Maximizing Experience Points

In general, kill as many monsters as you can, even if it means lurking in dangerous places. You have swallow potions, so make the most of them! And if you run out, brew some more! For each level Geralt advances, the experience points (XP) you get per monster are reduced by 5 XP and the XP you require to reach the next level increases by 1000 points. This means that killing foes sooner than later is more beneficial. Only your patience (or lack thereof) limits the amount of experience points you can rack up.
Another obvious exploit is the way the game handles the passage of time. Because it does not actually affect gameplay, quests can be put off indefinitely while you rack up additional experience points. Below is a chapter-by-chapter guide on how to earn that extra XP:
Be forewarned that any XP you gain from killing monsters depends on your level at the time, so any deviation from the numbers mentioned below is perfectly normal.
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There is an endless supply of Salamandra if Geralt chooses to fight the frightener during the assault on Kaer Morhen. This can be exploited by postponing finishing the fight. Simply do not ring the bells, avoid the frightener, and stay near the entrance. This allows Geralt to kill bandits without advancing the main battle (with the frightener). Each bandit is worth 10 XP.
Note: To allow new bandits to respawn, you must rotate the camera so that the entrance is not in your field of view. Bandits only appear if Geralt has his back turned to them... It is possible to gain an extra level this way, but it does take a while. Note: this is not in effect in the Enhanced Edition.
Fistfight with Eskel: After giving Triss the potion, do not choose any option that indicates you do not have time or suggests meeting with Vesemir, tell Triss you have things to do first. Then go back down to the armory where Eskel is wandering. When you talk to him, he will offer you hand-to-hand training. Accept his offer and of course defeat him. This is your only chance. He will not be available for the rest of the game. (This paragraph is added by an anonymous user in 2022)
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Declan Leuvaarden has an optional quest you can miss if you never go to the inn during daytime. Make sure to finish it before the main quests of Chapter 1.
If you are not afraid of losing money, you should finish the quest Dice Poker: The Novice. To point out the obvious, saving the game before starting the poker games and loading that save after you lost, prevents you from losing money.
Use a circular farming route along the street and the river to kill Barghests ( 60 xp at lv 4) and Drowner (70 xp at lv 4) in the night, Ghuls (120 xp at lv 4) in the crypt in the southeast and Echinopsae (130 xp at lv 4) in the cave in the northwest of the map at every time (simply leave and re-enter the location). Barghests skulls are worth 5 each if you sell them to Abigail.
Echinopsae can be found in the cave to the west of the Maribor Gate to Vizima. There are seven of them in the cave (Technically, on your first visit, there are eight of them, but the eighth one does not respawn).
*Note: A torch is a surprisingly good weapon against echinopsae.
*Note: One incineration effect will usually kill an echinops, Geralt can duck behind cover after using Igni and simply wait for the echinopsae to die enabling you to acquire kills with minimal risk.
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Don't talk with the Detective/private-eye until you finish the Rat quest.
Don't finish any Suspect quests by finding Raymond's body. This causes a huge amount of XP loss.
Finish Memory of a Blade quest within Chapter 2.
Don't forget to finish Old Friend of Mine quest after finishing Anatomy of a Crime quest. It must be finished before opening The Mage's Tower. Because it does not continue in Chapter 3.
Wyvern Island is a good place to rack up a few extra XP (wyvern: 125 XP at Level 20). It is also worthwhile running around the swamp at night. This early in the game, bloedzuigers (65 XP at Level 20) are quite abundant. I use the Igni on them and just keep running around them until they die from the incineration (this avoids taking damage from their poisonous spray when they die).
Near the collapsed towers, to the east of Wyvern Island, there is a campfire and at night the place is crawling with ghouls and alghouls. These re-spawn nightly, so killing them all and then using the campfire to wait for more is another way to gather XP. The alghouls (155 XP at Level 20) are tougher but much more rewarding in XP terms. Alghouls and Ghouls can also contain White Vinegar, which can be sold to Kalkstein for 20 per vial.
You can easily level up in the Vizima sewers by slaying graveirs in the crypt. Take the Finders Keepers quest to get the key. You will eventually find the heirloom and then four graveirs (200 XP at Level 20) each time you enter the crypt. There are also some re-spawning ghouls, but less frequently so. Another method is to use the fireplace within the crypt to rest, this will not only restore Geralt's vitality but also re-set the zone exactly as if you'd just re-entered the crypt. The entrance and the fireplace are on opposite ends of the crypt thus allowing you to make a circuit clearing the crypt of monsters as you head in one direction, resetting when you reach either end and having a new set to clear on the return trip with no extra time spent on backtracking before resetting the zone. At level 20 that's 1600 XP per circuit from graveirs alone.
You can also slay the random fleders which spawn around town. Salamandra assassins roam the nonhuman district and make easy pickings of around 50 XP each and loot (50-120 ).
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Do not start any action. Buy the book to skin alps. Go to the Elven ruins in the sewers in the Trade Quarter. BEFORE accepting the Quest Echoes of Yesterday, there will be an endless supply of one Alp (510 xp at lv 24), one Fleder and one Ghoul. Just use the campfire in the room adjacent to the room with the teleporter and the throne and meditate 1 hour to respawn them. In previous versions Geralt could use the teleporter to trigger respawn, in the Enhanced Edition this ist no longer possible.
