SKIP TO CR 255 GUIDE

Discussion in 'Oracle’s Database (Guides)' started by Captain1Dynamo, Jan 10, 2020.

  1. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    So you've received a free Skip to Combat Rating (CR) 255 (or I suppose you could have bought one from the Marketplace, though it’s one of the worst deals on DCUO. If you are thinking of buying one, go through this guide first. You might change your mind). There are several important things you should know about using the Skip. The primary audience for this guide is brand new players, but the best method for using a Skip also applies to long-standing members.

    Note – updates & hotfixes occur on DCUO pretty often, so some things discussed in this guide could change if the devs feel a change is necessary.

    Note – this guide presumes that the reader is a member. In many cases non-members will not get as much / be able to do as much as members.

    Video version of this guide can be found at:



    The most important thing to understand is that:

    THE SKIP DOES NOT GIVE YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY CR 255 CONTENT

    Yes, you do get some stuff, including gear that will give you a CR of 255, but there are a lot of critical items you don’t get. That means you don’t have the stats to play CR 255 instances (not even if you’re a skilled player). You don’t have the stats to help the team by playing a support role (Healer, Tank, Controller), and your stats are so low that you won’t be able to put out a significant amount of Damage (hereafter referred to as DPS – Damage Per Second).

    SO DON’T QUEUE UP FOR CR 255 INSTANCES YET. YOU’LL JUST BE WASTING YOUR TIME (as well as the time of the rest of the team, which they will not appreciate)

    CONTENTS:

    SKIP SHORTAGES

    SKIP OPTIONS

    OPTION 1: Using the Skip immediately, before going to Level 30

    OPTION 2: Take your toon to Level / CR 30 (or higher) before you use the Skip

    METHOD FOR USING YOUR SKIP

    OPTION 3: Don’t use your Skip on your first toon, use it on an alternate toon
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  2. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Here’s what the Skip DOES NOT give you:

    1. Skill Points (SP). The Skip only gives you ~77 SP. When Justice League Dark was released the max SP was close to 400. Certainly you don’t need that much, but I think long-standing players can agree that you need at least 100 more SP than the 77 you’re given by the Skip to play in JLD. This is the primary reason why the Skip is a terrible deal. If you’re a long-time player you can use replay badges to buy SP, but to get up to 177 would cost (I’m guessing) $100 - $200. But the best (and most economical method) is to get as many Feats as possible (which give you SP) in low-CR content instead of wasting a bunch of money.

    2. Gear. The toon needs two full sets of gear, one for DPS, one for support role (Heal / Troll / Tank). Instead you only get one set.

    3. Generator Mods. If a player is just starting CR 255 Content (which would be Episode 34 – Justice League Dark), then he should have 12 Generator Mods from the previous episode – Atlantis. You get none.

    4. Origin Augments. For CR 255 Content the toon should have eight Origin Augments, each at the max from the previous episode – Rank 227 (four DPS, four Support). With the Skip you receive only four Golden Exobytes. When you open them they will only bring four Augments up to Rank 222. So you basically have to chose. You could go half & half, but you're already pretty weak because of other shortages.

    5. Adaptive Augments. If the player is just starting Justice League Dark, then he should have 4 Adaptive Augments (2 DPS, 2 support role) at Rank 23 each from the previous episode – Atlantis. You should also have automatically gotten the AA’s from Judas Contract. You do receive 2 AA’s from Justice League Dark, but are given no Exobytes to increase their Rank. Rank 23 for the previous Episodes' AA's also unlocks a couple Feats which the player does not receive.

    6. Artifacts. By the time a player reaches CR 255, he’s got at least 6 Artifacts (3 DPS, 3 support role) each at Rank 120 or higher. Instead the player gets 1 Artifact (by doing the Artifact mission), & 1 from an Artifact pack. The pack includes the items needed to raise 1 Artifact to the Rank of 80. The mission only raises an Artifact to Rank 20. Along with 6 Artifacts, the player should also automatically get the Feats for raising an Artifact to Rank 120, but does not.

