AA Point Farming Guide — EverQuest Legends

AA Point Farming — Maximizing Your Experience Grind

Alternate Advancement (AA) point farming is the endgame progression activity in EverQuest Legends. After reaching level 50, experience you earn converts into AA points instead of character levels. These points are spent on permanent character enhancements through the AA system, making AA farming the primary way to increase your character's power at max level. This guide covers the most efficient strategies for farming AA points, from zone selection and group composition to solo methods and experience optimization.

AA farming is a marathon, not a sprint. The total AA points needed to max out your character number in the hundreds, and the experience required per point increases as you invest in more expensive AA tiers. Efficient farming strategies can save you weeks of playtime compared to suboptimal approaches, making this guide one of the most valuable resources for endgame players.

How AA Experience Works

Understanding the AA experience system is the foundation of efficient farming.

AA Experience Conversion — Once you reach level 50, you can choose to allocate a percentage of your experience to AA points. You can set this allocation through your character's experience slider. The common settings are:

• 100% AA — All experience goes to AA points. This is the standard setting for max-level characters who want to maximize AA progression.
• 50/50 Split — Half experience to AA, half to normal leveling (used when leveling additional classes in the 3-class system). This provides balanced progression.
• 0% AA — All experience to leveling. Used when you want to level alt classes before investing in AAs.

AA Point Cost — AA points cost different amounts of experience depending on the AA tier:

• General AAs cost 1 AA point per rank
• Archetype AAs cost 1 AA point per rank
• Class AAs cost 2 AA points per rank
• Special AAs cost 3 AA points per rank

The increasing cost means later AAs require significantly more total experience than earlier ones. This makes efficient farming increasingly important as your AA count grows.

The Shared Pool Advantage — EQL's shared AA pool means AA points earned on any of your three classes can be spent on any class's AAs. This has a profound impact on farming strategy: you can farm AAs on whichever class is most efficient for the content you are doing, then spend those points on AAs for any class. See our best AA for each class guide for spending recommendations.

Group Farming Strategies

Group farming is the most efficient way to earn AA points for most players. A well-composed group kills mobs faster and more safely than any solo player, resulting in more experience per hour.

The Standard AA Farm Group — The optimal farming group consists of:

• Tank — A Warrior or Paladin to hold aggro and absorb damage
• Healer — A Cleric or Shaman to keep the group alive
• Crowd Control — An Enchanter or Bard to manage adds and provide buffs
• DPS — Two damage dealers (melee or caster) to ensure fast kills

This group composition maximizes experience per hour by killing quickly, sustaining indefinitely, and handling unexpected adds smoothly. See our group composition tier list for optimal group builds.

Camp Selection — Choose camps that provide the best balance of mob kill speed, experience per kill, and respawn rate. The ideal AA farming camp has:

• Fast-spawning mobs that provide good experience per kill
• Manageable mob difficulty that allows sustained pulling without med breaks
• Minimal danger from adds, roamers, or unexpected spawns
• Convenient access to a zone-out for selling and resupplying

Pulling Efficiency — The group's pulling speed determines overall AA farming efficiency. A good puller keeps mobs incoming at a steady pace without overwhelming the group. The ideal pull rate matches the group's kill speed — no downtime waiting for pulls, and no dangerous pileups from pulling too fast.

Mana Management — The group's sustainability depends on the healer and caster mana bars. Plan your pulling pace around mana availability. When the healer is low on mana, slow pulls or take a brief med break. Pushing through mana-low periods leads to deaths and wipes, which cost far more time than a short med break.

Solo Farming Strategies

Solo AA farming is slower than group farming but offers flexibility and independence. Some classes solo farm efficiently enough to be competitive with groups, while others are better off seeking group content.

Best Solo Farming Classes — Necromancers, Bards, and Enchanters (via charm) are the most efficient solo AA farmers. Their combination of damage, sustainability, and crowd control allows them to grind continuously without downtime. See our solo class tier list for solo rankings.

Solo Farming Zones — Choose zones with single-pullable mobs, fear-kiting room (for fear-capable classes), and manageable mob density. Open outdoor zones are generally better for solo farming than dungeons because they offer more space for kiting strategies.

Solo Kill Efficiency — The key to efficient solo farming is minimizing downtime between kills. Life taps, pet tanking, and mana regeneration abilities all reduce the need to rest between fights. Classes that can fight continuously without stopping to med or heal farm AAs dramatically faster than classes that require frequent breaks.

Risk Management — Solo farming carries higher risk than group farming because there is no one to help if things go wrong. Classes with Feign Death have a significant advantage because they can escape bad situations without dying. Always have an escape plan when solo farming.

Best AA Farming Zones

Zone selection significantly impacts your AA farming efficiency. Different zones offer different experience rates, mob densities, and difficulty levels.

