Skill Gain Guides for crafting skills (updated for Stygian Abyss)

[Basara]

Note for these methods: You cannot buy points in a skill, while under the effects of a New Haven skill quest. Buy all your skills, THEN take the quests.

Part 0: Preperations

These are some common sense guidelines for training long and hard (and later crafting throughout your career).

1. First of all, items will always craft into the bag that the raw material is in - as long as there is but one component.
2. Items with multiple parts (typically, things you won't be using for training), require all the items be in the same bag. If not, then the item will appear in the top level of your backpack.
3. Certain items (a few deed types, like repair deeds) will automatically be created in your top pack level.
4. Items in bags cannot be marked as quest items.

Using this to your advantage:

• For Blacksmiths (especially) and tailors, buy a salvage bag. Making your training items in the salvage bag, will save you a lot of time in regaining the materials for more training, but note that any cloth left in the bag will be turned into bandages (and that oil cloths recycle into bandages as well).
• For other skills, if you are crafting items you are going to sell or throw away, craft the items in a container you can just drop. If you are going to donate the items to a collection (library), you can have them in a container as well.
• Using UOAssist with the 2D client will allow you to set up a "Sell bag", whose entire contents are sold at once (or in groups of 50 in some cases), and that is the bag you should use if the items can actually be sold to NPCs and you plan to do so (remember to remove any remaining raw materials before selling).
• If training while making items for a quest, craft the items in the top level of your backpack (i,e, not in any containers). Using the "mark as quest item" and "make number" functions (which first appeared in the Kingdom Reborn client, and are now present in both the 2D/Classic and Enhanced clients) can be very useful for this, though you may still have to mark a few by hand, if you end up with extras after finishing a quest. Note that pure skill gain quests (New Haven) don't require items to be marked (and can be made in the salvage bag, for smiths), but you can get tons of tinker kits (of the NPC variety, not the ones that "necessity's mother" takes in Heartwood - use these to make the quest ones) by crafting the parts one Tinker NPC needs, while training tinker up for Amelia (you have to re-mark as quest item the stack of parts after each quest for the other tinker).

Part 1. Arms Lore

Note for those who have been gone since before 2007:

Arms Lore is now an important part of crafting. It gives the following bonuses to items, whether they are crafted by Smiths, Tailors, Fletchers, Carpenters or Tinkers...

+1% DI per 20 points of Arms Lore (+1 per 12.5 points on SP & Mugen) added to the existing 35% DI Bonus for Exceptionally-crafted Weapons. This means that at GM Arms Lore, weapons crafted with normal tools will have 40% DI when crafted exceptional (43% on SP & Mugen). The maximum a Smith weapon can have, when crafted by a runic, is 55%. Bows and Wood weapons can be a higher, from choice of wood(see below)
+1 Additional random Resist per 20 points of Arms Lore (+1 per 12.5 points on SP & Mugen), in addition to the standard Exceptional bonus (which is 15 for items created with normal tools, +6 for runic-crafted armor).

Note: Tailor & Smith runics have had their minimum intensities raised, and their maximum intensities all being potentially 100% of the range (even for Dull Copper & spined runics!) The new fletching & carpentry runics (gained via quests, not BODs) mostly have caps under 100% intensity, as the wood properties (and some additional bonuses for fletching property range, since all are 2-handed weapons) add in significant bonuses (up to +12% DI for weapons, up to +18 resists for armor - compared to 12 for barbed leather & 13 for valorite)

To train Arms Lore: Buy as high as possible in New Haven (Hespheastus blacksmith shop, or Jacob in the miner area). Then, have it go up while you train crafting skills. It goes up crafting any type of armor (except shields, but includes hats), and any thing with weapon stats (all weapons, plus the "hammer" carpentry tool crafted by tinkers, which has stats but was never made equippable).

If you're not to GM by the time you finish training the crafting skills (not like you'll NEED to have it at GM any quicker), then you can use the skill actively on a piece of gear on you (weapon, etc.) Some people would say to go straight to the active loring, but why waste time doing that if you are going to be crafting like a madman to train the other skills, and getting Lore gains along the way. Personally, I've timed the process, and you can get as much as three times as many skill checks that could result in a gain from crafting, than loring an existing item.

Links for parts 2 & 3: use this info to build your own skill training regimen if you don't like my suggestions

Smith Charts for skill gain caps:
http://uo.stratics.com/php-bin/show_content.php?content=27506

Tailor Charts for skill gain caps:
http://uo.stratics.com/php-bin/show_content.php?content=27682

Note that these charts do not, as yet, have the Stygian Abyss items. See notes below on some of those, and how they can factor into these guides.


