In this guide, I will show exactly what I did to reach the level cap. In my opinion, the best way to farm levels quickly (and obtain loot boxes quickly) is to alternate between fighting Plantera and QB. The grind is extremely easy to do, and takes hardly any effort. This circuit functions primarily on efficiency, as there is little to no down time between fighting bosses.
The Loadout:
- Solar Flare Helmet
- Solar Flare Breastplate
- Valhalla Knight’s Greaves
- Celestial Shell (Warding)
- Frozen Shield (Warding)
- Brain of Confusion (Warding)
- Hero Shield (Warding)
- Worm Scarf (Warding)
- Star Veil (Warding)
- Master Ninja Gear (Warding)
All accessories are warding. Without this you will die to Plantera, which is clearly not optimal. I opt for the valhalla knight’s greaves instead of full solar because they give an additional 4 defense (not noticeable), and more importantly grant +20% melee critical strike chance. This may sound pretty insignificant, but it does pretty noticeably increase your overall DPS. Higher DPS means quicker XP gain, and it helps you kill bosses faster, making the grind more time efficient. The damage reduction from full solar armor does help you survive easier when fighting Plantera, but I’ve not found it necessary. Feel free to use full solar armor if you want.
The Weapons & Tools:
- Stardust Dragon Staff
- Zenith
- Vampire Knives
- Any Hamaxe
- Lunar Portal Staff
- Shrimpy Truffle
- Super Healing Pots
- Encumbering Stone (Optional)
- DPS Meter (Optional)
You will be using the zenith as your primary means of damaging bosses. The stardust dragon staff and lunar portal staff are just needed to increase your overall DPS. I see a lot of people using the terraprisma, but under most circumstances the stardust dragon easily outclasses it. The vampire knives are only to be used when your HP is critically low, typically when fighting Plantera. The hamaxe is for breaking the sign to spawn in the bosses. Do not use a pick, sometimes they do not work due to some bug. You will need to use the shrimpy truffle to position yourself in fights, and to increase your DPS (I will explain this further in the buffs section). Obviously use super healing pots when necessary. I have the encumbering stone in my inventory so I do not pick up any unwanted items during the fight, but this is optional. I use the DPS meter to evaluate my DPS throughout the fight, which can help you learn how to grind efficiently. This is also optional though.
The Buffs:
- Rage
- Wrath
- Endurance
- Heartreach
- Regeneration
- Lifeforce
- Ironskin
- Summoning
- Bewitched
- Wet
- Sharpened
- Tipsy
- Cute Fishron Mount
- Exquisitely Stuffed
- Greater Luck
- Strategist
- The Bast Defense
- Weapon Imbue: Ichor
These are not optional. For most of them you can use /permabuff or /buff, or break the signs at spawn. Exquisitely stuffed, greater luck, and strategist must be applied manually. You must use the wet debuff combined with the shrimpy truffle to increase your DPS. Here is why:
With the wet debuff on while riding the shrimpy truffle, you gain an extra 15% increase in damage. That is pretty substantial of an increase, and it takes no effort to gain the benefits of it.
The Commands:
Really the only command necessary for this is /heal, and it will only need to be used occasionally during the Plantera fight. The dodge accessories operate on chance, and sometimes my RNG is simply horrendous. Using /heal has saved me on occasion.
Fighting Plantera:
Pre-Fight Setup: This is pretty simple. You summon your stardust dragons, and position your lunar portals in the spot where you will be tanking for the fight. Make sure you position your lunar portals (and yourself) away from the ground, as the thorn balls can easily kill you, ruining this part of the grind. When you are ready, break the sign.
Stage One Fight: Position yourself over the lunar portals and stay there, using your zenith to chip away at Plantera’s health. Let Plantera position itself on top of your character. You do not need to move around during this stage of the fight, as the seeds cannot hit you if you are inside of Plantera. Watch the thorn balls. You should not be getting hit by them, since 99% of the time Plantera’s body will hit you first, but reposition your lunar portals and yourself higher up if you do. Continue to fight until Plantera transitions to it’s second phase, using only the super healing potion if necessary.
Stage Two Fight: When you see Plantera transition into it’s second phase releasing it’s tentacles, you need to kill the tentacles as fast as possible. They can absolutely tank your FPS, which causes an abundance of issues. The quicker you kill them, the quicker your FPS will normalize, simply put. Also, they have a chance to drop hearts, which helps increase your survivability. Additionally, you need to be wary of Plantera’s hooks, as they can do significantly more contact damage than Plantera’s body. I find it best to continue positioning yourself over the lunar portals from the stage one fight, and just move slightly out of the way of the hooks when they reposition to target you. If you find yourself running low on HP, use /heal, use a super healing potion, or leave your position for a few seconds while swapping to the vampire knives to heal. The longer you are away from the lunar portal though, the less DPS you will have. When Plantera is positioned over the lunar portals, it guarantees that they are doing damage. When you move, the portals may target the tentacles. It’s not a big deal, but it means less DPS (and therefore a slightly less efficient fight). Once you have successfully killed Plantera, quickly pick up the hearts and warp to the QB arena.
Fighting QB:
This is the easiest part of the grinding circuit. I’ve never died to QB with the shown gear, so do not worry about this. Position yourself a few blocks away from the sign, and break it. There is no need to use the lunar portal staff here, as QB is easy enough to kill quickly already. Use your zenith and kill the QB as fast as possible. Pick up the hearts, and warp to the Plantera arena.
Repeat the cycle of fighting Plantera then QB until you decide you are done.
Final Words:
I’ve used this method to grind the remaining 300 or so levels until I reached the level cap. What I mean is that it works very well. Obviously, since XP efficiency has changed, this process will be much slower, but it still works, especially for low level users. QS has the potential to give slightly better XP than Plantera, but because QS moves around so much and does not easily stay in one group, it makes the fight quite a bit less time efficient. Additionally, QS can pretty easily kill you, which requires you to stay moving. This is why I choose to fight Plantera. I choose to fight QB instead of another boss after Plantera because it gives decent DP in addition to easy XP, and by the time you kill QB the cooldown to summon Plantera is usually done, or very close.
I hope this helps, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them here.