    7. Base Dispenser. By the time a player reaches CR 255 he’s earned enough Source Marks to have Tactical Mods, Orbital Strike, Supply Drop and Back-Up / Sidekick. The Skip gives the player ZERO Source Marks (and three Vault Tickets), enough to buy nothing on your dispenser.

    But even with all the shortages, there are a few methods for using the Skip to CR 255. And you should use the free Skip, after all it’s a $50 dollar value (which is way too much money, but I’ll refrain from ranting), plus it gives you some Feats that are annoying or take a long time, like doing 500 Challenges (Solos), and it gives you an opportunity to play other Power Sets / movement modes / faction / etc.
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  3. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    The best option for using a Skip depends on whether you are:

    1. A new player who just started playing DCUO
    2. An experienced player (playing long enough to have at least one toon above CR 255)
    The rest of this guide will explain exactly how a player should use the Skip with a walkthrough oriented toward new players. However, the basic concept applies to both new & long-standing players: don’t play content in Tier 7-10 yet. Start with Tier 1 (and even lower for some things in Gotham & Metropolis) & work your way up, gaining as many Feats, Exobytes, Nth Metal & Source Marks as possible in order to make up for the things DCUO did not give you in the Skip. And as was mentioned earlier, that applies to senior players too. No matter how much experience you have, the tremendously weak stats of the Skip will not allow your toon to be effective in On Duty instances at higher Tiers.

    There are three options for using your Skip:
    1. Use the Skip immediately, before going to Level 30
    2. Take your toon to Level / CR 30 (or higher) before you use the Skip
    3. Don’t use your Skip on your first toon, use it on an alternate toon
    Note - my understanding is that a new player can use the Skip at Level 4. If it doesn’t let you, then maybe DCUO changed the Level to something a little higher. I don’t think a brand new player can use the Skip immediately after creating a character, but I could be wrong (but I know that a player who already has toons on their account can, if they’ve played up to a certain Level / CR). It also might be the case that in order to Skip to CR 255 you have to buy the DLC for CR 255 Episodes. Again I’m not sure about that. Members get all DLC, so I really don’t know.
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  4. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Option 1. Using the Skip immediately, before going to Level 30

    If you are a long-standing member who really knows how to play DCUO, then you could do this (but not if you’re a new player). Once you’ve Skipped you’d have to either use Replay Badges for Feats to build your SP, or get as many as possible on the new toon from playing at lower Tiers before queueing up for the higher Tiers (because the Raids are too high to get carried through). What you’d really be missing out on are all the Source Marks that you can get through the 1-30 missions. The Skip gives you ZERO Source Marks, which means you won’t have any Base Dispenser items. If you do decide to take the Skip immediately, then use the method described in Option 2.

    For a new player on their first Toon, skipping immediately is a bad idea. Lack of experience will make playing any On Duty instances difficult. That said, the Level 1-30 missions are supposed to teach you how to play. Unfortunately, you are prevented from this due to the way the Leveling works. The primary problem is that you don’t get all the abilities in your Power Set until you reach Level 30. So for almost the whole time you do the 1-30 missions, you won’t be fighting like you will above CR 30. Still, the 1-30 missions do give you a feel for the game. Content above Level 30 is actually quite a bit like the 1-30 missions. So if you find you don’t like those missions, then this might not be the game for you. And if you haven’t spent anything yet, then you haven’t lost any money. I don’t know why some players don’t like the 1-30 missions. I redid them for the new toon I made for this guide, and was surprised to find that I really enjoyed going through them again. And as for the time it takes, I went from 1-30 in 3 days (playing all day), so it’s not like it takes a huge amount of time. One thing to understand about DCUO: it’s a massive game. If you wanted to do everything – play all the content, collect everything, get all the Feats, etc., it will take months (probably more than a year at this point), plus new Episodes are added about every four months. So as they say, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

