Early XP (1-40)

The Baseline: Quest Progression

No prerequisites - progressing the campaign on Normal (or Veteran) is the leveling.

• ▸Follow the main quest and pick up side quests along the way - early quest rewards are big in both XP and items.
• ▸Always collect quests that reward skill/attribute points. Since v1.2.0.0, clearing one on a higher difficulty also grants the lower-difficulty copies - but the difficulty you are playing still needs its own clear (see Difficulties and Merits).
• ▸Grab the bag-expansion quests en route too - inventory space is quality of life.
• ▸With v1.2.0.0's expanded level scaling, most Normal areas scale up to level 100, so out-leveling zones is a much smaller concern and detour grinding is rarely needed.
• ▸There is no end condition. Only when you hit a wall, fall back to gear updates (see Early Game Money) and shrine pickups.

When to Use Veteran

• ▸Veteran is Normal's hard-mode toggle: tougher enemies with more champions/heroes, in exchange for more loot and +10% XP.
• ▸Switch it on or off anytime from the title menu's character selection, before loading in.
• ▸If you keep dying and walking back to grave markers, turning it off is genuinely faster - the +10% XP evaporates against death losses.
• ▸On a first character, starting on Normal and toggling Veteran once comfortable is the safe pattern.

Balancing Shrines and Detours

• ▸Restore or cleanse Devotion Shrines on sight - a stronger devotion setup speeds up the leveling itself (see Devotion Basics).
• ▸Ruined shrines with expensive material costs can wait - total shrines exceed the point cap, so you never need to restore everything on the spot (see Devotion Basics for the per-difficulty/DLC breakdown).
• ▸Detours for shrines and key quests are worth it; blanket map-clearing of unexplored areas is inefficient for early leveling.

The Death Penalty and Steady Play

• ▸On defeat you lose only the XP shown in the bottom-center gauge - you can never drop below your current level.
• ▸A grave marker appears where you died; clicking it recovers the lost XP. You get one marker at a time - dying again before recovery makes the earlier loss permanent, and changing sessions deletes the marker.
• ▸You respawn at a major hub. Your personal rift survives your death, so it helps with the walk back.
• ▸Because of all this, steady progression usually beats greedy fights above your weight - even in pure XP terms.

1. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: GameMode, Difficulty — Confirms Veteran's +10% XP and the anytime toggle from the character selection screen.
2. Official Grim Dawn Game Guide: Game Difficulties — Confirms Veteran's effects (tougher enemies, more champions/heroes, more loot) and the pre-load toggle.
3. Official Crate Forum: Grim Dawn v1.2.0.0/1/2/3 Hotfixes — Confirms most Normal areas scaling to level 100 and lower-difficulty point rewards being granted by higher-difficulty quest completion.
4. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Devotion Shrines — Confirms total shrines exceeding the point cap (per-difficulty/DLC placement data).
5. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Player — Confirms death costing only the gauge XP (never a level), grave-marker recovery (one at a time, deleted on session change), hub respawns, and the personal rift surviving death.
6. Official Crate Forum: Grim Dawn v1.2.1.6 + Hotfix — Official patch notes for the verified version.