Armor Trait Gems

Trait = Gem = Trait Properties
Divines = Sapphire = increases Mundus Stone effects
Exploration = Garnet = Increase exploration experience gained
Impenetrable = Diamond = Increase resistance to Critical hits
Infused = Bloodstone = Increase armor enchantment effect
Reinforced = Sardonyx = Increases total Armor and Spell Resistance
Sturdy = Quartz = chance to avoid decay when defeated
Training = Emerald = Increase armor skill line experience with this armor type
Well-Fitted = Almandine = Reduces the cost of Sprinting

Weapon Trait Gems

Trait = Gem = Trait Properties
Charged = Amethyst = Increases enchantment charges
Defending = Turquoise = Increases total Armor and Spell Resistance
Infused = Jade = Increase weapon enchantment effect
Powered = Chysolite = Reduces the cooldown of weapon enchantments
Precise = Ruby = Increase Weapon and Spell Critical values
Sharpened = Fire Opal = Increase Armor and Spell Penetration
Training = Carnelian = Increase weapon skill line experience with this weapon type
Weighted = Citrine = Increase weapon attack speed



What is a Trait?
A Trait is a special property added to a crafted item which makes that item do nifty things. Traits exist on weapons, armor, and jewelry. The kinds of Traits you can get are different, depending on what kind of item it's on. For instance, there is a set of Traits specific to armor, and a different set of Traits that apply to weapons. Some Traits might seem the same between item types, but they will take gemstones which are unique for that item's version of the trait. Traits are calculated by a percentage value, such as "increases weapon attack speed by 20%" The percentage value of a Trait is increased with increased improvement quality of the item. For example, here is how Traits increase when you improve a bow with the Charged trait:

• White - increased charges by 21%
• Green - increased charges by 27%
• Blue - increased charges by 33%
• Purple - increased charges by 39%

Traits are not the same thing as an Enchant. You can have both Traits and Enchants on an item. Naturally, Enchantments are put on the item after it's already been crafted. A personal note: Trait Crafting might be considered to be Advanced Crafting. It's not hard to do or understand, but it has enough complexity and time-commitment to separate out the hard core crafters from the casual crafters. There is nothing wrong with the concept of ignoring all this, only learning to craft basic level items to help yourself and friends to gear up reasonably nice, and leaving it at that! I think the concept behind this complexity is to help our ESO community value and treasure the true Craft Masters that spend the time and effort to tackle this particular small mountain.


Who Uses Traits?
Crafters who use Traits are:

• Blacksmith
• Clothier
• Woodworker

How do I Learn to Craft Traits?
You must research an item, in order to unlock a trait for that item. For example, if you want to craft a bow with Precision Trait on it, you must first find a bow that already has the Precision Trait and then research it at the appropriate crafting table. Researching an item to learn its Trait will destroy that item. You have to unlock each trait for each item separately. So that means you really research # of items x 8 traits!!

• Blacksmithing = 112 research traits
• Clothier = 112 research traits
• Woodworking = 48 research traits

The lesser items for Woodworker is because they have only 6 craft items while the other two smith crafts have 14 each. This is not the reason why I specialize in Woodworking.... I promise!

Research has a cooldown timer which varies per item based on how many traits you've already unlocked. The first time you research an item it takes 6 hours before it completes the Trait unlock. The time for each item after that doubles.

• Item 1 = 6 hours
• Item 2 = 12 hours
• Item 3 = 1 day
• Item 4 = 2 days
• Item 5 = 4 days
• Item 6 = 8 days
• Item 7 = 16 days
• Item 8 = 32 days

At first, you can only research one item at a time for your craft. This means if you craft bows, staffs, and shields and you research a bow, you won't be able to research a staff and a shield at the same time. There is a skill you can spend skill points in that decrease research times and increase # of items you can research:

• Blacksmithing - Metallurgy
• Clothier - Stitching
• Woodworker - Carpentry

These skills have 3 ranks available, and they seem to be the same for all three smith crafts:

• Rank 1 - Requires craft rank 8 - Research time reduced by 5%, Research 2 traits simultaneously
• Rank 2 - Requires craft rank 18 - Research time reduced by 10%, Research 2 traits simultaneously
• Rank 3 - Requires craft rank ? - Research time reduced by 20%, Research 3 traits simultanously.

