50-56 Exp grinding guide (sort of)

[Echelong]

I am writing this to help a few players with the exp grinding on 50-56. From 50-51 maybe 52 it is best to go to crush the keeper, this has more mobs and more exp per run.

The two best areas to grind from 51 and above are Badboys hideout and the catacombs. The hideout has 100 mobs 2 mini bosses (one will respawn every once in a while) and 1 boss (goldfever). The good thing is this has more mobs than catacombs but unless you kill the enemies on the first left hand passage with the exploding drains you will only kill 86 to 88 mobs leaving 12-14 behind and goldfever is a slightly harder fight than trash heap and longer.

The catacombs has 85 mobs and with 2 mini bosses one respawning every once in a while. The good thing about catacombs is that trash heap is very easy and fast to kill if you have a good group and at least 1 member uses a damage pot you can clear the whole instance in less than 5 minutes.

Facts as far as I know.

Mobs give 1 xp each (depends on level can give a bit more or less)
Mini bosses give 2 xp
Bosses at least trash heap give 8 xp at level 55
If you have a full group you get an xp bonus of 25% more (confirmed by Physiologic) of 1.3xp per mob this was confirmed by one of the developers on the forums.

I tested this on a solo run on catacombs and a group run on the Hideout but without killing the boss.

The math

On badboys hideout you can get 85 to 86 xp and with a full group you can get about 107 xp plus the leveling pot multiplier. Which can be 321 for the 3 times pot at level 55 without killing gold fever this is the average I had. I was using a 2.5 pot and got 268 exp from each run just before gold fever with a full group.

For catacombs you can get 86 xp from mobs counting 1 boss only (oilslick) plus 14 xp from trash heap for a total of 100 xp per run. With a full group giving you 130 xp and with the pot multiplier you can get 390 xp. This is if you manage to clear the whole run under 5 minutes. The bad part of catacombs is that mages don't do the best damage here since mobs are immune to ice skills and therefore won't have their combos.

If you are not sure of your group have at least 2 people use a damage pot and provided they are half decent players you will clear it in under 5 minutes as long as they don't push trash heap all over the room.

I know a lot of people like the hideout more than catacombs but as far as I know catacombs is the fastest way to grind exp as long as the group knows what they are doing. I hope this helps out a few people that are having trouble with leveling up.

I have to find a good group for catacombs to be able to test this and I know catacombs can be harder because there are more fire pits and those pesky fire ball throwing slimethingys. The bad about catacombs is archers and int mages tend to die often and if not careful the regular mobs can wipe a group in seconds.

[RedRyder]

thanks a bunch! this guide was on its way to the depths of page 2 and beyond, so i thought id give it a good job bump

[Echelong]

Lol Red... I made it because a lot of people have been taking a lot of hours only to reach level 51 and they said they where giving up. I have been testing this for a couple of days with different groups and even when soloing Catacombs is much faster.

[ghostface]

I hate Catacombs with a passion on my bird. The little guys seem to have machine gun keepers staffs and when I get 4-5 of them blasting at me I always die no matter how hard I try to pot chug. Having to buy a tanker's ale along with an exp pot just turns into a money sink. Most success I have had there is my bird + 4 COMPETENT (this is key) mages that can stick together and bomb as a group.

[Echelong]

Yes birds seem to die the most on catacombs. What you can try is to wait for a mage or tank to be the first to do aoe damage and then you can use your combos. If you have a good bear in the group the run will go on smoothly and fast without casualties. I do suggest you use wing and talon although less damage but more survivability till you find a good group with a tank. With the new shadow caves set bonus you might have a better chance of survival now.

[MoarPewPew]

Thanks for the guide!!!! I need to try this out.

[Ayrilana]

You forgot to take into account the XP from gold fever. I'll also add that gold fever can be killed just as easily and in less than 5 min.

[Echelong]

You forgot to take into account the XP from gold fever. I'll also add that gold fever can be killed just as easily and in less than 5 min.

you are right but the problem is a lot of groups refuse to kill goldfever because there are a lot of deaths because people that become the bomb stay close tot eh group and kill them. Unless you are in the right group you won't get to kill him. That is why I posted the xp without him if not they would be almost identical but catacombs is almost always faster.

[Norbert]

Good guide, thanks. I did most of my leveling in catacombs from 50-53 for some reason (thought it was easier, but now I think hideout probably is). I think the biggest problem people run into with the fireball mobs is that they rush too fast and pull to many of them. If you get up that first hall a little slower your survival chances go way up.

Using shadow wing and talon is also huge! I can survive the dang fire grates now. You do pretty decent damage, just lower range. And you do a heck of a lot more damage than you do as a corpse. I generally switch to shotgun for the bosses for range and damage.

In PUGs I think it's rare that you get the boss killed within the 5 minutes. I do see a lot of groups just remaking when they hit Goldy. I like to do him anyway, just for that lotto chance of getting a drop, but with general PUGs and dedicated xp grinding, it's probably not the most expedient.

[Echelong]

Yes I like killing the bosses they give more exp and if you get a pink you can get a lot of cash for it, but sadly not everyone thinks its worth the time.

