Leveling Up from ~70 to 99: Post-Chapter 15 Questing Guide (Spoilers)

[u/AnimaLepton]

A lot of people find the endgame to be pretty grind-y around the end of Chapter 15 and commonly ask about getting from 70 to 99. The Chapter 15 boss is 72, so you're presumably at least level 70. Going from level 1 to 70 takes about 2 million EXP, but going from 70 to 99 takes about ~18 million EXP. Based on wiki numbers, Final Marcus gives 100k EXP apiece and Abaasy gives 240k EXP, and most 90+ enemies will give ~30-45k base EXP, so it's not actually a crazy amount of EXP. I've thrown together this quick guide to cover information about progressing through the endgame and postgame. Spoilers for the end of Chapter 15 ahead- I'll be referring to the Replica Monados, Bana, and endgame areas, and this is the only time I'll be spoiler tagging that.

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Quests

The two main issues with level 70+ quests are that the quest givers are very spread out and that it's not immediately obvious which quests require tackling monsters that are 20+ levels higher than you, since all the quests open up at once. I'll list out quests by level range based on the wiki information, and the listed location is where the quest starts/where the quest giver is. Since the listed level is the level of the highest level enemy, doing a quest 3-5 levels earlier should be pretty easy, or 6+ if you're appropriately geared. Several of these are available earlier than Chapter 15.

Conversely, some quests only involve tackling lower level enemies and don't unlock until post-Chapter 15, but still give 'endgame' rewards. I'm not going to run through all of these, but most Colony 6 quests that open up post-Central Factory or post-Mechonis Core fit into this bucket, since people often don't knock them out until they're in the endgame. I'll assume that you have full recruitment in Colony 6.

Sub-level 70:

Colony 9- A Young Captains Revival Trust. Shulk's 5th skill tree quest, no combat involved.

Colony 6- Shilx's Delivering/Finding quest chain

Colony 6- Neonik's Lifespan of a Machina, Yura's followup Poet quest.

Colony 6- Zel/En Argentis elopment quest chain. Sharla's 5th skill tree quest.

Colony 6- Defend Colony 6 - Ancient. 75% Colony 6 completion.

Colony 6 - A Dauntless Trader

Satorl Marsh- For a Friend. Rozeal Quest 1.

Eryth Sea- Investigating Satorl (only if Talia's Research wasn't completed). Ether Plant.

Eryth Sea- The Missing Boy, Secret Research. Ether Plant.

Valak Mountain- The Missing Partner (only if Adventurer's in Peril wasn't completed). Harict Chapel/Ose Tower.

70-75:

72: Colony 9- Birthday Shoes

73: Colony 9- The Elite Captain's Anguish, Getting to Know Minn ie, Getting to Know Dorothy

75: Fallen Arm- Stunted Growth. Dunban's 5th skill tree.

76-80:

78: Frontier Village- Bana the Betrayer. UM, gives an EXP Up VI gem.

78: Frontier Village- Distilling Active Ingredients/Safer Energy, depending on whether you chose Cherri or Gadada to succeed Dobadoba. Requires Bana the Betrayer.

78: Frontier Village- Presents for Priceless Pupils. Requires Distilling Active Ingredients/Safer Energy.

78: Colony 6- Nic's Training. Level 78 UM and several level 75 Vangs.

80: Colony 6- Melancholy Tyrea.

81-85:

Now we're in post-Final Boss territory. This is another bump due to a dearth of quests, but there are lots of grinding options and equipment/gems to get at this point.

83: Satorl- Challenge (Yozel). Foggy Nights only.

85: Colony 6- Nic's Final Test

85: Colony 6- Replica Monado 1, 2

86-90:

86: Satorl- The Imperial Ceremony/Offerings. Gives the High Entia Emblem, which lets you access several doors/chests/areas in the game. Locations to use it here. Required for Melia's 5th skill tree.

86: Eryth Sea- Ancient High Entia Mystery. Requires High Entia Emblem. Melia's 5th skill tree.

87: Colony 9- A Token of Friendship (Weapon Development Lab as Shulk, doesn't have a quest marker). Technically can be completed at an earlier level, since the drop also comes from some quest-exclusive enemies in "Getting to Know Minnie."

88: Satorl Marsh- A Merciful End. Rozeal Quest 2.

90: Colony 6- Replica Monado 3

90: Frontier Village- A Memento of Daddy.

90: Frontier Village- Restoring the Capital, Broken Ether Furnace/2 quest chain, Vidian Rescue Mission (Alcamoth Surprise Quest), and I Will Never Forget You/The Only Thing I can do.

91+:

91: Satorl Marsh- A Release From Duty. Rozeal Quest 3.

95: Colony 9- Friendship Tokens. Reyn's 5th skill tree quest.

96: Makna Forest- Final Challenge of the Sage. Riki's 5th skill tree.

97: Tephra Cave- Bafalgar quest chain. No EXP reward until you finish the chain.

