Character just for crafting, do I need skill points?

Daenyres

So I want a character dedicated to crafting only. And I want to do it all, carpentry, blacksmithing, etc. Do I still have to have skill points to level her crafting to max? Am I forced to adventure with her as well? Can I get by without SP? I respec'd her a while back , she's level 14, and put every point into crafting lines. She has zero abilities atm. zero armor, zero weapons. I think I messed up though, because I'm thinking I need sp too? I'm confused and think I've messed her up. Any help appreciated.

JKorr

Yeah, kinda. You do need skill ponts, quite a few of them.

If you want to max out all the crafting skills:
1 Alchemy 21
2 Blacksmithing 26
3 Clothing 26
4 Enchanting 23
5 Jewelry Crafting 18
6 Provisioning 25
7 Woodworking 26
Totals: All 165 points

This is a good page; more information on the separate skills linked at the bottom: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Crafting

For example, for Smithing you'll need 25 skill points:
1 Metalworking 9
2 Keen Eye: Ore 3
3 Miner Hireling 3
4 Metal Extraction 3
5 Metallurgy 4
6 Temper Expertise 3
Totals: All 25

Once you get all the traits researched, you can respec and get back the points you used for the "reduce time to research and research more than one item at a time" skills.

Wandering_Immigrant

If you don't want to do quests with her you'll be mostly relying skyshards. That's what I did with my crafter, all her skill points are from skyshards and level up rewards. She's basically maxed out now, all she doesn't have is the consumption passives for provisioning and alchemy.

What I did to make it easy on myself was to stick with the overland skyshards ignoring delves, because they slowed me down. Anytime I found myself wanting to lay back and not do anything too demanding I'd hop on her and go clear a zone. It's pretty quick and easy doing one or 2 zones at a time sticking to overland with a map in front of you (I'm on console so no add-on).

Early on I gave her enough combat abilities to fill out her 2 bars, nothing is morphed except Bull Netch for the snare removal. The only combat passives she has are the roll Dodge speed boosts for bow and Bosmer. That's enough to get her through anything she needs to.

She now has every overland skyshard, and has cleared delves in 3 or 4 zones, she also has the most fully explored map out of all my characters. All wayshrines and set crafting areas discovered. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea doing things that way, but I enjoyed the process enough and I do prefer having a separate crafting character.

mague

Minimum is one point per profession. Ofc. you will reach lvl 50 with the one point setup.

Armann

You'll need at least 200-210 skill points for a functional adventuring character. That means just enough skills to fill both bars, all the class passives, armour passives and passives for two weapon skills. All crafting skills maxed and skill points spent on them except Keen Eye, Hireling and trait research skills.

A character that did all the main story quests of your faction and got all the skyshards in the zones for that faction should have enough to max all crafting skills, hirelings and research included. You wont have enough for adventuring skills though.

Dusk_Coven

Daenyres wrote: »

So I want a character dedicated to crafting only. And I want to do it all, carpentry, blacksmithing, etc. Do I still have to have skill points to level her crafting to max? Am I forced to adventure with her as well? Can I get by without SP? I respec'd her a while back , she's level 14, and put every point into crafting lines. She has zero abilities atm. zero armor, zero weapons. I think I messed up though, because I'm thinking I need sp too? I'm confused and think I've messed her up. Any help appreciated.

Daily writs give XP so eventually the toon will level up.
If you need Skill Points in a pinch go grab some easy skyshards at no-combat places, such as towns.
If you want to max your character in crafting, using your main adventuring toon is usually best because they end up with too many Skill Points. BUT, in the early stages, you'll probably find it more comfortable to offload a lot of the craftwork onto alts while you are getting that skill point buffer.

Try this guide: https://gq-game-mods.blogspot.com/2019/07/elder-scrolls-online-crafting-guide-for-new-players.html

Alinhbo_Tyaka

You can save some skill points by not using Keen Eye or keeping it at level 1. I have one character with level 1 and one with no points allocated and after getting use to looking for raw materials found I don't really need it. Also taking the hireling all the way to level 3 might not be useful depending upon how often you login, how long you are playing and how long you have between logins. I have level 3 on my main and stopped at 2 on alts.

