Here is a break down of the enemies and areas you will find you gaining experience points in, listed in nine level sets. Use these hints and tips to your advantage and to come prepared for what you are fighting against. This will also help give you an idea of the variety of locations on offer throughout, as there is usually at least one other place you can go (should the most popular location by packed with other parties). The section after this about different foods should be used in connection with this one for the best and most efficient set up you can create.
Level 1-9

XP Locations: Gustaberg / Ronfaure / SarutabarutaMonsters: Various Beastmen/Worms/Vultures/Crawlers/Mushrooms/Sheep/Rabbits
When you begin as a Paladin you can solo the first nine to eleven levels by yourself around your starting Kingdom and adjoining areas. Things will get progressively slower until you really need to move on to seeking for parties. The earliest you can really party is Lv9, any lower than that and you would be putting yourself in great danger. I would recommend Lv10 or Lv11 before starting to seek as it means you’ll have access to a couple more defensive spells and a good set of armour.
Although the enemies in each starting area vary, your tactics do not. You do not have very much on offer to you at the lowest levels apart from a few weak healing spells and a single weapon skill. Kill until you fall low on HP, heal until you are out of MP, and then rest and repeat. I find that what you are subbing can vary at this point, since you do not need to worry about keeping hate. Since you are soloing, try to have the best armour on offer as well and it will keep you in good stead when you begin partying. There is no need to use food at this level at all.
Level10-19
XP Locations: Konschtat Highlands / La Theine Plateau / Valkurm DunesMonsters: Sheep/Bees/Goblins/Lizards/Crabs/Flies/Fish
The Dunes is the only real place to get XP parties from around Lv10 onwards to Lv19/20. While seeking for Dunes parties, you can solo some monsters in either Highlands or the Plateau. When you first begin partying in the Dunes you will start with only fighting Lizards and then occasional Goblins. After that you will move onto a mixture of Crabs, Flies, and Goblins. Near the end of the zones decency you will kill Fish. Some dangerous moves to watch out for; Goblins will use Bomb Toss (Barfira will help protect against this), Lizards can petrify, Flies can do AOE damage (Barfira protects), and Fish can do a massive one hit attack on a single enemy (Screwdriver).

This is where you will get your first taster of being the main tank for a party. You probably already had some experience playing this role levelling your first job to Lv30, but this is the real stuff now. Practise provoking when you can and timing the use of heals correctly. Sadly, there is not much on offer to you to help hold the hate, but do your best. Also, try to have the best armour on offer and keep everything nicely up-to-date. You can use food here if you want, but it is not necessary. Also, do not worry about your Divine magic and concentrate on healing. Enhancing is also not a priority to level up.
This is really the range where food can be toyed with. Try out a few to see how you like the effects. If you are short on cash just go with the basic, cheapest, stuff you can get your hands on (prices vary from server to server).
Level 20-29

XP Locations: Sauromugue Champaign / Qufim Island / Yuhtunga Jungle / Yhoator JungleMonsters: Beetles/Worms/Crabs/Fish/Giants/Plants/Goblin
Although not a common choice, some people like to XP on the beetles found in a small alcove in Sauromugue Champaign. Rhino Attack can be quite painful, so be ready to help heal when you get hit by this.
Many of the tactics from Dunes carry over to Qufim. Food should still be at the low end of the price range, if you do decide to use some. There is no need to be extravagant. You will be concentrating on crabs and then fish. You may venture inside the tower to kill Giants and Goblins, if the outside is crowded. Most of these enemies have hard hitting attacks that you just have to watch out for. When giants ready an attack, unlock from it and run away in the opposite direction. If you time it right it’ll give an error and the attack won’t be completed.
Around Lv24/25 you can move on from Qufim way out across the sea to Yuhtunga Jungle, which is outside Kazham. A Quest is required to earn the airship pass to Kazham. Way back in the day before everyone knew about Kazham, people stayed in Qufim until Lv30, so it is possible to hang around there – but it will be slow.
In the jungles you will fight mainly Mandragora. These plant type monsters are all of the Monk job and attack twice each time. It isn’t as bad as it sounds, because they are actually extremely weak. Make sure your party’s mages keep out of its AOE sleep attack range and you will find XP to be golden here. Nearing Lv35/36 you will start picking off Goblins as well, and then you move to the next jungle along to start on the Mandragora again. You should honestly not find levelling here any trouble, it is usually quite relaxed.
Level 30-39

