Gunfire Games’ Remnant 2 is pretty interesting when earning XP and leveling up. Your character has a Power Level, indicated by the levels of its Archetypes. Archetypes are like classes and earn XP when you slay enemies, complete objectives and quests, defeat bosses, and more.
You have a Primary and Secondary Archetype, and if you max out an Archetype’s level, then their signature Trait can be used on any build (though you’ll need to put points in to activate it). Farming XP thus becomes very important if you want to be able to use any combination of Traits available. Of course, it doesn’t hurt when you want to unlock more Archetype Perks, which can give you an edge in battle.
Let’s look at all the ways to farm XP and level up at a rapid pace.
How to Farm XP and Quickly Level Up
Switch Primary and Secondary Archetypes
It may seem like a weird decision, but switch your Primary and Secondary Archetypes around when the former is maxed out. So if you’re running with Gunslinger as your Primary and Hunter as the Secondary, make Hunter your Primary.
Why? Because the Secondary Archetype earns 50 percent of the XP of the Primary, making it level up slower. By switching around the Archetypes in this example, you can make the Hunter level up faster without sacrificing the power that the Gunslinger brings with its Archetype Trait, Skill and Perk. You don’t benefit from the Gunslinger’s Prime Perk, but it’s worth it when maximizing your leveling efficiency.
What if you use your lower level Archetype with a completely unleveled Archetype, or opt for two completely Archetypes? That’s also possible since there’s an overall max Archetype Level which affects every Archetype Skill in the game.
As principal designer Ben Cureton explained on ResetEra, if you’re a Gunslinger on level 10 and switch to Challenger, the latter’s Skill will do the same damage as the former’s maxed-out Skill. You don’t benefit from the Gunslinger’s Archetype Perks, but that added power makes it easier to experiment.
Kill (Lots of) Enemies
It seems obvious, but bears repeating – Kill every enemy. What makes the Remnant series unique is the dynamic threat generation. Whether you’re slaying enemies or not, you’ll get spotted sooner or later. The threat level will slowly rise, and more enemies will flock to your location. Outrunning them isn’t the best play since you can’t access checkpoints or Worldstones in combat. Your best bet is to slay them all at once.
As you kill more enemies, Elites can spawn (which can occur sooner based on RNG). Since these give more XP, Scrap and crafting materials, it’s advised to slay them whenever possible. A good strategy is to keep one weapon for clearing out crowds of smaller enemies, like the Enigma or Nebula, and another for single-target damage against Elites, like the Huntmaster M1, Royal Hunting Bow, Wrangler 1860, Coach Gun or AS-10 Bulldog.
It’s possible to keep fighting enemies this way, especially in the Desolate Wasteland on N’Erud. Nevertheless, you’ll want to do this en route to other activities instead of standing around.
Explore and Clear Side Areas
There are several areas to explore in each world, some vital to the story and others optional. Some locations, like the Dormant N’Erudian Facility 4, require slaying all enemies quickly to avoid the Quarantine Protocol. As such, the enemies here don’t respawn, but you can unlock a new Trait and garner a good chunk of XP. You may also encounter bosses that wouldn’t normally be fought by playing the story, thus earning more XP, gear, Scrap and other materials.
Beat the Campaign
While we advise taking your time to explore and clear outside areas, slaying as many enemies as possible when playing the Campaign, try to refrain from hardcore farming in Adventure Mode. Instead, defeat the final boss in the Campaign to get the Scholar Trait.
It increases your XP gain by 15 percent when fully upgraded. If you don’t have Trait Points to spend, go to Wallace in Ward 13 and immediately reset the ones you’ve already assigned. Pour 10 Trait Points into Scholar for a permanent 15 percent XP boost.
Equip Sagestone Ring
The Sagestone Ring is found in The Nameless Nest on Yaesha and increases XP earned by 10 percent. It may not seem like much, but there are some other bonuses that you can stack with it for more XP. However, it’s a real toss-up whether you get the Sagestone sooner or later since your starting world isn’t predetermined.
Nevertheless, after clearing the Labyrinth for the first time, you can go to Yaesha next and get it. Just hope that The Nameless Nest spawns since the areas in each world are randomized.
Play on Veteran Difficulty
There are four difficulties, with Survivor, Veteran and Nightmare available from the outset. Apocalypse is unlocked when finishing the Campaign. While Survivor is best for first-time players or those unfamiliar with Souls-like games, everyone else can hop into Veteran and gain 15 percent additional XP.
The damage and health of enemies and bosses aren’t much higher than Survivor, and when stacked with the other XP bonuses, you can level up Archetypes quickly. Nightmare provides 30 percent more XP, while Apocalypse grants a 50 percent XP bonus. As tempting as they sound, it’s better to go with the former when you’re properly geared up with one Archetype fully leveled.
The increase to the enemy and boss damage and health rises dramatically from Nightmare onwards, so it can be slower to gain XP since enemies are taking longer to die. Apocalypse is best as a final challenge after you’re fully upgraded with the best stuff instead of as a viable farming or XP-grinding method.
Adventure Mode
After completing the first location, you unlock Adventure Mode. It allows for rerolling worlds as a separate campaign, playing in different difficulties, and scouring them for any weapons, Mutators and rings that can appear in areas or quests that didn’t appear on your first run. If you didn’t find the Sagestone on Yaesha in the Campaign, don’t sweat. Just reroll the location on Adventure Mode until The Nameless Nest appears.
The catch is that you have to finish a location to access it in Adventure Mode. So if you clear N’Erud and go to Losomn in the Campaign, only the former can be accessed in Adventure Mode. Nevertheless, it’s also a great way to farm for XP, since you can find new side areas to clear and choose a higher difficulty when better geared for that sweet XP bonus.
Remnant 2 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Check out our review here for more details.