In the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO), gold doesn’t grow on trees. If you want to earn some extra money, you have to farm. We will tell you how to do this well in our guide.
Money makes you happy. This applies to many MMORPGs, and The Elder Scrolls Online is no exception. You need gold for new equipment, if you want to engage in housing, for additional inventory space, or simply for consumables for raiding.
And the necessary pocket money certainly doesn’t grow on trees. We at MeinMMO want to give you some tips on how to earn good gold in ESO.
One thing in advance: An ESO+ membership is definitely worthwhile. It makes things much more convenient; otherwise, you will quickly run out of inventory space. However, it is not a must for most tips.
The right method
This is what you should start with: If you are still at the beginning and on your way to level 50, you can strive for additional gold in Public Dungeons. There are enemies that drop relatively high amounts of gold and equipment items. Additionally, you can level up. So it’s double practical. If you are in a hurry, we at MeinMMO have put together 5 good spots for power-leveling.
Especially set pieces can greatly boost your gold reserves. They can be found in chests or from bosses you encounter in the world. You can also obtain some sets through the PvP area Cyrodiil. Besides the gold and chests you receive for this, there are also motifs. You can trade these for sets or styles and sell them again.
Earn gold through crime: If you have a criminal streak, you can earn some good side money with pickpocketing. Enter houses and hide. If you remain undetected, you can loot cabinets and dressers and sell the items to a fence underground.
If you have a serious criminal streak, you can even become a murderer. If you kill NPCs in a city, you can loot a lot of stolen items.
However, use a character that you don’t intend to play otherwise. You will accumulate quite a bounty for this. If you want to earn money through crime, it pays off to invest some points in the “Sly and Cunning” skill tree.
Farming materials as the most popular method: However, the most common method is to farm ores, wood, and more. This way, you can achieve the best results without accruing a bounty, having to kill large monsters, or needing to engage in PvP.
Therefore, the rest of the tips will focus on this method. However, you can of course continue to mix in the others.
Adapt your character accordingly
These are the requirements: Of course, you can simply head out with a new character to gather wealth, but you will only find low-tier materials this way. While they provide less gold, they require no effort on your part.
If you want to make gold faster, you should focus on top-tier materials. You will get these when your character reaches maximum level. You will find more of them if you additionally learn a crafting skill, for example blacksmithing for ores.
The right race and class: If you are creating a brand new character for farming, Orcs are a good choice. They have lower costs for sprinting thanks to their racial abilities and are 10% faster. Additionally, they receive a bonus to stamina and crafting. A good choice for farming characters, even though Orcs were the least popular in your ranking.
Additionally, a Nightblade fits well. They come with the skill “Hidden Weapon”. As long as you have it equipped, you can run 25% faster while sneaking. You find it in the “Shadow” skill tree. This way, you can easily avoid any monsters.
In general, stamina-based characters are particularly suited for farming because you need to sprint a lot to progress well. And sprinting costs stamina.
There’s even more: To equip your character with even more useful stats, here are some options:
- Mundus Stone: The Steed – This stone’s buff grants you 10% increased movement speed.
- Bufffood: Longfin Pasty with Melon Sauce. This increases your three main stats: Health, Stamina, and Magicka. It’s never wrong to boost your character’s resources when farming, especially your stamina for sprinting.
- Champion Points:
- Master Gatherer – Allows you to gather faster
- Abundant Harvest – Allows you to harvest double the amount with luck
- Both can be found in “The Lover”
Maximize movement speed
Talents for more speed: The Orc with its 10% speed and the Mundus Stone with the same bonus were mentioned earlier. This is because you should be maximally fast for effective farming. This way, you can gather more in a shorter time. There are also useful talents in class-independent skill trees that increase your speed:
- Defensive Maneuver – Gives you 30% speed. This boost lasts for 7 seconds; you can find the skill in the Alliance War skill tree “Charge”.
- Concentrated Acceleration – Also grants you 30% movement speed. The buff lasts 12 seconds; you find the ability in the Psijic Order skill tree.
Equipment for more speed: You can make your character even faster. However, keep in mind that you can never exceed 200% speed in ESO. You can enhance this even more with your equipment. A good choice for this are the 5-piece bonuses from the following sets:
- Dark Step – Reduces stamina costs for sprinting and sneaking by 50 %
- (Fiord’s Heritage – Reduces costs and increases sprint speed by 15 % each
- Coward’s Outfit – You gain increased speed and greater protection while sprinting, resulting in an increased running speed and you take 30 % less damage
- Escapist – Grants you permanently lesser speed, increasing your running speed by 15 %
In addition, there are jewelry items that you can transmute with “Fleet.” For a purple item, for instance, this can provide 5% extra speed. Additionally, there’s the Mythic Item “Ring of the Wild Hunt.” This grants you 45% speed when you are out of combat and 15% in combat. You can obtain it through the antiquity system introduced with Greymoor to ESO.
If you fancy trying a vampire, you can test a special build that allows you to sprint while sneaking:
Finding the perfect route
This is the suitable addon: To farm effectively, you naturally need a route. The addon “HarvestMap” can help with this. It remembers the spots where you have already found materials. This way, you can choose your routes according to your own taste or conveniently import data from other players. However, the addon is only available for PC.
These are sensible areas: It’s best to establish a round route. This way, the materials from the beginning will be back when your round is finished. Generally, small areas are well-suited for farming since the density of resources is often higher there.
Small areas include the starting zones of the three factions:
- Khenarthi’s Rest
- Auridon
- Stros M’kai
However, you can also choose many other areas, depending on your preferences. It somewhat depends on what you want to achieve. For example, there are locations that don’t stand out for their resource density but offer exclusive materials that are correspondingly expensive. Quality over quantity, so to speak.
A good tip here is Kargstein, where you have the chance to obtain Nirnstone, which sells for a high price. Additionally, there are some chests there that you should always take with you when farming. The contents of such a chest can significantly increase your profits.
Here’s how to get rid of competition: Of course, you are not the only ones wanting to farm gold. If your route becomes heavily contested, you can prepare an alternative.
Alternatively, you can change instances by logging out or using a wayshrine. The mega servers of Tamriel are always portioned to a certain number of players, and if you switch, your competition might disappear.
Accumulating your money
This is how you create capital: To maximize your gold reserves, you can convert materials into items if you have skilled in crafting professions. This comes with a bit more risk, so you have to see what is important to you.
You can also use the materials to submit daily crafting writs. For this, you receive gold, level up your crafting, and also have the chance of obtaining items alongside it. For example, to upgrade your equipment.
Otherwise, it’s all about saving, saving, saving. Maybe not buying every little thing for your house or teleporting to a wayshrine every 5 meters without using another one.
This is how you increase your capital: Besides farming, you can also flip items. However, you need a certain amount of capital and a feel for the market in ESO. This way, you can buy things and sell them for profit. Joining a trading guild is recommended for this.
The easier way, especially for beginners, is undoubtedly farming, as you can’t incur losses here. However, if you are further along, you can multiply your saved wealth this way. And if you don’t feel like farming, we at MeinMMO suggest 5 things to do in ESO when you are bored.
In addition to those listed here, there are surely another 100 methods to earn good gold in ESO. What tips do you have up your sleeve? Let us know in the comments!
