Dwemer Motifs: Farming Tips

Lokustreign · July 2015

Save yourself the headache. Since it’s virtually impossible to find any kind of credible information regarding how to farm these motifs efficiently, I took a stab at it after doing what research I could and believe I’ve figured out the mechanic. I’m not going to speculate as to what ZOS’s intentions were when they originally nerfed the drop rates for these motifs, all I can tell you is what has worked consistently for me.

Unique Dwemer Ruin Cooldown

There is a global one-hour cooldown timer from the time you leave the dungeon to when all the containers repopulate in the given Dwemer instance. Not twenty minutes. Not ninety minutes. ONE HOUR! This mechanic is unique to Dwemer ruins.

Now, I know there is conflicting information out there that the one-hour cooldown is based off of discovering an epic recipe, but I’m more concerned with having the largest chance at finding one. More containers mean more chances. And for the most containers you have to wait one hour for them to fully reset. If you re-enter any Dwemer ruin before that hour is up you’ll notice that a large percentage of containers are empty.

RNG

You have to keep in mind that drops are subject to RNG (random number generator). You’re not guaranteed anything. It’s very possible you will get duplicate recipes…and that’s where a bit of luck comes into play.

That being said…out of 8 runs using this method, every single one has yielded an epic recipe. Seven have been Dwemer motifs, with only one duplicate, and one epic provisioning recipe (Hircine’s Meat Loaf).

Farming Method

Find and run a Dwemer ruin preferably within five levels of your current level—you can farm scraps for frames while you loot urns—in your silver or gold level areas. If you stick to VR content, you’ll also have a higher chance of finding rarer style materials, like Daedra Hearts, as well as superior (blue) and epic (purple) provisioning recipes.

Here’s a list: uesp.net/wiki/Online:Dwemer_Ruins

Kill all mobs. Loot all urns, backpacks, and chests.

There is no consensus on which containers have higher probabilities of dropping epic recipes, and it’s not worth it to follow unsubstantiated claims. Some people say larger urns, some say backpacks. Whatever. Loot everything and you won’t have to worry about all that nonsense.

Wait one hour…

Find a different Dwemer ruin preferably within 5 levels of your level. Rinse/repeat.

The reason I suggest finding another ruin instead of running the exact same one over and over is because if there is some kind of hidden mechanic that triggers diminishing returns on the loot tables in a given instance like most of all the other crap in this game, i.e. dolmens, mini world bosses, etc., you will bypass it by changing locations. After reading everything from ZOS and on the forums, this just seems like common sense to me.

Essentially, all you need are two Dwemer ruins near your level. And an hour wait in between looting. That’s it.

Happy hunting!

Nestor · July 2015

Lokustreign wrote: »

Some people say larger urns, some say backpacks. Whatever. Loot everything and you won’t have to worry about all that nonsense.

Wait one hour…

I have found a Dwemer Chapter in a Dwemer Jar (Pot?) anyway it was the smallest container you see in the Dwemer Ruins. And, this was actually outside the ruin, not inside it. It was the first one I found too.

Also, once you find a Motif, of any kind in a cell, that is the only motif you will find in that cell or building or delve. There are Scraps and other recipes to be found so searching on is recommended, but your not going to find another motif.

As for the hour, I think that is hit or miss as I have been in dwemer ruins where most of the containers were empty and this was right after logging in for the evening. So I think its more RNG. However there is a CDT on the motifs and you can't keep running a ruin over and over again. But, I have gone to another ruin in another zone about 25 minutes after finding a chapter and found another one. So, while you might get a better chance waiting an hour, I don't think it is necessary.

What we really need to find out is if the CDT is per account or per character. I think it is per account but I have not done enough testing to say that definitively.

Warraxx · July 2015

go to crown store, click to buy.

Lokustreign · July 2015

Nestor wrote: »

Lokustreign wrote: »

Some people say larger urns, some say backpacks. Whatever. Loot everything and you won’t have to worry about all that nonsense.

Wait one hour…

I have found a Dwemer Chapter in a Dwemer Jar (Pot?) anyway it was the smallest container you see in the Dwemer Ruins. And, this was actually outside the ruin, not inside it. It was the first one I found too.

Also, once you find a Motif, of any kind in a cell, that is the only motif you will find in that cell or building or delve. There are Scraps and other recipes to be found so searching on is recommended, but your not going to find another motif.

As for the hour, I think that is hit or miss as I have been in dwemer ruins where most of the containers were empty and this was right after logging in for the evening. So I think its more RNG. However there is a CDT on the motifs and you can't keep running a ruin over and over again. But, I have gone to another ruin in another zone about 25 minutes after finding a chapter and found another one. So, while you might get a better chance waiting an hour, I don't think it is necessary.

What we really need to find out is if the CDT is per account or per character. I think it is per account but I have not done enough testing to say that definitively.

