dozensnakes
Well-known member
Cannith/essence crafting has a bit of a strange meta, so I figured I would explain how to level up efficiently for players less familiar with it.
Table of contents
How XP is gained
Modifying crafting level
How should you level crafting?
What level should you get to?
How XP is gained
There are two methods to gain xp, deconstructing items, which gives 3-5 XP per item, and crafting shards above your level which gives the bulk of the XP.
The XP from crafting shards scales exponentially with the chance of failure, with items at the lowest rate of failure you can craft(3%) giving much higher XP then items even a few levels below them.
As an example, a level 40(3%) item crafted at level 11 gives 1925 XP, while a level 38(10%) item gives 569 XP
At level 61 a level 90(3%) shard gives 4038 XP, while a level 80 shard(36%) gives 327 XP
Items with a 100% chance give no XP
This has a few implications
1. XP can be gained very rapidly by crafting shards exactly 29 levels above your crafting level
2. There is a limited amount of easy XP, and some pretty severe dead zones between those levels as most recipes are on multiples of 10
Modifying crafting level
There additionally are 2 ways to modify your crafting level, artificer levels give you 1 crafting level per 2 levels, or 10 as a level 20 artificer.
The dragon mark of making gives you 3/6/10 levels depending on rank you have.
This is treated as just being that level, with XP tracked separately.
For the purposes of this guide, you can level up a pure artificer if you are already fully leveled and want to boost your success chance further, but starting with a fully leveled artificer just lowers the available XP.
The dragon mark of making however is more appealing as by resetting enhancements, you can modify your level to shorten the time in the deadzones.
How should you level crafting?
Primarily this is going to be done by crafting minimum level shards, as they only require magical essence while prefix/suffix shards require other ingredients.
During this you should use either the success boosters from the cannith favor shop(10%) or the DDO store(35%). Where you make the switch is up to you.
Try to maximize the XP you gain from each craft as much as you can, by doing it on an XP weekend, with a 100% crafting XP potion.
I suggest making a human alt(any class) with the dragon mark of making so you can reset your enhancements to lower/raise your levels as needed, and so you can make the crafting potion last longer.
You should aim to be exactly 29 levels below the shard you are trying to craft, which for ML shards is going to be at levels 1, 11, 21, 31, ect.
If you are in a deadzone, craft cheaper items or modify the dragon mark rank you have and try to get to the next "29 levels below a shard you want to craft" checkpoint.
What level should you get to?
Randomly generated items/cannith crafted items have, at the time of this guide, mostly been power crept out of viability in most level ranges
This is due to the lower numbers of effect slots, and lack of access to several major types of enhancements(IE quality, profane, artifact, mythic and reaper bonuses), and the lack of access to set bonuses, as well as solar/lunar augments.
They can still be used as filler items in some gear sets, but this is pretty uncommon as many older catagories of effects are available as augments, while newer effects are not.
With all of that said, currently the level ranges they shine in are ML1 TRing gear due to some non-scaling effects being pretty strong at the level 1-4 range.
Blindness immunity/persuasion googles of true sight with a colorless augment slot for master gift are a useful TRing item that can be used as a swappable item through till level 20
Fearsome robes of invulnerability are another good item which make your character significantly more tanky in the lower level harbor quest,
Additionally they can be used for lower level weapons before good named items become available for your gear set.
Most non-scaling effects are level 250, so the absolute minimum level is 221.
On the higher levels, epic/legendary gem of many facets is a craftable trinket with 2 set bonuses that is considered a good option for epic leveling and some legendary gear sets. Though the legendary version is much harder to get a good set bonus on.
Insightful magic/physical sheltering, or insightful main stats require 275(246) for bound shards. This goes in the "extra slot", but I personally like putting insightful tumble on it which only requires 175(146).
So in my opinion the best stopping point for normal players is generally 250-275.
Above this you have minimum level shards above level 25, for the reasons already listed I think the use case for these is limited, and "combined prefix shards", which require level 400, come exclusively as unbound, and are, in my honest opinion not worth the trouble, but can be traded for.
