XP Farming on Zwift’s Climb Portal – the Ultimate Guide

Keen Zwifters have been using Zwift’s Climb Portal to earn extra XP since the feature was first released in the summer of 2023.

Since then, Zwift has made some tweaks and additions to the Portals – some that made it harder to earn XP, some that made it easier.

But as you’ll soon see, the Portal is still the most effective way to earn XP on Zwift, provided you follow a few simple rules. Let’s dive in!

Gaming the Portal: the Basics

Climb Portals can be “gamed” to earn XP at a higher-than-normal rate because each climb is broken up into 10 equidistant sections with a powerup arch at the end of each section. That means you can receive 10 powerups during the course of completing each Portal climb.

Powerups are given in a “randomized” fashion, but that randomness is weighted:

• Feather: 25%
• Small Bonus (+10XP): 65%
• Large Bonus: 10%

To maximize your XP earn rate, you need to maximize the rate at which you receive powerups, which means riding through as many powerup arches as possible in a given amount of time. How do you maximize your “arch count”?

• Ride the shortest climbs
• Ride the least steep climbs
• Pedal harder
• Use a fast bike

Perhaps the simplest way to maximize your XP earn rate is to think of it terms of four basic rules…

Gaming the Portal: the Rules

Rule #1: Ride a Fast Bike (and Not a TT Frame)

If you ride a TT frame, you’ll always get the small bonus powerup at every arch (+10XP). This may seem like a good thing, but it’s not, if you’re playing the numbers!

You’ll want to ride a standard road frame so you have the possibility of getting the large bonus (+250XP). Additionally, road frames climb faster than heavy TT frames, and also draft others, so you’ll be able to ride through more arches in less time. Read Fastest Climbing Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level to learn which frame and wheels to use.

If you’re riding a very slack climb (or perhaps riding the 50% versions of climbs), riding a more aero bike may prove a bit faster than riding

Rule #2: Choose the Shortest, Flattest Climbs

Zwift places 10 powerup arches on every Portal climb, whether the climb is very short or very long. So a 20km climb will have an arch every 2km, while a 2km climb will have an arch every 200 meters. Which climb will award the most XP? The shorter one, of course!

As of today, here are the 5 shortest Portals on Zwift (you can see the full list of climbs here):

You’re at the mercy of Zwift’s Climb Portal schedule, though – you can’t just choose to ride these short climbs whenever you’d like. So you have to check out that schedule and plan your XP farming days.

To make a climb as flat as possible, choose the 50% scaling option when you select your climb, which trims off even more time! For example, Oude Kwaremont takes about 5:50 per round trip (up and down) at 4 w/kg at the default 100% scaling. But a round trip at 50% scaling is a minute faster, meaning you’ll earn ~20% more XP on average at 50%!

(One gotcha, though: your scaled-down climbing won’t be visible on Strava leaderboards. In fact, your entire ride is flagged as “gamified” and not matched against Strava segments, because doing so would break the leaderboards entirely.)

Rule #3: Burn the Feathers

The game gives you a powerup as you ride through each arch, but if you’re holding a powerup through the arch, you won’t get a fresh one.

So if you enter the portal with a powerup, or you get a Feather powerup during your climb, be sure to use it before the next arch so you can get a fresh powerup when you pass through.

(This can actually be a little tricky on super-short climbs, since the Feather lasts for 30 seconds and the powerup arches come very quickly on shorter climbs. In some cases, you may want to simply trash your Feathers instead of activating them.)

Rule #4: U-turn at the Top

If you’re doing hill repeats to earn lots of extra XP, flip a quick u-turn at the top after the last arch instead of riding the roundabout to get onto the descent. This will knock another ~30 seconds off of your round-trip time, which, on a short climb like Oude Kwaremont increases your earn rate by ~10%. #marginalgains

How much XP can you earn?

Given the breakdown of Portal powerup probabilities (Feather 25%, Small Bonus 65%, Large Bonus 10%), how much XP could you earn per hour if you follow the rules above and ride the shortest possible climb (Cauberg) at 50% scaling?

