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Use buffs that don’t require power
If you have to spend large amounts of power while making your end-items, your will need
to wait sometime before making the next end-item (i.e. need to wait to regain your power.
In consequence, excessive amounts of down-time can drastically lower your experience
rate. You should notice that there will be 2-progress buffs that don’t require power and 2-
durability buffs that don’t require power. Personally, I would choose one of these buffs for
both durability and progress and use those exclusively. As my third buff I would almost

use the progress buff that requires power either from the same buff tier or one lower (the
lower level progress buffs use less power). Now there are few exceptions to these rules:

Counter everything
Every successful counter will automatically give you the normal progress rate, (+50
progress and -10 durability), along with the additional bonuses from your buffs. In
contrast, if you fail a counter, you could likely take power and progress penalties.
Avoid mouse clicks
Clicking enter, stop, create, combine icons, etc., can all add-up and significantly reduce
the time it takes to make any item. You want to try and do all your crafting activities with
the keyboard and preferably with 1-hand.

Craft the most difficult end-item or sub-combine
Once you’ve exhausted all your discovery exps, you want to solely focus on your highlevel
combines or sub-combines since these should always give you the best exps. Now,
you don’t always have to make end-item combines for the best experience and sometimes
the sub-combines are more efficient (assuming same level of difficulty). Why? Subcombines
take ½ less progress to finish and it’s possible to complete two sub-combines in
the time it would take to make one end-item.
 

Should I sell my end-items on the broker for additional profit?
Assuming our main focus is gaining levels, trying to sell your items on the broker will only
slow you down. You want to quickly make your items, sell them to the nearby NPC
merchant, and start making more items. Arguably some crafters might prefer the hybrid
approach of having an “exps session” for a few hours, stop, and then sell on the broker.
The hybrid approach works well if you really aren’t in the grinding mood or want to level
both your adventurer and your crafter.

Buy sub-combines of the broker
A good example of using this approach is if your best exps gains are from making spells.
Instead of making the inks yourself, you could buy the inks off the broker board, make the
other sub-combines at the crude level, and quickly grind out your spells. This approach
will definitely lose money in the process, but depending on the ink price, it might not be
that bad since the NPC vendor gives you a slight profit on your end-items anyway.

Craft green or lower sub-combines at the crude level
At some point, your sub-combines will take too much time versus the experience they
give. When that happens, you want to craft these at the crude level and shorten the time it
takes to make your final end-item. You also want to craft these sub-combines using your
secondary craft skills and maximize the profit when selling to the NPC vendor. Secondary
crafts will generally require 2-fuels and the NPC buyback price is determined on the
amount of fuel you used.
 

Maximize your vitality
As you’re probably already aware, if you have any vitality, experience gained will be
doubled. As a rule of thumb, you never want to be at 100% or 0% vitality. At 100% vitality,
you are just wasting the 2x bonus exps and at 0%, you aren’t gaining any bonus vitality
exps. However, if want to level the fastest, you will do most of your grinding without vitality
since it will eventually run-out and will never replenish fast enough for continuous crafting.
Although, I personally prefer grinding with vitality so if I run-out, I will just switch to my
adventurer and gain levels in the interim. Hopefully, when I am ready to start crafting
again, there is enough vitality to keep me happy.
 

Drink your highest tier drink
As you know, drinks can drastically improve you power regen rate and when crafting you
are always regenerating power in the “out-of-combat” rates. As a result, make sure to use
your best drinks and therefore minimize any down-time.

Make everything for discovery exps
When you initially create a new item, you will get bonus exps and this experience just
doesn’t apply to your “core” items, but also any items from the secondary sub-combine
books that you are capable of making (e.g. apothecary, geocraft, etc.). As you might be
aware, the secondary craft skills allow you to create every sub-combine available and
further increase the number of discoveries you can have. Additionally, your core subcombines
(e.g. gold bars for jewelers, WORTs for alchemists, etc.) can be created twice,
once using your primary craft skill and one using the secondary craft skill.
Can I make the end-item at crude, shaped, normal, and pristine qualities to
get more bonus experience?
No. If you happened to make the end-item four times, one at each level of quality, you
would effectively receive the same amount of bonus experience received for making the
pristine combine. I.e. just make the item at the pristine level for the extra bonus discovery
experience and move onto the next new item to create.
Making the sub-combines from the secondary crafts seems to be harder?
They will generally be harder since you are effectively using buffs that are 1-tier below the
sub-combine level and at first, your skills in these secondary crafts might not be
maximized. It takes a few hours to maximize each one of the secondary craft skills and
you won’t consistently make pristine sub-combines until you’re about 60-70% of the
maximum skill value.
Should I try making rare items for bonus experience?
You wont be able to do this normally since rares are expensive and aren’t practical for
leveling-up. However, if you can manage to find some adventures that need adept-3
spells, rare armor, etc.., (maybe through the LFW tag), you could probably manage in
making a few rare items, gaining both discovery experience and profit.
Do I gain more experience making crude items versus pristine items?
From my research, making 4-crude items gives the same amount of experience versus 1-
pristine item. However, making the 4-crude items takes 4x more resources and you might
find yourself spending additional time making WORTs, buying raw materials, fuels, etc. As
a result, I would almost always recommend making everything that pristine level.
However, if the sub-combine is conned green or lower, I would suggest making the item at
the crude level.
 

