FFXIV DoL Gathering Collectables Guide

Hello fellow dusty gatherers! This is a quick n dirty guide on DoL / Gathering Collectables. Why did make this? Well, I don’t want to repeat myself in the gatherer leveling guides many times every tier. Instead, Whenever I need to mention or explain this information (which happens quite a bit), I’ll simply link our aspiring Disciples of the Land here! As always, the black sheep of the bunch, Fishing, gets its own segment near the bottom.

If you’re a returning player and wondering what happened… The system was reworked around the back half of Shadowbringers.

Unlocking the Collectables system

Basically you need to be a few MSQ’s into Heavensward (you have Ishgard city unlocked), and a Level 50 Crafter or Gatherer.

  • Quest: Inscrutable Tastes.
  • NPC & Location: Morgayne, Ishgard – Foundation (x10 y10).
  • Requirements: Level 50. Main Scenario Quest Pre-req: The Better Half.

This unlocks the Collectable system for both crafters and gatherers.


Gathering Collectables: How does it work?

Once you find the gathering node you’re looking for, if you attempt to gather a collectable item you will AUTOMATICALLY be “converted” into the collectable minigame for gatherers. From here, your goal is simple “Get to the desired collectability ratings” and “Gather as many times as you can by the end”. Look, it’s an oversimplification for sure, but at it’s core that’s it.

Gathering Collectables “minigame”

It’s a bit basic compared to before, but a lot more streamlined, since the skills are “contained” in this minigame. Discussing HOW or what rotation you should use is not in the scope of this guide. It’s not too complex, though. Use Scrutiny if you must to reach your desired collectability safely with Scour, and gather as many as you can. Go for consistent rotations and “highest collectability” isn’t always best if you can gather one more piece.

If you’re a bit confused, I’ll be reworking and updating the gathering rotations guide a little after Endwalker launches, as I suspect there will be a few changes then…

Finally, you submit them to any Collectable Appraiser found in many “main cities”, and gain a corresponding amount of EXP, Scrips, and Gil depending on the item collectability and tier.


Gathering Collectables: Uses? Worth it?

Easy answer? YES. If you like EXP and Scrips, then definitely Yes. I mean, its another option in your ascent. It was my main method of leveling DoL jobs for many expansions. I don’t expect this to change any time soon, and even if it does I’m sure DoL collectables will remain a viable source of EXP and or scrips.

Custom Deliveries: a weekly activity that gives you, well, quite a lot of EXP.

Rarefied Turn-ins: an infinitely repeatable way to gain decent EXP, and scrips. It’s honestly your basic source of EXP while leveling up. It’s quick and free.

Checking the Collectable Appraisers for possible submissions

What can I gather and submit as a Collectable? (See above and below pictures): Well, first you have to FIND OUT what item is being accepted as a collectable. The main sources for gatherers are the basic rarefied turn-ins and custom deliveries (more on this later). If you’re not familiar with the items you can submit, go to any Collectable Appraiser and see what they’re taking from you at your level. From there, you can right click the item and “search for gathering method”. You can also search for “rarefied” items.

Searching for rarefied gathering items via the gathering log

Fishing Collectables!?

Obviously, fishing has a different system. It still uses the toggle-able “collect”. That’s basically it. If you have Collect on, it will convert any fish you catch INTO a collectable if it’s possible. It doesn’t turn “uncollectable fish” into “useless collectables” don’t worry. That’s basically it. There’s no change whatsoever to the process of fishing.

I’m guessing there will be changes here too sometime in Endwalker… but maybe not? It’s gonna be a pain updating the system for FSH.


Summary and Outro

There’s really not much to say here. It’s a very specific guide, and I made it primarily for a central place I can link to from other guides so I only need to update in one place. But, it is what it is, and I hope I answered most of your questions. If you have other ideas or things I should add here feel free to mention it!

You might wanna see these other related resources: (linking once I fix em up)

  • DoH Gathering Collectables
  • Custom Deliveries
  • Crafting Leveling
  • Gatherer Leveling

FFXIV DoH Crafting Collectables Guide

Hello there fellow crafters! This is a very quick little guide on DoH / Crafting Collectables. Why did I make this? Well, I don’t want to repeat myself eight times every new tier in the crafter leveling guides. Instead, this page will serve as the singular source of info on this topic, and I’ll link to it from where I need it. In any case, here we go!

If you’re a returning player whose a bit confused… There was a significant rework to this system on the tail end of Shadowbringers.

Unlocking the Collectables system

Basically you need to be a few MSQ’s into Heavensward (you have Ishgard city unlocked), and a Level 50 Crafter or Gatherer.

  • Quest: Inscrutable Tastes
  • NPC & Location: Morgayne, Ishgard – Foundation (x10 y10).
  • Requirements: Level 50. Main Scenario Quest Pre-req: The Better Half.

This unlocks the Collectables system for both crafters and gatherers.


Crafting Collectables: How does it work?

No matter which collectable system you’re going for (rarefied turn-ins, custom deliveries, or whatever) all use the same collectable crafting subsystem. This essentially changes the “HQ” mechanic, or rather, eliminates is. It gets replaced by a “Collectability” bar instead.

Crafting collectables. See the Collectability bar, not HQ%?

In the regular crafting system, HQ is expressed as a percentage chance, and by the end of it either you “hit HQ or you don’t”, depending on your chances. With the collectability system, instead of increasing HQ chance, you increase collectability and the item will have its own unique collectability rating once you complete synthesis.

Functionally, there is no difference from regular crafting. You use the same skills and all that jazz. You open this collectability crafting mode AUTOMATICALLY when trying to actually craft a collectable item. Nifty! Back in the day you used to have a toggle-able skill… wew. Good Riddance.

Finally, you submit them to any Collectable Appraiser found in many “main cities”, and gain a corresponding amount of EXP, Scrips, and Gil depending on the item collectability and tier.


Crafting Collectables: Uses? Worth it?

The short answer is YES. EXP and Scrips are the main resources you’ll get. Think of it as another tool in your toolbelt for doing crafter stuff! Use it when and if you need it.

Custom Deliveries: a weekly activity that gives absolutely ridiculous amounts of EXP. Decent amounts of scrip too. Guide linked!

Rarefied Turn-ins: an infinitely repeatable way to gain decent EXP, and scrips. While not super efficient, there’s no limit but your materials! These are like pseudo levequests and are a super legitimate option while leveling your crafters. At max level, yeah, its your “basic” source of scrips.

Most (all?) possible Collectables are here

How do I know which items are collectables? They have their own categories in your crafting menu. As seen above. Crafting Log → Collectables or Custom Delivery submenu on the lower left.

These are the main repeatable systems that use Collectables, but there are other things like Restoration activities.


Summary and Outro

There’s really not much to say here. It’s a very specific guide, and I made it primarily for a central place I can link to from other guides so I only need to update in one place. But, it is what it is, and I hope I answered most of your questions. If you have other ideas or things I should add here feel free to mention it!

You might wanna see these other related resources: (linking once I fix em up)

  • Custom Deliveries Guide
  • DoL Gathering Collectables Guide
  • Crafting Leveling Guides
  • Gatherer Leveling Guides

FFXIV Sage starting Skill Setup & Rotation (L70)

Need a Sage starter guide? Well you found the right place. If you found yourself here, you probably need advice on one of these – Making sense and setting up the Sage initial skills, or help with exactly HOW to use them (“rotation”). BTW, SGE unlocks in Limsa.

Sage can be overwhelming when you first start out. There’s a bunch of skills, and it all feels a little technical. Don’t worry, I’ll help you out the best I can while yer’ here.

I PLACED THE LEVEL OF THE SKILL BESIDE THE SKILLNAME SO YOU CAN EASILY FIND THEM!

While I could list the initial Sage skills by level, I think discussing them by logical “grouping” is better.

Sage Systems and Basics – a short rundown

Here’s a quick summary on the sage subsystems that will help give you context on the skill discussions to come.

Addersgall: You gain a stack of this every 20 seconds. It’s like an automatic Aetherflow I suppose. You can spend Addersgall on powerful healing and utility skills that all restore a little bit of your MP, while also being free (they only cost Addersgall, and have a short cooldown).

