Suggested by Baconrashers

Best route to 65

This is the “get me to cap without wasting a fortnight staring at empty roads” path. It is built for speed, deeding while you move, and stacking virtues in the same zones so you are not running backwards later. Push it hard and you can hit 65 in about a week. Prefer a chill climb? Swap Lone-lands for North Downs and ride the Book more (notes at the bottom).

Why this route

It is fast. Dense quest hubs, short travel between objectives, and epic books that actually pay for the levels you need.
Deeds for free(ish). You are already killing everything that moves. Finish the region deeds while the XP is hot instead of coming back at 64 out of spite.
Virtues while you level. Stay long enough in each band to knock out at least five virtues worth of progress from the local deeds. Cap comes quicker when your traits are not empty.
About one week if you go hard. Not a promise, more of a dare. Fewer side trips, more “next quest marker,” more kinship nights when you can.

The route

1–16 · Ered Luin Start clean. Learn your buttons, clear the dwarf/elf starter, and leave with a character that already feels like yours.
16–18 · Book 1 and Bree Hit the Vol. I Book and Bree-land proper. Short steps, lots of NPCs yelling at you, perfect warm-up into the scary tombs.
18–22 · Barrow-downs and Great Barrows Lean into the downs and the Great Barrow instances. Creepy, efficient, and packed with deed potential if you keep your eyes open.
22–32 · Lone-lands This is the main XP highway. Stay on the Lone-lands spine and do not wander off into “just one more side story” unless you like being level 28 for three days.
32–34 · Lone-lands · Garth Agarwen Finish the Garth Agarwen quest lines before you bounce. Nice little XP bump and deeds that like to stick around.
34/35–40 · Trollshaws Cross into Trollshaws and ride that band to 40. Pretty forests, ugly trolls, solid leveling if you keep the quest log tidy.
40–45 · Angmar Yes, Angmar. Lean into it. The zone looks like it wants you dead, which is exactly why the XP and deeds feel so good when you are not dead.
45–48 · Eregion, then Book 2 Push Eregion to about 48, then start Book 2. The epic is not flavour text here. It is your ticket upward.
~48–50 · Book 2 epic Ride Book 2 hard. Done right, the epic should land you at 50 ready for the mines.
50–58 · Moria Welcome underground. Moria is long, loud, and excellent XP if you treat it like a conveyor belt instead of a sightseeing tour. Deed while you go.
58–60/61 · Lothlórien Come up for golden light and a cleaner quest flow. Top up to 60/61 before the forest gets darker again.
60–65 · Mirkwood Finish in Mirkwood. Cap at 65, park the XP potion fantasies, and go read Picking Virtues like a responsible kinmate.

Slower path (still good)

If you want a gentler climb, swap Lone-lands for North Downs and follow the Book more closely. You will spend longer in Eriador, see more of the story, and still end up at the same cap. Same kinship rule applies: stay at or under 65 unless an officer says otherwise.

Bacon’s checklist

Deed the region while you are there. Future-you will thank past-you.
Aim to progress at least five virtues along this path, not after cap panic.
Ask in Discord if a hub is dry. Someone has usually just cleared it.
Hit cap, then trait for kinship nights. Speed is for the road. Survival is for the instances.

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