Octopath Traveler 2: How to Level Up Fast (2024)

Like most JRPGs, your party's levels in Octopath Traveler 2 range from 1 to 99. You don't have to reach 99 to complete the game, but the higher your party level gets, the easier it is to deal with enemies.

There are a few ways to level faster in Octopath Traveler 2. You can get bonus EXP from every combat if it goes well, and there are various enemies, items, and skills that can increase how much EXP a monster gives you. This guide will provide all the information you need to level up fast, at any point of the game.

Early Leveling Tips

The first levels you gain can be some of the most important. You don't have a full party when you first start out, nor do you have a lot of useful equipment or money for healing items. Because of all that, and because leveling up restores a character's HP and SP, gaining a few extra levels early on can be very helpful.

• The first regions and dungeons scale from Danger Level 1 to 11 depending on how many characters have joined your party. This makes it easier to survive when your party is small, but it also means you shouldn't bother grinding random encounters straight out of the gate. Your rewards will be much greater if you wait until the area reaches its highest possible Danger Level.
• In most of the lands, one wrong turn will see you enter a region with a much higher Danger Level. If you think you have a strong party, you can earn a lot more EXP and JP by beating the enemies in these regions.
• Caits and octopuffs can appear in any overland region. Caits appear on land, and octopuffs usually appear when you're on boats. These enemies have a low chance of appearing, and they have a high chance of fleeing from an encounter, but they drop a lot more EXP than normal enemies.

Advanced Leveling Strategies

By the time you complete each character's story and reach the endgame sequence, your party should be around level 55. It's not hard to reach this point without grinding, at least if you take the time to explore every area you visit and fight all the random encounters that appear along the way. 55 is enough to beat the final boss of the game, although getting up to 60 or higher will make the fight easier.

However, you may have charged through the game without wasting time on chest hunting, or you took steps to avoid and minimize random encounters. You also may have neglected one or more party members, all of whom you need to use during the final boss fight. If that's the case, or if you feel like trying to go for level 99, it helps to know some late-game leveling strategies.

• Each level in Octopath Traveler 2 requires a little more EXP than the last, and the amount of EXP you need increases by bigger and bigger amounts. Level 1 to level 10 takes a total of 335 EXP, but you need 772 EXP to reach level 13. The big turning point is level 65, which requires 1,000 more EXP than level 64. And while you need 181,135 total EXP to reach level 65, you need 790,390 EXP to go from level 98 to 99.
• With all that in mind, the only reason for a player to max out every character's level is bragging rights. Even if you plan on fighting the secret boss, a level 65 party can handle the challenge.

Items

• The EXP Augmentor gives your party 50 percent more EXP after every battle, so long as an active party member has it equipped. You can find it in a chest at sea east of Frigit Isle.
• The Brooch of Joy gives your party 50 percent more EXP and JP after every battle, and its bonus stacks with the EXP Augmentor. To get it, you must complete Castti's final chapter, then find Melia in Winterbloom. She's in the mansion during the day, and in the greenhouse at night. The Brooch of Joy is in her inventory, and while you can't Mug Melia, all the other path actions can work.

Skills

• The Dancer skill Bewildering Grace has a chance to give you a x2, x5, or x100 bonus to the battle's EXP or JP reward. However, this skill has a lot of other possible effects, including negative effects, and the odds of getting the x100 reward is 0.1 percent.

Support Skills

• Extra Experience (Scholar) provides an extra 10 percent EXP after every battle.
• Hard Worker (Dancer) provides a 10 percent boost to JP for every battle.
• Life in the Shadows (Thief) boosts both EXP and JP gains, but only for nighttime battles.
• Note that these skills don't stack with themselves, but they do stack with each other. In other words, if one active character has Extra Experience, Hard Worker, and Life in the Shadows equipped, the party will get 20 percent more EXP and JP. However, if two characters have all three skills equipped, they'll still only get 20 percent more EXP and JP.
• Accessories and support skills stack. A character with all four EXP boosters equipped will give the party 120 percent more EXP.

NPCs

• The NPC Alrond has a unique skill called Treasure Smell. If you summon him in combat, he'll use his ability to boost your EXP or JP reward by x2, x5, or x100. He acts twice before leaving, and if he boosts the same reward twice, only the most effective boost will apply. The x2 reward is most likely, but even this much can be a big help if you summon him after beating a cait or an octopuff.
• Alrond is only available for recruitment after you complete Partitio's story. He stands in his mansion office in Wellgrove during the day, and he's in front of his mansion at night. You need 160,000 leaves to Hire him, three Octopath Bowls (made by catching and preparing octopuffs) to Befriend him, or be level 80 to Guide him. Alluring him requires around the same level if you want decent odds.

Monsters

• The rare monsters of Octopath Traveler 2 are caits and octopuffs. In particular, you should try to find Chubby Caits and King Octopuffs, which appear in tier three regions and provide 1,000 EXP when defeated.
• Caits and octopuffs have identical stats and rewards, but caits appear two percent of the time while octopuffs appear four percent of the time, at least on water. As such, you're better off hunting for octopuffs.
• Cait Powders and Octopuff Pots increase the odds of finding each rare monster type by one percent each.
  • Cait Powder 1: in a hut blocked by Cat Connoisseur in Tropu'hopu.
  • Cait Powder 2: a reward for "My Beloved Catherine." Convince the Haggard Man in Clockbank to follow the party and bring him to the cat in the Industrial District to finish this side story.
  • Octopuff Pot 1: in a chest on Lighthouse Island, west of Frigit Isle.
  • Octopuff Pot 2: a possession of a Fisherman near the entrance to Conning Creek.
  • Octopuff Pot 3: a reward for "Will Research for Money." Listen to the Octopuff Researcher in Montwise, find and recruit the Octopus Enthusiast from the Conning Creek tavern, and bring them together to get this item.
• The Hunter support skill "More Rare Monsters" increases the odds of finding any given rare monster by two percent.

Combined Strategy

• Make sure the active party has Extra Experience, Life in the Shadows, and More Rare Monsters equipped.
• Give the active party the EXP Augmentor, the Brooch of Joy, and all three Octopuff Pots.
• Make Alrond a follower of an active party member (probably Partitio).
• Head to a water section of any tier-three region, switch to night, and start dashing.
• To spend less time between encounters, you can also equip the Alluring Ribbon (found in the inventory of the Gloomy Hunter in Eastern Wellgrove Trail).
• Once a King Octopuff appears, kill it quickly using elemental skills, soulstones, and physical skills with a high hit count. Make sure to leave one of the other monsters alive.
• Summon Alrond and wait for him to act twice, hopefully giving you at least a x2 EXP bonus before leaving.

Even if you use this strategy and get lucky with Alrond's x100 bonus, it's a long road to level 80 or above, especially if you plan on leveling up every character. However, if you only need to catch up to level 55 to beat the final boss, following these steps will get you there in no time.

Octopath Traveler 2

Franchise

Octopath Traveler

Platform(s)

Switch , PS4 , PS5 , PC

Developer(s)

Square Enix , Acquire

Genre(s)

RPG

How Long To Beat

60 Hours