by theygamesHow do you farm EXP & MAG in Metaphor ReFantazio? Grinding may eventually become necessary in Metaphor ReFantazio, especially if playing on higher difficulties. As you can start taking on powerful, optional bosses like Grotesque Guptauros and Fire Dragon Mauna, grinding EXP to level up your party and bolster your stats will give you the best chance at winning. What’s more, you’ll soon realize a lot of MAG is required to unlock new Archetypes for each party member to mix and match moves with the Inheritance system.
Luckily, the way Metaphor ReFantazio works on a technical level allows the opportunity to grind EXP MAG, A-EXP, and Money through multiple stages throughout the game. When you’re not brushing up on the full list of Metaphor ReFantazio voice actors and Metaphor ReFantazio Archetypes, this easy-to-follow guide will tell you all you need to know about how to level up fast, as well as the best Metaphor ReFantazio farming spots to do so. Please note that the final spot on our list is an endgame area, so obligatory spoiler warning.
How to farm EXP & MAG in Metaphor: ReFantazio
As you’re exploring the various dungeons in Metaphor: ReFantazio, you can farm EXP and MAG by clearing out a loadable area of enemies, then having them respawn by leaving and re-entering that area.
If you battle and defeat an area containing 15 monsters, for instance, you can leave said section to enter a different loadable section of the map like the dungeon’s entrance, and go back into the same section, those 15 monsters will be back, and ready to farm for EXP, MAG, A-EXP, and Money all over again.
You can technically do this an infinite number of times if the enemies are weak enough to be killed in Metaphor: ReFantazio’s overworld combat. You’ll know this is the case when you use Fae Sight and see foes highlighted in a blue hue. Typically, enemies become blue when you’re three levels above them.
If enemies are strong enough they need to be taken out in squad-based combat, this grinding method can only be used so much since HP and MP are finite, even if you end up using limited MP-restorative items like Magla Pills to recharge.
Nevertheless, whether you need to get your protagonist up a couple of levels, afford an extra Archetype to have Strohl learn, earn extra money to buy weapons, or get supplementary A-EXP to get an Archetype to learn its next move, you can use this method in multiple spots throughout the game. That’s especially in its early sections where there are unexpectedly tough optional bosses to take on.
Hunt for Elementas while farming
Found throughout the multiple dungeons you explore in Metaphor ReFantazio, Elmentas give out some of the most MAG, A-EXP, and Money among common enemies – making them prime targets for farming. Unfortunately, Elementas don’t respawn when an instance is reset, making them a one-and-done.
Elementas are notoriously tricksy. Be sure to lock them down when you spot them, as they can escape if you don’t hit them enough in the overworld to stun them (undefeated Elementas respawn when you reset the instance so you can try again). What’s more, when you finally get them into an instance they need to be beaten within one turn, or else they’ll flee. The good news is that each Elementa has a weakness, and its coloration is the key to figuring it out.
For example, to quickly beat the Blue Elmenta, utilize its weakness for Fire with skills like Bot, elemental damage-inflicting items like Firefang, or the weapon, Dragon’s Indignation, which inflicts Fire damage when it’s purified.
After defeating one at just level 10, we earned 150 A-EXP, 750 MAG, 625 Money, and 13 EXP. This is a huge chunk for this stage of the game.
Metaphor ReFantazio best farming spots
The best Metaphor ReFantazio farming locations can be found in:
Nord Mines farming location
To farm for EXP and MAG in the Nord Mines in Metaphor: ReFantazio, to get ready to take on the Homo Fulquilo boss and the optional but tougher Fire Dragon Mauna, the best place to go is Dig site #2. This is right after you defeat Captain Klinger.
Starting from the rest area, Storehouse, where you can purchase items from the Young Merchant to restock, you can walk straight into Dig site #2 as the next area. In the site, you’ll find a selection of Serpetia, Gelatinos, and Feral you can defeat. While Geltatinos is useful to grind squad battles with since it can drop Corrosive Acid, a disposable item that lowers an enemy’s Defence, Feral Hundo should be weak enough at this point where you can defeat them in overworld combat without losing any HP or MP.
When you’re done, walk out back into Storehouse, head back into Dig site #2, and all the enemies you’ll have just defeated will have respawned.
Belega Corridor farming location
If you’re struggling against the Grotesque Guptauros boss in the Belega Corridor dungeon, you can explore and grind EXP and MAG against the various Goborns, climbing stairs up and down to reload the multiple sections to make them respawn.
Since you can unlock the quest, “A Bullish Embargo” to start visiting Goborn from the point where you should be around Level 8-10, and Grotesque Guptauros is Level 22, you can be incredibly under-levelled for this boss fight. So, EXP and MAG farming to at least Level 15 against each party member is essential here.
Goborns range from around Level 9 to 16, so there will be a good amount you can eventually beat simply in overworld combat. If you make it through the whole dungeon to Guptauros’ door and still aren’t ready to face him, you can use the Plateau Mirage to return to the entrance and start running through it again.