Some really good insight. I appreciate it! I'll do more testing over the next week to refine my theories. But when I find 8 separate epic recipes in 8 runs...doesn't seem like luck at that point. All of which were on my main BTW (re: your point about account-wide vs. character-based CDTs). I'd ask you to try my exact method when you get a chance and post the results. Also, I am in the Daggerfall Covenant. The two ruins I've been switching between are Avanchzel (The Rift; VR 10 zone) and the Inner Sea Armature (Stonefalls; VR 6 zone). My level and alliance has some bearing on the relative drops in these instances, which is why I didn't post the exact names.

Nestor · July 2015

The other thing is I have a Love/Hate relationship with the increase in containers. I know in some of the more container populated ruins I am missing some containers. I like to farm for these in the ruins that actually have less containers, like the one on the Starter Island (forget which alliance now but it is the one where you help the pirates then go to Betnikh)

I really do think there is a cell variable that says, "I am happy put a motif in that cell now", so I am sure I have missed some in some of the larger ruins. I only recently started farming the Chapters in earnest. I had 2 of them from early on, then I found 9 more when I started farming for real, and bought the last 3 I needed.

Ackwalan · July 2015

Despite the nerf, the best place to get dwemer pages, is from the solo dungeon the fighters guild quest line sends you. It is the second part of the quest line and you get it around level 10. It scales to your level and as long as you don't complete the dungeon (don't click on the updates in the last room) you can go back and do it as many times as you like. The dungeon takes about 15 minutes to do, and I get a dwemer page about 70% of the time.

Lokustreign · July 2015

Ackwalan wrote: »

Despite the nerf, the best place to get dwemer pages, is from the solo dungeon the fighters guild quest line sends you. It is the second part of the quest line and you get it around level 10. It scales to your level and as long as you don't complete the dungeon (don't click on the updates in the last room) you can go back and do it as many times as you like. The dungeon takes about 15 minutes to do, and I get a dwemer page about 70% of the time.

I'm very aware that there are multiple ways to farm in this game. However, the purpose of my thread was to share a method of farming that is effective every single time. But from what I've read your method has always worked well. The only downside to it is that you have to hold on to that quest and not complete it, which is fine for an alt you don't care about...but for a main?

Lokustreign · July 2015

10 runs have yielded me 10 epic recipes.

2 out of those 10 have been duplicate Dwemer recipes and only 1 has been a provisioning rec (Hircine's Meat Loaf). I only have 3 more recipes to get before I've finished the entire Dwemer line...and I've done it with casual gameplay over about 3 days.

I re-tested my one-hour cooldown theory this morning and re-entered the delve a few minutes before the one hour was up and sure enough I didn't get an epic recipe.

I'm telling you this works. Try it. But follow the instructions exactly.

Phyyyyer · August 2015

I believe that maybe the one hour thing is true. Not meaning that the pots wont reset, because that is not true. If you go in a Dwemer cave and loot everything and don't find a purple or if you do find a purple...the pots will reset in 10 mins. What I don't think will happen is that you'll find a purple motif in this ten minute time.

If you go into a cave and farm and you do find a purple motif, then wait an hour, yea you WILL find another purple motif any time after that. You don't have to run to random caves to farm either. I learned about farming these caves like 4 days ago. Since then I only farmed ONE cave, one cave and only one cave. I've found every dwemer motif twice over in this ONE cave. The only thing is I wait exactly an hour.

The farm worked so well that I actually started a second character in the Ebonheart Pact just so I can farm the same exact cave. I switch off with them every hour on the hour and almost always find a purple motif.

I can say that you can't find two purple dwemer motifs on the same run, but you can find a purple recipe and a purple motif on the same run. I've done this. Also, yea the cave has an urn outside right in front of the entrance and I've found a dwemer motif in that also.

Not saying that running around different caves doesn't work. Of course it works as long as you wait the hour out. But why run around when you can farm the same cave over and over again.

One more thing, I just wait the hour, I'm not sure if motifs spawn again at the 45 minute mark, the 50 minute mark or what ever, I just know they don't spawn at the 10-15 minute mark.

I challenge anyone to run a dwemer cave that is know to drop a purple motif and NOT find one after farming for 15 minutes. It's not going to happen. Either that or RNg'sus is always on my side when I farm

josh.mccleskey_ESO · August 2015

I farm razaks wheel (vr 5 since im EP) every morning when I wake up and dont leave until I have one motif. 95% of the time I find it before Ive cleared the entire instance. Takes about 30 minutes as a vr 14 with 2h and bow to solo clear.
Im not farming for multiples or for the gold so Im content with one a day. As I get closer to having them all I get duplicates but so far its been very consistent.

Umad_BrO · August 2015

The dirty water I get my perfect roe from resets every hour, your plan here is very believable mate, thank you!!!!

marco.cuevas.ventob14_ESO · August 2015

Anyone had any luck in the vile laboratory? as this is the only one I can get to this point.