Asardes

You don't even need to fill all passives. About 100 skill points suffice The minimum number is actually 89, if you want to get everything out of it you need 123. See the breakdown below.

Alchemy 11
- solvent proficiency 7
- chemistry 3
- laboratory use 1

Blacksmithing 15 (22)
- metalworking 9
- metal extraction 3
- temper expertise 3
- metallurgy 4 (until you finish research)
- hireling 3 (optional)

Clothier 15 (22)
- tailoring 9
- unraveling 3
- tannin expertise 3
- stitching 4 (until you finish research)
- hireling 3 (optional)

Enchanting 12 (18)
- aspect improvement 3
- potency improvement 9
- hireling (optional) 3
- runestone extraction (optional) 3

Jewelry Crafting 7 (11)
- engraver 4
- jewelry extraction 3
- lapidary research 4 (until you finish research, not as critical as the others)

Provisioning 14 (17)
- recipe quality 3
- recipe improvement 5
- chef 3
- brewer 3
- hireling 3 (optional)

Woodworking 15 (22)
- woodworking 9
- wood extraction 3
- resin expertise 3
- carpentry 4 (until you finish research)
- hireling 3 (optional)

For example you can get that many points by leveling to 50 (64), the tutorial(s) (1 or 2) and doing the starter island(s) of your alliance (2), your alliance zones (9.33 x 5 = 46.66, rounded to 47 with the Coldharbour tutorial shard, Daggerfall has 48 due to an extra quest in Glenumbra), and the next 9 quests from the main quest (the last one is locked behind Coldharbour completion). So that getting them will take quite a while and you'll have to do a full respec at the end to move everything into crafting.

ghastley

If the character is purely a crafter, then it's not that one that needs the Keen Eye or Hireling points. They can be on the roaming adventurer character, instead. The crafter needs the skill points in the ones that directly affect crafting, and can get back the research passives points when the research is complete. So that means your total requirements aren't much over 100.

In Alchemy, there's one passive that improves the effect a potion has on you. That one doesn't help in making them, so don't bother with it on the crafter. DO take it on the characters that use the potions.

Nestor

If you push your farming needs off to another character, you don't even really need Combat skills on your Crafter. A good Guild Hall will have all the Set Crafting Stations you would ever need so you do not even need to venture out from your house or town other than a direct port to the Guild Hall to make something for a Crafting Writ.

Although Combat does help as Decon of Mob Loot is the most efficient way to level Gear and Enchanting Crafting Skills

Daenyres

Thank you to everyone who replied. So my issue I'm running into is, I hit a cap on what recipes I can make and need skill points to unlock that perk further to make higher level recipes. But, since I don't adventure, I have run out of skill points.

Alinhbo_Tyaka

You are going to have to venture into the world to get a enough skill points to fill out the crafting passives and actives you need. As mentioned skyshards are a good way to get them quickly but I don't believe they will give enough skill points alone to max all crafts. They also require you to go into delves and public dungeons. My suggestion for this is to see if you can get a guild mate or friend to take you around to collect skyshards if you do not want to do any combat. In fact skyshard runs are a good activity for guilds to hold for newer players.

In the end I don't see how you can get enough skill points unless you do some adventuring and run some of the quests that provide skill points. If you don't wish to do this on your own as I suggested above maybe a guild mate or friend will help you out with collecting skill points by acting as your body guard. One way to do this would be to carry you through normal dungeons so you can complete the 1st time quest for a skill point or as you run the main quest lines.

