[Imbuing] Best way to obtain basic Imbuing Ingredients

[Obsidian]

I finished my smithy training and am about to embark on imbuing training. I am trying to figure out the best way to collect basic ingredients (magic residue and gems) for the training. I've read so many threads I'm confusing myself and would like your help to figure out the best method of ingredient collection. As I understand it, I need two major ingredients for imbuing training:

MAGICAL RESIDUE:
I heard the best method to get residue was to make exceptional oak bows and unravel them. Unfortunately, I do not have any bowcraft/fletching. I tried making metal jingasas, but see that this no longer works for residue. If these methods are not available, what is the best method? I asked a few folks training inbuing around the soul forge in Ter Mur on Atlantic and they recommended I just hunt and collect everything into unravel bags. Is that indeed the best method or is there another means?

BASIC GEMS:
Seems like the only options are:
1) Collect gems from the corpses of monsters
2) Mine the gems using a GM miner an the new SA gem mining book
3) Purchase the gems.
If purchasing the gems is the only reliable method to get the quantity needed for imbuing, where do you shop? I remember seeing discussion about the roving gypsy camps in Ilshenar. If those are the best places to buy, does the pain in tracking down the camps equal the cost savings in gold? Do you purchase 20 of the gems and farm them up like we used to do with reagents before LRC was introduced?

I can craft exceptional blacksmithed items to imbue so that will not be a problem (I'll probably use daggers). Are there any other required ingredients to train imbuing? My understanding is Enchanted Essence is not required to train the skill.

Thanks for your advice!

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[Basara]

There's not really much pain involved with the Gypsy camps.

First of all, you've must not done business with jewelers in the last 5 years, because the gems went up to 500 of each type per NPC, auto-restocking when bought (like ingots) very early in AoS, if not before. So there's no "farming up" like reagents needed, as only the prices change (all NPCs that sell gems, not just the Gypsies).

Second, the Gypsy camps only spawn in 10-12 specific locations (supposedly 12, but I've not seen a spawn in two of the sites since before ML, on Lake Austin).

3 of the spots are in the Compassion region; one at the entrance to the Pass of Karnaugh, one by the Deamon spawn above the AW cave, and one to the southeast of the permanent gypsy camp, between it and the bridge to the undead.

3 more are in the Spirituality & Sacrifice region - one NW of the inn, south of the road, before you get to the spider woods. The second one is on the road between the inn and Lakeshire/Mireg (the meer), and close enough to the farm that you can pick up Lissbet after checking the Inn site, and drop her off with "Grandpa Charley" (he gives me the creeps - you're escorting a young girl to go live with a guy who lives in the boonies with only a single sheep for company). The third is on the road between the Meer and the Healer Grove, by the big rock just off the north side of the road.

There's two sites near Honor, one between the north road break and the brigand ruins, and the other to the south in the big clearing where the road effectively ends west of the rats. The North one is one of the two that I've not caught in action in years.

There's a gypsy spawn point that's for combat monsters only, at Justice, by the dock - which means you got to go through imps, mongbats, headless and reapers to reach it from the gate, and when you get to the spot, there's 4 water elementals that spawn IN that clearing. Buying from that gypsy camp requires a character that can keep the elementals beat down as you shop (my elemental-hunting miner can do it on autodefend, with an ele slayer and Enemy of one - though with the slayer changes, a water ele slayer and no casting would be even better).

The last two active spawns are in the Honesty area. One is due south of Mistas, in the large clearing between the two bridges. The other is north up the road from the jungle, in a clearing. Both can be difficult, due to Juka, controllers, golems and chaos dragoons of both varieties - especially if any of them are paragons.

There's been stories of one near Humility, and I think I even saw it once, but that was before ML.

Only the Gypsy Vagabonds sell gems, and those are present at half the active spawns (and typically only 4-6 sites are even occupied at the same time).

Usually, you can find 1-3 of them just by checking the 7 relatively safe sites (Compassion, Spirit/Sac, and Honor, which have nothing more difficult than brigands and stuff you see from a level 2 map), though you don't want to check the Spirit/Sac ones on a negative Karma character, due to the spawn there.

 

[Basara]

As for residue, you can also make stuff with low-end hammers and spined kits to unravel, preferably out of DC & Shadow Iron with the hammers (spined kits work good with both leather and spined, and you might even get a few leather items you want to imbue later, like LRC 20, LMC 8 pieces)

 

[Obsidian]

Thanks, Basara. I guess I need to do some exploring of Ilshenar. You are correct that I haven't done any business with jewelers, except selling a few gems to them.

I started clearing out unneeded items to unravel. I purchased 40 imbuing. I'm able to get some residue, but there are a lot of items I cannot unravel. Is that because they would yield essence once my skill is 50.1?

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[Xanthril of LA]

Thanks, Basara. I guess I need to do some exploring of Ilshenar. You are correct that I haven't done any business with jewelers, except selling a few gems to them.

I started clearing out unneeded items to unravel. I purchased 40 imbuing. I'm able to get some residue, but there are a lot of items I cannot unravel. Is that because they would yield essence once my skill is 50.1?

-OBSIDIAN-

If you can't unravel a normal magical item, it is because it either has too much magical power at your level, i.e., will give essence or runic later, or has too little magic to be unraveled at all. I have also noticed that a 0 durability item will not unravel but will once you repair it.

 

[Stupid Miner]

For residue, any exceptional oak wood weapon will work, not just bows.

 

[Gowron]

When I'm hunting for residue and essence materials, I go through the Virtue Dungeons, ilsh spawns, and other areas where I might find some paragon chests. I get money, may get some gems as loot, and every now and then get an arty which might turn up as a relic later on.