My top 3 XP runs.

[idbeholdME 387]

Finally decided to share where I'm farming XP when powerlevelling.

I got top 3 spots that seem to give the most XP, all things considered. The important aspects are proximity to an experience statue, monster density and XP value of the monsters there. Without further ado:

 

1) Pig Fields.

Situated Nort-East of Ruka, the forest is inhabited entirely by Boars, Boars, Goblin Boar Riders and more Boars. Well, besides a small pocket of Thraconians who landed on a nearby coast. Thus my custom name for it - "Pig fields". All the enemies deal purely physical damage, so no nasty surprises. The XP reward per kill is generally good. Ranging from average (boar riders give the same XP as a goblin) to very good (Terror Boars). Main care should be taken to not get stunned by an Elite Terror Boar and swarmed to death as the density in this area is massive. Easily the most reliable run and is pretty early in the game so a great place to do a bit of grinding when moving up a difficulty. Here is the screen of the area:

The central point is the red circle, which is where the experience statue is located. I recommend making a save there by using F7 so you always spawn there after game load. This is the easiest area to farm even without Mentor potions. The red arrows represent paths you can take from the statue and kill stuff in the area just by using the statue. Just pick a direction, run in it and kill as much stuff as possible. Once the buff runs out, go back to the statue and pick a different direction.

The other colors represent the paths you can take using the "Statue prolonging method" by keeping up the 100% bonus XP from the statue by quaffing Mentor potions and never letting the effect drop. As far as details go:

1) You take an experience statue and receive a 30 second bonus of +100% XP.

2) If you drink a Mentor Potion before the effect drops off, you will retain the 100% bonus for however long the Mentor Potion lasts.

3) This can be maintained indefinitely, but if you time it wrong or let the buff drop for even a second, you will be back to the regular 50% bonus.

Once you feel you've cleared the area enough, just quit and reload. One of the main benefits of this area is the best placed experience statue in the game, which can save you quite a lot of Mentor Potions if you keep coming back to it, sort of like a checkpoint. You can also try luring some packs nearby to the statue if you are having trouble killing stuff quickly, the boars luckily move pretty fast. The entire area has a lot of flexibility in how to run it, so take the highlighted paths only as examples of those I find myself running the most often. Find the paths, loops, directions etc. that best suit your needs.

The path branching off to the southwest will lead you alongside the border wall, where some normal goblins and bears will also start to appear. A good way to finish off the run once you've cleared out the forest itself enough. Still very good enemy density.

 

2)Northern Swamp.

Reliant solely on the statue prolonging method. Located North-West of the Marigold Fields, the area is inhabited mostly by Undead and Mutants. To run it optimally, it is important to keep the effect of the purple potion (Undead Death) running simultaneously with the Mentor Potion, due to a pretty high concentration of Moldered Skeletons (which like getting up several times in a row). The density is above average, but the experience per kill is massive, especially from the mutated skeletons in the area. Here is a screen of the path:

Once again, red circles is the experience statue or in this case - the temple of the gods (also contains a +100% XP altar, same as statue). It's your choice of where you start the run (Temple is a bit shorter run but less monsters along the way). Red arrows indicate roughly what you can run under the statue effect, blue where potion prolonging is required. The overall gains from the run can vary wildly, mostly depending on what monsters spawn. If you get lucky and get tons of mutated skeletons, it's massive and has the potential to be the best of the three, but not consistently.

 

3) Southeastern Swamp

Another statue prolonging run. It is mostly the area southeast of Lizurath (Werewolf village). By far the most dangerous run because the area contains the infamous "spit spiders". So be sure to run this area only if you can reliably take them on. They have a deadly poison DoT which absolutely requires either damage mitigation, damage over time reduction or detrimental effect reduction. Or you have to kill them fast (the DoT stops when they die). Either way, the main attraction here are the Werevolves. There are tons of them and they give very high XP per kill. Not as high as the mutated skeletons or Bog Demons, but the density more than makes up for it. Once again, here is a screen:

Again, red circle is the experience statue, red line where you can run with it and blue is the Mentor prolonging path. Definitely the most dangerous run, but very consistent.

 

The Swamp is also a great area to farm gear, because enemies in there generally have high danger class. Werewolves have the highest out of regular enemies and the mutants in run 2 also have high danger classes. Even the Undead Elites like zombies and skeletons are good for drops. I've gotten more rarity tier 14 pieces in the Swamp than anywhere else in the game.

Overall, the hardest thing about these is keeping track of the Mentor Potion effects while also killing stuff and moving in the correct path. I find it useful to take some long cooldown skill like 30 seconds or so and keep track of the potion effect through that. So for example, if the potion lasts 75 seconds, I will take a skill that has a 30 second cooldown and drink another potion after I've cast it twice. But even then, I often find myself missing the window by a second or two, leading to a run with vastly reduced effectiveness. It's up to you whether to restart or continue (at least utilize the effect of the failed potion). Also, if you make a save near a statue, don't activate it immediately after load. There is a bug which makes the statue uninteractable if the first thing you do after load is using the statue. Always kill at least one enemy before activating it, that prevents it from happening.

Also one more general note: You can take the statue effect with you anywhere you want in Ancaria and you can keep it up indefinitely as long as you keep chaining Mentor Potions. One such potential location would be taking it to the Blood Forest, specifically to where the giant spiders (Garganturas) are, which is mostly around Diaanja's lair. The Garganturas are probably the single highest XP awarding enemy in the game (on par with Bog Demons) while being relatively harmless. But I haven't tested this thoroughly. So you can theoretically farm anywhere you like, but I find these 3 spots to be the best.

Edited December 26, 2022 by idbeholdME

[lujate 574]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away the talk was Orc Cave vs Jungle run thru Kral vs SE Swamp (your #3). 

[idbeholdME 387]

21 minutes ago, lujate said:

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away the talk was Orc Cave vs Jungle run thru Kral vs SE Swamp (your #3). 

I've heard fables about the Orc Cave ages ago. Even tried it, but the constant double loading screen really slows it down a lot. I think it's better for item farming than XP farming.

Jungle was a contender but I also find that the density there varies wildly. Sometimes, there will regularly be groups of 15 Garema around every corner and other times, you will just keep finding straggling groups of 5. The Garema give pretty good XP, but the density leaves a lot to be desired, especially due to the Jungle being basically a corridor.

If anything, I was considering also including the 2nd half of the Jungle. A run with focus on killing Blood Dryads, who have good density and very good experience per kill. But it is a very long run and I wanted to limit it to 3.

Edited December 23, 2022 by idbeholdME

[ameaeth 50]

Kudos for this guide and thanks for sharing!

Quote

This can be maintained indefinitely, but if you time it wrong or let the buff drop for even a second, you will be back to the regular 50% bonus.

Since my timing with this usually really bad and I drink way too many mentor potions I tend to use an AHK script to help me press the buttons on time.

[gogoblender 3,068]

21 hours ago, idbeholdME said:

Finally decided to share where I'm farming XP when powerlevelling.

I got top 3 spots that seem to give the most XP, all things considered. The important aspects are proximity to an experience statue, monster density and XP value of the monsters there. Without further ado:

 

1) Pig Fields.

Situated Nort-East of Ruka, the forest is inhabited entirely by Boars, Boars, Goblin Boar Riders and more Boars. Well, besides a small pocket of Thraconians who landed on a nearby coast. Thus my custom name for it - "Pig fields". All the enemies deal purely physical damage, so no nasty surprises. The XP reward per kill is generally good. Ranging from average (boar riders give the same XP as a goblin) to very good (Terror Boars). Main care should be taken to not get stunned by an Elite Terror Boar and swarmed to death as the density in this area is massive. Easily the most reliable run and is pretty early in the game so a great place to do a bit of grinding when moving up a difficulty. Here is the screen of the area:

The central point is the red circle, which is where the experience statue is located. I recommend making a save there by using F7 so you always spawn there after game load. This is the easiest area to farm even without Mentor potions. The red arrows represent paths you can take from the statue and kill stuff in the area just by using the statue. Just pick a direction, run in it and kill as much stuff as possible. Once the buff runs out, go back to the statue and pick a different direction.

