Hello all,
With a new endgame level 115 "coming soon" I wanted to put together a relatively quick guide that covers the XP sets, gear, and strategies that will help you prepare for the upcoming grind. There may also be some sprint rewards for capping during the first week or two as well!
With 115 being the first new cap since 2019, things could get crazy! This guide will hopefully help you prepare ahead and know what to be looking for.
I want to give major props to Anommaly's guide, which you can find here but that is from 2013, and based on the new various vanities and elixir options, I wanted to cover the modern approach to earning XP. I will reference Anommaly's guide and some images/blurbs in this guide below. I highly recommend reading Anommaly's guide for more context and a better pure understanding of how XP works - my guide will cover what modern gear and strategies to use to prep for 115.
I will cover Gear, Vanities, Elixirs and briefly mention some strategy at the end.
How to Calculate Base Experience Per Kill
The important note for XP bonus gear/vanities/elixir... it all stacks(!) but the 'formula' is all based on how to multiply
"base" initial XP that you earn per kill.
This is the "grid" spectrum of possibilities for the BASE XP per kill:
Attachment 247888
This is how you can tell which category of XP the mob you are facing will give once killed:
Attachment 247889
For example, if you face a mob that is giving a "yellow" icon (as seen above), you would earn a base 1.5 XP when you kill that mob. If you faced a mob giving a "red" icon, you would earn 2 XP.
How to Calculate Experience Per Kill - Using Gear, Vanities and Elixirs
Now that you know you can earn different levels of XP per kill, your goal is to know how to maximize the XP bonuses from gear, vanities, and elixir to multiply that BASE XP you are earning.
Here is the "formula" you want to think about...
Gear + Vanities + Pet + Elixir (not the instant XP kits) = MAX XP
Gear:
The only actual, non-vanity gear that offers any XP bonuses would be the Valentines Sets. There are Legendary (Pink), Elite, Myth and Arcane Valentine sets that exist.
You can find the formal stats from the event's forum post -
found here - but I will include the stats here:
Valentine Legendary 3-piece sets gives you:
Level 10: +1 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +2 STR, DEX, INT, +15% Movement Speed, +15% Experience, and +50 Damage in PVE.
Level 25: +2 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +5 STR, DEX, INT, +25% Movement Speed, +25% Experience, and +125 Damage in PVE.
Level 50: +5 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +10 STR, DEX, INT, +50% Movement Speed, +50% Experience, and +250 Damage in PVE.
Level 75: +10 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +25 STR, DEX, INT, 2X Movement Speed,
2X Experience, and +500 Damage in PVE.
Level 100: +25 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +50 STR, DEX, INT, 2.5X Movement Speed,
2.5X Experience, and +1000 Damage in PVE.
Level 110: +25 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +60 STR, DEX, INT, 3X Movement Speed,
3X Experience, and +2000 Damage in PVE.
Valentine Elite 5-piece sets give you:
Level 10: +2 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +2 STR, DEX, INT, +25% Movement Speed, +30% Experience, and +100 Damage in PVE.
Level 25: +5 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +5 STR, DEX, INT, +50% Movement Speed, +50% Experience, and +250 Damage in PVE.
Level 50: +10 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +10 STR, DEX, INT, 2X Movement Speed, 2X Experience, and +500 Damage in PVE.
Level 75: +15 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +25 STR, DEX, INT, 2.5X Movement Speed,
2.5X Experience, and +1250 Damage in PVE.
Level 100: +30 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +50 STR, DEX, INT, 3X Movement Speed,
3X Experience, and +2500 Damage in PVE.
Level 110: +30 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +75 STR, DEX, INT, 3X Movement Speed,
3X Experience, and +5000 Damage in PVE.
Valentine Mythical 5-piece (Level 110) sets give you:
Level 110: +30 to STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and an additional +100 STR, DEX, INT, 3X Movement Speed,
3X Experience, and +6000 Damage in PVE.
