Alternate approach to level a new character

Desiato · December 22

Instead of grinding to 50 ASAP with things like nbrp, zombies, and dolmens, here is an alternate approach to quickly develop a new character.

Reaching level 50 is the easy part of developing a new character. Skill points and skill line progression are the time consuming parts. This approach basically ignores the exp grind and instead focuses on all other aspects of character development.

- craft armor at levels 4, 20, 32, 42 (super easy with master crafting stations which are standard in trade guilds)
- focus on psijic/scribing/undaunted/fighers guild/mages guild skill line progression
- start grinding dungeons at level 10 for skill points (utilizing dungeon finder; completing random normal at level 10 with max exp buffs will level a character to 16 when it's done)
- while completing the skill line activities listed above, collect overland shards along the way
- dailies that offer scribing scripts
- public dungeons for skill points, completing the quests at the same time
- base game delve shards + quest if they are easy
- using an addon like wizard's wardrobe to utilize an "exp bar" which one switches to before completing a quest to level skills and skill lines that aren't being used in combat.

I've levelled many characters of all classes with this approach. It is very flexible. I used to focus more on psijic/delves/public dungeons, but now I focus on dungeons because scribing gives all classes access to early AE damage abilities.

If you take this path, don't forget to join the fighers guild and undaunted ASAP. I don't know when the undaunted quest first becomes available, but I am sure to take it before I queue into my first random dungeon.

I'm pretty confident in my ability to play all roles, so I usually heal or tank. Tanking a base game normal is SUPER EASY, all one needs to do is taunt and stand in place while they execute their combat rotation. Healing a normal base game just means slotting a heal and healing others on demand. Most groups require no healing, especially if you can burn the bosses down. Playing these roles helps dungeons pop sooner. And no, they're not fake of they can perform their role well.

I use the following crafted armor in a 5-1-1 or 4-2-1 configuration until level 50:

5 adept rider (to get all things done faster)
5 order's wrath
2 pelinal's wrath

Here is my most recent character after around 10 hours of development:

total skill points: 101
dungeons completed: 18
undaunted: 5
fighter's guild: 5
mages guild: 2
psijic order: 1 (first leg complete)

herald of the tome: 50
soldier of aprocrypha: 47
curative runeforms: 43
duel wield: 46
destro: 41
2h: 26

light armor: 50 (I prefer LA for grinding dungeons on lowbies)
medium: 38
heavy: 30

This is during the event with a mix of 100/150% exp scrolls, although I forgot to refresh them. I use witchmother's potent brew and crown tri-potions.

I'm not saying this approach is better than the others, but I prefer it because I hate repetition. (imagine hating repetition and playing an mmo...)

The character is at 14 hours now and is vet trial-ready, although I will continue to develop it. I like to have at least between 200-300 skill points.

tl;dr: Ignore the exp grind, focus on other aspects of development instead.

Tandor · December 22

Thanks. Whatever floats your boat I guess. Personally I just forget about hitting level 50 as quickly as possible and just play my normal game. After 10+ years some of my characters are level 50, most aren't. However, for those who adopt a different approach your guide does at least involve playing the game rather than standing at a dolmen in Alik'r for however long it takes, so kudos for that!

Destai · December 22

Interesting approach, I do something similar.

I leveled 7 toons since thanksgiving and mostly did it through spellscar and dungeons. The first 10 or 15 levels, I will do some of what you described. Getting the guild, alliance, antiquities skills and crafting writs usually gets me there, with some Main Quest peppered in. Once that’s done, I just do dungeons and spellscar farming.

darvaria · December 22

Nice guide. For players that rather not buy any crown upgrades.

But just pointing out you can "buy" a lot now. My last 3 50's (arcanist, warden, necromancer) I leveled exclusively as healers in dungeon. Used a lot of the 50%, 100%, 150% (what I had) experience scrolls and leveled during events with 2x exp.. You do pick up the skill line quests as you do this, each adding a point. Healer is instant que. About 6 hours to level 50. (3 sets training gear). To heal dungeon you only need resto and winter's respite gear and all CP points into healing/magic. You quickly pick up healing class skills too. I never wiped once due to healing, but a couple of times with fake tanks. You will still have a few other skills to top off at 50 but you can level on your back bar any skill while healing on front bar.

