Experience: What to Fight
The short version: fight monsters at your own level or above it. Anything four or more levels below you pays a tenth of what it should, however fast you can kill it.
On Aurenfall you earn experience as you damage a monster, not only when it dies — the bar ticks up with every blow that lands, and the kill itself pays a bonus on top. That means the experience a monster is worth is, near enough, the health it carries.
It also means the monster's level matters twice over, and the second time is easy to miss.
What a monster's level does to your experience
| The monster is… | You earn |
|---|---|
| 8 or more levels above you | +30% |
| 4 to 7 levels above you | +20% |
| 3 above → 1 below | full |
| 2 levels below you | 80% |
| 3 levels below you | 30% |
| 4 or more levels below you | 10% |
The drop below your level is deliberately steep, and it is steep for a reason worth understanding.
Why killing weak monsters faster does not help
Against a monster well below your level you also hit much harder — several times harder, and the further down you go the worse the beating. So a weak monster dies in a fraction of the time.
It is tempting to conclude that clearing a field of easy monsters is the quickest way to level. It was, once. The experience penalty is now sharp enough that it outruns the damage bonus: a monster four levels below you pays a tenth, and does not die ten times faster.
Measured at level 100: a monster five levels below now earns you about a quarter of the rate you would get from one at your own level. A monster five levels above earns about 17% more, and one ten above about 30% more.
Fight things that fight back.
What this does not change
- Quest rewards — the daily hunting tasks pay a flat reward for the monsters they name, whatever your level.
- Skill and weapon training — proficiency and spell experience come from use, not from the level gap. Practising on something weak still trains the skill.
- Drops — what falls depends on the monster's own level, not on yours. A weak monster is a poor source of rare drops for the same reason it is a poor source of experience: it is a low-level monster.
- Double experience, Heaven Blessing and Rainbow gems all still multiply whatever you earn — they raise the good hunting and the bad alike.