# The 150 million XP strat

## What is it?

This strategy is a way to level without the need of 5ways carries nor chayla breachstones rota. In fact, is arguably faster than both combined, with the added bonus that we also drop nice loot.

### IMPORTANT UPDATE

With [3.24.0 Hotfix 4](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3498605) GGG removed the ability for the bonus xp to be scaled with shrine effect while also removing it entirely from the lesser shrines. Since it now only works with "regular" shrines and the effect cannot be scaled, we do not need to use any of the items "required" in this guide. The strategy is still very very solid and will get you to level 100 likely as fast as 5ways will.

## How does it work?

Thanks to [Domination Scarab of Teachings](https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Domination_Scarab_of_Teachings) every shrine that affects us **also** grants us *30% increased experience gained*. See that "also" that's written in bold? That is a very important word, because it makes it so that the increased experience gained **becomes part of the shrine effect** itself, and not just some added flat ammount.

What this means is that anything that scales generic buff effect and specific shrine buff effect, also scales this *30% increased experience gained* buff. Let's see how we can take advantage of this and level up super fast.

### Required gear

We are going to use [The Gull, Raven mask](https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/The_Gull) along with [Blunderbore, Astral Plate](https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Blunderbore). Both of those items have a line that reads `#% increased Effect of Shrine Buffs on you`, which stack toghether adding up to 150% increased effect. This alone makes every single shrine we pick up grant us 75% increased experience gained (we take Syncretism on the Atlas tree, so each shrine we pick up grants an additional one). We can further scale this by using [Ichimonji, Corsair Sword](https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Ichimonji) for an additional `10% increased Effect of Buffs on you`, making it a whopping 82% increased experience gained while dual wielding.

#### Suggested gear

Since Blunderbore requires between 680 and 880 strength, unless we are a strength stacker character, we can use the [Elegant Ubris, Timeless Jewel](https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Elegant_Hubris) with the mod `Commissioned # coins to commemorate Caspiro` (**Caspiro** is the important part, we don't care about the numbers) which gives us the keystone [Supreme Ostentation](https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Supreme_Ostentation), thanks to which we can use any gear and any gem, regardless of the attribute requirements (we still need to respect level requirements).

### The setup

- Atlas tree: [poeplanner](https://poeplanner.com/atlas-tree/BAAQAIQAT-aH1F8-Yw9LMuu7TPUklwBIsvqxFXl3iy6GtBCsGYhdoAh6we6EKv7FwCrqeDxZIWDzWzD6ky1hU26j8jhNwyyljEG1Zl6dfWXOWte-TLqN6goL2VtGOuT3HwCL4X2R3v6qCpt3oILaRMASaImLc57YZ2AOzype1I-HndDGK5y12IKnRVgpjVmGnMeCUfr4N-MA-c9H8ICzx-EQGQpV0-IOThui0OAMX0rLFyFMxSGRztXqOL8XUDakxB8TffZ1Ku4ZlP21GIsLcTp25ew-ff1tPTRxC31tj-UDMBQXiAczxtGKSBK3D9Vp2VypQ34MtWOgcWYfPwi5YkBo5DOar284zvvpZ9AoFAAfiwgAAAAAAAADAwAAAAAAAAAAAA==)
- Scarabs:
- 1x Domination Scarab
- 2x Breach Scarab
- 1x Domination Scarab of Teaching
- Domination on Map Device

We stack Breach along with shrines because we want the most ammount of mobs possible. We don't necessarily want *rare* mobs as those add challenge and we don't want to die to random 1 shots. We dont'e need *all the shrines* because there's only like 11 or so shrines and they don't stack, so we just need to have "enough" on ourselves to gain lots of xp, while also having some to spare to "refresh" our buffs often enough.

We take all the boxes nodes because they're very close to our pathing, add at least 4 more packs of mobs and they have the chance to be openable again, which is another 4 packs of mobs every time.

We take all the map mods effect because, as I will explain later, we don't run dangerous mods, so that just means more pack size for basically free. With the last points we grab some scarab nodes, because those are always sought after and, with the increased chance of being shrine ones we need to buy less of them.

We chisel, alch and roll our maps to not have mods we can't run. We also reroll some mods that could gives us some trouble by buffing the monsters too much. We can exalt to 6 mods, but it's not really necessary: better safe than sorry in this case.

## What to do

As soon as we enter the map, we run straight for the first couple shrines, without activating anything (boxes, breaches, etc). I found that activating between 2 and 3 shrines (for a total of 4 to 6 shrine buffs plus the 2 from Blunderbore) is enough to be able to start gaining good xp, while leaving the rest as "refreshers".

As soon as we have collected our first 2-3 shrines, we run back to the beginning and start activating boxes and breaches, one at the time: we want to activate the next breach close to the end of the previous one, leaving a little of overlap, so that the "stream" of mobs is left interrupted. We sprinkle some box opening and shrine collecting along the way, whenever a breach overlaps it, to be as efficient as possible.

Ideally we would want a very strict loot filter, because stopping to pick up loot means less time to kill breach mobs, so less xp overall.

### What NOT to do

- Do not die (DUH).
- Do not run map mods that your build cannot handle (eg. reflect, cannot leech, no regen, etc).
- Do not run map mods that could put you in danger (eg. less recovery, less aura effect, etc).
- Do not open multiple breaches at the same time, unless you have enough range, damage and ideally a speed shrine on yourself.
- Do not force yourself to pick up a Gull shrine if you already have the same kind active (from Gull or from the ground): it doesn't override it and it doesn't increase the timer for it.
- Try to not pick up shrines you already have on yourself, unless you have less than 4-5 different ones on you: as I said before, they neither stack, override nor increase the duration of the one you already have.

## Personal experience

Testing this strategy I managed to die a total of 5 times, so it took me 50% more maps to go from level 99 to level 100 than it might take you. I found out that Ichimonji is not really needed, as I was getting 3% to 5% xp each map, depending on my shrine/breach management, even without it.

I ran Jungle Valley because of the linear and open layout, but you can also run Tropical Island, which has a very similar layout, or maybe even Strand, but in Strand most breaches would end up for a third in the sea, so I wouldn't encourage it. We ideally want a linear layout because of the shrine "refresh" availability, while also being wide enough for the breaches to spawn the maximum ammount of mobs possible.

### The good stuff

Since an image is worth a thousand words (and I just wrote one thousand of them), I'll leave you with some screenshots.

#### Character tab showing the actual xp buff


#### Experience before my last map


#### Experience after my last map