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XP Mechanics How to Efficiently Level Everything

By LIMUNADE≋

TLDR: This is THE guide about how to properly level everything.

Tired of leveling equipment or frame? Want to know how to gain maximum level in less than 5 min? Here you can find short or detailed answers to your quiestions.

Even if the soul purpose of this guide - to share knowledge, it still contains useful information about other mechanics. Hence it’s useful not only for the beginners but also for “veterans”. Information includes tips, tricks and even builds.

Also, I'm obliged to update this guide to the last version of the game (if something serious changes). It means that information you see is up-to-date. For better readability most on the info is sorted into: easy, medium and hard.

Award

Created by

LIMUNADE≋
Offline

Category: Classes, Co-op, Crafting, Gameplay Basics, Maps or Levels, Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer, Walkthroughs, Weapons

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

9 Oct, 2021 @ 9:47am

2 Jun, 2023 @ 6:14am

3,813	Unique Visitors
122	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

GENERAL INFORMATION

Main Loadout

Companion Loadout

Archwing Loadout

Necramech Loadout

K-Drive

Railjack Loadout

Duviri Experience

Operator Loadout

FINISHING THOUGHTS

Comments

GENERAL INFORMATION

Let's start with the basics - how XP mechanics works. For simplicity I attached a picture (click to expand)

that explains basic XP distribution. More in-depth infromation located down below. Important to note - if one player kills an enemy within default 50 meter range in normal, 200 in Archwing and infinite in Railjack, you earn the same XP amount. The affinity range icon located in the top right corner (3 circles).

There are 2 ways to increase aff. range. Vazarin's Mending Unity for +25m and consumable called Fosfors (presented in 2 color variations) for additional 200m per 1 player and lasting duration of 2 min.

How to gain even more affinity? Your optimal farm should be started from obtaining the affinity booster which multiply all gained affinity by 2. Here starts a little bit of RNG: use Smeeta Kavat (for more info look into companion loadout) which additionally multiply it by 2 for each charm proc. Poor some master rank buff for additional 0.25 multiplier. And there is a possibility of acquiring another x2 multiplier from Event Affinity Boost. It is best to plan your farming routine, waiting for this particular boost to appear.

Sorted Loadouts

100% Affinity Distribution

Main Loadout

Chosen Frame 25% (100% on ability kill), Primary 25%, Secondary 25%, Melee 25% (+45% from Naramon's Affinity Spike); Upon activating Archgun Deployer all weapon slots (75%) starts to distribute evenly (18.75%) for each weapon slot, so don't do that if you are lvling.
NOTE: kills with warframe ability gives you 100% XP to warframe, not the weapon.

Companion Loadout

Same as allies, receives 100% xp from your kills. Kubrow/Sentinel/Kavat/MOA/Hound 50%, (if equipped) Robotics (meaning Sentinel/MOA/Hound) Weapon 50%

Archwing Loadout

Archwing 25%, Archwing Weapon 37.5%, Archwing Melee 37.5%

Necramech Loadout

Necramech 25%, Archwing Weapon 37.5%, Necramech's Exile Weapon 37.5%

Operator Loadout

Operator 25%, Amp 37.5%, Unused Melee Slot 37.5%

Railjack Loadout

Components, Armaments, Plexus, Intrinsics, Crew

K-Drive

Well eh.. K-Drive 75% and 25% to kids syndicate

From now on, I will divide all sorted loadouts into their own categories and provide tips and tricks for easy leveling, some QoL etc.

Things to understand:

The idea of this guide to be compact that's why most of the information is hyperlinked
Standardization for easy, medium and hard is a bit different than for other games. Easy means that you barely have to do anything (mind 5 min inactivity timer). Medium means that you have to pay attention to the game. Hard is when the game requires your attention. Anything else is gear dependent and up to you to fix.

Main Loadout

The one and only arsenal that you would switch constantly on the regular basis. For XP farming there are large variety of ways and it's all depends on your current gear. Don't worry, I would list only the most efficient. By looking at the table in general section now we know that if we want f.e. to lvl pistol, we need to remove primary and melee weapon, so that 75% XP would transfer to our pistol.

Locations:

Sanctuary Onslaught / Endless Genocide Mode
Empyrean (I refer to it as a Railjack) / Any mission

Gear

Note

Using supporter frames - on universal language translates as leeching XP. So, don't forget to contribute, for even more XP. Frames like Harrow, (energy) Hyldrin, Oberon, Mag, Nidus, (sonar) Banshee, Octavia and Trinity are your best bets to help kill enemies faster.
For focus farming, stick to AoE frames like Ember, Saryn, Mirage, Protea, Volt, Gara, Equinox. For better XP gain carry 1 weapon only! Also, note that if you carry only 1 melee and use naramon passive you'll get even more XP.

