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During your first few hours in Icarus, it's important to level up so that you can unlock new technology. Each time you level up, you will receive points to invest in technology tree, as well as a point to invest into your personal skill tree. If you need help leveling up quickly, we are here to help.

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In this guide, we are going to go over how to quickly level up. It's important to remember that if you die and there are no other players to revive you, you will gain an XP debt. This will turn your experience bar red, and you will need to regain it. Fortunately, the debt caps at the start of the level, meaning that you cannot decrease your level with debt.

What Will Give You Experience?

technology tree with several items unlocked

The good news is, pretty much everything you do will give you experience. As you do tasks, you will see small amounts of experience adding to your level at the top lefthand corner of the screen. The experience gained can range from 25 to in the thousands, depending on the task.

Importance Of Leveling Up

Leveling up is important because it gives you access to new items that will help you survive during a session. For example, as you level up and earn technology points, you can start creating structures, healing items, and new weapons. Additionally, you will have the chance to unlock the bedroll; this is an important item that allows you to sleep during the night and set a respawn point in case you die.

Next, let's take a look at some of the best ways to gain experience.

Chopping Down Trees

forest in valley area

Early in the game, chopping down trees will be one of the best ways that you can gain experience. By chopping down one tree, you can earn 300 experience. If you chop several trees, you can quickly gain a lot of experience.

This is a great option for levels one-through-five that doesn't require any combat. After you chop the tree down, you can either move on to the next tree or continue chopping the fallen tree and gather the wood. Wood will not be important if you are within the first few levels, but you can craft 100 wood into a storage pile to save for later.

Constructing Buildings

player standing next to a simple thatch hut

Creating structures isn't the most necessary, considering the session-based mechanic, essentially eradicating the need to build large and well-planned structures. There are better choices on the technology tree besides construction parts, but creating these objects can help you quickly gain experience.

With wooden walls and beams, you can quickly craft structures using the wood that you chopped down from trees. To unlock wooden structures, you will need to be at least level five. Prior to this, you will only be able to craft thatch buildings.

Crafting

crafting menu with oxidizer selected

Crafting smaller items is another great way to gain experience. Basic tool crafting will not yield that much experience, but by crafting healing items, you can quickly gain experience and level up.

Bandages are a simple item used to heal yourself. This item only requires fiber, which can be found pretty much everywhere. After crafting several bandages, you can easily level up while stockpiling an important item.

Mining

player holding a pickax looking at oxite

Next, you can level up quickly by mining. There are several different types of ore available in the gain, and mining each will give you a hefty amount of experience with little to no effort.

To mine, all you need is a pickaxe and a rock in sight. Holding left-click as you mine will cause you to continuously swing your pickaxe. Occasionally, you may have to readjust to the side to hit a different part of the ore, but overall, this is a low-effort way of gaining experience.

Each time you hit a rock to get stone, you will get 60 experience. Rocks can be hit dozens of times, which can add up. Other ores will give you more experience as you hit them as well.

Hunting

two players hunting for wolves in the snow while holding bows

Lastly, we have hunting. Hunting can be quite dangerous, but it's a great way to earn experience if you have the tools to do so.

The starting area of Icarus will have a few different wild animals that you can hunt, including bears, wolves, deer, and rabbits. You will gain more experience for larger animals, so killing a bear will give you way more experience than killing a rabbit.

To quickly and efficiently gain experience while hunting, it's important to use a bow and arrow. With this weapon, you can position yourself far from an animal, in stealth mode, and kill them in one shot. Doing so will give you a lot of experience, without putting your own life at risk.

Overall, the takeaway from this guide is to harvest, hunt, and craft as much as possible.

As you run through the world, you can pick up various materials. Although 25 expereince from picking a flower may not seem like a lot, this can add up if you continuously pick them while you run. Now that you know the basics of leveling up, get out there are start exploring Icarus!

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