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The Quills Standing Guide (2026): Ranks, Eidolon Shards and Sentient Cores
Quills rank table, Sentient Core values, and Onkko's best wares
Last Updated on September 30, 2026
The short answer
The Quills want Sentient Cores: 250 standing for an Intact core, 750 for an Exceptional and 1,500 for a Flawless. Ranks 1 and 2 use Intact cores as the sacrifice, and ranks 3 to 5 use Eidolon Shards from Eidolon hunts. Rank 5 (Architect) costs 99,000 standing, 500,000 credits and 30 Eidolon Shards.
Reviewed September 30, 2026, current through Update 44 (Iceblade of Narin). Every number on this page has two sources; this page is re-checked after every major patch.
| Rank | Standing needed | Credits | Sacrifice items |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Mote | 5,000 | 30,000 | 10 Intact Sentient Cores |
| 2 Observer | 22,000 | 50,000 | 20 Intact Sentient Cores |
| 3 Adherent | 44,000 | 100,000 | 10 Eidolon Shards |
| 4 Instrument | 70,000 | 250,000 | 20 Eidolon Shards |
| 5 Architect | 99,000 | 500,000 | 30 Eidolon Shards |
Table of Contents
How to earn standing each day
- Finish The War Within and talk to Onkko in Cetus. Onkko takes your cores.
- Hunt Eidolons on the Plains at night. Vomvalysts drop Intact cores, and breaking Synovia joints on Teralysts, Gantulysts and Hydrolysts drops Exceptional cores.
- Keep the Eidolon Shards. A Teralyst drops 1, a Gantulyst 3 and a Hydrolyst 5, and ranks 3 to 5 need 10, 20 and 30.
- Farm Sentients elsewhere when the Plains are in daylight: Battalysts and Conculysts on Lua, and the Murex Sentients in Veil Proxima.
- Buy the Exceptional Sentient Core Conversion blueprint for 500 standing. It upgrades Intact cores to Exceptional ones.
- Trade fully built, max-ranked Amps, and any Narmer Isoplast (2,000 each), for extra standing.
- Save 10 and then 20 Intact cores for the first two rank-ups before you trade them in.
Core values
| Trade-in | Standing |
|---|---|
| Intact Sentient Core | 250 |
| Exceptional Sentient Core | 750 |
| Flawless Sentient Core | 1,500 |
| Narmer Isoplast | 2,000 |
What to buy at each rank
| Rank | Worth buying | Standing |
|---|---|---|
| 0 Neutral | Mote Amp blueprint | 500 |
| 1 to 4 | Amp prism, scaffold and brace blueprints | 1,000 to 2,500 |
| 1 Mote | Magus Vigor, Virtuos Null | 2,500 each |
| 2 Observer | Magus Husk, Virtuos Tempo | 5,000 each |
| 3 Adherent | Virtuos Fury; Amp gilding unlocks | 7,500 |
| 4 Instrument | Magus Cloud, Cadence, Replenish; Virtuos Strike | 10,000 each |
| 5 Architect | Virtuos Shadow, Virtuos Ghost, Magus Nourish and one more Magus arcane | 10,000 each |
| 5 Architect | Cetus Wisp | 2,000 |
Tips that save runs
- Ostron rank 3 needs a Cetus Wisp, but the Quills only sell one at rank 5. Do not wait on them for it.
- Every rank-up takes the standing in the table, so the full climb is 240,000 standing. At a 26,000 cap (Mastery Rank 20) that is 10 days if you hit the cap daily and buy nothing.
- The daily cap is 16,000 standing plus 500 per Mastery Rank, counted per syndicate, and it resets at 0:00 UTC. At Mastery Rank 20 that is 26,000 a day.
Mistakes that waste runs
- Selling every Intact core, then coming up short for the rank 1 and 2 sacrifices.
- Spending Eidolon Shards on other things before the rank 3 to 5 sacrifices.