Experience (aka Experience Points or 'XP') is the most fundamental form of progression in ARPGs and that's no different in Last Epoch. There are multiple ways of earning XP including quests, killing enemies and as rewards, so no matter what you do in Eterra you're probably gaining some. Once you gain enough Experience it is then used to 'level up' both your characters and your skills, making you more powerful and also providing some interesting decisions for progression. In this guide we cover how XP is used both for your character and your skills, as well as provide some tips on how to scale Experience so you can get more faster and really push your character to the limit!
Character Experience
When you create a new character they start at level 1. By acquiring XP they begin to Level Up to a maximum of 100. Each level grants them a small amount of maximum HP and Mana plus a passive point. The passive point can be used to gain bonuses in the Passive Tree. You can access the Passive Tree by pressing 'P'.
![Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (1) Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (1)](https://i0.wp.com/assets-ng.maxroll.gg/wordpress/Mage-Passive-Tree-2-1024x572.png)
For more information how the Passive Tree works check out our guide on Passives and Skills.
Skill Experience
The other way to accumulate Experience is through the skills you specialize in. Each character can ultimately specialize in five skills which gain XP independently from each other. Each skill has a base Level cap of 20 that can be increased through items. XP is earned the same way as character levels are, so we don't need to worry about focusing on one or the other since they both level together.
![Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (2) Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (2)](https://i0.wp.com/assets.maxroll.gg/wordpress/Sentinel-Rive-Skill-Tree-1024x563.jpg)
To select skills and invest points in them press 'S'. This will open the Skills & Specializations menu. Clicking on unlocked slots at the top will allow you to select a skill to specialize in. Once specialized, the slot will now be taken by that skill and clicking it again will open up the skill tree for that skill. Specialized skills will earn XP. Once a skill gains enough XP it will Level up and you'll receive a Skill Point for that skill which can be invested in its Skill Tree.
For more information how Skill Trees work check out our guide on Passives and Skills.
Improving Experience Gains
There are several ways to increase your experience gains as you level. Utilizing several of these at once can really supercharge your experience gains, so if you're pushing to reach a higher level or trying to get the next skill points faster consider using options!
Area Level
This is what determines the level of enemies in a map. Enemy level is the same as area level, meaning a level 20 map has level 20 enemies and a level 100 has level 100 enemies. Higher level enemies grant more experience, so killing enemies in the highest area level you can efficiently will produce the most experience gains. You can see the level of the area you're in by pressing tab to open the larger area map and looking in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Increased Experience Gained
In the Monolith of Fate there is a modifier called 'Increased experience gained' that multiplies your XP gain based on Corruption and active modifiers. By pushing Corruption high enough and having enough high value active modifiers it's possible to push this multiplier well into the hundreds.
![Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (3) Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (3)](https://i0.wp.com/assets.maxroll.gg/wordpress/Increased-Experience.jpg)
For more information on Corruption and modifiers check out our Monolith Beginner Guide.
Echo Rewards
Juicing up increased experience gained isn't the only way to improve XP in the Monolith. One of the more common Echo rewards in a timeline grants Tomes of Experience upon successful completion of the Echo. These tomes give quite a lot of experience and scale with area level and increased experience gained so they are worth the effort for anyone who is trying to maximize their experience gains.
![Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (4) Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (4)](https://i0.wp.com/assets.maxroll.gg/wordpress/Experience-Tomes.jpg)
For more information on Echo Rewards check out our Monolith Beginner Guide.
Because the increased experience gained from corruption and modifiers synergizes so well with XP echo rewards, combining them creates the highest efficiency strategy for farming experience. If you want to optimize your experience gains you can do no better than hunting XP tomes while pushing your modifiers as high as you can! Just make sure not to push them so far that you're no longer able to kill enemies efficiently.
Arena Waves
The arena used to be the best place to farm experience, and although it's been overtaken by the Monolith of Fate it's still a good place to level for players looking for an alternative option. The arena has a built in experience scaler that increases with waves which means builds that can push high waves efficiently will get the most out of leveling in the Arena.
For more information on the Arena check out our Beginner Arena Guide.
Magic and Rare Monsters
Magic and Rare monsters have an XP multiplier built in that makes them more valuable than the average monster. From our testing we have concluded that Magic gives a 50% XP bonus while Rare is 200%. If you can kill these enemies quickly enough they can provide a significant XP boost, especially in the campaign.
![Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (5) Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (5)](https://i0.wp.com/assets-ng.maxroll.gg/wordpress/Magic-Enemy-Nameplate-1.png)
![Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (6) Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (6)](https://i0.wp.com/assets-ng.maxroll.gg/wordpress/Rare-Nameplate-1.png)
Experience Shrines
Shrines are a random world spawn that provide buffs to players who interact with them. One of those buffs is a 50% increased XP gain for 1 minute. Since Shrine buffs are random target farming them for XP isn't feasible, but if you happen to come across one get it and quickly kill some monsters!
![Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (7) Experience Guide - Last Epoch Maxroll.gg (7)](https://i0.wp.com/assets.maxroll.gg/wordpress/Shrine-Undead-Style-2-265x300.jpg)
Summary
- Experience (XP) is used to level up both your character and your skills.
- You can gain XP from quests, killing enemies and as rewards
- There are a number of ways to increase experience gains including Area Level, through Monolith of Fate modifiers, Echo Rewards, Arena Waves and Magic and Rare Monsters.
Video
Credits
Written by McFluffin.
Reviewed by Terek, Aristotelian.