Valentine Arcane 5-piece (Level 110) sets give you:
Level 110: +50 STR, DEX, INT in all zones, and +125 STR, +125 DEX, +125 INT, +7000 Damage,
4X Speed, and 4X Experience (in PvE)!
Vanity Sets (ranked from best to worst):
- Toy Man (3pc - helm/armor/banner) = 3X Speed (PvE Only), 3X Experience
- Raging Saints Set (3pc- helm/armor/shield or any 'Lucky Emerald' weapon) = 25% Gold Loot, 25% Luck 2X Damage and XP
- Secret Love & Forsaken Love (4pc - helm/tunic/shield/weapon) = 2X Speed in Towne and 2X Experience
- Treasured Love (4pc - helm/tunic/shield/weapon) = 50% Speed in Towne and 50% Experience
- Luminous Lover = 25% XP and 25% speed
- Forest Protector 4 pc (any helm/armor/weapon/shield) = 5% Gold Loot, 5% Luck, 20% Experience , 2x speed
- Forest Protector 3 pc (any helm/armor/weapon/shield) = 5% Gold Loot, 15% Experience , 50% Speed in Towne
Important Note - Raging Saints set:
The Raging Saints set originally released as a 4-item set (with any 3-pieces to complete the set bonus). LATER, there was a patch update that allowed the other rarer St. Patrick's days items to act as pieces within the set.
Those other pieces are the Rainbow Connection vanity helm (which offers 7% gold/luck), and these shields:
the Amber Brew shield (7% luck), Gleaming Gold Nugget shield (3% gold/luck), and Lemuel's Gem shield
So you can actually complete a Raging Saints set without the 'actual' Raging Saints helm/armor/shield... Example to complete the 3-piece set:
Rainbow Connection vanity helm
Lucky Emerald Staff
Amber Brew shield
Secret, Forsaken and Treasured 'Love' Vanity Set Notes:
These sets were released in Feb 2020 - there are the Secret, Forsaken and Treasured tunics, and the set is completed by using any of these colored items (items used must all be the same color, but Gold/Black/Red/Pink work):
Gold, Black, Red and Pink Rose Blossom Shield + Rose Blossom Helmet + Rose Weapon
See the event announcement post in the forums for details.
NOTE: The Amethyst Dragon Sword (1h Vanity) offers 2X Experience and 25% gold. It's the only individual vanity item (aside from pets) to offer standalone XP bonuses. This sword vanity is needed for the maximum XP loadout.
Pets (ranked from best to worst):
Consistent Stat Pets:
Greedy Gazer Pet = 100% Gold, 50% Luck, 150 STR, DEX, INT, 5K Damage Armor,, 3X Speed, 3x xp
Gazer Pet = 50% Luck, 100 STR, DEX, INT, 5K Damage, 5K Armor, 3X xp, 3X Speed
Zeke = 35 STR, DEX, INT, 3k Health & Damage, 3x Experience, 3x Towne Speed, 1.5X Armor
The Soaring Shamrock Pet = 25% Luck, 25% Bonus Gold, 2X Experience, 1.5X Armor, +3500 Damage
Chip = 20 STR, DEX, INT, 2K Health, Damage & Armor, 3X Speed, 50% XP
Proc Pets:
American Eagle = Chance to proc 77 STR, DEX, INT and 7X Experience for 7 second (defeat an enemy)
The Sand Shark Pet = Chance to proc 3X Experience, 2K Damage, 2K Armor, 2K Health for 5 sec (killing an enemy)
The Golden Eagle = 3X Speed, Chance for Proc 3x Experience, 100% Gold (on damage)
Elixir Kits:
There are elixir packs that offer XP multipliers - they DO stack with gear/vanities/pets, but do not stack on top of each other. (Meaning, you cannot use two 3x XP elixirs and get 6x total bonuses from elixirs. If you use multiple elixirs, the largest one - like a 4x instead of a 2x - will be the active one.)