And don't forget that you can just"buy" everything, which I did. Here's my breakdown on crown purchases:

Skyshards: 15K (approximately) crowns spent on sky shards (444/561 mostly purchased) I do a few really easy areas. I have 10 skyshards areas not purchased on my warden and 85 unused skill points. Right now, sky shards are on sale too so I just picked up a few extra. A few areas are totally worth buying. Like I never want to do some areas again like Cold Harbor, Wrothgar, Craiglorn, North Elyswyr, 3 factions at Cyrodiil ... well and others .. actually MOST areas. You could get a pretty decent amount for 10K if you choose not to do more. Right now on my warden I have 85 unused skill points.

The following are skill lines I have bought on all 3 of my new characters. (These are skills I will absolutely NEVER level again without the boost)
Psijic 3K (sale 2100)
Fighter's 3K (sale 2100)
Mage's 3K (sale 2100
Undaunted 3K (sale 2100)
Alliance War Skills 3K (sale 2100)
Total 15K

Soul Magic 3K (sale 2100) (might be optional for some players/classes)
Riding Speed 5K max ... I used some scrolls from rewards can't remember. Speed totally worth buying (IMO)
Total 8K optional

Riding Stamina (5K max) Optional
Legerdemain 3K (on sale 2100) if you really need reduced sneak cost)
Total 8K optional

Plus 1500 on class if you don't have it. (on sale now)

So .... 30K crowns gets you most essentials. 46Kish would get you everything. ( I don't Have the need for dark brotherhood, land and antiquities)

IF you buy crowns on sale and save your monthly, this would cost less than $200 US. With sale going on, you could get it for about $100 - $125 US dollars.

I've leveled 3 crown store and 8 non crown store characters.

Zodiarkslayer · December 22

After I realised that a complete build needs around 180 to 200 skill points and that you get only 64 from leveling, I followed that principle as well.

I only use different sets (Torugs and Heartland) and craft them at different levels. I use levels 16, 22, 30, 38 and 44, because of how the crafting system is setup and that you only unlock the backbar at lvl15.

adirondack · December 22

You can get the major gallop just by doing the cyro intro quest. No combat necessary. So you could drop adept rider for something more useful like 5x shattered fate for DD a tanking gear for more protection

Desiato · December 22

adirondack wrote: »

You can get the major gallop just by doing the cyro intro quest. No combat necessary. So you could drop adept rider for something more useful like 5x shattered fate for DD a tanking gear for more protection

I understand that, but skill points are at a premium early on, and I would prefer to allocate it elsewhere.

But if it were for major gallop alone, I wouldn't use adept rider. I use it for major expedition as well. It makes zipping through dungeons and delves much quicker.

Even my levelled tanks use ring of the wild hunt because it's useful to get ahead of the group to gather trash before everyone else can spread them out.

If a player can move out of red and block heavies, there's absolutely no need for any kind of tank set in a base game normal. In dlc nomrals I tank with dw/ice staff olo/pa or olo/roa. Usually with 22k hp, but I can switch to jewels of misrule if I need more situationally.

shadyjane62 · December 22

I use a 150 pot during an extra exp event. I went from zero to 16 in one hr doing Bleakrock isle and PvP. It will take another two days to 50 going slower and essentially doing what the op has advised.

But I always have to hurry because once I'm in Cyro leveling with dailies I get the overwhelming urge to join the battle. I end up dying a lot because I forget I'm not on my 5 star.

After 10 years and dozens of alts I have done most everything I like doing in the game and the demise of the AWA makes repeating things meaningless.

LalMirchi · December 22

Excellent suggestions here. I've taken a slightly different direction.