Wandering_Immigrant

Alinhbo_Tyaka wrote: »

You are going to have to venture into the world to get a enough skill points to fill out the crafting passives and actives you need. As mentioned skyshards are a good way to get them quickly but I don't believe they will give enough skill points alone to max all crafts. They also require you to go into delves and public dungeons. My suggestion for this is to see if you can get a guild mate or friend to take you around to collect skyshards if you do not want to do any combat. In fact skyshard runs are a good activity for guilds to hold for newer players.

In the end I don't see how you can get enough skill points unless you do some adventuring and run some of the quests that provide skill points. If you don't wish to do this on your own as I suggested above maybe a guild mate or friend will help you out with collecting skill points by acting as your body guard. One way to do this would be to carry you through normal dungeons so you can complete the 1st time quest for a skill point or as you run the main quest lines.

Nah skyshards will defenitely get you more than enough without touching a single quest. Don't actually even need to go into delves I don't think, especially if you're not putting anything at all into combat. Though I would suggest having at least a one bar combat setup cause you will agro things, and most of the time you can just outrun them but if they're close enough to it they follow you to the shard.

@Daenyres start of by collecting shards in the starter zones. That's Bleakrock, Bal Foyen, Stros M'kai, Betnikh, and khenarthi's roost. Each of those zones has three skyshards, all overland (except khenarthi's Roost which has 6. Every 3 skyshards will get you a skill points so that'll get you a quick and easy 6 skill points to work with. If you're on console, this site here is the one I preferred using when I was doing my crafter.

https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Skyshards

If you're on PC it's even easier as there's some add-on or other people use, I don't know anything about that but someone else can fill you in I'm sure.

If you hate doing that your only choice is to do questing on the character. But, if you're still somewhat new to the game, like I was when starting this with my crafter, you might just enjoy the exploration side of it, like I did.

If you continue with this route into regular zones, just skip the delves (that's any skyshards numbered above 9 in the maps I linked), they'll slow you down, and you'll still get 3 skill points per zone without them.

You may want to invest in some gear that gives a boost go your speed and/or sneak radius ASAP, it'll make your life easier. You won't have to worry about keeping these upgraded with your level as you go because the boosts they provide don't scale. My crafter was still wearing level 20 Jailbreaker and Fiords sets at 160CP. if you happen to be on PS4 NA I'd be happy to help you get the gear, just PM me for my PSN. Also give them the steed mundus, it gives another 10% (I think) movement speed.

katanagirl1

There are quite a few suggestions here, but I’ll leave a few comments here in cause they are helpful. This is what I did for my last alt character, she is a crafter, but not my main crafter. She has enough points for all relevant woodworking, clothing, blacksmithing, and jewelry crafting as far as deconning at rank 10 to get the most return in terms of mats. She does those daily crafting writs at rank 10 too for the max rewards.

I did some of the main story quest and faction story quests, because you get skill points for them. She hit level 50 before she finished the main story and the quests in Stormhaven, though. You get one skill point for quests versus 1/3 skill point for skyshards.

I did the delves and public dungeons in all of the DC region and most of the EP region because they each have a skyshard. She is a PvP character, so I got all the skyshards in Cyrodiil. Even for PvE characters, this is possible to do on a campaign that is not very busy. I did that on my main character, which is PvE. There are overland skyshards for Cyrodiil and ones in delves too. IC sewers have skyshards as well as the city itself. That reminds me that I have not got all IC skyshards yet.

She also has enough skill points to PvP everyday, so it’s workable. I wanted her to be a farmer exclusively when I created her, but you do need skill points to do some defense while farming. I just enjoyed the class so much that she got promoted.

InAMinute

Daenyres wrote: »

Thank you to everyone who replied. So my issue I'm running into is, I hit a cap on what recipes I can make and need skill points to unlock that perk further to make higher level recipes. But, since I don't adventure, I have run out of skill points.

I had the same idea as you did, a nice stay-at-home crafter, at level 20 she is till wearing the starting gear with no upgrades. But like you I found the skill points very quickly ran out. The problem is only doing daily crafting writs gives very little experience, with patience your crafter will get to 50 and the 64 skill points are enough for a basic crafter but she will be behind her skill level for a long time.

