How to level up fast in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and gain XP quickly

Knowing how to level up fast in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and gain XP quickly will make life a lot easier because it's a big game, and most of its missions are leveled gated. If you aren't high enough you can't progress so often you'll be looking to boost your level just to continue the story.

The good news is that we can help with just that and coming up we'll show you how to level up fast in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and gain XP quickly. XP can be gained from a lot of things, completing missions and objectives most obviously. However, because of how stuff scales in-game - some things do, some don't - you can actually game the system and move things along a lot faster if you know what where to place your efforts.

Check the XP rewards on all available quests to get the most bang for your buck

When you look at your quests in the menu you’ll notice that the XP rewards are coloured. Gold is the highest, followed by Purple and then Blue. Whenever you can, always do the best rewards that fit your level. That’s generally anything the same level as you, as Odyssey’s slightly severe levelling means that a mission even one level higher can be a challenge. It’s definitely worth a try though, as the rewards for higher levelled tasks will be a lot larger if you can pull it off. Just check what you’ll be doing before you jump into a fight with higher level things that can one shot you.

Explore

Fast travel might be an alluring way of speeding around the map when you’re feeling impatient but bear in mind that every time you discover anything you’ll earn some XP. It doesn’t matter if that’s a cave with a single chest in, or a major fort with several objective - it’s all worth points just for discovering it - you don’t even have to go there, just clear the question mark. If you have the time to walk everywhere and don’t mind the odd detour when something pops up on your radar you can easily rack up 1000+XP for a walk about. The same is true for sailing which ticks up about 675XP regularly as you go, as well as any location discovery bonuses as you pass islands.

Complete all of a location's objectives, especially Forts, for loads of XP

Nearly all the discoverable locations you find have some key objectives, usually things like looting treasure or killing a captain. Always try to complete them when you can as there’s extra XP for doing so. The gains can be small for a cave with one chest, but if it’s a massive fort with a national treasure, several chests, prisoners to release, and multiple ranking officers to kill then you can get a fat stack of XP for rinsing it out. It’s always worth finishing anything in an area a mission might take you, and also worth veering off course if you happen to see anything fruitful in the distance.

Mop up any and all side quests on or below your level

There’s a lot to do in Odyssey and it’s easy to get distracted or forget about the many missions you can be racking up. You can end up with plenty of half completed or forgotten things, or stuff that drop down a few levels as you progress. You’ll literally be grinding in every sense of the word to go through them all but you’ll get a lot of XP for clearing out these old and low level quests without expending too much effort.

Check mission boards and speak to locals for extra, and quick, missions

There are plenty of very minor missions to be found both from the people in a given area and the Message Boards. Always check these as you can grab a bunch of quick XP for very little effort. It’s just a case of filtering out the low impact stuff nearby for the easy wins - things like clearing a bandit camp 100m away, or threatening a local merchant. There’s even one mission where you can give some money to a slave for instant XP. Easy.

Find the Ancients Steles for an extra ability point

This doesn’t exactly level you up, although you will get some XP for finding one. Instead the main benefit to finding these odd monuments is the free ability point to spend on skills it’ll net you. There are First Civilization Steles scattered all over the map in various tombs to discover. Some are in mountain caves, others in cities, but all require a little poking around to reach. There are things like hidden entrances, traps and snakes to deal with, but nothing too dangerous to worry about. Everyone you find is like a free level in terms of getting a new ability or upgrading a current one, but remember that you won’t get the health and damage boost that actually levelling up gets you. There are well over 20 in the world to discover and, if you can’t be bothered looking then there’s a map to buy in the ‘time savers’ part of the in-game store that will reveal them all on the map. That’ll set you back 300 Helix credits (realistically $4.99/£3.99 for the smallest 500 Helix pack).

Complete the Cave Crusader or Besieging Bandits quests

Both these quests are things you pick up early on in the game as part of your initial progress. Respectively they require you complete 20 caves or clear 10 bandit camps in and around the world. It’s the kind of mission you’ll generally tick over as you play but if you want to cash in quicker then check your map for any relevant locations to clear it and reap the XP owed. The missions are always a legendary payout and levels with you so they’ll always be worth doing.

If you’re not a member of Ubi Club then you really should be. It scores you for playing any Ubi games and rewards you both with credits to buy extras and special unlocks. For instance, if you’ve played Assassin’s Creed Syndicate as a Ubi Club member you can unlock Evie Frye as a lieutenant for your ship in Odyssey. As well as weapons, skins and more there’s a two hour 25% XP boost you can buy for 10 ‘U’ coins (you generally earn 10 coins per Ubi Club objective which might be completing a part of the story, or defeating an enemy type). It’s best to make sure you’re settling for a solid session and really get some objectives cleared if you are buying it, as you don’t want to waste any of that sweet extra XP time.

Buy a permanent XP boost in the Store

You can buy a permanent 50% boost in the in-game store for 1000 Helix credits ($9.99/£7.99). It’s a costly way of saving time, but earning an extra 50% XP on everything you do will certainly speed up the levelling process. Just remember that areas of the game scale with you so to some extent you’ll still be fighting enemies at the same level as you, although you will have more abilities unlocked.

Pushing through to the game's final chapters? Check out our page where we've got the Assassin's Creed Odyssey ending explained for you!

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides, which means I run GamesRadar's guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.

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