Black Desert Online – Fastest Leveling Guide (1 to 61) in 2023

Introduction

This guide focuses on grinding to level alt characters in the most efficient way possible. There are several ways to level your character, and the path you take may alter based on whether this is your first character or not.

New Players

If this is your first character, I suggest you to create a Season Character (if the seasons are active) and continue the main plot questline. You'll be about level 55 or 56 after completing the Mediah questline. You may need to grind a few more levels to be able to follow the recommended 56+ leveling areas in this tutorial. If it is an alt character, feel free to level in whatever way you want. You don’t have to do the main questline if you don’t want to, but you may miss out on inventory slots.

Veteran Players

If you have completed the main story quests at least once on your main/alt character, you don’t have to do them again and can fast track by grinding instead. If it is a Season Character, you can take the “Simplified questline” to complete all of the requirements for the season pass, or you can follow the main questline if that’s what you prefer. If you take the Simplified questline, then you need to level yourself, either by following this guide or asking a friend to power level you.

Leveling EXP Buffs

There are two different types of EXP buffs:

Combat EXP
- This increases your Level EXP gained when killing monsters. It doesn’t affect the EXP you gain from questing.
Skill EXP
- This increases your Skill EXP gained when killing monsters. When your “Skill Level” gets to 100%, you will gain Skill points to allocate to your class skills.

For a full list of Combat and Skill EXP buffs, click here!

Party EXP Buffs

Although most spots are designed for solo grinding, there are a few places that support groups of 2, 3, or 5 players, and will drop separate loot for each player. When monsters are killed in a party, the combat EXP from the monster is shared between all party members. However, the EXP you gain isn’t just equally split depending on the number of people in the party. The share is actually higher, to incentivize leveling in a group.

For example:

With 2 people in the party, a monster that gives 100 EXP, would give 60 EXP to party member 1, and 60 EXP to party member 2.
With 3 people in the party, a monster that gives 100 EXP, would give 50 EXP to party member 1, 50 EXP to party member 2, and 50 EXP to party member 3.

There is also no difference in EXP gain when you have 3 party members versus 5 party members. This makes 3 person grind locations like Mirumok ideal for power-leveling others.

Party Members	Combat EXP per person
1 (solo)	100%
2	60%
3	50%
4	50%
5	50%

AFK Leveling

You can AFK level at the Training Dummies using a Book of Training if you are level 50 or higher.
AFK leveling can boost your Skill and Combat EXP.
The Book of Training costs 1 million silver per hour, and the amount of EXP you gain is less than grinding.
You can use EXP buffs to increase the amount of EXP you get when AFK leveling.
For more information check our AFK Leveling guide.

Power leveling

When a high-level player kills monsters while you are in a party and standing nearby, this is known as power leveling. You will gain EXP for killing enemies and will be able to level up swiftly. Powerleveling to level 56 can take as short as 2 hours if the person helping you has strong AP and you use all available EXP buffs. However, I only recommend power leveling an alt character, not your main or first character. This is due to the fact that power leveling leaves you with relatively few skill points (about 400-500), and you will not be able to obtain all of the abilities required to grind on your own. Furthermore, if that's your first character, it is suggested that you create a season character so that you can receive a strong start with gear. (Tuvala gear) Season characters require you to complete the main plot quest, so you'll have to accomplish it sooner or later.If your buddies are ready to assist you all the way, you should be alright; however, please keep in mind that power leveling to the level you choose will not prevent you from having to grind for more money/skill points. It's also worth noting that if there's a 10-level difference between the top and lowest level character, none of the party members will receive loot.

Max Level and EXP required per level

Although there is no level cap in Black Desert, the "soft cap" for levels is regarded to be 62. There are slight boosts for getting higher levels once you reach level 62, thus grinding for EXP is no longer necessary. After reaching level 61/62, you can concentrate on grinding for other objectives in order to upgrade your gear. The highest current level reached by a player is level 68. (in 2023)

Level	EXP Required	Level	EXP Required	Level	EXP Required	Level	EXP Required
1- 4	1	20	640.005	36	21.767.828	52	1.245.715.896
5	161	21	857.666	37	25.657.269	53	1.868.573.844
6	472	22	1.133.804	38	30.109.369	54	2.802.860.766
7	1.181	23	1.480.364	39	35.187.443	55	8.408.582.298
8	2.626	24	1.911.035	40	40.960.005	56	21.021.455.745
9	5.319	25	2.441.411	41	47.501.047	57	52.553.639.363
10	10.005	26	3.089.163	42	54.890.322	58	105.107.278.725
11	17.721	27	3.874.210	43	63.213.635	59	210.214.557.450
12	29.865	28	4.818.908	44	72.563.144	60	630.643.672.350
13	48.273	29	5.948.238	45	83.037.661	61	1.261.287.344.700
14	75.300	30	7.290.005	46	94.742.974	62	2.522.574.689.400
15	113.911	31	8.875.042	47	118.571.374	63	5.045.149.378.800
16	167.777	32	10.737.423	48	158.997.683	64	10.090.298.757.600
17	241.381	33	12.914.685	49	207.619.316	65	20.180.597.515.200
18	340.127	34	15.448.049	50	415.238.632	66-100	403,611,950,304,000
19	470.464	35	18.382.661	51	830.477.264

Starting Zone and Tutorial

When creating a new character, all new characters must choose a starting zone. You can select either the Ancient Stone Chamber or the Mountain of Eternal Winter. For the smoothest leveling experience, I would personally recommend the Ancient Stone Chamber. You can still complete the Mountain of Eternal Winter questline on your character at a later time. Also, if you choose the Mountain of Ethernal Winter, you may become stuck on a level.

