Discover everything you need to know about leveling up fast in Monster Hunter Stories 3, including how to gain more XP.
Leveling is a core progression system where you and Monsties gain levels by earning EXP in Monster Hunter Stories 3. When enough EXP is collected, your level increases and your stats improve automatically. Leveling improves your overall combat power, like HP, attack power, defense, and more. As Monsties level up, they unlock gene slots and new skills gradually. Everything you do in this game contributes to leveling.
How Leveling works in Monster Hunter Stories 3
You level up in Monster Hunter Stories 3 by earning EXP from different activities like completing quests or defeating monsters. The major sources of gathering EXP are battle, exploration, and story progression. Leveling is tied closely to how well you fight, like performing double attacks and building the Kinship Gauge.
Better Monsties means faster leveling progression overall. You explore the world and find eggs or other materials. Improve the build, complete quests, fight deadly monsters, and gain EXP. I recommend upgrading gear to win multiple fights faster. Collecting Monster Eggs from the dens also lets you gain a huge amount of EXP.
How To Level Up
Leveling up in Monster Hunter Stories 3 is not a challenging task, as you can earn EXP by doing anything. Completing certain activities lets you gain more experience points, helping you level up fast. Below are all the different ways to fill your account with EXP.
Fight the Monsters
Defeating the monsters rewards you with a decent amount of EXP in Monster Hunter Stories 3. Stronger monsters let you grant more EXP. This is the primary method to level up quickly. You can find these deadly enemies in the field or inside the dens.
Keep in mind that fighting low-level enemies becomes inefficient later, so focus on monsters early on. EXP gain becomes extremely low or even zero if the enemies are too low level. Your entire Monstie team gains EXP after battle, so the game has a sharing EXP system.
Complete Side Quests
The game allows you to accept the side quests from NPCs or quest boards. Completing these side missions lets you earn EXP, items, and currency. Unlike fighting monsters, these quests give you a fixed chunk of EXP when you turn in the quest.
Different quests give different EXP amounts, like easy quests provide small EXP, and late-game quests reward you more. While doing quests, you also gather materials and fight monsters, letting you earn multiple sources of EXP. Some board quests can be repeated, allowing for continuous EXP farming. You can get the crafting materials, equipment blueprints, and upgrade resources as a reward for completing these side quests.
Gather Materials during Exploration
Collecting items like herbs, ores, and more lets you earn EXP in Monster Hunter Stories 3. Materials can be obtained by interacting with plants, mining nodes, and bone piles. These appear as gathering spots across the map, and interacting with each of them lets you gain materials and EXP. This is also the effective way to level up, as it doesn’t require fighting enemies or completing missions.
You can find the materials to interact with naturally by just exploring the map. I recommend picking up every material node you pass. Don’t rush objectives; instead, check hidden paths, dens, and corners of each area to find crucial materials.
Collect Monster Eggs
Picking up the eggs from the dens allows you to gain a huge amount of EXP in Monster Hunter Stories 3. Enter a Monster Den and take an egg from the nest to receive the rewards. Monster dens are caves that appear throughout the world, and these are locations where monsters lay their eggs.
Eggs are located inside Monster Dens, but you need to let the monster retreat to get inside the dens for eggs. They can be later hatched at stables to recruit new monsties for your team. Monster Dens always respawn across the map, so keep farming eggs continuously to level up fast.
You don’t need to defeat the monster to get inside the dens, as you must attack its weakness to let it retreat. The monster rushes into the dens and goes to sleep. You can get inside and easily pick up the egg and hatch it later.
Use XP Boost Items
XP boost items like Charms, Prayer Pot bonuses, and Consumable boosts increase the amount of EXP you earn from other activities. Training Charm enhances the amount of XP earned by 50%, helping you level up fast. You gain 1.5x the normal experience if you choose to equip this charm. Several armor sets also let you earn passive experience bonuses that grant XP boosts. Every fight you win gives more EXP than normal while equipping this charm.
XP boosts typically apply to monster battles, but not in quests. Fight strong monsters, use quick finish, and farm high EXP enemies during the boost duration. Buff expires after 30 minutes, so reapply for the next farming session. XP boost items multiply your EXP gains and can stack with other methods like egg farming. Don’t waste these boosts during story dialogue or on exploration without combat.
Defeat Barrel Felynes
Barrel Felynes are rare special monsters that have low HP but have high defense in Monster Hunter Stories 3. Defeating these monsters lets you earn a huge chunk of EXP. Defeating one Barrel Felyne gives around 10k EXP per kill, and with EXP boost items equipped, you can gain 15k+.
This enemy can be located inside the caves, dens, or special areas. Bombs are the easiest method to take down these monsters, as they can bypass their defense easily. Your strategy should be to enter the area, defeat Barrel Felyne, exit the area, wait briefly, and re-enter.
