Understanding how experience works in Dead in Antares is one of the biggest advantages you can give yourself early. The game doesn’t clearly explain how leveling, skill gains, and character bonuses interact — and making smart decisions early can save you a lot of frustration later.
Dead in Antares Early EXP & Skill System Guide (Spoiler-Free)
This guide breaks down the core EXP systems in simple terms so you can plan your progression efficiently without story spoilers.
How Character Leveling Works
When you recruit a new character, they don’t start at a fixed level. Instead, they join at the lowest level currently present in your team, including that level’s progress bar.
For example, if your lowest crew member is Level 3 with partial progress toward Level 4, any new recruit will enter at that exact same state.
This system keeps your squad balanced but also means neglecting one character can slow overall progression.
Captain Amelia’s EXP Bonus Explained
One of the most important mechanics to understand early is Captain Amelia’s passive experience bonus.
Her ability grants +10% character EXP for every 25 points invested in stats. This bonus applies dynamically — meaning it affects all experience gains immediately when earned.
Even more importantly, it doesn’t only apply to combat experience. It also boosts:
- Relationship experience
- Skill leveling experience
- General character EXP from activities
Because of how broadly it applies, this passive becomes one of the strongest long-term progression boosts in the game.
Combat Experience Gains
Battles provide a consistent and straightforward source of character experience.
Each completed fight awards 100 base character EXP before any bonuses are applied.
Since Amelia’s bonus and other modifiers scale this amount, combat remains one of the fastest ways to level your team efficiently.
Skill Leveling and Character EXP
Skills and character levels are tightly linked.
Whenever a skill increases in level, your character also receives 100 character EXP in addition to the skill progression itself.
This means focusing on skill training doesn’t just improve abilities — it also accelerates overall character leveling.
How Skill EXP Is Earned
Skill experience comes from a variety of activities rather than combat alone.
Exploration actions grant experience specifically to exploration and stealth skills.
Camp activities and certain tests provide skill EXP tied directly to the stat being used. Each of these typically grants 80 skill EXP before modifiers.
Unlike some other systems, skill EXP gains generally appear unaffected by fatigue, injuries, or status conditions, though certain traits may alter this behavior.
Character Level EXP Requirements
Character leveling follows a steady progression curve.
Early levels require relatively small amounts of experience, but the cost increases consistently as you progress.
The initial requirements are:
- Level 1 → 2 requires 400 EXP
- Level 2 → 3 requires 550 EXP
- Level 3 → 4 requires 700 EXP
- Level 4 → 5 requires 850 EXP
- Level 5 → 6 requires 1000 EXP
This pattern suggests a gradual linear increase in EXP requirements as levels rise.
Skill Level EXP Requirements
Skill leveling uses a tiered progression system based on level ranges.
Lower skill levels increase quickly, but higher tiers require significantly more experience.
The general structure is:
- Levels 1–20 require 100 EXP per level
- Levels 21–30 require 200 EXP
- Levels 31–40 require 300 EXP
- Levels 41–50 require 400 EXP
- Levels 51–60 require 500 EXP
- Levels 61–70 require 600 EXP
Later levels likely continue this pattern with steadily increasing requirements.
Key Early Progression Tips
The most important takeaway is that skills and character levels reinforce each other. Training skills not only improves performance but also speeds up leveling through bonus character EXP gains.
Maintaining balanced crew progression is also crucial since new recruits match the lowest level in your team.
Finally, investing in Amelia’s stat growth early provides one of the strongest long-term EXP advantages available in the game.
Dead in Antares hides a surprisingly deep progression system beneath its survival gameplay. Once you understand how EXP flows between combat, skills, and character bonuses, you can make far more strategic decisions about training and resource allocation.
Mastering these systems early helps ensure your crew remains effective as challenges grow tougher later in the campaign.