Recommended Leveling Zones (1-61)

Levels 1 – 15

Season Characters:

For the early levels, follow the main story quests. When you arrive at Velia town, you will talk to Alustin and will have the option to follow the Main Story, or take the Simplified Questline.

If you are a new player and it is your first character, please level to 56 first by selecting the “[Crossroad] Main” option and following the main story quests: Balenos > Serendia > Calpheon > Mediah.
Take the Simplified Questline option if this is an alt character and you would like to level via grinding.

Requirements for the Simplified Questline:

Completed the “[Pet] Bareed’s Junaid” quest from Bareed in Mediah
- This pet quest can be found in your Suggested quest tab under “[ADV Support] Pets, Loyal Companions”.

After taking the Simplified questline, return to Fughar to complete the remaining missions up to "[Season] Following in His Footsteps". You can now level up by grinding and using our recommended leveling sites. After reaching certain levels, you won't need to go back to a NPC to complete the quests. You will use Black Spirit to acquire all of the awards normally obtained by completing the main plot quests.

Kill the monsters outside of Velia to level up to 15.

Levels 15 – 21

We will then travel to Moretti Plantation, which is located just outside of Heidel. You want to kill all of the creatures in this area until you reach level 21.

Levels 21 – 25

Kill the monsters at Glish Swamp for levels 21 to 25.

Levels 25 – 30

Next, move over to Bloody Monastery, located south of Glish, for level 25 to 30.

Levels 30 – 35

Move to Red Orc Camp (west of Heidel/Glish) for level 30 to 35.

Levels 35 – 40

You can kill monsters at Keplan Mine (north of Keplan) for level 35 – 40.

Levels 40 – 45

Next, move to Saunils Camp (southwest of Keplan) for levels 40 to 45.

Levels 45 – 48

For levels 45 to 48, kill the monsters in Mansha Forest (west of Calpheon)

Levels 48 – 52

For levels 48 to 52, you can kill the Catfishmen at Lake Kaia.

When you reach level 49, a popup will appear at the top of your screen saying “To complete the [To Level 50!] Go Beyond Your Own Limits quest and level up, you must summon the Black Spirit (,).”

Summon your Black Spirit and take the quest “[To Level 50! Go Beyond Your Own Limits“
You will get an item called “Clear Memory Piece” in your inventory, right-click the item then talk to the Black Spirit to complete the quest.
You cannot level past 49 if you don’t complete this quest.

Levels 52 – 56

For levels 52 to 56, you have a various options for grinding, depending on your existing gear.

Easier Spots:

Helms Post

Recommended AP: 80
Recommended DP: 120

Manes Hideout

Recommended AP: 80
Recommended DP: 120

Harder Spots: (Still easy with full tuvala gear)

Polly Forest

Recommended AP: 160
Recommended DP: 200

Levels 56 – 58

For level 56 – 58 you also have a few options for where to grind. At level 56, you also want to go and complete your class Succession and Awakening quests to fully unlock your skill tree. These quests are obtainable from your Black Spirit, and can be found in your quest log (O) under Suggestions. Polly Forest

Recommended AP: 160
Recommended DP: 200

Desert Naga Temple

Recommended AP: 100
Recommended DP: 200

Titium Valley (Desert Fogans)

Recommended AP: 100
Recommended DP: 200

Gahaz Bandits

Recommended AP: 140
Recommended DP: 230

Shultz Guard (Party spot for 3 members)

Recommended AP: 240
Recommended DP: 270

Level 58 – 61 (Questing)

You can grind between levels 58 and 61 by questing too. Ofc you can still grind monsters, but questing is faster and does not involve monster killing, therefore you don't need gear to level up. Questing is also the quickest way to level up to 60 - 61, taking about an hour. In order to level via questing, you will need to complete a long questline to obtain the “Chenga Tome“. This item can be equipped on any of your characters (including Season Characters) and gives increased EXP from quests – making it vital if you would like to level via questing. Use the following guides if you would like to level via questing:

Level 58 or higher (Grinding)

There are also various other grinding locations in the game and all have different requirements, silver per hour, item drops, etc. At this point, you want to basically grind where is best for you and what you are looking to achieve. For example, you may want to start grinding for the Infinite Potions if you are a new player.