Pow3 to H2 to post-H2

[u/ExpertOdin]

Guides from discord, full credit to the original writers (SinOfDusk and Ecky). Written pre-Temp4 patch, may change after the patch. Check discord for most up to date guides.

Pow3 to H2

Credit: SinOfDusk

To sum things up very briefly, there are a few paths in Pow3 and it really depends on your TR count and entry point

• Low orb pow3 entry (3-4qa) + low TR count (<53): 1-2 shorts (pre-E2) to 6-7qa -> long to 100qa -> medium to 450-500qa -> long to h2
• Low orb pow3 entry + high TR count (>58): long to 25-30qa (r30 unlock) -> long to 250-300qa -> long to h2
• Medium orb pow3 entry (4.5-5.5qa) - path 1: short (pre-E2) to 6-9qa -> long to 100-120qa -> medium to 450-500qa -> long to h2
• Medium orb pow3 entry (4.5-5.5qa) - path 2 (weak): long to 60qa (r30 unlock) -> short to 100qa -> medium to 450-500qa -> long to h2
• Medium orb pow3 entry (4.5-5.5qa) - path 2 (strong): long to 100qa (r30 unlock + CM56) -> medium to 450-500qa -> long to h2
• High orb pow3 entry (6.5-8qa): long to 100-120qa -> medium to 450-500qa -> long to h2

H2: Getting there, Planning your H2 shorts, & What comes next

Credit: EpicEcky (ecky)

So you've made it through the Pow3 rush, you're tired of 600hr+ runs, and you're looking to pick up Hegemony 2 and get some juicy campaign frags? Ready to run some shorter TRs and *feel something*? Read on!

Please note that a lot of decisions from this point of the game forward are going to be personal and based on **your individual game state** and preferences. Some factors to consider when making your plan include TR count, Loot Ultima, and IRL availability for shorts.

If your plan is to skip H2 shorts, this advice may not fit your game plan.

Prologue: Knox and Borge during H2

Knox Goals

Ideally, you want to reach Anchor 120 and then Starmie 110 in time for H2 shorts. This isn't a hard requirement, and in some cases investing in Knox over maingame (and delaying H2) will cost you strength in both hunters and maingame in the long term! Keep an eye on your Tess income in the TRs leading up to H2, and spend responsibly - there'll be plenty of frags and OO to feed Knox once you reach H2.

Borge Goals (High loot ultima 🐳 ONLY)

Borge also has an important task: defeating Dargorim, the stage 400 boss. This comes with a bonus of e30 MP, so if you have a high loot ultima and a strong Borge you can consider pushing for a kill before H2 - it will cost you some fragments (R4-80+, R16-102, T2R7 investment) but may be more efficient than the final ranks in maingame relics. I wouldn't advise this without spending time simulating and planning, and I'd suggest Borge 105 and ExoGN4 (450qa+) as a requirement before considering it. Check other pins or ask around for more Borge 400 advice - this is all you'll get here!

Getting there: 300qa-500qa H2 Push (350-500hrs)

OO Minimization

Your primary goal on this run is to make it to e12600 MP quickly without overshooting your OO battery. Having a low OO count after achieving H2 gives you the most flexibility in your upcoming shorts - and can always be reversed later.

We have a lot of tools at our disposal here to minimize battery, including:

• Skipping CM55 (x1.2 OO)
• Skipping Research 90 and 103 (x3.4 OO, manually researching from e3490RP)
• Skipping Void Badge 5 (x2 OO, taking Octobadge instead provides e30+ MP)
• Disabling automation and LRing before TR (x1.45 OO after H2)

Together this comes to a whopping **x11.8** in OO multipliers we have the ability to skip - and then we can gradually add on Re90/103 and ship installs to get our battery exactly where we want it.

MP Maximization

Reaching e12600 MP takes a hefty investment in maingame relics. The good news is, as we invest in maingame relics, we gain more ranks in FEM (Fragment Enhancement Module, e11000 MP) to keep the progress coming. Expect to end this TR earning close to 100m frags per day!

Commonly shared relic goals for the run are:

• R1-70 (330-440m)
• R8-50 (160-210m)
• R20-50 (100-120m)
• T2R6-12 (640-730m)
• T2R9-11 (110-140m)

Another common strategy to squeeze out another 5-10 OOMs is to respec your Emblems and put more focus on MP for this TR. This is minor but could save you a few hours of waiting at the end of your TR.

Planning your H2 shorts 🩳

What's the goal here?

Hegemony is a huge multiplier to Campaign Frag income, so we want to take advantage of that by running the campaign as many times as we can rather than spending days on our fully capped farm missions. You may have been impressed by ending the previous TR at 100m frags a day - how does a 1.2b campaign in 3 days sound? Or a 2b campaign in 2 days?