* these figures might not be accurate, I'm still trying to personally verify them to be certain! I have not been able to get the unlock requirement craft level for rank 3

Here's some interesting mathematics that @JSylvan worked out. If you level up enough to maximize this skill in your craft, you reduce the research time needed for 8 traits per item from a total of 1,530 hours (63.75 days) to 1,224 hours (51 days)

Want to see something really scary?
1 item, all 8 traits = 63.75 days
14 items, all 8 traits = 892.5 days


Finally, if you work in two separate crafts, you can research an item from each craft at the same time. For instance, you can research something from Blacksmithing and Woodworking at the same time if you want to. You can research the trait from an item crafted by another player. Many thanks to Elder Moot for all the mathematics assistance in this section!


How do I Get a Trait on an Item?
Items dropped in the world can sometimes have a Trait already attached to it. Otherwise, a Trait can only be applied to an item during the process of creating it in the crafting system. Adding traits to crafted items might be considered either Intermediate or Advanced level crafting, not because it is difficult, but because
it takes a commitment of time into researching traits. Another aspect of advanced crafting is the special set-bonus crafting benches. Traits affect your ability to craft the set-bonus gear, because you are required to have 2 (or more) traits learned on the specific item you want to craft. For instance if you want to make a Death's Wind style axe, you need to have unlocked 2 traits on the axes before you can craft it. The number of traits required to craft set-bonus gear goes up as you get to higher leveled set-bonus benches. For example the Magnus' Gift set-bonus gear shown in the ESO Blacksmithing Walkthrough video requires that you have 4 traits unlocked. You can add a trait to a crafted set-bonus item when you craft it.


What are Trait Gems?
Traits are applied to items with a Trait Gem during the craft process. You do not have to craft an item with a trait, it is optional. Adding a Trait to an item only costs you one Trait Gem, unless you are crafting a set, which requires a Trait Gem for each of the traits added. There is a gem unique to each type of Trait.


How do I Get Gem Traits?
Gem Traits are a semi rare loot item found in loot containers such as barrels, crates, trunks, bookshelves, nightstands, etc. You have a chance to get a trait gemstone when you refine raw materials. You also can get Trait Gems by deconstructing an item. You will always get the Trait Gem that matches the trait on an item you deconstruct. So for instance if you deconstruct a bow with Charged, you should have a chance to get Amethyst. To clarify, you don't always get a gem when you deconstruct, but if you do it will be the one for the trait already on the item you tear down.

Your chances of getting a trait gem are higher based on how you try to do it. For instance the % chance of a trait gem for refinement of raw materials is approximately 10%. It seems to vary a bit based on which raw material you refine--Iron ore versus Maple wood versus Jute/Rawhide Scraps. You have a higher % chance of a trait gem from deconstructing a white traited item. Then the % chance for getting a trait gem goes up when you deconstruct a green traited item, and so on. I am still in the process of getting good percent values in my tests for these item drops. Sadly I was hoarding all my greens for researching

Q&A
Can I research an item with a trait crafted by another player?
Yes you can!

I see 10 traits on things. There are Ornate and Intricate traits?
Yes! These traits are not craftable. I believe this is because both of them give you a special gain within the game mechanic. One gives you extra gold when you sell to a vendor, one gives you extra IP when you deconstruct it. Imagine how this could be exploited if we could craft them ourselves!

Does the Intricate trait work?
The Intricate trait is supposed to give you extra Inspiration Points (IP) when you deconstruct it. As of our last research, done by @McLeod25 and @Mordraig, they compared IP gains from three versions of a duplicate item. Wearing the Intricate item did not boost IP gain when you deconstructed either a world dropped or player crafted item. But deconstructing the Intricate item did give you more IP than if you'd deconstructed a non-intricate version of the same item.