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Inscription

What Is Inscription?

Added with patch 3.02, “Echoes of Doom,” the Inscription profession allows its practitioners, called "scribes," to enhance the spells and abilities of players’ characters, such as enhancing a rogue's Backstab ability to deal more damage to stunned targets, or allowing a priest’s Circle of Healing to heal one more target.

Scribes can also aid enchanters by permitting them to sell their enchantments directly on the Auction House, or help other characters by creating enhancing scrolls like Scroll of Strength.

All in all, inscription is a very useful profession for the benefits a scribe brings to his friends and himself. This profession can be chosen by any character of any race or class.

Getting Started As A Scribe

In order to get started as a scribe, you must first learn the profession from one of the many Inscription trainers scattered across the worlds. In Azeroth, Horde and Alliance scribes can stop in at any of their faction's capital cities and ask a guard for directions to the nearest Inscription trainer. In Outland, aspiring and practicing scribes for the Horde should visit Neferatti in Thrallmar to brush up on their skills. Scribes among the Alliance should speak with Michael Schwan in Honor Hold in order to advance in the art.

Scribes should visit their trainer often as they progress in the art of Inscription. Once he has surpassed his current trainer's skill, the trainer will tell him where to go for further study. Lastly, when getting started as a scribe, a character should not neglect to purchase a Virtuoso Inking Set from an Inscription Goods vendor. Without this item in his inventory, a scribe will be unable to progress in his craft!

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Practicing The Art Of Inscription

Once a scribe has chosen his path and begun to learn the Inscription profession, he will need to gather the materials necessary to create his scrolls, glyphs, vellums, and items available only to scribes. The most common items used are parchments, which can be purchased from an Inscription Goods vendor (usually located near a trainer), and pigments, which are obtained by milling herbs. Milling is a special Inscription-only ability much like Prospecting for Jewelcrafters. In order to create his inks, a scribe will mill several herbs together using this skill. Therefore, scribes may find it most useful to pick up the herbalism gathering profession in order to keep themselves in a steady supply of pigments for their inks. Some of the inks, the pigments required to make them, the herbs they can be milled from, and the skills required to obtain them are listed below:

Pigments
Type Milled From Requires Inscription/Herbalism Used To Make
Alabaster Pigment Silverleaf, Peacebloom, Earthroot 1/1-15 Ivory Ink, Moonglow Ink
Dusky Pigment Mageroyal, Briarthorn, Swifthistle, Bruiseweed, Stranglekelp 75/50-100 Midnight Ink
Verdant Pigment Mageroyal, Briarthorn, Swifthistle, Bruiseweed, Stranglekelp (rare) 85/50-100 Hunter's Ink, Dawnstar Ink
Golden Pigment Wild Steelbloom, Grave Moss, Kingsblood, Liferoot 105/115-150 Lion's Ink, Dawnstar Ink
Emerald Pigment Fadeleaf, Goldenthorn, Khadgar's Whisker, Wintersbite 150/160-195 Jadefire Ink, Royal Ink
Indigo Pigment Fadeleaf, Goldenthorn, Khadgar's Whisker, Wintersbite (rare) 175/160-195 Royal Ink
Violet Pigment Firebloom, Purple Lotus, Arthas' Tears, Sungrass, Blindweed, Ghost Mushroom, Gromsblood 200/205-250 Celestial Ink, Fiery Ink
Ruby Pigment Fadeleaf, Goldenthorn, Khadgar's Whisker, Wintersbite (rare) 225/205-250 Fiery Ink
Silvery Pigment Golden Sansam, Dreamfoil, Mountain Silversage, Plaguebloom, Icecap 250/260-290 Shimmering Ink, Ink of the Sky
Sapphire Pigment Golden Sansam, Dreamfoil, Mountain Silversage, Plaguebloom, Icecap (rare) 275/260-290 Ink of the Sky
Nether Pigment Felweed, Dreaming Glory, Terocone, Ragveil, Flame Cap, Ancient Lichen, Netherbloom, Nightmare Vine, Mana Thistle 300/300-375 Ethereal Ink, Darkflame Ink
Ebon Pigment Felweed, Dreaming Glory, Terocone, Ragveil, Flame Cap, Ancient Lichen, Netherbloom, Nightmare Vine, Mana Thistle (rare) 325/300-375 Darkflame Ink