Riding at 4 W/kg and following the rules above, you’ll finish a round trip in just under 3 minutes, meaning you could do 20 repeats in an hour. Your expected XP earnings would be:

• Round trip time at 4 W/kg: 3 minutes
• Average XP per section: (250*.1) + (10*.65)=31.5XP
• Total sections completed in an hour: 10 sections per ascent * 20 repeats = 200 sections
• Bonus XP per hour: 200 sections * 31.5XP per section=6300XP
• Distance-Based XP per hour: (0.8km*2)*(20 repeats)*20XP=640XP
• Total XP per hour: 6940XP

This, of course, seems crazy. Most XP farming approaches on Zwift earn 1200-1600XP per hour, including Shane Miller’s Alpe du Zwift workout approach.

But keep in mind this is the most extreme example: it’s using the Cauberg, which is a super-short climb that is rarely on the schedule. The next-shortest climbs are approximately twice as long, which greatly reduces your earning rate. Oude Kwaremont‘s numbers, for example, would look like this:

• Round trip time at 4 W/kg: 4 minutes, 50 seconds
• Average XP per section: (250*.1) + (10*.65)=31.5XP
• Total sections completed in an hour: 10 sections per ascent * 12.4 repeats = 124 sections
• Bonus XP per hour: 124 sections * 31.5XP per section=3906XP
• Distance-Based XP per hour: (1.5km*2)*(12.4 repeats)*20XP=744XP
• Total XP per hour: 4650XP

Of course, these numbers are also assuming you’re riding at 4 W/kg, which most Zwifters can’t maintain. What about a more reasonable 3 W/kg? Here’s what you would earn on Oude Kwaremont:

• Round trip time at 3 W/kg: 5 minutes, 50 seconds
• Average XP per section: (250*.1) + (10*.65)=31.5XP
• Total sections completed in an hour: 10 sections per ascent * 10.3 repeats = 103 sections
• Bonus XP per hour: 103 sections * 31.5XP per section=3244XP
• Distance-Based XP per hour: (1.5km*2)*(10.3 repeats)*20XP=618XP
• Total XP per hour: 3862XP

What’s the cutoff?

This logically leads to an interesting question: at what point does it become “worth it” to farm XP in the Climb Portal vs other methods? That is, if you look at the scheduled Portals of the day, and you know the power you want to hold for your ride, how do you know if you’ll earn more XP in the Portal vs, say, riding a new route and earning the badge and XP bonus?

The math here is admittedly imprecise, because there are lots of variables in play. But if we assume you’re following the rules above, I would say it only makes sense to farm XP in the Portal if you can earn more than 1600XP per hour. That means you would need to complete each Portal ascent in ~12 minutes at your target power. Here’s how that math works:

• Round trip time: 18 minutes (2:1 ratio of climbing to descending is roughly accurate)
• Average XP per section: (250*.1) + (10*.65)=31.5XP
• Total sections completed in an hour: 10 sections per ascent * 3.3 repeats = 33 sections
• Bonus XP per hour: 33 sections * 31.5XP per section=1039XP
• Distance-Based XP per hour: estimated at 600XP
• Total XP per hour: 1639XP

That 12-minute climb target means that around half of Zwift’s Portal climbs are worth farming, if you’re riding the climbs at 50% scaling.

Wrapping Up

The Climb Portal feature has evolved since it originally launched, but one thing hasn’t changed: Zwifters can still earn a lot of XP if they follow the simple rules above. In fact, there isn’t a more effective way to earn XP in Zwift today! Here’s a comparison:

• Riding with Coco RoboPacer: 820XP/hour
• Shane Miller’s Alpe du Zwift XP Farming Workout: 1406XP/hour
• Doing a group ride on a new route (assuming 40kph speed on a 40km route): 1600XP/hour
• Riding Oude Kwaremont at 3 W/kg (see math above): 3862XP/hour

Questions or Comments?

Do you farm XP on the Climb Portal? Does your experience line up with what I’ve written above? Any other tips to share? Comment below!