Addersting: When a barrier you apply gets completely consumed, you get Addersting. You can only use this on Toxikon

Kardia / Kardion: Gives “free healing” to a selected party member whenever you DPS. Why not.

Eukrasia: CONVERTS other skills into their Eukrasian counterpart. Sounds weird, but essentially it’s a way to save hotbar space. It’s pretty cool once you get to use it.


Sage DPS Skills

Forgive me for discussing DPS first, but you will be pressing this most while leveling up (or most other things). In terms of preparation, Kardia (L4) should always be up, especially in group content. I suppose your Chocobo is the very minimum target for this, lol.

Sage Single Target DPS skills

Dosis (L1) is your basic pew pew spell.

Eukrasia (L30) Converts certain skills to have different effects (saving hotbar space). Eukrasia should have a very accessible keybind.

Eukrasia + Dosis = Eukrasian Dosis (DoT). Keep this up on enemies that will live for a while.

Phlegma (L26) instant OGCD with charges. It’s AoE, but you should still use it for single target.

Toxikon (L66) instant AoE (uses Addersting). Single target usage ONLY if you’re busy moving.

Sage AoE DPS skills

Dyskrasia (L46) is your basic AoE spell.

Phlegma (L26) instant OGCD AoE with charges. Preferably used in AoE, but OK for single target.

Toxikon (L66) instant AoE (uses Addersting). Preferably AoE, but great for to use while moving.


Sage Healing Skills

Addersgall Spells

These 4 spells all require Addersgall stacks. I’ll list them here first, and in their respective categories again later. Again, you get a stack of Addersgall every 20 seconds in combat. All of these skill restore MP as an added effect.

Druochole (L45) Heavy single target instant heal.

Ixochole (L52) Heavy AoE instant heal.

Kerachole (L50) AoE Damage Mitigation (and regen later on).

Taurochole (L62) Heavy single target instant heal WITH damage mitigation.

Finally, Rizomata (you’ll get this at 74, though) grants you 1 Addersgall via a CD.

Sage Single Target Healing

Diagnosis (L2) Is your el basic of the basic “Cure I” type heal. Weak but efficient.

Eukrasian Diagnosis (L2) Heavy single target shielding. Gives Addersting when shield consumed. If it isn’t obvious by now, you need to “modify” Diagnosis with Eukrasia to get this spell.

Pepsis (L58) Instant OGCD spell that STRIPS all of your shields from allies, in exchange for healing. The heal is stronger from Diagnosis shields, compared to your AoE shield.

Haima (L70) Long Cooldown, ultra heavy long duration shielding. This is a pretty awesome CD that essentially shields your target up to 5 times. If some of these are unused, you get a scaling heal at the end.

Sage AoE Healing

Prognosis (L10) is your basic AoE healing.

Eukrasian Prognosis converts it into an AoE shielding spell.

Holos (L20) Instant OGCD AoE heal with a moderate cooldown.

Physis (L20) Instant OGCD AoE heal over time with moderate cooldown.

Pepsis (L58) Instant OGCD spell that STRIPS all of your shields from allies, in exchange for healing.

Physis (L60) Instant OGCD spell that lightly heals, but adds a buff to healing done.


Sage 70 other Cooldowns and Utility

Kardia (L4) is discussed earlier. Gives your DPS spells a free little heal on your selected “beacon”.

Soteria (L35) Doubles the heal of Kardion effects. Eh, not bad. It’s “free healing” and gives you 4 or 5 DPS spells worth of Kardia healing without “guilt or worry”.

Icarus (L40) Mobility spell that jumps you to a friendly target.

Zoe (L56) Doubles the effectivity of your next healing spell.

Eukrasia (L30) is discussed earlier, yeah technically this spell also falls in this category.


Sage L70 ‘Rotation’

I guess I can place a little ‘how to play SGE basics’ here, as there really isn’t a rotation to speak of for the most part as healer… Lemme update this in a bit.


Summary & Outro

Sage seems a little daunting when you’re setting it up… and it probably is haha. But, just remember, if you’re learning… “DONT WASTE TOO MUCH, AND DONT HOLD ON TOO LONG”. Use your utility and cooldown skills “when you need ’em”. As you gain human experience, your ways to gauge this will be more refined.

Welp, I hope you took our “Sage advice” to get you started right up. Careful out there, and don’t drop ‘yer tank!

FFXIV Reaper Starting Skill Setup & Rotation (L70)

If you’re here, well, welcome to what’s essentially a Reaper starter guide. You probably need help with at least one of these two things – Making sense and setting up the Reaper initial skills, or figuring out your starter Reaper rotation. Well, if that’s the case, lemme slice it up for ya. BTW RPR unlocks in Ul’dah.

In a nutshell your Reaper initial rotation revolves around building up Soul Gauge with your basic moves, then (this may sound confusing) “spend soul gauge to gain soul reaver stacks”, which is the more powerful half of your rotation.

I PLACED THE LEVEL OF THE SKILL BESIDE THE SKILLNAME SO YOU CAN EASILY FIND THEM!

While I could list the initial Reaper skills by level, I think discussing them by logical “grouping” is better.

RPR Initial Skills: Soul Gauge Builders

In the case of both single target and AoE, you will want to maintain your debuff on enemies at all times, while building Soul Gauge through pretty much any action you take here.

Basic Single Target (Soul Gauge Builders)

Slice L1 – Waxing Slice L5 – Infernal Slice L30: Basic 1-2-3 combo that generates Soul Gauge.

Shadow of Death L10: applies Death’s Design, which debuffs target to take more damage from you.

Soul Slice L60: OGCD that vies a significant amount of Soul Gauge.

The above is your bread and butter single target skills, your AoE skills, listed below, are like exact mirrors of them!

Basic AoE (Soul Gauge builders)

Spinning Scythe L25: Nightmare Scythe L45: Basic 1-2 AoE combo that generates Soul Gauge

Whorl of Death L35: applied Death’s Design in AoE, which debuffs target tot take more damage from you.

Soul Scythe L65: OGCD that gives a significant amount of Soul Gauge.

As you can see, they were kind enough to make the single and AoE versions very similar to each other.


RPR Initial Skills: Soul Gauge Spenders / Soul Reaver

The short of it is using up Soul Gauge for skills that give Soul Reaver. Then, use up Soul Reaver for more powerful attacks.

Soul Gauge Spenders: Single Target

Blood Stalk L50: Uses Soul Gauge. Single target strike and gives you 1 Soul Reaver.

Gallows L70 & Gibbet L70: Uses Soul Reaver. Rear and Flank bonus respectively. Using one will transform Blood Stalk into an enhanced version of the “other one”. Gains Soul Gauge as well.

Ok so for Soul Gauge and Soul Reaver, this minigame is pretty cool. Basically you go Blood Stalk (uses Soul Gauge – gains Soul Reaver) into Gallows or Gibbet (Uses Soul Reaver). Then the next time you get here, you will use “Blood Stalk” to Gibbet or Gallows (the reverse of whatever you used the first time).

Blood Stalk changes name into either “Unveiled Gibbet”, or “Unveiled Gallows” inversely to which one you chose. This is pretty much irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and I think only serves as “reminder” for which of the two you should be using next.

Soul Gauge Spenders: AoE

Thankfully the AoE version of the spenders is also very very similar.

Grim Swathe L55: Uses Soul Gauge. Cone AoE that gives you 1 Soul Reaver.

Guillotine L70: Uses Soul Reaver for a cone AoE attack.

The AoE version of doesn’t have that fancy little positional swapping minigame, but it’s very similar. Enter the phase with Grim Swathe, and use up Soul Reaver with Guillotine.


Reaper Misc. Skills (CD’s, Utility, etc)

DPS Cooldowns

RPR has no DPS centric cooldowns at L70.

Mobility

Hell’s Ingress L20: forward dash (L74: that leaves a Hellsgate, and gives you Treshold).

Hell’s Egress L20: backward dash (L74: that leave’s a Hellsgate, and gives you Treshold).

