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The release of the Elder Scrolls Online DLC Greymoor in May 2020 brought new areas, new characters, and a new way to explore while getting rewards in return. Scrying is a World Skill in Elder Scrolls Online that allows players to hunt down hidden antiques and historical artifacts, some of which can be used by the player as furnishings and gear.
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Scrying is a new and exciting way to get awesome rewards and explore unknown areas of beloved maps. It's a fun and new idea for the Elder Scrolls Online franchise and allows players to do something other than killing or completing quests. It's essentially a new style of mini-game that involves thinking ahead, a keen eye, and lots of patience.
Updated January 19, 2024 by Erik Petrovich: Little about Scrying in ESO has changed since its release, but new players may still find this relatively old gameplay system confusing and cumbersome. In fact, once you get accustomed to the process, Scrying is actually relatively simple – it just takes a lot of time. But, the process of Scrying and Excavating Anqituities can be made less tedious with correct allocation of Skill Points in both Skill Lines. This guide to how to Scry in ESO has been updated to elaborate on these skills in the Scrying and Excavation trees and why players should focus on them, as well as to elaborate on other information throughout the rest of the guide.
What Is Scrying In Elder Scrolls Online?
Scrying is a way to get a fair amount of gold, treasure, and some pretty unique items. Essentially, a player can use this Antiquities system to solve puzzles presented by Leads.
Leads, as their name suggests, lead players to a particular spot, which is only revealed once the puzzle is completed. Leads can be found from treasure chests, world bosses, public dungeons, and lots of other sources throughout practically all zones in the game.
Completing the Scrying puzzle for each of these Leads shows the player where a Digsite is located, which must be tracked down and excavated to complete an Antiquity. Once located, head to the approximate location and start looking for a dirt pile to dig up. Interact with it to begin the Excavation minigame, which finishes the Antiquity upon completion.
The system is near because allows the player to enjoy exploring the map, get some easy cash, learn more about the lore of the Elder Scrolls universe while solving puzzles along the way. Ultimately, Scrying is a mini-game designed for when the players get bored with dungeons, quests, and fighting. It's also pretty addicting.
Where To Get Scrying Skill in ESO
The player can't start until they complete the quest to get Scrying equipment, which starts at the convenient Antiquities headquarters in Solitude, which should be unlocked as a fast-travel location for most players. The Greymoor Chapter is required to access this part of Skyrim in ESO, though ESO+ subscribers can access it alongside other older content for free. The quest isn't too challenging and serves more as a tutorial to the system than a fully-fledged multi-part questline.
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Once it's complete, go to the Map and select the Scrying tab on the top right of the screen; this will show all leads a player currently possesses. Then, the player can click on the Lead, which will initiate the Scrying process. It is only possible to Scry Green Leads until level 3 in Antiquarian's Insight perk, then Blue becomes available. After that, Purple and Gold leads can be unlocked which yield even greater rewards.
Scrying And Excavation Perks: Tools and Passives
Scrying is not just a minigame, it comes with its own unique Skill Line that offers a few improvements when upgraded. There is also an Excavation skill line that goes more into the process of diffing up the Antiquities after having been located with the Antiquarian's Eye puzzle.
When it comes to the Scrying skill line, it's best to focus on Antiquarian Insight, Coalescence, and Scryer's Patience.
- Antiquarian Insight: Five levels, unlocked at Skill Line ranks 1, 3, 5, 7, and max.
- Allows the player to scry for Antiquities of higher difficulties, from Simple up to Ultimate.
- Coalescence: Two levels, unlocked at Skill Line ranks 2 and 6.
- A special ability that instantly converts a set of symbols to a single symbol on the Antiquarian's Eye puzzle, allowing the player to build longer matches.
- Scryer's Patience: Two ranks, unlocked at Skill Line ranks 2 and 5.
- Grants up to two additional turns for the Scrying puzzle.
These will allow the player to get more moves, more squares, and more challenging leads. Other skills are useful, but the points are better spent elsewhere until the late-game when Skill Points are aplenty.
With the Excavation skill line, the best thing is to focus on Keen Eye: Dig Sites, the Trowel, and Heavy Shovel.
- Keen Eye – Dig Sites: Two levels, unlocked at Skill Line ranks 2 and 4.
- Reveals Antiquity Dig Sites when the player is further away, first extending to 20 meters away, then 30 meters away.
- Trowel: Two levels, unlocked at Skill Line ranks 2 and 7.
- Removes 3 layers of Dirt from a single square. Costs 2 Intuition to use. Upgraded version can create explosive chain reactions, safely.
- Heavy Shovel: Two levels, unlocked at Skill Line ranks 4 and 8.
- Removes 1 layer of Dirt from a three-by-three area on the current level (can't be used to lower an entire area by 1, only areas on the same plane as the center)
It's good to get Excavator's Reserves but only at level 10. The Keen Eye increases how easily players can find the dig sites, while the Trowel and Shovel are extremely useful when it comes to finding the extra loot in the dig site.
