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World of Warcraft Profession Guide: Inscription

Inscription is one of the primary professions available to players in World of Warcraft. Introduced in Patch 3.0.2, Inscription is not one of the original professions released with the game. This profession allows players to create scrolls, Darkmoon Cards, vellums, off-hands and perhaps most importantly, glyphs. To create all these items the Scribe (players who take up the Inscription profession are commonly referred to as "Scribes") uses the Milling skill to.

Inscription Training

In life you must first learn to walk before you can run and the same is true in any World of Warcraft profession. To begin your journey in Inscription you must take a small step; seek out a trainer to teach you this skill. Inscription Trainers can be found in all capital cities and starting zones and several other locations throughout the world. If you are having a hard time finding a trainer, simply speak to the nearest city guard for directions. Those wishing to learn this (or any other) profession, must first have reached level 5.

Upon learning the profession, players will be granted the Apprentice rank and have a potential skill level of 75. Below you will see the names of and potential skill from each stage of this profession:

Rank	Skill Level
Apprentice	1-75
Journeyman	50-150
Expert	125-225
Artisan	200-300
Master (The Burning Crusade)	300-375
Grand Master (WotLK)	375-450
Illustrious (Cataclysm)	425-525
Zen Master (MoP)	525-600

Skilling Up Inscription

After learning the Inscription profession, your personal Inscription skill begins at 1. This skill may be raised all the way to 600. Leveling your Inscription skill will not only allow you to learn new and better recipes, but you will also be able to mill a wider variety of herbs, as well as create Inscription-only items. There are currently nothing in game that gives a bonus to Inscription skill, so you will need to develop your personal skill without aid. Before you can begin leveling your Inscription skill you must first visit an Inscription vendor and pick up a [Virtuoso Inking Set]. This item must be on hand before a Scribe can create anything.

Before you can begin leveling your Inscription skill you must first visit an Inscription vendor and pick up a [Virtuoso Inking Set]. This item must be on hand before a Scribe can create anything. With your inking set in hand, you can get on to leveling your Inscription skill. Advancing in Inscription can be done by creating items, much like other World of Warcraft manufacturing professions. Each item you create will give you a chance to gain skill points. The items you can create can be found inside your profession journal. Each of these items you are able to create is highlighted in one five colors. These colors indicate the likelihood of your character gaining a skill point from creating it:

Color	Skill-Up Chance
Red	Unable to craft at this time.
Orange	A skill point will always be gained.
Yellow	A skill point will most likely be gained.
Green	A skill point will likely not be gained.
Gray	A skill point will never be gained.

Items you can create will almost never retain the same color. Older patterns that once were orange will slowly move down the spectrum and eventually may even turn gray as you achieve greater levels of skill. In order to keep a steady flow of skill earning patterns in stock you must continuously seek out new patterns. Thankfully, your Inscription trainer makes this fairly easy by offering up new recipes for you to learn every 5-10 levels. Return to him or her often so you don't miss out on any. There will be times that you may find that your trainer has nothing more to offer you. Cases like these will mean you will need to use other methods of learning new things such as Northrend Inscription Research or Scrolls of Wisdom.

Milling

Milling is a skill you acquire along with the Inscription profession. This skill allows you to take raw herbs and turn them into various pigments, which can then be traded for inks. Inks are the backbone of Inscription and are required to create almost every item available in this profession. This ability will appear in your Spellbook once it has been learned. Milling does not increase your skill in Inscription.

Milling requires a stack of at least 5 identical herbs. Almost all gathered herbs that are able to be traded can be Milled with a few exceptions. To Mill a stack of herbs, simply select the Milling ability and click on the herbs. Five of the herbs in the stack will be consumed, and the new items will be created. Once these herbs have been consumed there is no way to recover them.

Inscription Ingredients

The two main ingredients in the Inscription profession are:

Parchment

Many Inscription recipes will require parchment, especially glyphs. Parchment can be purchased from any Inscription vender. These venders are usually found near Inscription Trainers. Parchment is fairly cheap and easy to come by.

Pigments and Inks

As you know, those who take up the Inscription profession are often referred to as Scribes. It seems fitting then that the main ingredient used by these Scribes are various pigments and inks. Pigments are gained by using the Milling skill to Mill various herbs. These pigments can then be traded for inks.