4.2.2. Higher Tiers, Higher Profit (i.e. best ways to gain exps)
As with adventurer levels, tier-6 artisans will make the most revenue and profit. For
example, Tier-6 armorers, weaponsmiths, and jewelers can easily make a few pp a day
selling rare crafted items. As a result, one of your primary goals will be to level as-fast-as
possible. However, unlike adventuring, “grinding” levels as an artisan can be extremely
tedious, making for a very daunting task. Here are a few hints on faster ways to gain
artisan levels:

4.2. The Artisan
Quite possibly, the Artisan class is the best career for making the most efficient and
consistent cash flow in EQ2 and you do not need to worry about the typical adventuring
activities of hunting, grouping, chest drops, questing, etc. An artisan’s main job is
producing valuable end-items and selling them to the adventurer community via broker
boards. As we will explain shortly, at the pinnacle of an Artisan’s career, you could easily
make a few pp with just 30-minutes a work per day. Personally, my jeweler is able to
roughly 1pp a day just by selling normal tier-5 imbued rings.
Artisan levels versus Adventurer Levels
Since artisans don’t have to go “outside” to generate money and experience, they tend to
gain levels and make money much faster than their adventurer counterparts. Artisans
have the luxury (or curse) of being able to perform their entire EQ2 activities primarily from
the tradeskill zones located in their local town and this simplicity either can be quite
rewarding or quite boring. As a general rule of thumb, expect that the typical Artisan could
generate levels twice as fast as their adventurer counterparts. However, as levels
increase, artisans and adventures will generally gain levels at the same rate.
Artisan Class Earning Potential
Purely personally speculation (as it’s difficult to get a representative overview of the
earning potential of all artisan classes), but Outfitters will tend to make the most money,
followed by Scholars and Craftsman.
Class Subclass Typical Products Earning Potential
Provisioner Foods and Drink MEDIUM / HIGH
Craftsman Woodworker Staffs, Bows, Arrows, Totems, Chests, etc. MEDIUM / HIGH
Carpenter Furniture MEDIUM / HIGH
Armorer Armor HIGH / EXTREME
Outfitter Weaponsmith Weapons HIGH / EXTREME
Tailor Light/Very Light armor and Bags HIGH / EXTREME
Jeweler Jewelry and Scout spells MEDIUM / HIGH
Scholar Sage Priest and Wizard Spells LOW / MEDIUM
Alchemist
Extracts, Potions, Poisons, and Fighter
Spells MEDIUM / HIGH
Earning
Rating
Expected
Value / Day
EXTREME > 5pp
HIGH > 1pp
MEDIUM < 1pp
LOW < 50gp

4.2.1. Artisan Product Types
Now there are 4-main product types for the Artisan to generate cash (when selling to
others).

Table 4.1.7.2: DAC/Loop Locations (a few examples)
Zone Name Zone
Tier Location Name DAC Name Location
Coordinates
2 Northwest of
Gnollslayer’s Keep Gnoll Tent 2050, 250
Antonica
2 The Ruins of
Caltorsis Foci Poll -1400,-730
Commonlands 2 South of Nek Tower Skelly Camp 900, -520
3 Near QT2 Gnoll Tent 500, 600
Thundering
Steppes 3 Near QT1
Gnoll Tent
and Zombie
Trash
180, -780
Nektulos Forest 3 Southwest Shore Pirate Camp 560, -180
Enchanted Lands 4 South of Runneyeye Goblin Camp 90, -940
Sinking Sands 5 (49+) Scorpion Loop 1 Scorpions -345, -740
6 (52+) Scorpion Loop 2 Scorpions 35, -515
Pillar of Flames 6 (55+) Goblin Loop 1 Goblin Camp 400, -950
6 (56+) Goblin Loop 2 Goblin Camp 300, -950

Every zone will have named mobs that spawn in certain areas. Most of the time, named
mob spawns are random but some of them can be triggered through clearing “special”
outdoor areas called Dynamic Adventure Camps (DACs). However, dungeons don’t have
DACs, but named mobs will spawn more abundantly and frequently. Also named mobs
will generally always drop loot and have 2-3x more value than normal loot drops and are
significantly more difficult to kill versus their group++++ counterparts. These mobs are
strictly meant to be hunted by groups can commonly have “helper” mobs in their group to
further discourage other than the strongest groups to engage them.
DOF: Loop Named Mob Spawns
Similar to DAC locations, the DOF expansion introduces more frequent occurrence of
named mob spawns in certain mob “loop” areas. Mob loop areas are certain spawn points
in a given zone that always spawn the same type of mobs. Every so often, a named mob
(with helpers) can spawn instead of the normal mobs. These named mobs tend to be
either single or double arrow ups and can sometimes be killed by solo adventurers.
Not all named mobs drop a chest
In certain cases, certain named mobs will never drop a chest and their solo purpose for
existence (other than to kill you) is for the progression of a particular quest. A good
example is in Rivervale where you need to kill 3-named mobs (Alegos the Betrayer,
Xelindros the Fearbringer and Demeroth the Gnawer) to progress the “The Mysterious
Drafling” Access Quest.
I do not have an exhaustive list of named mobs that do not drop chest, however it is a
safe bet that any named mob (especially in dungeons) you encounter will always drop a
chest. In the named mob lists later in this guide, I try and list only named mobs that would
drop a chest.
How often should I expect to find/hunt named mobs?
The question can’t be answered exactly because it will depend on your group, the zone,
and the objectives of the group (i.e. are the trying to hunt named vs. experience vs.
quests). Although, here is what I have found to be reasonable expectations depending if
you outside or inside: