Idle Artisan Wiki & Guide

The Core Loop

Idle Artisan is a game about managing your time to gather resources, refining those resources into materials, and crafting tools to improve your efficiency.

1. Gather: Send your artisan to gather raw resources (Iron Ore, Wood, etc.).
2. Refine: Process raw resources into materials (Iron Bars, Planks) at your workshop.
3. Craft: Use materials to create better tools (Pickaxes, Axes) to gather faster.
4. Upgrade: Level up your personal buildings to unlock new capabilities and efficiency.

Choosing Your First Skill

All gathering skills are valuable and contribute to the game's economy. There is no "wrong" choice, as you can switch activities at any time. Here's a brief overview to help you decide:

• Battling (Gold): Gold is the primary currency for player-to-player trading on the Market. A great choice if you want to engage with the economy early.
• Mining (Iron Ore): A foundational skill. Iron is crucial for crafting many tools and for community building projects.
• Woodcutting (Wood): Another core skill. Wood is essential for tools and buildings.
• Fishing (Fish): Fish can be cooked into food that provides powerful, long-lasting buffs to your artisan.
• Hunting (Carcass): Carcasses are refined into Meat, a key ingredient for Rations which are needed to prevent starvation.
• Tinkering (Salvage): Salvage is required to repair high-level tools, making this a vital skill for late-game efficiency.

Hunger & Rations

Your artisan needs to eat! The Hunger Bar depletes over time (1 tick every 2 seconds).

• Capacity: 12 hours (21,600 ticks). Increased to 24 hours with Inner Circle (QoL).
• Starvation: If hunger reaches 0, you suffer a 25% penalty to all gathering yields, refining output, and combat damage.
• Rations: Craft 🥘 Rations at your Crafting Table using 🥩 Meat and 🍣 Sushi. Eating Rations restores your hunger. You can also obtain Rations from the player market.

Offline Time

Your artisan continues to work even when you are away, provided you have Offline Time stored.

• Capacity: Your maximum offline time is determined by your Scholar's Study level. You start with 1 hour (Level 1). Each upgrade adds 1 hour.
• Replenishment: Your offline time is instantly refilled to maximum whenever you log into the game. If you stay logged in and active, the game will continue to refill your offline time each tick. If you go offline (close browser or if your device "sleeps" the browser/tab), your offline time will start to tick down. All tick actions are processed server-side, so the game will continue while you are offline.
• Expiration: Once your offline time runs out, your artisan stops working until you return. Upon your return, the scribes will present an Offline Summary to you.
• Inner Circle: Members of the Inner Circle (QoL) have their offline time capacity doubled.

Apprentice vs. Full Account

You start as an Apprentice. This is a temporary guest account. You can play freely, but some features are restricted to prevent abuse:

• Cannot use the Market (Buying/Selling/Contracts).
• Cannot join or create Conclaves (Guilds).
• Cannot create or join Dungeon Parties.
• Cannot send Direct Messages.
• Cannot list Repair Services or hire players (NPC Foreman is allowed).

Ironman Mode 🛡️

For those seeking the ultimate challenge of self-sufficiency. Ironman accounts are marked with a shield icon (🛡️) and operate under strict rules to ensure all progress is earned solely by the player.

• No Trading: Cannot use the Market, Auctions, or Contracts.
• No Assistance: Cannot hire other players for repairs (NPC Foreman only). Cannot list repair services.
• Social Restrictions: Cannot join existing Conclaves (can create your own). Cannot use Conclave Strongbox. Cannot send Direct Messages.
• Dungeon Restrictions: Cannot join parties with Normal players (can group with other Ironmen or join Raids).

Your proficiency in the game is measured by your Skills. Performing actions grants XP.

