Best Way to Level Up Fast in ARK: Survival Evolved

ARK is a survival game that has been so popular, Vin Diesel got involved with the sequel. I don’t know if that’s helpful or not, but shout outs to Vin Diesel regardless. This game dumps you on a mysterious Island, without clothes food water or experience points. And as we both know, humans need those experience points to survive out in nature. Anyway if you just want to level up super fast in ARK, there’s a bit of a trick you can do.

Related: Where to Find the Desmodus in ARK Survival Evolved Fjordur Map: Desmodus Location Guide

This is probably something you’ll only want to do after experiencing ARK’s normal gameplay on your own the first time. This strategy is best for folks who’ve gone through the hardship already and are just starting a new game for PVP or whatever. This trick is called a “Note Run” by the community, because it relies on the experience you get from picking up lore.

Using a Note Run you can shoot up all the way to around level 70 on the Island. You are completely bypassing a lot of game, and frankly I don’t know enough about the context to speak to what that means. But the people wanna know and I’m a man for the people.

So to start the Note Run you want to spawn in West Zone 2. Then you have to seek out the following notes, which I’ve listed here along with coordinates. These figures come from YouTuber Vitality, whose video I’ve embedded with the list.

• Explorer Note: Quetzal Dossier (87.4 Lat 23.3 Long)
• Explorer Note: ??? #13 (89.2 Lat 24.4 Long)
• Explorer Note: Rockwell Record #20 (86.4 Lat 26.7 Long)
• Explorer Note: Rockwell Record #19 (83.8 Lat 27.7 Long)
• Explorer Note: Nerva Note #11 (82.6 Lat 27.0 Long)
• Explorer Note: Rockwell Record #2 (83.2 Lat 24.7 Long)
• Explorer Note: Leedsichthys Dossier (83.1 Lat 23.4 Long)
• Explorer Note: Pachyrhinosaurus Dossier (77.6 Lat 20.6 Long)
• Explorer Note: Megatherium Dossier (74.9 Lat 21.3 Long)
• Explorer Note: ??? (78.2 Lat 23.5 Long)
• Explorer Note: ??? (78.1 Lat 24.3 Long)
• Explorer Note: ??? (77.1 Lat 26.0 Long)

If you’re looking for tips on leveling up the normal way, that’s really just “play the game!” Seriously, playing through the main story parts before goofing around on your own is the most low stress way to level up without tricks like a Note Run. There are certain items, like Rafts, that crafting over and over is efficient in terms of time, but imagine actually doing that and still enjoying the game!