Forward: If you lean on auto battle as hard as I do in DRPG/SRPG/JRPG games you'll know that they basically operate on a two stage system. The first stage is the exploration/story stage. In this phase you explore the labyrinth and progress the story. This phase ends when you reach a boss you cannot get past. Then the second stage starts. This is the grinding stage and it is within this guide that you'll learn how best to maximise your time spent grinding. Grind smarter, not harder.

What you'll find below: A handy step by step guide to get you started grinding efficiently in LoR/LoG, plus an Advanced Grinding section. This guide is for those who want to gain the most puppet levels in the shortest amount of time! I've also included some general tips that newbies and seasoned players alike will benefit from!
Please note images are from both LoR and LoG :)

Please favorite & like if this guide helps you out it would be much appreciated :)

Boss mob blocking your way forward in the labyrinth? Need to grind some levels out quickly? Here's a quick little step by step guide on how to do that. You can use this method to grind in both LoR and LoG. Any differences in the process between the games, rest assured I make note of them in the guide where appropriate.

    
1. Save game after previous run finishes. Galleria has an auto save on return feature you can turn on or off depending on your preference, but it must be done manually in Refrain.
   
       
2. Go to requests list and turn in any with a red exclamation mark over them.
   
       
3. Go to alchemy pot and unseal relics/items.
   
       
4. Go through puppets and optimise their equipment. I use auto optimize exclusively as I find it very apt in it's choices and it saves a ton of time.
   
       
5. Optimise relics on puppets. In Refrain this must be done manually, but in Galleria you get two choices: Optimise with or without including relics. I use the auto relic optimiser on all my puppets when playing Galleria, it's very intuitive. Very nice QoL improvement over Refrain for sure.
   
       
6. Save again. Should your party wipe accidentally you can reload at the start of your run and not have to pay to repair your squads lost parts. You only lose a little progress and a few items reloading, and in Refrain you lose items when your party wipes anyway so why not reload, try again and save yourself the repair costs? In Galleria I don't believe you lose items when you lose a run so losing items reloading is a bit of a bummer, however you can always get more items! They're everywhere down in the labyrinth! Silver is not, so save your silver for things you really need.
   
       
7. Dive into the labyrinth! If you've already left mud exits at a good grinding spot, select the one you left and return. If not, try to choose a floor above where the current Boss monster is blocking your path (ie lower # floor. Boss is on floor 2, choose floor 1 to grind) and then:
   
   7.A Choose an area near a set of stairs and a mob spawn location. The smaller the area is the better as mobs will start to run away from you once you hit a certain level above them.
   
   7.B Kill the mobs near the stairs.
   
   7.C Duck up/down the stairs and kill any near the stairs on the next floor.
   
   7.D Return up/down the stairs to your starting floor which will refresh the mobs for you to kill again.
   
   7.E Rinse. Repeat.
   
   Make sure the area you're grinding is populated with regular circle mobs, not horned boss mobs (unless you're much higher level than them). Many small battles where you take no damage are more efficient at stockpiling EXP over time (not to mention very cost effective) than long hard battles with boss mobs you're struggling to take down. Yes these mobs give more rewards then circle mobs, but boss mobs take a long time to kill, and more importantly, they damage your team. When your team takes damage it forces you to either: 1. waste money on items to revive/heal them or 2. waste Reinforcement Points (RF) doing the same. Your spare items are better turned into mana via disassembly so you can upgrade fantie/tractie via witch petitions, not sold to the shop to get silver to buy healing items/repair damaged puppets between runs.
   
       
8. Place 2 mud exits near one another. 1 to exit at the end of your run, the other to return back to your chosen grind location at the start of your next run. Always place mud exits when you first get in because remembering to save 30 RF at the the end is tough and, for me at least, never ends up working out. You waste alot of time you could be grinding running back to your grind location at the start of your run if you don't utilise mud exits as soon as possible in the game.
   
       
9. Start grinding your chosen area. Stockpile EXP as soon as you're able. This is to gain x2.99 EXP (once you have stockpiled at least 16 fights worth of EXP it will max out at x2.99). Post-Battle recovery will be disabled while stockpiling, so keep an eye on your units health bars! Refill it between fights with Mugwort or Mandragora balms. Try not to use RF points to revive/heal units as it is better spent stockpiling EXP.
   