To create pigment the player must take a stack of at least five herbs and put it through the Milling process. Each time a stack of five herbs is Milled you will receive one primary pigment without fail. Occasionally you will also receive a secondary pigment type. Different types of herbs will yield different types of pigments. Check out the table below for a basic understanding on which herbs produce which pigments:

Milled Herbs	Primary Pigment	Secondary Pigment	Inks Created
Earthroot, Peacebloom, Silverleaf	Alabaster	None	Ivory Ink Moonglow Ink
Briarthorn, Bruiseweed, Stranglekelp, Mageroyal, Swiftthistle	Dusky	Verdant	Hunter's Ink Midnight Ink
Grave Moss, Kingsblood, Liferoot, Wild Steelbloom	Golden	Burnt	Lion's Ink Dawnstar Ink
Dragon's Teeth, Fadeleaf, Goldthorn, Khadgar's Whisker	Emerald	Indigo	Royal Ink Jadefire Ink
Arthas's Tears, Blindweed, Firebloom, Ghost Mushroom, Gromsblood, Purple Lotus, Sungrass	Violet	Ruby	Celestial Ink
Dreamfoil, Golden Sansam, Icecap, Mountain Silversage, Sorrowmoss	Silvery	Sapphire	Ink of the Sky Snowfall Ink
Azshara's Veil, Cinderbloom, Heartblossom, Twilight Jasmine, Stormvine, Whiptail	Ashen	Burning	Inferno Ink Blackfallow Ink
Desecrated Herb, Green Tea Leaf, Fool's Cap, Silkweed, Rain Poppy, Snow Lily	Shadow	Misty	Ink of Dreams Starlight Ink

Besides creating Inks, you can also trade Ink of Dreams for other Inks. Simply seek out an Ink Trader (usually located near your Inscription Trainer) and open the buy/sell screen. Here 1 Ink of Dreams can be traded for 1 of any of the following Inks: Ivory, Midnight, Jadefire, Shimmering, Ink of the Sea, Moonglow, Lion's, Celestial, Ethereal, Blackfallow, Snowfall, Inferno, and Starlight.

Enchantment Vellums

Enchantment Vellums are a special type of paper created by Scribes for Enchanters to hold weapon or armor enchantments. Vellums allow an Enchanter to trade and sell their enchantments by using the Auction House or mail, something that was impossible previously. Currently there is only one type of vellum in game, however, before Cataclysm there were various vellum types each used for either armor or weapon enchants. The new system of one vellum for all has made things much easier.

Complimentary Profession

Herbs are the source that fuels the fires of Inscriptions. Thanks to this fact, Herbalism is a perfect pair for this profession. Taking up Herbalism on your character will ensure that you are able to gather your own materials for Inscription. While you certainly can level Inscription without Herbalism you will soon find that this is a costly and often frustrating process.

Scribe-Only Shoulder Inscriptions

Each profession offers those who are skilled enough in it a special bonus. For Inscription this bonus comes in the form of shoulder enchants. These shoulder enchants are only for the Scribe to use on their own items. Applying these shoulder enchants will cause any item to become instantly soul bound. These enchants are typically better than any other in game, including the enchants Scribes can now offer to other players You can begin enchanting your shoulders with these Inscriptions beginnning at Inscription skill level 500. Check out the list of Scribe-Only Inscriptions below:

Inscription	Use
Felfire Inscription	130 Intellect and 25 Haste
Inscription of the Earth Prince	195 Stamina and 25 Dodge
Lionsmane Inscription	130 Stength and 25 Critical Strike
Master's Inscription of the Axe	120 Attack Power and 15 Critical Strike
Master's Inscription of the Crag	60 Intellect and 15 Spirit
Master's Inscription of the Pinnacle	60 Dodge and 15 Parry
Master's Inscription of the Storm	70 Intellect and 15 Critical Strike
Secret Crane Wing Inscription	520 Intellect and 100 Critical Strike
Secret Ox Horn Inscription	750 Stamina and 150 Dodge
Secret Serpent Pearl Inscription	750 Stamina and 150 Dodge
Secret Tiger Claw Inscription	520 Agility and 100 Critical Strike
Secret Tiger Fang Inscription	520 Strength and 100 Critical Strike
Swiftsteel Inscription	130 Agility and 25 Mastery

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