At L74 these skills “evolve”. They allow you to teleport back to your initial position. The forward and backwards dash share a recast, and even better yet, the “opposite” one you didn’t use becomes Regress (the backtrack teleport skill). Talk about hotbar saving! I just thought it was worth mentioning, as it affects your initial binds.

Each of the dashes gives you an instant Harpe, which is your run of the mill ranged attack.

Ranged Attack

Harpe L15: Ranged attack with a cast time. Almost never used unless desperate.

Defensive

Arcane Crest L40: Give your self a shield for a short duration.


Reaper L70 Initial Rotation

To sum it all up and give you a look at the RPR starter rotation as a whole. Here’s a short summary of the single target and AoE rotations of your Reaper at L70 after your whole starting skills setup.

Weirdly, it’s a lot more simple than you imagine, when stated as a whole…

Reaper L70 Rotation – Single Target

Keep your debuff on the enemies via Shadow of Death

Build Soul Gauge via 1-2-3 combo or Soul Slice when it’s up.

Have 50 Soul Gauge?

Blood Stalk (Gain +1 Soul Reaver) – Gallows or Gibbet.

Next time you’re here, use Gibbet or Gallows (opposite of previous use)

Reaper L70 Rotation – AoE

Keep your deuff on the enemis via Whorl of Death.

Build Soul Gauge via Spinning Scythe – Nightmare Scythe combo. Soul Scythe if up.

Have 50 Gauge?

Grim Swathe (Gain +1 Soul Reaver) into Guillotine.

Enemies that die with your debuff give you Soul Gauge which is very good in AoE and dungeon run scenarios. You’ll have a lot more gauge than usual.


Summary & Outro

Reaper might seem a little complex at first glance, simply becuase you’re at such a high starting level and have a lot of skills to consider… but take a look at the rotation segment. If you take a little time to understand all the skills with the initial setup – the final rotation can be summarized pretty damn easily!

Welp, that’s it! I hope we helped you out getting your Reaper started, setting up your initial skills and getting your starter rotation down pat! Have fun on the rest of your Reaping!

FFXIV Conjurer (CNJ) Leveling Guide & Rotation | ShB UPDATED

How to level up your Conjurer (CNJ) fast! Important reminders, and the best places to be in any level – HERE!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Tempted by the song of “ez ranged deeps”, ey? Aren’t we all! Well if you’re looking to have a shot at Conjurer, you’ve found the right place. Hopefully, our Conjurer Leveling Guide helps you out!

While this page focuses on Conjurer info like skills, traits, rotation, and playstyle notes. The GENERAL PROCESS that you follow is outlined in our FFXIV General Leveling Guide use it alongside this guide. Looking at that, we’re in the “A Realm Reborn Tier” as we’re only looking to level our Conjurer up to 30.

Conjurer Unlocking? Other basics?

How to unlock the CNJ Class? Taken from Conjurer General Guide & FAQ – which you should read if you need more basic info about CNJ.

Location: Old Gridania, Conjurer’ Guild (6, 10)
NPCs: E-Sumi-Yan, Madelle
Related Quests: (all in the same place)
> So you want to be an Conjurer
> Way of the Conjurer
> My First Cane
Others: You may also begin the game as Conjurer

Conjurer is a Disciple of Magic, falling under the Disciple of Magic category. Also, if you’re curious about the job you turn into, Conjurer are the prerequisite class for unlocking White Mage.

This guide has three major segments:

  • Conjurer Leveling Rotation & Skill Changes – How new skills affect your play.
  • Conjurer L1 to L16 – General reminders and notes.
  • Conjurer L15 to 30 – General reminders and notes.
  • I’ll mention it again, knowledge from General Leveling Guide is REQUIRED.

I put rotation changes up top as you might reference it often. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Conjurer Rotation for Leveling, Skills, Traits, Etc.

In this segment we run down how each skill and trait affects your Conjurer’s rotation during the leveling process.

L1 Skill Unlocked Stone – Your basic DPS spell. Nothing special here!

L2 Skill Unlocked Cure – Aaaand your basic Healing spell. Healing capability really improves a healers chances at soloing things (albeit slowly). You’ll be using this often in group content soon!

L4 Skill Unlocked Aero – Damaging DoT (Damage over time) spell with no cast time. Always open up fights with this DoT, or if you’re fighting multiple enemies DoT them all! Keep in mind that enemies must have a certain “life expectancy” to be effective. If an enemy dies too quickly, then the DoT isn’t worth it.

L8 Role Action Unlocked Repose –  An underused spell that’s oft forgotten. Used as an emergency long duration CC that can save you in many scenarios. An example is, tank wiped in dungeon? Sleep everything. The “true” use of this skill is sleeping enemies in quests or fates so you can interact with NPC’s and objects!

L10 Skill Unlocked Medica – is a somewhat weak AoE heal, but it’s not like you have other choices right now. If you need to heal multiple targets – this is all you’ve got right now. You’ll likely use this in dungeons, and almost never soloing. A quick tip, sometimes you need to focus on tank healing before AoE healing. 

L10 Role Action Unlocked Esuna – Erases most debuffs on your allies. Keep in mind that debuffs you can Esuna are marked by a white line on top of the debuff icon. Generally speaking, you want to Esuna all debuffs on allies – yes I know there are exceptions to this but try to build the habit unless you’re ABSOLUTELY sure.

L12 Skill Unlocked Raise – Resurrect fallen allies, albeit at a hefty mana cost and cast time. FFXIV has a weakness system wherein recently resurrected friends get a penalty to stats – but it’s better than kissing the floor right?

L15 Skill Unlocked Fluid Aura – A simple, instant, OGCD bind. Not bad for soloing? Bind enemies so you can talk to and interact with objects. Bind so you can run away… Not much else to say.

L18 Skill Unlocked Stone II – No change in gameplay, but simply improves the damage of your basic spell Stone, and turns it into Stone II automatically. Value.

L18 Trait Unlocked Stone Mastery – This is the trait that allows the use of / transforms Stone into Stone II.

L18 Role Action Unlocked Swiftcast – Makes your next spell instant, which naturally pairs best with Resurrection! Another common use is to cast Stone while moving. For the most part, as long as you’re in a dungeon you want to save this for dressing your buddies.

L20 Trait Unlocked Maim and Mend – No effect on gameplay whatsoever. It simply increases your damage and healing passively. Great!

L24 Role Action Unlocked Lucid Dreaming – Gives you mana! Use this early and often as there’s almost no point holding on to it. Don’t wait until you’re low on mana.

L30 Skill Unlocked Cure II – A stronger Cure. Generally speaking you will use this more often than not in combat. While the basic good ‘ol Cure is great for mana efficiency, Cure II is very “GCD” efficient. And as you learn more about being a healer, the GCD is your most important resource.

Completing this quest and unlocking Cure II marks your final class quest as Conjurer. You now have the right to become a White Mage!


Conjurer Rotation – L1 to 30 SUMMARY

Here’s the rundown of what your CNJ rotation is in the early leveling process. Adjust to your currently learned skills.

CNJ 30 Single Target RotationCNJ AoE Rotation

CNJ L30 Single Target Rotation

    • Aero (Open, keep up and refresh only if enemy life expectancy is high)
    • Stone
    • Repeat

CNJ L30 AoE Rotation

    • Any number of targets above 1 (2+), multi DoT with Aero.
    • Stone
    • Downgrade to single target rotation at 1 enemy.

It’s sadly, that simple. It doesn’t get much more complex! However, in L30+ WHM or other Healer leveling guides I’ll give additional HEALING insights for dungeons.

Conjurer Leveling: L1 to 30

As per the general leveling guide, this tier is divided into two sub-chunks. So I’ll be sub-chunking the following segments into two “tabs” as well. These two tabs represent A) L1 to 16, and B) L16 to 30.


Conjurer Leveling L1 to 30 Activity Flowchart

A rundown of things you can do to gain EXP – again split “to 16”, and “to 30”.

