What to level first

This page was last updated for (v1.2).

Melvor Idle is a cut down RPG game with many hidden depths. There is no right or wrong way to progress in the game, and you will rarely (if ever) be punished for experimenting. Melvor Idle is about the journey not the destination.

Enjoy!

Goal of this Guide

This guide gives one method for how to start your Melvor Idle journey. The goal is to give players a helping hand in the early stages of the game. It is in no way complete, or optimal for all play styles.

The guide was inspired by the following reddit post.

Why not to use this guide?

There are many reasons that this guide may not be useful:

• If following steps is not your thing then look elsewhere, these steps take a long time to complete and are very prescriptive.
• Do you have a preferred play-style? For example, combat is great! Why not give it a try? This guide is focussed on skilling and obtaining some important long-term benefits from some hard-to-get items and boosts.
• This guide is intended for Standard and Hardcore Game Modes:
  • If you are playing Adventure game-mode then please refer to the Adventure/Guide.
  • If you are playing Ancient Relics game-mode then please refer to the Ancient Relics/Guide.

Before you start

In general:

• This game is meant to be idled - this means that it is intended that you do not actively play this game, but instead do other things, such as go on a walk, or visit the zoo! And when you come back, hopefully you will start to see some progress, but do not expect to complete this game in a week.
• Items and equipment will give you small benefits that stack up over time, so do not expect to be a Melvor god after you have completed all of the steps outlined below - you will still have a lot of gameplay left, and the expansions are a great investment if you are yearning for more!
• You should expect this guide to take many days and weeks to complete, so feel free to deviate from the guide at any time.
• Players are encouraged to try out all of the skills as soon as they feel more comfortable with the basics.
• Off-line progress is capped to 24-hours, and so once you start following these steps, you may feel it necessary to keep the game running continuously, or feel the need to check-in on progress regularly. If you do need a break, this is ok - the progress cap might feel like a limitation at first, but it also means that your township doesn't fall into disarray after a long break.