Part 2: Blacksmith/Mining:
A. From 0-40: Buy off NPC in New Haven, and take Hesphastus' skill gain quest. Do the same for Mining from Jacob, south of the New Haven Moongate. Get mining to 50 first, to get some ingots to start out with, and continue to train between Smith training sessions, to supply your training. Getting to GM mining is primarily the result of mining a lot (even iron mining will give gains), and smelting ore that you have a chance of failure on (only gains from smelting ore are when you can fail).

The higher you get your mining, the less ingots you lose smelting, then return to Hesphastus' shop. (note that mining gives gains, regardless of ore type when mining up the ore, but is based on difficulty of ore for gains while smelting the ore to ingots)

Note: Be sure to buy Salvage bag from provisioner

B. From 40-50: make Maces, in the New Haven smith shop, using the faster skill gain area.

50-up... Consult the charts link above for things you can gain on, if you wish to build your own, personal training chart.

The following is a guide that minimizes ingot use, as long as you are enabled for Mondain's Legacy items:

C. Switch to Cutlasses somewhere in the 50s.
D. Switch to Krysses somewhere in the mid 60s.
E. Switch to Shurikens somewhere in the mid 70s.
F. Switch to Circlets around 90*
G.* Switch to Royal Circlets at GM, keep making them until 120.
H.* (Optional: Requires Stygian Abyss) Switch to Boomerangs at 110, and make those to 120. This is optional, in that while the Boomerangs are slightly harder and take less ingots than the Royal Circlets, they also weigh 4 times as much, meaning that one will have to stop and recycle more often. The weight constraints of the Salvage bag means that you can make up to 120-122 Royal circlets per pass (the limit coming from the 125-item limit a character backpack has; you'll have the bag, the ingots in the bag, and at least one tool, plus the items made), while one can only fit 100 boomerangs in the same bag (where it hits 400 stones).

* if you need to fill Platemail BODs, feel free to do these during your training as well, but the circlets use a lot less metal.


Part 3: Tailoring:
Buy it up as high as possible. You can use the link to the tailor charts above to build your own method, or try the following:

A. Suggest short pants to 45 (though will get slow at that point)
B. Leather Jingasa from 45 to 54
C. Robes to 54 to 75
D. Oil cloth from 75 to at least 80 (oil cloths you turn into bandages for your characters with healing or vet - they don't recycle). As these use a lot less cloth than the next step, you might want to stick with these fairly long, and only switch to the next step when gains get really slow. (gains can go over 109, if scrolled to 120, but are VERY slow. Then again, you get many more attempts for the same amount of cloth instead of the hoods)
Library Point Method (pre-Stygian Abyss method):
E. Either stay with oil cloths to 109 (low cloth method), or, if cloth supplies aren't an issue, switch to Cloth Ninja Hoods sometime in the 80s or 90s (hoods can take you up to 110 if scrolled to 110, 115 if scrolled to 120). If you do Hoods, donate them by the bag to the Britain library.
F. switch to leather ninja hoods to donate to the library after you cap out on the cloth ones. OR make studded hiro sode and more difficult leather items.
As with smith, if you have BODs to fill that you can gain on (studded & bone) during the later gain periods, by all means fill them instead. A lot of them give better chances of gains, but are more costly in material.
Stygian Abyss Method (cloth only):
E. Switch to Gargoyle cloth armor at around 109 skill. Any of the items will give gains to 120, but those that use more cloth, typically give gains quicker. Note that, unlike nearly all other tailor items, these items start at 0% (like quivers, and all smith items), not 50%, at the skill level where they can first be made.


Part 4: Bowcraft/Fletching:
This skill can actually be trained to Grandmaster using the quests in Heartwood. As those quests are the source of the Bow recipes AND the Fletching runics, training there is a bit of a no-brainer...

A. Buy/train skill to 30. Then, go to Heartwood (with a LOT of wood - take loaded pack animals) to the Bow questgivers.
B. Do the quest "A simple Bow" until you reach 60 skill.
C. Do the Quest "Ingenious Archery I" from 60 to about 80 skill (can go a little higher if you wish).
D. Do the "Ingenious Archery II" Quest from 80 to 90 skill.
E. Do the "Ingenious Archery III" Quest from 90 to 100 skill (if gains slow, try alternating between the II & III quests)

By doing quests till you hit GM, you will probably get all the recipes, and maybe some fletching runics, by the time you hit GM. If not, go back to doing "A simple bow" quests after GM for recipes you lack, or trying for runics, or doing the quest for the crossbow bolts (if you feel like doing a lot of separation of small groups off a pile). Note that if you are training Arms Lore, and haven't reached GM by the time you hit GM Bowyer, you will still get gains from doing the bow quests, so it is more convenient to keep doing them, than the crossbow bolt quests, in the long run.

