With the launch of Icarus, everyone will be starting fresh with nothing unlocked. While players who have been participating in the betas may already have the basics planned, new players will need to figure everything out from scratch. In Icarus, you get experience for pretty much every action you do, so working out the most efficient leveling methods can be challenging. Not to worry, though, because we’re here with some tips and tricks for you. Here’s our guide on how to gain XP fast in Icarus.
Before diving into the nitty-gritty details, it’s important to note that you gain experience for most actions you do in Icarus. That includes things like building, mining, gathering, crafting, and hunting. You’ll gain tech points and talent points every time you level to spend how you please, including bonus points when you hit different milestones. Some of these points can be invested into things that will help you level faster, so it’s a good idea to plan out your build ahead of time.
How to Gain XP Fast in Icarus
Here are some things you can do to gain XP fast in Icarus:
Talent Points
As we mentioned, you gain talent points when you level up in Icarus. Some good things you can spend your talent points on are Speedy Mining and Speed Chopper inside the construction tree in the talent points menu. Speedy mining increases your pickaxe swing speed by 10%, while Speed Chopper increases your axe swing speed by 10%.
Other talents to consider could include Marathon Runner and
Chase ‘Em Down. Marathon Runner increases your maximum stamina by ten, while Chase ‘Em Down also does the same. That means having both of these will give you 20 extra stamina to work with, allowing you to stay out longer and level more efficiently.
Other talents to consider are Lucky Strike, which gives you a 1% chance to break mineral or ore deposits instantly while mining. If you use this and farm the large rocks and other minerals, you can gain literally half a level in a single swing. You can get some crazy fast leveling in using this method.
Gathering
Gathering is a no-brainer in Icarus, but it’s an important thing to remember. You should be gathering everything, as it not only grants you experience, but you will also use most, if not all, of the materials you collect.
As long as you craft an axe and pickaxe early, you’ll also want to start chopping down lots of trees and mining nodes. You’re going to need that wood when it comes down to crafting wood floors, beams, and other structures.
Remember to spend a point to unlock something like wood beams, so you’ll have something to make with all the wood. Make the wood beams with wood and fiber, and then destroy them to salvage the materials. You can rinse and repeat this process for some solid experience.
The same can be said for mining. Focus on mining stone, iron, and sulfur in the early game using a stone pickaxe. Make a stone furnace to smelt down the iron, create an anvil, and prioritize getting an iron pickaxe. The iron pickaxe will give you better yield, as well as XP gain, so you can then go back to gathering more iron and make the rest of your iron tools.
Crafting
You’ll want to put all those gathered materials to good use by crafting them into items. Some easy things to craft in the early game are bandages and arrows. These are not only good for experience, but you will be using these bandages to heal and arrows to hunt down animals, so there’s no reason not to do this.
For the first few levels in the game, gathering and crafting will be how you gain most of your levels. Gather as much as possible, and then craft as much as possible. Then, use those freshly-made arrows to do some hunting, leading us into the next method for gaining experience.
Hunting and Killing
Another great way to earn XP fast in Icarus is by killing wolves in the arctic or snowy area. Wolves are abundant in this area compared to the forest, for instance. Now, you will need some Fur Armor so that you don’t freeze to death. You can make this at the armor bench using Fur, Armor, and Rope materials.
Killing animals in Icarus is one of the best ways to get experience, and there are packs of them to farm consistently in the arctic. Using a knife is an excellent way to slay wolves quickly, as it only takes around two hits to bring them down. You will be receiving a couple of thousand experience points for every kill, making this one of the best ways to level quickly.
Farm this spot for a while, and you should have no problem leveling up so that you can mess with the entire tech tree and experience all the game has to offer.
Remember to maximize your stamina. Sleeping every night, even if only for an hour, will give you a rested buff, increasing your stamina. Another thing you can do is eat food like berries, fish, and fish to max out that stamina. Also, try not to die because if you do, you’ll lose all that hard-earned XP within your current level. It can be a real setback if you die when you’re at a high level.
The concludes our guide on how to gain XP fast in Icarus. Remember, there are tons of ways to level, but you should have all the knowledge you need to get started.
