Building a Phenom

After becoming an Arisen, choose your starting Vocation. This choice impacts your first ten levels and starting stats. Fighter is recommended for Hybrid and Strength builds, while Mage is recommended for Magick builds.

Follow the linear quests to Gran Soren. Aim to arrive around level 10 to avoid wasted attribute gains from unnecessary experience. Upon arrival, change your Vocation to your primary leveling Vocation. Hybrid and Strength builds should switch to Assassin, and Magick builds should switch to Sorcerer. Do not spend Discipline before reaching Gran Soren to ensure you can afford these Vocation changes.

Keep Pawns and complete quests until you reach level 25-30. During this time, consider venturing into Heavenspeak Fort and Soulflayer Canyon for powerful early-to-mid-game gear. Proceed cautiously, running past concentrated enemy groups if necessary. Gear from Soulflayer Canyon can significantly outperform initial weapons. Higher Strength and Magick stats will ease this process.

By around level 30, you should have maxed your current Vocation (Assassin or Sorcerer). Consider switching Vocations to earn Discipline and Vocation Rank, switching back only to level up. Hybrid and Strength-build Assassins should switch to Warrior for the Clout Augment. Magick-build Sorcerers should switch to Assassin for the Bloodlust and Autonomy Augments.

Once you have acquired either Clout (for Strength builds) or Acuity (for Magick builds), along with Bloodlust and Autonomy, dismiss your Pawns and equip these Augments. With Soulflayer Canyon loot and these Augments, your Strength/Magick scores should increase significantly, even in the mid-30s, allowing for solo exploration which yields more experience. Your Main Pawn will level up quickly when you bring them back, especially during story quests where they gain knowledge.

Continue playing the game, completing missions, and gaining experience. Your Strength/Magick scores will naturally increase with levels, especially when playing solo. This progression should be sufficient to complete the main story, after which you can further enhance your character with superior gear and by facing late-game enemies.

When preparing to tackle Bitterblack Isle, it is advisable to bring back your Pawns. The challenging creatures there will likely overwhelm a character with only around 2000 Strength/Magick, which you might achieve by level 100 with good Everfall gear and decent Augments. After acquiring powerful gear from Bitterblack Isle, you can likely resume playing solo.