 

[Basara]

Part 5: Lumberjacking

This is easy - go chop trees. Alternatively, get a 100% poison axe and go beat on a golem, if you have (or can have temporarily) a ~70 swords skill (or 90-100 magery for a mage weapon axe) on the character. for a Use Best Weapon skill Axe, any melee weapon skill will do.


Part 6: Tinkering

A. Do the tinkering quests in Heartwood to get up to 50, running to Heartwood to turn in your tinker tools with the "Necessity's mother" quest every time you fill your pack with tinker tools. Go back to Amelia and more accelerated gains if you've not hit 50 yet. You'll be able to gain on Tinker Tools until you hit 60 skill. Switch to the next Heartwood quest sometime between 45 and 60.

B. "Beer Goggles" (Barrel taps; Wine & Grape Tenders)
You can start at 35, but the skill percentages aren't good enough to bother with until 45 to 50 skill. Can train on until 85, but you're better off switching to the next step at about 80.

C. "The Far Eye" - (spyglass quest - trinket weavers)
These can be started at 60, but you start at 0% at 60, so you might want to train on other stuff till 70 or 80 skill (like the barrel taps) These will take you all the way to Grandmaster.

D. Options –
Option 1: "The Song of the Wind" (fancy wind chimes - Wine & grape tenders): Only go this route if you're having trouble getting gains near GM with the spyglasses. The chimes use almost 4 times the ingots as the spyglasses, and are only 30% to make at 95 skill. Expect to use or lose a LOT of ingots, going this route.
Option 2: If your account has access to the house add-on crafting stations (vet rewards), that take tools to charge them, there are different tools that can be used, and many of them can be used to get gains. Or, you can stockpile for training the other skills.

• Sewing kits for the Sewing Machine (tailor station) can be crafted for skill gains up to 60 Tinkering skill.
• As noted above, the Tinker tools can be crafted for gains up until 60 skill as well.
• Mortar & Pestles can be made to charge the Alchemy station, and will give gains up to 70 Tinkering
• Scribe's Pens for the Inscription station can be crafted for Tinkering gains up to 75 skill.
• Most Carpentry tools (saws, hammers, planes, scorps, draw knives, Inshave, etc.) to charge the carpentry station give gains up to 80 Tinkering. Some of these use metal, while others use wood (and might be found in the Wooden items category instead of tools). This can be an alternative if you're running low on ingots or have a surplus of wood.
• Fletching tools can be made for gains up to 85 Tinkering (and can have up to 250 charges)
• Blacksmith tools have some variation, for the tools that can be used to charge its station (a powered drop hammer). The Tongs can be crafted for gains up to 85 Tinkering (and use 1 ingot each), while Smith's Hammers and Sledgehammers give gains until 90 Tinkering.
• Cooking has the greatest variation of skill requirements for crafting its tools. Rolling pins (in the wooden item table) are the easiest to make, and stop giving gains at 50 Tinkering. Skillets give gains up to 80 Tinkering. Flour Sifters give gains all the way to 100 Tinkering.

Part 7: Carpentry

The Carpenter doesn't have many choices for items that have any sort of value. There are some Heartwood quests, yet they have the most recipes that actually people want (most the smith ones are junk). Heck, sometimes, the other quests (like bowcraft & tinker) GIVE completed carpentry ITEMS from the recipes as rewards, not just the recipes.

The two Heartwood Carpentry quests are "Arch Support" and "Stop Harping on Me". Both are available from trinket weavers, but some of the other quest givers also offer one or the other.

Due to the spread-out nature, it might be more worthwhile to spend some of the time in Britain, making items for the library collections.

This section uses a mix of Heartwood Quests and Library collections
A. "Arch Support" (foot stools)
You can start crafting these at 11 skill (50% chance). Can get gains on them up to 36 skill.
B. No matching item at this spot in training - use wooden boxes, until you get enough skill to make...
C. Ballot Boxes (47.3), then do ballot boxes until 63.1 (if you have the required music) or 70 (if you don't have music skill)
D. Make sure to have music, and do the "Stop Harping on Me" (lap harps) quests for more recipes. This requires 63.1 carpentry and 45 music. Can gain on these until 88.1.
E. Alternatively, you can, if you have 40 tailor, make Fishing poles starting at 68.4 skill, and donate them to the fisher NPC at the library (either with the carpenter, or another character).
F. At 70, (or whenever you stop with the things in D or E) you can start making Bokutos, donating to Samurai NPC at the library.
G. When Bokuto or fishing pole gains slow down or stop, change to Shepherd's crook, donating to the Animal Trainer NPC at the library. Can start as early as 78.9, or as late as 95 (when Bokuto gains would stop).

 

[Basara]

These are such that one can follow while training crafting skills from whatever, towards their final goal (be it GM or 120, depending if they have powerscrolls).