Personally, in the end I gave up and she went out into the world to pick up the easy skyshards that were available. Fortunately I had been upgrading her riding skills each day (you never know, I may actually want to teach her to fight) so moving around wasn't too bad.

So each time she runs out of skill points I pick a zone and get the 8 or 9 easy shyshards on the overland and that's another 3 skill points (plus experience for finding things). Blacksmithing, clothing and woodworking are now in the 40's and so the squeeze for skill points is less.

A lot of the overland skyshards are easy to get, just, as mentioned, don't stray into delves or (shudder) public dungeons. If you're feeling especially adventurous you could get the Cryodill skyshards. The zone is considerably emptier of NPC enemies and if you can avoid the fights it's pretty clear of PvP enemies. My main has got all of them without killing a single player

tmbrinks

I just run around to get some skyshards, do public dungeons (the skill point from the "group" boss), putting offensive skills on my bar so that I can clear the delves with that character. In the process of leveling, with the level-up rewards, you get a skill respec scroll, so I would then just use that to then make them a full crafter.

ghastley

In each zone there a usually six skyshards you can find above ground, and the rest are in the delves and public dungeons. Those should be enough for a crafter, and the XP from the exploration to reach them will contribute more via level-ups. Avoid combat by running away, if you must. Once you've pulled the guard off, circle round and grab the shard.

Nestor

The easiest and fastest way to get your Crafter enough Skill Points to be a fully skilled Crafter (even without Keen Eye, Research Passives and Hirelings) is to go adventuring with them first. Fortunately, Overland is pretty easy so you don't need to go nuts leveling all your combat skills. I can do a Zombie Farm with 2 or 3 skills in my rotation.

Besides, as I stated above, decon of Mob Loot is the most efficient way to level Crafting Skills. It's quicker, easier and you earn gold and experience at the same time as your farming loot to decon.

LadySinflower

I think it will be pretty difficult for you to concentrate on crafting only and not put any points into other skill lines. Skill points come from leveling, but unless you're questing or doing dungeons, you level slowly. You can rely on skyshards to get your skill points for crafting, but at some point you have to fight to get to the skyshard. Some zones, like Craglorn, have fairly difficult mobs to get through on your way to the skyshards. If you have no weapon or other fighting abilities, you're weak even against wolves and imps. You have to be able to defend yourself. And you obviously have to fight to get to the skyshards in delves. Put at least six skill points in enough abilities to fill up your main ability bar. Scavenge the best armor you can find or get some crafted with training trait to help you level faster. That's probably the minimum you need to do.

It took me 1 year to do all of the research to be a 9-trait crafter. That can't be rushed or sped up. There are no shortcuts for that. Now at CP875, I'm sitting on about 20 skill points that I really don't know what to do with. I have all the actives and passives maxed for the skill lines relevant to my play style. I also have the crafting skill lines maxed. Once you finish all your research you can remove a bunch of skill points from the crafting lines to use in other places. I'm not in the game right now to be able to tell you which ones or how many. They are the ones that have to do with reducing research times and being able to research more pieces at once.

What I'm trying to say is that there are more than enough skill points in the game to have a fully maxed crafter who is also a bad-a$$ dps or great healer/tank. Putting all of your points into crafting early on is a mistake because you have to be strong to move through the game and acquire more skill points. And you're not a fully fledged crafter until all of your research is finished, something which is impossible to rush.

Make your character strong and put every spare skill point into crafting. You have to do both of these things to be a really successful player. Good luck on your journey.

katanagirl1

I guess the other thing to consider is why you want this toon to be a crafter. Is it because you want to be able to craft gear for her? If so, you might not have enough traits researched yet to craft the right sets. Do you just want to do crafting dailies? That is one way to level up crafting skills but deconning gear is also effective.

Daenyres

I want to have a crafter to make things I need for my other characters.

katanagirl1

So it sounds like maybe this crafter is your newest character? I’m just guessing here.