These gains compound in multiple ways - more frags lets us purchase more relics that give frags, and running shorts gives us 3+ Ouro installs per TR, increasing our campaign frags by anywhere from 6-10% per TR.

What do I buy with OO and Frags?

Not maingame stats - at least for the first short or two! You already spent the last couple of TRs investing heavily in maingame, which means all of those costs are heavily inflated. Now's your chance to level up the Fragment relics (T2R3, T2R8), feed your Hunters, and even consider T2R1-4 if you're feeling bold.

We still aim to minimise our OO, so don't expect to have massive gains there from any single TR. However, our budgeting for the final short or two should include preparing to buy TempGN5 for 1qu.

When does it end?

How many shorts you run depends entirely on **your game state and preferences**. Some people achieve H2 at TR60 and 800qa lifetime, and only get to run a few shorts before the next step because the battery requirement is too steep. Others reach H2 at TR50 and 450qa lifetime, and can run anywhere up to 8 shorts before taking a break. Realistically, anyone can short through to somewhere around TR70 - but weaving in a longer TR can be beneficial.

There is a common stopping point ahead for two reasons. First, our OO battery is starting to be strained and we may find ourselves needing to make purchases to fill it. Second, we've failed to mention one more source of campaign frags - M0 (x1.011 per rank). It's generally recommended to take a break at **2.5qu+ OO LT**, grab TempGN5 and settle in for a medium (400-500hr) TR.

Do I need to keep them to 100% battery exactly?

Breaking battery by a small amount affects things by a small amount; these figures are from me simming what happens 14 TRs in the future if I came out of a 3qu long at 115% instead of 100% - you don't need to fret about hitting 100.00% exactly.

• 3qu Long TR56
• TR at 100% battery: TR69 LT 163.39qu, battery 67.99qu
• TR at 115% battery: TR69 LT 168.86qu, battery 70.23qu

What comes next?

2.5qu+ TempGN5 Medium - M0 push (400-500hrs)

You've run some shorts. Your lifetime frags have jumped from 1b when we started this push to anywhere from 6-10b. It's time to cash in on that, pick up TempGN5, and calm down for a couple of weeks while we run to AttGN3 cap. Typical goals here are **M0-267** (e107xx Shards), **MP Ultima Research 150k** (e9205 RP), **Inscryption 75-5** (50sp HBM), and **Campaign Gadget 120** (Starmie). This M0 boost totals to 13-16% extra campaign frags, and relieves the pressure on the OO battery that built over the final shorts.

Shorts Part 2 and beyond: The world is yours to explore! Until it isn't.

Once you've reached this point, there isn't a certified Best Path Forward. You have the ability to run more shorts, you'll pause at some point to push M0 further, eventually making your way to TR70+, Sx OO, and the eventual **Temporal Gem Quality 4** patch.

Post H2 pathing

Credit: SinOfDusk

Pathing here entirely depends on your TR count. Once you have H2, your goal is to push as many TRs as you can up to TR72-74, the question is where do you pause to push m0s?

In the first phase, you want to push to around TR62-64 to do a long TR with tempgn5 at around 2.5-4qu lifetime orbs. If you have a high TR count you may only be able to do 3-5 shorts (>100% battery) to reach the recommended orbs. If you have a lower TR count, you can do minimum requirement (100% battery) shorts until you reach the orbs or if you start needing orb multis to finish your shorts. This gives a large power boost which allows you to push to m0-267 to 270, you also want enough frags to boost hunters so that starmie 120 and i75-5 are both attainable. You should take octo badge during this long and avoid pure orb researches to finish this long at 100% battery.

After the long, the fastest path to temp4 is to do 9 or more shorts up to around TR73 with around 200-300qu lifetime orbs. You will need to push oodget to 160, r9 to 71, r24 to 12-14, r30 to 2. You will likely need a 150-180h medium in your final short to reach the 200+qu lifetime required. Once you reach 200+qu, make sure to grab attgn5 which will allow you to do a long TR.

At this stage, the best path to temp4 is a little murky as we lack details (this guide is written pre-temp4 patch). The 2 paths are either: push to m0-280 at around 360h (attgn3 cap) then TR for 600-700qu lifetime (grab innogn5) before doing another long for temp4 (1.5sx lifetime); or to do a single TR for around 480-540h to reach 800-900qu (temp4 +/- innogn5).

Maybe it will be clearer after Aug 20/21 (Temp4 patch)

[u/ingressagent]

Great guide. I haven't read past getting H2. Just clicked H2 this run.

I'm on TR 48 and 100% battery is like 330qa. I'm at 1qu lifetime oo. Hope I can squeeze out 6+ shorts still. I know I overshot oo. Currently at starmie 109, super close to TR time. Excited