       
10. When you run out of RF points your run ends and you can gain EXP at the end of your final fight. Gain all stockpiled EXP at the end of your final fight. Level up puppets like crazy. Gain all the dopamine and serotonins. Remember, you also gain 20% bonus EXP on the exit results screen when you leave the labyrinth so the more you collect each run the more bonus you gain and the faster your squad will level.
    
        
11. Use mud exit. Level puppets even more on the exit results screen.
    
        
12. Same as step 1. Save game.
    
        
13. Rinse. Repeat until your squad is strong enough to beat the boss blocking your path!

I hope that step by step guide was helpful! Now lets move on to general grinding + gameplay tips I feel everybody should know.

If you want to go for large gains even quicker than in part one, but with a little more risk, you can engage in what I call Advanced Grinding. This is the second phase of grinding, when you've successfully cleared runs of weaker mobs ad nauseum, AND you are high enough level to be able to successfully take down horned boss mobs without taking much damage or even better, they flee halfway through the battle. At this point you can move your grind location to one near a boss/horned mob spawning point and start stacking thousands of EXP each fight, rather than hundreds. The steps are the same as the first stage of grinding, the only difference is, choose an area near both stairs and boss mobs. Kill the boss mobs then duck into the stairs. Come back through the stairwell to refresh the enemies on your starting floor. Kill them again. Rinse, repeat.

• #1 There are settings in the game options to increase the speed of battles and the speed of the combat log to make fights faster. In addition, speed up battles even further by holding A/X on controller during the fight, or whatever the equivalent is on pc.
  
  
• #2 Don't let your party wipe when stockpiling EXP. You will lose it all.
  
  
• #3 Don't forget to gain stockpiled EXP before you leave the labyrinth. You will lose it all. I know this sounds obvious but the amount of times I've accidentally left without gaining my EXP is staggering so watch out!
  
  
• #4 Stockpiling while exploring/running into unknown enemies of unknown difficulty level is not a good idea. Choose a separate grind location to stockpile EXP that is safe and easy for your party to kill mobs in. Your party is more likely to wipe while breaking new ground in the labyrinth, risking all your stockpiled EXP on every battle. If you like to gamble of course, by all means, stockpile while exploring, just know what you're risking when doing so.
  
  
• #5 Your RF is better spent stockpiling EXP for as long as possible to gain the most EXP bonuses at the end of your run so try not to waste it on breaking walls or whistling to attract enemies.
  
  
• #6 You gain RF points every time you collect mana in the labyrinth. Big balls give more points (5) than bumping green walls (1). Collect mana when you can to extend your run. Remember, your run ends when you are out of RF points!
  
  
• #7 Coven level dictates how much RF that coven costs to deploy into the labyrinth. The higher the coven's level, the cheaper it is to send in! Try and use high level covens when grinding to maximise the amount of RF you have for stockpiling EXP.
  
  
• #8 EXP for covens is gained at a different rate than puppets. Covens gain EXP based on individual battles, not # of enemies. Battles with standard red enemies (circle enemies) give each coven 1 EXP, purple enemies (horned enemies) give each coven 15 EXP (I believe bosses fall into this category too though I am unsure), and finally the "mana over" Grim reaper-styled bosses that appear when your mana has gone over the floor maximum (spiky enemies) give 50 coven EXP. By my estimate it takes around 1300 coven exp to reach max level.
  
  
• #9 When grinding at the start of the game, spend a little silver to take healing items into the labyrinth with you, especially Jitter Bugs. Your puppets won't receive any EXP if you gain it while they are KO'd (they will gain the bonus 20% EXP at the end of a run though, even if KO'd when you exit your run). Bring them back to life before the final battle when you use up your stockpile and keep everyone alive during the final battle, using health items as necessary. This way, when you finish the final fight and you gain all your EXP, all your puppets benefit. If the puppet who got KO'd is a new puppet who frequently dies in battle and you can finish battles without their aid anyway, let them stay dead until the second last battle. This way you don't waste jitter bugs or RF reviving them over and over just to have them die again right away while you're grinding. You just need to revive them before the final fight so they can gain EXP.
  
