Updated: Update 13 - Homestead

Hello. In this thread, I will list the grinding spots for ESO and how to run them. Ranked in order from most popular to relatively unpopulated, here we go.

1. Skyreach Catacombs - Craglorn

With the One Tamriel update opening up Craglorn for solo play, Skyreach Catacombs became the premier grinding destination, with chracters zooming from 3-50 in 6 hours. Access it through the Skyreach wayshrine, go down the ramp, across the small bridge to your right, then up the hill on the left.

It is advisable to do this with a group, or a CP300+ Ilambris magsorc for AOE attacks. Grinding parties are best limited to two, for survivability and maximum experience gain. However, you could group up with another person’s alt character so you could solo it yourself.

Method: The most efficient run can be done in 7 minutes, with 4 separate pulls of massive mobs. However, this could be reduced piecewise to minimize deaths and soul gem usage. The route map is shown below.

The places marked with a stop sign are dungeon bosses and are not needed in the run. The red circles are where skeletons are standing by. It’s a group of three but up to 10 more will spawn from it once combat is initiated, so it’s in your best option to make sure that you pull the mobs from these locations. Red boxes signify where you will do the pulls. Pull #2 is from the mobs in the center atrium, and Pull #3 is from the mobs from the Ancient Chest event.

The Banish the Wicked passive from Fighters Guild is very useful in this spot, because all mobs in this area are undead and will make your ultimate uptime shoot through the roof.

Once you have done Pull #4, make sure that no one is inside the dungeon, and important: set the dungeon difficulty to normal and back to veteran. This resets the instance, and you could go back inside with a fresh set of mobs. The run video is shown below.

2. Alik’r Triangle - Alik’r Desert

Probably the easiest method to gain levels from 1-50 without the stress of multiple deaths from Skyreach, the Alik’r Triangle is a series of wayshrines with dolmens right next to them. Joining a group is as easy as typing “LFG” in zone chat and hopping in on the fun. Grinding dolmens also levels up your Fighter’s Guild reputation and is known as a fast way to level up Fighters Guild ranks.

Method: Look for a group and go to the wayshrines. Sometimes the run goes clockwise, sometimes counter-clockwise. When you see a mass of people running to or from the wayshrine, that’s where you know the swarm is. Beware though, as dolmen grinding groups can get incredibly big and that dolmen uptime will be limited to seconds before it gets destroyed:

3. Falinesti Site - Greenshade

My personal grinding spot before Update 12, this little area in Greenshade drops a lot of Common-quality gear for sale to an NPC, and it also drops a lot of glyphs for deconstruction. Not a lot of people know about this spot, and you will only see the occasional newbie drop by or whiz through on the way to other places. The fast respawn rate of the mobs guarantee that you will never wait for mobs after each pull.

Method: The run is done in 2 pulls from each side. Since the map is too small for me to illustrate the pull routes, refer to the video below. It’s gonna take quite a bit of time before the route becomes apparent because of meddling newbies, but it’s apparent enough.

4. Motalion Necropolis - Alik’r Desert

A relatively secluded spot far from the chaos of the Alik’r Triangle group, the Motalion Necropolis is a little-known grinding spot. If cramped spaces with scary mobs are not your fancy, you’ll enjoy the vast expanse of this zone with a smattering of undead Ra-Netu, zombies, and Withered Hand mobs. They are spread out quite thin, but a good pull will result in the same experience gain as the Falinesti site.

Method: I have personally not been able to use this zone for grinding, but the video below will give you an idea on how wide the space is:

5. North Beacon - Auridon

If you are into the RP scene and are loyal to the Queen (after all, Strats is based on the Dominion), the North Beacon in Auridon is filled with Covenant mobs for you to murder in the name of the Queen. Access it through the Firsthold wayshrine, which is quite far away from the spot.

Method: Like the Motalion Necropolis, this has not been my grinding spot - however, a short video is included below to show you how where the enemies are. This spot is filled with archers and unless you have a DK with chains, you will have a hard time bunching up the enemies in a nice pile of murder.

Spots you may have heard