The other colors represent the paths you can take using the "Statue prolonging method" by keeping up the 100% bonus XP from the statue by quaffing Mentor potions and never letting the effect drop. As far as details go:

1) You take an experience statue and receive a 30 second bonus of +100% XP.

2) If you drink a Mentor Potion before the effect drops off, you will retain the 100% bonus for however long the Mentor Potion lasts.

3) This can be maintained indefinitely, but if you time it wrong or let the buff drop for even a second, you will be back to the regular 50% bonus.

Once you feel you've cleared the area enough, just quit and reload. One of the main benefits of this area is the best placed experienced statue in the game, which can save you quite a lot of Mentor Potions if you keep coming back to it, sort of like a checkpoint. You can also try luring some packs nearby to the statue if you are having trouble killing stuff quickly, the boars luckily move pretty fast.

The path branching off to the southwest will lead you alongside the border wall, where some normal goblins and bears will also start to appear. A good way to finish off the run once you've cleared out the forest itself enough. Still very good enemy density.

 

2)Northern Swamp.

Reliant solely on the statue prolonging method. Located North-West of the Marigold Fields, the area is inhabited mostly by Undead and Mutants. To run it optimally, it is important to keep the effect of the purple potion (Undead Death) running simultaneously with the Mentor Potion, due to a pretty high concentration of Moldered Skeletons (which like getting up several times in a row). The density is above average, but the experience per kill is massive, especially from the mutated skeletons in the area. Here is a screen of the path:

Once again, red circles is the experience statue or in this case - the temple of the gods (also contains a +100% XP altar, same as statue). It's your choice of where you start the run (Temple is a bit shorter run but less monsters along the way). Red arrows indicate roughly what you can run under the statue effect, blue where potion prolonging is required. The overall gains from the run can vary wildly, mostly depending on what monsters spawn. If you get lucky and get tons of mutated skeletons, it's massive and has the potential to be the best of the three, but not consistently.

 

3) Southeastern Swamp

Another statue prolonging run. It is mostly the area southeast of Lizurath (Werewolf village). By far the most dangerous run because the area contains the infamous "spit spiders". So be sure to run this area only if you can reliably take them on. They have a deadly poison DoT which absolutely requires either damage mitigation, damage over time reduction or detrimental effect reduction. Or you have to kill them fast (the DoT stops when they die). Either way, the main attraction here are the Werevolves. There are tons of them and they give very high XP per kill. Not as high as the mutated skeletons or Bog Demons, but the density more than makes up for it. Once again, here is a screen:

Again, red circle is the experience statue, red line where you can run with it and blue is the Mentor prolonging path. Definitely the most dangerous run, but very consistent.

 

The Swamp is also a great area to farm gear, because enemies in there generally have high danger class. Werewolves have the highest out of regular enemies and the mutants in run 2 also have high danger classes. Even the Undead Elites like zombies and skeletons are good for drops. I've gotten more rarity tier 14 pieces in the Swamp than anywhere else in the game.

Overall, the hardest thing about these is keeping track of the Mentor Potion effects while also killing stuff and moving in the correct path. I find it useful to take some long cooldown skill like 30 seconds or so and keep track of the potion effect through that. So for example, if the potion lasts 75 seconds, I will take a skill that has a 30 second cooldown and drink another potion after I've cast it twice. But even then, I often find myself missing the window by a second or two, leading to a run with vastly reduced effectiveness. It's up to you whether to restart or continue (at least utilize the effect of the failed potion). Also, if you make a save near a statue, don't activate it immediately after load. There is a bug which makes the statue uninteractable if the first thing you do after load is using the statue. Always kill at least one enemy before activating it, that prevents it from happening.

Also one more general note: You can take the statue effect with you anywhere you want in Ancaria and you can keep it up indefinitely as long as you keep chaining Mentor Potions. One such potential location would be taking it to the Blood Forest, specifically to where the giant spiders (Garganturas) are, which is mostly around Diaanja's lair. The Garganturas are probably the single highest XP awarding enemy in the game (on par with Bog Demons) while being relatively harmless. But I haven't tested this throughly. So you can theoretically farm anywhere you like, but I find these 3 spots to be the best.

