If you’re a fan of the popular and recently released game Rift then no doubt you know a little bit about it. There are two main factions in this game, The Defiant and The Guardian, and regardless of which one you picked you’ll have to level up. There were previously released Guardian leveling guides, but a recent addition is a leveling guide for the Defiant faction which you might want to check out if you’re playing this faction.

Defiant players start their adventure in Terminus. You’ll be leveling there for some time (about till level 7), after which you’ll move on to Freemarch. In Freemarch you’ll also visit your capital city as well as gain access to your first instance, Iron Tombs. Capital city for the Guardians is Sanctum, and for Defiants Meridian. The Rifts that spawn here are Fire and Life. You’ll be leveling in Freemarch until 17-20.

After that you will move to a zone caled Stonefield. It’s wise not to come into this zone before you are level 20 at least or you will have trouble completing quests and killing monsters. Stonefield has Earth and Death rifts spawning throughout the zone, as well as the Deepstrike Mines instance to keep you occupied. This zone is also interesting due to several puzzles which have very good rewards.

After Terminus and Stonefield you’ll finally be in Scarlet Gorge in which the members of other faction are leveling up as well. That means you’ll need to watch your back all the time if you’re on a PvP server or else you can get ganked. Scarlet Gorge is separated into two zones though: the Defiants are on the south side and the Guardians on the North. Scarlet Gorge has mostly Fire rifts, and contains an interesting dungeon called Foul Cascade. Make sure you’re at least level 32 before you move out of this zone or else you will have trouble with quests and mobs. Participate in some invasions, do your daily Warfront quest and clear out the dungeons one more time if you’re missing experience. The more levels before you reach the next zone the easier and faster you’ll level up.

After Foul Cascade you’ll move on to Scarwood Reach. It’s populated by Life rifts mostly and it also has a dungeon called King’s Breach. Additional puzzles are located here as well which I recommend completing for decent experience and item rewards. Try not to move out of Scarwood Reach before you hit at least level 35. As before make sure you do dungeons, warfronts and rifts if you’re out of quests and need more experience, although if you followed my previous advice it shouldn’t be a problem.

Next area is Moonshade Highlands, where you’ll find the Runic Descent dungeon. You should gain level 42 here, after which you’ll move on to Droughtlands which has the Lantern Hook instance and is designed up to level 46.

Once you reach the current level cap of 50, you’ll have numerous options. You can participate in more rifts and invasions, battle in warfronts against other players, gank lowbies, work on your professions, do some instances and raiding and more. Reaching the level cap as quickly as possible is important since the real game begins at 50.