Once a scribe has his inks and his parchments, he can use his Inscription skill to scribe the glyphs he already knows onto the parchments. The resulting item can then be sold on the Auction House, traded to a friend, or applied directly to the character's glyph sheet, provided they are near a Lexicon of Power. The glyph is applied to the glyph sheet in the spellbook in much the same manner as a weapon coating, weightstone, or sharpening stone is applied to a weapon in the character menu.

*These herbs have a higher than average chance of Milling into a rare pigment.

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The Lexicon of Power

You will find this mysterious floating book next to the inscription trainers. You can also ask the guards in any major city where to find the nearest Lexicon of Power. Whenever a character wants to inscribe a glyph onto his glyph sheet, whether it is one he bought from a scribe or made himself, he will need to be next to the Lexicon of Power in order to inscribe the glyph onto the glyph sheet of his spellbook. Inscribing the glyph works in much the same manner as adding a weapon coating, weightstone, or sharpening stone to a weapon in the character menu. But let’s learn a little more about glyphs.

Lastly, just as for enchanting or for gems, once a glyph is inscribe to the glyph sheet, it cannot be removed. However it can be overwritten with another glyph should the character wish to change his glyphs at a later date.

Glyphs: Major And Minor

Once a scribe has gathered his pigments, created his inks, and purchased his parchments, he can begin practicing his skill in scribing scrolls and glyphs. However, before a scribe can place a glyph on his spellbook or that of one of his friends, he should learn a little about the glyphs and the levels required to unlock them.

At level 15, a character's first Major and Minor glyphs are unlocked, allowing him to be enhanced by one Major Glyph and one Minor Glyph. At level 30, the character unlocks a second Major Glyph. Levels 50 and 70 bring him the last two Minor Glyphs and, at level 80*, he will unlock the final Major Glyph in his glyphs sheet.

*Level 80 will be attainable only after the release of Wrath of the Lich King.


Major Glyphs

Major Glyphs are glyphs which modify the mana cost, the cooldown, the duration of effect, or add an effect to a spell or ability. These glyphs, depending on the level, can require rare inks or expensive parchments, in addition to a higher level of Inscription.

If you want to see a complete list of the available glyphs, you can check them all in the Armory or go directly to this link.

Minor Glyphs

Inscription trainers will teach a promising scribe the skill "Minor Inscription Research." This skill can be used once per day to discover a Minor Glyph. Much as alchemists create potions, elixirs, or perform transmutes in order to discover new aspects of their profession, scribes will discover Minor Glyphs using this Research skill. Minor Glyphs can be used to enhance or modify a spell's effect or cost, but at a much lower degree than Major Glyphs. For example, one Minor Glyph for mages, Glyph of the Penguin, changes the effect of their Polymorph: Sheep spell to turn the target into a penguin.

As for Major Glyphs you can browse all available glyphs in the Armory.

Use of the Minor Inscription Research skill is currently the only method by which scribes can learn Minor Glyphs.

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Cards, Vellums, and Objects

While creating Major and Minor Glyphs is, perhaps, the most well-known ability a scribe possesses, scribes can also create Vellums which enchanters can use to cast their Armor or Weapon enchants upon, allowing them to sell enchants on the Auction House just as the other production professions can sell the results of their skills and labor. No longer will adventurers search in vain for the rare enchanter who, having overcome Morose and his friends, has mastered the Mongoose enchantment! And no longer will enchanters be condemned only to sell their skill when they can be physically present. With a Vellum, everyone benefits!

A scribe can also create small Darkmoon Faire decks from which they, or others, can get rewards. For more information about the Darkmoon Faire decks that scribes can create, check out our Darkmoon Faire rewards page.