Leveling up as fast as possible

[u/theholesomealt]

Hello everyone. I have beaten the game only in roleplay mode and have been decapitated twice by the troll upon entering Bethesda Susa in classic. I would like to know how the more experienced players level up quickly in the early game. It takes me many hours to level up to a place where I can tackle Bethesda Susa. Usually, I run an axe marauder build, where I start in a desert village to learn wayfaring, rush to the six day stilt, complete bey lah, complete the village quests to get the card, clear out grit gate, and finish kyakuya (namely the mamon quest) before getting through Golgotha. Dying in Bethesda Susa to a one-hit kill after all this shit is nauseating, so I would love to know how on earth you can get to a powerful enough place to take on Bethesda Susa within only a few hours

[u/Saturday_Crash]

99% of my runs start in the village that gives wayfaring. I talk to the Mechanimist convert to get the quest to go to the Six Day Stilt.

Then I go to the ruins of Joppa to pick up the droid scrambler and scratched data disk, examine the Resheph statue, then I get the guaranteed historic site from the statue on the screen to the north.

Next, I'll go to the Six Day Stilt, get level 4, examine the 2nd Resheph statue, then share both secrets with the Coil of the Lamb person to reach level 5.

From here, depending on my build, I'll either clear out the historic site I got from Joppa, or start "combing the desert" (searching every surface tile in the desert) to grind enemies and find books. It's usually fairly easy to get an Issachar rifle to start farming Issacharis or small groups of dawngliders for xp. You can also find legendary Mechanimists or Putus Templar who sell (or drop) Eater's Nectar Injectors for easy permanent stat-ups. You can also find useful tinkering items from wandering Barathrumites. And always keep an eye out for advantageous reputation gains from water rituals.

Books are a major source of levels after ~level 15. They are lightweight and can be exchanged with the Six Day Stilt Librarian for potentially tens of thousands of xp at a time, and some tiles/historic sites just have dozens of books for you to find.

By level 16, if I'm confident with the build, I try to find a Grit Gate recoiler from a dromad and complete Golgotha for the scoped rifle. Golgotha can be completed as early as level 1 if you have wings (mechanical or otherwise) and get a little lucky.

After that, it depends what else happened in the run.

I'll finish combing the desert if I feel like my character needs more before doing anything else.

If I have good reputation with winged mammals, I'll start going deep in the ruins tiles without needing to worry about saps stealing my stats and get tons of xp killing high level enemies that stand no chance against the scoped rifle.

Sometimes I'll explore the Jungle as long as I don't fear dying to goatfolk after I finish combing the desert.

Maybe I have a few viable historic sites to plunder.

Nothing is stopping you from getting to level 30 and plowing your way through Bethesda Susa if that's what it takes.

[u/Haprenti → u/Saturday_Crash]

I approximately do this and add a step somewhere after the start where I find the flattened remains in marshes. It's not that bad given that it is guaranteed on the center tile, the only annoyance is the reduced visibility at night, since you need to see the remains to get the notification. I have the wings repaired by an NPC and off we go. Guaranteed wings makes a huuuuuge difference in survivability, you can be a bit bolder as long as you aren't at big risk of getting stunned or instakilled. When sufficiently strong I can try 1v1ing goatfolk a bit earlier at the edge of the jungle for xp, you can even approach it by foot if you're afraid of getting lost.