Dungeon Camps — Dungeons with fast-spawning mobs and good experience modifiers provide excellent AA farming. Named mob spawns in dungeons provide bonus experience and loot, adding value to dungeon farming sessions. See our best dungeon farming guide for specific dungeon recommendations.

Outdoor Camps — Open zones with high mob density provide consistent farming opportunities. Outdoor zones are preferred by fear-kiters (Necromancers and Bards) because they have room for kiting strategies. Outdoor camps are also safer for solo farmers because escape is easier.

Instance Content — Instanced missions and tasks provide guaranteed experience rewards upon completion. These are reliable sources of AA experience but typically offer less total experience per hour than sustained camp farming. Use instances for variety and specific loot targets rather than as your primary farming method.

Raid Content — While raids are not primarily an AA farming activity, the trash clear experience in raid zones is significant. Raiding provides AA points as a byproduct of progression content, making it one of the most enjoyable ways to accumulate AAs.

Experience Optimization

Beyond zone and group selection, several strategies optimize your AA experience rate:

Experience Bonuses — Some zones and content types provide experience bonuses. Always farm in zones with the highest available experience modifiers. Seasonal events sometimes add temporary experience bonuses that are worth prioritizing.

Experience Potions — Potions that increase experience gain are available from promo codes, daily login rewards, and the in-game marketplace. Using experience potions during efficient farming sessions dramatically accelerates AA point accumulation. Save your best potions for when you have a dedicated farming group and can maximize the potion's duration.

Rested Experience — EQL provides a rest experience system where characters who have been logged off accumulate bonus experience for their next session. Logging off between farming sessions allows rest experience to build up, providing a significant bonus when you return.

Group Size Optimization — Smaller groups often provide more experience per kill because experience is divided among fewer members. A three-person group earns more experience per person than a six-person group, assuming the three-person group can kill efficiently. However, if a smaller group kills too slowly, the per-hour rate drops despite higher per-kill experience.

Tips and Strategies

• Farm on your most efficient class: The shared AA pool means you should farm on whichever of your three classes kills fastest and most sustainably. A Necromancer farms AAs far more efficiently than a Warrior. Farm on the Necromancer, then spend the points on Warrior AAs.

• Use experience potions during group farming sessions: Potions multiply your entire group's experience gain. Using them during your most productive farming time maximizes their value.

• Mix farming with progression content: Pure AA farming can become monotonous. Mix farming sessions with dungeon exploration, quest completion, and raid participation for variety. Many progression activities provide AA experience as a byproduct.

• Set realistic goals: AA farming is a long-term activity. Set daily or weekly point targets rather than trying to earn hundreds of points in a single session. Consistent moderate farming outperforms sporadic intense sessions.

• Minimize downtime: Every minute spent not killing mobs is a minute of lost AA experience. Prepare supplies in advance, plan your route to vendors, and coordinate with your group to keep pulls coming steadily.

• Track your AA progress: Keep a log of your AA point total and your spending plan. Tracking progress provides motivation and helps you adjust your farming strategy based on how quickly you are accumulating points.

• Farm during off-peak hours: Less competition for camps means more consistent pulling and better farming efficiency. Early morning and late night sessions often provide better farming conditions than peak hours.

Common Mistakes

• Farming on an inefficient class: Because of the shared pool, farming AAs on your weakest solo class is wasteful. Switch to your most efficient farmer for AA grinding sessions.

• Ignoring experience bonuses: Failing to take advantage of zone bonuses, event bonuses, and rest experience significantly slows your AA accumulation.

• Over-pulling in groups: Pulling more mobs than the group can handle leads to deaths, wipes, and wasted time. Match your pull rate to the group's capability.

• Not using experience potions: Hoarding experience potions "for later" means they are never used. Use potions during productive farming sessions for maximum benefit.

• Farming content that is too hard: Higher-level mobs provide more experience per kill, but if your group struggles and wipes frequently, the net experience per hour may be lower than farming easier content consistently.

• Neglecting the shared AA pool advantage: Many players forget that AAs earned on any class can be spent on any class. This is the single most powerful feature of EQL's AA system and should drive your farming strategy.

Conclusion

AA point farming is the core endgame activity in EverQuest Legends. By understanding the experience system, choosing efficient farming zones, building optimal groups, and leveraging the shared AA pool, you can maximize your AA accumulation rate and build a permanently powerful character. Consistent, efficient farming compounds over time — every hour saved through optimization is an hour you can spend enjoying the content you love.

For more AA guidance, see our AA system guide for fundamentals, our best AA for each class guide for spending recommendations, and our AA reset guide for reallocating points. For new players, our beginner guide covers all the fundamentals.