    (FYI – When you take the Skip, all the Level 1-30 Missions (and Side Missions) are removed for that toon. So you won’t be able to do them, or get Source Marks for them, after taking the Skip)

    (FYI for new players – Levels in the game go 1-30. Once you reach Level 30, Combat Rating (CR) becomes the system by which you increase capabilities / play higher content)
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  5. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Option 2. Take your toon to Level / CR 30 (or higher) before you use the Skip

    The primary reason to do the Level 1-30 missions is Source Marks. The Skip gives you ZERO Source Marks. But as a new player there are tons of things you need to buy with Source Marks. First and foremost, Base Dispenser items (Orbital Strike, Tactical Mods, Supply Drop & Back-Up). Those are critical for your fighting / support capabilities. Second most important: Styles. There are more Feats in Styles than any other category, most of which are bought from vendors with Source Marks (with the exception of the newest three Episodes which require Episode Currencies, and PVP Styles, which take Marks of Valor).

    By playing the 1-30 Missions, Side Missions (found in Journal Mission areas – look for NPC’s with ! above their heads), all the General On Duty instances as they become available, and new Episode Events you can get quite a few Source Marks (SM). For example, with the new Toon I made for this guide I got 163 SM in the three days I took to go from Level 1-30 (and could have gotten more if I’d played the Episode Event daily). 163 SM is pretty good for a start, allows you to buy most of your Base Dispenser items, but there are still tons of gear / Styles for which you will need thousands of SM. So at Level / CR 30 you’ve got to make a decision about whether you want to use the Skip now or not. Understand that if you skip to CR 255 now it will take A LOT longer get all the SM you need to buy all the Styles & get all those Feats. It’s much easier to get SM at lower CR than higher. Each On Duty instance has a Relevancy Window (a range of CR). If you’re in the Window then you get 1 SM for Solos, 2 for Duos, 5 for Alerts (4 Player) & 10 for Raids (8 Player). But if your toon’s CR is above the Relevancy Window you get no SM automatically upon completing the instance. You may have noticed that when you beat a boss and are offered a loot choice, you sometimes have the option of taking a Source Mark instead of gear (but not every time). That applies to toons of all CRs. So a toon above the Relevancy Window could get SM for an instance, but only a few. For example, if a Raid has two bosses, then a toon above the Relevancy Window could get two SM for that instance. But a toon in the Relevancy Window will get 10 for completing the mission (and could also take two SM instead of gear for boss loot). If you ran through each Solo, Duo, Alert and Raid from Tier 1 to Tier 9 (Atlantis Episode) just once while in the Relevancy Window for each instance, you would have 815 SM. And if you know what you’re doing you can stay in each Relevancy Window as long as you like (by not accepting gear that will raise your CR above the Relevancy Window). And bottom line, you will need as many Feats as possible from things you have to buy with Source Marks to play at CR 255 (in addition to Feats from performing special tasks in instances).

    One note - most (but not all) of the Feats that you can accomplish while going from Level 1-30 are given to you in the Skip. You might be able to get additional Feats while Leveling up from Styles, Events, Races, Legends, PVP, etc, but as mentioned, the most important thing about 1-30 is getting Source Marks. Any Feat you can get while at Level 1-30 can be accomplished no matter how high your CR is.
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  6. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    So for this option, follow your Journal (Main Missions). It will tell you what to do & where to go through Levels 1-30. If you’re looking for a walkthrough or more info on how to play those missions, I created a bunch of clips when the game was updated a few years ago (aka Stats Revamp) detailing every mission. The intro mission (The Awakening) has changed a bit, but every other mission is the same. FYI – Make sure you have the Journal mission selected when you go through the hideouts. If you don’t, then in some cases you won’t get credit for completing the mission after you beat the boss. There is one mission that occurs during Level 1-30 that has been added since Stats Revamp, the Artifacts mission. You’ll find plenty of information about each Artifact in guides here in the DCUO Forum. Also you should know that at Level 25 you get Augments (another new addition since Stats Revamp). Like Artifacts, Augments increase your stats in certain categories, making you more powerful. And again, plenty of guides out there on Augments.

