Neverwinter Leveling Guide 1-70

Neverwinter as MMO is relatively friendly to players when it comes to getting up to the max level. It can be done relatively quickly and there are actually multiple ways of doing so. In this article we are going through the different approaches as well as available boosts and the recommended gear.

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Leveling Options

As mentioned there are multiple ways of getting to level 70. You can just use one of them, or mix activities to give your sessions a different feel. Mixing it up is also a great way of experiencing more of the stuff the game has to offer.

Leveling Through the Story

Let’s start with the most obvious one. Logging into the game and completing the tutorial, you can just follow your main contact Sergeant Knox and the sparkly quest trail. It’ll send you in level-appropriate adventure zones, some side quests, and will eventually bring you up to level 70. From 1-60 you’ll first complete the main story line before diving into Elemental Evil from 61-70. The main advantage here is obviously that you experience the full story of the game. Additionally you slowly earn powers and can get used to the game’s combat style and your class. This is suggested for new players, and even to a lesser extent for experienced ones that start a new class.

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Completing all quests is not the fastest way to do things unfortunately. Normally you want to switch zones as soon as higher ones become available to get the most XP for killing mobs. Often you can access new zones before having finished all quests in the previous ones. So it’s a decision between playing the story and being more efficient. For level ranges you can look up the wiki. Please note that you can usually pick up the intro quest and enter zones one or two levels earlier than stated.

Leveling Through Dungeons

A very potent way of leveling up is using the random queues. Bringing up the queue window (standard hotkey “k”), you’ll see a tab called “random” with at least two available queues in it. Random queues throw you into random content with random players, and grant a substantial amount of XP. You’ll also earn Astral Diamonds in the process, one of the more important currencies of the game. Unfortunately each queue is subject to diminishing returns. The first one will grant you a big amount of XP and AD, subsequent ones much less. You should definitely do the available random queues once per day, but it might be better to switch to other stuff after that.

It’s important to know that dungeons are farm content in this game. If you take your time looking around, you might get barked at for not keeping pace. Because of the game’s design, endgame players get thrown into the lower level dungeons on their daily routines. They want to get over it as quickly as possible, and it’s advised to not interfere. For a sightseeing run it’s best to manually recruit a group in the lower level adventure zones.

This unfortunately doesn’t make early dungeons a good setting to learn your class and role in a group, and is one of the main downsides of the system.

Leveling Through PVP

Although it’s possible, leveling through PVP is not recommended unless you are really interested in the game mode. There’s a decent chance you’ll either run into low-level alts of powerful accounts that are much superior, or bots. It’s not fun and solely for leveling purposes not worth the effort, especially since the rewards for losing a game are abysmal.

Leveling Through Real Money

Money might not be everything, but it certainly can get you to 70 in a heartbeat. If you’ve already made it through the main story up to level 60, you can invest 30$ to instantly complete the Elemental Evil campaign and get boosted to level 70. In case you also want to skip the content up to level 60, you need to pay 50$ for a package that includes a full boost, Elemental Evil campaign completion and some basic gear and bags to start off your adventure.

To buy stuff in on the ZEN market, you need an ingame currency called “ZEN”. You can either charge it with real money or use an ingame exchange to convert your Astral Diamonds. It’s very unlikely however that you get anywhere near the required amount of ADs for a level boost as a new players on your way to 70.

Leveling Through Killing Higher Level / Elite Mobs

Especially in earlier versions of the game it was viable to go into certain areas, team up with a higher ranked mate and kill big so-called “elite” mobs. One example are the Cloud Giants in Spinward Rise, a 67+ level area. Also all content in which you are scaled to a higher level (Guild Strongholds or certain events or campaign quests) dished out great XP. This is still working for Illusionist’s Gambit, which dishes out great XP on lower levels. Not sure about other content, but it makes sense to ask around.

So with that being said, this guide by Youtuber Garlaanx and this guide by Youtuber Mini may or may not be still working.

