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

 Junior Priorities in brief:

 Daily, [Directives] give the best rewards now.  Try to do to your daily [Operations], and ITA and ITAP in Tacit Dunes with a team weekly and biweekly for prizes.  Solo, finish 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.

 Every day, have fun, be a friend, 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.  Ignore the "find a group" button.

The deets:

This briefing includes ordered lists of daily and long-term priorities for a Junior God, but it's going to start with "Last, but really should be first:  Cultivate friends from everywhere." 

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 the opposite, 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 UserWorld, 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), 
 Sales (N), (consider dailies and packs, but usually don't buy)
 I-Invasion Atlas (spend you [Eidoi]),
 Community Chat (Y>Recent) and Discord chat (review and be a friend), 
 Shift-K to [Hall of Deeds] (spend your [Divine Deeds]),
 Shift-K Tower and Cathedral (visit for daily rewards, spend nothing), and...
 
under Shift-K AELION, prioritize [Directives] for catch-up prizes:
 [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 your new [Hall of Deeds] in the [Capital] give buffs and abilities.  Fill the first  three 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 work half-way thru the fourth tab [Halls of Travel] early, using up some credits.  

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!

Using Stars

the Stars briefing:

  After you earn and hoard 57 Trophy Booster stars, buy three Trophy Boosters in a Hall of Trophies sale for 500 Victor Medals each, then click the stars to gain 120 permanent ranks.  While you gain and hoard your TB stars and VM, use your other catch up prizes to gain rank and Elder God. There are few shortcuts...

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. Better: buy the first three to ten during the HoT sale at 500 VM each. If you buy TBs but fail to fill all 60 slots before the current inavsion ends, you have to buy more in the next invasion to complete the slots.

You CAN buy Trophies Boosters any time and as much as you like.  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 five Tower of Knowledge and five Cathedral trophies, found under your Might number. Clicking a Trophy shows two boxes in each: the left black diamonds fill gold with trophy stars and show the might each left diamond gives. Your ten trophies have counterparts in your Hall of Trophies, showing the same numbers of black and gold diamonds.

 You can get up to 10 Trophy Stars at the cheapest price if you've applied 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.

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

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.

In great detail:

 If you have enough Trophy Booster Stars of the 57 maximum you can get from Directives in your inventory (in your bag or already used in ToK and Cath) ... to get all 57 by the end of the current invasion (schedule visible at shift-K>Aelion>Invasion>More screen),...

 You can buy the cheapest [Might +25%] during the [Hall of Trophies] half-off sale (occurring about every 9 weeks) from three or more of the ten trophies in your [Hall of Trophies] ...  for 500 [Victory Medals] each (only if you've used zero to seven stars already.  The cost rises if you have already used more).  

  Those three [Might+25%] plus the 57 stars the game gives are the 60 you need to fill your ToK and Cath Trophy slots.  If those slots are partially unfilled, your Trial Rank becomes unstable, disappearing at the start of each invasion, while major bonuses and abilities fail you.

 

 

Faithful Adepts to Elder God

the Brief:

Adepts bring you Faith (more when equipped with Relics to max the Charisma with high Perception then Constitution, and managed carefully); Faith gives you Divine Form, which gives you more power and, if you finish Squad, Invasion or (best) Group missions while Divine, Divine Deeds. 
Divine Deeds spent in your Temple of Deeds give you buffs and skills and, when you fully fill the first three tabs, Elder God status. Temple of Deeds also needs 6 Avatar Trophies, which come from completing Trial Avatar (Trava) missions

 The details

  [Adepts] in your 9 or L screen will gather resources for you. Equip Adepts (click two boxes below their stats) with Relics as best you can at first, send each on a journey, and they'll gather Faith, Credits, Relics they can use (keep the best, sell the rest), and even other adepts.  Finish or Cancel the journey to get what they found, let them rest til at 100% Energy, equip them, then send each out on a journey again over and over.