This is nicely detailed. I love the little travel lines you put all over the map...makes consuming experience easier ^^  I've seen trailed out Boss Maps before I think showing runs how to get to them as quickly as possible but what you did is like pac man gobbling up experience dots along the way to leveling, nice!!

gogo

[ErTasiTroll 4]

Thanks, this is super useful for my current character. I was getting unended by the werwolve, ulm and spider super fast. It is just not an option right now, I've tried too extensively to try to make it work. 

Did 1 piggy run now and almost gained a full level, if my survival bonus wouldnt be as low as it is, I might have reached the next level by now! 

The only thing that is confusing me is why the buff held way longer than it should have (forgot to reuse a xp potion but the duration exceeded what is written, might just be me being super tired though)

[Katak 3]

That's so refreshing to see new Sacred 2 content shared after so many years, thanks a lot for that !

On 12/24/2022 at 8:40 AM, ameaeth said:

Kudos for this guide and thanks for sharing!

Since my timing with this usually really bad and I drink way too many mentor potions I tend to use an AHK script to help me press the buttons on time.

Would you be willing to share your script ? This will indeed be very helpful to keep track of the buff, since there's no icon or timer in game. And relying on swirling thingy visual cue is not really helpful when playing a christmas tree look alike toon (source warden 3 buffs).

Text form is fine.

[Katak 3]

I'm trying to make a script which display a countdown overlay when I press my potion button.

It works fine outside of the game, it even works on the menu screen. But ingame the script can't catch my input, I don't know why.

I'm playing Windowed mode.

Here's the code :

; https://autohotkey.com/board/topic/1815 ... ding-time/



;On-screen display (OSD)
CustomColor = 99AA55
Gui +LastFound +AlwaysOnTop -Caption +ToolWindow
Gui, Color, %CustomColor%
Gui, Font, s32 ; Set a large font size (32-point).
Gui, Add, Text, vMyText cBlue, 00 

WinSet, TransColor, %CustomColor%
Gui, Show, x0 y80 NoActivate
return


t:: ; hotkey t will start or reset counting
counter:=0
SetTimer, UpdateOSD, -10 ; to update immediately
SetTimer, UpdateOSD, 1000
return


UpdateOSD:
counter++
time_display:=70-counter
if (time_display=0)
SetTimer, UpdateOSD, off
GuiControl,, MyText, %time_display%
return


esc::exitapp

 

I'm sure people tried messing around with Autohotkey in the forum. I would be grateful if anyone can provide assistance to make it work !

Cheers

P.S.: you need to make an executable of the script (right click, compile) and run the .exe as admin, otherwise it won't work, even on the title screen.

Edited January 10, 2023 by Katak

[ameaeth 50]

On 1/9/2023 at 7:41 PM, Katak said:

That's so refreshing to see new Sacred 2 content shared after so many years, thanks a lot for that !

Would you be willing to share your script ? This will indeed be very helpful to keep track of the buff, since there's no icon or timer in game. And relying on swirling thingy visual cue is not really helpful when playing a christmas tree look alike toon (source warden 3 buffs).

Text form is fine.

Hi Katak, I was away for a while but here is the auto-save script I used before the auto-saving on ingame menu closure got added. Just replace F7 with any key you want to and adjust the time (in milliseconds) to what interval you need.

 

#NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
#Warn  ; Enable warnings to assist with detecting common errors.
#MaxThreadsPerHotkey 2
#Persistent
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;----Sacred 2 Auto Save----;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

;1: Ctrl + Page Down key to start/stop auto save 
;2: Ctrl + Escape key to exit the script

ToggleS2AS := False

^PgDn:: ;Ctrl + page down key to start/stop
IfWinActive, ahk_class Sacred2 Main
{

	ToggleS2AS:= Not ToggleS2AS
	
	If ToggleS2AS
		SetTimer, S2autosave, 300000 ;300 seconds between saves
	Else
		SetTimer, S2autosave, Off
	Return
}
return

S2autosave:
IfWinActive, ahk_class Sacred2 Main
{
	Send {F7 down}{F7 up} ;save default key	
}
Return


^Esc::Exitapp ;Ctrl + Escape to exit script

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by ameaeth