Octopath Traveler - EXP Grinding from Level 20 to 40 (in Chapter 1)

Octopath Traveler - EXP Grinding is intrinsic to JRPGs, so it's no surprise that you'll find the need to do the same in Octopath. Thankfully, the Kingfisher enemies are fairly easy to kill at lower levels, and thanks to the freedom of exploration, you can tackle the with endgame equipment even in the opening hours of the game!
There will still be some dying involved, but don't fret: the more enemies you defeat, the more you snowball out of control!
Got any suggestions? Check me out on Twitter and give me a shout! ^^ // / fullmetalyoukai
I stream here on KZbin once a week on Saturdays, 9am EST! Join me as we tackle Orsterra in the world of Octopath Traveler.

[@simonbelmont65]

Once you reach level 35 if you want to do some leveling for your characters, go to the Marslim area, & before you hit the Marslim city, there are is an enemy fight of a monster hound & three scorpions. The scorpions weakness is ice & the javelin & the monster hound has a weakness mostly of the axe. Once you kill these enemies, you will gain 700xp & you can go from level 35 to level 45-50 in no time.

[@jacoblehrer4198]

I wish I could like this 50 times. This is so much better than the video. The monsters do less damage than the KFs, Cyrus is kills them faster, AND they yield more exp. Just read this comment people, DON'T listen to the video!

[@p3xddb]

Jacob Lehrer oh?👀

[@justanotherpersononyoutube665]

@@jacoblehrer4198 Are you oblivious? The video says level 20-40, while this guy says "once you reach level 35" I swear some people are plain ridiculous

[@pcccmn]

I just tried this. It's certainly yields more exp for level 35++. The lineup I used for every run (assuming secondary jobs ONLY): Scholar (Blizzard breaks 2 shields of scorpions) Merchant (Trade Tempest breaks 1 shield of scorpions) Thief (hp/sp thief breaks 2 shields of Dog) Warrior or Preferably Hunter. (Boosted standard hit breaks 2 shield or 3 if you have Hunter's "Secondary Serving" with 50% chance to proc, or Warrior's Thousand Spears if you believe in luck). Pretty good exp. The mobs are guaranteed to die in the 2nd turn no matter who goes first. *Edit: Took more than 2 rounds because the foe surprised me and had one free turn. My scholar was focused in the first 2 rounds and died. Pick up the support skill "Percipience" to save time!

[@simonbelmont65]

@@jacoblehrer4198 thank you for your reply, I’m glad I could help.

[@xerxesmontes9828]

Thank you man! I was really struggling with the game, and I just want to get strong enough to power through and see everyone's story.

[@alexbest6537]

I fought a chubby cait in this area. Giving me a whooping 2k+ xp and 55k gold as well as 1k of jp, it had like 80+ hp I thought it gonna ran away.

[@Xmapavega929X2]

Omg you're truly the best!!! So happy to hear you again!!! I used to watch religiously your Fire Emblem Heroes' videos, you truly had the most helpful and best explained videos I could find, and now that I'm playing Octopath I found you again! Thank you for this tip, I'm already there grinding and almost hitting lvl. 40 with my main Ophilia and Cyrus. I truly love you and your videos!! Thank you so much for all your help!!! I'll keep watching your other videos and see what I can learn :)))

[@mehdont7889]

Thank you for showing this guide. Also here is another tip for H'aanit/Hunter Arrowstorm hit rate is to give them as much accuracy as you can. Here is a tip: If you have 5800 Leaves spare for Unerring Bracelet which gives you 50 accuracy per bracelet. Since you can equip two accessories that equal 100. I also have a Heavy Bow on my H'annit (I did not do any of the job trials) which gives me an extra 44 Accuracy plus on base stats at level 24 which gives me a total of 254 accuracy and with this amount of accuracy I have been able to break the Kingfishers with one arrowstorm although only once due to rng due to being surprised /H'annit not being first. Hope this helps.

[@RoyyGn]

The fact that you played for 5.45 hours and are level 28 is weird to me. I played 12 hours and my highest character is lvl 21 ?

[@abulkhayer7451]

Me too

[@wutxanfel5350]

And tomb of the Kings(near stonegard) and pirate cove(near grandport iirc) have the highest percentage to spawn caits of the entire game, later on maw of the ice dragon i think has similar modifiers too

[@ElectricCherryD4C]

In new Game i'm level 20 with 8 hours because Tressa/alchemist use poison and heal si si broken

[@Choko-Boko]

There's an even better place to farm, with the exact same build: just outside Everhold. You got 3x Crows and 1x Dragon and their shields can be broken with only 2/3 arrows hits instead of 4. Not to mention you get ~300+ JP/ 700+ Exp and almost 3K leaves per battle.

[@KbcaXD1]

TKS dos this! Works like a charme.

[@pcccmn]

Damn, from the stats alone you're right. Gonna try this tomorrow

[@pcccmn]

Can confirm this is 100% better than Kingfishers and Scorpions/Mk Remnant II! Thanks! Go max speed on Hunter. Arrowstorm in the first turn will 100% break all mobs (Arrowstorm ignores accuracy and guarantees 3 of 5-8 hits). Have your dancer use Bewildering Grace for that exp x2++ chance. Merchant donates 2 BP to your scholar. Scholar with max boost wipes out everything in the first turn. *Speed does matter though. If your Dancer is slower than Scholar, then you have no chance of using Bewildering Grace. If you don't fancy Dancer, then use H'aanit to capture those pokemons or have a Thief/Merchant steal from them. Hunter (Arrowstorm, no need boost) Dancer (Bewildering Grace x2) Merchant (Donate BP to scholar x2) Scholar (Max boost choose any elements with 2 hits 100% kill)

[@zacheymczachface]

If anybody is having issues getting the knowledge staff for whatever reason (I use tressa forever and ignore therion) you can get a comparable weapon by using tressa to purchase a rune glaive in grandport, it's a little expensive but you'll have extra money from farming anyway still has 300 something elemental attack and also increases evasion, it's rather useful for equipping to cyrus or your magic user

[@rabbituslord]

You can also steal it since it has over 60% chance of getting from the bishop in Ophelia's chapter 2(if I said the wrong staff sorry btw)

[@aydensmith9745]

Step one: take off work for a week Step 2 Play at least 20 hours a day for one weak

[@Matthew-ll3fp]

AV BulletCatcher sounds safe

[@harukatohsaka5441]

AV BulletCatcher living the dream

[@jamesc7894]

@AV BulletCatcher ....funny, for the past two years our building has had 10 car radios, 4 tvs, and 3 cellphones stolen

[@kirindas4691]

Thanks for video! Very helpful option for leveling my second team. I currently very reluctant/lazy to level Olberic, Alfyn, Primrose, and Tressa, so this is a great option to get them up to snuff.

[@jedisalsohere]

Seriously, the amount of mandatory grinding is absolutely ridiculous. I had to grind for about ten hours to get everyone up to about level 28 for the Chapter 2s, then started Tressa's Chapter 3 only to find out that I would probably need to grind for another ten hours in order to be able to deal with the boss.

[@pcccmn]

10 hours to get everyone to 28? That's way too long. How many turns did you take to kill the Kingfishers? Did you unlock Scholar's secondary job? Without that your party will always need Cyrus to kill the Kingfishers (1 wasted slot - unless Cyrus is main)

[@jedisalsohere]

I did a different method, since I didn't know about the Kingfishers at that point. It basically involved running back and forth at the top of the path that leads up from Stonegard. The Kingfisher thing is definitely quicker - but the point still stands. Any mandatory EXP grinding, no matter how long you have to spend, is bad. If you want to grind to make the experience more fun for yourself, go ahead, but most people don't want to waste hours killing the same enemies. I'd never actually played a JRPG before this, but honestly, if the rest of the genre is like this, I really don't think it's for me.

