How to level up fast solo?

aaron_campion · February 2017

Whats the fastest way to level up if your a solo player. Ive tried grinding in skyhold catacombs but i find my character just aint good enough to deal with the amount of enemies. So would doing quests be faster or is there somewhere i could grind

Soella · February 2017

On low DPS toon probably the fastest (though pretty ugly) way is to join Anchor trains in Auridon or Alik'r.
I personally always run all main quest lines - a bit less XP/hour but skill points, sky shards and mage books (if it is relevant for you) cover the difference.

RavenSworn · February 2017

I usually use the three 'Ds' 1) dolmens (or anchors) 2) dungeons public 3) dungeons group.

I would go to one zone, go for a dolmen round, grind in a public dungeon and finish up the group quest in there as well as questions for a random group dungeon.

SydneyGrey · February 2017

Like they said ... go to the Dark Anchors (dolmens) that have several people there already. That way, you won't get killed, but will still level up and get an equal share of the loot at the same time.

I never do dolmens alone because I'm a squishy sorceror, but I've done them with only one other person there. When there are three or more other people, there is no challenge at all.

Someone else said to go into a public dungeon ... these are group areas, so don't go in alone! (Or if you do, prepare to die a lot.) If you can go in with a group, though, it's a great way to level.

helediron · February 2017

Grinding is waste of time. Skill points are bigger effort than leveling now.

Fastest way to make a useful toon is to sweep through areas and collect skyshards, pick mage guild books (if needed), do dolmens, public dungeons, worldbosses and those quests that drop skillpoint and can be done without prerequisites. E.g dolmens give big XP when done first time. It's better to move forward than grind same dolmens repeatedly. You might want to grind the occasionally few rounds to refresh jewelry.

With some cp everything is soloable excluding some worldbosses. When hitting vet i have usually about 120 skill points and /played is about 30 hours. This is much more than grinding but i ended up collecting skyshards anyway and lost the advantage from grind. Most skill lines and one weapon are at 50 or very close to hit it. Excluding guilds skills/passives the toon is ready for one build.

As an AD i do following quests:
- Khenarti: none, usually pick skyshards and loot chests until got full Training set.
- Auridon: Vulkhel Guard because running around preparing toon anyway, Tanzeewil
- Grahtwood: Southpoint, Reliquary of Stars, Rahjin's Mantle
- Greenshade: none, too long chain
- Malabal Tor: Velyn Harbor to clear it, maybe Drabul, Belarata
- Reaper's March: none, too long chain
- Coldharbour: Teleport to Hollow City, Groundskeeper, east: Great Shackle, west: Library of dusk, Woodelves vs. Lamias, the Ayleid king and one city quest (like return a lute from delve to Inn) to unlock the northern part.

Options if needed:
- Skip Coldharbour unless a crafting alt. Just pick any area fancying today.
- Take vampire as early as possible. It levels up in background.
- Take WW at end and grind it it to ten by staying in Hircine's realm.
- More mage guild books. Hop with a friend through wayshrines or through guild rosters.
- Do pledges for undaunted. I skip them until vet to save the XP for CP.
- You might need to continue collecting skyshards depending on build.

dposdb14_ESO · February 2017

This last toon I'm making I've been doing normal maelstrom on. It's really easy, instanced to you, and gives decent exp. Later I'll go skyshard hunting, blue book farming for mages guild, dolmen for fighters guild, and then pvp for vigor/caltrops.

plnkfloydian · February 2017

aaron_campion wrote: »

Whats the fastest way to level up if your a solo player. Ive tried grinding in skyhold catacombs but i find my character just aint good enough to deal with the amount of enemies. So would doing quests be faster or is there somewhere i could grind

Not to thread jack but I think this pertains to leveling, I just reached champion 11 in looking for someone to trade crafted daggers with so I can power level blacksmithing with an do potion. Or even someone willing to take my materials, craft said daggers and then send them back to me I would pay good or we could just do it to help each other out, I'm on Xbox one

Ourorboros · February 2017

I created an alt on Jan 1, during last four days of New Life Festival. I hit level 50 after 5 days. I did every dolmen in each zone except Cyrodiil, a few delves and WB near dolmen and a few of the main quests. For sure the XP buff helped, but use XP pots or scrolls instead.

davey1107 · February 2017

I totally agree with @helediron - there's grinding, then there's smart, fast leveling. The difference is that the second gets you skill points, leveled lines and abilities, and resources.

Another point I'd make is that if you're an experienced player, sure, grind or fast level away. I'll offer some tips. But if you're a new player, I don't advise grinding all the way to vet before really playing the game. It will make you a better player to take your time on your first toon, learning the game mechanics, play style, etc. I swear that it will save you much more time in the long run...time that if you level to being an inexperienced vet will be spent dying, throwing controllers across the room and rage quitting, lol.

Last month I helped a magplar to vet, and this is exactly what happened. He got to vet and didn't understand how to buff himself with major prophecy and major sorcery. He didn't understand his gear and set combos. He didn't understand how his abilities work with one another. And he didn't understand buff food. So when he got to vet and all the handicaps were yanked out from under him - and that is exactly how the game works - he was less than half as powerful as he should have been, and the character stunk. The game is designed very well to introduce you to tiers of mechanics, so that if you play through the quests / areas you will really learn how this all works.

That said, some leveling tips that apply whether you're grinding, fast leveling or just playing more efficiently:

1. Use psijic ambrosia for the 50% xp. And make it last longer - grinding your provisioning to 47 (it's not as hard as it sounds, buy a level 1, 2 and 3 recipe and enough ingredients to make 100 of each and you'll be there) allows you to spend three points in the passive that extends drinks by 20 minutes. This will allow 50 minute psijic runs.

2. Skyreach is very hard for solo. And it's not just that...the amount of monsters will slow you down and make xp gains slower. I prefer public dungeons. An intermediate player can take these quick and easy, and during peak hours you can run with other players to move faster. As long as you do 10% of the damage to an enemy you'll earn full xp. Do then1-2 quests and get your sky shard and group event skill point. I like doing these on psijic runs. With 50 minutes of psijic power I can complete 1-3 public dungeons. So plan your route, psijic up, quickly complete the first then teleport to the closest wayshrine to the second and run that. The quests are worth the same xp as 50-100 monster kills, so complete them, they're always self contained entirely in the dungeon.

And don't forget delves. The xp is slower because the populations are lower, but each has a sky shard, and each has a single easy boss you clear for an area clear award. Delve runs aren't good enough to warrant psijic for me, but they're still a fast, easy way to level while earning the skill points you will need later. And craglorn delves are now soloable AND densely packed. These 18 delves are great for leveling.

3. If you're a stam character you will need fighters guild leveling. Go close dolmens. There are dailies in the fighters guild in your capital that are always closing three dolmens. Why not pick these up and run once a day? You'll get an extra xp reward for closing dolmens you were going to anyway, and you get a box of ornate crap for money plus a shot at a really pricey draugr motif.

4. Speaking of, the mage guild in your capital offers a daily that involves picking up an item from a random public dungeon. Go ahead and get this quest if you're doing public dungeon runs. And the fighters guild has dailies for a random delve run. If you need thenshards and xp for that delve's clear, stack the extra quests for your work.

5. Always be leveling skills. If your class skills are under 50, make sure to equip one from each line on your active bar even if it's not your preferred setup. You want these lines leveled. Switch out weapons skills and armor types to keep those lines leveling. But don't go insane trying to balance things...at vet there is a mechanism called daily "enlightenment" that will also serve to rapidly level lines that fall behind.

6. Wear training gear. Have someone craft you a basic leveling set...Hundings/Night silence for stam, Magnus/julianos for magic. Green or blue. You don't need to get more complicated than that. But make the traits training on everything. Yes, the vet guides you're reading discuss divines and impen and other traits...you don't need those now. Training traits generate more xp on monster kills...and it's a big boost when you stack pieces.

Nestor · February 2017

Let me give you an example of what I did with my last two leveling characters.

1. I collected all the Skyshards in the zone. I avoided any and all quests other than those that show up in the delves that have skyshards. These quests do not give set items for rewards so no loss there.
2. I would farm the dolmens a few times to get set jewelry that helped my character
3. I would do the Public Dungeons including all the bosses
4. Then I would move to the next zone.

In doing this, I could fully gear up my character with level appropriate stuff, and it was helpful gear. May not have been the best, but you don't need the best while leveling. Any gear I farmed from Dolmens or PD's is repeatable, so I can get it at CP160 by just repeating. Then, I had all the content quests left for me once I reached CP160 as those can give you sweet Set Drops in good traits you want. And, Quest Experience is huge for gaining CPs once your past CP160. Kind of a waste before that.

In about 8 zones, one to two hours per zone, I would be fully leveled in Mages, Fighters, Class, 3 Armors and Weapon Skills. Leaving only Undaunted to level, although I would get to almost 3 in that from Dungeon Achievements.