Final Fantasy 15: how to level up quickly to reach the max level cap

Boost levels rapid-like with these simple tips.

Final Fantasy 15 features all the EXP and level-up based shenanigans you'd expect for a big-budget, large-scale RPG, though it does take something of an interesting approach to how experience works in the game, and even though it's been out for a while new players of FF15 Royal Edition and Windows Edition on PC are likely experiencing it for the first time and stumbling into the same questions PS4 and Xbox One owners did in 2016.

There are a number of ways to gain experience that are pretty useful and beyond that a number of ways to multiply the experience you earn for maximum impact in-game. FF15 features some pretty ambitious post-game and late-game quests that'll require you to level way beyond the bounds that the story expects you to - and that means you'll want to maximise every single point of EXP you earn. Here's our guide to all that, ensuring you maximize all your battles to earn the most experience possible to boost yourself closer to that level cap.

• Once you feel like your level is beefy enough, ensure you're fully prepared with the rest of our Final Fantasy 15 Guide!

Final Fantasy 15 Max Level Cap: What is it? How many EXP to reach it?

Currently, the level cap in Final Fantasy 15 is level 120. To reach it you'll need somewhere in the region of 25-27 million EXP - which is a whole lot of EXP. Even one of the most rewarding monsters for EXP in the game, the Cactaur, would need to be slayed thousands of times to reach it - but it's totally possible. Our tips will help, if you're so inclined...

How to earn a lot of EXP fast in FF15 - to grinding tips

The main story in FF15 is pretty generous with the experience, but regardless the fastest way to earn experience is by digging into some of the sidequest content.

Here's the thing: sidequests end up rewarding you EXP in two ways. Most side quests will toss some enemies your way in one way or another, and then on top of that you'll get large drops of EXP when you turn the quests in. This can be 500 or more even for the basic quests in the early chapters of the game, and it only gets better from there. The one exception to this is hunts, which offer much larger EXP boons on the death of the target but only other rewards like gil and items when you turn them back in to an NPC at a restaurant.

To locate side quests in FF15 take a look at your map and look for the icons that are yellow question marks. Be wary that sometimes these icons can get lost in the mess of the map: a lot of quest-giving NPCs are located around towns and outposts, and those places are already flooded with icons anyway. Sometimes the question mark icons hide away underneath icons.

Here's a little bonus tip: you can turn off types of icon on the map, so to track down sidequests turn off all other icon types for a moment and take a look at a cleared map - much easier.

Anyway - these are the fastest ways to gain experience, through side quests and hunts - so get to them both - but not before considering step two.

Eat regularly for EXP boosts and other bonuses

We can't stress enough just how important it is to eat. Not in the real world, though that's important too, but in the world of FF15. Eating either Ignis' cooking or in restaurants offers huge bonuses, and in the late game these bonuses might actually prove vital to surviving a dungeon or defeating a nasty boss.

We're not that interested in the bonuses to health and attack and things for the purposes of this guide, but we are interested in the various foods in the game that can actively boost your experience. Here's a list of a few we've found, plus what ingredients you'll need to cook them or what diner to find them in.

How to cook or find EXP-boosting meals

• Stacked Ham Sandwich: +50% EXP (and +200 HP) - Cooked by Ignis. Ingredients are Garula Sirloin, Fire Gighee Ham & Aegir Root.
• Mother & Child Rice Bowl: +30% EXP (and +50% Drop Rate, +1000 HP) - Cooked by Ignis. Requires Chickatrice Egg, Birdbeast Egg, Saxham Rice.
• Royal Banquet Canape: +50% EXP (and +75 to Strength/Magic) - Cooked by Ignis. Requires Arapaima Roe, Kettier Ginger and Allural Shallot.
• Lasagne al Forno: +100 EXP (and +4000 HP) - Cooked by Ignis. Requires cooking level 9 and ingredients Jabberwock Sirloin, Cleigne Darkshell and Fine Cleigne Wheat.
• Galdin Gratin: +10% EXP (and +50% Strength/Magic, +500 HP) - Mother of Pearl Restaurant @ Galdin Quay
• Fat Chocobo Triple Decker: +50% EXP (and +400 HP) - Wiz Chocobo outpost after 'A Feathery Feast' sidequest
• Fine Caviar Canape: +50% EXP (and +75 to Strength/Magic) - Maagho, Altissa.
• Maagho Lasagna: +100 EXP (and +4000 HP) - Maagho, Altissa.

Use EXP boost bonuses wisely to level up fast

FF15 uses an interesting way of processing experience earned through questing and fighting – all experience gained must be ‘banked’ by sleeping. This can either be by making camp or by staying somewhere more swanky, such as a hotel.

Every type of accommodation in FF15’s world has an experience bonus associated with it. The top accommodation in the world is the Royal Suite in the Leville in Altissa - that offers a three times experience bonus but also costs a whopping 30,000 gil per night.

Earlier in the game you can find the hotel in Galdin Quay costs 10,000 gil but offers a 2x EXP boost - handy.

Remember, too, that once you reach the end-game of FF15 you can use Umbra to 'travel back to the past' in order to sleep in these locations to get the EXP bonus - when you travel back to the previous version of FF15's world, your EXP and levels come with you.

Anyway, the crux of this is simple: Keep an eye on the EXP bonus offered by each area where you can stay. You can get a good 1.5x EXP bonus for just 300 gil in a few spots, which is pretty good. Always try to save up EXP and bank it all in a place that’ll give you a nice bonus.