[@pcccmn]

@@jedisalsohere I see. Well actually you don't need to grind to complete chapter 2 though. If you go from town to town and start off with the lowest recommended level, you can actually beat all the chapter 2s without grinding. Can't say much about chapter 3 - because I did the Kingfishers. But it didn't take long to level anyway. Within 2 turns the Kingfishers are guaranteed dead. It didn't take more than 1-2 hours to get everyone to level 30+

[@matthewtaylor168]

Another interesting way to do this is to make your merchant also a cleric so you’re not wasting heal/revive items and use arrow storm instead of rain of arrows. generally, one arrow storm will guard break an enemy. Great video and very helpful! Just some additions I found made it quicker/easier!

[@datetien4846]

Everytimes i play an rpg (Chrono Trigger, Bravely Default, Skyrim, Dragon Quest 8, Xenoblade Chronicles 1): My mind said : "Do not grind, it makes the game too damn easy" but seeing these amazing skills not unlock yet make me feel sooo itchy. I don't care about the level or stats of the character, i just want to unlock their most useful skills as soon as possible. What a bad habit DX

[@idklol6980]

You have no idea how much ive needed this.

[@minarc3682]

Thanks! All my chap. 1 are cleared and I’m to underleveled to continue the the chap. 2’s!

[@mprosa9925]

What about the other 4 characters that are low leveled and die in one hit

[@matthewtaylor168]

With the secondary jobs this is easily repeatable with any number of party members.

[@nightatdark4225]

You've Been Gnomed my 4 characters are level 40 and my other characters are level 14

[@daniellinter6457]

Use incite bruh

[@cassianpicaro]

That’s why cyrus is my main, he is super good for finishing enemies and his skills are really versatile. Love him. He is currently level 31 but the rest of my party are about 20ish atm :’) will do this trick.

[@appleseed8282]

Good vid Shame that it inadvertently killed my ability to play the game since it left me in a loop of 'infinite' grind until dropping it to not grind and never picking it up again.

[@lettuceee]

Does the secondary class affect the character’s stat growth while leveling up?

[@Xalmuster]

lettuceee Far as everyone is aware, subjobs do not affect stat growth. It's more like FF XII than FF VI in this regard.

[@Tr3Nom]

So I've been watching you since your uploads for Xenoblade. And dude you saved me so much time. Thanks a lot and keep up the good work.

[@simonbelmont65]

I also chose the warrior job for H'aanit as well. I like the way she looks as the warrior & she just totally kicks ass.

[@skins4thewin]

Carrion Caves is also a great place to grind early & is very easy. Specially for JP as you'll get 100-150 per fight.

[@yhx4356]

“Steal from a old man,good for you” - Nn Li

[@nyroccoryn]

Pro-tip for those using this guide later like me. I've been doing this for a few levels now, but I've improved the strategy he used in this video slightly. Using his second encounter as an example, when he accidentally broke their shields with H'aanit's arrowstorm, instead he should've used defend and then used arrowstorm first move the next round. This then allows you to get an extra 3 attacks on the Kingfishers before they get their shields back. Hope someone finds this helpful!

[@dcoston1991]

Alternatively to the donate BP. Use peacock dance. I end up on lvl 3 boost doing 3k damage x2 with peacock dance versus 2.9k x2 on full boost without it and make sure you have the best armor/accessories specifically for elm atk on your scholar and my cyrus just hit 30 so even underleveled he is blowing them away

[@loringbush3319]

This is the best rpg I've ever played! It took my a whole year to finally finish this amazing 🎮 I highly recommend it!

[@VilOzBec]

THANK YOU

[@Patrickvdm23]

Got a better idea, Stack primrose bewealdering Grace ability @lower level enemies and your party jumps 1 to 10 levels each flight. Downside is that it can overlevel your characters and take away the challenge so becareful. Make a safe after each fight.

[@aggieking87]

Looking through your videos, have you done a best early gold farm spot?

[@brunokae8894]

You can also get Death Cleaver (best non end game axe) in the same dungeon that you get the Knowledge staff.

[@mashi956]

Where is that bruno

[@brunokae8894]

Everhold tunnels. The staff is in the purple chest, the axe is in a red chest hidden in a wall. You can get both without fighting the boss.