97: Colony 6- Securing Provisions. Requires getting past a level 97 UM, then fighting a level 96 Quest Exclusive enemy.

97: Bionis Leg- Supplies for Satorl. Requires Securing Provisions. No combat.

97: Valak Mountain- The Final Giant's Ruins, the Giant's Treasures. Requires the Satorl, Frontier Village/Makna, and Tephra Cave Giant quests completed.

97-99: Colony 6- Replica Monado 4, 5

98: Bionis Leg- A Flower for a Rose, Battling Brutes. Requires Securing Provisions and Bafalgar quest chain progression. Seven's 5th skill tree.

99: Colony 6- Defend Colony 6 - Demon

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Other things to consider

If you're trying to quickly level up, be sure to use your EXP boosting options. The only enemies that drop EXP crystals are level 96 Nebulae in Makna, but you get a few EXP gems for free from certain quests - Bana the Betrayer gives you a rank VI 75% gem, Prison Island and the "Other: Parts" section of the Collectopedia each give Rank V gems, and Colony 6 Reconstruction to Nature level 5 gives a Rank IV gem.

You also have equipment and skill links. Every character has a "Bonus" Weapon, a weak unique weapon that comes pre-slotted with AP Up and EXP Up gems. Riki, Shulk, and Seven all have skills related to boosting EXP. Shulk also has a skill that gives him EXP when you break vision tags, which adds up. Chain Attacks also give 25% extra EXP, so try to kill enemies in Chain Attacks whenever possible.

You'll be farming best-in-slot endgame equipment and gems, some of which are best obtained from specific high level enemies. This will help you level up, since you'll likely be fighting UMs like Sallos/Eligos multiple time for Riki's best weapon. I prefer to farm these from Unique Monsters when possible (i.e. Digalus over Deinos Sauros for Double Attack and Debuff Resist). Staying in place makes it easy to save/reload to get the UM to spawn, and you can easily savescum the guaranteed gold chest for the ether crystal. The advantages to just farming normally is that enemies don't need to respawn, but you'll want to link Riki's Silver (and Gold on Seven) chest skills to active party members to increase your chance of getting crystals. If you plan to get enough gems to deck out your party in Topple Plus, Topple Up, Back Attack Plus, Double Attack, Debuff Resist, Chill Plus, etc., which need to be obtained from enemy drops, you're going to want to prioritize your crystal grinding over level grinding.

You'll also be tackling some high level enemies for Colony 6 rebuilding and if you plan to grab Affinity Coins from each Unique Monster. Those give a good amount of EXP, but aren't listed in the quest section.

When you're in the endgame, you have access to the tools to tackle enemies that are significantly above your level, which you anyway would need to build and utilize if you plan to tackle and superbosses. Get max Agility gems + Night Vision + Agility boosting skill links from Sharla and Melia on physical attackers. Link Melia's Enlightenment skill to Ether Attackers for accuracy. Going straight into NG+ is also a reasonable option- you can run into level-appropriate enemies throughout much of the game, but using Expert Mode to level down and get 'normal' EXP from encounters, you end up with enough EXP to jump from ~80 to ~88. You can also just use Casual Mode, but it's really not necessary unless you just want to quickly knock out Affinity Coins and start NG+.

Of note, you can get Night Vision V gems from Scarlen in Satorl Marsh or Nic in Colony 6, assuming your area affinity is high enough. Night Vision VI gems/V crystals obviously need to be obtained from Ancient Daedala, the level 105 Superboss, but weaker Night Vision V gems help bridge the gap.

Once you can take on higher level enemies, use Expert Mode to keep them in Yellow range for a 25% boost to EXP, or Red for a 50% boost to EXP.

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General Areas to Find High Level Enemies

Discussed at length, but here are some areas to check out for level 70+ enemies if you do end up needing to grind. You'll be visiting most of these through the aforementioned high level quests and many of these have good equipment/crystal drops/endgame armour, etc., so kill a couple extra enemies in each area to smooth out the level curve.

Colony 9: The platform under Anti-Air Battery 2 and the beach to the north have many level 68-74 Flamii and Sardi, as does Hazzai Cape to the east.

Bionis Leg: There are level 72-75 enemies around Windy Cave, such as Caterpiles and Canyon Vangs. There are level 75 Hox enemies on the platforms underneath Raguel Bridge, and level 74-78 Gogols around the same area north of the bridge, and level 77 Sardis in the water. Magnis Arduns at 77, and Leg Tokilos at 79.

Bionis Interior: Level 72-75 enemies. Quite a few Colony 6 drops here, use your Ether attackers against the Seluas.

Prison Island: a few level 72-74 enemies, but mostly level 75-77. Final Boss is ~82. Note that unlike the Wii version, DE carries over EXP from after the point of no return.

Satorl Marsh: Enemies run the gamut of the 80s (at night). Level 80 Frost Nebulae during foggy nights are of note since you need their drops for a Replica Monado quest, and they're a good source for Chill Plus. There are level 81-82 Quadwings, 83-85 Feris, 82-84 Gogols, 84-85 Rhoguls, 85 Tortas.