Gathering Skills

Skill	Resource	Tool Required	Rare Drop
Battling	🪙 Gold	Sword	💎 Crystallized Anima
Mining	🪨 Iron Ore	Pickaxe	⭐ Starfall Ore
Woodcutting	🪵 Wood	Axe	✨ Glimmerwood Sap
Fishing	🐟 Fish	Fishing Rod (Requires 🏹 Bolts)	🌊 Oceanic Essence / 🐍 Abyssal Eel
Hunting	🦌 Carcass	Crossbow (Requires 🪝 Fishing Hooks)	🫎 Antlers
Tinkering (Scavenging)	⚙️ Salvage	Tinker's Kit	📦 Lost Shipment

Artisan Skills

• Refining: Smelting bars, cutting planks. (XP from production)
• Cooking: Preparing fish and meat. (XP from production)
• Crafting: Creating tools and items. (XP based on item cost)
• Inscription: Creating Scrolls of Mastery.
• Farming: Growing crops in your farm plots.
  • Mechanics: Crops take 4 hours to grow (reduced by Farming Level). Harvesting grants 100 XP per crop.
  • Soilwarden's Tithe Barn: A personal building that automates planting and harvesting for a 10% resource tithe.
  • 🍎 Apples: Used to brew Apple Cider (Dungeon Damage Buff/Debuff).
  • 🌽 Corn: Used to cook Cornbread (Heals Dungeon Party).
  • 🥔 Potatoes: Used to craft Potato-Blasters (Dungeon Monster Damage).

Mastery & Synergy

Once you have established yourself as an Artisan, you can further specialize or generalize your skills using Scrolls of Mastery (crafted via Inscription).

Specific Mastery

Spend scrolls to permanently boost the yield or throughput of a specific skill (e.g., Mining Mastery, Refining Mastery).

Skill Synergy

Alternatively, you can invest in Skill Synergy. This provides a global bonus to all gathering yields if you maintain a balanced skillset. To activate it, you must have at least Level 1 in Skill Synergy Mastery.

The bonus depends on how many of your 6 gathering skills are within 5 levels of your highest skill:

• 4 Skills in range: 10% Base Bonus (+2% per Mastery Level)
• 5 Skills in range: 25% Base Bonus (+2.5% per Mastery Level)
• 6 Skills in range: 30% Base Bonus (+3% per Mastery Level)

Tool Quality & Power

Tools determine your gathering yield and combat damage. A tool's Power Rating is calculated based on its Level, Quality, and Enhancement.

Quality Tiers: Poor → Common → Uncommon → Rare → Epic || Legendary ||| Unique

Durability & Repair

Tools of Level 6 and higher possess Durability. As you use them, their condition degrades.

• Max Durability: All tools have a fixed maximum durability of 86,400 points, representing approximately 48 hours of active use (1 point lost per 2-second tick).
• Performance Penalty: If a tool's durability drops below 50%, its Power Rating begins to decrease significantly. Keep your tools repaired to maintain maximum efficiency!
  • 50% - 100%: 100% Power
  • 40% - 49%: 80% Power
  • 30% - 39%: 60% Power
  • 20% - 29%: 40% Power
  • 10% - 19%: 20% Power
  • 0% - 9%: 10% Power
• Repair Cost: Repairing requires ⚙️ Salvage. The amount of Salvage needed depends on the Repair Difficulty, which scales with the tool's Level. Higher level tools consume more Salvage per point of durability restored.
• Repair Speed (Throughput): How fast you repair depends on your Tinkering Level and Repair Bench Level.
• Methods of Repair:
  • Personal Repair: Switch your activity to 'Personal Repair' to fix your own items using your own Salvage.
  • Repair Queue: Automatically repairs all damaged tools in your inventory one by one.
  • Repair Market: Hire other players to repair your items for Gold. The customer pays gold, the repairer pays the salvage cost. Don't foget about the Mayor's cut of the gold (taxes).
  • NPC Foreman: Always available for hire via the Repair Market. Repairs at a fixed speed (100 throughput) for a premium price (5 Gold per Salvage).

Enhancement & Sharpening

• Enhance: Use 🌿 Treant Resin to add +1 Enhancement level (E1, E2...). Increases base power.
• Sharpen: Use a Sharpening Stone to permanently increase a tool's Rarity tier (e.g., Common to Uncommon). Can only be done once per tool. Note: The stone's level must be equal to or higher than the tool's level. Sharpening Stones are the only way to obtain a Legendary quality item.

Special Equipment

• Helm of Learning: A unique helmet that grants +2 XP per level to your active skill every tick. Crafted with Boss Tokens.

Sigils

Special equipment worn in the Sigil slot to boost Dungeon Party performance. The level of the Sigil determines the effect bonus.

