How I DRASTICALLY cut down levelling Scrying and Excavation on my alt

MehrunesRazor · May 20

Im leaving this here to help anyone like me who the first time they tried levelling the Antiquarian skill line on an alt, only to find out that you have to do the whole rinse-and-repeat green-to-blue lead starting in Artaeum then the whole mess with purple leads throughout the world and then get hung up at about level 6, where youre all out of purple leads and you know it took hours to move the needle even a little on that particular level with the rinse and repeat method.

I REALLY wish i knew then what I know now, cuz i basically all i knew then was i either had to pony up another 30 bucks and just buy the power from the crown store or do what i ended up doing instead which was give up at that point and just play the game till i naturally got drops otherwise i would lose my mind rinsing and repeating the green-blue-purple cycle all the way to level 7. And all just to get the one and only thing i needed from the Antiquarian skill line - the Keen Eye treasure chest power that makes running dungeons so much more worth it its not even funny.

Today, just by chance i was taking a really good look at the way the Scrying and Excavation lines really work, and like anything else in this game the devil is in the details, and if you can discover the devil, you can get around him and get your shiny without the egregiously tedious grind, contrary to what anybody on youtube will tell you.

Looking at the Scrying line, you can see that you cant scry for anything above the Antiquarian insight level. Ok, so naturally i assumed i couldnt Excavate anything above that level either. Rookie mistake, gotta read the fine print and look at the Excavation line for a matching rule. No matching rule, no matching restriction. One of the things i do love about this game.

Long story short, you dont need to have any requirement to dig up a lead, only to scry for it. So, my main who is fully levelled can EASILY and quickly scry for any and all leads, but more importantly, I had tons of old gold leads i thought I couldnt dig up with my alt, but i just scryed for them, 5 at a time on my main which took minutes, then switched to my alt to dig them up and laughed when i hit level 7 about an hour later.

Now im Level 7 and didnt have to dig up anything but gold leads on my alt, no scrying Antiquarian insight necessary. Please just leave this here for anyone like me who got on google and couldnt find anything other then the boilerplate rinse-and-repeat method that can have you trying to level it for days. thx.

MehrunesRazor · May 20

WhiteCoatSyndrome · May 20

IIRC I tried this and ran into the issue that finding and digging the thing up without the shovel, trowel etc. for the really deep items was hit or miss. I’ve been meaning to level that line on most of my alts though, so maybe I’ll give it another shot.

ghastley · May 20

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

IIRC I tried this and ran into the issue that finding and digging the thing up without the shovel, trowel etc. for the really deep items was hit or miss. I’ve been meaning to level that line on most of my alts though, so maybe I’ll give it another shot.

Those are Excavation perks, which you can (and should) take along the way. You will need to invest some skill points in Excavation, but none in Scrying. I get by with auger, brush and trowel upgrades, and find shovel not needed. Trowel is capable of damaging the artifact, so often used at half-mark for safety.

And you still need to find the leads, purple or gold, or neither character can do their part. That remains the tedious part.

adirondack · May 20

Void crystal anomaly in cold harbor. Pretty easy to find harvesting plants.

Veinblood1965 · May 20

This actually does work. It's hard to do when your excavating is like level 3 but doable. You just have to find the item on your first try, if you don't abandon and then try again. Once you find it you can dig it up quickly.

tincanman · May 20

Thanks for tips @MehrunesRazor - appreciated.

Personally, I'd have to agree with others that it's difficult for lower excavation skilled/levels to dig up the purple/gold leads but it's interesting that doing so boosts scrying, too. So, again, thanks for that.

Using a range of characters, beyond the horrible grind for the initial character, at different scrying/excavation levels to scry/dig-up level appropriate leads has worked well enough for me thus far. It is slower but, overall, less noticeably painful than the focused grind approach.

droz8881 · May 26

tyvm for the tip. I'm currently re-leveling antique skills on my alt. this might help me speed things up at later levels. i'm guessing i have to level the excavation a bit first.

btw, my account is currently bugged - even though my main has maxed the antique skills, i cannot purchase the skip from the crown store at the moment.

allochthons · June 11

MehrunesRazor wrote: »

Long story short, you dont need to have any requirement to dig up a lead, only to scry for it. So, my main who is fully levelled can EASILY and quickly scry for any and all leads, but more importantly, I had tons of old gold leads i thought I couldnt dig up with my alt, but i just scryed for them, 5 at a time on my main which took minutes, then switched to my alt to dig them up and laughed when i hit level 7 about an hour later.

This is an excellent tip. Thank you.

adirondack wrote: »

Void crystal anomaly in cold harbor. Pretty easy to find harvesting plants.

I'm using a new 2nd account, and needed to power level scrying on my new toon (no CP, no toon with leveled antiquities), and the Void Crystal Anomaly is OP. Get someone to give you the Coldharbour wayshrines, then farm alchemy mats in the Hollow City 'til you get the lead, dig it up. Alchemy mats in Hollow City, dig up the anomoly. By far the fastest I've ever gone from 7-10, even on my main account with alts and digging up the Dwarven Mount or one of the crafting stations.

Only rarely did I have to pick more than 3-4 alchemy nodes before I got the lead, I usually didn't even make it all the way around the pond near the wayshrine.
(Of course, now I have 25 void crystal anomalies in my Sword-Singer's Redoubt, made a nice bridge with them rotated upside down).

JustLovely · June 12

adirondack wrote: »

Void crystal anomaly in cold harbor. Pretty easy to find harvesting plants.

Yes, but that is gold level item, so can't dig for it until already mostly leveled.

WolfCombatPet · June 19

Thank you for this info.

What an enormous time saver!