    Additional things to do every day, even while you’re going through the 1-30 missions: The Vault, Stabilizer Fragmentation, General Alerts, Investigations & Briefings, Seasonal Events, and Episode Events. All of these give you stuff you need, plus they give you XP which will help you Level up even quicker.

    While you are Level 1-30 the daily Vault gives you Style pieces (style only, not armor) that unlock Feats when you collect all the parts. All these styles can be found elsewhere in the game, but getting them from the Vault helps you get them quicker. Between the Vault & the 1-30 missions you’ll probably complete a couple sets before you hit Level 30. After CR 30 the Vault gives you one Source Mark and one piece of Armor every day.

    As you fight Time Capsules will randomly drop. To open them you need a Stabilizer. The daily Stabilizer Fragmentation mission is the only way you can get a Stabilizer without spending real money. As a member you get six Stabilizer fragments from the mission. In three days that’s enough to make one Stabilizer. But whatever you do, DON’T USE REPLAY BADGES TO RESET THE STABILIZER FRAGMENTATION MISSION. That’s the actual worst deal on DCUO. It costs 87 Replay Badges to reset the mission (as much as it costs to reset a Raid), but you don’t even get a Stabilizer; you only get fragments. So you’d have to reset more than once to get a full Stabilizer.

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  7. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    As your Level increases you will be given access to General Alerts (On Duty instances in the 4 Player tab). A Journal entry will pop up for each of them. The thing to understand is that although you might be the right Level, your CR probably isn’t. For example, you get the Area 51 mission in your Journal at Level 10. But the missions you’ve done so far have given you gear that probably only puts you at about CR 5. So you don’t have the stats to beat enemies (or to take damage) in Area 51 yet. So wait until your CR is at least as high as what is required for each Alert before you queue up. You may be in the queue a while for General Alerts, so once you queue up, don’t wait. Continue on with your 1-30 missions until you get in to the Alert.

    Note – before you go into any On Duty multiplayer instance for the first time, go to YouTube and watch someone else go through it. Many instances have special tasks / mechanics you must follow, and other players will expect you to know how to do the mission.

    There are seven Seasonal Events that DCUO runs throughout the year, such as Season’s Greedings (the Xmas Event). Each of these Events has Feats, so many now that there’s hardly any way that you could get all of an Event’s Feats in the month while it’s active. But you should be able to get some. Playing the event missions & instances gives you special currency that you use at the Seasonal vendor to buy Seasonal Styles or Base Items, most of which have associated Feats.

    Only one Seasonal gives you actual armor – the Anti-versary Event, which runs in January. You can get gear from the Solo walk-in mission in the Open-World area, from the weekly Shadow Archon mission, and from the Event Raid. The first time you do the Event you also get another Artifact (chose one of three). The DCUO anniversary, 11 January, is when they give out member gifts, such as a free Skip to CR 255. They also usually have a sale on memberships, which is the best time to buy one.

    As you do Journal missions, get the Investigations & Briefings in the area. They all add to your XP, helping you level faster, and completing them all is a Feat that the Skip does not give you.