[@Sean-fz8if]

@@brunokae8894 It's probably just the best axe for physical attackers lol

[@brunokae8894]

@@Sean-fz8if there is also an axe with 400 attack but you can only get it after clearing chapter 4 with Cyrus and Alfryn.

[@polydipsiac]

Oh man the knowledge staff is a MUST.

[@reviewbuttdungeonusa259]

I beat the dude infront of the house, used cyrus ability to find out her secret and uped the steal rate for the whole city and this city has awesome weapons and armor to steal. that is how I dealt with the kingfishers

[@VideoStalker00]

Which city specifically again?

[@reviewbuttdungeonusa259]

Grandport, the guy is a 7 star though so save before you try

[@Nico-uj7sn]

How can you increase the steal Rate in a City?

[@reviewbuttdungeonusa259]

many towns have this but not every town. You need to use cyrus or alfyn. their ability. in grandport there is a house in the first area protect by an npc, fight him and win. then use cyrus or alfyn on the old woman inside

[@Coolmanone]

where do i grind past level 40 (chapter 3 and chapter 4 grinding spots)

[@712toaster]

Anyone else wanna know more about this dude's life as an overnight security worker? I want the deep lore on that shit.

[@efbcinema]

Yes Nn Li. I needed this.

[@VideoStalker00]

The only thing I don't get is why Cyrus lightning ability makes that much damage to each monster when lightning isn't their weakness? Is it bc of the Knowledge Staff?

[@HyperNovington]

Yea knowledge staff boosts his elemental damage by 333 that's am insane amount

[@WebkinzCheekyFawn]

deadass my main team is ophilia, cyrus, primrose and alfyn. they were about level 46ish, with Cyrus being the lowest w 42. i don’t remember what i got but there was an enemy while going to everhold and prim got a x100 exp in her bewildering dance and they ALL went to above level 58, it was wild. i was completing my last tale and prim got ANOTHER X100 EXP and tressa went from 38 to 56. in other words primroses thing is ridiculous because Cyrus can do upwards of 12k damage with sorcerer on boost so YEET

[@kevinjackson1814]

I altered this approach a bit. Put dancer as Cyrus's second job. On his first action, cast peacock strut on himself. It will add power to his elemental attack.

[@Primarina341]

I had dancer therion cast peacock and tressa cast donate bp so cyrus could lv4 nuke an enemy in the first turn.

[@awesomemohawk4511]

So basically just discover everything possible before attempting chapter 2? Lol

[@viscosity7893]

I just found out that if you manage to kill one of those theif cats, they give you a lot of exp

[@MrZodiark]

you can also buy Forbidden Staff for leaf from NPC in church of Saintbridge

[@herobrineproductions4381]

Thx, I really needed help with grinding especially for the True Fin Boss....

[@steelwhale7853]

Can tell you're being sarcastic, but if you really want help then would recommend grinding in Forest of Purgation with Hard Worker and Extra Experience skills equipped and Captain's Badge and Badge of Friendship equipped. Will give you 2x XP/JP per battle and FoP gives the most amount of exp out of any location in the game. If you need help finding it it's near Wispermill, outside of there you will see on the radar a forest icon, head in that direction to reach the forest.

[@herobrineproductions4381]

Thx! I know its near Wispermill because I died in the forest.

[@shinybirdy3029]

The king fishers look like all might lol

[@jhon1406]

good to know, thanks for this!

[@justinwoody5410]

My main is lvl 35 I’m 28 hours in I grind but I switch out so many party members to level them. I also don’t have that fancy staff that’s hard I haven’t done anyone’s chapter 3 yet.

[@brandonball1685]

Thank you so much!

[@Naturenerd1000]

Level 1-2 is exponential

[@shaharsaig9207]

What about jp?

[@Awayproductions]

it should be noted that if you kill a kingfisher that also has a cait with it you net 2277 XP (give or take some, trying to remember off the top of my head)

[@gearsofwar07]

I had a hard time fighting Tressa's Chapter 2 Boss with a bunch of level 20s and Tressa was level 26. I guess I just need to get their levels up, or should I be Shrine hunting before I move up to Ch 2? I wish there was a generic gameplay guide. Like, Complete All Ch 1, Shrine Hunt, Complete All Ch2, etc... so I know what the gameplay flow is supposed to be.

