Dragon Quest XI S Gold and EXP Guide: How to gain gold and experience as quickly as possible

There comes a point in every RPG where Gold and Experience start to come at a premium. You probably won't need to worry too much about grinding for levels early on in the game, or even until the game's first set of credits. For those deep into the Post-Game area of Dragon Quest XI, though, you might want to know where the best places to earn some quick cash and easy levels are. This is especially true if you want to afford all the things you'll need to finish up collecting all the game's costumes. 

Luckily, there's some relatively easy and straightforward methods to really gather up either experience points or gold, depending on what you're currently working on. We've outlined the best methods for acquiring both:

Earning Gold Fast in Dragon Quest XI

Your method of earning gold in Dragon Quest XI is going to depend on whether you are in the Post-Game or not. You likely won't need a lot of money until late, but we know you might what to splurge a bit on gear before heading off to the game's Final Dungeon. 

Before the Post-Game, there's not a whole lot of way to make money super quickly without wasting some time, the best method seems to be simply fighting in the In Gyldenhal  area of Sniflheim. In this area, you can fight many gold monsters that will drop a lot of money upon defeat. Simply continue to fight here in order to ear what you need before moving on. If you grab the Arriviste's Vest from the Puerto Valor casino, you'll have things move along a bit quicker. This is also a good area to earn EXP as well to make sure you're not dragging too far behind before the upcoming story events.

For players in the Post-Game, your destination is The First Forest - Whale Way Station, a location not available before this point in the game. Fly to that point using Cetacea, located near the floating Yggdrasil. Instead of fighting monsters over and over, we're gonna rob them blind. Your target is the Hooper Duper, an orange demon type enemy with a hula hoop, there should be three wandering around the first clearing in the small area.

The idea here is to steal the Devilry Drinker, a shield, from each enemy before finishing the battle. The item is a common steal, so you don't need to mess around with Pep Powers or other tricks in order to get the goods. You can maximize Erik's steal chance through his Half-Inch skill by increasing his Deftness. You can do this by equipping gear such as either the Freebooter's gear available in Downtown Heliodor and rebuilt Cobblestone, or with either of his Swindler costume sets. The Robber Gloves are also a good choice, and can be reworked at the forge to offer a flat +5% percent chance of a successful steal.

Simply steal as many shields as you fancy and then sell them for 30,000 gold a pop at any shop. This should be an easy enough method to finance all of your loadouts no matter what you're after.

EXP Farming Method in Dragon Quest XI

In order to rocket up to level 99 as quickly as possible, we're going to abuse two specific Pep Powers: Haulellujah and Electro Light. Haulellujah requires the Hero, Erik, and Jade to be pepped up, while Electro Light Requires Hero, Sylvando, and Jade. So if we roll out with a party of Hero, Sylvando, Jade, and Erik, we can hit both powers in one battle, and that's the goal.

Skills you'll need beforehand will be Erik's Critical Claim (way upper left of his grid) and Jade's Thunder Thrust. Other useful skills include the Hero's Pep Up (under Luminary), and Metal Slash for Sylvando and Hero, as well as any node that increases your chance at getting pepped up.

Now you can do this at any fight in the game, theoretically, but I liked to fight monsters such as the Malicious Sprite Bulbs near The First Forest - Summit campsite, since they'll periodically heal the party. 

The first step is to simply defend until Hero, Jade, and Erik get pepped up -- you want to cast Haulellujah first. This might be difficult to time starting out, but once you cast Haulellujah once, they should be nearly in sync from that point on. Hero can always pep himself up at any point using Pep Up, and Pep Pips can be used in a pinch, so it really just falls to Jade and Erik getting pepped up at the same time, just keep defending until they do.

Once you've managed to get them pepped up and cast Haulellujah, next you'll need to repeat until Hero, Jade, and Sylvando are pepped up, so it's back to defending. Repeat until you can cast Electro Light. Here you'll have a high chance of turning your regular enemies into Metal Slimes, a series staple known for giving high amounts of experience. If your level is high enough, you'll even encounter some Vicious King Metal Slimes.

Here's where you reap the rewards. Once the slimes are in place, simply use Erik's Critical Chance, Jade's Thunder Thrust, and Metal Slash to try to defeat as many of the slimes as you can before they run away. If you had Sylvando cast Accelerate on Erik earlier in the fight, that can help get another use of Critical Chance in. Thunder Thrust can be used in a pinch, but doesn't hit reliably. The Metal Slashes are to just hope to focus down a third slime before it runs away. 

Electro Light does have a small chance of summoning robots instead of slimes, which can be frustrating once you've already set up the party to earn extra exp and gold from the battle. Luckily, they do have a chance to drop Swords of Judgment, which can be sold for decent money, so it's not a complete loss. The Vicious King Metal Slimes will also drop Pep Pips thanks to Haulellujah, so those can always be used in future fights in the process.

Pulled off correctly, and you'll earn 300,000-800,000 exp in a single fight, earning anywhere from 3 to 7 or so levels. Simply repeat until you've hit 99.

Maximizing Skill Points in Dragon Quest XI

Even once you get to level 99, you'll find that your characters won't be able to fully clear out their skill trees. That's because without the use of Seeds of Skill, no character will earn enough Skill Points necessary to max out their boards. You'll earn a few Seeds of Skill throughout the game normally, but you'll need to find a replenishable source if you want to cap everyone out.

It turns out that that source happens to be the elusive Malicious Great Keeper, a gold statue that only appears near the Ruins of Dundrasil in the rain. You can use the cow at the nearby campsite to help determine when it will rain next. Unfortunately, the Seed of Skill is the rare steal or drop from this enemy, so you'll have to make use of Haulellujah again, or use Hero and Erik's Itemised Kill, which requires Hero to know Flame Slash and Erik to know Half-Inch, but at this point in the game you should have had those a long time ago.

It's a bit of a grind, but simply repeat over and over until you get enough seeds to cap out each of your party member's skill boards.