Steps

1. Level Astrology until the Ameria constellation is unlocked ( Level 20)
   • Once Level 10 is achieved, training on the Iridan constellation is the fastest path to Ameria. Generally speaking, the fastest method for training a skill is the one with the highest level requirement.
2. Continue training Astrology on the Ameria constellation until Mastery level 80 is achieved in Ameria.
   • Doing so will provide access to 3 basic modifiers and 2 unique modifiers from Ameria, which can then be activated and then upgraded by consuming Stardust and Golden Stardust. All of these bonuses are good, however, be aware that the cost doubles for each upgrade you purchase. For now, we recommend not purchasing past the following upgrade levels:
     • For Stardust modifiers, be careful upgrading past star level 5-6
     • For Golden Stardust modifiers, be careful upgrading past star level 3-4
     • You can always come back for more bonuses later!
3. Train Woodcutting until you obtain one Mark of the Ent
   • Axe upgrades should be purchased as soon as possible, as they significantly decrease the amount of time required to cut all trees.
   • Open any Bird Nests, plant the seeds you're able to in Farming, and sell any seeds you're not able to plant. If able, always use Weird Gloop (by combining 2 Compost with 10 Rune Essence in the Shop) when planting seeds as this guarantees their growth.
     • Farming works passively while you're doing something else, so harvesting crops/herb/trees and planting new ones as soon as they're available is the best strategy.
4. Train Summoning by creating Ent Tablets until about Level 5.
   • We will use these Tablets in Woodcutting to further level to around Level 10 to unlock the Ent/Octopus Synergy for Fishing later on. You can see all possible Synergies here.
   • Summoning is a very expensive skill, especially in the early game. It may not be possible to complete this step immediately. You can start fishing (Step 7) for some money and come back to this step once enough money is attained for summoning.
5. Train Woodcutting with your Ent Tablets equipped, until 5 more Marks of the Ent have been discovered, making your Mark of the Ent level 2, enabling one half of the Ent/ Octopus synergy.
   • No matter what you're doing, try to ensure you always have Tablets equipped, even if this means temporarily stopping whatever skill you are doing to create some more. Having a Tablet equipped that works in the skill you're training increases the amount of Summoning XP you gain per action.
   • Once at least 1 batch of Tablets of the appropriate Mark has been crafted, you have enabled finding additional Marks of that type even when the Tablets aren't equipped or present in your Bank. However, the drop chance for Marks is higher when respective Tablet(s) are equipped.
   • We want to prepare unlocking the Ent half of the synergy now, so that it is immediately ready while we're training Fishing later. Having a synergy active further improves Summoning XP gained per action.
6. If not already Level 15, train Summoning until Level 15. You can train Summoning by either:
   • Preferably, equipping and using Tablets in its appropriate action (e.g. equipping Ent while Woodcutting)
   • Alternatively, but slower and not recommended, creating additional Tablets (e.g. creating Ent Tablets)
7. Train Fishing until you receive one Mark of the Octopus.
   • Don't forget, after the first Mark is found, you must create at least 1 batch of Tablets of the associated Mark to be able to find any additional Marks of that type.
8. Create at least 1 batch of Octopus Tablets to enable finding additional Marks of the Octopus
9. Train Fishing with both Ent and Octopus equipped until Level 25
   • Equipping both prepares you for the likely chance that you accumulate enough Marks of the Octopus to enable the Ent/Octopus synergy, enabling even faster Summoning XP gains
   • Synergies use both Tablets in the Synergy simultaneously, so expect the Tablet usage for both to go up when the Synergy is active.
10. Train Cooking until you find a total of six Mark of the Pig.
    • Again, remember to craft at least one batch of Pig to be able to find more than one Mark of the Pig.
    • The chance of mark discovery per action scales with the recipe's base cooking time for Cooking, therefore the recipe chosen has no impact on the mark drop rate.
11. Train Fishing with Octopus and either Ent or Pig equipped until both the Ancient Ring of Skills and Ancient Ring of Mastery have been acquired.
    • Remember that these rings are incredibly rare and may take a very long time to obtain, feel free to do something else if you get bored. You can always come back later when you have more bonuses.
    • Use the raw fish you catch to create Octopi and the cooked fish you earn from the synergy to create Pigs. Some resources cannot be used to create Tablets.
    • Octopus and Ent should be phased out as you progress and transition into Octopus and Pig. The synergy will require the Octopus to be Mark Level 3, and the Pig to be Mark Level 2.
    • Pig allows you to make money while training Fishing and Summoning, instead of pouring all of your into familiar tablets.
    • Once you start making more raw and cooked fish than you need to create Tablets, sell the excess for spare GP.
    • Most summoning Tablets allow you to select the recipe, changing the type and quantity of resources consumed per action. For example, Pig needs 50 Shrimp available at Level 1, making good Pig Tablet uptime hard, but only needs 7 Swordfish which is available at Level 50.
    • It is likely that Level 99 will have been reached by the time this happens due to the rarity of these rings.
    • Like with Woodcutting's Axe upgrades, Fishing Rods also provide a significant decrease to catch time and should be purchased as soon as they become available.
    • Open any Treasure Chests, equipping the Amulet of Fishing if it drops, as this greatly reduces the catch time for all fish.
    • Consume any Mastery Tokens acquired to increase your Mastery Pool, as long as you don't cap your pool.
    • Keep any Diamonds gained along the way as these are required for a number of highly desirable things later, notably Diamond Luck Potions and the Ice Jump Agility obstacle.
    • Once you've obtained a decent amount of of GP, you can begin saving any Emeralds, and Sapphires obtained from fishing, as these will be useful for creating Devil Tablets later, and for various other skills further down the line.
    • Sell everything that isn't a rare special drop acquired while Fishing, which should provide enough GP to fund fishing rod upgrades
      • Special drops can be seen on Fishing Specials, other notable drops include Circlet of Rhaelyx
    • Once the 2M GP for the Dragon Fishing Rod upgrade is acquired, all gems can reasonably be saved at this point.
    • Catching the following fish is suggested:
      • Below Level 99:
        • See Fishing Training. Your fish selection should always be the highest XP/h fish.
          • Keep leveling Summoning simultaneously by always having the Octopus/ Pig Synergy equipped, and making sure your selected fish can actually cook. It is preferable to only pick fish that work with this synergy, even if it means losing a bit of Fishing XP/h.
      • Level 99 with Fishing Skillcape unlocked (requiring Level 99 and costing 1M GP):
        • Whales for GP and eventually so they can be cooked into valuable food and Cooking XP, or turned into Summoning Tablets ( Octopus, Wolf, and Pig), as well as other uses, including as a resource for an Agility Obstacle.
