Grinding is performing an action over and over in order to raise one of your character's statistics or, sometimes, to unlock a reward like an item, a quest, etc. In Legend of Grimrock, there is almost no use for grinding. The only 'tasks' you can carry out are 'reaching the bottom of Mount Grimrock' and 'killing monsters in order to survive'.
Only the second task can be repeated, since the first one triggers the end of the game. But even with the second one, it's almost impossible to do it repeatedly, since monsters usually don't respawn. Also, since the only thing you can improve during the game is your experience level, there is no use at all for grinding excepted for earning experience.
So, if you want to get more experience than you get during a normal run (for example, to reach level 50 in a skill without spending all your points in only one skill), you might want to grind. To do so, you will have to find a spot in which monsters respawn indefinitely; then you will be able to start grinding.
Infinite-Spawn Areas[]
The known areas in which monsters respawn indefinitely are the following:
Level 4: Archives[]
- Beast Gardens and Menagerie
This area is primarily aimed to be a puzzle: in order for it to be always possible to solve, Undead Soldiers (90 XP each) spawn indefinitely until one is trapped inside each cage. This has the downside of a pretty long cooldown period between spawns.
Level 6: Trapped[]
- The Room Before the Maze of Madness
Giant Snails (60 XP each) spawn every time you walk into the hallway between the Haunted Halls and this area. Farming them for food can be useful.
- Haunted Halls
Each pair of colored tiles on the map represent a spawning mechanism. Stepping on a tile marked with a lightning bolt will make an Undead Soldier spawn on the corresponding one marked with a cross.
Do note there is a short cooldown period between spawns for any given mechanism, so you might want to walk around triggering them all in a row and then start again.
- Fireball Hallway
A Giant Crab (450 XP) regularly spawns here, but takes some time to kill and the cooldown between spawns is pretty long.
- Halls of Fire
Three Uggardians (500 XP each; the third one spawns when grabbing the nearby Round Key) spawn when falling down a trapdoor and coming back or by simply waiting. Despite this, having to fall, come back, and then defeating them takes some time.
Level 8: The Vault[]
- Tunnel Ogre Pit
A Giant Spider occasionally respawns in this area, which is accessible by falling down the trapdoors in northern Level 7: Ancient Chambers or by going down the corresponding stairs.
Level 9: Goromorg Temple I[]
- Temple Grounds
Ice Lizards (675 XP and an Ice Lizard Steak each) continually spawn in this area infrequently, and sometimes, only one does.
Level 12: The Prison[]
- Prior to Killing the Wardens
Goromorgs (1000 XP each) spawn in this area.
Tips for Maximizing Experience[]
- It is recommended to equip the Spirit Mirror Pendant for a 25% experience bonus.
- Keep in mind that the goal is not to kill the monsters which give the most experience but to kill those that do so and die pretty fast.