Hey everyone! I'm a long time player and new to the forums. I am working on a new build and wanted to create a thread to share my discoveries and create opportunity for discussion about it.
I'm going for a level 20 Quick Learner(QL) build to understand if there is any merit to this sort of path. The basic concept is to grind up to level 80 and only increase QL the whole time. Then to build out your character from there. My thoughts are that the excitement of finally being able to choose a fighting style and specialize after level 80 will drive the player to continue the grind and break through to level 100+ wall with some joy left to experience.
Level Grinding Location Statistics
Values are approximate
QL = Quick Learner Level
XP = Experience
XPS = Experience per Second
PRIM & BLACKWATER MOUNTAIN (BWM)
Mountain Entrance
(Level 40+)
When you go up the stairs and first enter the mountains leading to Prim and the BWM area(this is where you meet the guide NPC who leads you to BWM) you will find a room on your immediate left that contains a rest spot. In this same room there are a handful of snakes and/or gornauds and a n the next room to the left of the rest spot there are a few more. This makes an excellent spot to power-level before heading to the much more difficult areas ahead. Just clear the two rooms then rest and repeat. You won't waste healing supplies and gain some meat while grinding here.
QL: 10
XP: 56,000
Loot Value: 1.5k+
Time: 10m
XPS: 93.33 xp/second
QL: 15
XP: 70,000
Loot Value: 1.5k+
Time. 10m
XPS: 116
(Level 40+)
When you go up the stairs and first enter the mountains leading to Prim and the BWM area(this is where you meet the guide NPC who leads you to BWM) you will find a room on your immediate left that contains a rest spot. In this same room there are a handful of snakes and/or gornauds and a n the next room to the left of the rest spot there are a few more. This makes an excellent spot to power-level before heading to the much more difficult areas ahead. Just clear the two rooms then rest and repeat. You won't waste healing supplies and gain some meat while grinding here.
QL: 10
XP: 56,000
Loot Value: 1.5k+
Time: 10m
XPS: 93.33 xp/second
QL: 15
XP: 70,000
Loot Value: 1.5k+
Time. 10m
XPS: 116
Cabin to Mineshaft (Round-trip)
(Level 50+)
Starting from cabin I clear the way to Charwood village and clear all houses going clockwise until I reach mineshaft. I clear first room of mineshaft and the west room( all but ash ghosts). Then I drop to second floor and clear my way to the western room and clear it. By this time everything outside the mineshaft is respawned and I do a full sweep again before heading back to cabin.
QL: 14
XP: 174,000
Loot Value: 10k+
Time: 30m
XPS: 97
Charwood Mineshaft
(Level 64+)
Once you have enough block and attack chance the Charwood Mines is full of high XP monsters to level up on. This is the first dungeon I'd recommend stocking up on Bonemeal Potions, the monsters here have high AC and dmg. Even with 150 BC you will still get hit quite often. Before I hit level 70 here I used the Amulet of Undead with the 5 AP weapon, Defenders Blade, so I'd still get two hits per turn. The healing from the Amulet will save you lots of potions but takes longer to cut enemies down. At level 70 I'm hitting/blocking enough to switch back to my trusty Inlaid Scepter. On average I used about 13 BM Potions per level up, going from 64 to 70. You will earn plenty of gold from high selling loot such as Iron Maces and Reinforced Black Axes here so potions will pay for themselves. Also, if it's gold your after, the "Ash" type monsters drop the axes. However, I suggest avoiding the Ash specters. At level 70 I killed everything in the entire dungeon once and was careful not to kill any respawns, stats are below.
QL: 17
XP: 134,166
Loot Value: 5k+
Time: 15.2m
XPS: 147
(Level 50+)
Starting from cabin I clear the way to Charwood village and clear all houses going clockwise until I reach mineshaft. I clear first room of mineshaft and the west room( all but ash ghosts). Then I drop to second floor and clear my way to the western room and clear it. By this time everything outside the mineshaft is respawned and I do a full sweep again before heading back to cabin.
QL: 14
XP: 174,000
Loot Value: 10k+
Time: 30m
XPS: 97
Charwood Mineshaft
(Level 64+)
Once you have enough block and attack chance the Charwood Mines is full of high XP monsters to level up on. This is the first dungeon I'd recommend stocking up on Bonemeal Potions, the monsters here have high AC and dmg. Even with 150 BC you will still get hit quite often. Before I hit level 70 here I used the Amulet of Undead with the 5 AP weapon, Defenders Blade, so I'd still get two hits per turn. The healing from the Amulet will save you lots of potions but takes longer to cut enemies down. At level 70 I'm hitting/blocking enough to switch back to my trusty Inlaid Scepter. On average I used about 13 BM Potions per level up, going from 64 to 70. You will earn plenty of gold from high selling loot such as Iron Maces and Reinforced Black Axes here so potions will pay for themselves. Also, if it's gold your after, the "Ash" type monsters drop the axes. However, I suggest avoiding the Ash specters. At level 70 I killed everything in the entire dungeon once and was careful not to kill any respawns, stats are below.
