Far Far West Leveling Guide: Stop Grinding for Pennies

Leveling up your character should not feel like a second job with a cowboy hat attached to it.

Between Hero XP, weapon levels, spell upgrades, and prestige tracks, there is always another progress bar begging to be filled while enemies aggressively try to turn you into scrap metal. If you just play the game normally, the leveling process is painfully slow. You will burn out long before you reach the endgame builds. Stop wandering around the map hoping for a massive XP drop. You need to understand exactly how the game calculates experience for each specific category. I tested the most efficient farming routes in the game to completely optimize your progression.

If you are struggling to survive the harder farming methods I list below, you need to shore up your fundamentals first. Check out my Far Far West beginner guide to get your economy sorted so you can afford the upgrades you need to speedrun.

The Fast Leveling Strategies

You cannot use a one-size-fits-all approach to grinding. Hero XP, Weapon XP, and Spell XP all require completely different tactics to maximize your gains.

XP Category	The Best Strategy	Why It Works
Hero XP	The Tutorial Exploit	Yields roughly 900 XP for three minutes of work. It is objectively the fastest Hero XP farm in the game.
Weapon XP	Endless Train Farming	Weapon XP scales directly with damage dealt. Forcing endless spawns at the extraction train lets you farm until you run out of ammo.
Spell XP	Low Cooldown Spamming	Spell XP is earned per cast, not per kill. Spamming fast, low-impact spells levels your magic significantly faster than holding onto heavy hitters.

Farming Hero XP: The Tutorial Exploit

If you are not part of an elite speedrunning squad capable of clearing Nightmare maps in record time, you need to exploit the tutorial. It sounds ridiculous, but unlike most games, Far Far West actually rewards you with full experience for beating the introductory mission.

How to Speedrun the Tutorial

Load into the tutorial and completely ignore the instructions on your screen. Dump all of your available skill points into your Speed stat so you can sprint across the map faster. Equip the Portal spell from my Far Far West spell tier list to literally teleport past the locked doors.

Rush directly to the boss arena. Plant the required TNT, and instead of waiting for the timer, shoot the explosive immediately to detonate it and force the boss to spawn. Melt the boss, hit the extraction bell, and get out. You can complete this entire loop in roughly three minutes, and it nets you the same amount of Hero XP as surviving a full standard mission. Just put on a podcast and grind it out.

Farming Weapon XP: Maximizing Damage Output

Weapon experience does not care about how many missions you complete. It scales directly off of the raw damage numbers you output. If you deal weak damage, your gun levels up slowly.

The Endless Extraction Farm

To maximize your Weapon XP, you need an endless supply of targets. Progress through a normal mission until you complete the primary objective. Call the extraction train, but do not get on board. The game will panic and continuously spawn endless hordes of enemies to try and kill you before you leave. Plant your feet, pull out a high-tier primary from my Far Far West weapon tier list, and farm the horde until your ammo reserves run completely dry. Extract at the last possible second.

Stacking Damage Jokers

Because Weapon XP is tied to damage, you need to hit as hard as possible. Equip damage-focused Jokers, specifically the Glass Cannon card, to artificially inflate your damage output. The harder your bullets hit, the faster the XP bar fills. If you are struggling to find high-quality Jokers, you need to track down the secret merchant using my Far Far West Wandering Trader guide.

The Shotgun Prestige Trick

If you want to completely bypass the weapon grind, you need to look at the prestige rewards. Taking the time to repeatedly prestige the Shotgun pays off massively. The later prestige tiers for this specific weapon drop XP Tickets. Cracking one of these tickets instantly grants you three free levels to apply anywhere you want.

Farming Spell XP: Stop Holding Your Magic

Magic operates on a completely different set of rules. Spell XP is awarded based on how many times you physically cast the spell, regardless of how much damage it does or how many enemies it kills.

If you equip massive, ultimate-tier spells with two-minute cooldowns, you are going to level up incredibly slowly because you can only cast them a handful of times per run. If you want to max out your magic, you have to equip spells with the absolute lowest cooldowns available. Run into a mission and spam your abilities at every empty wall, rock, and cactus you see. Do not wait for the perfect moment. If the spell is off cooldown, cast it immediately.