        • Magic Fish are generally not recommended if using Summoning. If you're not using Summoning, they are technically worth approximately 1% more GP/h than Whales, which makes Magic Fish require the least amount of setup to be effective for GP. However Whales seriously outweigh Magic Fish in flexibility in other uses in the game, as well as severely outvaluing the GP/h when Whales are used with the Octopus/ Pig synergy.
      • For maximum special drops, once Message in a Bottle is acquired: (Only suggested if stacked on cooked fish and GP):
        • By reading the Message in a Bottle, you unlock the Secret Fishing area which has a 5% special catch rate, the highest in the base game. With Level 50 Mastery in the respective fish, the special catch rate is 8%.
        • Equipping the Ent/ Octopus Synergy for an additional +6% chance to acquire special items will push the special chance to 11%, or 14% with Level 50 Mastery in the respective fish.
          • The Level 20 Mastery Unique star from the Ameria constellation in Astrology can further increase the special catch rate by another +1% per point invested.
        1. For the most special rolls per hour: Seahorses
           • Fastest catch speed in this area, which maximizes the chance of acquiring both rings
           • Contrary to the other fish in the Secret Area, Seahorses can be synergized with Octopus/ Pig if Ent resources are hard to come by.
        2. For prayer points: Skeleton Fish
           • Can be redeemed for 3 Prayer points each, but can not be cooked
        3. Magic Fish is not recommended for special drops, as their catch rate is the one of the slowest in the base game, with Skeleton Fish having an almost 100% increased rate of special catches per hour in comparison.
    • Any spare GP can be spent on bank slots. It is advised to leave a sizeable buffer of GP (at least 3M) remaining to be able to afford Shards for additional Summoning Tablets, as well as other upgrades.
    • When your Fishing Mastery pool exceeds 95%, you can start spending your Mastery pool to increase your Mastery level for individual fish. First, level all fish to at least level 20, then focus spending on whichever fish you're currently working on, if it is below 88 Mastery.
      • Level 88 Mastery is an approximate point where spending Mastery pool becomes inefficient, while you can use the pool to level an item higher than 88, it is recommended at that point to simply train the item until it hits 99 and spend your pool on other, lower leveled items.
      • Higher total Mastery levels across all items and all skills increase the rate at which you obtain certain rare items, so your first goal when hitting above 95% Pool in any skill should be to level as many items as possible as high as possible.
12. Train Astrology further. Equip the Ancient Ring of Mastery and study Deedree until level 80 Mastery.
    • Like suggested in the start of the guide, purchase modifiers as you see fit, but as earlier, upgrade costs double each time for each respective area upgraded.
    • For Stardust modifiers, be careful upgrading past star level 5-6
    • For Golden Stardust modifiers, be careful upgrading past star level 3-4
13. Alternate between training Woodcutting and Firemaking until Level 15
    • The ultimate goal here is Level 99 to unlock the Firemaking Skillcape.
    • Equip the Ancient Ring of Skills before starting.
    • Any Axe upgrades should be purchased as soon as possible, as they significantly decrease the amount of time required to cut trees
    • Open any Bird Nests dropped for seeds, then plant those you can in Farming. Don't forget to buy new Farming plots when available.
      • Keep all Strawberry Seeds for Gentle Hands Potions used in Thieving, and keep 3000x Watermelons for Agility.
      • High Mastery level in Farming gives a chance to return seeds (to the point where crops sustain themselves), so a surplus of Strawberry Seeds can be planted if its Mastery level is high enough.
    • Manually lighting bonfires is not recommended
14. Train Agility until Level 10 is reached. This will allow the Monkey Bars Agility obstacle to be created, providing a 4% decrease to the Firemaking interval
15. Train to Level 35 and Level 30
    • If you haven't already trained Township a bit ( Level 15), it is worth doing this now to unlock Warm Beanie for additional Firemaking boosts. If you've followed the full guide up to this point, you should have plenty of Township ticks to easily reach Level 80 or higher, so it is highly recommended to be mindful when spending ticks.
16. Train Agility once more, this time until Level 20 is reached for the purpose of creating the Stepping Stones obstacle. This obstacle provides both a 6% decrease to Woodcutting interval and a 3% increase to Firemaking skill XP.
17. Continue training Woodcutting and Firemaking until Level 99
    • Having Ent and Octopus equipped will increase the number of Bird Nests dropped and continue to grant you more summoning XP.
    • If you have reached Level 90, as soon as you obtain one Mark of the Devil you can begin to craft Devil and use them for Firemaking to increase your summoning XP/action considerably as well as your Firemaking XP/h.
    • Once again, keep planting seeds awarded from Bird Nests and keep the ones noted in the first Woodcutting section.
    • Skip cutting Magic Trees due to the long cut time
    • It is highly suggested to have the Multi-Tree upgrade by the time you reach Redwood Trees as this allows you to level Woodcutting with the best XP rates while keeping the primary Firemaking resource ( Yew Logs) intact
      • This means using Multi-Tree to simultaneously cut Redwood and Yew logs.
    • Save any Redwood Logs gained as these should be turned into Dragon Javelins later, burning only up to and including Yew Logs to achieve Level 99.
    • Although lighting bonfires will increase the Firemaking Skill XP gained, this is very manual to maintain and uses significantly more logs per hour.
      • Lighting bonfires automatically by using Controlled Heat Potions is highly recommended if you are able to reach Level 20 by creating only Bird Nest Potions, requiring Garum Herbs from Farming and Potato Seeds from Bird Nests to create.
18. Purchase and equip the Firemaking Skillcape
    • It might be worth checking your Firemaking Mastery pool and seeing whether the 95% checkpoint is active. This provides an additional +5% Global Mastery XP - if not, go back and finish this this up now. Continuing on your moderately mastered Yew Logs you should be getting a bit more than 1% pool per hour.
    • Reaching maximum level in a skill increases the amount of pool provided per action from 25% to 50% of the Mastery XP.
19. Train Astrology once more, this time until Level 99 is reached in order to unlock many more bonuses, including the Astrology Skillcape, which - when equipped - further speeds up the rate at which you find both types of Dust.
20. Go back to Astrology and ensure all your constellations are at least Mastery Level 40, and train those which are not.
    • Mastery Level 40 unlocks the 2nd tier of normal modifiers, which contain Skill XP or Mastery XP (or both) bonuses.
    • Many Mastery Level 60, 80 and 99 unlocks provide modifiers that are rarely seen elsewhere in the game, with some of them only being useful in edge cases, so it is suggested to only further master the constellations that you know you will be benefiting from. You can see the list of constellation modifiers on the Astrology page.

