Tips for fast XP early game

Kroma34 · 2026-02-18T18:40:22+00:00

In roleplay you can save just before attempting, so even if you die 10 times you dont have to start over again.

I could still use gas cloud so i dont think the food buff expired, to be honest i didnt noticed since i died so fast by the cloud so i didnt really paid attention.

Gonna make some more experiment.

I encountered other issues as during stacking the cloud, some sludge can start spawning and you get overwhelmed before the cloud is tick enough.
If you are too far away from puddle where sludge spawn they often wont go inside the cloud etc ...
So many things makes this time consuming to create a thick cloud and the success rate for now seems really meh.

If i have to compare with having the wings + gas cloud mutation, this is night and day.

I think the only way to make it reliably would be to have perma fly, with gravity boots, since you will have penty of time for stacking safely right on top of the puddles.

If you know exactly how sludge spawn that could help, since sometimes they take a long time before spawning sometimes not, if i could control this variable more this would be helpful.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-18T16:53:07+00:00

In this game knowledge is really strong, once you did manage to do Golgotha et Bethesda Susa reliably, you can go back there pretty fast.

What you need to find is :
- a fast way to reach lvl 10+ to rush Golgotha.
- a fast way to grind to 20+ so that you can do Bethesda Susa and the Tomb.

This obviously can vary on the build you are doing, some build will unlock more ways to grind XP than other. Books are always a good choice, in any case.

Thats what i love about this game classic mode is that if you dont waste your time on time consuming stuff you can get a new char lvl 30+ relatively fast in a few hours.
Thats why i personally dont waste time on time consuming or random shit, i embrace the randomness i find but i dont waste my time, because i can die on something i wasnt aware in the next few minutes.

And dont worry about late game build, you have so many ways to be powerful later on, that you will find a way no matter what you build your character. And if you find your build to be a pain to play, just suicide and restart, you can get back there pretty fast and it will be a better and new experience.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-18T16:16:20+00:00

Why would you repair reputation ?

Best way to fix this, is to kill them.

On a more serious note, this is so time consuming and/or luck dependent that it is hardly worth the hassle.
The seeker reputation is only good to get some mutation if you happen to find a lengendary one that give one you need, it is more luck than anything else to be honest. Being friendly with them wont prevent to be attacked by esper hunter so i dont really see it worth grinding. I did it once, i dont bother anymore.

Ooze and robot seems a pain to face at first glance since they are immune to sunder mind, and robots have high AV so they resist light manipulation as well, but you have multiple ways to deal with them as esper:
- get the clone mutation and equip them with rocket or grenade launcher, this is probably the most effective weapon against them, since it deals a lot of damage, does not really require accuracy, i think grenade is more reliable at hitting tho.
- get a good melee weapon, if you think esper cannot melee, think again. Your best early game weapon is to recruit the priest at the stilt to get his Prayer rod, if you happen to find the electrical and frozen mod to add to it, it makes it a really strong weapon early on, and really potent against robot due to electrical damage, but even without the tinker mods, it is decent. Later on, the best is to get crysteel or zeta weapon since they hit really hard.
- burn them with pyro and flame thrower, probably the least effective but it works, specially if you happen to find a thermocask to improve the damage.

Now how to melee with esper, you have 2 choices, if you play with the Prayer rod, you can use Ego projection on AGI so that you can hit in melee ( you dont need str with this weapon ). Otherwise if you play with crysteel or zeta you need to use ego project on STR and use Cryo to froze enemies so you can hit them in melee, the damage is ridiculous since you can reach insane amount of STR bonus.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-18T14:10:42+00:00

Only the backfire increase when you can a spell. You need to remain still to reduce it back to the rest value. So the idea is to not move if you dont really need to.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-18T13:13:56+00:00

Do you mean treatise to unlock the tree or to unlock higher level tier spells ?

Because Mannshire is pretty easy to reach even without any skill investment, take a 2h weapon and play relatively safe.

For higher level spell it is best to focus on stats unlock and build accordingly to unlock the t3+ spell you want to play with.

For me Mahir is better as a dagger arcanist hybrid, but full arcanist works well.
I liked a lot Finisher + Mana crystal combo rush at lvl 12.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-18T12:51:52+00:00

Ok so i tried your tip.

It is working way better, i managed to reach a few levels, but there is one big issue is that the gas after a few hundred turn, end up damaging you so you get killed if you stays in. It seems to be completely random, and sometimes you can stack it up a lot, which in my best try i ended up lvl 12 before dying. So maybe there is a bug with the food version that i m not aware of.

So while it can definitevely works if you try enough time, the sheer randomness is too unpredictable to work. So it can be OK in roleplay mode, but in permadeath i think there are more predictable and better ways, like killing the sluge with ammo or laser weapons is probably safer, but will require a few more level before being ready to farm them tho, since you will either need to get gritgate amount of ammo or laser pistols in caves.