The quests are described by their required items, not their actual names (which can differ, if offered in both Heartwood & Sanctuary)


A note on Arms Lore & Heartwood / Sanctuary quests
These methods make Arms Lore gains a snap, as well.

Tailors can gain Arms Lore when crafting the Flower Garlands and Studded Bustiers.

Blacksmiths can get Arms Lore gains off crafting everything but shields.

Fletchers can get Arms Lore gains off crafting bows & crossbows of any type.

Carpenters can gain Arms Lore when crafting armor and weapons; for the alternate crafting paths I suggested, Bokutos and Shepherd Crooks for the library quests would potentially give gains.

Note that with your tinker, the Smith Hammers/sledgehammers (smith tools) & Hammer (carpentry tool) give arms lore gains, so consider making those tools when raising arms lore, when also training the other skills. Once you get Arms Lore to GM, start making less-costly and/or lighter tools (tongs, scorps)

 

[Basara]

These are old skill gain Logs/FAQs from 2001-2006 (with the exception of my shiny new Mining FAQ).

For some skills, you may be better off served checking the new sticky, which is meant to cover all skills in the forum.


Carpenter Skill Gain
(really outdated info here): http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=10149
I had another, but it disappeared on me.

Smith Skill Gain
http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=15065

Tailor Skill Gain

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=36601


Tinker Skill Gain

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=16811

Mining Skill guides:

The new Nirces guide (woefully out of date)
http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=10104

The revised Mining FAQ from 2008
http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=66764

 

[Mark Trail]

Re: Quick & Easy Modern Skill gain Guides for crafting skills

Tailoring has new gargish cloth armor at very high skill levels. No hides needed now.

Smithing has a new craftable boomerang that is high skill and low ingots.

Tinkering might have new high skill items, haven't been there recently.

 

[Basara]

Re: Quick & Easy Modern Skill gain Guides for crafting skills

Yeah, I plan on taking a look at those for updating the charts, after the Halloween events are over.

Part of the reason for the delay was that, initially, some people were claiming that they weren't even getting their GGS from Gargoyle cloth items (let alone gains from continued making of the items), and I was waiting for that to sort itself out.

 

[Boogieman]

Re: Quick & Easy Modern Skill gain Guides for crafting skills

As always you are a source of valuable information Basara - thanks !

I wonder why you recommend the cloth ninja hood instead of the the elven shirt. They require the same minimum skill for crafting, but the elven shirt has two advantages: It only takes 10 cloth (as opposed to 13 for the hood) and you can sell it to tailors at 18 gold. This means each shirt you make only cost you 2 gold (assuming a cloth bolt price of 100 gold). The hood sell for 16 gold, and will therefore cost you 8 gold for each item - 4 times that of the shirt.
If you recycle the shirt it will cost you 8 gold (or the price of 4 cloth) and the hood will cost 10 (or the price of 5 cloth). Of course the recycling return depends on skill. The numbers I give here is for 110 skill.
The only reason to gain on the hood would be to raise arms lore as you go. But it is significantly more expensive.

 

[Basara]

Re: Quick & Easy Modern Skill gain Guides for crafting skills

The Cloth Ninja Hood has several advantages, if you need them.

1. You can gain Arms Lore on making the cloth ninja hoods.

2. You can donate the hoods to the Thief upstairs at the Britain library for substantial points. You can probably get at least one talisman from the number of hoods you craft to train the skill.

3. Originally, people reported problems gaining on the elven clothing, much like how some people seemed to have trouble getting gains with the gargoyle cloth. There's also the matter that the guide was written before ML upgrade was free to all accounts, and the trial accounts started as SE. The tailor guide was originally written to not require ML.

 

[Basara]

Re: Quick & Easy Modern Skill gain Guides for crafting skills

Of course, now the changes to allow donations of entire bags of items to the Britain Library collection has made doing the cloth ninja hoods even more attractive as a means of training.

 

[Saunders]

Re: Quick & Easy Modern Skill gain Guides for crafting skills

Please note (skill gain guide for tailors) that you can't make oil cloths till 74.6 skill, so you can't start making them at 70.
Am following your otherwise excellent guide, gratefully.

 

[[JD]]

it would be nice to see alternate skillgain versions which tell you what to make at each level so you can donate and gain rewards, and tell you how long or how much you should expect to make

 

[Basara]

I'll try to throw something together later for smiths... I think I already touch on it somewhere in one of the other stickies.

The Tinker & bowcraft guides above are already geared toward things you can use for Heartwood quests, and the Carpenter uses a mix of heartwood quests and Brit library donations.

Tailors currently have the option of doing all their post-oil-cloth gains as donations to the Library (making the ninja hoods).