Updated strategy guide for quick levelling?

[danielbda]

Hi guys,

I finished the game for the first time around 1 year ago. Loved it and is probably the game I want to replay the most.

Problem is, I played on PotD upscaled, and having finished a 100% playthrough, I couldn't change the difficulty or the game would feel to easy.

But I remember the beginning being brutal, specially for martial classes, and the game only really became fun once my build started to come together, and that was around lvl 8.

So is there a guide for levelling fast without getting into hard quests early (Cornett's call, Poko Kohara etc)?

[thelee]

- have you just tried using berath's blessing to bump up your level?

 

barring that, my usual route is (sorry i'm missing specific quest names because this is just off the top of my head)

- everything on maje island, this gets me to level 5 by the time i arrive on queen's berth and do the ghost puppet show

- nekataka:

• in periki, trigger the fassina gloves quest, arkemyr quest, the degno's satchel quest, get tekehu, enter all the stores to get map xp and trigger fast travel later
• make your way up to kahanga palace to trigger the next step in the main quest. make sure to talk to prince to get the gullet line of quest. then go to muhai's estate and get muhai.
• go to sacred stair. complete muhai, advance eder's quest (if using), pick up bounty quests and area quests for later
• go visit the vailian trading company to get some XP and cash. also:
  • do the luca quest
  • do the quest where you can end up with 4 iron cannons at the end
  • pick up sanza's first exploration quest <-- this gives you boatloads of XP for casual exploration
  • pick up valian bounty quest
  • resolve the first part of the family pride questline (just the duel)
  • resolve the first part of the oathbinder sanctum questline (just to get the mission to go to oathbinder sanctum)
  • get konstanten
  • loot some luminous adra crates from the mill
• go to brass citadel and talk to the haza nui, you get XP just for doing so. go ahead and talk to atsura to get that poko kohara quest, going downstairs gets you map XP anyway. also:
  • next part of fassina's glove quest
  • visit all the buildings, pick up ship bounty quest
• go back to periki
  • resolve the fassina quest
  • go to luminous bath house to do the next part of degnos <- if you plan on being aggressive in this quest, don't do this yet, the fight is brutal at this level (which should be ~6)
• go to the gullet
  • resolve all quests that you can here that does not involve going into the old city (though you can do the first part to get access to old city)
  • you can make the biha-needs-transport quest easier if you don't care about getting all the kids off, or if you trick the goldpact paladin to go downstairs first, so the fight to kill them all is easier. full violence shouldn't be too hard.
  • there'll be some back-and-forth depending, such as going to kapanga palace or sacred stair depending on how you resolve the food shortage, and also to kapanga to get the cornett of waves
  • if you are using pallegina, having gone to sacred stair means you can also do the next part of her companion quest line in gullet (the hole, and then delver's row)
  • the luminous adra crates are used here in the undercroft to resolve a quest, if you take this route for the food shortage
• leave nekataka

- go to the island where you can recruit a xaurip, clear the island (gets you XP for sanza's quest, plus misc bestiary xp)

- go to the island with the cannibals near maje island, clear it (gets you XP for sanza's quest, plus misc bestiary xp)

- do any easy ship bounties or the early fighting bounties (porokoa and meryl are easy at this stage)

- back to nekataka

• cash in any completed bounties, cash in sanza's

- to fort deadlight

• resolve the benweth quest, advance serafen's (if using). <- might be too early if you plan on taking a violent approach to benweth

- to dunnage

• resolve the drunken pirate quest, get all the bounty quests (incl the firebrand crew or whatever)
• talk to the principi head post-benweth to advance the questline
• resolve the play quest <- if you're somehow not level 8 yet, this will be too hard at this stage because of the ambush
• there might be other minor quests in dunnage that i'm forgetting about. do them

- back to fort deadlight (you should've gotten contacted by the other princip leader, aeryn or whatever)

• you don't get experience for going back, but you get cash for divulging secrets

 

At this point you should be level 8-9 and you didn't do anything particularly hard (unless you tried to duke it out with Degnos's related ambush which IMO is unfairly hard). Depending how I feel, I'd tackle Old City, Oathbinder Sanctum, the "Skipping Ahead" quest, maybe do more island exploration for Sanza for more XP, and then when Family Pride is no longer skulled, I'll tackle that. Eventually the Hanging Sepulchers for both the principi and berathian priest questlines. Eventually Arkemyr's infiltration and then pick up Fassina. Poko Kohara pops onto my todo list around level 10-11, which is also a good time for the next batch of sanza quests

 

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by thelee

[danielbda]

Thanks for the great answer.

I'm not thinking about blessing myself to level 4 because it makes me feel less invested in my character. There is some value on starting with a weak ass lvl 1 and getting to lvl 20, at least to me.

Maybe I was dumb to do Poko Kohara at level 8 the first time then, though I think it was the recommended level, which is kinda ludicrous considering the extremely hard encounters there (2 drakes, giant, banshee, skeletons, Pwgra). I remember almost dropping the game back then.

[Exanos]

Traps in the sandswept ruin (south-west from port maje) give huge XP too (i think i got 2 lvl at least from it). You need good per (19? not sure for trap detection) and 15 mechanic. Which, depending of your class/berath blessing can be reached at lvl 6-7 or 10-11 if solo. No battle needed.

You only need 10 mech in reality cause you can buff it with :

- consumable : +2

- private dance (neketaka -> wild mare) : +1

- Burglar glove : +2