CNJ 1 to 16CNJ 16 to 30

CNJ Leveling Activities to L16

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, terrible for LOW levels)

Burst EXP sources

    • Challenge Log* (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (Great source of EXP this early on)
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

*Challenge Log won't be unlocked in this tier if it's your first time around. While you need to be L16 to initially unlock it, it can be used by any level character thereafter. 

Well, there’s not much to point your bow at this early on, but here’s where the arrow falls nonetheless. It’s slim, but you gotta start somewhere.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

CNJ Leveling Activities to L30

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • Dungeons (Stable, "fun", massive EXP easpecially with rested bonus)
    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, but fast)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Beast Tribe (EXP is meh, but great for getting cosmetic items)

Burst EXP sources

    • Duty Roulette: Leveling (The ultimate EXP source until L50)
    • Challenge Log (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (More for completionism or first timers, it's "alright")
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

A few adjustments to your leveling mentality here, mainly the addition of  Duty Roulette: Leveling, as a daily burst, and straight queuing Dungeons as an option as well.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

Conjurer Leveling L1 to 30 Important Notes

Here are the important things to keep in mind during the process.

CNJ L1 to 30 Gear Updates:  Needed?

TLDR: Not really significant. This applies to both sub-tiers. Just make sure to pick up whatever along the way, or find dirt cheap upgrades in the MB or wherever (quests etc).

More detailed answer?

In all honesty you DO NOT NEED to put much thought into your gear from Level 1 to Level 30. Simply “get what you can”, with Weapons being the highest priority. You can get gear from Quests, buy from NPCs, Marketboard, Crafting, GC – it’s purely up to you and your budget as to what you wanna get.

Of course getting gear will increase your efficiency (being a little stronger helps kill speed), but this tier is pretty “newb friendly”, and designed as such – PLUS you “outgrow” gear by gaining levels so rapidly that tryharding on gear up to Level 30 is pretty irrelevant.

Just try not to run around naked, and get “what you can” without being outright negligent.


Important notes to keep in mind

CNJ 1 to 16CNJ 16 to 30

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

There are too many skills that get unlocked here for me to talk about individually, which is why the skill unlock / rotation segment above should be your guiding light in that regard.

Limited Burst EXP sources take priority: Newly unlocked Guildhests, Challenge Log entries, Hunting Log.

Renewable EXP sources if you need to grind: FATE’s are great, followed by Levequests and if so you choose, Sidequests. (Deep Dungeon: POTD – can you zone it from Level 1? Even if you could, I don’t think I would…)

At level 15 you get access to your first Dungeon, Sastasha, but I don’t see much reason to grind there, unless you wanna burn rested EXP and want to hit 16 ASAP.

At 15 you should catch up and do your class quests, as you do get a skill form it – Fluid Aura. It’s a little irrelevant, admittedly. It can help you while questing (bind enemies then run or interact), and sometimes saving from wipes in dungeons…

A note on Levequests: Can be an attractive source of EXP. Every tier has “good and bad” levequests so it’s up to you if you wanna go try them out. Main downside is using them up in place of DoH / DoL. Consider using them if you’re at or near the Levequest allowance cap!

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

Starting L16, you open up Duty Roulette: Leveling, which is you should be doing everyday! This is an important source of EXP – it’s a huge daily burst! Also at L16 you can unlock Challenge Log if you haven’t already.

Overall, the same concept applies. Daily and Weekly bursts of EXP > Basic Renewable EXP sources of your choice > Other side activities to alleviate boredom or monotony.

 Renewable EXP sources? At this point it’s Dungeons, FATES and Deep Dungeons, and maybe some Levequests. Burst EXP sources? Roulettes, new Guildhests, Hunting and Challenge Logs.

Dungeons (and to a lesser extent PotD) are best for healers since
your SOLOING SPEED is the absolute worst.
You have short queue times as well!

at L20 If you haven’t unlocked your Companion (combat Chocobo), do so now. You can begin the process now – it entails getting your first mount as well (at least for most new players).

At level 30 get your class quests done, as it’s one of the prerequisites to transform into White Mage!

Levequests notes, same as usual. Sad to take ’em away from crafters and gatherers, but it’s viable EXP. Definitely use them up if you’re overcapped on allowances.

Stop at Level 30! Unlock your advanced job as soon as you can!
(CNJ turns into White Mage at Level 30)

Conjurer L30 Onward: Unlocking White Mage

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING ONCE YOU HIT Conjurer LEVEL 30.
Unlock WHITE MAGE ASAP!

How to become a White Mage? Unlocking White Mage requires a Level 30 Conjurer, and completion of the L30 CNJ Class Quest. From there, return to your guild and it should point you to the quest! See: Unlocking all jobs.

The reason we unlock ASAP is, not only to get a new skill at L30 (In your case Presence of Mind), but most if not all new skills and traits going forward are for WHITE MAGE and not CONJURER, so you have no reason to stay as an CNJ any longer.

Conjurer Leveling – Related Reads

Some good reads and related links here:

Summary and Closing

And with that YOU’RE DONE WITH LEVELING Conjurer! Congrats! Hopefully our Conjurer Leveling Guide helped you out. Thanks for, literally, sticking it out with CNJ (into WHM) and healing in general!


Join our IRL Cross-World Linkshells (socials lol): 

Contact us about anything and everything. Don't be shy! Love our guides and want to let us know? Got questions or corrections? Suggestions for improvement? TALK TO US! How, you say?

Comment below if it's about this guide. Message us on any of our socials above about anything.  We're organizing our email situation if you're into that.

FFXIV Lancer (LNC) Leveling Guide & Rotation (Shb Updated)

How to level up your Lancer (LNC) fast! Rotation, useful reminders, and the best places to be in any level – HERE!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Piercing through the early game? If you’re going to thrust yourself to level a Lancer, you’ve found the right place. Hopefully, our Lancer Leveling Guide helps you out!

While this page focuses on Lancer info like skills, traits, rotation, and playstyle notes. The GENERAL PROCESS that you follow is outlined in our FFXIV General Leveling Guide use it alongside this guide. Looking at that, we’re in the “A Realm Reborn Tier” as we’re only looking to level our Lancer up to 30.

Lancer Unlocking? Other basics?

How to unlock the LNC Class? Taken from Lancer General Guide & FAQ – which you should read if you need more basic info about LNC.

Location: Old Gridania, Lancer’ Guild (14, 6)
Related Quests: (all in the same place)
> So you want to be an Lancer
> Way of the Lancer
> My First Spear
Others: You may also begin the game as Lancer

Lancer is a melee dps class, falling under the Disciple of War category. Also, if you’re curious about the job you turn into, Lancer is the prerequisite class for unlocking Dragoon.

This guide has three major segments:

  • Lancer Leveling Rotation & Skill Changes – How new skills affect your play.
  • Lancer L1 to L16 – General reminders and notes.
  • Lancer L15 to 30 – General reminders and notes.
  • I’ll mention it again, knowledge from General Leveling Guide is REQUIRED.

I put rotation changes up top as you might reference it often. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Lancer Rotation for Leveling, Skills, Traits, Etc.

In this segment we run down how each skill and trait affects your Lancer’s rotation during the leveling process.

L1 Skill Unlocked True Thrust – Your basic attack and very first skill! Spam this until you unlock the combo skill at L4.

L4 Skill Unlocked Vorpal Thrust – This combos from True Thrust. Combo actions need to be pressed within a certain timeframe or else the combo opportunity falls off. 

L6 Skill Unlocked Life Surge – Causes your next weaponskill to do increased damage and heal you. Basically, always use this right before your most powerful weaponskill – at this point that’s Vorpal Thrust. 

L8 Role Action Unlocked Second Wind – A personal, instant self-heal. Useful both in soloing and leveling, dungeons, raids, ANYTHING! For the purpose of this guide, Second Wind will definitely help you in the leveling process. One habit to get into is, USE IT EARLY so you can use it again soon  (for example, when soloing a FATE boss). 

L10 Role Action Unlocked Leg Sweep – An instant OGCD stun. Interrupting enemy spells is the most basic use case here, but honestly keep in mind that in dungeons stunning an enemy will greatly reduce the damage your tank receives, and helps your healer out. 