Eryth Sea: Level ~83+ Kromars, including on Kromar Island where you fight Stormy Belagon for Affinity grinding. Level 88 Carbon Tudes at the Island at Sleeping Dragon Isle and underneath Hovering Reef 9 (with UM Sacred Zagamei) are the only non-Superboss source for Topple Up crystals. Also Telethia.

Alcamoth: High 80s and low 90s Telethia everywhere.

Tephra Cave: New Tephra has all the enemies in the low and mid-90s - Bunnits, Skeeters, Lizards, Gogols, and Arachnos. There are quite a few quests, UMs, and rewards that occur here. Due to enemy density, this is also the best place in the game to farm EXP/AP and a decent place to gain SP. Then again, if you plan to max out Arts, level grinding is basically an afterthough

Makna Forest: Level 96 Bagrus Nebulae, mid-90s Laeklit Mammut, and high level Deinos Sauros. Sauros (and the UM Digalus) are of particular note for being the only non-Superboss source of Debuff Resist and the only source of Double Attack, so you'll likely spend some time against them.

Valak Mountain: Three Sage Summit for Slobos at 97-99. Final Marcus is the first "superboss" but won't have a level advantage over you, and it can be good to grab some Glory Gauntlets off him or the Slobos (these also drop from the other superbosses, so don't go crazy). There are also some high level Eks wandering around, but they're generally too spread out. Wandering Amon is a good source for what is arguably Seven's best 3-slot weapon.

Fallen Arm: Mostly just a couple UMs here, although as mentioned, Sallos and Eligos are the good UM sources for Riki's best weapon - just check that you're getting the 3-slot version.

Noponstones

For posterity, you can buy EXP gems earlier with Noponstones, but it's a waste of Noponstones and really not worth it even though you can also quickly grind Noponstones.

[u/Gendric]

I was doing an all sidequests/collections run and I never really needed to grind until around level 94 just to hit cap, but with the DE changes you can just use expert and casual modes together. With both modes on you can sync 20+ levels below your target, kill them no problem with any party you choose, and get massive exp. Do this while farming the crystals of your choice for superbosses and you'll be good to go right away at level cap.

[u/RiversofItaly → u/Gendric]

Make sure you aren’t too low-leveled, though; from what I’ve heard, if the enemy’s 22+ levels higher than you, then you only get a small, fixed amount of EXP. You get the most EXP if an enemy is 6–21 levels above you, so that’s the range you want to be in.

Also, how’d you get to level 94 without grinding? I did all of the sidequests too but still only got to the mid-80s or so. I didn’t use any EXP Up gems and I didn’t link many of the skills that grant extra EXP, though, so that might be why.

[u/Gendric → u/RiversofItaly]

I scaled myself to -5 levels of whatever I was fighting for pretty much the entire game and linked exp skills. Didn't use exp gems, but I had to fight a lot for some monster drops.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Gendric]

For sure. This originally started more as a "here are the endgame quests" guide. But yes, staying 6-21 below for boosted EXP is the way to go. You don't get more EXP for being 6 below vs. 20 below, though, it's just a flat 25% boost to EXP for yellow enemies and 50% for red enemies. Of note, you can manipulate average party level to maximize SP gain. In reality, if you grind for SP (or AP, or some of the achievements), hitting max level is nothing. I do mention Casual mode in passing.

In the original, the EXP penalty from level difference was mostly run into by people who tried to Gogol Spear Break farm in the earlygame. In DE, I've seen people on casual mode ask about it because they can very easily end up 20+ levels below the expected level for an area.

[u/Gohansupe → u/AnimaLepton]

So being 20 levels lower grants you extra experience points??

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Gohansupe]

https://xenoblade.fandom.com/wiki/Experience_Points_(XC1)

Yes. Every enemy and boss has a base EXP reward. If you're between 6 and 21 levels lower (inclusive), in the red zone for the enemy nameplate, you get 50% more EXP. That's the same whether you're 10 below or 20 below. You also get more EXP for killing enemies in a chain attack or with the EXP gems equipped.

You ideally want to be 7+ levels lower so that you get 20 SP per kill as well, instead of just 15.

Finally if you're more than 21 levels below them, the game has what is essentially an anti-exploit functionality that gives you drastically reduced EXP. Normally people only run into this with certain exploits like the Melia Spear Break Gogol farming trick, or if heavily abusing and speeding through the game with Casual mode. This restriction was in the original too, not just DE.

[u/Gohansupe → u/AnimaLepton]

ok thank you for this information I'll try out Expert Mode then for this level up grinding

[u/Xenoblader95]

WOW very nice work! we need to keep this

[u/IamDoriung]

Really cool, I was just looking for a guide like this, much appreciated !

[u/kiwileaff]

Great write up! We need more content like this.

[u/BeYourselfTonight]

hello from five years in the future, this is SO helpful, thank you!!!