If you’ve ever finished a dive wondering why one survivor gained a massive chunk of XP while another barely levelled at all, you’re not imagining things. DIVE or DIE: Children of Rain has a surprisingly deep XP system, and a lot of it happens behind the scenes.
The game never really explains where diving XP comes from, how multipliers stack, or why some dives are worth ten times more than others. Once you understand the mechanics, though, levelling becomes much faster—and you can avoid wasting valuable opportunities.
This guide breaks down every source of Diving XP, how the multipliers work, the best farming methods, and a few tricks that can dramatically speed up your progression.
Every Way to Earn Diving XP
There are only four direct sources of Diving XP.
Everything you earn during a dive comes from one or more of these:
- Defeating enemies
- Killing a Gold Boonfish
- Bringing valuable items back to camp
- Returning with 10% Oxygen or less
Simply exploring, swimming deeper, or staying underwater longer doesn’t award XP by itself.
Enemy XP Values
Every enemy has a fixed base XP value.
| Enemy | Base XP |
|---|---|
| Beacon Jellyfish | 2 |
| Sanity Leech | 2 |
| Despair | 10 |
| Locust | 10 |
| Rain Psalmist | 10 |
| Rain-Touched | 20 |
| Rain-Touched (after Taken by the Rain) | 100 |
Most enemy XP is affected by your survivor’s Kill XP multiplier.
The biggest exception is Rain-Touched during the Taken by the Rain event. Their reward jumps from 20 XP to 100 XP, making them one of the most profitable enemies to hunt if you’re running a combat-focused build.
Gold Boonfish XP
The Gold Boonfish is by far the single best enemy for raw XP.
Defeating one awards:
300 XP
Unlike normal enemies, this reward ignores your Kill XP multiplier.
That might sound like a downside, but don’t worry—it still becomes part of your total dive XP, so later multipliers can increase its final value.
Every other Boonfish colour gives:
0 XP
So if you spot a Gold Boonfish during a dive, it’s almost always worth prioritising.
XP From Collected Items
Every item you manually bring back has its own XP value.
Higher-value collectibles naturally reward more experience.
100 XP Items
These are the biggest rewards you’ll normally find.
Examples include:
- All Idols
- Every Egg
- Map Collectibles
- Rainium
- Crystallized Rain
- Black Tear
- Rain Pearl
- Headlight
- Power Saw
50 XP Items
These include:
- Blueprints
- Journal Pages
- Blood Crystal
- Rain Scale
- Black Box
30 XP Items
- Gold
- Lithium
- Poison Spore
- Spiderweb Coral
- Plastic
- Living Wood
20 XP Items
- Rain Rot
- Aluminium
- Silicon
- Leech Blood
- Insectoid Blood
- Wood Planks
15 XP Items
- Copper Ore
10 XP Items
- Iron Ore
- Carbon
- Food Crate
- Heirloom
5 XP Items
- Food Can
- Small Memento
- Algae Tissue
Consumables and ammunition do not provide collection XP.
Extractors Don’t Award Collection XP
One easy mistake is assuming Extractors give the same XP as manually gathering resources.
They don’t.
Only resources personally collected during the dive award collection XP.
If your goal is levelling rather than farming materials, manual mining is always the better choice.
Mineral XP
Certain ores benefit from an additional Mineral XP multiplier.
| Mineral | Base XP |
|---|---|
| Iron Ore | 10 |
| Carbon | 10 |
| Copper Ore | 15 |
| Aluminium | 20 |
| Silicon | 20 |
| Gold | 30 |
| Lithium | 30 |
| Blood Crystal | 50 |
| Rainium | 100 |
For example, if your survivor has 150% Mineral XP, collecting a single Rainium rewards:
150 XP
Blessed versions of these minerals do not grant additional XP beyond their normal values.
Low Oxygen Bonus
If you return with 10% Oxygen or less, you receive:
+30 XP
It doesn’t matter whether you finish with:
- 10%
- 5%
- 1%
The reward is always exactly 30 XP.
That means there’s no reason to risk suffocating just to squeeze out the last few percent.
Things That Don’t Give XP
Many players assume these actions secretly award experience.
They don’t.
You receive no direct XP for:
- Swimming deeper
- Time spent underwater
- Discovering new areas
- Unlocking new biomes
- Finding shortcuts
- Meeting new enemies
- Returning with full Health
- Returning with full Sanity
Only the actual XP sources listed earlier matter.
XP Multipliers Explained
The real magic happens after your dive ends.
Several bonuses multiply your total XP before it’s permanently awarded.
Passion: Diving
Survivors with the Diving Passion receive:
+50% Diving XP
Example:
| Raw XP | Final XP |
|---|---|
| 100 | 150 |
| 500 | 750 |
| 1000 | 1500 |
Mentor Spirit
Burning Gold at the Memorial grants Mentor Spirit until the next day.
Effect:
×2 Diving XP
Because it doubles your entire dive, it’s one of the strongest XP bonuses available.
If you’re planning a dedicated levelling run, activate Mentor Spirit first.
Dark Spirit
Burning:
- Poison Spore
- Insectoid Blood
grants Dark Spirit.
Effect:
×2 Enemy Kill XP
This is useful during combat-heavy dives but generally isn’t as strong as Mentor Spirit for overall levelling.
Survivor Experience Multiplier
Each survivor has their own Experience multiplier.
For example:
125% XP
means:
1000 XP becomes 1250 XP
Idol of Ruin
The Idol of Ruin rewards survivors carrying negative conditions.
