I completed all of Act 1 with an Aequor 'Counter' comp. Caecus, Nautlis, Golith, and Ramona. For parts of the story where Ramona isn't allowed I ran Celeste then later on Gdoll since I unlocked her. Now I'm running a Kath comp and clearing Hard Mode Act 1.

Very early on it won't generally matter much, but unless you plan to spend money the most efficient thing to do is use standard pulls for one realm, build your team, and push through content. You'll get standard awakeners from other realms when through pulling for Limited units from those other realms.

After you finish pulling your standards you switch to wheels and use your standard pulls there for the rest of your life. Commonly known as 'Wheel Jail'. Your goal is to pull for a single wheel until you +12 it. If a wheel is +12 you're able to equip 2 SSR Wheels onto a character instead of 1 SSR and one SR. Titan's Blade and Incalculable Favor are generally agreed to be the first two wheels you +12.

Ultra is considered a difficult realm to start with because their standard units aren't the best and their defensive options aren't great.

Caro gets HP regen through Crimson Furnace and Aequor has access to tranquil sea (white tentacle stance) that grants free shield. Ultra just has their ultra turn mechanic plus 1 'free' insight per turn, but that delays your ultra turn.

Castor is a must have if you plan to still run ultra (great shielding unit at E0 and can DPS at E3.) He pairs very well with Jenkins as well.

Hi Ira

Congrats on clearing Act 1. I like Aequor and I hope to get more Awakeners from them soon.

Originally posted by Ira:

Aequor 'Counter' comp. Caecus, Nautlis, Golith, and Ramona.

I just finished the Awakener Trials for Nautila & Goliath and, having played Caucus and Ramona already, see how that comp would be awesome!

Do you recommend Kath? I just completed "By the Silver Key" event and can grab an E0 copy of her. My other Choices are:
"Doll: Inferno" (haven't tried)
"Clementine" (not happening!)
"Corposant" (might help me switch into Aequor)
"Castor" (considering him, but seems party dependent. Do you think hes worth it?)
"Doresain" (Had a LOT of fun in his trail. I was leaning towards him BC I have a E2 Thais)
"Kathigu-Ra" (haven't tried)
"Pickman" (I Also like him, but I have WAY too many Chorus Awakeners)
"Pollux" (I liked him, but all the tier lists claim he's not good late game & takes too much investing)

Originally posted by Ira:

the most efficient thing to do is use standard pulls for one realm, build your team, and push through content.

Yeah, I think I have a team amidst my current list of awakeners, im just not sure who they should be. My current comp is pure Ultra. Here's a picture.
https://eo.steamhost.cc/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3625388102

my sustain SUCKS. I'm having to keep Horla in "Grief" mode for the healing BC Wanda and Winkle, despite BOTH being Wardens, aren't doing a great job keeping me alive. Which brings me back to my original question:
Can I keep my current comp if I get the right wheels? Do I spend my resources to upgrade Covenants?

Originally posted by Ira:

After you finish pulling your standards you switch to wheels and use your standard pulls there for the rest of your life. Commonly known as 'Wheel Jail'.

Thank you! I just read up on the dreaded, "Wheel Jail" and im going to start rolling for Titan's Blade and Incalculable Favor tomorrow, or Thursday. Do you think thats a good idea?

Originally posted by Ira:

Caro gets HP regen through Crimson Furnace and Aequor has access to tranquil sea (white tentacle stance) that grants free shield. Ultra just has their ultra turn mechanic plus 1 'free' insight per turn, but that delays your ultra turn.

Yeah, The deeper I get into Ultra, the worse I feel. I dunno how to get more sustain. Maybe the "Unstained Chronicle" Covenant set? the 6-piece will heal me after using a posse. Could put that on Wanda & Winkle.

Thank you so much for your input, Ira!

Originally posted by V1r7u3:

Do you recommend Kath? I just completed "By the Silver Key" event and can grab an E0 copy of her. My other Choices are:
"Doll: Inferno" (haven't tried)
"Clementine" (not happening!)
"Corposant" (might help me switch into Aequor)
"Castor" (considering him, but seems party dependent. Do you think hes worth it?)
"Doresain" (Had a LOT of fun in his trail. I was leaning towards him BC I have a E2 Thais)
"Kathigu-Ra" (haven't tried)
"Pickman" (I Also like him, but I have WAY too many Chorus Awakeners)
"Pollux" (I liked him, but all the tier lists claim he's not good late game & takes too much investing)

Doll: Inferno - Good unit but requires heavy investment to get her true potential. She is useable at E0-E3 but requires +7 duplicates to get her OE (Over Exalt.)
Corposant - Solid unit that works with discard. Not too investment heavy, but needs discard support which is lacking outside a few awakeners.
Castor - If you plan on sticking with Ultra then Castor is a must pull. He gets you tons of free shields through his 'Plumes'. At E3 he gets access to infinite damage scaling so he can be a DPS. E0 just gives you shields, weakness, and builds up a special stat (Corrosion) that other units can proc for extra damage.
Doresian - Requires heavy investment and falls behind in late game content.
Kathigu-Ra - Requires E3 to work (3 dupes + original). Big damage and shield numbers and infinite scaling with her E3. I wouldn't recommend her to start with honestly.
Pickman - Good Caro support but I wouldn't recommend using your free selection on him.
Pollux - Heavy investment unit.

I'd recommend Castor if you want to stick ultra or Doll: Inferno if you want to plan ahead and invest into her overtime.

Originally posted by V1r7u3:

What should my comp be, given my current roster of Awakeners?

Can I keep my current comp if I get the right wheels? Do I spend my resources to upgrade Covenants?

I'm not an expert by any means, but if you want to stick ultra I'd say Castor, Jenkins, Horla, and either Winkle or Ramona. Stay in Happiness Stance with Horla for free retain + Mana carry over. Castor will net you free shields through his plumes. Jenkins has scaling AoE cards + Swarm Impact will shred through bosses when combined with Castor 'Corrosion' stacks. Ramona can snag you free card + generate key flare or Winkle to give Alimus to Jenkins or Castor.

I'm not experienced enough to really tell you how long your comp is viable. Wheels might help some. I'd highly suggest switching to the 3 'Costco Wheels' which are: 'Frenzy', 'Emerge', and 'Greed'. Greed is the least needed and can be substituted with 'Gluttony' which lets you skip an 'Orison' engraving for +20% max HP twice. (+40% max HP total). A bigger HP pool will give you more wiggle room for mistakes.

I wouldn't invest heavily in covenants yet. I'd suggest looking up a Covenant Guide to get an idea of what stats you want and which to invest in first. After Act 1 you'll have most Covenants unlocked and more resources to start investing into them.

Originally posted by V1r7u3:

Thank you! I just read up on the dreaded, "Wheel Jail" and im going to start rolling for Titan's Blade and Incalculable Favor tomorrow, or Thursday. Do you think thats a good idea?

Once you decide on your core team and get enough pulls into them that you're satisfied then yes. Titan's Blade is the DPS Wheel (perfect on someone like Jenkins). Incal. Factor (Wasn't Favor, sorry.) is Skey regen + boosts your alimus regen so good support wheel.

Originally posted by V1r7u3:

Yeah, The deeper I get into Ultra, the worse I feel. I dunno how to get more sustain. Maybe the "Unstained Chronicle" Covenant set? the 6-piece will heal me after using a posse. Could put that on Wanda & Winkle.

Sustain will be an issue in Ultra for sure. I think some of my earlier suggestions in this post might help you a bit there.

Hope this has helped you. There are some good guides on the Reddit as well where people with much more experience than me share their thoughts.