HQing stuff

[Caimie_Tsukino]

I mean, using CS2 to get the thing up to the point where one more would finish it and then go back and try to get the HQ up or the other way around.

That will totally depend on the situation.

Example 1:
If you plan to use 2x CZ in your rotation, you need to do 2 things - (i) immediately re-activate CZ when the first CZ falls off, so that you have more steps on the 2nd CZ to get back the invested CP, (ii) delay your Byregot phase as much as possible to buy more steps to recover the CP from your 2nd CZ. Thus, in this case, naked CS II's can become "fillers" and be very, very useful! When the first CZ is only 1 or 2 steps away from falling off, using CS II to help finish off the CZ, then activating 2nd CZ can be a very nice choice. Alternatively, before using MM2, you have like 20 durab left... Activating SH II there for a Hasty would not be ideal. Thus, using a naked CS II can bring down durab to 10 before you use MM2. Alternatively, after using MM2, maybe you still have a lot of steps before you can get back the invested CP from the 2nd CZ, so using some CS II first could be a very nice choice to grab back the necessary CP for the final Byregot phase... and then finally wrap up with a single CS II.

Example 2:
Let's say you were in a Waste Not phase - you just did SH II, WN, and is about to push 4x Hasty Touches. Then an EXCELLENT suddenly popped up! Of course you can't miss it! Use Precise Touch immediately! But now the next step is on Poor condition. So to avoid it, you can now use CS II on progress instead!

Ultimately, you must know exactly how many CS II you need to complete your item. And in both examples above, Ingen2 was NOT planned to be used at all. If Ingen2 was to be used to help progress, there will less flexibility with naked CS II's.

But like I said before, if it takes more than 4 CS II to complete the item, then you should not be using naked CS II anymore. Take MN_14's advice, and use something else... Muscle Memory, Rapid Syn, Name+Brand of elements, or CS II under Ingen2 (which will cluster your CS II at the end) etc etc