QL: 17
XP: 134,166
Loot Value: 5k+
Time: 15.2m
XPS: 147
Lord Erwyn
(Level 60+)
Located on the bottom floor of the NE part of Stoutford Castle you will find Lord Erwyn. This quest NPC is worth an impressive 932 experience with quick learner level 15 and will insta respawn after each kill until the quest item to permanently kill him is obtained. If you have enough block chance you can mostly avoid his heavy hitting attacks and make quick work of his relatively low hit points (110). However, there is no treasure rewards and his critical hits are quite deadly. I found this to be quite boring but thought it interesting enough to run some numbers. I managed to kill him once every 10 seconds which included time to heal and save progress every few kills( he sent me to my rest spot once with a nasty crit and I had to start over). I needed to land 3 hits to kill him which required a second turn so if you optimized a build with high attack chance and damage you could probably grind much more xp in 10 minutes than I.
QL: 15
XP: 55,920
Loot Value: N/A
Time: 10m
XPS: 93.2
Lizards
(Level 60+)
Find Colonel Lutarc on the hill just east of the northern gate of Stoutford Castle(the undead side). Accept his challenge and defeat his 5 opponents, when the quest is complete you will receive his medallion. With it in your inventory you will now be attacked by 5 lizards just outside the gate you battled his soldiers at. Use the rope on the left side of gate to open it. You can walk to the dirt road on the map to the north to respawn the lizards without leaving map. The lizards are aggressive and will swarm you but are very easy to kill so this is really a convenient behavior. With 7 damage resistance you will be immune to their attacks and can easily 1-hit kill their 50hp with a damage minimum of 55 to overcome their 5 damage resistance. Each lizard is worth 295 experience with level 15 quick learner for a total of 1475 per respawn. Downside again is there is no gold or loot to gain. My numbers below are without the optimal 55 damage minimum which would have cut them down much quicker with guaranteed 1-hit kills.
QL: 15
XP: 53,395
Loot Value: N/A
Time. 10m
XPS: 89
(Level 60+)
Located on the bottom floor of the NE part of Stoutford Castle you will find Lord Erwyn. This quest NPC is worth an impressive 932 experience with quick learner level 15 and will insta respawn after each kill until the quest item to permanently kill him is obtained. If you have enough block chance you can mostly avoid his heavy hitting attacks and make quick work of his relatively low hit points (110). However, there is no treasure rewards and his critical hits are quite deadly. I found this to be quite boring but thought it interesting enough to run some numbers. I managed to kill him once every 10 seconds which included time to heal and save progress every few kills( he sent me to my rest spot once with a nasty crit and I had to start over). I needed to land 3 hits to kill him which required a second turn so if you optimized a build with high attack chance and damage you could probably grind much more xp in 10 minutes than I.
QL: 15
XP: 55,920
Loot Value: N/A
Time: 10m
XPS: 93.2
Lizards
(Level 60+)
Find Colonel Lutarc on the hill just east of the northern gate of Stoutford Castle(the undead side). Accept his challenge and defeat his 5 opponents, when the quest is complete you will receive his medallion. With it in your inventory you will now be attacked by 5 lizards just outside the gate you battled his soldiers at. Use the rope on the left side of gate to open it. You can walk to the dirt road on the map to the north to respawn the lizards without leaving map. The lizards are aggressive and will swarm you but are very easy to kill so this is really a convenient behavior. With 7 damage resistance you will be immune to their attacks and can easily 1-hit kill their 50hp with a damage minimum of 55 to overcome their 5 damage resistance. Each lizard is worth 295 experience with level 15 quick learner for a total of 1475 per respawn. Downside again is there is no gold or loot to gain. My numbers below are without the optimal 55 damage minimum which would have cut them down much quicker with guaranteed 1-hit kills.
QL: 15
XP: 53,395
Loot Value: N/A
Time. 10m
XPS: 89
Cithurn's Cave
(Level 68+)
Note: This place is surprisingly good for XP and gold farming, this would make a great spot to power level as soon as you can get the quest from Cithurn and enough damage resistance. For any play style.
The monsters here are social and will swarm you so I think the most important thing to have before coming here is high damage resistance. To be immune to all normal attacks you will need 8 DR, only crits will get through which mainly comes from the Cave Gargoyles and are pretty low damage. You won't need much healing here, just some food mostly. Second you want decent AC to overcome the Revenant's BC. Since you'll be immune to most damage BC will be your last concern, however the Rock Fiend will sometimes lower your AP with their status effect but their AC is pretty low so it's a minor inconvenience only. Try to avoid being swarmed completely by using the environment to bottleneck and obstruct your enemies and consider going to settings and make enemy attacks instantaneous. Otherwise you'll be slowed down waiting for your turns and will be hit with status effects more often. As for loot you will find Stone Clubs, Curved Daggers and Ring of Damage Resistance which all sell for decent amounts. Lastly, you will lose access to this dungeon once you complete the quest and return Cithurn's Orb so enjoy it while you can(or keep the orb and disappoint an old man)!