 [Adepts] can increase the [Faith] generated if you:
  #1 Equip Adepts to maximize their [Charisma] and [Perception], then [Constitution]
  #2 Start and cancel their journeys immediately as each energy bar reaches 100 or 0.  Their timing varies with Constitution,
  #3 Rapidly dismiss new recruits or an old one if a new one is better, since their presence decreases Faith earned, and
  #4 Manage your Adepts three or more times a day if you can. 

 Other sources of Faith and Divine form are  #1 Buying [Faith] in items in [SF Market], #2 a player with [Divine Spark Generator] from [Hall of Trophies] can spend their Faith for your [Divine Form], #3 KoE spent at ToK grants random buff tokens, including two for free Divine Forms. 

You waste Faith when you [Cancel Journey] while your bar is too full to accept the full amount.  [Conserve Faith] only if you have a free [Divine Amulet] in your bag (it's not worth 400 VM).  Best: use your Faith as it arrives to help allies and make your missions faster, then bring in your Adepts and send them out again as soon as you can

[Divine Deeds] (not sold in SF [Market]) that complete your [Hall of Deeds] tabs, come from only two sources: #1 Completing a [Directive] showing Divine Deeds as a reward, and #2 Completing a Squad, Group or Invasion mission in [Divine Form]. The first maximizes when you complete all Faith bearing Directives daily. the second maximizes with Group Missions done divine.

[Group] missions give best return of Deeds for Faith completed solo while divine. Costs, rewards, multipliers and discounts vary from offers, events, region, party size, and your personal progress. To compute your Deeds to Faith return on an activity: go there, divide the reward number in your [Divine Deeds] popup (50 Squad, 100 Group, 130 Party) by the Faith cost number revealed by your Alt button in the right end of your yellow Faith Meter.

When you fill the first three tabs of your Hall of Deeds with the Deeds you earned, with the six Avatar Trophies, you achieve Elder God status.

Your next briefing: Daily Directives and Operations

---------

posted 20231004 to Discord Arcanum #adepts-guide

Junior Tutorials

Chat script for an elder god assisting a new god with tutorials and team making:

You will need teams to complete your important [Tutorials]. Ready?

In your Ctrl-K Campaign screen, right next to AELION is your QUESTS list.  It has sections: BASTIONS, TUTORIALS, STORYLINE, OTHER and maybe more.  In the TUTORIALS section, ignore quests for Thea, Terra, and Hostile Territories for now. What's in there for you to do?

Some answers are: Assume god form in squad (you can solo that adventure easily: you likely already did it) or "Equipment Upgrades: complete any group or party adventure". Groups are easier than Parties. You'll need to use a god or a team to do it.

 Please click Ctrl-K >AELION  to reach your DIRECTIVES screen, click Join under the third one labelled "Group" and LAUNCH it. It will warn you "not enough players". Launch anyway. Then invite me using my invite button or type /invite in an empty chat line I can see. When I accept, we're both there.

Next we /invite to our Pantheon and wait for a minute to see who comes.  Then we'll decide who takes which role:  Tank, Support, DPS, and God (if we need one or two) and run it.  When done and without delay, thank everyone who joined in Group, Vicinity, Pantheon or Personal channels as needed. I will, too.

Your next tutorial quests are easy: "Select portal to distortions", is click the image in the lower right of your Capital, and look at Exoskeleton in your B-bag. 

 Your last tutorial is "Special Directives: fulfill any directive from invasions or trial blocks"  Invasions are easier than Trials. To do it, [Join] your Ctrl-K AELION Directive Invasion (fifth one).  Invite your Pantheon in chat: type: /invite  xx+1 at the start of a line with the initials of your mission instead of xx.  

 Wait a minute or more to see who comes, then run it. Invitations expire after three minutes.  Most invite hosts don't wait that long to begin the combat, so clickers might get the "You are in battle" error.  Players can keep clicking your invite til it expires, hoping that you finish the combat and they can join you. You can send a new /invite to your group anytime on any channel.