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  8. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Whenever a new end-game Episode is released, DCUO provides Event versions of the content that lower CRs can play. A new mission for the Episode should pop up in your Journal when you are around Level 10 or so. Episodes have an Open-World area, a Solo or Duo, an Alert & two Raids. Even though your stats get buffed up when you play this content, you still have only a few of your Power Set’s abilities, an incomplete Weapons tree, and almost no SP. So while you are Leveling up from 1-30, I recommend only doing the Open-World parts of the Episode Event, and not the On Duty multiplayer instances, where other players will be depending on you to pull your weight. Wait until you are above CR 30 & at least know how to really DPS before you queue up for those. It should only take you a few days to get to CR 30 anyway. In the Open-World area you should find a few daily missions and a couple weekly missions (meaning the loot lockout resets Daily or Weekly as the case may be). Each Daily will give you one Source Mark & one Episode Currency, while the Weeklies give you eight of each. An NPC in the area should also give you one of each just for visiting daily (a mission in your Journal should tell you who). In Thanagar, Hawkgirl does this, and also gives you a weekly mission. Martian Manhunter has another weekly, and three other NPC’s have Daily missions. Episode Currencies can only be used at the Episode vendor. There you’ll find armor, style items, trinkets, etc. Until you reach the actual CR for the Episode, you’ll only be able to see armor on one vendor, which is the auto-leveling kind (when you open it, the Item Level of the gear is determined by your current CR). Once above the minimum CR you’ll be able to see the best on vendor Gear. In the case of Thanagar, you get a piece of auto-leveling gear from each mission (that’s not true of all Episodes). The best thing you can do right now is to NOT open these boxes. After you use your Skip you will need a second set of gear for your Support Role. Hold onto all these gear boxes in your bank for now. Weekly gear boxes may also contain Generator Mods – but only after you reach the minimum CR for the Episode. So you might want to hold on to those boxes until then. And Episodes will contain new Feats, Investigations, Briefings and Artifacts (which may or may not be better than Artifacts you already have). One other good thing about Episode Events is that the missions are worth a lot more cash than Leveling missions. The Event content will quickly give you enough cash to power up your base battery, which you need for the Lair System / Base Dispenser.

    Early in the Levels you get access to Legends and Player vs. Player (PVP). I recommend not doing any of either of these until you’re long past Level 30. Both of those have a very different playstyle than Player vs. Environment (PVE – what all your missions & instances are). Learn all about your own Powers & how to DPS & perform your Support Role in PVE before you try to learn different weapons, Powers & fighting styles for PVP / Legends.

    While I’m on the subject of things you shouldn’t do, don’t go into your Support Role. You are given the ability to switch between DPS & Support at Level 10. But DCUO doesn’t explain what that means at all, nor how to play a Support Role. And more importantly, being in Support Role:

    1. Decreases the damage you can put out (you have a +10% damage buff when you are in damage role), and
    2. Changes many of the abilities in your Power Set (for example, Fire’s Absorb Heat damage is decreased when in Tank Role)

    One other thing you’ll have to do is Races (for their Feats, which aren’t given to you by the Skip). Those can be done while you’re Level 1-30, or above Level 30, so no rush.

    Most likely you’ll reach Level 30 before you finish the 1-30 Journal missions. Don’t take the Skip until you at least complete all those mission & all the Side Missions. As soon as you take the Skip all those missions disappear & you won’t be able to get their Source Marks. When you finish your last Journal mission. You’ll get the mission, ‘Complete 8th Precinct Solo’. Doing that gives you an extra five Source Marks in addition to the standard one you get for a Solo. When that’s done you get a mission for Gotham University Duo (an extra eight SM), then a mission for Area 51 Alert (an extra 13 SM). Don’t skip till you’ve done those three missions & gotten the extra 26 SM. FYI – you don’t get any extra SM for doing the rest of the Solos, Duos or Alerts.

    Once you reach Level 30, take a little time to learn how to best DPS for your Power Set. There are PLENTY of guides on YouTube, and in the DCUO Forum that will tell you everything you need to know about Damage (as well as Healing, Controlling and Tanking, for that matter) for every Power Set in the game.

    Also at 30 you’ve got to decide if you want to take the Skip now, or to continue to raise your CR & learn more about the game before you take the Skip. Either way, continue to do Events, Vault, Stabilizer Fragmentation, etc, as mentioned earlier. You still need Source Marks, and now you need to build a gear set. The Episode Event will help a lot with that, and you get a little help from a new area that has opened up.