Where next?

At this point, you have both Ancient rings (providing +8% Skill or +7% Mastery XP, depending on which is equipped), the Firemaking Skillcape (providing +5% Skill XP to all skills), and a variety of other bonuses from Astrology and Agility.

The choices on what path to take next start to open up, some suggestions are:

• Thieving for GP, and various Area unique & NPC unique items, a number of which provide various bonuses to other skills.
• Mining, Smithing, and Fletching for the Dragon Javelin money-making method, which is one of the best in the game. This is where any saved Redwood Logs from Woodcutting will be used.
• Agility to unlock further obstacles, providing additional bonuses. Reaching any further than obstacle 5 or 6 may be difficult initially however, due to the significant cost of obstacles and various level requirements.

Melvor Idle Skill Guides
Combat Woodcutting Fishing Firemaking Cooking Mining Smithing Thieving Farming Fletching Crafting Runecrafting Herblore Agility Summoning Astrology Township Alternative Magic Cartography Archaeology

Melvor Idle version v1.2.2 (Released: 15th November 2023)
Combat: Attack Strength Defence Hitpoints Ranged Magic Prayer Slayer
Skills: Woodcutting Fishing Firemaking Cooking Mining Smithing Thieving Farming Fletching Crafting Runecrafting Herblore Agility Summoning Astrology Township Cartography Archaeology Alternative Magic
Other: Beginners Guide Guides Bank Combat Mastery Money Making Shop Easter Eggs Pets Golbin Raid Full Version Throne of the Herald Atlas of Discovery
Reference Tables: Items, Equipment, Experience Table, Upgrading Items, Combat Areas, Slayer Areas, Dungeons, Chest Loot Tables, Monsters, Monster Loot Tables