You can level anything and higher level means, obviously, more XP. Additionally, it is recommended to farm missions alongside with Corrupted Holokey farm. Note that fastest holokey/time gain would be mid tier Saturn Proxima missions (where is only 1 additional objective).

Elite variant (the best option in terms of XP) doesn't allow you to use lvled frame
Tilesets are random
Requires to use recruiting chat, otherwise pretty luck based (gl gaining XP with 2 Trinities)
Can't spam abilities
Inability to use gear
Reference for support and nuker builds.
(Railjack Note) In most situations you don't even need to leave the ship, so simply doing what you need to do is enough to lvl things (whatever it is). But be warned that some people maybe be upset that you are sitting in the ship most of the time.

Locations:

Steelpath Dark Sector Missions / Infested Survival or Defense (Eris - Akkad; Uranus - Assura; Venus - Malva)
Sedna - Hydron (defense)
Mars - Tyana Pass (mirror defense)

Gear

Note

Frame lvling: use free capacity to increase frame EHP. For more XP gain use your best melee with Naramon bonus. For more protective play use Vasarin's void dash from time to time and AoE weapon of your choice for the kill.
For Hydron, strategy is similar as in Sanctuary Onslaught.

Weapon lvling: any CC frame for sucking enemies or tanky frame for lazy gameplay.

Infested are the easiest targets. Having no armor makes them a perfect prey and steelpath helps increasing their quantities. Add dark sector bonus as an extra cherry on XP pie.
Until you've locked out of steelpath, Hydron is a good alternative.
Reference for tanky and CC builds.
SP Mirror Defense is much better than normal defense since there is no limit to enemy spawn. It's time based.

Locations:

Sedna - Adaro; Saturn - Teletsto (exterminate)

Gear

Note

You've got 2 options. Whether to use (sonar) Banshee, which additionally gives an ability to lvl weapons, or use (sleep) Equinox for faster and safe farming.

Amazing for focus farming and great for melee+frame lvling
Need some practice
Could be done on any frame if you Helmith Rest&Rage or Silence ability into the frame.
Better done in coop
Requires not to loose Stealth Bonus

Companion Loadout

Smeeta Kavat with 2 tek set mods is MANDATORY (mod placement is important). Anything else is just a flex.

Other options, NOT FOR XP FARM, are Panzer Vulpaphyla for viral spread and very specific Deathcube with Cryotra for energy generator.

Archwing Loadout

Not much to be said about archwing tbh.

Ever heard about Uranus? Survival preferably. There are plenty places with water around some areas. Find it and jump into water. Now wait and chill till your partner gets rid of hordes of enemies until you've done lvling your archwing equipment. Steelpath is even better for this strategy. To min max XP gain, wait for the charm proc from your Smeeta, invite your buddy and dive into the slimy XP pool.
Another option is to play Railjack and mostly be in the open space. Since the affinity range is infinite you would gain lots of XP from your teammates. Put some EHP mods into your jetpack archwing and do your Railjack chores.
Do Archwing's mobile defense mission.

Necramech Loadout

You need to invest at least 5 formas in order to gain 8000 MR points. Not a lot of options here. Either open world or Railjack. My recommendation is to start steel pathed Orb Vallis and alert enemies. If your Necramech dies, don't wait for the cooldown. Load back into the city and get back to massacre.

Or do capturable Orb Bases. The location can be seen here.

K-Drive

Very skill dependent. I highly recommend you doing shortest races in the open world. Be warned - In terms of races Deimos is the worst and Orb Vallis is more preferable. Remember that boosters also apply to the K-Drive XP gain.

With the example of Orb Vallis race map and wiki help we can determine (by least gates number) that shortest races are: Shaving Nef, The Hard Way, River Run, Kubrodon Twist, Pobber's Drop. Even if you miss some of them doesn't mean that you have to skip today. It's just shortest races require less skill.

Ideal strategy looks like this:

Load in any open world (except Earth)
Jump on the K-Drive.
While on K-Drive, open the map. All available races would be shown.
Find the shortest/quickest race and repeat until you've done farming/exhausted/bored. Note that 25% of gained affinity goes to mafia kids ventkids.

Railjack Loadout

Farming intrinsics is a long process. You would get there eventually but if you want to boost the process, I recommend you to use Ivara with strongest finisher melee.

Start public mission, aboard crewships. Use sleep arrow and smack enemies. Try to catch up with stealth bonus. destroy crewship and start with another target.

Reference for Ivara build
Reference for finisher melee

Another option - do high lvl infinite survival mission for as long as your body could handle (2-3 hs maybe?). The build option for it is up to your liking. However, for solo play I recommend you to use Octavia since her ability helps you to get rid of nullifiers.