L12 Role Action Unlocked Bloodbath – Your third “self-heal”, this one essentially gives you a “lifesteal” effect that scales on your own DPS. This is actually great. Again, it’s better to use these kinds of skills early if you know you’re soloing a long fight, or just to help your healer out.

L15 Skill Unlocked Piercing Talon –  a ranged attack that’s typically only used if you’re not in range of your enemy. Generally speaking do not use this simply when “approaching” an enemy as it’s typically a DPS loss compared to just using your skill straight up.

L18 Skill Unlocked Disembowel – Gives you an increased damage buff that you have to try and keep up at all times!

L22 Role Action Unlocked Feint – Reduces an enemy’s physical damage dealt. Almost useless in soloing (reduces mostly auto attacks and the rare physical boss skill). Of course, very good in terms of group mitigation options in a group scenario. In the leveling process, however, this will almost never be used.

L26 Skill Unlocked Full Thrust – Your combo finisher! Anytime you would press Vorpal Thrust

L30 Skill Unlocked Lance Charge – A straight up damage steroid. In solo, leveling, and dungeon type content simply use this early and often. Not much to optimize here right now, but optimizing DPS cooldowns are something you will grow into over time.

Completing this quest and unlocking Windbite marks your final class quest as Lancer. You now have the right to become a Dragoon!


Lancer Rotation – L1 to 30 SUMMARY

Here’s an overarching shot of what your LNC rotation is in the early leveling process. Adjust to your currently learned skills.

LNC 30 Single Target RotationLNC AoE Rotation

LNC L30 Single Target Rotation

    • Lance Charge if you have the opportunity to maximize its duration.
    • True Thrust > Disembowel – Keep this buff up at all times!
    • True Thrust > Vorpal Thrust > Full Thrust – is your basic filler.
      • Life Surge + Full Thrust, is pretty much the only time you should use it.

LNC L30 AoE Rotation

    • None

Not even kidding, there’s no AoE skill for Lancers at L30. You’ll wait a while, sadly.

Lancer Leveling: L1 to 30

As per the general leveling guide, this tier is divided into two sub-chunks. So I’ll be sub-chunking the following segments into two “tabs” as well. These two tabs represent A) L1 to 16, and B) L16 to 30.


Lancer Leveling L1 to 30 Activity Flowchart

A rundown of things you can do to gain EXP – again split “to 16”, and “to 30”.

LNC 1 to 16LNC 16 to 30

LNC Leveling Activities to L16

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, terrible for LOW levels)

Burst EXP sources

    • Challenge Log* (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (Great source of EXP this early on)
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

*Challenge Log won't be unlocked in this tier if it's your first time around. While you need to be L16 to initially unlock it, it can be used by any level character thereafter. 

Well, there’s not much to point your bow at this early on, but here’s where the arrow falls nonetheless. It’s slim, but you gotta start somewhere.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

LNC Leveling Activities to L30

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • Dungeons (Stable, "fun", massive EXP easpecially with rested bonus)
    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, but fast)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Beast Tribe (EXP is meh, but great for getting cosmetic items)

Burst EXP sources

    • Duty Roulette: Leveling (The ultimate EXP source until L50)
    • Challenge Log (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (More for completionism or first timers, it's "alright")
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

A few adjustments to your leveling mentality here, mainly the addition of  Duty Roulette: Leveling, as a daily burst, and straight queuing Dungeons as an option as well.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

Important Notes (LNC L1 to 30)

Here’s the straight and pointy about what to keep in mind during the leveling process.

LNC L1 to 30 Gear Updates:  Needed?

TLDR: Not really significant. This applies to both sub-tiers. Just make sure to pick up whatever along the way, or find dirt cheap upgrades in the MB or wherever (quests etc).

More detailed answer?

In all honesty you DO NOT NEED to put much thought into your gear from Level 1 to Level 30. Simply “get what you can”, with Weapons being the highest priority. You can get gear from Quests, buy from NPCs, Marketboard, Crafting, GC – it’s purely up to you and your budget as to what you wanna get.

Of course getting gear will increase your efficiency (being a little stronger helps kill speed), but this tier is pretty “newb friendly”, and designed as such – PLUS you “outgrow” gear by gaining levels so rapidly that tryharding on gear up to Level 30 is pretty irrelevant.

Just try not to run around naked, and get “what you can” without being outright negligent.


Important notes to keep in mind

LNC 1 to 16LNC 16 to 30

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

There are too many skills that get unlocked here for me to talk about individually, which is why the skill unlock / rotation segment above should be your guiding light in that regard.

Limited Burst EXP sources take priority: Newly unlocked Guildhests, Challenge Log entries, Hunting Log.

Renewable EXP sources if you need to grind: FATE’s are great, followed by Levequests and if so you choose, Sidequests. (Deep Dungeon: POTD – can you zone it from Level 1? Even if you could, I don’t think I would…)

At level 15 you get access to your first Dungeon, Sastasha, but I don’t see much reason to grind there, unless you wanna burn rested EXP and want to hit 16 ASAP.

At 15 you should catch up and do your class quests, as you do get a skill form it – Piercing Talon. Just use it if you can’t reach your target. Don’t use it when “approaching”, it’s not optimal.

A note on Levequests: Can be an attractive source of EXP. Every tier has “good and bad” levequests so it’s up to you if you wanna go try them out. Main downside is using them up in place of DoH / DoL. Consider using them if you’re at or near the Levequest allowance cap!

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

Starting L16, you open up Duty Roulette: Leveling, which is you should be doing everyday! This is an important source of EXP – it’s a huge daily burst! Also at L16 you can unlock Challenge Log if you haven’t already.

Overall, the same concept applies. Daily and Weekly bursts of EXP > Basic Renewable EXP sources of your choice > Other side activities to alleviate boredom or monotony.

 Renewable EXP sources? At this point it’s Dungeons, FATES and Deep Dungeons, and maybe some Levequests. Burst EXP sources? Roulettes, new Guildhests, Hunting and Challenge Logs.

As a DPS class, you’ll likely queue up for dungeons or POTD then do FATES and “other activities” while you’re in queue.

at L20 If you haven’t unlocked your Companion (combat Chocobo), do so now. You can begin the process now – it entails getting your first mount as well (at least for most new players).

At level 30 get your class quests done, as it’s one of the prerequisites to transform into Dragoon!

Levequests notes, same as usual. Sad to take ’em away from crafters and gatherers, but it’s viable EXP. Definitely use them up if you’re overcapped on allowances.

Stop at Level 30! Unlock your advanced job as soon as you can!
(LNC turns into Dragoon at Level 30)

Lancer L30 Onward: Unlocking Dragoon

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING ONCE YOU HIT Lancer LEVEL 30.
Unlock Dragoon ASAP!

How to become a Dragoon? Unlocking Dragoon requires a Level 30 Lancer, and completion of the L30 LNC Class Quest. From there, return to your guild and it should point you to the quest! See: Unlocking all jobs.

The reason we unlock ASAP is, not only to get a new skill at L30 (In your case, the famous Jump skill – your first of many), but most if not all new skills and traits going forward are for DRAGOON and not LANCER, so you have no reason to stay as an LNC any longer.

Lancer Leveling – Related Reads

Some good reads and related links here:

Summary and Closing

And with that YOU’RE DONE WITH LEVELING Lancer! Congrats! Hopefully our Lancer Leveling Guide helped you out. As you enter into the Dragoon tier, I wish you luck in your literal flight.


Join our IRL Cross-World Linkshells (socials lol): 

Contact us about anything and everything. Don't be shy! Love our guides and want to let us know? Got questions or corrections? Suggestions for improvement? TALK TO US! How, you say?

Comment below if it's about this guide. Message us on any of our socials above about anything.  We're organizing our email situation if you're into that.

FFXIV Pugilist (PGL) Leveling Guide & Rotation (Shb Updated)

How to level up your Pugilist (PGL) fast! Rotation, useful reminders, and the best places to be in any level – HERE!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Looking for a fistful of EXP? If you’re leveling a Pugilist, you’ve found the right place – avoid all the hooks go for the straights! Hopefully, our Pugilist Leveling Guide helps you out!