When done, thank your team in the channels you used to send the invite.  "TY, xx" is enough.  You can always name names and give praise.  

 I asked "Aelinet", a server-wide chat channel, to invite you. Aelinet is much like Pantheon chat, but multi-pantheon and reaches almost all the Elder and Junior Gods on the server. Invitations to missions regularly are there. Some of them you cannot do, but if you see one you need, click it quickly before it expires, and you will soon find yourself in a group doing that mission together.

 Do you have any Science coins to click in your bag?  Now check your Rank. 

You're ready to tackle a lot more in SkyForge! Your next briefing is on Junior Gods' Daily Priorities.

 

BTW

Avoid the EXIT button to leave your battle group: with unlucky timing, it can remove you from Aelinet.  Instead, type /leave in your group chat: it removes  you from a battle group but never a chat group no matter where you type it.  No worries if you mess it up: EVERYONE makes that error and leaves groups they didn't mean to leave.

Junior God Beginnings

Congratulations on unlocking your god! We are promoting you to full Pantheon membership.  Well done.  

Your next challenges are the trickiest in the game. To gain rank quickly and avoid costs later, consult Arcanum's "Junior God" guides in Discord.  Here is that 

 New Junior God Briefing: 

 1) IMPORTANT: Do the main tutorial quests (not Thea or Terra or Hostile Territories) next. They unlock new valuable Directive prizes.
  2) Use chat channels and /invite to build teams. [Find a Group] usually fails.
  3) Earn and use all the [Followers], [Scientific Development], and [Divine Deeds] you can from your Directives to make your rank soar.

 4) IMPORTANT: earn but do NOT use nor click [Trophy Booster] Stars in your bag for now. Using many before you gather all 57 costs lots later.
 5) Earn but don't spend KoE, Credits, Argents, or Victor Medals for now. They become much more valuable later.
6) The game misleads you. Connect to players, make friends, ask questions. OK?

Deets:

Less than half of accounts that start playing SkyForge unlock god.  After the celebration, new abilities and options open up but your main foes are suddenly far stronger and above your rank. You can spend a lot of time and resources for little gain when you could get rank and might for free and easiest this way:

 #1  STOP spending [Knowledge of Enemies] and [Credits] in [Tower of Knowledge] and [Cathedral]. Hoard them. Keep visiting your [Cathedral] daily for followers and prizes. Much better ways of raising your might are coming to you, right after you...

#2 Complete your [Tutorial] quests in the ctrl-K QUESTS menu, each in order without delay. They seem unimportant.  They are not.  You can ignore any Terra or Thea tutorials for now.  You will need a team for the "do a Group or Party" and the "do an Invasion or Trial" tutorials.  

 #3 Chat to your Pantheon about what you need. [Group Finder] rarely works. Instead at the start of a line, type /invite to get a "Join My Group" link and say what you're doing.  Friendly Elders will help you get teams for your directives.  We all got team help from each other. You'll help others when you can, too. 

 Do join  https://discord.gg/dmSQ7sY in your browser.  Make your nickname on that server resemble your SkyForge name and we'll unlock the Arcanum guides for you. Drop by voice chat anytime. That chat become more and more important as you play.

 #4 [Directive]s now offer two prizes above the six "Join" buttons. Four "Catch-up" Directive rewards make junior gods' Rank soar quickly.  [Trophy Booster] stars you earn and HOARD for now.   The other three, [Followers] crowds, [Scientific Development] coins, and [Divine Deeds] bouquets you spend as fast as you get them.

 Other great Directive prizes are Argents, Sparks of Transform, large credit drops,  Victor Medals, (hoard all them for now, too) Premium days (spend as you wish), and Premium boosters (spend immediately). 