  
• #10 While grinding, gather as many alerted enemies together as you can before engaging. The more successive battles you fight the higher your EXP gains. The rate starts at x1.20 for the first of x2 successive battles (the second is x1.40) and the rate increases by .20 for every successive battle after that ie x3 battles would be x1.60. Choosing to stockpile after successive fights amplifies the bonus as you gain x2.99 EXP earned in the fight after the successive battle bonus is applied. (x2.99 when stockpile is maxed of course.)
  
  
• #11 In a pinch, unequipped covens will refund their Brigade deployment cost in RF points so you can drop Mud Exits if you didn't do it when you first started your run. If you can't afford two, drop one to return to when you start your next run and use a witch's bell to leave.
  
  
• #12 Returning to base grants an additional 20% bonus exp to all puppets, including those not in any active coven. Make as many spare puppets as you have the soul vial's for before grinding to take advantage.
  
  
• #13 When enemies reach a certain level below you they will turn blue and run from you. This is very annoying when you're trying to grind quickly. To combat this sacrifice a little RF to put on Fog Veil. This is cheaper RF wise than using the whistle to call mobs to you as it lasts more than one battle and allows you to walk up to enemies and engage, eliminating them running from you.
  

• #1 Drop rate of rare loot from mobs increases as your Mana goes up. Get it from battles, running into green marked walls, or finding mana balls. (Remember, these also give you RF!)
  
  
• #2 Sometimes actions will display in red text such as escape, or sometimes certain Donum will be displayed in red. Escape goes red when stockpiling. If you select escape when it is red, the game will warn you that confirming your escape will forfeit all stockpiled EXP so be careful! When a Donum is red it is indicating that it requires the power gauge to be filled to a certain level before it can be used by the puppet soldier ie: to use Mira Machina the power gauge must be at 50. This is not properly explained in the game so I figured I better add it here.
  
  
• #3 Battle Formations affect different things! I use Pincer for most situations for the Vanguard +50% HIT and Rearguard +25% Guard and 10% max HP heals each turn (they squishy and need all the help they can get), particularly so because stockpiling turns off your post battle recovery ability. There are 8 formations and both games will auto apply benefits of whatever formation you entered the battle with.

1. Basic: All-out Attack
   All Vanguard (V-V-V-V-V)
   Van/ ATK +25%, CRT +10%, Status Res.-50%, ACT Speed +30%
   
   
2. Basic: Withdrawal
   All Rearguard (R-R-R-R-R)
   All / Escape Rate 30% up - Rear/ Guard Rate +25%, Fortify Coven Eff. -15%
   
   
3. Assault: Pincer
   Ends Vanguard (V-R-R-R-V)
   Van/ HIT +50%, Status Res. +50% - Rear/ Guard +25%, Heal 10% max HP/turn
   
   
4. Assault: Advance
   Ends Rearguard (R-V-V-V-R)
   Van/ ATK +20% - Rear/AVD +40%
   
   
5. Raid: Decoy
   Vanguard (R-R-R-R-V)
   Van/ ATK +20%, DEF +25%, Fortify Coven Eff. -20%, Target Rate Up 1
   
   
6. Raid: Convoy
   Rearguard(V-V-V-V-R)
   Rear/ ACT Speed +50%, Target Rate Down, Heal 15% max HP/turn 1
   
   
7. Donum: Donum Attack
   (V-R-V-R-V) only
   Van/ ATK +20%, Donum Power +70% - Rear/ Heal 5% max HP/turn
   
   
8. Donum: Donum Defense
   (R-V-R-V-R) only
   Rear/ DEF +50%, Donum Power +70%, Heal 10% max HP/turn

• #4 Luck is fairly unimportant unless you're a hyper min-maxer. There's one Coven in the game that takes advantage of Luck to do tons of damage and all puppets in this coven require an even lucky number to be equipped. That being said if you aim to utilise this coven for the 666% EXP bonus, give all your puppets even lucky numbers. A puppets lucky No. Can NEVER be changed, and again even numbers are recommended. 00 will count as even. An excellent guide to luck can be found Here
  
  
• #5 When you want to explore the map freely without running into mobs, use a Silver Spoon item before entering a new level of the map. This will prevent any enemies from spawning on it. You can also utilise this trick if you know you are entering an area of mobs which give karma points when killed.
  