• Sigil of Ferocity: Increases Damage Dealt.
• Sigil of Resilience: Increases contribution to Party Max HP.
• Sigil of the Berserker: Bonus Damage when Party HP is low (< 50%).
• Sigil of Iron Will: Reduces Damage Taken from monsters.
• Sigil of the Vanguard: Boosts the damage of other party members.
• Timepiece of the Gatherer: 1% chance per level to perform a Double Gathering Action.
• Timepiece of the Crafter: Reduces crafting resource costs by 1% per level.
• Timepiece of the Refiner: 2% chance per level to perform a Double Refining Action (consumes double resources for double output).

Glyphs

Special items that can be socketed into tools or buildings to provide unique bonuses (often with a trade-off).

Tool Glyphs

• Glyph of the Prospector: 2x Rare Find Chance, but -5% Yield.
• Glyph of the Laborer: +20% Yield, but 0% Rare Find Chance.
• Glyph of Scavenging: Generates side resources (4% of yield), but -10% Primary Yield.
• Glyph of the Philanthropist: +10% XP, but -5% Yield is donated to Community Buildings.
• Glyph of the Duelist: +20% Dungeon Effectiveness, but Item Scrap Value becomes 0.

Building Glyphs

• Glyph of Frugality: -20% Input Resource Cost, but -10% Throughput.
• Glyph of Gluttony: +20% Throughput, but +30% Input Resource Cost.

Utility

• The Anti-Glyph: Required to safely unsocket a glyph without destroying it.

Personal Workshop

Buildings you construct to unlock capabilities.

• Crafting Table: The heart of your workshop. Determines max level of other buildings. Crafts 🏹 Bolts/🪝 Fishing Hooks.
• Storage Locker: Safe storage for items (immune to Thief).
• Refining: Ironforge, Goldforge, Sawmill. Upgrade to increase throughput.
• Cooking: Kitchen, Butcher's Block. Upgrade to increase throughput.
• Repair Bench: Increases repair throughput.
• Scholar's Study: Increases maximum Offline Time.
• Soilwarden's Tithe Barn: Enables Auto-Farming.
• Mercenary Post: Hires mercenaries to auto-join combat events.
  • Mercenary Cut: Mercenaries take a base 80% cut of rewards. Enhance the building to reduce this cut (10% reduction per Enhancement level).
  • Auto-Dungeon: Requires 100 manual dungeon completions to unlock. 5-minute cooldown between runs.

Community Buildings

Located in the town center. All players contribute resources to level them up. They provide global bonuses to everyone.

Global Utility

• Grand Library: +XP gain for all skills.
• Storage Barn: Increases resource storage cap for all players.
• Town Watch: Increases chance to arrest the Thief and damage against Special Bosses.
• Quartermaster's Workshop: Reduces crafting/building resource costs.
• Counting House: Generates a "surplus" drip (0.5% of gathering yields per level) into community projects.

Skill Boosts

• Battler's Bar: Boosts Gold yield and Battling XP.
• Prospector's Lodge: Boosts Iron Ore yield and Mining XP.
• Lumberjack Shack: Boosts Wood yield and Woodcutting XP.
• Fisherman's Wharf: Boosts Fish yield, Fishing XP, and Abyssal Eel catch rate.
• Trapper's Cabin: Boosts Carcass yield and Hunting XP.
• Tinker's Corner: Boosts Salvage yield and Tinkering XP.
• Guild of Alchemists: Boosts output of Refining and Cooking activities.
• Masterwork Atelier: Increases Quality Score when crafting tools.
• Order of the Quill: Boosts Inscription XP and success chance.

Form a party of up to 6 artisans to explore dangerous dungeons. Dungeons consist of 25 rooms, culminating in a final boss.

Party System

• Leader: The creator of the party controls when the expedition starts.
• Passcodes: Parties can be private, requiring a passcode to join.
• Conclave Only: Parties can be restricted to members of your Conclave.

Roles & Abilities

Your active skill determines your role in the party. Each role provides a unique passive buff that stacks with other members of the same role.

• Battler (Gold): Stuns the monster for 1 turn at the start of combat per Battler.
• Miner (Iron Ore): +4% Damage Reduction per Miner.
• Woodcutter (Wood): Regenerates 0.25% of Party Max HP per turn per Woodcutter.
• Fisher (Fish): +3% Evasion Chance per Fisher.
• Hunter (Carcass): +3% Critical Hit Chance per Hunter.
• Tinker (Salvage): Executes monsters instantly if their HP drops below 3% per Tinker.