While this page focuses on Pugilist info like skills, traits, rotation, and playstyle notes. The GENERAL PROCESS that you follow is outlined in our FFXIV General Leveling Guide use it alongside this guide. Looking at that, we’re in the “A Realm Reborn Tier” as we’re only looking to level our Rogue up to 30.

Pugilist Unlocking? Other basics?

How to unlock the PGL Class? Taken from Rogue General Guide & FAQ – which you should read if you need more basic info about PGL.

Location: Ul’dah – Stept of Nald, Pugilist’s Guild (9, 10)
Related Quests: (all in the same place)
> So you want to be an Pugilist
> Way of the Pugilist
> My First Hora
Others: You may also begin the game as Pugilist

Pugilist is a melee dps class, falling under the Disciple of War category. Also, if you’re curious about the job you turn into, Pugilist is the prerequisite class for unlocking Monk.

This guide has three major segments:

  • Pugilist Leveling Rotation & Skill Changes – How new skills affect your play.
  • Pugilist L1 to L16 – General reminders and notes.
  • Pugilist L15 to 30 – General reminders and notes.
  • I’ll mention it again, knowledge from General Leveling Guide is REQUIRED.

I put rotation changes up top as you might reference it often. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Pugilist Rotation for Leveling, Skills, Traits, Etc.

In this segment we run down how each skill and trait affects your Pugilist’s rotation during the leveling process.

L1 Skill Unlocked Bootshine – An attack that always crits from BEHIND. Your combo starter – but don’t bother with the positional bonus if soloing…

That being said, for 99% of situations you’ll be ignoring positional bonuses for solo content. Barring niche scenarios like Stun / True North etc.

L4 Skill Unlocked True Strike – Your first combo attack. Combo actions should be pressed within a certain timeframe or else they fall off. As an aspiring Pugilist and Monk, you’ll be learning A LOT about combo’s lemme tell ya. 

L6 Skill Unlocked Snap Punch – Weirdly, Pugilists gain a combo finisher at such an early level. Bootshine > True Strike > Snap Punch (Back Back Flank) is your basic rotation.

What is GREASED LIGHTNING
Is a buff you get typically from your combo finishers.
It DECREASES your GCD (Increases skillspeed), and increases your damage.
It’s the PGL/MNK cornerstone buff. Keep it up as often as you can!

L8 Role Action Unlocked Second Wind – A personal, instant self-heal. Useful both in soloing and leveling, dungeons, raids, ANYTHING! For the purpose of this guide, Second Wind will definitely help you in the leveling process. One habit to get into is, USE IT EARLY so you can use it again soon  (for example, when soloing a FATE boss). 

L10 Role Action Unlocked Leg Sweep – An instant OGCD stun. Interrupting enemy spells is the most basic use case here, but honestly keep in mind that in dungeons stunning an enemy will greatly reduce the damage your tank receives, and helps your healer out. 

L12 Role Action Unlocked Bloodbath – Your third “self-heal”, this one essentially gives you a “lifesteal” effect that scales on your own DPS. This is actually great. Again, it’s better to use these kinds of skills early if you know you’re soloing a long fight, or just to help your healer out.

L15 Skill Unlocked Fists of Earth – A toggleable stance skill. No reason to ever off this for now, as it’s a “free and passive” damage reduction. We take those.

L18 Skill Unlocked Twin Snakes –  “second attack” flank combo that gives you an increased damage buff. Keep this buff up at all times!

Instead of using the “animal stances”  I’ll be calling them
“first, second, and third” attack, or something a little more “intuitive”.

L20 Trait Unlocked Enhanced Greased Lightning – allows you to stack a second pip or Greased Lightning! Zoom zoom! Doesn’t really affect your active gameplay, except for your GCD that will get increasingly faster as you unlock more and more “GL” stacks.

L22 Role Action Unlocked Feint – Reduces an enemy’s physical damage dealt. Almost useless in soloing (reduces mostly auto attacks and the rare physical boss skill). Of course, very good in terms of group mitigation options in a group scenario. In the leveling process, however, this wil almost never be used.

L26 Skill Unlocked Arm of the Destroyer – An AoE “first skill”. You DO NOT have to continue the combo, you can simply spam it if you choose (wise at 4+ enemies). Typically this is safe to use at 2 enemies, but continue your normal combo after.

L30 Skill Unlocked Demolish – A rear attack DoT (Damage over time) combo finisher, which should only be used on enemies that have a longer life expectancy. As a quick rule, you don’t wanna use this on enemies with less than 15 or so seconds of life remaining. Of course, against bosses just keep this DoT up!

Completing this quest and unlocking Demolish marks your final class quest as Pugilist. You now have the right to become a Monk!


Pugilist Rotation – L1 to 30 SUMMARY

Here’s an overarching shot of what your PGL rotation is in the early leveling process. Adjust to your currently learned skills.

PGL 30 Single Target RotationPGL AoE Rotation

PGL L30 Single Target Rotation

    • Demolish (DoT) if enemy will live for more than 15s~ ish.
    • Keep Twin Snakes buff up. (Bootshine > Twin Snakes > Either finisher)
    • Otherwise, Bootshine > True Strike > Snap Punch

PGL L30 AoE Rotation

    • 4+ Enemies, straight up spam Arm of the Destroyer.
    • 3 or 2 Enemies, Use single target rotation but Arm of the Destroyer replaces Bootshine.

At 3 enemies or less, Demolish on every target is good. Basically it’s your single target rotation but you swap Bootshine for Arm of the Destroyer.

Keeping up Greased Lightning is your highest priority
in essentially almost all cases.

Pugilist Leveling: L1 to 30

As per the general leveling guide, this tier is divided into two sub-chunks. So I’ll be sub-chunking the following segments into two “tabs” as well. These two tabs represent A) L1 to 16, and B) L16 to 30.


Pugilist Leveling L1 to 30 Activity Flowchart

A rundown of things you can do to gain EXP – again split “to 16”, and “to 30”.

PGL 1 to 16PGL 16 to 30

PGL Leveling Activities to L16

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, terrible for LOW levels)

Burst EXP sources

    • Challenge Log* (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (Great source of EXP this early on)
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

*Challenge Log won't be unlocked in this tier if it's your first time around. While you need to be L16 to initially unlock it, it can be used by any level character thereafter. 

Well, there’s not much to point your bow at this early on, but here’s where the arrow falls nonetheless. It’s slim, but you gotta start somewhere.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

PGL Leveling Activities to L30

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • Dungeons (Stable, "fun", massive EXP easpecially with rested bonus)
    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, but fast)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Beast Tribe (EXP is meh, but great for getting cosmetic items)

Burst EXP sources

    • Duty Roulette: Leveling (The ultimate EXP source until L50)
    • Challenge Log (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (More for completionism or first timers, it's "alright")
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

A few adjustments to your leveling mentality here, mainly the addition of  Duty Roulette: Leveling, as a daily burst, and straight queuing Dungeons as an option as well.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

Important Notes (PGL L1 to 30)

Here’s the one-two about the leveling process. Make sure to hit the unlocks so you won’t miss out on unique EXP sources.

PGL L1 to 30 Gear Updates:  Needed?

TLDR: Not really significant. This applies to both sub-tiers. Just make sure to pick up whatever along the way, or find dirt cheap upgrades in the MB or wherever (quests etc).

More detailed answer?

In all honesty you DO NOT NEED to put much thought into your gear from Level 1 to Level 30. Simply “get what you can”, with Weapons being the highest priority. You can get gear from Quests, buy from NPCs, Marketboard, Crafting, GC – it’s purely up to you and your budget as to what you wanna get.

Of course getting gear will increase your efficiency (being a little stronger helps kill speed), but this tier is pretty “newb friendly”, and designed as such – PLUS you “outgrow” gear by gaining levels so rapidly that tryharding on gear up to Level 30 is pretty irrelevant.

Just try not to run around naked, and get “what you can” without being outright negligent.