[@Primarina341]

Same. My therion is lv31 and then i have 4 characters 25-26 and the rest.of them are like 12 and ive already done so much without grinding.

[@coolcatbaron]

I went to the same city as the 2. chapter of Tressa, but did the Therion quest instead and I was getting kicked by regular enemies although three characters were lvl 25.

[@jaimereupert4247]

I chose Ophilia as my main. Which 3 should I be using for the team?

[@devashanpillay1737]

Cool video. Currently using tomb of kings to bring my non party units up to lv 20ish

[@chaoticwonder2761]

Dancer bewildering grace exp x100 chance

[@Ovalishperogative]

Is this game worth it or should I spend it on Mhgu

[@MrVergil9000]

Nathan very worth it

[@Mortonbmx]

Buy both 😊

[@Gavriel92]

Although i love octopath, Mhgu will surely have a longer life. So if you can get both do it, if you can get one, I'd say monster hunter.

[@Griffnix]

Try it yourself. Demo is free and you try the first 3 hours of the game. It is certainly worth the full price if you're into these types of games.

[@Circenn]

Mhgu. I bought this and the story was not even 20 hrs. There's also a lack of post game content. Gets boring fast.

[@adamhawks3460]

What I did, was I (at the time) “regrettably” focus all my time on 4 characters, Ophilia, H’annit, Cyrus, and Tressa. Got them to about 13, and then switched H’annit for Olberic. I really fell in love with their characters, and kept them in the party all the way till I finished all their chapter 4’s, got all 4 advanced job classes, and got them each to 78. When I decided it was time to level the others, and see their stories, My “Cyrus the sorcerer “ would stay, while I change out the other three. I used the More Experience skill, Hard worker, and passed the Friendship and Captains badge between the three of them. I brought them all to the level 50 Advanced class dungeons and in about 2.5 hours, got them all to 50 Compared to the 40 hours it took me to get my first 4.

[@Kaynos]

Why are you attacking them with lightning when they are vulnerable to wind ?

[@Heyman5151]

How and where do I get the knowledge staff?

[@FemboyBlake]

What kind of secondary job does Cyrus have?

[@Shin02435]

Merchant which you will need in order to use tradewinds

[@imyouraeb5702]

with this exact same setup you can grind in Maw of the Ice Dragon cave and get 700 xp per battle although theres no fast way to get to an inn nearby i use 99 plums and with a healer i heal my whole team after battles

[@yokun5764]

thank youu!

[@BurakBuu]

why grind though? I am using Evasive Manuevers to avoid leveling up cause all my characters are overleveled just by doing the story quests of each character

[@alexshohet2162]

Who do u think I should start as?

[@samwalker3165]

Alex Shohet Alfyn. Good HP and Phys.Atk. Concoct can restore SP and BP to the whole party, access all 6 elements and cure ailments/heal with one action.

[@here_detty]

Alex Shohet olberic easiest to start with. Alyn is good too but may find it confusing due to the potion ability(idk the name)he has.

[@Shin02435]

@@here_detty to help with the confusion, seed is single target 2x element attack, dust is all targets with a single attack.

[@callmezeldaonemoartime]

Oh ok then

[@solareflare47]

Don’t actually grind guys! It makes the game insanely easier than it already is, which is always no fun. Only grind for the final boss because that’s really the only time there is going to be a spike in difficulty. Besides that if you do the optional dungeons and or just simply go through everyone’s story cleverly you can easily get everyone leveled up without grinding even once. That’s what I did and even then I ended up overleveled.

[@Gavriel92]

It depends how people want to play, because with your method getting the "secret classes" would be quite a bit harder. Not to mention that there are also people who just like to fly through the game and don't mind the actual difficulty of each section. Personally I did all the chapter ones, then as soon as i did my first chapter 2 i was already overleveled for everyone elses chapter 2, but ultimately, level doesn't matter all that much, its more about equipment and your jp gains.

