Tales of Arise is a great JRPG with some challenging encounters along the way. As such, it’s always wise to reach the appropriate level to take on the bosses and zeugles in your path.
There is a scaling mechanic that makes overleveling difficult, and the game is actually pretty good at balancing your strength without going overboard. However, it’s nice to have a bit of extra power in the tank and a few further levels can make all the difference.
Here’s everything you need to know about how to level up fast in Tales of Arise, and how to grind EXP.
- RELATED: Tales of Arise review (spoiler-free)
How to level up fast in Tales of Arise
You may have noticed by now that this isn’t easy – there is a pretty harsh EXP scaling mechanic that sharply decreases your rewards as you level up. This is based on your character levels relative to the enemy levels. By the time you reach the end of an area, if you are fighting every battle you encounter then you’ll usually start bringing in a paltry amount of EXP.
As such, it’s very hard to end up overleveled. This may keep the difficulty of the game at a reasonable level, but sometimes feels a bit too punitive since long, hard battles can end with virtually nothing.
Nonetheless, there are some key tips to level up fast in Tales of Arise – though maybe not as fast as some other RPGs. The best tips, advice and FAQs will be covered below.
Where is the best place to grind EXP and level up fast?
There isn’t one specific place to aim for, since the punishing EXP scaling generally renders an area pretty useless once you’ve got through it and reached the rough level needed to beat its boss.
Generally, the best place to grind is always the latest location you have reached. Otherwise, Adan Lake in Mahag Saar is a decent spot due to the large Creepzilla zeugles who lurk around there. This location is available relatively early in the game (at least, there’s still a long way to go) but even this is not going to be worth grinding for long. Later in the game, I found Fogwharl Limestone Caverns a good place to grind, which is accessed via Shinefall Woods during the ‘Untamable Rage’ quest from an old man in Thistlym.
Other than these locations, it’s still going to mostly be a case of tackling the latest area, and the only other exception to this rule comes once the final boss is beaten and you reach the post-game. Provided you have completed the necessary quests beforehand, you will unlock ‘Another Hill-Side Anomaly’ which will take you to the Spirit Temple in Menancia to tackle another quest called ‘Otherworldly Visitors’.
Taking on this quest will allow you to battle the toughest enemies and bosses, which provide the biggest EXP rewards. There are six locations with several tough bosses, finishing with a boss at level 95! Once you have beaten the main game, this is the only place you’ll need to grind. If you’ve beaten the final boss already you will likely be able to hold your own as you progress through the dungeons, and will naturally gain many levels before each boss.
Obtain the artifacts to boost EXP
There are two artifacts that can increase EXP earned during battle. These will not be available until the latter half of the game, and the second one is probably going to unachievable until quite late on. The artifacts are Silver Suit of Armor and Golden Suit of Armor.
How to obtain the Silver Suit of Armor
The Silver Suit of Armor artifact automatically boosts EXP by 20%, and this is obtained by clearing the quest ‘Their Future’. The earliest you can complete this quest is once you have unlocked the area of Rena.
This is a pretty easy quest, available from a Renan Soldier in Pelegion, Ganath Haros. You have to complete the ‘Missing Lover’ quest first, which is another easy one available beforehand. It simply consists of speaking to a lady in Thistlym before following a few markers via fast travel. Speak to another man in Pelegion before speaking to the Renan Solider on Talka Pond Road. Return to Thistlym to find the lovers reunited again and complete the quest. You have to heal the Renan Solder on Talk Pond Road first, but you’ve probably done this already as it’s hard to miss.
Once you reach Rena, the follow-up ‘Their Future’ will be available. All you have to do is return to Pelegion and speak to the soldier on the third level before heading into Saxleoh Temple.
These quests are both simple, so just remember to ensure the artifact is active in the menu to give the handy 20% EXP increase.
How to obtain the Golden Suit of Armor
The Golden Suit of Armor artifact is far more difficult, and comes from the ‘Spirit Temple’ quest, which is available just after the mid-point of the game but packs a serious challenge and will likely not be beatable at this point.
After clearing the fifth realm and regaining access to fast travel (which takes a while), you can head back to Trasilda Highway and speak to a man outside a wagon who will direct you to the nearby Taitel Plains. Here, you can enter the spirit temple and make your way through a tough gauntlet of encounters.
The battles take place in a maze where you won’t be able to access the menu against enemies at around level 60. You realistically need to be into the 50s yourself if you want to clear this, which will not be likely until the very end of the game. This is all followed by a difficult boss, though you’ll at least be able to heal up and save before you take it on. After defeating it, return to the man on Trasilda Highway to earn your rewards including the Golden Suit of Armor.