Quiz: 

which Directive catch-up prize do you earn and HOARD and not use? 
If you said "Trophy Booster Stars", you're right. Hoard them.
Now, let's get you a team and through those [Tutorials]. Ready?

 

Philomenas, Thanatos Ship, Junior God.

Briefing:

Thanatos's ship in Philomenas Province unlocks your god. The boss is by far the hardest boss you've faced and must be done solo.  Elders recommend GroveWalker with "Main Damage" equipment and all the bastion abilities unlocked. Others will do. Video Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5LMpjzfcnw  Class guides: https://switch.skyforge.com/en/news/guides.  After that, the game gets even harder.  Ask anything, anytime

At length

The yellow road ends at [Thantos's Ship], the only map area you must run solo.  You can enter it from [Roqul Valley] region after defeating the boss in the lower right corner of the map, or in your Ctrl-K CAMPAIGN screen QUESTS menu, or the Provinces screen tab in Philomenas.  

After facing off some easy minions, the final boss is tougher, faster, and stronger by far than any before. Elders strongly recommend you wear four gems and four jewelry (Rare or Unusual, doesn't matter) with [Main Damage] 12% with [GroveWalker] class. Other classes can serve, with all official class guides at https://switch.skyforge.com/en/news/guides

  Google "skyforge thanatos ship" to watch video tutorials, including my favorite one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5LMpjzfcnw 

  [Thanatos] boss battle comes in three stages.  Resurrection points are just before each stage, so you can fail many, many times and still win.  First damage him and slay his support minions rapidly while dodging and clicking [Space] many times very fast to escape when he grabs and traps you.  

  Second phase, ignore the minions while you dodge rays that destroy the platforms under you, sticking to the edges and avoiding falling through.  Dodge and attack the massive hand when it appears, then chase and get to the resulting spark thrice. Last, and easiest because you are in divine form now, quickly damage him, slay his support minions on spawn, and repeat. 

When you've completed that, congratulations.  Your game suddenly triples in size and complexity as you claim the title (and your next briefing) [Junior God]

Next page: [Junior God] 

 

Bastions, New Classes, New Weapons, and Groups

The new class briefing: 

  4. ask anything in Pantheon chat, especially about classes, play, gear, and weapons.  The game translations from the Russian can mislead you.  5. Spend Sparks of Transform from your story and bastion quests in the class Temples scattered in the map. Grovewalker is the best solo class. 6: Save your Argents and Victor Medals for the very best weapons and skills on sale. 7: Make friends: you will need them.

The long version:

Do all the Bastion quests to earn vital skills and buffs you can equip in your P>Abilities>Symbols page. Each class has three different symbol build slots for you to fill and use.  Earn all the symbols from quests early as you can (or use a stimulant to get the rewards without the work) as you go.  The quests get much harder to do after you unlock your god.

Directives aren't so important for now, but their large credit drops and [Spark of Transformation] that unlock new classes (but not their weapons) are especially desirable. 

The "Yellow Road" main story quests on the Province maps and the Bastion quests are are all easily possible for a solo immortal.  Bastions are harder to complete after you unlock god, so do those right away. Doing the main story and bastions and low rank region quests earn enough Spark of Transform to unlock two more classes before you unlock god

Buy new classes with SoT in the class temple in the Providence maps. Elders  recommend [Grove Walker] first, then [Sound Weaver], [Firestarter] and [Revenant] in any order you like.  If you really want another fun class first, go for it!

Low or high ranks, the solo hero class is the versatile GroveWalker.  Combining  fine tank crowd control, decent melee AOE, the longest ranged attacks in the game, 100% self-healing, status clears, and an invulnerable mode, GW only gets better with time. There are some late-game missions you cannot complete without him. The best thing about GW costumes is that you do NOT have to wear them.

SW is top-tier support who can high-tier DPS or middle-tier tank if built for it.  FS is the best budget ranged DPS glass cannon. Rev is the best budget melee DPS who can be top tier DPS or high tier tank or support if built for it.

 7. For now, hoard Argents and Victory Medals until there are sales. VM's aren't really worth buying in the Market, but Argents on sale or with bonuses can be. (And remember to hoard your Trophy Booster Stars

 On the [Hall of Trophies] (HoT) sale six times a year, you'll need to have 1500 VM to buy some Might at around Rank 350.  You might buy [Treasure Hunter] if you've extra VM.  Auto-Loot, Personal Medic, and Revive Master are less helpful, other companion abilities even less helpful at low ranks. 

 8. Weapons don't come with a new class. When you get one, tell your Pantheon chat so a friendly Elders can take you through [Hespilon Temple] (HT) to get weapons for your new class.  Equip blue weapons with Damage of 18% - 21%.  Don't upgrade.  You'll find much better after you unlock your god.

 When you accept the pop-up invitation, or click a [Join my group] invitation in chat, your host will escort you through the mission and slay all foes. Your job is to wear the class that needs a weapon, keep up behind your Elder, don't draw fire in battle, and when each battle is over, including the last boss, grab all the loot. Players often chat in Region or Vicinity channel after successful missions. If you tap F to exit too early, tap escape next to dismiss the pop-up.  Tap F when you're all done.

   9. Last, but really should be first:  Cultivate friends from everywhere. You'll need them.  (Good life advice, too) Chat before sending a player a friend or group invite:  Popups are spam.  PM is personal. 

As always, ask me anything anytime. Definitely ask for better weapons in Pantheon chat when you need one for a new class.  Get your next briefing when you enter Philomenos province.

 

Immortal Beginnings

Briefing for new pre-gods:

  1: While you focus on the main story quests, do all the [Bastion] quests you can (or use a [Stimulant] to skip) to earn and equip valuable abilities.  2: Equip the highest "Main Damage" weapons and gear you find.  Sell the rest, don't use the upgrade function yet. 3: Visit Tower of Knowledge and Cathedral in the Capital daily for prizes and use all your Knowledge of Enemies and Credits there to gain Might and Rank.

The details:

As an immortal pre-god, the first things you need to know are: 

 Progressing thru the main "yellow road" story line gets you ranks, better gear and weapons, credits, and other prizes and unlocks your god in Philomenas province. Every quest encounter on the yellow road main story missions can be completed solo. Godded players cannot join you there, but ungodded players can if they've unlocked your current mission.

 1: Do all of the Bastion quests you can (to three skills in each bastion) before you unlock your god (they get much harder to do after). I encourage DOING bastion quests since they drop Transform, gear, and weapons, but not if you stim and skip them. Equip the best ability gained from each bastion on your P > Abilities > Symbols page.

  2: From the B-Bag in your P-Character screen, equip the highest "Main Damage" gems and jewelry (to a max of 12%) equipment you find. Rarity doesn't matter for now. Sell the rest. Don't over-fill your bag or your speed halves. It's okay to buy a few more bag slots when you need them.  Don't use the "upgrade equipment" function in your B-Bag yet - much better items appear later.

  Generally, equip "Main Damage" items as you find them. Rarity color doesn't matter, just the number. 12% is the max per item but ANY Main Damage is better than none. You can make 6 different builds in your equipment screen and 3 different builds for each class in your symbols screen.

  Green, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Orange equipment colors progress as Skyforge gear improves.  Only Green (Unusual) and Blue (Uncommon)  items are available to pre-god players.  Rare, Mythic and Legendary items become more and more available as the game progresses.  Blues are not always better than Greens: usefulness is more determined by the actual properties and bonuses of the item.  The rule is "wear the best, sell the rest".

 3: Daily, visit the [Cathedral] in your shift-K [Capital] screen for prizes. Spend [Credits] in the [Cathedral] and [Knowledge of Enemies] in the [Tower of Knowledge] as you earn them to get the [Might] you need to raise your Rank and complete the "Yellow Road" and unlock your god. 