[Physiologic]

Nice guide, but I think values are a bit higher for the experience gained with a full party (at level 55), from what I remember:

Hideout = ~344 XP on 3x XP (with 12 enemies remaining, and Gold Fever dead)
Catacombs = ~341 XP on 3x XP (0 enemies remaining)

At lv 55 I think the figure for each boss was 6 or 7 XP on 1x XP?

[Echelong]

I took the data when I was level 53 I will have to do it again now that I reached 55 last night. I will get the data tonight if possible and do more math on it. But the exp bonus I think it was Cinco that confirmed it, was for 1 exp you would get 1.3 if the group was full so its a 30% increase.

[Physiologic]

I believe Cinco rounded the data when he said 1.3x more (he does this a lot, just like weapon speeds of 0.9 really mean 0.85).

Hideout, Full party, Lv 55, 12 enemies remaining.

100-14 = 86 enemies (1.3xp) + 1 miniboss (2xp) + 1 boss (6xp) = 119.8 xp (or 359 xp on 3x pot, which is way more than what I've been recording in my runs).

100-14 = 86 enemies (1.25xp) + 1 miniboss (2xp) + 1 boss (6xp) = 115.5 xp (or 346.5 xp on 3x pot, which is about what I was getting per run).

I can't check this now until I get home (can't go on the phone here) but let me know what you get

[ECHUSER]

i did crush the keeper as a pure int mage from 50-52 and then did hideout from 53-55 as a dual build (str/int). i was able to boost my armor to 161 base with lvl 50/51 str gear which made me almost invinsible). i did a few runs in catacombs as well. i'm not sure why the mobs in the sewer dont drop trash items. i made about 200k in crush then spent it all on xp elixirs and mana pots in the sewar. if you dont have much money, i would recommend buying the 1,500 gold xp pot instead of the 3000/6000 gold pot.

as a side note, i only got 1 pink item grinding the sewar from 53-55. the rest were oranges and a few purples.

[Echelong]

I believe Cinco rounded the data when he said 1.3x more (he does this a lot, just like weapon speeds of 0.9 really mean 0.85).

Hideout, Full party, Lv 55, 12 enemies remaining.

100-14 = 86 enemies (1.3xp) + 1 miniboss (2xp) + 1 boss (6xp) = 119.8 xp (or 359 xp on 3x pot, which is way more than what I've been recording in my runs).

100-14 = 86 enemies (1.25xp) + 1 miniboss (2xp) + 1 boss (6xp) = 115.5 xp (or 346.5 xp on 3x pot, which is about what I was getting per run).

I can't check this now until I get home (can't go on the phone here) but let me know what you get

You might be right on the exp bonus. I will try this and see if I can get better numbers tonight now that I am 55 I know I get less exp and see if I can get the xp from bosses.

@ Echuser I prefer to buy the 3k exp pots but if you are short on money then use the 1.5 ones. 6k seem a bit high for me at the moment.

[Palyna]

I like to do hideout, I find that people like to leave when we reach the boss too

[Riccits]

I like to do hideout, I find that people like to leave when we reach the boss too

i hate it.... boss takes a half minute more and may a loot... i try to avoid those partys..

[Echelong]

On the hideout at level 55 I am getting an average of 85 exp plus the exp bonus from a full group (you where right Physiologic the multiplier is 1.25) making it 107. If you take the 2 exp pot you get 214 for the 2.5 exp you get 268 and for the 3 exp 321. This is without killing the boss. Boss gives about 8 exp without any bonus. That's the average I got from last nights runs on the hideout but couldn't find a good and fast enough group that wanted to kill goldfever.

[davidis57]

Doing quick math you will have to run the map 50+ times from 52 to 53 for example. That's with elixirs. Probably 60+ without. That's a lot of grinding. I thought sewers would give more XP.than crush but no.

[Echelong]

Doing quick math you will have to run the map 50+ times from 52 to 53 for example. That's with elixirs. Probably 60+ without. That's a lot of grinding. I thought sewers would give more XP.than crush but no.

yes its a lot of grinding and from 55 to 56 its a lot more than that. Well 10 times the required exp to be exact. Remember that you don't get any exp from AO3 after 53 so this is the only place where you can level up. And after level 51 exp is reduced on AO3 by 25% each level till you get no exp.
on AO3
51=75% exp
52=50%
53=25%
54+=0

[lilbyrdie]

I hadn't realized there was a bonus with a full 5 way party. Today, when grinding CtK, we were with 3-4 most of the time and breezing through (upper level 40s). We got another in for a full group of 5... and starting having deaths.

There's a bonus XP of 25% ... any chance the mob hit goes up some, too? Maybe xp is up because something else is up?

(It's also possible it was a bear sucking up mobs to us fragile mages/birds in the middle and the mobs all being able to hit at once, instead of being spread about. But that's a topic for a different thread...)

This is the first I've heard of the bonus... and it's not insubstantial. I'll definitely be spreading the word. It's like grinding 25% less for free! :)

[Physiologic]

The XP bonus with a full party exists to encourage more partying but never heard it is offset by stronger mobs. And yes, 25% is a lot in the long run :)