  
• #6 You can see which enemies give karma points by looking at the battle log on the left hand side of the screen. Each mob is listed there, their name preceded by a round icon. If this icon is white, the enemy increases your karma level when killed. If your puppets are constantly having parts knocked off by enemies, check your karma. Karma is all kinds of bad and you should try to keep it as low as possible at all times, unless you are building a Sacrificial Pact-style coven that has Donum which increase in power and accuracy the higher your Karma. In general however it is advised to keep Karma low. You can drastically reduce the rate at which Crits/GORE hits/puppet dismemberment are inflicted by enemies in battle (thus eliminating costly frequent puppet repairs) by having low Karma. To reduce Karma, use the Scapegoat option in the Witch Petitions.
  
  
  
• #7 Soul transfer might seem scary at first, but it has a TON of benefits and you should utilise it as soon as you are able and have puppets at lvl 99. Soul transfer allows you to transfer a puppet to a new body, resetting its level to 1, increasing it's Soul Clarity, and enabling the transfer of skills from one facet to a different facet.
  Soul Clarity has a drastic increase on your stat growth, roughly 3.5x higher at lvl 99. The higher your level when performing a Soul Transfer, the greater your Soul Clarity will rise, to a maximum of +19 with a level 99 facet. The maximum Soul Clarity is 99, a character with an initial value of 4 can reach it via Soul Transferring from level 99 a total of 5 times.

#8 Revealing a puppets true nature via the witch petition shows you their hidden second nature (in Refrain only, Galleria allows you to choose both natures right from the start). Puppets have two natures which determine the growth rate of certain stats. The natures can be changed by books you either buy or find in the labyrinth. In both games the green books allow you to change a puppets second nature. The yellow books change a puppets first nature. Once again, nature affects Stat Growth.

How to use the table below

Each - or + indicates a decrease or increase of 5% of whatever the facet's base stat is. It varies depending on if the puppet facet already has above or below 100% in that stat to start with before modifications. Aster Knights are a good example as they start with every stat growth rate set at 100%. Changing their nature to Brave for instance would give it's STR +10% of 100%, 5% of 100% for AGI and -5% of 100% for CHM . Another example, Theatrical Star has 125% in AGI, so assigning a nature that gives AGI+ means it would become 131%. AGI++ means it would become 137%! If we use the example of a facet starting with 75% in HP and you assigned the reckless nature, that means the initial stat would be reducing by 5% of 75%, putting it down to 71%.

The Nature's Stat growth rates

Brave
STR++, AGI+, CHM-

Hotblooded
STR++, CON+

Pure
CON-, AGI+, DEX++

Childlike
DMP+, AGI-, CHM++

Wise
DP+, DMP++, DEX-

Nihilistic
STR-, AGI+

Reckless
HP-, STR++, CON+

Stickler
DP-, DMP++, DEX+

Zealous
DMP-, AGI++, CHM+

Pouty
DP++, CON+

Stubborn
HP+, CON++, AGI-

Fickle
HP-, DP++

Cheerful
STR-, CHM+

Happy
CON++, DMP-, DEX+

Passionate
STR+, DEX-, CHM++

Optimistic
CON-, AGI++, CHM-

Arrogant
HP++, DP-, STR+

Determined
HP-, DMP+, CHM++

Selfish
CON++, AGI-, DEX+

Earnest
HP+, DP-, DMP++

Precise
STR-, DEX++

Kind
HP++, DP+

Neurotic
HP++, STR+, CHM-

Reliable
HP+, CON++, DEX-

Loner
CON-, DMP+, AGI++

Gloomy
DP+, DMP-, DEX++

Rational
HP-, AGI++

Egotistical
DP+, STR++

Mischievous
HP+, DP-, DEX++, CHM-

Perverted
CHM 100%

Lucky
STR, CON, DMP, AGI, DEX and CHM -50%. Supposedly makes Luck skyrocket though so weigh your options.

Average
Changes nothing

#9 Donum Echoes occur when your puppets cast back to back Donum in battle. Getting regular attack chains is far easier (almost every round when using auto) than trying to trigger Donum Echoes. This is what makes auto battle so OP with the right Brigage Formation and Covens. I consider Donum Echoes and the increased Donum damage they bring as happy accidents when and if they occur in battle. Otherwise the entire system can largely be ignored.