Depending on your Dark Arts level, each negative condition increases XP further.
| Dark Arts Level | XP Per Negative Condition |
|---|---|
| 1 | +20% |
| 2 | +30% |
| 3 | +40% |
| 4 | +50% |
At Dark Arts Level 4:
- One negative condition = ×1.5 XP
- Two = ×2.0
- Three = ×2.5
- Four = ×3.0
This can become one of the largest XP multipliers in the game if managed carefully.
Camp Experience Multiplier
Your village also contributes its own Experience bonus.
This stacks with the survivor’s personal multiplier.
Example:
1000 XP
↓
125% Survivor XP
↓
120% Camp XP
↓
1500 XP
XP Multiplier Order
The game always calculates XP in this order:
- Raw Dive XP
- Passion: Diving
- Mentor Spirit
- Survivor Experience Multiplier
- Idol of Ruin
- Camp Experience Multiplier
Because the game rounds numbers during this process, changing the order would produce different results—but this is the exact sequence currently used.
Example of XP Stacking
Imagine you finish a dive with:
- 1000 Raw XP
- Passion: Diving
- Mentor Spirit
- 125% Survivor XP
- Idol of Ruin (Dark Arts 4)
- Three negative conditions
- 120% Camp XP
The calculation becomes:
| Stage | XP |
|---|---|
| Raw XP | 1000 |
| Passion | 1500 |
| Mentor Spirit | 3000 |
| Survivor XP | 3750 |
| Idol of Ruin | 9375 |
| Camp XP | 11250 |
That’s why stacking multipliers is much more effective than simply staying underwater longer.
Fanatic Spirit Explained
Fanatic Spirit works differently from every other XP bonus.
If a survivor has Fanatic Spirit and returns with at least one Idol, the game immediately grants enough XP to finish their current level.
For example:
Need 800 XP to level up?
Fanatic Spirit gives exactly 800 XP.
Need 5000 XP?
It gives exactly 5000 XP.
It doesn’t level you multiple times—it simply completes your current level.
Fanatic Spirit Ignores Multipliers
Unlike normal XP, Fanatic Spirit:
- Doesn’t use Passion
- Doesn’t use Mentor Spirit
- Doesn’t use Survivor XP
- Doesn’t use Camp XP
- Doesn’t use Idol of Ruin
It always grants the exact remaining amount needed.
Because of that, it’s best used immediately after reaching a new level, especially Levels 10 or 11 where XP requirements become enormous.
What Happens If Your Diver Dies?
Unfortunately…
Everything earned during that dive disappears.
That includes:
- Enemy XP
- Gold Boonfish XP
- Item XP
- Mineral XP
- Oxygen Bonus
No post-dive multiplier can recover it.
Once the survivor dies, the stored XP is lost forever.
That’s why surviving is always more valuable than chasing a couple of extra enemies near the end of a dive.
XP Needed For Every Level
| Level | XP Required | Total XP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 → 2 | 120 | 120 |
| 2 → 3 | 200 | 320 |
| 3 → 4 | 320 | 640 |
| 4 → 5 | 500 | 1140 |
| 5 → 6 | 750 | 1890 |
| 6 → 7 | 1200 | 3090 |
| 7 → 8 | 1750 | 4840 |
| 8 → 9 | 2500 | 7340 |
| 9 → 10 | 3500 | 10840 |
| 10 → 11 | 4500 | 15340 |
| 11 → 12 | 5500 | 20840 |
Reaching the maximum level requires:
20,840 XP
Interestingly, nearly two-thirds of that total comes from the final three level-ups, which is why XP optimisation becomes much more important later in the game.
Best XP Farming Strategy
If your only goal is levelling survivors quickly, here’s what you should focus on.
Prioritise High-Value Rewards
The best sources include:
- Gold Boonfish
- Rainium
- Idols
- Eggs
- Crystallized Rain
- Blood Crystals
- Journal Pages
- Blueprints
These provide far more value than repeatedly farming low-level enemies.
Mine Valuable Minerals Yourself
Manual collection benefits from Mineral XP bonuses.
Extractors don’t.
If your survivor has strong Mineral XP, mining Gold, Lithium, Blood Crystals, and Rainium yourself becomes one of the fastest ways to earn experience.
Don’t Waste Time Farming Weak Enemies
For comparison:
- Beacon Jellyfish = 2 XP
- Sanity Leech = 2 XP
- Gold Boonfish = 300 XP
You’d need to defeat 150 Jellyfish just to match one Gold Boonfish.
Unless an enemy blocks your path, it’s usually better to keep moving.
Grab the Oxygen Bonus
If it’s safe, finish your dive below 10% Oxygen.
It’s an easy extra 30 XP with virtually no additional effort.
Just don’t risk dying for it.
Stack Multipliers Before Important Dives
For the biggest XP gains, combine:
- Passion: Diving
- Mentor Spirit
- High Survivor XP
- High Camp XP
- Idol of Ruin
- Mineral XP or Kill XP (depending on your objective)
A well-prepared 500 XP dive can easily outperform a careless 1,000 XP dive simply because of how strongly these bonuses multiply together.
Levelling efficiently in DIVE or DIE: Children of Rain isn’t about fighting every monster you see—it’s about making every dive count. Focus on collecting high-value items, take advantage of powerful XP multipliers, and always prioritise getting your diver home safely.
Once you understand how the XP system works behind the scenes, progression feels much faster, and you’ll spend less time grinding weak enemies and more time making meaningful progress toward Level 12.