Important notes to keep in mind

PGL 1 to 16PGL 16 to 30

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

There are too many skills that get unlocked here for me to talk about individually, which is why the skill unlock / rotation segment above should be your guiding light in that regard.

Limited Burst EXP sources take priority: Newly unlocked Guildhests, Challenge Log entries, Hunting Log.

Renewable EXP sources if you need to grind: FATE’s are great, followed by Levequests and if so you choose, Sidequests. (Deep Dungeon: POTD – can you zone it from Level 1? Even if you could, I don’t think I would…)

At level 15 you get access to your first Dungeon, Sastasha, but I don’t see much reason to grind there, unless you wanna burn rested EXP and want to hit 16 ASAP.

At 15 you should catch up and do your class quests, as you do get a skill form it – Fists of Earth. Meh, it makes you tougher – which is only relevant when soloing. Even if this skill ain’t so hot, it’s best to keep up with class quests.

A note on Levequests: Can be an attractive source of EXP. Every tier has “good and bad” levequests so it’s up to you if you wanna go try them out. Main downside is using them up in place of DoH / DoL. Consider using them if you’re at or near the Levequest allowance cap!

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

Starting L16, you open up Duty Roulette: Leveling, which is you should be doing everyday! This is an important source of EXP – it’s a huge daily burst! Also at L16 you can unlock Challenge Log if you haven’t already.

Overall, the same concept applies. Daily and Weekly bursts of EXP > Basic Renewable EXP sources of your choice > Other side activities to alleviate boredom or monotony.

 Renewable EXP sources? At this point it’s Dungeons, FATES and Deep Dungeons, and maybe some Levequests. Burst EXP sources? Roulettes, new Guildhests, Hunting and Challenge Logs.

As a DPS class, you’ll likely queue up for dungeons or POTD then do FATES and “other activities” while you’re in queue.

at L20 If you haven’t unlocked your Companion (combat Chocobo), do so now. You can begin the process now – it entails getting your first mount as well (at least for most new players).

At level 30 get your class quests done, as it’s one of the prerequisites to transform into Monk!

Levequests notes, same as usual. Sad to take ’em away from crafters and gatherers, but it’s viable EXP. Definitely use them up if you’re overcapped on allowances.

Stop at Level 30! Unlock your advanced job as soon as you can!
(PGL turns into Monk at Level 30)

Pugilist L30 Onward: Unlocking Monk

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING ONCE YOU HIT Pugilist LEVEL 30.
Unlock Monk ASAP!

How to become a Monk? Unlocking Monk requires a Level 30 Pugilist, and completion of the L30 PGL Class Quest. From there, return to your guild and it should point you to the quest! See: Unlocking all jobs.

The reason we unlock ASAP is, not only to get a new skill at L30 (In your case Rockbreaker, another AoE), but most if not all new skills and traits going forward are for MONK and not PUGILIST, so you have no reason to stay as an PGL any longer.

Pugilist Leveling – Related Reads

Some good reads and related links here:

Summary and Closing

And with that YOU’RE DONE WITH LEVELING Pugilist! Congrats! Hopefully our Pugilist Leveling Guide helped you out. In no time you’ll be striking fear, among other things, into your enemies.


Join our IRL Cross-World Linkshells (socials lol): 

Contact us about anything and everything. Don't be shy! Love our guides and want to let us know? Got questions or corrections? Suggestions for improvement? TALK TO US! How, you say?

Comment below if it's about this guide. Message us on any of our socials above about anything.  We're organizing our email situation if you're into that.

FFXIV Rogue (ROG) Leveling Guide & Rotation (Shb Updated)

How to level up your Rogue (ROG) fast! Rotation, useful reminders, and the best places to be in any level – HERE!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Gettin’ Restless, rolling a Rogue? If you’re leveling a Rogue, you’ve found the right place! Take a stab at it, and hopefully our Rogue Leveling Guide helps you out!

While this page focuses on Rogue info like skills, traits, rotation, and playstyle notes. The GENERAL PROCESS that you follow is outlined in our FFXIV General Leveling Guide use it alongside this guide. Looking at that, we’re in the “A Realm Reborn Tier” as we’re only looking to level our Rogue up to 30.

Rogue Unlocking? Other basics?

How to unlock the ROG Class? Taken from Rogue General Guide & FAQ – which you should read if you need more basic info about ROG.

Location: Limsa Lominsa – Lower Decks, Rogue’s Guild (8, 16)
Related Quests: (all in the same place)
> So you want to be an Rogue
> Way of the Rogue
> My First Daggers
Others: Rogue is the ONLY base class you can’t start the game with.

Rogue is a melee DPS class, falling under the Disciple of War category. Also, if you’re curious about the job you turn into, Rogue is the prerequisite class for unlocking Ninja.

This guide has three major segments:

  • Rogue Leveling Rotation & Skill Changes – How new skills affect your play.
  • Rogue L1 to L16 – General reminders and notes.
  • Rogue L15 to 30 – General reminders and notes.
  • I’ll mention it again, knowledge from General Leveling Guide is REQUIRED.

I put rotation changes up top as you might reference it often. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Rogue Rotation for Leveling, Skills, Traits, Etc.

In this segment we run down how each skill and trait affects your Rogue rotation during the leveling process.

L1 Skill Unlocked Spinning Edge – Your “basic attack”, essentially your combo starter. Spam this until you get Gust Slash at L4.

L2 Skill Unlocked Shade Shift – A self-shield that scales with your max HP. It’s a welcome defensive cooldown. Use it early and often when soloing tough encounters. Very similar to Second Wind, which you’ll unlock soon (and the notes I place there are applicable here).

L4 Skill Unlocked Gust Slash – Your first combo! Basically Spinning Edge combos into Gust Slash. You have a limited time to press this (or any combo skill) before your combo “expires”. 

L8 Role Action Unlocked Second Wind – A personal, instant self-heal. Useful both in soloing and leveling, dungeons, raids, ANYTHING! For the purpose of this guide, Second Wind will definitely help you in the leveling process. One habit to get into is, USE IT EARLY so you can use it again soon  (for example, when soloing a FATE boss). 

L10 Skill Unlocked Hide – Avoid monsters by moving stealthily. While this has more uses in the future – this is it for now. (At L15, Trick Attack is a skill you can only use while hidden)

Hide Macro

Here’s a useful macro that we will evolve over time…. This functionality should honestly be baked into the base game.

/micon “Hide”
/ac “Hide”
/statusoff hidden

How this works is press it once to hide, and press it again to reveal yourself.

L10 Role Action Unlocked Leg Sweep – An instant OGCD stun. Interrupting enemy spells is the most basic use case here, but honestly keep in mind that in dungeons stunning an enemy will greatly reduce the damage your tank receives, and helps your healer out. 

L12 Role Action Unlocked Bloodbath – Your third “self-heal”, this one essentially gives you a “lifesteal” effect that scales on your own DPS. This is actually great. Again, it’s better to use these kinds of skills early if you know you’re soloing a long fight, or just to help your healer out.

L14 Trait Unlocked All Fours – Pretty much a throwaway “thematic” passive. Reducing fall damage is almost never relevant.

L15 Skill Unlocked Throwing Dagger – A ranged attack primarily used to hit enemies while you’re not in range. Generally speaking you do not want to use this “while approaching an enemy”, as it’s likely a DPS loss.

L15 Skill Unlocked Mug – I would honestly ignore the “stealing an item” half of this skill, and just simply treat is as an off-gcd bonus attack. Use it often.

L18 Skill Unlocked Trick Attack – Very difficult to use at this low level. It’s an extremely powerful attack that “softens up” your enemy. However, this is only usable with Hide. Use it when you open on an enemy and bosses! 

L20 Trait Unlocked Fleet of Foot – Now this, this is a useful passive. Increased movement speed is welcome EVERYWHERE. Soloing and questing? Great! Dungeons and RAIDS? AMAZING! 

L22 Role Action Unlocked Feint – Reduces an enemy’s physical damage dealt. Almost useless in soloing (reduces mostly auto attacks and the rare physical boss skill). Of course, very good in terms of group mitigation options in a group scenario. In the leveling process, however, this will almost never be used.

