Guides & Cheat Sheets / XP & Leveling Math
XP & Leveling Math
Why level 29 to 30 feels cheap and level 30 to 31 suddenly doesn't — the three-part curve behind every level in the game.
Three cost bands, not one smooth curve
The XP needed to go from one level to the next isn't one formula for the whole game — it changes shape twice, which is why the climb feels like it suddenly gets steeper at two specific points. iThe XP bar's percentage fill resets every level, but the point totals in this guide are the raw internal score, not the bar's percentage.
Cost to reach the next level is 2 × level + 7. This is the
cheapest band in the game — going from level 0 to level 1 costs just 7 points, and even level
14 to 15 only costs 35. Early leveling (mob farms, early mining, a few crafting-table XP drops)
clears this whole range fast.
Cost to reach the next level is 5 × level − 38. The jump at level 16 is the
first real wall: level 15 to 16 costs 42 points (versus 37 the step before), and by level 30 to
31 you're paying 112 points for a single level — already more than the entire climb
from level 0 to level 8 combined.
Cost to reach the next level is 9 × level − 158. This is the steepest band,
and it's uncapped — it keeps climbing the same way forever. It's also exactly why going past
level 30 for a third enchant on an already-enchanted tool gets expensive fast: you're not just
paying the anvil's prior-work penalty, you're paying level-31+ XP rates on top of it.
Full table — total XP needed to reach levels 1 through 30
These are cumulative totals from level 0 — the raw number of experience points banked by the time you first reach that level, not the cost of that one level alone.
| Level | Total XP | Level | Total XP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 16 | 352 |
| 2 | 16 | 17 | 394 |
| 3 | 27 | 18 | 441 |
| 4 | 40 | 19 | 493 |
| 5 | 55 | 20 | 550 |
| 6 | 72 | 21 | 612 |
| 7 | 91 | 22 | 679 |
| 8 | 112 | 23 | 751 |
| 9 | 135 | 24 | 828 |
| 10 | 160 | 25 | 910 |
| 11 | 187 | 26 | 997 |
| 12 | 216 | 27 | 1,089 |
| 13 | 247 | 28 | 1,186 |
| 14 | 280 | 29 | 1,288 |
| 15 | 315 | 30 | 1,395 |
Need a range that isn't 0 to 30, or want the mob-kill estimate too? The XP Calculator runs this same formula for any two levels.