Overview
Leveling up new characters can be a boring grind. This little guide helps you to save some precious time… and lets you start with 46+ skill points.
Step by step:
1. You must have purchased the Forgotten Gods expansion.
2. You must have finished the campaign on Normal or Elite at least once
(Elite is highly recommended. Normal won’t give you nearly as many experience points).
3. Select your character that has finished the campaign on Normal or Elite and switch to the highest possible difficulty. Here you kill Warden Krieg to get access to the content of Forgotten Gods. Speak with the Emissary in Devil’s Crossing to be teleported to the Conclave of the Three. There you go to this merchant:
4. Purchase one of these runes
(the runes you get after beating the game on Normal will only unlock Elite, not Elite and Ultimate):
5. Put the rune in your shared stash.
6. Optional: If you are “revered” by the Malmouth Resistance, you can also buy a potion which doubles the exp for one hour:
Go to the Steelcap district in Malmouth and speak with Plaudia.
Click on the icon for “revered” and buy as many Potions of Clarity as you want (40.000 iron per potion). The potion is the grey one at the bottom. Put the potion in your shared stash. This potion is a buff. This means that when you die or leave your session the buff will expire. So keep that in mind when you want to activate it. Please note that the game doesn’t show you the doubled exp in the quest reward popup, but it really doubles the amount of exp you gain.
Thanks to Morty Bot for mentioning the potion!
7. Start a new character.
8. You need to get access to your stash in the prison. So talk to Hangman Jarvis and Captain Bourbon like always. The captain will let you in after you’ve killed the Reanimator in the Burial Cave. Do this and speak to the captain again. Speak to Gate Keeper Rook, go to your stash and activate the rune.
Do not use the stash from the Crucible. The only way to get access to the prison on higher difficulties is to kill the Reanimator.
9. Now exit to the main menu and switch the difficulty to Elite or Ultimate. On Elite or Ultimate you can speak to the Gate Keeper right at the beginning…with hilarious results:
10. Your next stop is the spirit guide. Just end the conversation with her and you’ll get the next huge chunk of experience:
11. After you’ve done this on Elite and Ultimate, you should be around level 15/16. But you can boost this even more. E.g. if you rescue Faldis, Luther and Ulgrim and do the blacksmith quest, you should be around level 24. But even that doesn’t need to be the end. I’ve boosted my summoner so hardcore that he’s now facing Darius Cronley at level 45 on Elite without having set a foot beyond the Burial Hill on Normal (and is still facing him, because he was too weak to kill him ^_^).
Suggested additional experience boosts:
Don’t bother fighting enemies. Just run to your target and when you’ve reached it port back or exit to the main menu. Fast walking speed, a few health potions and some points in physique will help much.
- When you feel confident enough kill the Reanimator on Elite and then go for the exp from the collecting quests (crystals / scrap / maybe fabric) and maybe the quest for killing Milton Hart.
- Rescue Faldis in the northwest of Lower Crossing (easy 9500 exp on Elite, 22000 exp on Ultimate).
- [Go to Wightmire and search an unnamed cavern. Talk to Jasper in the cavern to rescue him (time consuming 8000 exp on Elite, 25000 on Ultimate).]
- Collect 3 Slith Necklaces on Normal, then switch to Elite or Ultimate, go to Wightmire and give the necklaces to the Rover in the northwest (10000 exp on Elite, 25000 on Ultimate). So maybe you want to kill some Slith on your way to the shrines.
- Rescue Luther Graves in the Foggy Bank (13000 exp on Elite, 30000 exp on Ultimate) – you may want to extort money from him. This helps financing the repairing of the bridges to the Burrwitch Outskirts and the Arkovian Foothills.
- Do the blacksmith quest in the Burrwitch Outskirts (22000 exp on Elite, 55000 exp on Ultimate).
- “Rescue” Ulgrim in the Burrwitch Outskirts (12000 exp on Elite, 28000 exp on Ultimate).
- Go to the Arkovian Foothills and there to Kymon’s Retreat in the south. Talk to Stephen Skinner. Ask, if he’s insane. Then say that things look bad, but we can’t lose hope. And finally tell him you’re from Devil’s Crossing (easy 11000 exp on Elite, 28000 exp on Ultimate).
- Go to the Arkovian Foothills. East of the Rover camp you can do the quest where the mortally wounded guy seeks revenge (easy 8000 exp on Elite, 26000 exp on Ultimate).
- Go to the Rover camp in the Arkovian Foothills and do the quest for blowing up the gate of the bandits with a dynamite (easy 24000 exp on Elite, 55000 exp on Ultimate).
- Go to the Rover camp in the Arkovian Foothills and do the quest where you have to search the elder in the west of the camp (easy 12000 exp on Elite, 31000 exp on Ultimate).
- Go to Old Arkovia, there to New Harbor in the east and do the quest where you can bribe Silas to leave Alicia alone ([8000 kill /] 11000 bribe / 13000 give scrap exp on Elite, [22000 kill /] 27000 bribe / 30000 give scrap exp on Ultimate).
- [Go to Old Arkovia, there to the Rover camp and do the quest where you have to give them three Royal Jelly (expensive 14000 exp on Elite, 35000 exp on Ultimate). According to the wiki you have to have a friendly status with the Rovers to get the quest.]
- If you have purchased the better (Ultimate) rune, you have access to every portal on Elite. So you can port to Sorrow’s Bastion, enter the Blood Grove and go to the northeast where three persons try to burn a witch. If you feel confident enough, rescue her. If not, burn her (each 17000 exp on Elite). If you’ve rescued her, port to Coven’s Refuge in Ugdenbog and speak to her in the southeast of the camp (5000 exp on Elite). Be aware that the enemies in the Blood Grove will be around level 39. But the enemies on the way will likely be distracted in a fight against one of the friendly factions.
I recommend to play the game on Normal or Elite from now on. Depending on how much you’ve boosted your char. Fighting much on Ultimate will be a pain and a waste of time. Also keep in mind that you have to get new gear asap since level 15 zombies won’t even notice stabs from a puny level 1 stabbing thingy.
Anyway, you’ll encounter Warden Krieg very soon… Find out, if he was expecting this:
