Midnight Mining Specialization Builds & Knowledge Guide

This guide covers the best Mining specialization builds for Midnight, how to spend your Knowledge Points phase by phase, and where to find all weekly and one-time KP sources including treasure locations with maps. I also go over what to prioritize first, which trees are worth rushing, and when it makes sense to branch into Over-LODED or Dazzling Thorium-focused paths.

Leveling, Buffs & Farming

This guide only focuses on knowledge points and specializations. I highly recommend reading my other guide that covers consumables, leveling routes, farming tips, and more:

Leveling, Buffs & Farming Guide

Mining Knowledge Points

You can collect around 81 Knowledge Points in week one from these sources:

Source	KP	Details
First Gather Discoveries	25	1 KP each time you mine a new deposit type for the first time. There are 25 total: 3 base ores, 3 rich deposits, 3 seams, 12 elemental deposits (4 variants per ore), and 4 overloads.
Amani Book	10	Whisper of the Loa: Mining sold by Magovu in Zul'Aman. (Amani Tribe renown)
Abundance Book	10	Echo of Abundance: Mining from the Abundance event.
8 Mining Treasures	24	3 KP each, scattered across all zones. (See maps below the table)
Treatise	1	Thalassian Treatise on Mining from Inscription Crafting Order.
Weekly Trainer Quest	3	Weekly quest from the profession trainer. Rewards Thalassian Miner's Notes
Weekly Gathering Drops	~8	Knowledge items that randomly drop while mining. You'll loot 5x Igneous Rock Specimen (1 KP each), then a Septarian Nodule (3 KP) as the final drop for the week.

Weekly Sources (~12 KP/week)

After the first week, your recurring weekly sources are:

• Trainer Quest: 3 KP per week
• Gathering Drops: ~8 KP per week (keep mining and they'll drop naturally)
• Inscription Treatise: 1 KP per week (submit a public crafting order since they're BoP, or craft on an Inscription alt)

Unlike crafting professions, Mining does not get weekly chest drops. Your main weekly source is just mining deposits and the trainer quest.

Knowledge Catchup

If you fall behind on Knowledge, Cloudy Quartz (1 KP) can drop while mining as a catchup item. This works the same as in The War Within, where you get extra drops if you're behind on Knowledge compared to the current maximum. These don't have a weekly cap. You'll get them until you're fully caught up.

Mining Treasure Locations

There are 8 Mining treasures scattered across Eversong Woods, Zul'Aman, Harandar, and Voidstorm. Each treasure gives 3 Knowledge Points for a total of 24 KP.

/way #2395 38.0, 45.4 Solid Ore Punchers (Mining)
/way #2536 33.4, 65.9 Amani Expert's Chisel (Mining)
/way #2437 42.0, 46.5 Spelunker's Lucky Charm (Mining)
/way #2413 38.8, 65.9 Spare Expedition Torch (Mining)
/way #2405 41.8, 38.3 Star Metal Deposit (Mining)
/way #2444 30.5, 69.1 Miner's Guide to Voidstorm (Mining)
/way #2444 28.7, 38.5 Glimmering Void Pearl (Mining)
/way #2444 54.2, 51.5 Lost Voidstorm Satchel (Mining)

Specialization Builds

Here's what I recommend for spending your points step by step. The goal is to unlock the biggest quality-of-life power first, then stack skill where it gives the best return. I'll keep it simple and break it down by phases so you can follow it as your KP comes in each week.

Phase 1: Unlock Mounted Mining (0-40 points)

In The War Within, delaying mounted mining was often better early because the rare ore gains from other specs were stronger. In Midnight, that tradeoff is way smaller, this tree gives useful skill for fewer points, and it's much harder to avoid mobs. So unlocking mounted mining right away is hands down the best move.

Put 40 points into the Meticulous Mining root node. This unlocks the ability to mine while mounted.

Phase 2: Ore Skill (40-90 points)

Now go into Plentiful Ores. Put 50 points into the root node to gain extra skill for all ore types. All ores are found in all zones, so you can farm in any zone with this. It's not like War Within where some ores were missing in some zones.

Phase 3: Fill Out Ores (90-140 points)

Now you can start filling out the ore-specific nodes in Plentiful Ores. Each one gives you more skill for that ore type, which means more Gold Quality from those nodes. I recommend spreading your points evenly across the ores you want to focus on, rather than maxing one out first. This way you can keep your options open and adjust based on how the market evolves.

Note: If one ore is significantly more expensive than the others, max that one out first instead of spreading evenly.

Phase 4: Finishing the Build

At this point you've got mounted mining and good ore skill. From here you can fill in the rest however you want. Here's my priority:

1. Max each ore type to get more Gold Quality ores.
2. 1x Over-LODED sub-spec where you farm the most.
3. Rich Deposits sub-spec in Meticulous Mining (extra skill for rich nodes)
4. Rest wherever you want

Over-LODED & Dazzling Thorium

Here are some thoughts on alternative spec paths and when you might want to pick them.

Dazzling Thorium Build

When you max out a specific ore in Plentiful Ores (40 points), you get an increased Dazzling Thorium drop rate from that ore type. If Dazzling Thorium ends up really expensive, maxing one ore first can be worth it because you also get passive skill for that ore.

But I don't think this will be Null Stone 2.0 like in War Within. The problem there was that until you talented the last node, everyone got far fewer Null Stones, and Null Stones were used in a lot of crafting reagents. This time Dazzling Thorium is mostly used for gear, so I think demand won't be that high, and players will also get full ones from the start.

Over-LODED

If motes end up being crazy expensive, this spec could be worth rushing early. You get extra motes from Over-LODing, and if those are selling for a lot, the value adds up fast. But it's risky to go all-in without knowing mote prices first. I'd wait until the market stabilizes before committing points here.

I tested each Over-LODED sub-tree maxed out. Here are the results.

CD reduction

You get two charges at 40 points in the root node. Having two charges is actually nice because you're basically always reducing the cooldown while mining. Without two charges, you'd run into situations where your Over-LODE is ready but there's no infused deposit around, so you're just mining normal deposits without reducing anything. With two charges, you can keep one banked and still reduce the cooldown with the other one.

Sub-spec Bonuses

Lightfused and Voidbound give the biggest buffs since they double your motes. Primal is decent with 2 extra ticks (40% more). Wild doesn't increase motes but does give more ore drops from Rumbling Orelings, so it's actually not that bad.

You need 5 points to unlock your first sub-spec and another 40 to fully max out.