Good activities for Xp?

[Poggy]

Money is no longer my big grind issue anymore, because all the stuff I want to spend my cash on is level locked

So I want to rank up a few levels.  What are the best ways to get xp?

Im guessing story and stranger missions, but I get bored of them pretty quickly.  What else dishes reasonable xp, especially in short play times (I can't always spare an hour or three)?

Edited December 9, 2018 by Poggy

[HuDawg]

Doing missions or gang hide outs with a bow or special ammo seems to really pull in some nice xp.

[Poggy]

That reminds me, I haven't seen a gang hideout in ages ...  Are they still spawning?

[HuDawg]

17 minutes ago, Poggy said:

That reminds me, I haven't seen a gang hideout in ages ...  Are they still spawning?

Ya they still spawn.  Not sure what triggers it tho.

 

I just look for smoke in the distance.

[KRooKeD KRoW]

Pretty sure the awards give a pretty good amount of XP when you complete one. And once you reset the ones you are able to reset after finishing the whole set, it gives you gold nuggets as well. Just open them up in the progress section of the pause menu to see which ones to do. Several of them get you xp along the way as well (i.e. kills total, headshots, kills with specific weapons, etc.)

Also, for the kills in general, the most xp I've discovered I can get from a single kill is from a horse with a headshot. You get xp for the kill, the headshot, and death rider (kills from your horse). I've also gotten saddle sore, which I think is killing someone that is on a horse themselves, and last chance, which I believe is when you shoot them several times, and one more will kill them no matter the location, but you get a headshot for it. So probably counts instead of the headshot xp.

Edited December 9, 2018 by KRooKeD KRoW

[WhiskeySour]

Last chance is a kill with the last bullet in the gun.

[KRooKeD KRoW]

3 minutes ago, WhiskeySour said:

Last chance is a kill with the last bullet in the gun.

Ah, that makes more sense, wasnt watching my ammo too closely when that happened. I just noticed getting it when I had hit someone a few times already. Just figured it meant last chance to get a headshot on this guy you already "crippled"

[Saltyballs]

The mission where you have to stealthily take out the enemies in the woods seems to offer the quickest legit xp gain, I get between 350-400 xp each time. 

Also in Saint Denis near the post office is a ladder down an alley way (near where two of the Nosferatu clues are), get up onto the rooftops and get a wanted level, if you camp near the ladder you can just continuously pick off the officers as they climb. Using the bow seems to be the best for overall xp but you can work on any of your challenges (like pistol headshots etc) for the occasional boost. 

After every 100 bow kills you can reset that challenge and go again to get the boosts, you can also do the same once you complete the 120mins wanted challenge.  

Edited December 9, 2018 by Saltyballs

[Saltyballs]

6 minutes ago, KRooKeD KRoW said:

Ah, that makes more sense, wasnt watching my ammo too closely when that happened. I just noticed getting it when I had hit someone a few times already. Just figured it meant last chance to get a headshot on this guy you already "crippled"

I thought the same 😂

[WhiskeySour]

Giving herb gathering and sell them to the Doc in Valentine a try. Sell him 100 for the buckle and then reset. Decent XP and a couple of nuggets each time. Have done the shootout with the law in Saint Denis a few times and reset the achievement for staying wanted. Not bad, but it takes some time and uses a lot of ammo. 

[Hazed0NE]

I mostly just stick to gang hideouts for solid bursts of XP. You just have to watch out for other players. Some of them might be trolls looking to pick you off after you do all the work. 

[DLimit33]

The best option would involve completing a combination of "Stranger" missions or "Hideout" missions if one desires to attain experience.

[DLKnives]

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 3:56 PM, Hazed0NE said:

I mostly just stick to gang hideouts for solid bursts of XP. You just have to watch out for other players. Some of them might be trolls looking to pick you off after you do all the work. 

I've had that happen twice, but I've never got a treasure map either from any hideout. Just XP.

Doing them with a bow would be neat!

[Poggy]

At the momentt, large series matches seem to me to be the place to get xp.  Just rack up as many head shots as poss. 

[DLKnives]

I have not done any series matches, races. etc. I am old and slow but I need XP - should I try it? 

[Poggy]

You'll spend all your time running and dying.  But still best way to get xp., imho.

[Euphoric77]

It all depends on what you consider to be the wisest way to level. Personally I am not highly skilled PVP wise so I haven't done a lot of the series and that will nett you the most XP if you are "decent" at it.

If you get a good posse going with several frequent members that do not fool around all the time, but go from stranger mission to stranger mission and in between some hideouts you encounter, that wil be a nice way to level up. Just try to play efficiently xp wise as stated before. A kill is not a kill :

- headshots give extra 5 xp

- from horse extra 5 xp

- special ammo extra 5 xp

running up on enemies and tackling them then execute them gives another 10 xp.