    After you complete the Journal missions you’re given access to Doomed Metropolis. There are a number of Feats to be accomplished there. Like Episode Events, there are Daily & Weekly missions. While these give you Source Marks & a special currency (Tributes), they don’t give you gear. Only the On Duty Solo (The Last Son of Krypton) & the Doomsday Raid (8 Player) give you one piece of gear each. That gear auto-levels, but maxes out at Item Level 199. One important thing you do get from this content is the Omegahedron (Artifact). Depending on which Power Set you have, this Artifact can be crucial to having enough power to use your Power Set’s abilities.


    Note – if you didn’t get a four-slot utility belt while levelling, get one as soon as possible. That way during a fight you can use Orbital Strike, Supply Drop, Back-Up, a buff trinket, or some other trinket. Eventually one will be a loot choice. There’s a three-slot available from a vendor on the Watchtower / Hall of Doom for Source Marks. Or, if you have Episode Currency, you could buy a four-slot there.

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  9. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    THE METHOD

    O.k., so whatever Level or CR you got to before you take the Skip, here’s what happens.

    From the Character Selection screen chose Advance Character Level & Skip to CR255. The system logs you in & your toon teleports to the Watchtower / Hall of Doom. You get a call from Oracle / Calculator. Some new missions pop up in your Journal. You’re given a few things to open.

    DON’T OPEN THE EXOBYTE CACHE YET
    I’ll explain why in a moment.

    1. First, open your gear (Combat Rating 255 Box). You only get one set. Make it all Damage. You’ll need a Support Role set too, but the Damage set is more important because you’ll need to DPS much more often than play your Support Role. If you’ve been playing the Episode Event, the Vault & maybe Doomsday, then you should have several pieces to help make your Support Role gear. More on that later.

    2. Open the Exobyte Cache. From this you receive four Golden Exobytes. You should have received eight, four for damaging Augments, four for Supporting, so the Skip really screws you on this part. It was important to open the Gear box before the Exobyte Cache because these Goldens auto-level based on your current CR. So if your CR was 30, then the XP on the Goldens would be very low. At CR 255 the XP is 855848 for each Exobyte. Use the four Goldens in the four Augments you use for DPS (Might, Precision, or a mix, depending on your playstyle), one Exobyte in each of the Augments (don’t put all of them into one Augment). That will Rank each Augment up to 222 (at least). It should have been 227 for starting JLD, so they shorted you a little. When you set up for your Support role use Dominating Augments for Tanks, Restoration for Healers, Vital for Controllers. It's going to take quite a while to make up for getting nothing to Rank up those Augments. Next, check your Journal. Since you are at CR 255 you should find a Journal entry that give you Adaptive Augments from Justice League Dark. Make this set Damage (Might or Precision). DCUO should have given you some Exobytes to Rank these up, but again the Skip shorts you. These OA’s will take regular Exobytes, but special Exobytes you get from playing Episode 34 will Rank them up faster. At this point, don’t worry about these Augments, just slot them. Even without Rank they carry a slight stats increase.
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  10. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    3. The Artifact Starter Pack gives you an Artifact, and all the stuff you need to Rank it up to 80, which is o.k., though at CR 255 you should have 6 Artifacts at Rank 120 each. The skip also gives you the Artifacts mission in your Journal. Run through that & you get another Artifact. The mission gives you only enough to Rank this Artifact up to 20. If you do 1-20, you'll get the Artifact mission around Level 20. Doomed Metropolis gave you the Omegahedron for power regeneration. This Artifact should probably be for your Support Role. Again, do some research to determine which would be best for your Role & Power Set.