Duviri Experience

Rather simple/basic mode. You gain intrinsics as a background task because the need for resources are much higher, than for XP. There are 2 valuable options:

Speedrun orowym on steel path
The Circuit 10th tier reward

The urge for both will give you intrinsics as a background reward.

Operator Loadout

Fairly simple. Pop this bad boy/girl out and soak some XP from teammates kills. Could be done literally anywhere. Elite Onslaught is the best option. PLEASE, don't forget to take DMG supporting frames. Just activate your abilities and go into the void cloak by using operator. Don't forget to refresh your frame abilities. Note that while your abilities are active it is possible to get your frame killed, so find a save spot.

FINISHING THOUGHTS

Now you are armed with knowledge. Spread the information and make sure to rate this guide, if you find it useful.

18 Comments

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LIMUNADE≋ [author] 29 Dec, 2021 @ 5:25am

As you can see, I removed it.

Yeah, that might be the case.

Ice³ 29 Dec, 2021 @ 5:00am

I still don't see any hyperlinks to anything to do with affinity mechanics, but that image perfectly illustrates how it works.
I do find it odd however, how u/Gregarious advises the best way to level weapons is to "kill with it as much as possible". When technically, if you have only 1 weapon equipped, letting your teammates get the kills grants 75% exp to the weapon instead of 50% when you get kills with it. To avoid causing people to get accused of leeching perhaps?

LIMUNADE≋ [author] 28 Dec, 2021 @ 11:59pm

To avoid repetition I had this information hyperlinked but the fact that you missed tells me that it's not a proper way to inform. Got it fixed and updated to last patch. Thanks again!

Ice³ 28 Dec, 2021 @ 12:35pm

Your table with affinity distribution in the general information section is a little misleading. There's a lot more to affinity distribution that what it makes it sound like.

"Chosen Frame 25% (100% on ability kill), Primary 25%, Secondary 25%, Melee 25%"
- This is only the case when you have a full loadout and a teammate gets the kill.

I have seen people who think this, so tt might also be good to include that having less weapons equipped does not increase the share granted to the frame, but splits the 75% among the remaining weapons you have equipped.

You do mention that kills with the frame grants 100% to the frame, but I think it would be good to specify that this is for your own kills, and include that kills you get with a weapon splits the xp 50/50 between that weapon and the frame.

LIMUNADE≋ [author] 26 Dec, 2021 @ 12:29pm

Agree, I fixed that. Thanks for mentioning some of the mistakes. What else is wrong or what did I forget to mention?

Ice³ 26 Dec, 2021 @ 11:13am

While I wholeheartedly support spreading information about affinity, there is a lot of wrong and/or missing information here.
One of the most important things to understand when starting off is how affinity distribution works, and the section you have with it on main loadout is very misleading if not to say just wrong. How much exp is granted to different items in your loadout is dependent on who or what get's the killing blow. This is very important to understand correctly if your best option for leveling is Sanctuary Onslaught or Hydron/Helene Defense.
I can't stress this enough as I so often see people go to to Hydron to level weapons but then use Saryn to spam clear with miasma and they have no clue just how much they're hurting themselves.

Also, in the "MEDIUM" section "Ceres - Hydron (defense)"; Hydron is located on Sedna,
and in the "HARD" section; "(sonar) Banshee"; This method uses silence, not sonar (which you got right in the helminth part next to it).

LIMUNADE≋ [author] 25 Dec, 2021 @ 3:21pm

Thanks for the info but how could I add provided information without details?

Exalted 25 Dec, 2021 @ 3:11pm

MR 31 here, with all but one log in award weapon mastered, disagree on location for stealth farming, Teletsto - for reasons I won't get into; and it should be done solo, which is also the best way to level amps (stealth amp leveling w/ Ivara), and focus farm, and level weapons. Sanctuary is lazy mode, and inefficient (slower).

But - you did very good job overall of presenting several methods, so I have to offer my appreciation. I beat my head into ever possible option discovering what works best, so you're saving folks some of that - well done mate.

Halvkyrie 17 Dec, 2021 @ 2:13pm

Hi! Neat guide so far! If i may, i'd like to suggest partaking in the thermia fracture event when it's up, to level your necramech. I've used it some for myself, and i've found it to be quite efficient since it's a very dense and constant stream of enemies while defending the canister. While this is just my own observation, it seems that killing them fast enough/soon enough after spawning, you'll also make more enemies spawn to take their place faster too. Voidrig especially levels fast here since you can use your arquebex and gain 100% affinity towards your mech as it's an "ability kill"
Cheers c:

TENNO 7 Dec, 2021 @ 8:06am

Good guide! That's what starters/beginners need to know!

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