Fast AP early game. 150ap per 5 minutes. I'm not a fan of grinding, but this is fast enough to do every now and then without being a bother.

A very quick way to get XP is to make 1 fire with a bunch of rarecoins until you get Fire:XP up 99. Then go fight some big monster and cast all those spells on him and leave when you are out. You get heaps of XP and even more if you eat XP food and have XP accesoires on. Then rest in the X2 hotel and skyrocket your levels.

A BIG tip is to bank lots of experience before going to Altissia. You get a free stay at a hotel the provides a x2 experience mod I think. I would check to see if the x3 is an option also. The x3 is right next to the other room option and is normally 30,000 Gil. Keep that hotel room in mind though. If you farm exp and Gil it's the best option. I got 1.5 million exp points after saving up to 500,000. Also some of the camping spots have tours that give an easy 20 AP. The final training match at the campsites is a level 85 Ignis, 87 Prompto, an 99 Gladio. It gives you the second best strength bracelet in the game but it's a hard fight. Make sure you have the Ribbon equipped and take down Ignis first because of his healing.

Work on the passive techniques in the teamwork tree. There are some extremely useful ones that help with combat. When you get to the very high AP ones 333+ do the always critical link strike and break link strike damage first. When the armiger ascension is available unlock as many as you can as quick as you can and don't be afraid to use it. If I was home I'd give more tips but I'm drawing a blank right now. The best accessories require some difficult super bosses and depending on your patience a bit of farming.

In my humble opinion - I'm saying it like this 'cause I'm still grinding / farming in chapter 1, so perhaps it doesn't help as much further down the line, but the ascension perk that gives you ap for fishing is better than the one for getting ap for traveling long distance via car or chocobo. For example, for the time it takes to drive from Hammerhead to Galdin Quay (or vice versa) you could simply go fishing and catch about 10 ~ 20 small common fish less time that it'd take to make that trip. That's ~20 ap points easy. As for the way skills level up; Fishing levels up by, well, fishing. Reel in whoppers and uncommon fish and you're set. I've mentioned I'm still in chapter one, so to put it in better perspective -- I've caught around >100 (just guessing as I haven't checked, it could be more) and my fishing level is 1. As it currently stands, if I were to rest at a camp or lodging, I'd be level 7 and close to 8, so it's not that hard to level it up. I heard people say that the fishing is pointless and boring but I honestly enjoy it. It's the best fishing mini game I've played in a game for a long time. As for Gladio, his skill is leveled by distance traveled on foot or something to that regard. Again, in my humble, know nothing opinion, I think his skill perks are the best as he has a chance of picking up useful stuff after a fight. Ignis' skill levels up by learning new recipes and fixing said recipes at camps (as for as I can tell anyway). I forgot what his benefits are, but I'd say leveling his skill is second most important right behind Gladio's. Prompto's I don't know much about nor do I really care, so I can't help there. I just save the pics I like and the ones that they comment on. [spoiler]Sorry if I just told you a bunch of shit you already know.[/spoiler]

I use the same techniques, promto-gravity for big groups, and Ignis overwhelm for singe foes. Ascension wise, I just got mp and hp per levels first and then teamwork stuff. Elementary wise. I try and use items that get me multiple spell usage instead of higher level spells.

I'd suggest getting ignis's techniques asap, all of them are very useful. Especially the enchantment for noctis's weapons, and the overwhelm ability as it gives everyone immunity to attacks for a short period of time as well as doing massive damage. Tip I have for magic, always infuse items when spellcrafting as it makes them wayyy more powerful. I've been farming zu beaks(found in the far west part of the map, from doing the zu hunt) to get limit break on spells. It's great hitting 80-90k's with magic. Last but not least, you only need to hold square(I'm on PS4) to parry, you don't have to spam the button to successfully parry an attack. Spent the first few chapters getting extremely frustrated missing then until I found that out haha

Foe ascension, get Chocobump and road warrior, in time they will pay for themselves and then some. Stat bonuses like hp, vitality, and strength are always a safe bet. Ignis's regroup, and promto's statshell (or whatever), are useful techniques. If you have shields, you can raise them by holding square/X. Lock onto an enemy, and tap circle/b to quickly launch a spell. Very useful in crowds.

MAKE SURE YOU GET THE.....oh wait.

Elemancy - try to get your potency over at least 100 every time you make a spell. Your items/ treasures can be used as well and each treasure has a particular effect on a given spell. What I am currently doing is using treasures to make these spells called "EXP casts", same powerful spells with almost double the XP for the fight you use them in. Magitek troopers drop down, I kill them all with thundara, net 5k XP. Rinse and repeat. Get the ascension skill that nets you AP for using Elemancy as well. Hunting tip! Pay attention to the time and area you've got to go to before you choose the hunt and plan accordingly. I find that the ones at night can be tough to reach (even though I can easily kill the daemons that spawn at night now as they are generally level 30 to 45) because they may be far from where you accept the hunt. Best option here is to rest at a place near the hunt before you accept it, THEN start the hunt. Fast travel to the last resting area and you'll be way nearer to the things you've gotta kill without any time elapsing. Ascension - get a lot of the teamwork shit, and please pay special attention to Prompto. He has shitty HP so I kinda buffed him up early lol. Best bet though is to get the link strike damage increases. Also, have you upgraded your sword yet? The one you start with?