Located in northern Hammerfell, the Alik’r Desert is a popular location for farming experience for new Elder Scrolls Online players. It’s home to a number of dungeons, several Mundus stones, and has two-player housing options.
Perhaps most importantly, it’s the location of an easy Dolmen farm, which can allow players to quickly level their characters without paying too much attention to what’s going on.
How To Get To the Alik’r Desert?
If you can’t ask a player to help you teleport immediately to the Alik’r Desert, you’ll want to talk to an NPC. A number of NPC’s offer various transportation services that you can take advantage of to get your character where you’d like to go.
- Zihlijdel, a male Redguard, is a boatswain in Wayrest. He’s found to the southwest of the docks standing near a ship. He’ll charge a small amount of gold to take you to Sentinel, a city in the Alik’r Desert.
- Azoufah, a female Redguard, is the navigator for the Daggerfall covenant. She can be found at the docks of several cities: Wayrest, Daggerfall, Evermore, and Shornhelm, as well as Sentinel in the Alik’r Desert. She’ll offer you free passage to any of her other locations, meaning that you can use her to travel to the Alik’r Desert for free. She’s marked with an anchor or cart on the map, depending on which city you find her in.
- The navigators for the other two alliances, Ebonheart Pact and Aldmeri Dominion, will also offer free passage to Sentinel in Alik’r. This might be a two-step process, since they’ll only take you to Sentinel from Windhelm and Vulkwasten, respectively. If you find one of them in any other city, travel to Windhelm (in Eastmarch) or Vulkwasten (in Malabai Tor) first and then ask them to take you to another alliance.You should see the option for Alik’r as long as you’re in the right place.
- Alternately, travel to their alliance’s starting city (Davon’s Watch or Vulkhei Guard) and then ask to go to another alliance and travel to Daggerfall. From there, find Azoufah and travel to Sentinel.
- The navigator for the Aldmeri Dominion is Selandilwen, a female high elf. The navigator for the Ebonheart Pact is Falvis Raram, a male dark elf. They’re usually found at the docks, but their location can vary a bit in some cities. They’re marked with anchors or carts on the map, depending on which city you find them in.
If you have trouble locating any of these NPC’s, don’t be afraid to ask for help in a public chat! Veteran players will be happy to help point you in the right direction.
All of the options above take you to Sentinel, the city that acts as a hub for Alik’r. This is a great location to get started in the desert, full of npcs that offer quests, guilds, and lots of things to do and interact with, but if you’re looking for a specific farm or dungeon it might be fairly far from where you need to go.
If you’re willing to, consider asking a player for a teleport to a wayshrine closer to your destination, especially if you don’t have a mount.
What To Expect in the Alik’r Desert
The Alik’r Desert is a complete playable zone, full of quests, dungeons, and NPCs. The main city, Sentinel, has two-player housing options: a large house and an apartment.
One of the more common activities in the Alik’r Desert is farming Dolmen. Dolmen farming involves playing through short events where the player (and lots of allies) fight the minions of Molag Bal.
The evil daedra will create a dark circle where his minions pop up repeatedly. Even as a low-level player, you can gain incredible amounts of experience and a fair bit of loot by simply hanging out near the circle and tagging mobs periodically.
Ask for an invite to the Dolmen group in chat and simply go in a circle between the three wayshrines in Alik’r, completing the event each time you teleport. You can even teleport to other members of your group if you’d like, skipping the hassle of finding the right wayshrine on the map.
Dolmen farming is popular for both the large amount of experience it grants and the generous item drops that occur at the end of each event. It’s usually easy to find a large group of players completing the event at any time.
Here’s a (slightly old but still useful) video going over the concept:
Activities in the Alik’r Desert
The Alik’r Desert features 6 public dungeons. All of them have quests, skyshards, and loot that includes books and Provisioning materials.
- Aldunz, located a bit east of the centerline on the south edge of Alik’r. Full of dwemer enemies.
- Coldrock Diggings, towards the north end of the map, southeast of Tava’s Blessing. Expect vampires.
- Divad’s Chagrin Mine, near Sentinel. You’ll face goblins.
- Sandblown Mine, near Kozanset. The home of a group of khajiit bandits.
- Santaki, near Sentinel. Also contains bandits.
- Yidzunn, a bit southeast of Kozanset. Prepare to face imperial soldiers.
As mentioned above, easy access to dark anchors in Alik’r makes Dolmen farming a popular activity. The names of the events are as follows:
- Hollow Waste Dolmen, near the Aswala Stables wayshrine
- Myrkwasa Dolmen, south of the Goat’s Head Oasis wayshrine
- Tigonus Dolmen, north of the Shrike’s Aerie wayshrine
If you’re up to the challenge, Alik’r offers two group dungeons, the Lost City of the Na-Totambu and Volenfell. The Lost City pitches your group against bandits, assassin beetles, giant scorpions, gargoyles, and mummies, while Volenfell features dwemer constructs and a host of desert pests. Volenfell is slightly more difficult than some of the other dungeons in the game, so be sure to keep your wits about you and ask your group for help with any unfamiliar fights and mechanics.