Running the Main Quest very slowly (something I haven't done before) enjoying all the little details and wonderful voice acting. Took a slight detour right after escaping the prison and picked up Isobel as she really admires Lyris Titanborn. I chose Isobel as she is quick and her Gallant Blitz is an excellent opener.

Taking the time to fully experience the main quest is very enjoyable.

I have a lot of exp scrolls, fortifying meals & tri-pots from login rewards so the progress is relatively fast but still gives the satisfaction of almost continual dopamine moments. Joined the Fighters, Mages & Undaunted, started crafting & mount training and running around wearing crafted Adept Rider & Order's Wrath is passable.

I have not bought any crown items for the new character as this is a new class for me and I'm not sure if I will like the playstyle enough to keep it.

katanagirl1 · December 23

Doing Alik’r dolmens is good if you want to level up a crafter, you get lots of gear and jewelry so leveling up the crafting goes well. The main draw is you can do it solo, but it does get boring and takes a long time. Doing the normal random dungeon daily is a big boost, plus you get Undaunted leveling as well.

I still do the main story (Harborage) because it gives skill points freely and quickly.

That reminds me I still have one character that has not finished the main story. I had to take a break for a while.

Orbital78 · December 23

Hitting level 50 was never an issue, on PC there are many addons to help you get skill points and such. Addons to queue specifically for dungeons you're missing the quest/skill point for. Addons to let you know when a guildmate or friend have entered a delve or public dungeon which you're missing skyshards or skill points from. It is definitely a good idea to start on guild skill lines early on though. It is easy to progress those while doing various other adventures.

Even early CP's fly by pretty quickly. Just enjoin the ride and do what you enjoy. Before you know it you will have more CP and levels than you care to keep track of. The biggest thing is learning to survive in harder encounters, vMA and vVH or even IA now can help with that. I think that is what most beginners lack is the ability to know when to mitigate, but there are addons for that too.

C_Inside · December 23

I've leveled countless characters to lvl 50 so here's a few more optimizations I've discovered:

Do the Clockwork City zone story. It offers a total of 8 skill points and the 2nd to last quest gives you a free 150% xp scroll that lasts 2 hours. Just make sure you pick the evil option. If you pick the "noble" option then you still get a 2 hour xp scroll, but it's only 100%. Furthermore, some of the later quests have you killing daedra so you get some Fighters Guild xp as well.
Do the main quest until you get to rank 4 in Soul Magic. The Soul Shatter passive gives you more damage so it's a good idea to unlock it. Now, it is very little damage, and it's unreliable, but it is "free" so it's worth getting. Furthermore, the main quest line gives you skill points for each quest and all of them have you fighting daedra. So you get xp, skill points, Fighters Guild xp, and unlock a "useful" passive all in one.
There are a few quests that give the normal quest xp and gold, but that are extremely quick. The ones I've found are the 2 quests that unlock the Scribing and Excavating skill lines (2 quests that give normal quest xp that can be done in 2 minutes), the 1st quest in the Imperial City Sewer main quest line (1 quest that gives higher than usual xp and just involves talking to 2 npcs in close proximity to each other. Takes less than a minute), and the Starved Plane location quests in Stonefalls (2 quests that give normal xp + bonus xp for clearing the Point of Interest. Takes about 3-4 minutes). There are no doubt more quests like this so please feel free to share them so I can add them to my list
If you're building a DD or Healer for PvE then the Psijic Order skill line is a waste of time. None of the skills are useful for those roles (No, Channeled Acceleration for DD is not useful. You use Barbed Trap or the Ur-Mage Amulet for Minor Force, not CA).
Like someone said already, getting the skill points from the dungeon quests is a good idea. Don't just queue up for the specific dungeons, however. Queue for a random normal so you get the bonus xp on top of the xp you get from the quest. If you get a dungeon you've already done then just leave. The 15 minute "penalty" doesn't really matter as you can use that time to farm dolmens/find lorebooks/do one of the other things I mentioned.
Make sure you use the Heartland Conqueror set and that you have Training as your weapon and armor traits.
Upgrading your mount on an alt that you're building for PvE or Battlegrounds is pointless. The only reason to upgrade a mount is to make exploration faster, but until you can put at least around 10 points in speed it will actually be faster if you just sprint with the relevant Champion Point passives and the Steed Mundus stone. And by the time you can level speed 10 times you would've already collected every relevant thing you need from the overland, making exploration pointless.
Leveling crafting on alts is mostly pointless. The only relevant passive that boosts your performance is Medicinal Use from Alchemy. The Provisioning passives that increase food and drink duration are nice for convenience as well.
Speaking of Alchemy, the cheapest alchemy ingredient combo to power level Alchemy that I've found is Blue Entoloma + White Cap.
One final tip for the people with millions of gold and nothing to spend it on: You can buy items called War Tortes and Ambrosias from guild traders. These are Alliance XP and regular XP boosters respectively ranging from 50% to 150% that last 30 minutes at base. They're essentially XP scrolls that you can craft and sell. The 50% ones are pretty affordable so it's a good idea to at least get those if you want to power level. The 150% ones, however, are pretty pricey so only consider them if you have a ton of gold lying around. The War Tortes are food and the Ambrosias are drinks and the relevant Provisioning passives will boost their duration. The CP node from the green tree won't though. And no, they don't stack with the Crown XP scrolls.

