Windrose leveling feels slow at first, but there is a clear way to speed it up
In Windrose, quests and fully cleared points of interest are the only reliable sources of XP, and larger loot spots pay out more once every chest is opened.
Leveling in Windrose works a little differently than many players might expect. Combat kills and crafting do not give XP, so the fastest route to a stronger character comes from finishing quests and clearing points of interest on the map.
Main quests and side quests in your Journal are the first dependable source of XP. That includes story progress such as the fight against Captain Thomas Richards, along with early tutorial and side tasks that reward experience directly. By comparison, activities like Blackbeard Crew Maps can still hand out loot, but they do not award XP.
Once the early quest pool starts to thin out, points of interest become the real way to level. Each island has map markers that can lead to pirate camps, ruins, outposts, and other locations. After you discover a POI, the map shows how many chests it contains and how much XP it pays out. You only get the reward after looting every chest in that location.
The payout depends on the number of chests inside the POI:
- 1 chest: 25 XP
- 2 chests: 50 XP
- 3 chests: 50 XP
- 4 chests: 50 XP
- 6 chests: 100 XP
That means the best XP route is not just about finding a lot of markers. It is about fully clearing the richer locations. Ancient Ruins can hide extra loot in a cellar, and some chests may be buried under debris. Those buried ones give themselves away with shining particles, and you can dig them up with a pickaxe.
Other POIs also have their own tricks. Traveler’s Camps may hide clues in notes, shipwrecks can hold loot on deck, and pirate locations often spread chests across several rooms and camps. The chests themselves do not respawn, but materials and supplies can return later, so revisiting a useful spot still has value.
If you want to move through islands efficiently, bring enough resources to place a Tent and a Fast Travel Point before you start looting. That makes it easier to clear every chest in a POI without wasting time on long trips back and forth.
If you are still working through Windrose, this is the kind of routine that keeps your level moving at a steady pace. Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram.
Windrose
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