Albion Online Laborer Journals Guide 2026

What laborer journals are

A laborer journal is an item you carry while you play. It records the fame you earn from one kind of activity. When it is full, you can sell it on the market or give it to a laborer living in a house on your island. The laborer works for about a day and comes back with resources, silver or trophies, plus the empty journal so you can fill it again.

Every journal has a tier, named like other items: Novice (T2), Journeyman (T3), Adept (T4), Expert (T5), Master (T6), Grandmaster (T7) and Elder (T8). Each one exists as Empty, Partially Full and Full. A full journal is worth more than an empty one, and the difference is the silver you earn by filling it.

How journals fill

Keep the empty journal in your inventory while you do the matching activity. Gathering journals fill from gathering fame, crafting journals from crafting the gear in their list, and Mercenary journals from PvE fame. You do not need to equip anything.

Tier matters. The activity must be the same tier as the journal or up to two tiers higher. A T6 ore node fills T4, T5 and T6 Prospector journals, but not a T7 one, and T8 ore will not fill a T5 journal. Fishing is the exception: low-tier fish can fill high-tier Fisherman journals.

Only base fame counts. The extra fame from Premium does not go into journals, so do not use your Premium fame numbers to guess how fast a journal fills. Usually only one journal of a kind fills at a time, so you can carry a few spares and keep going after the first is full.

Crafting journals need the same fame for all four crafting laborers. These numbers come from the game files:

Start with journals step by step

1. 1

   Pick the journal for what you already do

   If you mine, take Prospector journals. If you craft bows, take Fletcher journals. Journals that fill during your normal play cost you no extra time.

2. 2

   Buy empty journals

   Laborer NPCs sell empty journals, and the NPC price rises with tier. Players also sell empty journals on the market, sometimes for less. Compare both before you buy a stack.

3. 3

   Carry them at the right tier

   Gather or craft at the journal tier or up to two tiers above it. Check that the journal is filling after the first few nodes or crafts.

4. 4

   Decide: sell or use

   Sell full journals on the market for quick silver, or keep them for your own laborers if you have a house on your island.

5. 5

   If you use laborers, hand them out

   Give one full journal to each laborer. Come back after about 22 hours, collect the returns and the empty journal, and fill it again.

6. 6

   Track the result

   Write down what one cycle earned after tax. If it beats selling the full journal, keep going. If not, sell instead.

Sell full journals or use them yourself

Selling full journals is the simplest way to earn from them. Your profit is the full journal price minus what you paid for the empty one, minus the market tax: 4% with Premium or 8% without, plus a 2.5% setup fee if you list a sell order. Laborer owners buy full journals, so popular tiers usually find buyers.

Using them yourself can pay more, but it needs a house, furniture and a bit of daily time. Count everything: the value of the returns, plus the empty journal you get back, minus the full journal (or what you could have sold it for), minus tax when you sell the returns, minus furniture and house costs spread over many cycles.

Prices for full and empty journals change a lot by city and tier. Item price pages on AOScout show every journal in every city, so you can see where empties are cheapest and where full ones sell best. Prices on our servers can be a few hours old, so confirm in game before a big buy.

• Sell full journals if you have no island yet or want silver now.
• Use them with laborers once your houses and furniture are in place.
• Buy full journals from the market only when the returns clearly cover their price.

Laborers on your island: houses and happiness

Laborers live in houses on your personal island. One house holds up to three laborers. Each laborer needs a bed, and every three laborers need a table, both at least the laborer's tier. Upgrading your island adds room for more houses.

Happiness decides how much a laborer brings back. Base happiness is 100 times the laborer's tier, so a T5 laborer starts at 500. Every point above that base adds 0.5% to the yield, up to +50%. The maximum yield is 150%. Trophies raise happiness: a general trophy gives +5 to each laborer in the house, and a trophy that matches the laborer's profession gives +10. After you change furniture, happiness builds up over about 10 hours.

The laborer's tier and house tier also limit what it can reach. A laborer gets the full 150% on journals below its own tier; on a journal of its own tier the cap is lower. Before you hand over a journal, check the yield the game shows in the laborer window.

Which laborer is the most profitable

No laborer is always the best. Returns and journal prices move with the market, so the answer changes by server and by week. A few rules hold up well:

• The best laborer usually matches what you already do. Your journals fill for free while you gather or craft, so you skip buying full journals.
• Mercenary laborers are often the weakest. Full Mercenary journals are expensive and the silver they bring back leaves a thin margin.
• Higher tiers return more valuable resources but need a higher-tier house and furniture. Many players settle on T5 houses as a balance between setup cost and useful journal tiers.
• Test one or two cycles before buying full journals in bulk. Log what came back and what it sold for.

Common mistakes

• Gathering or crafting three or more tiers above the journal and wondering why it does not fill.
• Counting Premium bonus fame when planning how fast journals fill.
• Using old crafting journal numbers from before 2021.
• Giving a laborer a journal of its own tier and expecting 150%.
• Buying expensive trophies before checking how long they take to pay back.
• Forgetting returns for more than a week.
• Comparing journal prices without the market tax and setup fee.

Questions players ask