DCUO: New Character 2026

We're in another "Ultimate Recruitment" event in DC Universe Online. While I was never motivated enough to bring in another alt, it is is interesting to see how strong they could be now before the first mission on Brainiac's ship even starts. For context, I have a 14 year old account that was Legendary for a good 13 of the 14 years. In this article, I'll limit it to just things we can do for FREE (or already purchased on the account):

1. Marketplace:  You can redeem all of the account bound items, things that are redeemable on every character. This will certainly get you some if not all of the style counter feats (100 being the final). You may even get feats from Legends you purchased. I think the only thing you can't redeem yet are the base themes.
2. Event Reclaim: This is the newest and most SP loaded item. Go through each category carefully and reclaim all. Each one gives 1 SP and most will make you more powerful. You can have elite backup and elite orbital to start the game (though you can't equip both at once)! 3 of the allies that are partially leveled also come out of this (Superboy, Constantine, Swamp Thing) though you need to level up a little to use them. Iconic abilities are also available to be ready for when that opens up.
3. FREE Style Unlocks: Again, only unlocking the FREE ones, each category will have a handful labeled as such. Some were from special events and some random capsule styles had free unlocks. These also add to the style counter feats and at the very least the Future Batman style should complete for a feat too.

When I did all of this on a new character, I got 25 SP... much more than you're allowed to use at level 1. But this allows you to start with all of your main weapon's moves. I always thought the game felt broken starting with 1 move and then 2-3 once you get off the ship. So you can get all of this without spending anything yet. That makes for a significantly more power character at level 1 and you can play properly without that incomplete feeling of missing controls. 

Obviously you can take it super far and unlock all styles and feats, but then you're wasting money as many of these will come naturally by leveling.