Tradia Desert farming location
While you’re in Grand Trad section of the story, Traveller’s Graveyard in the Tradia Desert is the best place to farm EXP and MAG in Metaphor: ReFantazio so far. Not only does this desert area pack the most enemies in a smaller open area, but you can get the most EXP, A-EXP, MAG, and Money for overworld combat as well, depending on your level.
Sandworm Valmo, which seems to respawn endlessly even without leaving the area, seem to give out the most at around 18 EXP, 14 A-EXP, 48 Mag, and 59 Money per kill. Meanwhile, there are several packs of Hyeno and Wild Corvo which give out a good share as well when taken out all together.
Clearing out all of these foes, except for the Level 46 Kokasados, can take just a few minutes, and you can have them respawn again by leaving the area back into Tradia Desert Entrance and walking back in. If your party members are at about level 16 and their equipped Archetypes are at about the same, you can grind to get the next respective levels in about 10 minutes.
Orbwise Path farming route
During your time on Virga Island, you’ll be tasked with heading out to the Orbwise Path. This presents probably the best mid-game farming location in the game – especially if you’ve managed to get Maria’s social link to Rank 7.
Inside, you’ll find the following monsters: Aquatic Shuper level 20, Terrestrial Shuper level 33, Waterworm Valmo level 35, and Kapcerto Sondro level 36. What we’d recommend is clearing the dungeon for the first time, before reloading the instance and fighting instanced battles until you get to level 36 – this is where the Terrestrial Shupers become farmable in the overworld.
From here, farm the sea slug-like monsters and instanced battles with the Waterworms and Kapcertos until you either reach level 38 (Waterworm blue threshold), or run out of mana. If you run out of mana before reaching level 38, just beat up the Shupers until you get there. At level 39 you can begin farming the Kapcertos in the overworld, completing the route.
As you’ll see in our farming route video above, we don’t waste time clearing the whole dungeon. Instead, we take what we found to be the most optimal path to big EXP and MAG gains. This effectively sees us kill the minimum amount of Shupers while rushing to the Waterworms and Kapcertos on the second floor – these give the most EXP per monster killed.
Each run takes around two minutes, and will initially grant you at least one Hero’s Leaf of Light from every character equipped with a maxed Archetype. From our testing, the rates begin to drop off around levels 43-44. At the point that you’re no longer getting a leaf per maxed Archetype per run, move on.
Tower of Insolence farming route
While undertaking the Trial of the Dragon: Bygone Legacy quest, you’ll be tasked to head up the Tower of Insolence which lies north of Altabury Heights. There’s a good chance you won’t be able to farm here unless you’ve made liberal use of the Orbwise Path spot, seeing as you’ll need to be level 53 before this becomes remotely farmable.
Inside, you’ll find the following monsters: Psyocro level 45, Psyocropos level 50, Guptauros level 35, and a single Guptauron level 55. The Guptauros and Psyocros are so-so – the six Psyocropos are where the big gains are, offering 324 EXP, 108 A-EXP, 375 MAG, and 951 money each at their peak.
As with the Orbwise Path, we’d recommend clearing the big beastie at the top of the tower before committing to farming – you don’t want to be caught short on mana and have to allocate another day to coming back.
Our pathing in the video above ignores the small fry, saving valuable seconds as we target the cash cows. The Guptauron was too tough for us to bonk without triggering an instanced encounter at this point, so we simply removed everything else in the penultimate room. The Guptauron becomes farmable at level 58, though from our testing the drops it offered did little to make up for the EXP drop off from the other monsters by that point. It’s around this point that we opted to bid farewell to the Tower of Insolence.
Tyrant’s Star farming route
By far the best farming spot in the entire game, Tyrant’s Star offers up a delicious feast of farmable monsters and destroyable Magla Crystals – the latter of which drops Hero’s Jewelled Roots for massive A-EXP gains.
Our recommendation for Tyrant’s Star is to fully clear the lower level, Melancholia’s Threshold, until you reach level 77. From there, begin full-clearing Melancholia Depths on repeat. This is because the monsters you’ll find on the top floor top out at level 74, including those generated by the Magla Crystals.
What’s more, there’s a random chance on both levels to encounter the giant teeth-like Argent-Crown Homo Tenta and Or-Crown Homo Tenta. Though both of these enamel-enriched entities come in at level 88, they’re honestly not that scary if you can stun them before entering an instanced fight.
‘An instanced fight? Why?’ you may be thinking. Well, the pair are so ridiculously OP in the farming department that beating them up yields a monstrous 5,850 EXP, 3,900 A-EXP, 2,500 MAG, and 12,500 money – we’re talking boss-level rewards here. At level 78 we received 26 Hero’s Leaf of Light per encounter. So, while you won’t bump into them on every reset, fight them when you can.
As the final farmable area in the game, make liberal use of Tyrant’s Star to max out your characters and Archetypes. While your character levels won’t carry over to Metaphor ReFantazio’s new game plus, your Archetype progress, MAG, and money will.
And that’s everything you need to know about farming in Metaphor ReFantazio. Before exploring more of the land of Euchronia, take a read of our Metaphor: ReFantazio review for our full thoughts on the game. For when you feeling like playing something new, check out the list of upcoming PC games to see what’s coming next.
Additional guiding by Aaron Down.