XP collection and Kozlowski’s followers

Collect Skull Gems with the selected champion, use White Dwarf to increase XP gain and Magnet to increase pickup reach. If Kozlowski is unlocked, his starting Lasgun and 5% Veterancy per follower give you a named XP-focused option. Followers cannot collect the skulls for you.

XP and pickup bonuses

• White Dwarf: 8% more experience per level, up to five levels. Unlock it by reaching character level 10.
• Magnet passive: Increases pickup reach through Aura. Unlock the passive by collecting three Magnet pickups.
• Veterancy enhancement: Permanent XP-gain upgrade. Its current per-rank value is 2%; it does not increase pickup reach.
• Kozlowski: Gains 5% Veterancy per follower while selected as the main champion. Starts with Lasgun.

White Dwarf cannot award XP from Skull Gems left on the ground. Magnet cannot help a weapon kill a durable target. If the screen is full of uncollected blue skulls, collection is the immediate problem; if enemies rarely die, inspect weapon levels and attack placement before taking another collection upgrade.

The Magnet passive is equipment with levels. A Magnet found on the stage is a pickup. Collecting those pickups supplies the passive’s unlock objective; they are not five levels of the equipped passive.

Kozlowski’s Lasgun route

1. Rescue Trooper Bartosz Kozlowski on Imperial Bastion, then select him for the next run. His personal Veterancy trait applies when he leads the squad.
2. Level the starting Lasgun to add its soldiers. MadLeeTKG’s release-week XP reply identifies those Lasgun troops as contributing to Kozlowski’s follower-based XP trait.
3. Take White Dwarf and Magnet when their unlocks and offers allow. White Dwarf increases XP gain; Magnet reduces how close Kozlowski must move to the drops.
4. If you intend to evolve Lasgun, reserve Gauntlet. Lasgun 8 + Gauntlet can produce Meltagun from an evolution-capable chest. White Dwarf and Magnet do not replace Gauntlet.

Raising Lasgun to level 6 also unlocks it for other champions. That weapon-pool objective is separate from Lasgun’s level-8 evolution requirement. Castellan and Kozlowski explains why Castellan with the same troops receives Skill instead of Kozlowski’s Veterancy trait.

Meltagun changes the weapon to a short beam with bonuses against bosses and close enemies. A boss outside that reach can remain alive while the squad clears ordinary enemies elsewhere. Check boss targeting and counters if that becomes the bottleneck.

Move the champion through cleared drops

JDPUK describes sweeping up and down through drops in the launch-week XP thread. Use the ground where enemies have just died, with enough room for the main champion to pass through it. A follower’s position beside a pile does not collect it.

If Shield of Faith or Chainsword belongs to a follower, that attack’s center can trail behind you. Turning toward a pile may move your champion outside its protection. Inspect the actual weapon bearer before entering the next group.

Not every defeated enemy drops an experience skull. Fraser Brown’s release review identifies that difference, so kills and collected Skull Gems are not interchangeable counts. The XP discussion also reports very different attained levels between stages and players; a level-per-minute promise would hide those conditions.

Keep the next upgrade’s requirement clear

If you are preparing Chainsword → Eviscerator Chainsword, the target is Chainsword 8 plus Tape Measure at any level and an eligible chest. Additional levels in another completed passive cannot finish that recipe. Evolution troubleshooting distinguishes missing levels from an upgrade-only reward.

Reroll changes a level-up menu, while Skip declines it for XP. Banish removes an item from the current run’s offers; Seal changes the future pool through the Bit Box. Use selection controls for their separate unlocks instead of treating all four as extra XP upgrades.

Kozlowski’s follower bonus is also separate from Figure Case’s five-follower objective. Lasgun troops can contribute to the XP setup while players still report the objective incomplete. The five-follower route explains the new-companion portraits and first-time rescue report.