XP Locations: Yhoater Jungle / Eastern Altepa Desert / Garliage Citadel / Crawlers NestMonsters: Plants, Goblin, Lizards, Beetles, Bats, Crawlers
At the start of this range you will still be in the jungle fighting the plants, with the occasional Goblin and Lizard thrown in for good measure. At around Lv32/33 you can move on to either the desert or the citadel. Many people (99%) hate the citadel, but its something we all suffer through. You would be fighting bats in there and any type of food is good for them. This can be quite tricky at first, as you will get hurt a lot. Just try to bear with it. When you are fighting the sets of three bats, be extremely wary of Jet Stream. It is a three fold attack.
In the desert, Goblins and Beetles would be your targets - watch out for Bomb Toss, as before. The only problem about this XP area is getting to it, many new players might not have the Altepa Gate Crystal allowing you to teleport out there and your White Mage will be to low level to have the spell, meaning you would need to pay someone for the service.
You will be happy to hear that your time way out in the desert or wallowing in the citadel is short lived, and you can leave them both around Lv34/35. You will move to Crawlers Nest fighting Crawlers.
At Lv37 you finally gain access to Flash, and as a result you will find it much easier to keep hate from the increasingly powerful skill chains. Begin a battle with flash and provoke. Because of MP you will only really be able to do it once or twice a fight, but that should be enough. Also, you should probably upgrade your food by this point, slightly. Level 40-49

XP Locations: Crawlers Nest / Gustav Tunnel / Quicksand Caves / Western Altepa Desert / Garliage CitadelMonsters: Crawlers, Flies, Goblins, Antican, Beetles, Bats, Spiders
You can spend a lot of time gaining XP in Crawlers Nest as it has such a wide range of monster levels. You start on Crawlers and stick with them for a while, then you move onto Flies and Beetles before coming full circle back to higher level Crawlers (though that is not until later). Keep up the usual absorbs and watch out for the AOE attacks Flies can dish out.
An alternative to the early levels of Crawlers Nest is killing Goblins and Flies in Gustav Tunnel, which is good until around Lv43. Keep watch for the usual AOE damage.
Near the middle of this range you have a bit more choice. You can either go into the desert to fight Beetles or you can go fight Beetles, Spiders, and Antican inside Quicksand Caves (the spiders are at the low end entrance). Antican can be very annoying because of high defence, AOE petrify move (which also resets hate), and AOE silence. Spiders can do Sickle Slash which hurts, a lot. It is up to you whether you are brave enough to risk taking damage from that attack. Spiders sometimes love to spam it, and one might be enough to take you out. Timing your use of Flash right against them will save your life, but usually you will just get lucky.
I know you might not want to go back to the citadel, but you can at the end of this range around Lv48-50. You can stay in Quicksand Caves if you prefer. You drop down into the basement and fight bats, which some might prefer as they do not have as dangerous attacks (it is single bat sets, not triple, so there is no Jet Stream). I preferred those, they are a lot safer than spiders.
Level 50-59

XP Locations: Quicksand Caves / Boyahda Tree / Cape Terringan / Valley of SorrowMonsters: Antican, Beetles, Crawlers, Crabs, Velociraptors, Fish, Orcs, Torama
As I mentioned in the range above, you can stay in Quicksand for a bit longer fighting the Antican (and the occasional beetle to keep chains alive). Things will start to slow down soon though, and you should move on.
You will have a reasonably long stint in the tree coming up, fighting against the old favourites of Crab and Crawler. You should be a dab hand at taking these guys on now and with even more MP and your AF to boot, you should find tanking in this level range extremely easy.
Eventually you will move to the cape, which is through the opposite end of Kuftal Tunnel. You will fight Raptors, Crabs, and Fish here. This can last you a while, eventually leading to consistent chains. The only downside about this zone is that it is quite often packed with other parties. Raptors can do a breath attack which gives disease status, which means resting will not restore HP or MP while resting. You just have to hope your White Mage can cure it, as you require your MP to keep the hate at this stage.
Around Lv58/59 you will zone just behind the cape into Valley of Sorrows to fight slightly stronger raptors and giant birds called Preytons. These birds have insane evasion and are very dangerous. They are great for finishing a chain and drop Light Crystals to, but just be wary about keeping hate against them (as magic does a ton to them, so the mages will be in danger).
Level 60-69