The good news is that these effects will stack together, doubling your overall EXP gains when you have obtained both artifacts.
Chain battles together
The Chain Battle Bonus is unlocked early in the game, rewarding your party with additional CP if you manage to fight your next battle quickly after finishing the last one.
To clarify, the CP mentioned here is combat points rather than cure points – strangely these are denoted by the same initials. Combat Points are essentially Grade from previous games, boosted by a better battle performance. However, these are not saved up to be spent for a New Game+ but applied instantly towards your battle rewards.
A greater battle chain means higher combat points for EXP and SP bonuses as well as rarer enemy encounters. Simply put, you should always be trying to chain together battles as quickly as possible.
You should be clever about this, and check the map regularly. If you know you are going down a dead end towards a chest, sometimes it’s worth running past a monster along the path to fight the monsters at the end first. The alternative may be a large amount of ground to cover without any battles, running down your bonus gauge completely.
This is something you get used to doing as the game continues, and especially important once you reach the maximum blue chain – when this runs out, you’re back to zero.
Adjust the difficulty
Setting a higher difficulty is another way to boost combat points, and in turn increase your EXP and SP rewards from battle. This can be done at any time, and you are not locked into a difficulty for the long term. If it ends up too hard, just switch it back down. Once you are finding battles easy in your current location, it may be a good time to try upping the difficulty to gain some extra rewards.
The actual multipliers for each difficulty are as follows:
Easy – 0.5x Combat Points
Normal – 1.0x Combat Points
Moderate – 1.25x Combat Points
Hard – 1.5x Combat Points
Cook meals to increase EXP
It’s always a good idea to keep a meal active as much as possible during Tales of Arise, and there are a few specific meals that can increase your EXP haul.
These are the recipes, along with the unlock requirements.
- Leaf-Wrapped Fish (tiny EXP boost): Automatically unlocked via the Main Story by completing Kisara’s Ideals main quest.
- Sashimi (small EXP boost): Found in Latvu Marshlands by healing an NPC in the first area
- Fish Steak (medium EXP boost): Complete the Pelegion’s Zeugle Mascot sidequest in Pelegion
- Sushi (large EXP boost): Complete the Untamable Rage quest in Thistlym (this may not be realistic until late in the game due to a level 56 boss in the way!)
- Fruit Sandwich (large EXP boost): unlockable with pre-order DLC
I never like to recommend DLC-based solutions, and the Fish Steak is available with a large amount of the game still to play. This is a good option for a consistently solid EXP bonus.
You may not want to constantly use up your best ingredients, so make sure you cook the meal with the biggest EXP boost available just before fighting a boss or a Gigant Zeugle.
Remember that a meal will remain active if you rest again and choose not to cook. If you are grinding near a campfire then it’s worth keeping this in mind to save those ingredients.
Battle Gigant Zeugles and complete sidequests
Many sidequests entail encounters against tricky monsters. A general tip is certainly to take on as many quests as possible as soon as they are available, since these can often be completed organically without needing to go very far out of your way.
Generally, after clearing an area you should open up your fast travel map and scroll through the realms to see if any envelopes appear, denoting that quests are available. Most of these can be cleared at the time they appear, though a small handful require a bit more patience.
Likewise, there are plenty of Gigant Zeugles roaming the field – usually there’s one per dungeon, as well as a few wandering around outside. Other than Mantis in Calaglia (and let’s face it, who didn’t take him on and get annihilated?) the vast majority of these are beatable at the time they are found, or perhaps slightly afterwards.
Get into the habit of conquering these foes as soon as possible to keep those EXP rewards coming, and make sure you cook the right meals beforehand.
What is the Tales of Arise maximum level?
The maximum level in Tales of Arise is level 100.
Realistically, this is not possible until the post-game. Even with all of these tips and excessive grinding, the final dungeon will still not reward handsomely enough for this to be done in a reasonable timeframe.
You will therefore have to head to the Otherworld (during the ‘Otherworldly Visitors’ quest) and fight through the dungeon. Once you reach the end, the final boss is Chronos, who can be battled over and over again.
Do you need to grind in Tales of Arise?
To conclude, it’s probably worth reiterating that even putting all of the above tips into action won’t be enough to overpower yourself to a God-tier extent. At best, you are likely to still only be a few levels above the recommended number at any given time. Tales of Arise isn’t a game that requires much grinding – if any at all. Nonetheless, follow the advice to give yourself a handy boost that may just prove the difference in those tough spots.
Hopefully this guide of how to level up fast in Tales of Arise was helpful. If so, check out some of our other tips and guides below:
