Leveling Character Guide

[LCountach]

Updated: 7/12/08 Updates include Tips, Locations, and Re-Wording for better understandability.
Ok I have whipped up this guide for quickly leveling your character. Many players simply don't know how the system works and can spend hours even days wasting their efforts when their rewards could be much greater!

First off I will explain how gaining Reputation Points works. There are TWO ways to gain Rep Points.

#1 Kill Enemies: Killing enemies is by far the best way to level. It gives you Skill Points & Notoriety Points. Skill Points are applied to whichever Weapon you used. Notoriety Points are applied to your Character Level. The points you earn by killing any given enemy is based completely on their Threat Rating and the number of times you Hit the enemy. Their Threat Rating is indicated by the color of their name. RED, YELLOW, GREEN, and GRAY. RED are the most difficult and reward the most points. GREY are the weakest and offer the least points.

RED enemies offer a maximum of 100 Rep Points.
YELLOW also offer a maximum of 100 Rep Points.
NOTE: There is a glitch with YELLOW. Some low level YELLOW enemies are actualy GREEN and will only reward GREEN level points.
GREEN enemies offer only 50% Rep Points.
GREY don't waste your time!

#2 Complete Quests: Completing quests will give you Notoriety Points that only level your character and not weapon skills. This is actually VERY BAD! I must stress, whatever you do DO NOT complete quests if you want to level your weapons quickly! So why don't you want to level your Notoriety? Your Notoriety Level adds additional damage to your weapons with each level gained. This causes you to kill enemies with fewer hits. Leveling only your weapon gains you a skill point to upgrade that weapon. The key difference is that it does not automatically increase the weapon damage. You must spend the point earned for the weapon to increase it's damage inflicted. I recommend only spending points where absolutely necessary or where the upgrade won't hurt your leveling ability. WARNING if you do not follow these guidelines some skills (Grenades) will get to the point where it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to level any further!

In addition to what I stated above each weapon is rewarded varying amounts of points per hit. I have composed a chart to help guide you.
Points rewarded are not 100% consistent. The chart just indicates averages. Sometimes you get a little less or more than indicated.
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Points Awarded Per Hit:

Cannon = 4xp to 8xp
Broadsides = 4xp to 8xp multiplied by the number of shots fired.
Cannons & Broadsides are very difficult to measure because enemy ships are not Color Threat indicated.
Just going by level is not enough either. It seems the Ship Type may also matter. It is very inconsistent!

Cutlass = 1.5xp

Pistol = 2xp
Pistol Take Aim = 4xp
Tip: If you are facing a weak enemy that dies before the 50 required hits to earn 100Rep, try using Take Aim instead.
The trick is to charge the shot as little as possible so you don't cause too much extra damage.
You will only need 25 hits for 100Rep with Take Aim.

Doll Poke = 4xp
Doll Swarm = 5xp
Doll Curse = 15xp
Doll Life Drain = 24xp

Dagger = 1.5xp
Dagger Thrown = 4xp
Dagger Throw Dirt = 7xp

Grenade = 4xp

Staff Soul Flay = 2xp
Staff Pestilence = 6xp
Staff Wither = 4xp
Staff Flaming Skull = 9xp
Staff Banish = 18xp
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Example Chart Usage: Cutlass averages 1.5xp per hit. Do the math and that equates to about 67 hits required to achieve the maximum 100xp reward. Make sure you use a weak attack. If you don't you will kill the enemy to early and miss out on Rep Points!

Tips:
Poison, Burning, and Wounding effects are almost WORTHLESS! They do very little damage even over 20 seconds! DO NOT base your choices for upgrades on these effects! A great example of this is Voodoo Doll Scorch. Scorch does very little initial damage, burns almost nothing, costs high voodoo, and recharges very slowly! ABSOLUTE GARBAGE! That being said I have had the EITC soldiers Quadruple Poison me which can kill you quite quick. I have not tested it but a coordinated crew may be able to accomplish the same trick.
The reason as to why these effects are so weak is a mystery to me. One would think that if Scorch costs so much voodoo and recharges so slowly that it would be POWERFUL! In fact the opposite is true. Perhaps they are bugged or perhaps Disney just refuses to program the balance for them properly. I wonder.

Join a crew! One crew member will get you 20% extra Rep Points. Each additional member will get you 5% extra Rep Points. Maximum is 50% extra.
NOTE: You must stay in close proximity to your crew or you won't get the bonus! An example of this is the War Frigate. A crew member on the front cannons will not gain extra Rep Points with the player Captaining the ship.

Voodoo Doll wielding characters can be disabled by using Hex Eater pistol shots. Simply drain them of their voodoo and they will just stand there allowing you to level whichever weapons you chose.
NOTE: There is a random glitch when switching weapons the Voodoo Enemy may disengage. After that they will have infinite voodoo. You then have two choices. #1 Run for your life! #2 Engage them in a fair fight.

When leveling the Voodoo Doll attune it to more than one enemy. That way you will be earning extra Rep Points for the same amount of time and effort.

When leveling the Voodoo Staff try to line up enemies for a shot of Soul Flay or Pestilence. If you shoot one enemy the projectile passes through it and can hit an enemy standing behind or near it. Also Flaming Skull has a good explosion radius so try hitting multiple enemies with a single shot! I recommend Kingshead.

If an enemy is still alive and you have already achieved the minimum hits required to earn 100Rep, switch to another weapon! The points you earn will stack! I have actually earned 520xp from a single Gypsy and 260xp from a single ship!

Locations to level:
Fort Charles in Port Royal has many Low to Medium level soldiers to level your weapons with.

Cuba. Next to the entrance leading to Pantano River there is a corner where two Big Gaters spawn. They range from level 9 to 14 and are great for leveling the Voodoo Doll.

Kingshead: When you enter Kingshead there is a group of six Veterans standing in a open area. On your Right is a white fence. Simply stand behind the fence and throw your grenades at the Veterans. They won't be able to get you. Sometimes they glitch through the fence but it is rare. Get yourself a Two Man Crew and use each other as a teleportation totem. Take turns rearming grenades and killing the group. That way you both will level grenades quickly. I went up 20 Grenade Levels in one day doing this! I recommend smoke grenades. I have earned 840xp from a single group of 7 men using smoke grenades! The group is also good for early leveling with the Voodoo Staff because many Voodoo Staff attacks can hit the whole group! I used Pestilence & Flaming Skull for the biggest payoffs.

Padres Del Fuego. There is a second Beach Town on the backside of Padres Del Fuego. You need to travel through the caves and jungle to reach it. There are many Grenadiers, Gypsies, and Raiders to level your Medium to High level characters. If you get into trouble you can just run into a nearby building to escape. There is also a group of three Giant Crabs ranging from high teens to low twenties to level your Voodoo Doll when your done with Cuba's Big Gaters.

Outcast Isle. There is a group of two Stumps with a third closeby. Simply lure the third stump to the other two and you have a great way to level your high level Voodoo Doll & Staff.

Isla Tormenta. Lots of very high level characters. Enter at your own risk.


I request that this thread be stickied. It is packed full of great info I have found nowhere else. Please?