How many skill points are there in ESO, and where to find them all? Skill points are things people always need in The Elder Scrolls Online, especially when starting out. In this guide, Ninja Pulls shows you how many skill points your new Arcanist character needs and the easiest ways to get them.
How Many Skill Points Will You Need for the Arcanist
There are about 534 skill points in The Elder Scrolls Online, and a sensible minimum you will need to build an Arcanist is 100. These 100 skill points will be enough to create an Arcanist that has all the passives needed, including Continuous Attack for mount speed and Medicinal Use for potion cooldowns. What is more, the character can hit 120K on the Dummy. Same for supports. The 100 skill points get you most of what you need for everyday content.
The figure jumps if you start to tweak and optimize: For more weapon passives, self heals, Major Resolves, Psijic Guild, and Mages Guild, etc., which means you will need about 150 skill points. If you PvP and PvE on the same character, you may need even more. But the Armory system makes it easier to get by. With Hirelings and crafting, you will need about 250 points in total.
100-120 is a sensible initial amount. Remember that you can put points into things you don't need to unlock passives faster, then go to the shrine to reset them later, using your gold coins in ESO. By the way, there's a cute little temple of the Tribunal right next to the main gate in Necrom, where you can do this.
Where Are the Easiest Skill Points
Leveling (65 skill points)
You get 64 as level-up rewards, plus one more for playing or skipping the tutorial, for a total of 65. You can get the rest from quests, dungeons, group events, skyshards, and PvP.
Main Quests (10 skill points)
The main quest is an obvious choice, and it's super easy at low levels. Most of the stages are nice and quick, and you get a skill point and a big XP drop for each one. Once you've got 10 skill points and have completed the Council of the Five Companions, stop before the action moves to Coldharbour and progress is slow. This is primarily solo stuff, so zip through it when your leveling buddies aren't around.
Outside of the main quest, however, the story is a pretty slow way to get skill points. But if you want to do it, here are some tips.
Large zone stories drop 3 skill points: Avoid the base-game zones and Chapter zones like Summerset, Vvardenfell, or High Isle. Because you only get half the skill points.
Small DLC zones drop 6-8 skill points: Small DLC zones like Murkmire, Markarth, and Galen give twice as many and involve less travel time.
Clockwork City is probably the best. It has a great story, 8 skill points, and a unique two-hour, 150% XP scroll. But you must make a specific choice late in the story, or you will only get a 100% scroll.
Dark Brotherhood also has 8 points and has some very cool moments. But you have to level the skill line to advance, so it's a lot slower.
In brief, the main quest is great, and Clockwork City is useful. But generally, stories are not the fastest way to get skill points.
Random Dungeons (52 skill points)
Random dungeons are great for leveling, especially if you've got a group. On top of the XP, the dungeon story quest always grants a skill point. If you do every single one, you can get 52 points.
Keep in mind that most dungeons are locked at first. You can still enter through the door, but you can't use the queue for the big XP drop. Here's how it works:
3 dungeons unlock at level 10
Plus 2 more every 2 levels
All DLC dungeons unlock at level 45
Once you hit Level 10, three dungeons are unlocked, with the new one added every two levels. Therefore, you will unlock eight at level 20, thirteen at level 30, and so on until you hit Level 45. All the DLC dungeons also become available when you reach level 45.
That makes randoms perfect early on. You gain several levels in a single clear and unlock new dungeons so fast that repeats are less likely unless you get terrible RNG. But once you hit Level 30 or 35, you level more slowly and get more and more repeats. This can be especially bad if you don't have a fixed group, and each time you queue, you end up with low-level players who only have a few dungeons unlocked.
To be fair, you're bound to get repeats of whatever you do, and it's not a big deal so long as you need the XP. But if you're mainly interested in skill points, probably the fastest way to rack them up is through public dungeon group events.
Public Dungeons (44 skill points, including skyshards)
It is recommended to start with the High Isle public dungeons because they drop 2 skill points each (plus skyshards). That means you can get four and a half skill points very quickly. Those two are the only public dungeons that work this way.
In other public dungeons, just skip the quest. You will want to grab the skyshard, nuke the group event, and get out.
There are 32 skill points that you can get from public dungeons, which means 44 skill points if you do them all. Despite the name, they are all soloable, although there are somewhere slotting a heal or a shield is a good idea.
Also, some of them are close to the entrance, and these are the quickest way to grab a skill point in a hurry, especially if you're grouped and can port to one another.
Many other players will be doing group events, too, when Necrom drops. But that won't matter. The five-minute respawn timer drops to about 30 seconds if there's a character nearby without the Achievement. This worked everywhere, so you should never have to wait more than 30 seconds before it pops again.
543 Skyshards (equals 181 skill points)
There are currently 543 skyshards, which equals 181 skill points. But they're a mixed bag: Some are right by the Wayshrines, and some are tucked away at the bottom of a Delve. However, you don't need them all. You can just grab the easy ones to fill the gaps, then come back for the rest some other time.
Alliance War Tutorial (3 skill points)
Finally, don't forget about PvP. Even if you never do PvP, you should definitely do the Alliance War tutorial. It takes 3 minutes, gets you 3 skill points, and advances you to rank 3 in both Alliance War skill lines. That's enough to unlock Vigor and, more importantly, the Continuous Attack passive for a 30% faster mount speed. This is essential. But at lower levels, when your mount is so slow, it's painful to be without it.
Don't skip the siege training. Otherwise, you won't hit rank 3, and you will also miss out on the Continuous Attack and a free skill point.
If you like a bit of PvP, the first six ranks are pretty easy to get, and that's another skill point for every rank. Daily Battlegrounds are also a nice source of XP. So that's two birds with one stone.
Summary
In addition to the 65 skill points you already have by level 50, you can get up to another 109 easy ones from the main quest, public dungeons, group dungeon quests, and the Alliance War tutorial. There are also at least 30 from easy skyshards if you need them.
It is recommended to get a mixture of all of these: You can do a bit of main quest up to level 10, then Alliance War tutorial, and then random dungeons. When the momentum starts to drop a bit, you can head back to the main quests or public dungeons.
That is the number of skill points you would need and where to get them. If you like Ninja Pulls's video, please don't forget to give this video a Like and subscribe to her channel.
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