Originally posted by rexpiscator:

...I agree, I've noticed: the bigger the better/faster. I found myself leveling up 'faster' with the Staff of Embers than the Ice Staff[which I made first and used first]. I think this works for all weapons and XP gaining; the more damage it delivers[not enemies current HP total], the faster the Skill upgrades, or so it seems to this gamer. So, I use the weapons in each class with the most damage delivered to upgrade that Skill. I'm currently using the Carapace Spear(I NEVER used the spear before, lowest Skill on board) and it only takes a few hits, in an early biome to upgrade the Skill....and this weapon seems to deliver the most damage for type of all the weapons. It seems to be upgrading incredibly fast...

You 'might' think that the XP would be based upon current NPC health level and not a broad sweeping, 'one size fits all' approach...pleeze don't!

weapon and skill exp is not related to dmg dealt. its purely the amount of hits. the wiki is on point in that regard if you wanna read up on it.

you just get some bonus exp for doing certain actions. for example a perfect block gives more exp in block than just holding down the button.

but for offensive attacks its always the same amount of exp regardless of dmg dealt. the amount of attacks matters. not the dmg per attack.

since you need to hit a stronger foe more times you also gain more. this leads to people believeing its dmg related. but its the amount of hits.

and for elemental magic there is the golem exploit currently aswell which is the same as hitting a rock to level up melee back then before it got patched out. so theyll remove this method too soon enough.

the hp bubble is currently beyond broken tough. this thing needs a nerf sooner or later. haveing a shield thats like nearly 3 times as strong as the best hp foods in the game is just not balanced in anyway. and you simply cannot balance future enemies around such numbers either.