Combat & Progression

• Party HP: The total health of the party is the sum of all members' contributions. Contribution is based on your skill level (500 + Level * 20).
• Combat: Combat is turn-based. Monsters deal damage to the party, and the party deals damage back based on their tool power and skill level.
• Room Timer: Each room has a 30-second timer. You must defeat the monster before time runs out.
• Wipe & Timeout: If the party HP reaches 0 or the timer expires, the room resets. The monster heals to full, and the party revives to full HP to try again.
• Consumables: Cornbread (Heal), Apple Cider (Damage Buff/Debuff), Potato-Blaster (Damage).
• Rewards: Clearing rooms awards 🎫 Artisan's Marks. Completing the dungeon (Room 25) grants a large bonus of marks.

Warning: Tools lose durability twice as fast while in a dungeon.

Player Market

Buy and sell resources and tools with other players. Listings expire after 2 days (resources) or 7 days (tools).

NPC Contracts

The Harbormaster posts contracts for specific items. This is a Reverse Auction.

• Blind Bidding: You cannot see other players' bids.
• Lowest Wins: The player with the lowest bid wins the gold reward.
• Penalty: Failing to fulfill a won contract results in losing all progress towards the next Crafting Level.

The Exchange

Purchase special recipes, glyphs, and sharpening stones using rare currencies like 🎫 Artisan's Marks or 💠 Leviathan Scales.

Events rotate periodically on a set schedule. Check the Event Bar at the top of the screen to see what's currently active.

Skill Bonus Events (60 seconds)

These events provide enhanced yields and XP for specific activities:

• Battling Bonus: 2x Gold yield + 2x XP from battling activities.
• Mining Bonus: 2x Iron Ore yield + 2x XP from mining activities.
• Woodcutting Bonus: 2x Wood yield + 2x XP from woodcutting activities.
• Fishing Frenzy: 2x Fish yield + 2x XP from fishing activities.
• Hunters Harvest: 2x Carcass yield + 2x XP from hunting activities.
• Scavenging Surge: 2x Salvage yield + 2x XP from tinkering activities.
• Crafting Bonus: Doubles refining speed and XP (double input for double output). Doubles input/output for 🏹 bolts & 🪝 fishing hooks. Adds a +5 bonus to your Quality Score when crafting tools.

Special Bosses

Cooperative events where the server works together to defeat a massive enemy. Each boss has a massive HP pool and is weak to a specific skill. Rewards are distributed based on individual contribution.

• Warlord: Players contribute by battling to deal damage. Drops 🎖️ Boss Tokens. Used to purchase special recipes and items at The Exchange.
• Runic Golem: Players contribute by mining to damage the boss. Drops 💎 Rune Shards. Used to contribute to Community and Conclave buildings.
• Ancient Treant: Players contribute by woodcutting to damage the boss. Drops 🌿 Treant Resin. Used to enhance tools (+1 Enhancement level).
• The Leviathan from the Depths: Players contribute by fishing to damage the boss. Drops 💠 Leviathan Scales. Used to purchase exclusive fishing recipes and items.
• Alpha Wolf: Players contribute by hunting to damage the boss. Drops 🌕 Lunar Essence. Used to enhance the Mercenary Post.
• Clatter-Gnash: Players contribute by tinkering to damage the boss. Drops ⛮ Junky Gears. Used to enhance the Repair Bench.

Community Events

• The Thief: A criminal that randomly steals items from players' Stashes (Storage Lockers are safe). The Town Watch building provides a chance to arrest the thief (2% per level, max 100% at level 50). If arrested, no thefts occur. If not arrested, the thief steals one random tool or cooked food from a random active player's stash.
• Merchant: An NPC merchant that auctions a high-value tool to the highest bidder. This is a sealed bid action (cannot see the bids of other players).
• The Great Smeltdown: A community resource sink event. Players contribute large quantities of a specific resource (Iron Ore, Wood, or Gold) to reach community goals. Each player can only contribute once per event. Contributors receive rewards based on their participation level.
• Artisan Tournament: A skill-based competition where players compete to achieve the highest score in a randomly selected gathering skill. Players join the tournament and the game determines their score. Top performers receive rare rewards like ⭐ Starfall Ore, ✨ Glimmerwood Sap, or other rare materials.
• Tax Free Weekend: A 90-minute event where all market transactions are tax-free. Normally, market sales incur a 10% tax. During this event, players can buy and sell on the player market without any tax penalties.

