Power-Leveling

Once you’ve grasped the nuances of your chosen trade skill(s), it’s time to put your knowledge into practice.

Master Alchemist

To maximize your Alchemy prowess as quickly as possible, begin with a large repository of reagents and solvents, based on the previous tables indicating the most helpful potions and poisons—dozens of each solvent type up to Star Dew, and hundreds of the two to four most easily found reagents that you know combine with the same effect.

Start by making potions based on the previous recommended formulas, using the most common ingredients. It doesn’t matter if the effects of the potion are beneficial or detrimental; you’re at an Alchemy Station to create as many potions as you can, using the reagents you’ve found most easily. For this reason, think about using reagents such as Wormwood, which you may not normally employ.

As you create potions, your Inspiration level rises. It also rises when you discover the effects of the reagents you’re mixing, though it isn’t necessary to “unlock” all these effects. If you have Champion Points, be sure to access the Tower and Inspiration Boost for even more Inspiration-accruing while you’re concocting.

Once you reach Alchemy Level 10, spend your Skill Points on the Solvent Proficiency skill. Continue creating simple two-reagent potions, but use better-quality water (Pristine) so the potions are Level 20. This gives you more Inspiration for each potion.

Continue with this technique, spending Skill Points on Solvent Proficiency as follows:

Alchemy Level 20: Rank 3, use Cleansed Water

• Alchemy Level 30: Rank 4, use Filtered Water
• Alchemy Level 40: Rank 5, use Purified Water
• Alchemy Level 48: Rank 6, use Cloud Mist
• Alchemy Level 49: Rank 7, use Star Dew

Keep pumping out the potions until you hit Alchemy Level 50 and unlock the Master Alchemist Achievement. Your potion reagents don’t need to change unless you want to create more useful potions; power-leveling is done to get you to Level 50 as quickly as possible.

Master Blacksmith, Clothier, and Woodworker

Leveling up the Blacksmithing, Clothing, and Woodworking trade skills all work pretty much the same way. Simply refining raw materials does not reward you with Inspiration, but there are methods to increase these skills.

Begin by gathering any appropriate materials you see in your adventures. These items might be simply lying around, but are more frequently found on enemies you’ve slain.

Another option is to find guild players willing to give (or sell) you these item types. If you can, work together as a team. Each member should gather and create a variety of items independently. Then swap collections for a greatly increased cache of items available for deconstruction.

Or you can join a trading company and, with enough gold, purchase their selection of items.

You need to amass a large number of these items. Instead of selling them, return to the appropriate crafting station and deconstruct them. Keep deconstructing, and watch your Inspiration Points increase!

You can also craft items. You should be doing this independently of power-leveling, so pick items that don’t use up a lot of raw materials. However, nothing quickens your Inspiration Bar faster than breaking apart a newly discovered item!

Continue to locate different items and deconstruct them, along with researching traits, until you reach Level 50. As you level up, become certified, add a Hireling, and complete writs to obtain more esoteric gems you can imbue into your creations.

Master Enchanter

If you’re hoping for a rapid ascension through the ranks of Enchanting to Level 50, exercise some patience. This trade skill is the most laborious of the lot! Although you’ll spend a lot of time finding and learning the effects of runes, extracting glyphs always yields more Inspiration than creating them. Therefore, it’s imperative you partner with another player, ideally one close to your own Enchanting level, and start to create glyphs of the maximum possible level, based on the Potency Rune table shown earlier in this chapter. Then trade glyphs with each other and extract them. This yields a lot more Inspiration compared to making and deconstructing them yourself. Crafting furnishings is an alternative for Enchanters that does not require a partner.

Master Provisioner

Here’s an efficient plan for leveling up Provisioning quickly and effectively. It enables you to reach Level 50, Master Provisioner status, in the shortest amount of time:

First, be sure you have 13 or more Skill Points you can place into Provisioning Passive Abilities, but don’t pick the abilities yet.

Instead, visit multiple Guild Stores at a frequented Merchant hub (visiting other traders also yields recipes and ingredients). Then peruse the recipes each trader has for sale.

Look for Arcane recipes (blue-colored), as these give you a better rate of return regarding Inspiration gains, compared to other colors. This tactic assumes you’re concentrating solely on quickly leveling up Provisioning. Browse the list of recipes, and pay special attention to the “Ingredients” and “To Create” parts of the recipe information box.

“Ingredients” displays the base materials needed for the food or drink in question. Any you’re carrying are listed in white text. Any missing ingredients are grayed out. Choose recipes with ingredients you have, or that you know are easy to find.

“To Create” lists the skills needed to make the recipe. The skills you have are color-coded green; those you don’t are color-coded red. Though you can stick to creating hundreds of easier recipes and gradually gain Inspiration, a quicker way is to purchase a single recipe that requires the Recipe Improvement skill at Ranks 2-6, even if you haven’t unlocked the whole skill line yet.

If you have Champion Points, be sure to access the Tower and Inspiration Boost for even more Inspiration-accruing while you’re cooking.

At a Cooking Fire, consume all the recipes you’ve bought—assuming you’ve looted enough animals, barrels, drawers, and other scenery, and gathered the ingredients for the recipes you’ve bought.

Note the Provisioning level in your Skills > Craft > Provisioning menu. Make Normal/white recipes until you reach Level 1, then switch to Magic/green, then to Arcane/blue until you reach Level 20. Then switch to purple if you wish.

To start with, look at the Cook menu and choose the food you can create with the highest level, as this gives you the most Inspiration points. Create as many of these as your ingredients allow. As you’re creating the dozens of consumables, keep an eye on your Provisioning rank at the top left of the screen. When this hits the rank numbers listed below, start spending your Skill Points! Here’s what to get:

Provisioning Power-Leveling

* Optional. It’s better to spend Skill Points ranking up your Recipe Improvement Passive Ability so you can craft consumables of higher and higher levels.

When you’re creating dozens upon dozens of consumables, try to find recipes at the level you intend to reach. For example, when you reach Level 30, look for Level 35 recipes to quicken the filling of the Inspiration Bar.

Obviously, you’ll need to constantly find ingredients—for the recipes you’re continually creating, as well as new ingredients for recipes you access as your Recipe Improvement skill rank improves. As you purchase additional ranks, switch to the better recipes you’ve purchased earlier. They don’t necessarily need to be purple.

You can spend points on other Provisioning abilities if you wish, but they aren’t necessary if you’re purely focused on leveling up this trade skill to reach Master Provisioner status and access Legendary/gold recipes as soon as possible.

When you reach Level 50, and Master Provisioner, keep creating recipes to unlock the last two ranks (5 and 6) of Recipe Improvement. Also consider purchasing the three ranks of Hireling to receive automatic ingredients. At this point, leave your cooking and become certified, and start a Provisioning crafting writ—a small quest detailed previously.