In many games, leveling up is a straightforward thing. In Path of Exile, leveling up is a skill in and of itself. There’s a right way to level up fast in Path of Exile and there’s a wrong way.
If it’s your first time playing the game, don’t rush it! Take your time and enjoy the game. If you don’t care and just want to level up fast, here’s what to do.
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Things To Consider Before You Start
There are a few things you have to settle on before beginning your leveling journey. Resolving these beforehand will just make your leveling process a lot easier. The first and most important thing to choose is the character and build you’re going to run with as these will determine the gear you use and the perk points you take.
That will also determine which Ascendancy choices you can make in the PoE Labyrinth, so choose wisely. The second thing you should consider before leveling is what content to play through.
Certain optional quests and league content are completely redundant and will slow you down in the long run, hence why it’s so important to decide beforehand what you’ll be playing through.
Quests That Award Perk Points
If you want to have the maximum amount of perk points at the end of the campaign, you’re going to have to do the following quests from each act:
| Act 1 | The Dweller of the Deep The Marooned Mariner The Way Forward |
| Act 2 | Deal With The Bandits (+2 if you kill all three bandits) |
| Act 3 | Victario’s Secrets Piety’s Pet |
| Act 4 | An Indomitable Spirit |
| Act 5 | In Service to Science Kitava’s Torments |
| Act 6 | The Father of War The Puppet Mistress The Cloven One |
| Act 7 | The Master of a Million Faces The Queen of Despair Kishara’s Star |
| Act 8 | Love is Dead Reflection of Terror The Gemling Legion |
| Act 9 | Queen of the Sands The Ruler of Highgate |
| Act 10 | Vilenta’s Vengeance An End to Hunger |
Useful Items to Have
Having the following items isn’t strictly necessary, but will help your leveling process tremendously by removing the need to do a lot of tedious work.
- Tabula Rasa
- Goldrim
- Karui Ward
- Seven-League Steps
- Quicksilver Flask
Some of the items are pretty easy to acquire, like the Quicksilver Flask for example. The Tabula Rasa, on the other hand, might be a bit trickier to acquire. It usually costs anywhere between 22 to 24 Chaos Orbs on the PoE marketplace. If you don’t have the spare resources for it, feel free to buy PoE currency and get it that way, as it really is a tremendous help in this process.
Tips For Leveling Up Fast in Path of Exile
Now that we’ve covered the basics, here are some useful tips and habits to have for leveling up fast in Path of Exile.
Run Through Everything That Isn’t A Necessary Fight
Not a lot of people know this, but you can actually play Path of Exile like a walking simulator… well, kind of. Here’s the deal with that.
There are only a few notable encounters in the story that you have to stand and fight, everything else you can just run past if you know the layout of the map. That’s where the Quicksilver Flask comes in handy.
Make sure to spam the Quicksilver Flask as much as you can and just keep running. Only stop to kill everything on screen whenever your flask is on cooldown. If you absolutely have to kill mobs, then make sure it’s just the empowered or elite mobs as those give the most EXP.
Underleveling is Better Than Overleveling
Being over-leveled for a certain zone is counterproductive. Overleveling is usually what happens whenever you thoroughly clear every map of every act. While it may be fun, it’s ultimately slow and inefficient.
Instead, kill just enough monsters so that you’re a few levels short or just on the zone level. If you only kill empowered and elite enemies, then you should be in that approximate range.
Know The Leveling Checkpoints
There are a few maps in the game that serve as leveling checkpoints. These are The Ledge, Riverways, City of Sarn, The Docks, and The Dried Lake. Of these, The Dried Lake tends to be the best one as it’s located around the midway point in your leveling journey.
If you feel like you’re under-leveled, farm The Dry Lake up to a sufficient point and then continue on your journey.
Start Building Your Map Pool as Soon as Possible
Once you reach Act 6, you’ll start receiving random maps as loot drops. Collect as many of these as you can as these will become useful later in the game once you finish the campaign and unlock the Atlas Of Worlds. We talked about this in-depth in our Atlas guide, so check that out if you’re curious to learn more.
Mapping in the Atlas of Worlds is the best way to gain a lot of experience and loot in a short amount of time, but there are certain conditions. For starters, you can’t run a map unless you have it unlocked beforehand. The sooner you build a sizable map pool, the easier your leveling journey will be near the end.
Have a Modular Loadout & Gear
Make sure to bring gems for taking on bosses and gems for clearing mobs. Having the Tabula Rasa, we mentioned earlier is ideal as you can slot any gem you want into it. If you don’t, make sure to have gear that can accustom both gem loadouts.
Play With a Friend
If you have a friend who’s on a higher level than you and is willing to help you level, make sure to take them along with you on your journey. In general, playing with friends is always preferable, as the game scales the rewards you receive based on how many players there are in a group.
Even if you don’t have a friend readily available, feel free to ask in world chat if anyone would be willing to help you out. The Path of Exile community is vast and one of the friendlier ones. If there isn’t a special event going on or a league start, then there should be at least a handful of players willing to help you out to a certain point.