    4. The Granted Supplies box has some general consumables, nothing of much importance.

    5. Add in your SP. Even if you went through Level 1-30, the Skip will give you some Feats, including some that are an annoyance / take a long time to do such as Complete 500 Alerts and Gather 5000 Times. Then save your DPS setup to your Armory. Check your mail, you should have received a few Vault Tickets, giving you Source Marks & gear boxes. Now you can start building that Support Role. In this second Role you need a full set of gear including the correct Artifacts & Augments, you need to change your SP assignments, & you’ll use different abilities from your Power Set. So how do you quickly switch from DPS to Support Role? You need a second Armory. You’re given one as a member with the Lair System. That should have your DPS set. The only way to get another Armory is to buy one from the Marketplace. That sucks, but there’s no choice. The only other thing you could do is to play only DPS forever, but if you can’t do more damage than other players on your team (which you won’t be able to do until you get close to max SP, max CR, max Augments, max Artifacts, max Generator Mods), then you really need to be prepared to play Support. Once you’ve got another Armory, open all the gear boxes you’ve been saving, selecting the Support Role version (Tank / Healer / Controller) for each piece. Equip the gear. Equip the correct Artifacts & Augments. Switch your Role. Go to a Respec station (on the Watchtower or Hall of Doom) & Respec your SP. Put your SP into what you need for your Support Role (Dominance / Restoration / Vitalization). Change your Loadout to the abilities you’ll need to perform the Role. Save everything to your second Armory. Do some research on how to play the Support Role. Practice at lower Tiers.

    Note -
    You do end up getting a few more Feats. After opening all the gear boxes I'd saved up for support role my CR went up to 258. When my CR increased I automatically got the crafting Feats from Episodes prior to JLD (make Gen mods/ gear mods/ collect essence). This added ~10 SP. So you end up with ~88 total SP from the skip. A loooong way from what you should have at CR 255 (about 300 SP or so).
    • Like x 1
  11. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    6. With all of this done it’s time to start building up your SP. Play all the content starting at Tier 1 & working your way up, accomplishing as many Feats as possible. Depending on your skill, you may be able to play the Open-World areas of Justice League Dark & other Episodes (but 78 SP is super-weak). Along the way as you do the old content, Rank up your Artifacts and Augments with Nth Metal and Exobytes you collect. Get Source Marks & Styles that you need for Feats.

    The Skip doesn’t give you any Feats from PVP or Legends. There are a bunch in both those categories. So after you have a really good feel for DPS & Support in PVE, you should start working on PVP and Legends. Legends isn’t too bad, you just have to learn the different weapons & abilities for each of the characters. Legends is very much like Hybrid Focus – you use weapons about as much as you use powers.

    PVP just plain sucks, but like I said there’s Feats in there you’ll need sooner or later. Plenty of guides on how to PVP.

    Also you need generator mods. Go to the Open-World areas of Chaos Gotham, Atlantis, Titans Island & do the weekly missions / bounties. Some of these will drop generator mods for you. For now mods from any of these Episodes will help, though eventually you'll need a set of mods from the highest Episode to which you have access. Again, don't queue up for instances in Tier 9 or 10 yet, but you should be able to do these Open-World weeklies (with the help of other players). Within just a few days you'll probably have gear that will open up higher Episodes Open-Worlds, so you'll be able to get mods there as well.
    • Like x 1
  12. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Option 3. Don’t use your Skip on your first toon, use it on an alternate toon

    As a member you get six or eight toons (I forget which). Probably the best way you can use your Skip is to play all the way from Level 1 to CR 255 the long way with your first toon, giving you time to learn all about the game, then use the Skip with one of your Alternate Toons. When you do use the Skip on an Alt, you should probably still go from Level 1-30 with the Alt in order to at least get enough Source Marks to buy your Base Dispenser items. After that, use the method described in Option 2.

    Hope this guide helps!
    • Like x 1
  13. Trexlight Devoted Player

    Its a cool guide but being at CR255 needing 300 Skill Points isnt valid nor realistic. Players want to be at End Game and taking the time to get 300 SPs in content that doesnt really have a good population to queue up isnt gonna happen, especially PVP feats lol not happening.I'll agree the 85 SPs is SUPER low but its better to have folks at least achieve the soft cap which is around 170-200 SPs given the spec.

    I'll have to calculate how many Skill Points are in between JLD-Metal Part 2 but certainly they'll need to go into old content to work on getting higher but the expectation to have 300 by CR255, I dont see it nor expect it from this community.
    • Like x 2
  14. Chrise7 New Player



    I agree with you Trex. To at least finish current content without giant problems, people need around 200SP. The optimal minimum would be to fill out one of the Might&Power/Precision/Vitalization/etc. trees.
    But of course, having more SP is always useful, and ppl HAVE to go into older content to finish older feats. Unless they want to run Event versions of each new DLC.

