Metal Slime Grinding Guide (Best Leveling Location)

Throughout the Dragon Quest series, Metal Slimes are synonymous with power leveling your characters and the enemies which reward you with the most EXP. You can find Metal Slimes in a few different areas throughout the game but unless you go into the battle expecting to fight these little buggers they can be tough to take out.

Metal Slimes of all types have an extremely high chance of fleeing from the battle with every passing turn. Your goal is to defeat them before they get the opportunity to; preferably you want to defeat them in a single turn which means making use of Tension or an ability with a higher than usual critical hit chance. For more information on how to properly prepare for Metal Slime hunting I recommend you check out my Metal Slime Preparation Guide where I talk about the gear you'll want to have and abilities.

This page talks about the different locations to hunt Metal Slimes and the Metal Slime enemies themselves. Before I get started with the guide, I have an important note which I would like to address first.

Important Note: The reason I prefer Slime Hill and Liquid Metal Slime hunting as opposed to Dragon Graveyard King Metal Slime hunting or the Heavenly Dias dungeon is because Liquid Metal Slimes have a regular chance of dropping Seed of Agility and regular Metal Slimes have a chance of dropping Seed of Defence (rare drop Seed of Agility). In my opinion this gives you more bang for your buck than other locations, even with the worst luck imaginable you're probably likely to see half a dozen seed drops.

I also oppose Dragon Graveyard because so much of the grind comes down to RNG. You have about a 1/50 chance of encountering a King Metal Slime in the same battle as a Baelzebuzz then you also have about a 1/20 chance you won't be successful in defeating the King Metal Slime or that he runs away before you get a chance to. You could literally spend a whole hour here just using Whistle on Yangus praying for a battle.

Enemies: Metal, Liquid Metal and King Metal Slimes

First up, the most common location for Metal Slime hunting is none other than Slime Hill which is found just north of Arcadia and slightly northwest of Rydon's Tower. Use my screen shots below for directions. Slime Hill is called Slime Hill because you can find every type of Metal Slime enemy on this one hill. Liquid Metal Slimes come out at night time only, much like all the other locations they appear but the Metal Slimes/King Metal Slimes both appear during the day and at night.

If you're looking for a laid back spot to grind Slime Hill is probably the best you can get. Almost none of the enemies here are troublesome and you can go many battles without ever having to heal or even worry about your health. What I'd recommend is wait until the sun sets then use Yangus' Whistle ability repeatedly, Flee from any battle that you don't encounter a Metal Slime (or better) and when you do encounter Metal Slimes, defeat them.

 

 

Metal Slime EXP: 1,350
Metal Slime HP: 3 - 4

Normal Drop: Seed of Defense
Rare Drop: Seed of Agility

If all you have is Metal Slash these are probably the only Metal Slimes you'll be able to defeat. One Metal Slash with Tension is enough to take these guys out.

 

Liquid Metal Slime EXP: 10,050
Liquid Metal Slime HP: 6 - 8

Normal Drop: Seed of Agility
Rare Drop: Elevating Shoes

You have two options for defeating the Liquid Metal Slimes, you can spend the first round of the battle using Psyche Up on Hero and Angelo, use Timbrel of Tension on Jessica or Yangus then on the second round attack with Metal Slash. For more information on my strategy head over to the Metal Slime Preparation Guide.

The goal is to build up to 20 Tension minimum to take out a Liquid Metal Slime or attack the same Liquid Metal Slime with Hero/Angelo Metal Slash when they have 5 Tension. There's one more strategy for fighting these enemies too - Executioner (Yangus - Axe) and Lightning Thrust (Hero - Spear). These abilities have a higher than average critical hit chance and since crits hit Metal Slimes for full damage you'll easily one shot them.

If you have Executioner (Hatchet Man) and Lightning Thrust (Thunder Thrust) use those instead of Metal Slash/Tension. Again, for more info involving the different strategies to use head over to the Metal Slime Preparation Guide.

 

Metal King Slime EXP: 30,010
Metal King Slime HP: 16 - 20

Normal Drop: Slime Crown
Rare Drop: Orichalcum

These guys require an entirely different strategy if you plan to defeat them than Metal Slimes and Liquid Metal Slimes. If you don't have Executioner/Lightning Thrust abilities you will need to build up at least 50 tension in order to defeat this enemy and use Metal Slash.

Alternatively you could also get the Uber Falcon Blade weapon. With that you only need to build up 20 tension and then use Metal Slash; with this weapon you will strike twice with Metal Slash giving you a better chance of defeating these enemies with lower tension.