For Honor: Best Way to Farm XP

Updated:

08 Oct 2020

Disclaimer: I'm not going to talk about how much XP you get from orders. That's obvious and redundant, and if you don't even complete your orders, you clearly aren't very interested in maximizing your XP gain. Thousands of XP every other day, just for finishing tasks that shouldn't usually take you more than a few games at most, and that you can track 3 at a time. If you haven't been doing your orders, resolve to change that before reading on.

For Honor has been out for a long time, but there's never been a better time than now to get into it, whether for the first time or otherwise. There are more viable characters than ever before, and the most content the game has ever had to offer, be it game modes, maps, or cosmetics from color patterns/palettes to executions.

So, if you're newer to the game or you're a returning player trying to keep up, how do you emerge from the lower reps as quickly as possible? What's the fastest way to secure that triple-digit number enclosed in proud white wreaths? Let's explore.

First and Foremost, Champion Status

This is a tip that's nearly as obvious as completing your orders. However, even above 300 and 400 reputation, I see way too many players not using champion status.

Not using Champion Status is the next level of inefficiency below not doing your orders. Seriously, if you don't have champion status, GET CHAMPION STATUS. It is literally a 40% personal XP boost, that stacks (once, 20%) with other players, every single XP earning round, no matter what the settings are (PVP, PVAI, Solo PVAI). It is more than worth the steel cost (especially as leveling up helps you get steel, 100 for each reputation level achieved). Just make sure you buy as much at once as you can (for example, buying it for a month at a time instead of a week), or only buy it on weekends when you'll be playing the most. Both strategies are viable.

XP Boosts

In addition to Champion Status, make sure to use your daily XP Boosts. They stack together quite nicely, granting you a flat bonus 250 XP (50 XP for teammates, stackable, for a maximum total of 400 bonus XP for a full team using XP Boosts).

XP Boosts cost salvage, and they increase in price each time you use them (with the price resetting daily). The price per XP Boost until it resets is as follows:

1: 500
2: 1000
3: 3000
4: 8000
5 and above: 15000

As you can see, this means the most viable strategy is to stop at around 3 (maybe 4) XP Boosts per day. Salvage is NOT hard to get once you have a character consistently earning higher level gear for dismantling (in fact, for most players, salvage becomes so common it's worthless well before hitting rep 100). This will happen to you at an accelerated rate if you have Champion Status (because ANOTHER thing that essential item gives you is additional loot drops, meaning more dismantling gear for you).

If you're ever somehow in need of salvage or you're just starting out, the fastest way to get it is by having a character levelled up past rep 8 and playing 4v4 game modes with Champion Status active. Characters past rep 8 will always drop only Legendary (turquoise colored) gear upon completing matches, and each Legendary piece gives you no less than 105 and up to 145 salvage upon dismantling. Until you get a character to rep 8, though, salvage can be hard to get a lot of at once (even if you're only spending it on the only thing you should almost ever spend it on: XP Boosts), so make sure to be smart and only buy 1, maybe 2 boosts per day until you can get more at once.

Now that you've got the salvage, and you're ready to buy the XP Boosts, make sure to save your daily boosts for the following circumstances:

2 or 3 other teammates are using XP Boosts (again, they stack)
You're going to finish orders that round
You've done all your orders, you have loads of salvage lying around, and you haven't used any XP Boosts yet that day

Leveling Up New Characters

Now for a simpler one. You may not know this, but leveling up a character below rep.1 is faster than every rep afterwards. To be exact, it takes 26555 XP to reach rep 1, and 33000 XP to reach every rep afterwards. If you have any characters who aren't rep 1 yet, and you want to gain more overall reputation, level up new characters until they've hit rep 1. Not only will this give you quick overall rep, it will unlock all of each character's feats and teach you a few of the basics of how to play every character, making you a better player overall.

You don't even need to take the time to make them look pretty. Just level them up.

Which Game Modes to Grind XP With?

Now, the part you've all been waiting for: which game modes grant the most XP over the shortest period of time?

Answer: Breach and Dominion. Both award the most XP for their time investment. Additionally, since XP is awarded based on duration of the matches, Breach is a fantastic choice if you have the time (and the patience for the matchmaking). Dominion works fine as well, as you trade match length for a higher volume of matches.