 4: Get your next briefing when you have gathered 10000 Sparks of Transformation and thinking about unlocking and developing new classes. Hint: Grovewalker.

Welcome to the Academy

the brief:

 Welcome to the Academy.  I'm Arcanum's Junior and Academy trainer.

  When you like, join Arcanum's Discord channels and voice in your browser @ https://discord.gg/dmSQ7sY

 Ask me or your Pantheon anything anytime. I can't promise speedy answers, but I will answer.  OK?

Make your nickname on the server resemble your SkyForge name and we'll unlock Arcanum guides for you. Drop by voice chat anytime, we're chill.

 The deets:

 Our guides show how to spend no cash in SkyForge (but you can if you like) while you unlock your God, then Elder God, Nightmare content, every class, the best weapons, and end game content.  The key:  Just keep playing and everything will come to you

   We remove inactive Immortals from our Academy after three weeks to make room for new active players. It's nothing personal: space is limited. When they return, Immortals can join again, losing no rank, items, nor prestige. 

  When you unlock god, the game removes your ability to join a Pantheon Academy. Any commander can invite you to join.  Commanders also vote to remove inactive Gods after several months (nothing personal) to make space, and re-invite them back anytime they're active.  On (re-)joining, you can do most Panth activities immediately, and in one week, everything.

BTW

 Allow me to introduce myself.  I am Sir Arthis Greystag, Commander and Knight of Cups in the Arcanum Pantheon in SkyForge North America. "Knight of Cups" is a Tarot card in the Lesser Arcanum that signifies a romantic male messenger, peaceable but fights well in need. In chat, I answer to whatever class I am wearing, Arthis, Arth, Art, or A, Grey, Greystag, Stag, Commander, Sir, or Papa in about twelve languages including typonese. 

 The player behind Arth is a semi-retired professional classical musician with degrees in education, administration, mathematics, theater, and composition (here's an anonymous sample of his music).  Born 1956, despite computer experience since 1971, he's never played a real-time skill-based battle MMORPG before starting SkyForge in 2022. He's REALLY slow and clumsy at it, but getting better at it and having a blast!

 In either role, I gather and share information freely. I've had GREAT mentors in SF and shout out to Basic, Rory, Lore, Elrique, Jack, Shadow, Rekt, Mercy, Wiawyr and a dozen other names who gather and share their hard-won knowledge.  THANK YOU!

 Since starting 20221101, earned God 20221231, Elder 20230205, Max Rank 20230801, made every mistake a player can make, invented a few new ones, and took copious notes. I can guide players thru the tricky and expensive parts of SF without spending cash or excessive time trying to do the impossible. 

 The paragraphs in these briefings are designed to fit into SkyForge's limited chat allowance, so they can be shared from one player to another in-game via copy-paste. Screenshots, while easy to make, are inefficient and blurry ways to store text and cannot be shared thus.

Next:  your first Immortal briefing

 

Greetings! Welcome to SkyForge!

 

Hello!
If no one's said it, or even if they have, Welcome to SkyForge!
...
The best game tip for new or returning player is "Join a Pantheon soon"
...
 Ask me how or why if you like. No matter what you choose, good luck, and have fun!

The full briefing

 You gain the ability to join one thru your O screen unlocks around Rank 4. You can choose any Pantheon Academy you like, like mine in Arcanum, or none at all.  Before you unlock your god, it's easy to leave and join another Pantheon. 

 When you do, you get extra in-game prizes and more as you progress. You also get contact with players of all levels willing to team up, aid, and advise you in your Pantheon-wide chat channel.

 SkyForge doesn't explain that and other things well, making you often guess what your new abilities really offer. In an active Pantheon, your mates will explain such things eagerly because you've made yourself an ally, teammate and a potential friend.

  No matter what you choose, good luck, and have fun!

When you join an Academy, check out your Welcome