Don't start A Posh Reception quest before you finish the quests named Six Feet Under and Echoes of Yesterday. If you start A Posh Reception first, you will lose one of the other two. Simply not going to the second floor of the The New Narakort inn is enough to not start A Posh Reception. Warning, if you leave A Posh Reception to the last as recommended, right after it, quest named Gold Rush will start immediately. Make sure your pockets are empty enough for looting.
Use the warehouse near the bank as hunting ground: during Gold Rush, you can decide to enter the bank through the warehouse, which is linked to the town hall. Once you have the key, you can enter it for the rest of Chapter III. There will be some Fleders, and after dispatching the initial group you will respawn 3 Fleders in the first and 2 in the second floor every time Geralt re-enters the warehouse, which provides efficient farming. You can easily combine this with securing the abundant loot during this quest.
The best way to earn XP in Chapter III is in the swamp cave which is full of cockatrices. They are worth 725 XP at Level 20! They respawn roughly once a day, so use the fireplace just outside the cave to meditate for 24 hours. There are six of them per cave run, yielding a whopping 4500 XP total! In the EE there are 7-9 of them, but seems only for like 2-3 Level ups, after that it's just 6 every time.
Another good area to gather XP is the Swamp at night. There are tons of echinopsae, archespores, bloedzuigers, drowned dead, and drowners (more of a nuisance at this point, but still easy to kill). Also the path through the swamp, between the ruined tower and Wyvern Island offers many ghouls, alghouls and cemetaurs which appear at night and respawn every time Geralt meditates at the nearby campfire. Some caution should be exercised as a group of them will very quickly attack when Geralt finishes meditating.
Royal wyverns should replace the regular wyverns in the swamp after you knocked off Moa for the Royal huntsman trophy quest, and these are worth around 500 XP a piece. They spawn in groups of four, so 2000 XP per run. Do not get swarmed, they hit hard.
Kikimore warriors will also spawn all over the swamp, and they are worth 450+ XP a piece.
=== Extra Tips ===
* Make sure you have the bestiary entries for fleders, alps, bloedzuigers, wolves, royal wyverns, ghouls, cemetaurs, kikimores, archespores, cockatrices, and graveirs before doing the above. For contracts, and skinnable items see The Witcher Cheapskate's Guide.
* If you are farming the alp near the elven ruins and you also want ingredients from fleders and ghouls then it can be worthwhile to run straight to them without looting the alp corpse. Loot the alp corpse on your way back after you have slain them. However, if all you want is XP then it's quicker to just continue killing the alp.
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Basilisks! These are worth 1455 XP at level 35 each and while they do not respawn reliably, they do eventually as long as a certain level has not been reached. Past that level only 10 more of them will spawn, and after those 10 last kills they will cease to spawn altogether. You will find them on Black Tern Island, just west of the Lady of the Lake. There is also a colony of wyverns on the island, including a few royal wyverns and they also respawn (if not reliably).
The creatures in the crypt in the fields (which include garkains, cemetaurs, alps, fleders and alghouls) respawn at midnight. Simply use the nearby campfire to rest for 24 hours and they will be back. One full clear of the crypt nets around 5300 XP. Remember that Quen also illuminates your surroundings in case you are in need of lighting. However, there are four alps that will constantly respawn every time you enter the crypt, worth 400-500 XP each. A quick run can net at least 1600 XP per cycle, providing the highest XP gains in Chapter IV.
You can also kill time running around the fields killing monsters. During the day, there are quite a few noonwraiths and giant centipedes and at night there are devourers and centipedes.
Advance the quest The Heat of the Day to the point where you have seen the Midday bride but not to the point where you have to find her mirror. She will respawn at the Raspberry patch every time you meditate or reload the Fields map during daylight hours. Approach her when she is neutral (blue) and there is a cutscene, then she becomes aggressive (red). Killing her yields around 950 XP each time (yes, this is quite evil). You can also do this as long as you don't repair the pieces of the mirror that you've got from the other midday brides just in case you have already progressed the quest line. She will spawn every hour from dawn and before till dusk. The best way to take her down is to have a high level Aard and hope you stun her so you can one do a one hit.
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More basilisks. There is at least one basilisk in each one of the ancient tombs that can be accessed via the Wayfarer's stones, worth over 1400 XP each. Just because you do not have to visit all three ancient tombs to complete the game, does not mean that you should not!
The creatures in Raven's crypt all respawn after midnight and contains at least 24 wraiths, 16 fleders and 1 basilisk, though an average quick run will only have about 20 wraiths and 12 fleders because of how monsters reveal themselves. Meditating until midnight and then again meditating until a couple of hours before midnight will allow you to use potions, clear the crypt and then meditate an hour until midnight so that everything respawns, enabling you to get two full runs from one set of potions. Or better yet, measure how much it takes for you to clear the crypt and time the meditation so you can clear the crypt and come out of it at around 15-30 minutes before midnight.(Don't forget to count running from the campfire). Just chilling for a bit outside cave is less stressful than running to the campfire and back. Using this method, it will take about 36 runs or 18 sets of potions to level from 40 to 50, give or take a few runs/sets depending how thorough you are.
Finally, there are at least two, and often three necrophages (graveirs and cemetaurs) outside Kalkstein's place in Old Vizima. Simply enter / exit Kalkstein's for them to respawn.
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* Just generally kill as much as possible, no special tips here.
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