Tournament

Artisan Tournaments use a Dynamic Reward Pool that grows with the number of participants. The more people join, the bigger the prize pool!

• Pool Growth: The base reward pool increases by 20% for every additional participant.
• Distribution: Your share of the pool is calculated based on two factors:
  • 50% Score: Your contribution to the total score.
  • 50% Time: How long you participated relative to the total time.
• Rewards by Skill:
  • Gathering Skills: Rare resources (e.g., 💎 Crystallized Anima for Battling, ⭐ Starfall Ore for Mining, ✨ Glimmerwood Sap for Woodcutting).
  • Salvaging: 📦 Lost Shipments.
  • Crafting/Refining/Cooking: 🥘 Rations (scaled to your hunger needs).
  • Inscription: 📜 Scrolls of Mastery.

Community Events

• Merchant Auctions: Opportunity to acquire high-value tools through sealed bidding
• Great Smeltdown: Individual rewards based on contribution level to community goals
• Tax Free Weekend: 90 seconds of tax-free market trading (saves 10% on all transactions)

Loot Tables

📦 Lost Shipment Drop Rates

Tier	Chance	Contents
Tier 1	40%	Raw Resources (Gold, Iron Ore, Wood, Salvage, Fish, Carcass)
Tier 2	10%	Refined Materials (Bars, Planks, Prepared Fish, Meat)
Tier 3	5%	Cooked Food (Grilled Fish, Fish Stew, Eel Broth)
Tier 4	5%	Rare Resources (Starfall Ore, Glimmerwood Sap, Anima, Essence, Antlers, Leather, SOMs)
Tier 5	5%	Boss Materials, Artisan Marks, Rations
Tier 6	15%	Farm Crops (Corn, Apples, Potatoes)
Tier 7	20%	A nice surprise from the Mayor

Note: Quantities scale based on the Storage Barn level and Total Ticks played.

Join forces with other players to form a Conclave. Conclaves provide shared goals, storage, and powerful passive buffs through specialized buildings.

Conclave Buildings

These buildings are upgraded collectively by members using resources and Tithe contributions.

• Artisan's Conclave: Increases maximum member capacity.
• Conclave Strongbox: Shared storage slots for the guild.
• Seismic Quarry: Chance to find ⭐ Starfall Ore while Mining.
• Amber Mill: Chance to find ✨ Glimmerwood Sap while Woodcutting.
• Anima Collector: Chance to find 💎 Crystallized Anima while Battling.
• Coral Sanctuary: Chance to find 🌊 Oceanic Essence while Fishing.
• Fletcher's Cooperative: Chance to find 🫎 Antlers while Hunting.
• Reclaimer's Dock: Chance to find 📦 Lost Shipments while Scavenging.

Competitions

Conclaves compete for rewards in rotating events:

• Donation Drive: Points for contributing refined resources, Salvage, or Rune Shards to buildings (10 pts for refined, 1 pt for Salvage, 100 pts for Rune Shards).
• Rare Finds: Points for finding rare resources.
• Scrolls Used: Points for consuming Scrolls of Mastery.
• Bountiful Harvest: Points for harvesting crops.
• Dungeons: Points for completing dungeons.
• Secrets: Hidden objectives (e.g., "To gain you must lose").

Milestones & Icons

As your Conclave grows and members contribute resources (via direct donation or tithes), the Conclave earns Contribution Points (1 resource = 1 point). Reaching point thresholds unlocks new icons for your Conclave.

Exchange 100 Mayor's Favor to join the Inner Circle for 30 days. Mayor's Favor is a rare drop from all activities.

Benefits:

• 2x Duration: Offline time, Hunger, Auto-Farm, and Mercenary contracts last twice as long.
• Reduced Decay: Tools lose durability 40% slower.
• Tax Free: No taxes on market transactions.
• Queueing: Ability to queue for some events before they start.
• Secondary Fallback: Set a specific refining activity as a priority fallback when your primary task completes.
• Cosmetics: Access to special username colors and effects.