Antiquities Grind Guide - Elder Scrolls Online

In the first part of the Antiquities Grind Guide we are going to take a look how the experience points are set up for the Antiquities system in the Elder Scrolls Online.

To reach the maximum level you will have to gain a total of 700 points in the Scrying and Excavation skill line. They level up in a similar speed and achievements also count towards experience points.

Leads Experience Gain

Depending on the quality of the lead that you work on, you will gain a different amount of experience points. At first, you will only be able to use green leads, once you reach level 3 you can also work on blue leads and so on.

You can get green, blue, purple and gold leads at any level. However, you will need a specific level to actually be able to use the leads! For example, you can get gold leads even if you are at level 1 or you don’t have the skill-line at all, but you can only use them (scry, excavate) when you are at minimum level 7.

In the second part of the Antiquities Grind Guide we are going to take a look how you can start grinding and get from the first level to the third level in both the Scrying skill line and Excavation skill line.

Level 1-3 Grind

By far the fastest way to get from level 1 to level 5 is in the Artaeum zone. The zone is very small, that means you don’t have to run very far to get to the next digging site, that way you can repeat this process a lot faster, whereas on bigger maps you will have to travel further.

Important:

Now all you have to do is grind with the green lead in Artaeum (or any other place) and repeat the process till you hit level 3. The green lead can be used as many times as you want, therefore you can always instantly repeat the process and gain experience and because we are in the Artaeum zone, the next digging hole isn't far away!

Level 3-5 Grind

From level 3 to 5 we also stay in Artaeum zone for the fastest leveling process. With level 3 you will be able to use blue leads. Once you finish the basic green lead it will always include a blue lead as a reward. And there we already have our next hamster wheel.

Image: Here you can see once you complete the green lead you will always obtain a blue lead, the only requirement is that you are level 3 to get the blue lead.

Level 5-7 Grind

Here is where it gets a bit more interesting, the concept is the same, but now we are going through ALL the zones in the Elder Scrolls Online. We will once again start with the Artaeum zone.

Now we have the problem that we can’t repeat this process, because the purple lead won’t come back! Only the green lead and the blue lead are repeatable with the above method, but don't worry!

Solution: Repeat the process in all zones. That way we get to do the green lead, blue lead, purple lead and move onto the next zone. That is possible because we get a green lead in each zone as a “freebie/starter lead”.That should get you to level 7 for both the Scrying skill line and the Excavation skill line. Now you can technically already use gold leads, to get the different parts needed for Mythic items.

Level 7-10 Grind

To make the last jump to level 10 we are going to be collecting as many gold leads (or any other quality lead) as possible by killing monsters, bosses etc. That way you can already be productive while you are grinding up to level 10 in both the skill lines.The best ways to farm leads:

You can find a full list of all the lead drop locations in the Antiquties Location List Guide. With this method you can already get plenty of leads before even reaching level 10!