How I level up additional characters:

I do the following before I start a new character because if everything is in place; I can level up a character to 56 in less than a day.

Preparation:

Armor: I place an extra set of armor in storage at either Veila or Heidel.  This is Helmet, Armor, Gloves and Shoes.  The extra set is just for leveling up different characters. My main set of armor will always be on my main combat character.  The extra set is leveled up to at least PRI. Some parts are higher but I don’t worry about leveling it up anymore.  All the armor and weapons have crystals in the sockets. I like the Grunil set because you have two places in each item to place crystals and since these are just additional characters, they do not need fancy armor.

Weapon: I buy two weapons (Main & Sub) and also place it in storage in Veila.  These weapons will be either 15+ or Pri.  Sometimes, I will buy a 15+ because it’s so much cheaper and just level it up to PRI. (It’s not super hard to level up a 15+ to pri)

Horse:  I will have a decent horse ready in the Veila stable. I will also gear up the horse too.

Food:  I will put meals & potions with extra combat buffs and carrots into storage.

Tools:  I will put one of each tool in storage. Example: Axe, Hoe, Butcher & Tanning Knife.  (Usually the ones with 100 to 130 uses)

Buff: Sometimes, I will put a combat book or several combat certificates in storage depending what I have at the time.

Jewelry: I put 2 rings, 2 earrings, necklace and a belt in storage.  I use the Asula set.

Start:

I create the character and start out in Olvia.  I follow the Black Spirit quests all the way to Veila and before killing the first boss; I will get my horse and everything out of storage.  Put on your armor, weapons and jewelry and get rid of your noobie stuff.  Have the tools on hand for any random quest that you might need it for. I then proceed to the 1^st boss quest and kill him in about 3 seconds.  During this process, I will get out my pets and have them pick up loot even though the loot is not worth much. I will pretty much complete all the Black Spirit quests up to Calpheon. My goal is to get as many inventory slots as I can. By the time, I’m at Calpheon; I am ready to kill the Catfisherman boss which will level me up to 50.   I save all the buffs for this point since you will level up extremely fast to 50 without anything.  I am constantly eating meals whether I’m fighting or not because this will bump up your health.

After level 50:

I’m still going to follow the Black Spirit Quests until I get to awakening level 56 but I am also going to do a lot of mob killing. (Rhutums, Marsha & Catfisherman) Mob killing will help you level up pretty fast to 56. Be sure to use your points on combat skills thru out.  Don’t stop to kill ogres or cyclops.  You will be just slowing yourself down.

The way to think about it is and this is only an example. (Not factual numbers)

If one Rhutum is worth 2 points and you can kill 6 Rhutums in 3 seconds.  You would get 240 points of experience in 1 minute.

If one ogre is worth 20 points and you kill 1 ogre per minute, you would get 20 points per minute.

Even if you killed 2 ogres in 1 minute, Rhutums would still be the better deal.  More bang for your buck.

BDO has also placed combat experience as a reward in most of the quests so leveling up is much faster than before.  In some cases, you can get more combat experience from the quests than an hour killing mobs.  In my opinion, quests are really worth doing even past level 56.