[@adamhawks3460]

solareflare47 Absolutely agree. I only Grinded when I was preparing for bosses. The game is more so focused around team building rather than Higher levels beating higher levels. True it may be, a level 5 H’annit will constantly miss a level 40 enemy, but a group of level 30 Travelers and take down a level 50 advanced job boss with the right builds. The game rewards clever thinking. The damage and Ho boosts to being higher leveled isn’t too dramatic.

[@solareflare47]

gabriel estrella I got the secret classes just going through the main story. I was like level 30-40. All you have to do is beat the Sorcerer boss which isn’t hard if you have saving Grace then you can breeze through the rest. Trust me for anyone who says this game is Grindy it’s people who are not trying to be rude not good at the game and can’t beat bosses and or enemies without being like 5-6 levels up. Hell even the final boss I didn’t grind. I only grinded the people I never use AKA Alfyn and Therion because they were like level 40 while everyone else was in their 60’s and doing the final boss below the 60’s I will admit might be a bit difficult even for better players lol

[@Anthem34]

my main team was level 60 once i beat all the secret class dungeons

[@solareflare47]

Yea I'm assuming it was really easy in that case. You shouldn't be 10 levels up on an enemy unless you really want the fight to be a joke rather than what it was meant to be; challenging. Although if you like to play it like that then thats your way to play.

[@daeris3655]

SPOIL ALERT: Did everyone knows that dance bonus from dancer job are stackable ? I mean 1st time u get the bonus x2 exp or x2 pc (or both) and 2nd time on the same fight u will get x5 bonus ! on those birds I received 2500 exp for a fight ! Enjoy guys !

[@chrisnunez2349]

You must not be reading any story and skipping all beginning stories

[@leejones9261]

My method for my level 20 team was to have alfyn and someone else with apothocary job use empoison on the kingfishers for at most seven turns. I would then just keep on healing and reviving until they die

[@wplay9402]

Yo, wtf. I got shit from this guide man.

[@squill4883]

I'm at mid 20's after chapter 2 and then I went for the lowest level chapter 3 and got immediately one shot by a poisonous panther

[@becek]

Any good spot for leveling above 40?

[@Gavriel92]

Well, the popular spot is forest of purgation, west of wispermill

[@JinAxel]

becek Maw of The Ice Dragons (Danger Level 45) Location: Southern Northreach Wilds (near Stillsnow and Western Stillsnow Wilds) Mostly weak to arrows and wind damage so using a Hunter with Arrowstorm is key for maximum grinding. West Everhold Pass (Danger Level 45) Location: Near Everhold Demon goats and birds give out the most exp. Forest of Purgation (Danger Level 58) Location: West of Wispermill Goats will give you the most exp. 2x Goats with Captain's Badge and Extra Experience from Warbringer would give you around 2.1k exp. Most monsters are weak to wind, arrows and axes. I've heard that Everhold Tunnels is decent too but I have never went there nor do I know where it is though I know it's Danger Level 55.

[@becek]

Jin Axel thank you

[@angel.feathers]

That Mak of the Ice Dragons dungeon is stupid good with arrowstorm.

[@JinAxel]

Aom Chaiprasit Facts. Also has all the Cait variants at once encounters which helps a lot for exp. Literally trying to catch all the chubby caits I can.

[@deltaphant_]

I'm about halfway through the chapter 4s and I've barely needed to grind at all so far, maybe an hour or two total

[@tca20001]

DarthBinary what? How! I’ve been grinding and I just got to the chap 2’s...

[@daniada]

Thanks for the video, helps me a lot. However I have trouble understanding your pronunciation, sometimes it sounds like you just mumble the words, and it is hard for me to understand. I hope this comment can help you make better videos :) Note: 1. I am not a native English speaker, though I can speak English well. 2. I turned on caption, but not all words / sentences are captured correctly. However I do understand the goal and context of the video.

[@offroad5798]

Thanks for the tips but please talk a little slower next time

[@Oceanblue619]

You talk too fast!!!

[@OJABB94]

You talk a little too fast

[@supabeast123]

You could have killed them so much faster but your team setup is poo. But thanks for the grinding spot.