Destiny - How to Earn XP Quickly and Rank Up Fast

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Rejoice - Destiny is out now! So the first thing you're going to want to do is rank up fast and unlock the best weapons, gear and accessories. Not only will XP help in the missions but it's going to give you a significant advantage in PvP where players with better weapons have a better chance of success.

The harder missions have a recommended level for a good reason. They're an indicator of the level you should be at to attempt the mission. The Earth missions are relatively easy but the level soon increases to 6 for the Moon quests and then again for the other planets. Therefore, increasing your rank quickly will make it easier for you to take on the harder missions and venture to the more interesting planets.

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Beginners guide to earning XP quickly in Destiny.

Concentrate on the story quests first

The first tip for ranking up fast is to concentrate on the quests and storyline rather than multiplayer game types such as domination, this applies more when you're at a lower rank. I know how much fun multiplayer can be and the story may not be the thing you want to do, but stick to it until level 4 because at that level you can replay earlier missions at a harder difficulty.

Later missions may offer you more XP but they are significantly longer. I found it easier to replay the earlier missions on a harder difficulty and earn more XP, a lot more actually. So instead of going off on other missions after level 4, yes they give you more XP but you spend over an hour doing it.

The early missions take 10-15 mins to complete, earning you around 2000XP. So do the math and you'll see that side by side, you're earning 8000XP compared to only 5000XP per hour on the later missions.

The downside to this strategy is the repetitiveness and it's a tough choice to defer the story to replay missions you've already done.

Note: Due to a recent patch from Bungie, you can no longer earn XP rewards for replaying missions on a harder difficulty. Therefore the best tactic is to reply with "Farming" in mind (see below).

Earn Bounties

At level 6 you unlock Bounties which are rewards for completing particular challenges such as killing a certain number of enemies of a certain species or class, or killing a certain number of enemies without dying. These challenges can be found in the Tower (from Xander 99-40) which is also where the reward is paid.

To find the bounty board, follow the second set of steps up the Tower and you'll see a square board with 3 circles and several coloured bars on the left. This is where you view and select bounties to add to your inventory.

Bounties are such a great way to earn XP because a single bounty can reward you with up to 5000XP. To put that into perspective, a 5000XP reward would be almost enough to move you from rank 9 to 10 immediately.

Bounties come in two basic forms; the Crucible and Vanguard bounties. The Crucible challenges offer reputation and experience for tasks completed in the Crucible whereas the Vanguard tasks all take place on Patrols, Strikes or Raids.

Bounties are selected from the Bounty Tracker screen and the list of available challenges will refresh every 24 hours. Note the countdown timer located under the bounties, this tells you when the list will refresh giving you the chance to earn more XP from the next batch.

Important: Do not under estimate Bounties, they're the best way to earn XP quickly in the lower levels!

An example of a bounty is:

Cleansing Light (Vangaurd Bounty)
Kill 3 or more enemies with a single super use, 20 times
Reward: 2500XP

Tip: Pick the easiest bounties first such as earning first blood medals or killing X number of enemies without dying. That way you'll find that XP comes rolling in without too much effort or time.

XP Farming

When people think of farming they sometimes mistake it for cheating, but it's not. Farming is a great tactic to produce XP on a regular and consistent basis.

In Destiny, you earn XP for killing enemies, that's a fact. So your farming strategy needs to give you the best chance of killing enemies in a short space of time, with the least amount of effort and difficulty. You then need a way to "rinse and repeat".

Missions come in a variety of forms, with some requiring you to scout areas with minimal enemy resistance. Avoid these! Instead focus on the missions with intense fights and repeatable sections. As you play through the story you'll know which missions are repeatable and which ones you enjoy too.

Earth is a slow start, so focus on Bounties while you progress through those. But once you reach Moon you'll find that several of the missions are repeatable because of the onslaught of enemies. In particular The Sword of Crota is easy thanks to the Sword, Shrine of Oryx has a nice repeatable area and The Dark Beyond provides a convenient Rinse and Repeat as well, see below.

XP Farming Example: Moon: The Dark Beyond

You'll get a cutscene about halfway through this mission which then opens the door to the Temple of Crota. Enemies flood through the narrow doorway giving you the perfect chance to wipe them out with little inconvenience. Venture inside, kill more enemies and as long as you don't kill the Knight you can kill yourself (jump into the void) and repeat the same area again and again.

XP Farming Example: Moon: Shrine of Oryx

Start the mission and run all the way up until the No Respawn warning appears. That's the new checkpoint so you're ready to repeat this area. Turn right and drop down to 3 Dregs and 8 Hollowed Acolytes. Kill everything in that room. Then after they're dead, jump off the cliff into the yellow void and kill yourself. Repeat the process as many times as you want.

You'll find that as your level increases, you can replay this mission on a harder difficulty and the enemies will drop more precious loot.

Play the Daily Challenge

Daily Challenges are a great way to focus your efforts on earning quick XP.

On the Destiny planet view you'll see 3 icons on the LHS (if your rank is high enough). Hover over the first of these icons to see which mode has "Bonus XP" associated with it. In the image above the Crucible "Control" mode has the little green XP Bonus sign.

Make a mental note of the game mode which has the XP Bonus, go to the Crucible and play the hell out of that game mode for the additional bonus. Don't play any other Crucible game modes because they won't offer you anything.

This challenge refreshes every 24 hours so you won't get sick of any one particular mode as you work your way through the levels.

More tips for ranking up quickly coming soon...