I killed every monster once(except the boss) and here are the results on average,
QL: 18
XP: 70,000
Loot Value: 3k+
Time: 8.5m
XPS: 137xp/second
(Level 68+)
Note: This place is surprisingly good for XP and gold farming, this would make a great spot to power level as soon as you can get the quest from Cithurn and enough damage resistance. For any play style.
The monsters here are social and will swarm you so I think the most important thing to have before coming here is high damage resistance. To be immune to all normal attacks you will need 8 DR, only crits will get through which mainly comes from the Cave Gargoyles and are pretty low damage. You won't need much healing here, just some food mostly. Second you want decent AC to overcome the Revenant's BC. Since you'll be immune to most damage BC will be your last concern, however the Rock Fiend will sometimes lower your AP with their status effect but their AC is pretty low so it's a minor inconvenience only. Try to avoid being swarmed completely by using the environment to bottleneck and obstruct your enemies and consider going to settings and make enemy attacks instantaneous. Otherwise you'll be slowed down waiting for your turns and will be hit with status effects more often. As for loot you will find Stone Clubs, Curved Daggers and Ring of Damage Resistance which all sell for decent amounts. Lastly, you will lose access to this dungeon once you complete the quest and return Cithurn's Orb so enjoy it while you can(or keep the orb and disappoint an old man)!
I killed every monster once(except the boss) and here are the results on average,
QL: 18
XP: 70,000
Loot Value: 3k+
Time: 8.5m
XPS: 137xp/second
Cabin to Bridge(Round-trip)
Start at rest spot in cabin. Clear entire dungeon, head outside and kill all Hirathil lizards before and after bridge. Dunk into western cave entrance and kill enemies near latter before heading back to Hirathil cave entrance. By this time all but first room in cave is respawned. Clear dungeon and end at cabin rest spot. Below I recorded the average out of 3 runs after practice runs to establish most efficient route through dungeon.
QL: 20
XP: 375,000
Loot Value: 4000+
Time: 20m
XPS: 312
Start at rest spot in cabin. Clear entire dungeon, head outside and kill all Hirathil lizards before and after bridge. Dunk into western cave entrance and kill enemies near latter before heading back to Hirathil cave entrance. By this time all but first room in cave is respawned. Clear dungeon and end at cabin rest spot. Below I recorded the average out of 3 runs after practice runs to establish most efficient route through dungeon.
QL: 20
XP: 375,000
Loot Value: 4000+
Time: 20m
XPS: 312
Lap Around Graveyard
(Level 100±)
There are lots of ways to do this but the main point of interest is the actual graveyard in the center of the map area because of the large amount of monsters here. Starting here I like going counter-clockwise; West then South towards the house, then I clear the two rooms in house and head back out. From here I go East, past the coffin and head down the narrow path until I'm on the East side of the Graveyard entrance. Enter graveyard and repeat lap. The XP per second will get better and better here as stats increase from leveling and the hoards can be mowed down faster. I think level 4 cleave would help a lot here and also taunt could shorten monsters turns significantly. Below is my average of three 20 minute timed intervals.
Level 100
QL: 20
XP: 508,791
Loot Value:
Time: 20m
XPS: 424
Level 132
QL: 20
XP: 642,000
Loot Value:
Time: 20m
XPS: 535
Under & Over
(Level 140)
Now that I have the attack chance to mow through the Sleepless Taints and Sinister Wraiths in the cave below the house I've changed my path. Starting at the graveyard cut a path strait to the house, defeating all enemies on the the way. Descend to the basement and then to the underground passage. Erase all the beings in here before climbing the rope and starting back at the graveyard. At level 140 I trained up to Cleave level 2 and recorded the results below.
Cleave: 2
QL: 20
XP: 855,834
Time: 20m
XPS: 713
(Level 100±)
There are lots of ways to do this but the main point of interest is the actual graveyard in the center of the map area because of the large amount of monsters here. Starting here I like going counter-clockwise; West then South towards the house, then I clear the two rooms in house and head back out. From here I go East, past the coffin and head down the narrow path until I'm on the East side of the Graveyard entrance. Enter graveyard and repeat lap. The XP per second will get better and better here as stats increase from leveling and the hoards can be mowed down faster. I think level 4 cleave would help a lot here and also taunt could shorten monsters turns significantly. Below is my average of three 20 minute timed intervals.
Level 100
QL: 20
XP: 508,791
Loot Value:
Time: 20m
XPS: 424
Level 132
QL: 20
XP: 642,000
Loot Value:
Time: 20m
XPS: 535
Under & Over
(Level 140)
Now that I have the attack chance to mow through the Sleepless Taints and Sinister Wraiths in the cave below the house I've changed my path. Starting at the graveyard cut a path strait to the house, defeating all enemies on the the way. Descend to the basement and then to the underground passage. Erase all the beings in here before climbing the rope and starting back at the graveyard. At level 140 I trained up to Cleave level 2 and recorded the results below.
Cleave: 2
QL: 20
XP: 855,834
Time: 20m
XPS: 713
) limited life and saves balanced build.
). Oh and I use necklace of the undead, so I heal without using potions. Using/clicking potions also slows you down! And don't show loot, auto collect with no pop-up window and confirm buttons. That slows down. Prevent any clicks that are not moving/attacking.