Here are some available elixirs:
5x (Mythic)
4x (Elite)
3x (Legendary - Pink)
2x (Rare - blue)
1.5x (Common - Orange)
Important Note:
There are platinum-only elixirs, such as the "Week-Long Double XP" (2x XP for 7 days) or the "Five Star XP Punch" - please read the descriptions to determine if they stack, but the "Week-Long Double XP" elixir specifically says it will stack with other elixirs.
What is the Maximum Experience (XP) Gear Loadout?
The absolute maximum XP bonus that you can earn - WITHOUT USING PLATINUM ELIXIRS - would look like this...
110 Arcane Valentine Set (4x XP)
Toy Man Vanity set 3pc - helm/armor/banner (3x XP)
Amethyst Dragon Sword Vanity (2x XP)
Pet (Zeke, Gazers) - (3x XP)
Elixir (5x XP)
Since the base XP is only multiplied once (all of the gear/vanities/elixir multiply the same base XP), combining all of the above gear would need to remove the base XP (in this example, 1 base XP) from each multiplier. This would look like....
[ Arcane Val
(3) + Toy Man set
(2) + Amethyst
(1) + Pet
(2) + Elixir kit
(4) ] =
12x Total Multiplied XP + 1 Base XP =
13 total XP earned per kill (using 1 Base XP as example)
If that seems a little confusing, please explore
a dev's forum explanation, or
this guide that covers more on the XP stacking.
However, the Arcane sets are very rare, there are likely 10 or fewer complete sets of all classes (dex, int, str). The Greedy Gazer pet is one of the most expensive pets in the game (hundreds of millions) and other vanities, in general, will be expensive. The maximum bonus is going to be tough to find and expensive to buy.
That is why you think about the "formula" I mentioned above.
Gear (find the best bonus Valentine set you can afford) + Vanities (find the best vanities/sets you can afford and mix/match) + Pet + Elixir = XP Bonuses
In the past, I believe the instant XP kits (like 1,500 / 2,000 / 2,500 / 5,000 / 10,000 / 20,000 instant XP kits) are disabled during the first few weeks/time of the campaign release. The 30-minute elixir packs however should work (and all of the gear/vanity bonuses work as well). Because of that, getting a bunch of 30-minute elixir kits may be the best step you take to prepare for a new cap. Everyone will want/need them, especially if they are farming during the first few weeks (hours and hours of farming).
I would also recommend buying Valentine sets - do whatever you can to get a set, whether it's elite, mythic, or arcane. We do not know how 'tough' the new 115 campaign will be for current gear, but using damage/health/armor vanity sets help overcome that (and vice versa, use best gear you can just go for vanity XP bonuses), but there are far more Valentine options versus Vanity set options. (It's just easier to get a valentine set versus spending many, many millions on vanity sets.)
Strategies:
Now, none of us know what the new 115 maps will look like - how strong enemies will be versus current gear, how many mobs per map, etc.
Prepare: You will want to stock up on Elix (or have plat available for plat-purchases) and prepare your toon with the best XP bonus gear/vanities/pets you can. You may also want to plan out your 5th day Daily Blessing once we know a date for the cap release.
Knowledge: Once 115 releases you will want to know what BASE XP the mobs are giving (based on the color icon, mentioned at the beginning of this guide). Knowing that will help you calculate the best XP options/gear you should be using. Maybe that means using a valentine's set and more health/damage vanities (give up a little XP bonus to stay alive more, etc.) or perhaps you can wear maximum XP in a strong party of 5 and still survive!
Play! Have fun and enjoy the new cap!
Hopefully, this guide has helped! There are tons of damage, health, and armor items in this game but there are actually less XP-bonus items, which makes knowing what you need easier...but everyone is looking for the same stuff, so it will get expensive. It will be the first new campaign/raised level cap since 2019 - GOOD LUCK!
Wizzywhite, ThyNeighbor