It can mount up to 25xp per kill and even more. Of course there are many other xp boosters around. Also remember to kill animals when travelling from point to point just to get another xp boost in the dead time...

 

Personally I think hunting is the best way to a balanced level up. Specifically as the ability cards are very important assets and these cannot be acquired through gold, only ingame dollars and they cost 50, 350 and 500 USD per upgrade at I think over 20 cards. I have spent all my earned USD into the ability cards and used a fair amount of gold into getting a fast horse and the entire 

What I have done mainly basically from start of the beta is hunt at the swamp area above Saint Denis. Best weapons are the Varmint and a rifle of your choice (I got the rolling block with scope). When you start RDO up spawn in New Austin, go to a fast travel post and pay to travel to Saint Denis, ensuring that the area is as good as empty regarding online players. 

Depending on your personal needs you can adapt your hunting. I basically do a 24hour in game cycle of hunting where during the morning to noon session I shoot and skin birds netting 10 xp per kill (also the shooting 1k birds and 1k animals challenges are  done). Alongside every alligator gets one in the head giving you 15 xp. pristine small ones skin and put on horse 10 usd) and lasso a 2nd and drag to butcher for another 10. During night shoot every toad and frog and look for boars, the occosianal buck and muskut rats. Perfect rat carcasses nett you 4usd and the pelt almost 2 bucks. In most runs I encounter 5 to 6 of those and regarding birds the spoonbill / pelican / crane and heron feathers stack up to 10 at about 1.5 usd each. in this cycle you can gather a few herbs as well and prep big game meat with thyme/oregano and mint in order to have golden cores and be ready for other gameplay later on. You can also sell most herbs to the doctor (herbpicking and sell herbs challenges as well in between). Stock up ammo/ clean guns get supplies and repeat.

If bored you can do the earlier mentioned ladder in Saint Denis to gather xp (no money there though).

The above is not the fastest way to level, but In a 24hour cycle in game (1hour or less of playtime) you can get half a level done and more importantly get around 100 to 150 USD. I have put all that into the ability cards and have all of them maxxed out in xp lvl 1 and 2 respectively 10k and 15k xp per card and around 7 of them levelled to the max.

Now at a point that the playing field in terms of abilities in pvp either balance me out with better players and give me a small edge on lower levelled players. Also getting griefed is not happening that much anymore.

 

TLDR : Hunting in Saint Denis (combine with ladder if USD not an issue), shoot everything and collect, and invest in abiltiy cards and level and upgrade asap to max xp collecting. At a certain point if comfortable go pvp.

[Poggy]

Why is special ammo worth more xp?  Isn't it more powerful than normal?

[Euphoric77]

38 minutes ago, Poggy said:

Why is special ammo worth more xp?  Isn't it more powerful than normal?

Why is something only Rockstar can answer. Perhaps due to it being levelbound (higher level) or more expensive to acquire. 

Some are more powerful, but e.g. split points are more accurate trading of some damage in return. And vice versa for the other types

 

[Hazed0NE]

On 12/18/2018 at 12:49 AM, DLKnives said:

I've had that happen twice, but I've never got a treasure map either from any hideout. Just XP.

Doing them with a bow would be neat!

I noticed it tends to happen more on servers that have collective groups targeting people. I had it happen to me 3 or 4 times I think. I don't get mad about it, I just remember the username and get them back later. lol

[RED_DEADMAN]

I like to grab my bolt action, my repeater, a revolver and pistol as a secondary (gives me 4 different ammo types to pull from) and I use Express ammo for each which gives you extra +5xp per kill.

Then i get the law on me in valentine. Once you're wanted you can then climb up into the loft area of a small barn next to the sheep pins.

There is plenty of cover but the real kicker is that lawmen will climb the ladder 1 by 1 to try and take you down. As they get to the top you can Execute them with your weapon of choice.

+5 XP for the Kill

+5xp for special ammo

+10xp per execution

+5xp more for eyes wide shut(not sure what the trigger is)

You get at least +20xp per kill with maximum of +30xp per kill plus it's easy to survive and rack up your Wanted challenges while you're at it. Sometimes you can pop out from behind the walls and shoot a mounted lawmen as well. You're also racking up your execution challenges and weapon type and headshot challenges.

You can even do melee executions as they climb up also. Quickest XP gain I've found. Even loot bodies also from safety.

Just make sure you pay attention to any enemies close to the ladder location as sometimes they will wait to climb until you start shooting at lawmen out in the pins and grass and they'll bumrush you. One shotgun shot will end your rampage with the quickness.

I've easily killed over 100 lawmen at a time with this method but you are NOT completely protected so use care when exposing yourself in the large window.