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Leveling Gear

Now that you know your options in getting to level 70, let’s go over the gear for your journey. Generally it’s just fine to pick up what the mobs drop. You should have no trouble completing leveling with whatever green loot they throw at you. Running your daily random queues will also net you some Seal of the Adventurer, with which you can buy level appropriate gear at the vendor inside the Seven Suns Coster Market in Protector’s Enclave. Also make sure to claim your daily dungeon chest key at the Keymaster. It opens the loot chest at the end of dungeons for some extra gear and seals.

Scaling Weapons

Neverwinter additionally offers some gear that scales with your level. The wiki has a pretty extensive list and as you can see some stuff helps from 1 through 60 or even all the way up to 70. The advantage of using scaling gear is obvious. You never have to care about upgrading it while leveling. Most obtainable should be the “Dragon Bone” (1-60) gear, later you can also look into “Ensorcelled Mulhorand” (1-70) stuff. All of this is available on the Auction House and it should be among the first things you buy with Astral Diamonds.

Scaling Gear

Not mentioned on the wiki is scaling gear. It can be bought from the Fury of the Feywild campaign that starts at level 64. It’s really cheap and I definitely recommend claiming it from the campaign store as soon as possible. The Dread Ring and Tyranny of Dragon campaigns offer similar options, but those don’t become available before 70.

Leveling Helpers

Outside the big boosts on the ZEN market, you can still get your hand on some handy minor helpers that, temporarily or permanently, grant experience bonuses.

Guild Membership

Being a member of a guild comes with many benefits, and one of them are the boons. Guilds level up a Stronghold together and unlock structures that grant permanent stat boosts. So it’s definitely advised to look for a guild as early as possible. Most should have the XP boon available, which depending on the guild’s rank varies from a 3%  to 30% boost. You can find and select the boon by bringing up the character sheet and browsing to the “Boons” -> “Stronghold” tab. The XP boon is located on the top left corner of the “utility” section.

VIP Bonus

The VIP program is an optional subscription that comes with many perks, including a 10% experience bonus. One month is available for 1,000 ZEN, or roughly 10$. If you’re serious about the game, VIP is a true must-have. Later you can earn enough Astral Diamonds to subscribe for free using the ingame ZEN exchange, early on however you need to charge ZEN with real money in case you want to be a VIP right away.

Refer-a-Friend Program

The “Refer-a-Friend” program is a great helper especially for new players that level their first character. A detailed review can be found here, but the tl;dr is that you should seek an invite code from a veteran player. Just ask around on the message platforms or our Discord.

Azure Enchantments

Starting at roughly level 30, some armor pieces will feature so-called “utility slots”. Slotting enchantments in them will come with benefits, such as experience bonuses. The enchantment you’re looking for is the Azure Enchantment, Rank 7, which should be available for little AD on the Auction House. It adds +12% experience per slot.

Giveaway Packs

PWE regularly teams up with partners for some minor giveaways. These usually reward packs like the Neverwinter Vanguard Pack, which include a XP Booster. If you’re running into such a giveaway, it can’t hurt to grab a code and use the experience while leveling up.

Invoking

A minor source of experience is the daily invoke cycle. Starting at level 11, and accepting the introductory quest at the Shrine of the Gods in Protectors Enclave, you can pray (standard keybind CTRL+I) at any campfire or by using Portable Altars that drop quite frequently from mobs. Besides a stat boost and potions, you’ll also get some XP. So make sure to invoke whenever it becomes available.


I hope this guide helped you maneuvering through your way to level 70! As said, Neverwinter doesn’t make it too hard initially, the true grind for gear and riches starts after reaching the cap. In case you have any questions or remarks, make sure to leave a comment below and visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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j0Shi

j0Shi plays the Neverwinter MMORPG since the open BETA in 2013 and is a regular contributor to the blog and the whole UN:Project. Originally a Guardian Fighter, he has built up ALTs of all classes and plays on BIS/near-BIS level.