Aliens: Dark Descent Guide – How To Level Up and Earn XP Faster

Aliens: Dark Descent is not only a difficult game, but it’s also unforgivingly punishing. Any mistake is met with a swift death, which makes it super hard to grind XP consistently. In this guide, we’ll be discussing how you can earn XP in the quickest and most efficient way possible.

How to earn XP and Level Up Faster in Aliens: Dark Descent?

Here are some activities that grant you XP in the game. Follow them exactly, as any deviations only increase the difficulty and offer no extra benefits:

How to Gain XP on the Field

• Complete Primary and Secondary Objectives – Finishing any objective will grant you XP.

• Stick to Objectives during missions – When you’re doing a civilian or synth extraction mission, only extract the individual(s) mentioned in the mission. Extracting random people or synths won’t earn you any extra XP. You’ll end up with a clean conscience and probably a hundred deaths, but no in-game progression.

• Surviving Onslaught Phases – You won’t gain any XP by mass-killing Xenos. Once you receive an Onslaught message and pull through the Onslaught phase, you will earn that precious XP. So avoid going all Rambo straight out of the gate and save your ammo for the big fights that matter.

• Boss Encounters – Any and all boss encounters grant you XP.

How to gain XP at the Base

Undergoing Intensive Training – Go to Barracks > Training Room to see the list of all your marines. Individuals with a dumbbell sign beside their name are in intensive training and earn 2x XP per day. However, the marines are exhausted at the end of the intensive training. They also cannot be healed or sent on a mission during the training, so choose wisely.

Note: You cannot put any of the main characters through intensive training. Also, be careful not to click on a name twice, as it will instantly end the training. The marine would have gained nothing but would end up exhausted nonetheless.

Next Day Event (Rare) – Head to the Command Deck and click on Next Day. There is no guarantee, but sometimes clicking on the button leads to an event that’ll grant your Marines XP. It’s only a small amount, but every bit counts. However, this method is inconsistent and probably a bug that may be patched in a later update.