Castle Crashers: Level Up Guide 1-99 [Updated 10/28/2020]

Overview

An easy to follow guide that explains the leveling up system and multiple methods to level up to level 99.

How the Level Up System Works

The leveling up system in Castle Crashers is very simple to understand which allows it to be manipulated easily. One experience point is gained through each time you hit a living enemy with any attack. However, this means the less damage you hit, the more experience you’ll get. For example:

Hitting “1” damage 50 times on an enemy with 50 hp will allow you to gain 50 experience.
Hitting “25” damage 2 times on an enemy with 50 hp will allow you to gain 2 experience.
Hitting ANY further damage after the 50 hp mark is reached on the enemy will not give any experience. Once the enemy is dead, let them die.

See the difference? This makes weapon choice and non-allocation of stat points important. Although it makes the game more difficult, some players (like me) prefer to never allocate any stat points in strength and magic in order to increase the level up experience in gameplay.

Factors That Speed Up Experience Gain

There are a few ways to increase the amount of experience you gain.

Not Allocating Stat Points (Strengthless Building) + Negative Weapon Builds

This is actually what I mentioned above in the previous section. Using your stat points for pure agility and defense will allow fast movement and faster experience rates. This isn’t completely recommended for people that have trouble surviving. Using weapons that subtract strength (if you have any points allocated there in the first place) usually have positive bonuses to other stats. The Skeletor Mace (level 20) subtracts 2 strength and applies additional bonuses to defense and agility, making a very strong weapon to level up with. The Evil Sword / Necromancer’s Sword is great for those having issues surviving with a strengthless build due to its defense increase.

Other good weapons: Glowstick (Cult Minion), Cardboard Tube (BattleBlock Theater DLC)

Strength reducing weapons not mentioned yet with 0 critical hit chance: Apple Peeler (Wedding Crash), Umbrella (Tall Grass Field), Leaf (Forest Entrance), Thief Sword, Wrapped Sword,

Good level 1 starting weapons: Lollipop (Pink Knight), Broccoli Sword

Animal Orbs:

• Giraffey
• Hawkster

Giraffey is an animal orb that can be dug up with a shovel about halfway through the level “Desert.” Giraffey’s ability is that each time you gain an experience point, you gain a tenth of another experience point. This means you gain ONE extra experience point for every ten hits. Gaining 1.1x exp definitely speeds up the leveling up process. The downside is that you need to get more than halfway through the game to unlock it. The plus side is that it can be used on any new character once it is unlocked.

Hawkster is an animal orb that can be retrieved by using the horn outside of a hut in “Tall Grass Field.” Hawkster attacks fallen enemies, hitting constant 1s. This could add 5-20+ experience for each enemy you knock down on insane mode. The weaker you are, the more important Hawkster is. This is my personal favorite orb.

Bipolar Bear is also a good orb for bosses and enemies on insane mode due to their higher amounts of health. Keep in mind that it can kill you too, however.

Juggling and Grouping

Enemies that can be “juggled” are ones that are very light weight and can be carried through the air with a combo. This method can be used in earlier levels and some later levels although it’s very uncommon. Grouping many enemies together at once in a single juggle allows for massive amounts of experience at once. This also causes Giraffey’s effect to become more prominant. I would recommend using your light attack through the air and then using your heavy attack to hit them down so that they bounce back up for you to use your light attack again.

Method 1 – Troll Mother Regeneration [Fastest]

This is the quickest method for all characters to reach level 99 and get some slight gold. This is the “Troll Mother Regeneration” method.

Here is my recommended game build I’ve mentioned from the rest of my guide:

• Giraffey or Hawkster
• Low or Lack of any Strength and Magic
• High Agility and Defense
• Magic just in case you can’t fight enemies with your arrows
• Lollipop Sword, Black Mace, Necromancer’s Sword (if available to use)

Start “Thieves’ Forest.” Play it until the very end of the level when the large black troll comes out with and the health bar appears on the bottom of the screen. This is the Troll Mother Miniboss.

DO NOT ATTACK IT!

For this method to work, attack the little troll minions that the Troll Mother sheds every few seconds. Stay away from the fire and keep on juggling and doing combos on the minions away from the mother. Make sure to let the trolls die so that the mother can spawn more and so that you can gain experience in a quicker fashion. Once you hit level ~17, I recommend to STOP doing this method on normal mode. Continue with the rest of the game.

Eventually, you’ll be able to continue the level on Insane Mode. This is a much more logical way to gain experience as the trolls will have much more HP. Hopefully you are still sticking to my guide and you are able to survive on you own.

Again, complete “Thieves’ Forest” until the Troll Mother and keep her alive for as long as you can while killing her minions. Juggling the tons of minions is your ticket to the quickest 99 you could possibly get.

Here is a screenshot by TheDude935, showing how much XP you can receive from this method. He was able to get 94k experience. It’s definitely worth it.
[link]

Special Methods: Industrialist and Fencer Only

Two characters have two special methods that allow them to level up to 99 quicker than any other character. These characters are the Industrialist and Fencer (Sharkface).

Their splash magic summons a bunch of saws that hit many times in very quick succession.

Build for them:

Same as normal, but magic is the first skill you should max out.

Method 1: Cat Fish

Once the fight starts with the Cat Fish, spam your splash as much as you can. Do not break the hair-ball. Just attack with the splash and avoid any attacks.

Insane mode would be quicker for experience as well. This is the quickest method.

Method 2: Painter Boss

You can start straight at the portal room if needed to. Fight the painter boss and spam your splash attack the same way as done in the Cat Fish method. After killing the boss, you’ll get a good sum of money. Go in and break the crystal. Re-fight the Painter Boss again. Keep on repeating this method. Again, Insane Mode is much better. This method is a bit slower but is great for making money.

Method 2 – Flowery Field [NERFED; My Original XBOX 360 Method]

Recently with the 1.5 patch, my original Xbox Live method from years ago has stopped working as Coneheads aren’t able to be juggled as easily anymore.

Essentially, just do the “Flowery Field” level on insane mode. Juggle the massive amounts of Coneheads/Periwinkle Knights until you break into the castle. Back out to the map and repeat the level.

Edit: The remastered edition of the game has changed the weight of enemies across the game, so juggling is a bit more difficult.

Credits

Thank you for reading my guide!

~Wishengrad

Also, if anyone has any screenshots to submit to my guide, I would gladly take them.

Thank you TheDude935 for the troll experience screenshot!

Update Log

10/28/2020
-Reorganized to prioritize strengthless building
-Deleted a section
-Updated weapon list to match remastered edition

6/2/2014
-Rewrote and organized a ton of my guide. (Includes new methods and 1.5 patch accuracy)
-Added tons of screenshots

7/18/2013:
– Added the Update Log section

7/16/2013:
– Added Pictures.
– Updated the overall structure of the guide with new methods and corrected errors.