You’ve likely stumbled across a lead or two in your time playing The Elder Scrolls Online. They were added relatively recently in the second to last expansion, Greymoor, offering a chance for players to tap into their inner Indiana Jones for a good treasure hunt or two.
They’re a bit different from the museum pieces you’ll find dotted about various of the continents – those are artifacts for… well, museums. This loot is for you. You can find cosmetics, mounts, treasure to sell, and more, all depending on how much time you sink into the craft.
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However, you can’t just become a scryer by finding a lead. You need to join the Antiquities Guild and get yourself a few items and a badge of certification. Here’s how.
How To Join The Antiquities Guild
- Head to Western Skyrim.
- Find your way to Solitude.
- Walk toward the Blue Palace and, on the left, just by the Bard’s College, you’ll see the Antiquities Guild.
- Once inside, speak to Verita Numida.
- Complete the quest (tutorial) she gives you.
- This will net you the Antiquarian’s Eye.
How To Scry
- Every area has a simple lead. This lets you earn some XP to get better rewards.
- You find leads in your journal under Antiquities.
- Here, you can scry them, opening a puzzle minigame.
- As per the tutorial, all you have to do is join up matching hexagons to reach all the circles within the number of uses.
- Once that’s done, you’ll have a zone marked on your map.
- Make your way there.
- Once you’ve arrived, make sure to quickslot the Antiquarian’s Eye.
- When you use it, it’ll mark the way toward a pile of dirt.
- Dig the dirt and you’ll enter another minigame.
- The paintbrush marks each square.
- Green means the antiquity is underneath. Yellow means you’re closing in. Red means that you’re nowhere near.
- Find the antiquity and then dig it up.
- You’ll then have some extra time to find gold and other loot.
Doing all of this gets you XP for scrying and excavation, two new paths that you have in your skills menu.
If you want to get the better loot, you need to level up Antiquarian Insight. Each level marks a new tier of lead that you can scry.
There are the simple, intermediate, advanced, master, and ultimate leads.
Where To Find Leads
There are far too many leads to list here but every area will have at least one simple lead.
Once you’ve completed the simple lead, you’ll get the next tier and then the next.
However, you can get better leads by beating bosses and general mobs or by finding them as placed treasure in key locations such as Blackreach.
Alternatively, they pop up in chests and other containers. You can even buy select leads at certain vendors.
What Do Leads Give You?
You can get a whole variety of rewards from leads. It starts out with treasure pieces that you can pawn to merchants for gold – they aren’t useful for anything else. But as you go, you’ll get some top-tier, Crown Store-level goods.
There’s the Dwarven Ebon Wolf Mount, a slew of motifs and style pages to let you get fashionable, Malacath’s Band of Brutality, and more. All of which can only be acquired through scrying.
Take a quick look through your collection page and you’ll see plenty of rewards up for grabs marked as being found through scrying or leads. Find what stands out to you and you’ll have a goal in mind.
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