XP Locations: Valley of Sorrow / Labyrinth of Ononzo / Bibiki Bay / Boyahda TreeMonsters: Velociraptor, Preyton, Torama, Goblin, Dhalmel, Crawlers, Crabs, Flies
You can carry on fighting Valley of Sorrow monsters after gaining Lv60, but the XP will soon begin to slow. At the late stages of the zone ATT+ food is definitely the way to go, as long as you still aren’t missing the giant birds a lot.
Fighting Torama in Ononzo can be hard as they will throw status after status on you. Not only that, it is the two worst status effects we can have cast on us; silence and paralyze. If your White Mage starts to be lacking, tell them they have to be fast at curing your ailments or you will die. These also hit extremely quickly, so timing your heals can be extra hard.
After finishing up your time in Ononzo you can either head back to the deeper sections of the tree or brave the Goblins in the bay. I, personally, prefer to fight Crawlers and Crabs as I was sure used to fighting them and don’t do dangerous AOE like Bomb Toss. Speaking of which, the Goblins in the bay seem to be able to randomly activate one Bomb Toss after the other – it is the only place in the whole game I have seen it happen. It is advised to have at least two stunners when partying in the bay. Flies in the tree make for good chaining at the latter end of this level range. Even though you have over 1000 HP by this stage, you are not safe. You can still be killed in a hit, keep that in mind.
If you do go to the bay, then make sure Barfira is up as well, as every so often their suicidal Bomb Tosses can hit for amazingly high damage (1,000+) if it is near full HP. The Dhalmel can give themselves Berserk effect (ATT+, DEF-). If this happens, it is the perfect time to unload a skill chain. You will find this time very dangerous, as you will take over double damage per hit. Luckily the hits are slow so you can get in your big cures. Some players prefer to dispel the effect away because they hit you for so much.
When you hit Lv65 you gain access to Swift Blade. You may be asked to take part in Lv3 chains, which is hard. We aren’t really made for gaining TP and we have no real accuracy improving stuff, but you have to put up with it.
Level 70-75

XP Locations: Bibiki Bay / Kuftal Tunnel / King Ranperre’s Tomb / Moon / SkyMonsters: Goblins, Dhalmel, Rabbits, Eft, Tigers, Cockatrice, Ghosts, Skeletons, Weapons
The start of this range is all about Bibiki Bay. As I mentioned above, you need to have the latest expansion pack to access this area. When fighting the Dhalmel, look out for Berserk as mentioned above. Make sure your White Mage keeps Barfira up at all times to protect against those super suicidal bombs! You will find that this zone dries up about Lv73. If you do fight Eft (usually to keep a chain alive) watch out for a dispel AOE move they have while will randomly take away a buff you have on, such as protect or shell.
Kuftal Tunnel will cap at about the same level, but you can grind through these areas if you cannot access the others. Tigers are very annoying because of the AOE paralyze ability, so you just have to hope your White Mage is quick at helping you out. Also, avoid this zone if you do not have a White Mage at all, as the petrify ability from the Cockatrices can be deadly to us.
Moon can be accessed as long as one of your party members has a Moon Gate Pass. You would fight Weapons and Golems in there. Unfortunately, the XP really caps at around Lv73/74 in there as well, so things can get really slow. Watch out for Smite of Rage, you can disengage and run out of range if you time it right so no damage will be done.
The Tomb is alright XP and you can get up to Lv75 there fighting Ghosts, and Skeletons. The AOE drain and AOE blind that the skeletons can dish out is quite annoying, but you just need to put up with it. I found most White Mage just got to lazy and did not bother removing blindness since you will get it pretty much every fight. Ghosts can deal out AOE curse as well, which adds to down time.
The last and best place to XP in for this range is Sky, an area only accessible through completing Zilart Mission 14. This is a hard area to get access to and without it levelling after Lv73 will become extremely difficult. Take the time to progress through the Zilart story, even if you find it boring, purely to make your levelling experience much better as you get to end game. Sky is a selection of small zones linked together by pads which teleport you all over the place and is also home the Gods of Vana’diel. You will be fighting Weapon type monsters here as well and concentrating on chaining them for consistent XP. Use the Weapon fighting tips listed above. If you haven’t started cracking out the best food on offer, now is really the time.