I have my main character as my crafter so it is easy for her to craft gear for lower level characters.

Yeah, you do need skill points each time you increase the rank of the craft or need to go from green provisioning recipes to blue, for example.

Perhaps you can get by with a limited number of skill points in combat skills. Once you unlock skills as you level up to better ones, you could respect some of the first ones to free up some skill points.

volkeswagon

I recommend using the toon you do all of the quests on and that you play most of the time on to craft because you will get so many skill points in the game that you will have plenty to level all crafting skills as well as combat skills. Plus you won't have to switch toons. Having a dedicated crafter is a pain in the butt because you are always switching toons to craft. Also when you find a print or motif you never know if your crafter already knows it or not. My main character is my grandmaster crafter. It has every skill unlocked that I want with 30 extra skill points sitting for future use

Malborn66

My main Crafter (Stamplar) concentrated on being combat capable and pumping Crafting skills as much as he was able too.
It was a bumpy ride as I was learning how to be a good stamplar, but after some learning and tweaking my setup to make it work he is now a Grand Master Craftsman and a competant fighter who has completed Cadwell's Gold.

Over time, less now that One Tamriel has come in, it is possible to treat the early regions in each of the three alliances as easier than the later ones making them less hard work. You will also get a couple of skill points while completing each of the regions main quests.

Malborn66
PC-EU

Wandering_Immigrant

volkeswagon wrote: »

I recommend using the toon you do all of the quests on and that you play most of the time on to craft because you will get so many skill points in the game that you will have plenty to level all crafting skills as well as combat skills. Plus you won't have to switch toons. Having a dedicated crafter is a pain in the butt because you are always switching toons to craft. Also when you find a print or motif you never know if your crafter already knows it or not. My main character is my grandmaster crafter. It has every skill unlocked that I want with 30 extra skill points sitting for future use

I don't find it to be a pain at all, it actually makes things easier for me. I'm never flipping between characters just to craft. I usually start each day by logging into my crafter, she'll do her daily writs, deconstruct any trash drops my other characters left in the bank overnight, she might do some master writs, or survey maps, or if I have a leveling character who's gonna need an upgrade soon she'll make at set for them. I have two chests in my house dedicated to consumables, one is for every variety of potions and poisons I would ever use and the other is for every variety of food. While I'm on her I make sure my stocks are filled, I usually make sure I have 100 of each common food, less for more expensive foods or foods I would only use for one or two characters, but enough that I won't have to worry about running out even if multiple characters pull from it throughout the day. Same concept for the potions and poison chest.

I can understand if someone has one main they use, it would make a lot more sense to just do everything on that character. But any more than that and you'd be switching back and forth anyway unless you were to max crafting on all of them. But I have 15, so having one character who essentially exists just to manage the rest of my account simplifies things by keeping all of those activities in one centralized location, and her not being an adventuring character allows me to dedicate her entire inventory to things like surveys and master writs and things waiting to be put on a trader.

FlopsyPrince

Getting enough skillpoints on my main took a while, but I was glad I did that since she now has more skillpoints than she can use. (A pet sorc)

She also has researched all lines and can make most things. I am still filling out motifs, but that will probably be true until I quit playing ESO, which is nowhere in the plans now. Too many motifs to know/learn.

Malborn66

ZOS insist on keeping on feeding in new Motifs faster than I can get them...
Malborn
PC-EU

Asardes

Malborn66 wrote: »

ZOS insist on keeping on feeding in new Motifs faster than I can get them...
Malborn
PC-EU

If you have several auxiliary crafter characters you'll afford them without breaking a sweat

volkeswagon

though my main is my master crafter and knows all the motifs and recipes i have all 18 of my toons leveled in all crafting. That way I can do crafting writs and get the gold mats, master writs and surveys. It is also a boon come Anniversary event because that's 18x7 anniversary boxes everyday for 90 minutes work.