What's your levelling strategy?

Jibaholic

New Member
Joined
27/08/2018
Messages
20
Here's the approach I've settled into. I play on Hard and I tend to be a bit sloppy, so you may be able to hit these areas sooner.

Level Progression
I don't mind grinding an area, as long as it's not for too long. It's fun to spend a few levels on an area because at first it's hard and you may have to skip some parts, but in a couple levels you crush it. So you get a great sense of progress just in three levels.
  • 1-4 Goblin Mine
  • 5-7 Bandit Cave (near Kingsbridge). I'll sneak in quests for The Three at this pointa s well.
  • 8-10 Urzuganar Liar (the orc dungeon near Kingsbridge)
  • 11-14 Mercian Royal Crypt. I typically burn 3 to 5 potions per run when I first start it, but the money is still insane. This is also where I start using a scroll of recall to save myself the walk back.
  • 15-18 Mausoleum. Ruined Dragoon Boots and Rings of the Red Sorcerer.
  • 19 Collect black shards
  • 20 Sunken Citadel. I stay until I get 100+ Elixirs and a full set(s) of Ashen Armor.
  • 21 The Ark (except the main upper level) until I get the full Ark gear.
  • 22 Sewer of Horrors, finish the Ark.

Strategies
  • I like to get Varsilla and The Three reputation early and then get Hirge her Flaming Warhammer early with a potion of speed.
  • Make sure you get at least +1 reputation with the Golden Hand. I give the medallion to Fritha but then use potions of speed and a scrolls of recall to get the tomes from the Mausoleum and Castle Bluerock. Give these two tomes to the Grey Library and you can start buying mana potions at level 10. It's a bit easier than getting access to Icemist and way more convenient for the Mercian Royal Crypt. I'll have Hirge burn through 3 or 4 of these per run when I first start the crypt.
  • Another reason to get access to the Grey Library: to buy the Gloves of the Explorer. You'll use these until you get the Automated Gloves in the Ark. I wish my cleric could use them.
  • Get death resistance early for quests for the Three. By the time you start Mercian Royal Crypt you'll want at least 100+ to survive that first wave of wraiths.
  • For Clerics I tend to level up on Undead almost exclusively, so focus on the various tombs instead of the Bandit Camp and Goblin Mine.

Anyways, that's how I do it. What are the other approaches?
 

p4ran0id

Staff member
Moderator
Joined
27/01/2017
Messages
2,063
Thx for the nice overview, it's awesome!

I have a similar strategy, but a bit different.

With lvl 8 I prefer to grind at Maze of lamph, up to lvl 12 (depending on the build/character) I stay at lvl1, later going down to lvl 2 and clear that too. If you stay long enough at lvl2 lvl1 will be respawned and you can clear that again. That gives you a lot of money and the enemies are easy to fight (specially for ranged builds)

And sunken citadel I mostly combine with Maze lvl2 too, starting at new Garand, Teleport to sunken citadel, clearing, Teleport to Maze of lamph lvl2, clearing, back to sunken citadel and after that back to new Garand.

Also, with higher level you can stay at SoH underground and grind there for XP, you have a resting point and it gives you a bunch of XP.
 

Lolerescut

New Member
Joined
24/04/2018
Messages
149
I personally don't grind i simply do quests it works fine with warrior and mage characters for finishing the game without breaking a sweat
As for clerics i tend to get the skill that deals area damage the one that deals fire damage and the one that deals spirit damage and go to farm the quest for helping nuir and keep calling the gaurds till they pack and whipe the out with a skill or two giving me a great amount of gold and xp in a matter for seconds as well as a decent amount of saphires
And finally for rogues
I always get bored before reaching the quest for finding the shards idk why but i never completed a rogue character...
 

Zalvarez0627

Loreseeker
Joined
14/10/2017
Messages
74
My strategy is pretty much the same. I side with the Golden Hand over Fritha so I can get that extra Tolassian tome ASAP, and from 5-9 I usually collect as many Rhoneis/New Garand TH quests as possible instead of grinding a specific area.

Another fun thing to do if you're running a Flames of Faith build is to go to Wyvern Mountains, tell Grissenda to never attack anyone, run the whole map until you have a few thousand wolves and wyverns behind you, then tell your companion to attack and spam skills/potions until they all die. I'm an egotistical idiot and I've died on iron man doing this a few times, but it gives insanely fast XP, solid amounts of gold from the pelts, and always-useful emeralds.

I also go for rumor boss shards a little earlier (16-17) for gear, plus if you can get a whole bunch of them and have some gold stashed you can collect the shard xp and the Nivarian shrine bonus all on one scroll.
 

GhostInADagger

New Member
Joined
11/04/2017
Messages
7
Thanks for a good overview, especially L19-L22, as I never finished the game yet. Now giving it another try after a year away, currently a L13 warrior. The game has gotten much more enjoyable, with more quests, items, and an easier level curve.

Earlier, I played it a lot though, especially on Ironman difficulty, since that somehow was more fun for me in the early game. On that difficulty, I did similar to what you suggest, and ran many of the early dungeons (those I liked) a few times over, for useful loot, XP, gold, and fun. It feels so much better to find a nice item (e.g. Orcslicer, or that rumour cap), than to farm gold and buy the standard stuff. The thieves cave near Kingsbridge was my most frequent destination L4-L8, Maze of Lamth L8-L10. I rarely made it higher than L11, was getting too impatient against high level traps and stun attacks.

On easier difficulty, I have more fun mostly just running the quests, because I can take the more risky ones, rewarding better gear and more XP early on. I did not feel any need to farm until L9, then just occasionally in Mercian Royal Crypt, when I feel more confident rounding off another level there before the next quest. With Hirge, holy weapons, and death resistance items that is easy enough.

I want to finish the game as reliably as possible this time, to get a personal overview, so I play a simple 2H warrior on casual difficulty. Already looking forward to try alternative classes, higher difficulty again, and some personal challenges like the shortest time to collect the shards.
 

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