Hello everyone, and welcome to the thirty first episode of “Crafting with…Courtney!” I’m here to make crafting fun, easy, and good for you!

It’s hard to make bacon without a pig, milk without a cow, or an adamantine longsword without adamantine. You’ve gotta have the basics to make the things you want! That’s why today’s column is all about Essences! You can’t craft without these Greater and Lesser Essences, and there are a bunch of ways to get them!

Chests!

Probably the most common way to get Essences is from chests! Every regular chest in the game has the chance to drop a certain amount of Essences. Greater Essences can be found in chests.

Challenges!

Running challenges will earn you various Alchemical Crafting ingredients, as discussed in last week’s column. However, you can also turn in those ingredients for Small, Medium, and Large Satchels, which, when opened, award you Essences! You will get a certain random number of Essences based on the size of the satchel. Crafting Satchels give you Greater Essences.

Deconstruction!

This is probably the second-easiest way to obtain Essences! Deconstructing items you receive while questing is one of the most important ways to level up and build your Essence hoard! You can get both Greater and Lesser Essences from Item Deconstruction, in fact, Item Deconstruction is one of the most important ways to get Lesser Essences. The more powerful the item property, the more Essences you will receive! When deciding what to strip from your items, it’s generally best to strip the property that returns the most Essences (and crafting XP, and gold!)

From Me!

I love to trade Essences! Give me (and other Cannith Crafting Vendors) your Greater Essences, and I’ll turn them either into other Greater Essences, or give you five Lesser Essences of the same type!

Auction House!

If you have the plat to spare, or just need a few Essences to make that Shard, the Auction House is a great way to get the Essences you need! Prices will vary, so consider sorting the results by price to get the best deal! Both Greater and Lesser Essences can be purchased in the Auction House.

DDO Store!

Finally, you can purchase Essences from the DDO Store with Turbine Points. They are available in both Greater and Lesser varieties, and come in stacks of 25 for Greater Essences, or 100 for Lesser Essences. Another great way to “fill the gaps” in your Essence supply!

That’s it! Next week I’ll discuss some ways to make sure you don’t waste those Essences when leveling up your crafting schools, and offer more “Essence-tial” tips to make you the best crafter you can be!

For people new to Cannith Crafting (and for anyone else looking for cool crafting recipes), remember to click here to check out our entire Crafting Cookbook in the DDO Compendium!