Juomuuri · December 23

My personal way of leveling is similar to OP, but here's what I do:

- Fresh character skips tutorial, goes to my main house to slap on lvl 1 gear and weapons, then I do Stros M'kai to get to lvl 10. Then I go to Cyro to unlock major gallop, after that I go to unlock MG, FG and undaunted.
- I craft lvl 10 leveling gear for the lowbie, 5 pc heartland conqueror, 4 pc night's silence or seducer, depending on if I level stam or mag. Healers and tanks are leveled as DDs.
- Next step is to start doing the 15 Alliance zones in any order, the goal being to collect all skyshards and getting xp on the way.
- No dungeons unless I'm leveling a healer, and those only until lvl 45 so I don't have to suffer DLC dungeons. I hate rnds with a burning passion.
- More gear is crafted as I get more levels, lvl 20, 30 and 40 gear. Once I'm at lvl 47, I go do Bleackrock and Bal Foyen for the last levels. Boom, lvl 50!

Edit: I'm too lazy to explain how I level skill lines and skills but I do that in an intuitive way while leveling. Then finish the remaining skills and lines after I hit 50.

OsUfi · December 23

I like my way of leveling a character.

Playing the game.

Cooperharley · December 23

If you want the absolute fastest, i usually will powerlevel alchemy, get 11 skill points to max out my alchemy line (8/8 solvent proficiency, lab use, and chemistry 3/3), and then use sealed alchemy writs (via writworthy addon) to level to level 50 in like 25-30 minutes. Definitely more expensive and you ideally want to be on PC for addons, but by far the fastest for sure.

Mostly, I just quickly get to level 10 and then once a day log in and do the daily dungeon, sometimes the daily BG, and then hop back on my main

Desiato · December 23

What motivated me to post this were countless conversations I've been part of or have observed over the years about poorly developed alts.

A lot of players feel demotivated after hitting 50 because the guild grinds then seem so daunting.

Pretty much everyone in the trial and pvp communities wants mages guid, fighters guid, scribing, and undaunted. Many if not most also want psijic. Plus all of the other relevant skills skill lines and individual skills.

For every character, there is a bare minimum number of skill point necessary to get by.

So this is a holistic approach that works well and is extremely flexible.

I didn't mention the main quest, but completing it until the final leg is part of developing all of my characters because it is efficient in terms of skill points per hour and provides decent exp. It is extremely useful for levelling skill lines with an exp bar.

I save the main quest for when my character is weak. So at levels 18, 30 and 40 I might do the main quest until I hit the next gear milestone.

I'm certainly not saying everyone should take this approach. ESO is very much a play how you want game. I think most players who power level could skip the power levelling part though -- because the levels come quick enough just doing everything else one needs.