars til you have 57 in your bag.  Then buy three Trophy Boosters from your Hall of Trophies during a sale for 500 Victor Medals each, then finally, click the stars.

There are few shortcuts...

 You CAN buy Trophies Boosters 1000 not on sale up to ten, then the price goes up.  The sale happens every 8-9 weeks. A promo screen will advertise their "50% off" Trophy sale, as will your N-screen, Cath, ToK, and [Hall of Trophies]. Click thru any of them them to reach a purchase screen.

  Used  [Trophy Boosters] Stars show as little gold diamonds under your Might number in the five Tower of Knowledge and five Cathedral trophies. Your ten trophies have counterparts in your Hall of Trophies MIGHT section, showing the same numbers of gold diamonds. How many have you already put there?

 You can get up to 10 Trophy Stars at the cheapest price if you've popped none:  Any extras convert to 3 Million credits and 5000 KoE each, a nice bonus if you've VMs to spare. You can buy all the Boosters you want at any time, but they get more expensive the more you've used.

If you already used TB stars up to 7, you can still buy three at the low 500 VM sale price when you find and buy them for the three empty Trophies. If you've used more than 7, start hoarding stars and VM now.  You still can buy three at the lowest price you can on sale, then use the rest. Compute your VM cost of adding one star to each of your three least-filled trophies in HoT, then divide by two for the sale price. Start saving.

Each invasion start makes SF re-compute how many stars it will offer you to reach 57, counting all you have, used, or bought. Invasion end time shows in your K>Aelion>Invasion>More screen.  If you buy stars, but don't completely fill your Might Trophies by invasion end, you'll need to buy more next invasion to fill your 60 spots. 

If you already popped most or all your stars before you read this, do NOT be in a hurry to buy the might from the HoT.  You'll only be low 5 ranks, and you'll get catchup for them every season. Instead, spend your VM's on important things on sale ( see Denna's great newbie guide in the Discords). In a few invasions, you'll have the resources you need to jump OVER the catchup limits... including the VMS to buy your last few stars and hit max ranks

 To Do list

   When you are certain you can get all 57 Stars total by THIS invasion end,
 #1 Buy three or more +25 Might for three different trophies in the Hall of Trophies, best bought during the half-off sale every 8 or 9 weeks... 
 #2 double-click every Star in your bag (for about +2 Ranks each). 
 #3 Keep earning and clicking Stars from daily directives as they arrive.

   Timing relies on 1) when the HoT sale hits and 2) gathering the last of your 57 catch-up Stars before this invasion end.  A player can get 4 to 6 stars a week during their catch-up.  If you can do the math and really like your odds, go for it.  If not, play it safe and wait for the next invasion and sale.

 Even more of SkyForge will unlock for now because your catch-up is complete and your Rank is at the current Trial Rank.  It will stay above Trial Rank as you get new catch-up Science and Followers each invasion.

  While you wait, achieve your Junior God priorities and then your Elder God Priorities.