Let me start by saying, we’ve all been there. There’s always been a time in the game when you’re considered a free player, whether you’re out of crowns or your membership has just run out. Especially when you’re playing for the first time, crowns and membership can be difficult to get if your parents don’t agree to it.

This guide assumes you want to level up to receive more spells from your professor and receive lots of gold, without ever paying crowns or membership.

Phase I: The Early Days

Farming

There are plenty of different places to farm, but where do we start? Farming is the repetitive act of defeating an enemy’s instance or gauntlet.

Let’s begin with the simplest places to farm that you can access yourself.

1. The Kraken

Kraken, the mighty monster of the depths is famously farmed, right in Triton Avenue. This is the best option until you are about level 12. The Kraken drops clothing and furniture you can sell in the bazaar (or keep for your future house!)

I recommend that you join a busy realm, such as Ambrose or Balestrom to get as many people to join the fight as possible so it will go quicker. After defeating the boss if you return to the Storm Mill through the teleport pad and come right back, the Kraken respawns.

2. The Harvest Lord

Farming The Harvest Lord has all the same benefits as the Kraken, except now you have a Team-Up button. Once you click that button, higher levels will join to help you farm him from the Team Up station right outside the bazaar.

3.  Housing Gauntlets

Winterbane Hall and the Midnight Sun Pagoda are some of the best gauntlets there are for this purpose. When you farm them you will get weapons, clothing, furniture, seeds, and pets. The only downside to gauntlets is that there is no Team-Up button to find higher levels to help you. Therefore, you must invite your own friends, or find a way to gather help. Find this place in a shared home on the housing tours menu.

Below are the tiers of difficulty and experience for all gauntlets. The numbers represent your level. I suggest you should farm the gauntlets around level 12 to level up quickly. The closer you are to the latter end of the levels, the more experience you will receive. Upon second entry, you will receive half of the experience you received the first time.

• 01-19:  Tier 1
• 20-39:  Tier 2
• 40-59:  Tier 3
• 60-79:  Tier 4
• 80-100: Tier 5

Remember to try to mix it up between the various gauntlets offered. They can yield large rewards and XP. Here is a list of all housing gauntlets there are, as of November 2018

• Winterbane Hall
• Midnight Sun Pagoda
• Spiral Cup Gauntlet
• Grand Tourney
• The Great Clock
• Fantastic Voyage Expedition
• Accursed Playhouse

Please note: Tanglewood Terror, Baddle of The Bands, Zeus, Krokopatra, Meowiarty, and Rattlebones housing instances from the crowns shop are non-repeatable, but yield great rewards. Use with caution. They are  extremely challenging and do not adhere to the same tier of difficulty rule as the gauntlets listed above.

Gardening

Upon the completion of level 11, you will be given a quest. You must speak to Moolinda Wu, informing you that your status as a level 12 player now gives you the ability to garden. Farming the Kraken and Harvest Lord all this time, have been saving your money?

The two best seeds you can buy are Stinkweed and Prickly Bear Cactus. Prickly Bear Cactus is useful for pet snacks, because there is a chance it will give a mega-snack at the elder stage, but don’t be surprised if it doesn’t give you one too often.

Stinkweed

This is unironically one of the best plants you can buy at a lower level, purely for the sake of how much gold you get per harvest. Remember to save your gold to buy items, like the mounts for gold. Please click here for Amber Ravynsong‘s guide on the various permanent mounts that you can purchase for gold.

“Smoke Screen” and “Poison” will give you 200 and 215 gold each, respectively, by selling them at the bazaar. It is also worth mentioning that each stinkweed will give you about a hundred gold per harvest.

All you need to do is buy one stinkweed. It should roughly cost 480 gold. The gardening spells, pest control and water are all you need for this plant. Don’t waste money on much else, besides a gardening gnome. The stinkweed will give you more seeds over time- after all, it grows like a weed.

Buy a castle block floor from the bazaar. Although, there may be a chance there won’t be one there right away. You can grow small plots on these like a grid. I suggest plotting it as a 3×3 to a 6×6 grid. If you do ever plan to get a membership to continue questing, the large range Mooshu gardening spells will be your friend.

Phase 1 Review

• At levels 1-9 (roughly), you will quest until you are completely done with the free-to-play zone offered.
• When you are levels 9-12, you will farm the Kraken and The Harvest Lord.
• Reaching level 12, you will garden Stinkweed.
• By planting a 6×6 plot of stinkweed, you will earn thousands upon each harvest, selling poison and smoke screen treasure cards.
• Also when reaching level 12. you will farm the Winterbane and Midnight Sun Pagoda gauntlets.
• By level 15, you should have 100,000 gold to buy yourself a nice house from the Crowns shop.
• Try all the gauntlets at least twice by level 19, then repeat.

Phase II: The Higher Levels

Over time, you will feel this is going to be monotonous and grinding. What variation can we add to this sequence, to make it more fun? You can begin by helping those who have the same goal as you. You can go to the Team-Up center outside the bazaar and aid lower levels with their quests. Remember, you earn 3 xp per pip used in battle, so attempt to use bigger spells when you have the chance.

Fishing

Try to get involved in fishing. By catching fish, you can earn even more money. As you progress, you will get more energy every 2 levels. You can earn hundreds to thousands of gold for every fish you sell, especially if you catch the fish of the day, or the fish of the week. Please click here for our fishing guides for more information.

In-game Events

Within the game, you should take advantage of an event whenever it comes around. Events such as The Lost Pages and The Five BOXES come around once every few months. Seize the moment and go for it. With The Lost Pages, farming is built right into it. Try helping other young wizards with the event even when you are done.

Free Crowns

Overall, you cannot deny that crowns are king in this game. They buy so many of the nice items in the crown shop, such as pack items, unique housing items, and much more.

On the KI free games website that opens every time you log out of the game when you aren’t a member, there’s a trivia tab where you can earn 10 crowns for each quiz you take.

In-game, check out the “Free Crowns” button to watch videos and earn crowns. Recently, they’ve stopped working, so be hasty with using these when you see one available.

Every Christmas, free crowns are offered as a part of “The 12 Days of The Spiral” event where you can receive gifts. Be warned! Keep up with the event every day, even on the thirteenth day, or else you may just miss the day they offer that gift.