    And here I agree with Dynamo, new players (and even veteran players) will have a big lack of Marks of Victory to upgrade Artifacts, old Styles and the Base Dispenser using only the CR skip.

    Overall Dynamo, great work on the guide! New people should know about all of this, even without skipping CR, but just general game knowledge.
    • Like x 1
  15. Brit Loyal Player

    The actual number of skill points needed is 162 + whatever you need for your weapon combo and travel powers, provided you are not a tank.

    Over 75% of the bonus that you receive from passive stat skill points will be granted in the first 100 skill points, because at 100 you receive the final +10% threshold and everything after 100 is just static bonuses which provide a diminishing return.

    Don't get me wrong. Obviously more is always useful, but if you've reached the 100 rank in your role stats, you're ready enough to run any content. That means 60 points to max out the crits, 100 to hit your 10% bonus in your stat, 1 where you choose your playstyle and 1 for your weapon, plus whatever you might need for weapon combo and travel powers. Probably 175 is enough that you aren't really going to notice any significant increase from the stuff that follows.
    • Like x 2
  16. mrcheap Well-Known Player

    Amazingly helpful guide thanks so much for all of this. One thing I am still clueless about is crafting. When I break down my old gear I get all these low level exobites with different colours. Does it really matter where I use them or is it ok that I have just been pumping them all into my DPS set? Also I notice that there are crafting options to upgrade them. Is that worth it? what should I be using the crafting mats I find in the open world for? Thanks very much.
  17. Miss Adora Loyal Player

    I was going to use it on an existing character I haven't touch on a while. I may try to get to end game or not sure yet
  18. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player


    Bottom line you want to Rank up both DPS & Support Augments as much as possible so that you can play both roles as necessary. For DPS that means four Origin Augments of Might and/or Precision (depending on your playstyle). For Support you only use the correct four for your Support Role - Tank Dominating, Healer Restoring, Controller Vital. So some Augments you'll never be ranking up.

    Using same type Exobyte as Augment gives an XP bonus, i.e. Might Exobyte into Might Augment adds an additional 50% XP to whatever the Exobyte is worth. So whenever possible use same-type based on the Augment you're feeding.

    I don't worry about crafting to upgrade low Tier Exobytes. The increase in XP isn't worth very much. I do upgrade end game Exobytes, where a Pristine will have a lot more XP over the lower grades. …..But there are Feats for crafting & gathering that newer players won't have (and the Skip doesn't give them all to you, though it does give some). You can look up the requirements for those in the R&D Feats menu & decide if they're worth your time.
  19. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player


    It is a good opportunity to use a toon with a different Power Set / movement style / faction (hero or villain). As mentioned the Skip doesn't support playing high Tier content (except maybe Open-World areas), but a 255 (even with low stats) can play lower Tiers & get a good feel for those other character options. And even with its problems, the Skip does give the player some of the annoying Feats that take a long time - Gather 5000 times, etc, which you could then badge on your primary toon (which is worth using a free Skip, but not worth actually paying $50 for a Skip).
  20. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player





    Never let it be said that I'm totally unreasonable. I've modified that section in a way with which I believe everyone can agree:

    1. Skill Points (SP). The Skip only gives you ~77 SP. When Justice League Dark was released the max SP was close to 400. Certainly you don’t need that much, but I think long-standing players can agree that you need at least 100 more SP than the 77 you’re given by the Skip to play in JLD. This is the primary reason why the Skip is a terrible deal. If you’re a long-time player you can use replay badges to buy SP, but to get up to 177 would cost (I’m guessing) $100 - $200. But the best (and most economical method) is to get as many Feats as possible (which give you SP) in low-CR content instead of wasting a bunch of money
    .
    • Like x 2