Antiquities is the latest activity added to The Elder Scrolls Online as a part of the Greymoor Chapter, and enterprising archaeologists have noticed it has two skill-lines to level. In this guide I’ll show you how to rapidly level both, though if you need a primer on unlocking the activity, Scrying, or Excavation you should check out the guides for those.
Antiquities in The Elder Scrolls Online can be quickly leveled in Artaeum.
If you own the Summerset Chapter for The Elder Scrolls Online (or have ESO+) you can use the tiny island of Artaeum to powerlevel your Antiquities skill-lines. If you do not you’ll want to find a similarly small zone, such as Bal Foyen or the other starter zones from the base game. They won’t be as efficient as Artaeum (seriously, the island is minuscule compared to other ESO zones), but they’ll be faster to traverse than the larger zones.
Before we begin, let’s break down the amount of experience required per level, and how much experience you will earn per completed Lead:
- Level 1-2: 8 EXP
- Level 2-3: 12 EXP
- Level 3-4: 30 EXP
- Level 4-5: 40 EXP
- Level 5-6: 60 EXP
- Level 6-7: 85 EXP
- Level 7-8: 115 EXP
- Level 8-9: 150 EXP
- Level 9-10 200 EXP
And each Lead grants:
- Green – 1 EXP
- Blue – 3 EXP
- Purple – 5 EXP
- Gold – 10 EXP
- Red – 10 EXP
Once in Artaeum (or your starter zone of choice) start scrying the basic green-level Lead for the zone in your journal. Every zone has a stock green-level Lead, and it can be farmed endlessly. You need to hit level three to take on blue Leads, so the smaller zones make it easier to chain excavations back-to-back. Once you reach level 3 you will start to earn blue quality Leads from your green-level digs, and these will be for the same zone.
Once you can tackle blue quality Leads start farming those by finishing a green-level Lead, then the blue quality one. Blue quality Leads disappear after you excavate them, thus the need to farm another green-level Lead to obtain a new one. Keep at this until you hit level 5 and can unlock purple quality Leads.
Now we get to the fun part. Purple quality Leads are like blue Leads: they will disappear after you acquire the goods. Unlike blue quality Leads you only get one purple Lead for the same zone from digging, so you will need to rotate across ALL of Tamriel to grab new Purple leads. You’re gonna farm a green-level Lead, then the blue, followed by the purple, and move on to a new zone. Once you reach level 7 you can dig up gold quality Leads.
Gold quality Leads are found out in the world: in treasure chests, on world bosses, in Psijic Rifts, within Public Dungeons, or off of random monsters. The catch: you need to be level 7 in Scrying with the appropriate trait unlocked for these to start dropping. Yep, it’s exploration time. Go out into the world and start exploring as you normally would, and feel free to plunder delves and dungeons you may have already completed. Once you have stockpiled 30+ gold Leads start uncovering them to reach level 10.
Once you hit level 10 you are done with leveling, and can now dig up red “Ultimate” Leads. These contain some of the rarest treasures in game, though the new Mythic items are gold Leads – meaning you don’t necessarily need to hit level 10 if you don’t care about much else. Other than that, there you go: this is the most efficient way to level your Antiquities skill-lines. You can also do it at your own pace as you naturally explore The Elder Scrolls Online, but if you want to power-level these skill-lines you will need to dedicate a day to the task. Have fun, and remember to not blow your treasures up while digging!