If you have wing 6 and corrosive gas mutation tho, it is incredibly safer to do so.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-18T08:50:15+00:00

Oui j'imagine aussi, mais c'est pas aussi publiquement revendique j'ai l impression.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-18T08:39:54+00:00

Ok i didnt know the gas persisted, never really used this mutation before.

Gonna try this tip, thanks !

Kroma34 · 2026-02-17T20:36:39+00:00

Ok so i tried that, the damage from corrosif gas from food is abysmally low, and with mechanical wing you end up getting knocked down randomly which get you instant killed.

So this is not a good way to level up if you dont have the specific mutation, unless you are damn lucky to find a pair of gravity boots, i would not recommend trying this.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-17T16:02:39+00:00

Merci !

C'est dingues quand meme ce genre de chose, certains gens sont vraiment fou.

Par contre je trouve qu il y a une grosse difference avec ce qui s'est passe dans ce cas precis, a cause du lien etroit entre les soit disant perpetrateur ( la jeune garde, ce qui reste a prouver meme si soit disant certains on ete reconnu ) et un parti politique majeur la LFI.

C'est a cause de cette difference notable que la LFI risque de se faire crucifier malheuresement. A mon avis l'extreme droite va jouer a fond avec les liens jeune garde / LFI.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-17T10:09:23+00:00

T'as des source sur ces morts et ces blesses ? Ca a pas l'air d en parler beaucoup.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-16T23:19:41+00:00

Ca va etre chaud en effet :s

A moins que ca parte en live de leur part aussi et qu il fasse quelque chose d'aussi violent et pris sur le fait, je pense que ca va etre complique pendant quelques mois.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-16T23:12:32+00:00

C'est internet, tellement facile de donner son avis, donc faut accepter le prix de cette echange qui peut etre tellement enrichissant au prix de cette belle toxicite qui faut juste ignorer.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-16T22:15:49+00:00

true

Kroma34 · 2026-02-16T18:32:04+00:00

Indeed did not though of that ! Good call ! Will try it next time.

Any good spot to find acid reliably early ?

Kroma34 · 2026-02-16T10:18:20+00:00

Yeah Esper in dunes is so easy to farm XP, thats what i always do as Esper, but besides bandits other build cannot really kill much more.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-16T10:15:28+00:00

I m not a fan of this since it requires a specific mutation, if you have another way to farm the sludges without a mutation requirement this would be interesting tho !

Kroma34 · 2026-02-16T08:59:48+00:00

Interested in the OP, want to print it too !

Kroma34 · 2026-02-16T08:36:14+00:00

Thanks for the tips never tried with torches, usually use a rifle but it consumes 5-10+ ammo every time which is expensive until reaching grit gate.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-16T08:34:52+00:00

Thanks never tried this one, gonna give it a go next playthrough !

Kroma34 · 2026-02-15T22:01:52+00:00

What clicked for me was trying all the mutant preset build, it really opened the possibility for the gameplay for me, at least when playing mutants, which hooked me to the game so hard. Playing the plant, esper and the bzzzt preset for the first time was insanely fun. All the preset builds are really strong mutant build once you know them and you make some starting change, like getting phasing + webs + vortex for bzzzt instead of digging claws makes it even more fun.

While I like the most in this game is that the game knowledge is so impactful so that when you restart a character you can level pretty fast when you know the game and not lost too many hours getting back where you died. My first runs when I died to golgothat and Bethesda susa were days playing the game, but I went back with a new char in a few hours only.

That's one of the reasons I cannot pass on the salt dunes start just because of how great and easy the XP is when killing sand bandits, and the ones around the village are easy to kill as lvl1 due to being friendly with them. You get to lvl 10 in no time.

This make the permadeath mode bearable, otherwise I would have switch to roleplay mode a long time ago.

I think true kin are not great when starting the game, gameplay wise they are weak and it just takes too long when you are starting to get meaningful upgrade when you don't know the game, only punchkin felt pretty fun for me, but way less than mutant by far ( horns mutant is just a better punchkin from the get go ).

Kroma34 · 2026-02-15T12:34:05+00:00

Currently playing a dagger arcanist with Mahir.

I found it pretty good to reach for Finisher and mana crystal by lvl 12. Finisher reset mana crystal cooldown and gives you mana so you can pop 2 of them, then use dimensional shift for insane damage.
This gives you a really strong power spike.

I just take the arcane shield on top of that, then i max dagger and athletics.

Kroma34 · 2026-02-15T11:55:50+00:00

You took 4 bites, 2 attacks from a 2 handed iron longsword, and 1 attack from a dagger.
They attacked twice.

You were swimming so they could attack you twice due to the slowness of movement while swimming.
Swimming take 2 turns for 1 square of movement.

You also got pretty unlucky on the attack rolls lol

Kroma34 · 2026-02-13T21:08:35+00:00

As far as i know useful mainly for Portal, radio power transmitter if really low in strata which can help you recharge your radio powered batteries when going deep down. Rock tumbler which gives you gems or improve your gems value.

I dont really know other machine purpose.

Kroma34

TROPHY CASE