Scrying Leads Reveals Dig Sites In An Associated Area
After selecting the lead, an eye will appear, the main aim is to match the symbols to touch the glowing orbs. If you get all of them, it will reveal one location; if you don't, it will reveal two or three depending on how many you missed. It's wide to re-attempt to solve the Lead over and over again until just one location is highlighted, to avoid having to travel to several in hopes of finding the dig site.
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Then simply travel to the location highlighted and search for a dug-up mound. This initiates the Excavation minigame, in which players must use different tools and abilities to dig up the relic within the time/move limit.
First, use the Augur to find a green square that reveals the exact location. A gold square means that it's somewhere within the boundary of the selected square, while a green one confirms the location of the object. Be cautious to not dig too deep and damage the item though, as using more improved tools could potentially break the treasure. If that happens, the process will have to be restarted. Check to see how much "time" you have left before making a move, and note how much "time" is lost with each layer taken away.
Depending on the level of Dig Site (legendary Leads being the hardest), there are more layers of dirt that need to be uncovered. Without spending perks in the Excavation tree, this can be an incredibly tedious – if often impossible – task.
How To Scry More Efficiently
Small Zones Means More Scrying XP, Faster
Leveling up Scrying fast is long-winded and repetitive, but there are certain locations that are perfect for this sort of thing. It's well known among Antiquity Aficionados that Artaeum, which is within the province of Summerset, is the best location to Scry. This is because it's one of the smallest locations in the game, meaning the player doesn't need to go too far to the next digging site.
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If the player can't get to Artaeum, the next best option is faction starter zones. The Dominion's Khenarthi's Roost, the Pact's Bleakrock Isle, and the Covenant's Stros M'Kai each have a Wayshrine unlocked for players to travel to (according to their chosen faction) from the very outset of the game. This gives a neat four locations to rotate between and constantly have a new set of Leads to solve.
Take On Zone-Specific Leads To Grind More Efficiently
Every zone in ESO has a Green lead that can be Scryed. Once complete, this unlocks a Zone-specific Blue lead, which in turn unlocks a Purple one. Alongside doing Leads found from drops and elsewhere, completing these leads allows for the most XP and the fastest progression as they are repeatable.
The best way to start out is to grind the Green Leads until the player gets to level 3. The player gets 1 XP for the green leads and 3 from the Blue and even more from a Purple, but these latter two can only be accessed once the previous tier has been completed.
It's best to complete them in order and then continue to the next zone, which lets the player harvest XP from as many Blue and Purple Leads as possible, and gives a nice change of scenery to make the grind a bit less monotonous. This is the best order to maximize XP and keep the player relatively sane while trudging around Tamriel.
Scrying Rewards: Furniture, Mounts, and Mythic Gear
Many players struggle to find the point in Scrying, but there are some seriously cool rewards if someone works hard enough. Alongside Furnishings (and extra rewards for players brave enough to try uncovering extra treasures), there are mounts and mythic items, too. The cosmetics and mounts are great, but they aren't exclusive to the Antiquities system.
However, the Antiquities system is the only source of Mythic gear. These pieces of equipment are not only great for bragging rights, but can be extremely useful to any tank, healer, or DPS thanks to their often gameplay-breaking effects, like the Oakensoul Ring's slew of buffs that sacrifice the entire back bar.
Sporadically these Mythic items show up in the Gold Vendor pool, but it's extremely rare and not worth holding out for.
Each mythic requires players to solve five Legendary leads, which requires at least Level 7 Antiquarian's Insight and only drop from very specific sources throughout the world.
Further Scrying Tips for ESO
Don't Waste Too Many Skill Points
Scrying in Elder Scrolls Online is one of the more engaging side activities in the MMO, thanks to its lucrative reward system and its puzzle-based mechanics. It's not exactly a brainteaser at low levels, but Purple and Gold leads can really challenge a player's puzzle-solving skills.
As such, don't worry about delving too deeply into either the Scrying or Excavation trees until you gain the ability to Scry for Epic and Legendary leads, as it's a waste of Skill Points (especially before Max Level). Just focus on gaining access to higher-level Leads first, and only start branching out for buffs once you begin having trouble solving puzzles.
Scrying Skill (& Legendary Leads) Is Character Based
Leads can't be traded between characters, so if you come across a Legendary Lead without being skilled enough to Scry for it, there's no possibility of an alternative pay-out, as it were. Additionally, there are no Skill Books in Elder Scrolls Online for the Scrying or Excavation Skill Lines, so they must be leveled up in the traditional way, not bookshelf spamming.
A Bug Can Hide The UI, But It's Easily Fixed
It's known that one bug in Elder Scrolls Online comes when Scrying. After the player finishes digging up an Antiquity, they may find that they can't access the journal or anything else in the UI interface.
There are two ways to fix this annoying bug but none are permanent, although it's rare that this bug happens more than once. Players can either force the game to shut down and restart it, which can also solve other memory-related issues, or simply type in "/reloadui" into the chat. After a brief load screen, the game will refresh, and the UI should appear once again.
The Elder Scrolls Online
- Platform(s)
- PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC , macOS
- Released
- April 4, 2014
- Developer(s)
- ZeniMax Online Studios
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