Table of contents
How XP is gained
Modifying crafting level
How should you level crafting?
What level should you get to?
How XP is gained
There are two methods to gain xp, deconstructing items, which gives 3-5 XP per item, and crafting shards above your level which gives the bulk of the XP.
The XP from crafting shards scales exponentially with the chance of failure, with items at the lowest rate of failure you can craft(3%) giving much higher XP then items even a few levels below them.
As an example, a level 40(3%) item crafted at level 11 gives 1925 XP, while a level 38(10%) item gives 569 XP
At level 61 a level 90(3%) shard gives 4038 XP, while a level 80 shard(36%) gives 327 XP
Items with a 100% chance give no XP
This has a few implications
1. XP can be gained very rapidly by crafting shards exactly 29 levels above your crafting level
2. There is a limited amount of easy XP, and some pretty severe dead zones between those levels as most recipes are on multiples of 10
Modifying crafting level
There additionally are 2 ways to modify your crafting level, artificer levels give you 1 crafting level per 2 levels, or 10 as a level 20 artificer.
The dragon mark of making gives you 3/6/10 levels depending on rank you have.
This is treated as just being that level, with XP tracked separately.
For the purposes of this guide, you can level up a pure artificer if you are already fully leveled and want to boost your success chance further, but starting with a fully leveled artificer just lowers the available XP.
The dragon mark of making however is more appealing as by resetting enhancements, you can modify your level to shorten the time in the deadzones.
How should you level crafting?
Primarily this is going to be done by crafting minimum level shards, as they only require magical essence while prefix/suffix shards require other ingredients.
During this you should use either the success boosters from the cannith favor shop(10%) or the DDO store(35%). Where you make the switch is up to you.
Try to maximize the XP you gain from each craft as much as you can, by doing it on an XP weekend, with a 100% crafting XP potion.
I suggest making a human alt(any class) with the dragon mark of making so you can reset your enhancements to lower/raise your levels as needed, and so you can make the crafting potion last longer.
You should aim to be exactly 29 levels below the shard you are trying to craft, which for ML shards is going to be at levels 1, 11, 21, 31, ect.
If you are in a deadzone, craft cheaper items or modify the dragon mark rank you have and try to get to the next "29 levels below a shard you want to craft" checkpoint.
What level should you get to?
Randomly generated items/cannith crafted items have, at the time of this guide, mostly been power crept out of viability in most level ranges
This is due to the lower numbers of effect slots, and lack of access to several major types of enhancements(IE quality, profane, artifact, mythic and reaper bonuses), and the lack of access to set bonuses, as well as solar/lunar augments.
They can still be used as filler items in some gear sets, but this is pretty uncommon as many older catagories of effects are available as augments, while newer effects are not.
With all of that said, currently the level ranges they shine in are ML1 TRing gear due to some non-scaling effects being pretty strong at the level 1-4 range.
Blindness immunity/persuasion googles of true sight with a colorless augment slot for master gift are a useful TRing item that can be used as a swappable item through till level 20
Fearsome robes of invulnerability are another good item which make your character significantly more tanky in the lower level harbor quest,
Additionally they can be used for lower level weapons before good named items become available for your gear set.
Most non-scaling effects are level 250, so the absolute minimum level is 221.
On the higher levels, epic/legendary gem of many facets is a craftable trinket with 2 set bonuses that is considered a good option for epic leveling and some legendary gear sets. Though the legendary version is much harder to get a good set bonus on.
Insightful magic/physical sheltering, or insightful main stats require 275(246) for bound shards. This goes in the "extra slot", but I personally like putting insightful tumble on it which only requires 175(146).
So in my opinion the best stopping point for normal players is generally 250-275.
Above this you have minimum level shards above level 25, for the reasons already listed I think the use case for these is limited, and "combined prefix shards", which require level 400, come exclusively as unbound, and are, in my honest opinion not worth the trouble, but can be traded for.