In Ashes of Creation, artisan professions aren’t just side activities — they’re entire progression systems that run alongside combat leveling. There are 22 distinct Ashes of Creation Gold professions split into three overarching artisan paths: Gathering, Processing, and Crafting. Each profession starts at Novice and can be advanced through Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, and ultimately Grandmaster tiers.

This tiered structure is not merely cosmetic; with each advancement you unlock access to higher‑tier tools, rarer resources, better recipes, and more complex crafting outcomes. Progressing a profession requires repetitive use — mining ores, harvesting herbs, forging weapons — and that repeated activity generates profession experience, which is the foundation for advancing through tiers.

How Tier Progression Translates to Skill Points

Although Ashes of Creation doesn’t formally label artisan “skill points” in the same way combat archetypes do, the concept exists implicitly through the artisan skill tree and mastery progression. As you level a profession and hit key certification thresholds (every 10 levels), you gain access to new functionalities and deeper branches of your artisan tree, much like investing a point into a new tier of skills in a traditional RPG.

For example, once you hit level 10 in a gathering profession, you can request a promotion from a profession certification NPC, allowing you to continue gaining experience and moving toward higher tiers. Without this promotion, progress stalls — meaning the tier advancement system essentially gates access to further skill growth.

Strategic Allocation: The Artisan Skill Tree

With each tier you achieve, you effectively “unlock” more of the artisan skill tree for that profession. Early tiers let you access basic recipes and tool types; middle tiers introduce more advanced workstations and rarer components; the upper tiers cater to legendary yields and high‑end gear creation. This progression mirrors earning and spending skill points within a tree — you invest time and effort to unlock deeper branches and more powerful outputs, and you must choose where to push next to specialize your character’s role in the economy.

Because you can only reach Grandmaster in two professions per character (with stricter caps at Master and Journeyman tiers as well), there’s an inherent strategic choice baked into progression. You can’t simply max everything; you must decide where to invest your artisan progression — your version of “skill point planning.”

Endgame Impact and Character Identity

By tying skill access and profession capabilities to tier progression, Ashes of Creation ensures that artisan development has meaningful economic and gameplay impact. A character who has pushed Weapon Smithing to Master will be a different economic force than one who focused on Alchemy or Farming. The deeper you go in a profession’s skill tree, the more exclusive tools, recipes, and crafting perks you unlock — all driven by your tier progression.

In essence, advancing through each artisan tier functions like earning and allocating skill points: each threshold reached grants new potential and branching investment choices, shaping both your character’s identity and your role in the AoC Gold for sale player‑driven world of Verra.