L26 Skill Unlocked Aeolian Edge – Ah, finally! Your combo finisher! Anytime you press Gust Slash – press Aeolian Edge next. This rather benign addition is actually quite a significant increase in DPS. 

L30 Skill Unlocked Shadow Fang – A long duration DoT (Damage over time) skill. Only use this against fat enemies. It has a hefty cooldown so it’s not all that regularly you press it. While it does affect your rotation somehow, it’s very minimal.

Completing the L30 ROG class quest and unlocking Shadowfang marks your final class quest as Rogue. You now have the right to become a Ninja!


Rogue Rotation – L1 to 30 SUMMARY

Here’s an overarching shot of what your ROG rotation is in the early leveling process. Adjust to your currently learned skills.

ROG 30 Single Target RotationROG AoE Rotation

ROG L30 Single Target Rotation

    • Shadowfang on enemies with a long life expectancy (or an “off-target”)
    • Use Mug as often as you can.
    • Spinning Edge > Gust Slash > Aeolian Edge

Opening with Trick Attack is “optional”, can be a hassle.
Check the Hide macro posted above…

ROG L30 AoE Rotation

    • None

Yeahp, there’s no AoE skill for Rogues at this level range. Feelsbadman.

Rogue Leveling: L1 to 30

As per the general leveling guide, this tier is divided into two sub-chunks. So I’ll be sub-chunking the following segments into two “tabs” as well. These two tabs represent A) L1 to 16, and B) L16 to 30.


Rogue Leveling L1 to 30 Activity Flowchart

A rundown of things you can do to gain EXP – again split “to 16”, and “to 30”.

ROG 1 to 16ROG 16 to 30

ROG Leveling Activities to L16

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, terrible for LOW levels)

Burst EXP sources

    • Challenge Log* (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (Great source of EXP this early on)
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

*Challenge Log won't be unlocked in this tier if it's your first time around. While you need to be L16 to initially unlock it, it can be used by any level character thereafter. 

Well, there’s not much to point your bow at this early on, but here’s where the arrow falls nonetheless. It’s slim, but you gotta start somewhere.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

ROG Leveling Activities to L30

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • Dungeons (Stable, "fun", massive EXP easpecially with rested bonus)
    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, but fast)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Beast Tribe (EXP is meh, but great for getting cosmetic items)

Burst EXP sources

    • Duty Roulette: Leveling (The ultimate EXP source until L50)
    • Challenge Log (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (More for completionism or first timers, it's "alright")
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

A few adjustments to your leveling mentality here, mainly the addition of  Duty Roulette: Leveling, as a daily burst, and straight queuing Dungeons as an option as well.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

Important Notes (ROG L1 to 30)

Here are the important things to keep in mind during the process.

ROG L1 to 30 Gear Updates:  Needed?

TLDR: Not really significant. This applies to both sub-tiers. Just make sure to pick up whatever along the way, or find dirt cheap upgrades in the MB or wherever (quests etc).

More detailed answer?

In all honesty you DO NOT NEED to put much thought into your gear from Level 1 to Level 30. Simply “get what you can”, with Weapons being the highest priority. You can get gear from Quests, buy from NPCs, Marketboard, Crafting, GC – it’s purely up to you and your budget as to what you wanna get.

Of course getting gear will increase your efficiency (being a little stronger helps kill speed), but this tier is pretty “newb friendly”, and designed as such – PLUS you “outgrow” gear by gaining levels so rapidly that tryharding on gear up to Level 30 is pretty irrelevant.

Just try not to run around naked, and get “what you can” without being outright negligent.


Important notes to keep in mind

ROG 1 to 16ROG 16 to 30

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

There are too many skills that get unlocked here for me to talk about individually, which is why the skill unlock / rotation segment above should be your guiding light in that regard.

Limited Burst EXP sources take priority: Newly unlocked Guildhests, Challenge Log entries, Hunting Log.

Renewable EXP sources if you need to grind: FATE’s are great, followed by Levequests and if so you choose, Sidequests. (Deep Dungeon: POTD – can you zone it from Level 1? Even if you could, I don’t think I would…)

At level 15 you get access to your first Dungeon, Sastasha, but I don’t see much reason to grind there, unless you wanna burn rested EXP and want to hit 16 ASAP.

At 15 you should catch up and do your class quests, as you do get a skill form it – Throwing Dagger. Just use it if you can’t reach your target. Don’t use it when “approaching”, it’s not optimal.

A note on Levequests: Can be an attractive source of EXP. Every tier has “good and bad” levequests so it’s up to you if you wanna go try them out. Main downside is using them up in place of DoH / DoL. Consider using them if you’re at or near the Levequest allowance cap!

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

Starting L16, you open up Duty Roulette: Leveling, which is you should be doing everyday! This is an important source of EXP – it’s a huge daily burst! Also at L16 you can unlock Challenge Log if you haven’t already.

Overall, the same concept applies. Daily and Weekly bursts of EXP > Basic Renewable EXP sources of your choice > Other side activities to alleviate boredom or monotony.

 Renewable EXP sources? At this point it’s Dungeons, FATES and Deep Dungeons, and maybe some Levequests. Burst EXP sources? Roulettes, new Guildhests, Hunting and Challenge Logs.

As a DPS class, you’ll likely queue up for dungeons or POTD then do FATES and “other activities” while you’re in queue.

at L20 If you haven’t unlocked your Companion (combat Chocobo), do so now. You can begin the process now – it entails getting your first mount as well (at least for most new players).

At level 30 get your class quests done, as it’s one of the prerequisites to transform into Ninja!

Levequests notes, same as usual. Sad to take ’em away from crafters and gatherers, but it’s viable EXP. Definitely use them up if you’re overcapped on allowances.

Stop at Level 30! Unlock your advanced job as soon as you can!
(ROG turns into Ninja at Level 30)

Rogue L30 Onward: Unlocking Ninja

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING ONCE YOU HIT Rogue LEVEL 30.
Unlock Ninja ASAP!

How to become a Ninja? Unlocking Ninja requires a Level 30 Rogue, and completion of the L30 ROG Class Quest. From there, return to your guild and it should point you to the quest! See: Unlocking all jobs.

The reason we unlock ASAP is, not only to get a new skill at L30 (In your case the infamous NINJUTSU and your first Mudra), but most if not all new skills and traits going forward are for NINJA and not Rogue, so you have no reason to stay as an ROG any longer.

Rogue Leveling – Related Reads

Some good reads and related links here:

Summary and Closing

And with that YOU’RE DONE WITH LEVELING Rogue! Congrats! Hopefully our Rogue Leveling Guide helped you out.


Join our IRL Cross-World Linkshells (socials lol): 

Contact us about anything and everything. Don't be shy! Love our guides and want to let us know? Got questions or corrections? Suggestions for improvement? TALK TO US! How, you say?

Comment below if it's about this guide. Message us on any of our socials above about anything.  We're organizing our email situation if you're into that.

FFXIV Arcanist (ACN) Leveling Guide & Rotation | ShB UPDATED

How to level up your Arcanist (ACN) fast! Rotation, skills, reminders, and the best places to be in any level – HERE!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Aching to level yer’ Arcanist? Lured in by the pets? Don’t sweats. Well you’ve found the right place. Hopefully, our Arcanist Leveling Guide helps you out!

While this page focuses on Arcanist info like skills, traits, rotation, and playstyle notes. The GENERAL PROCESS that you follow is outlined in our FFXIV General Leveling Guide use it alongside this guide. Looking at that, we’re in the “A Realm Reborn Tier” as we’re only looking to level our Arcanist up to 30.

Arcanist Unlocking? Other basics?

How to unlock the ACN Class? Taken from Arcanist General Guide & FAQ – which you should read if you need more basic info about ACN.

Location: Limsa Lominsa – Lower Decks, Arcanist’s Guild (6, 10)
Related Quests: (all in the same place)
> So you want to be an Arcanist
> Way of the Arcanist
> My First Grimoire
Others: You may also begin the game as Arcanist

Arcanist is a Magical Ranged DPS class (commonly referred to as “caster), falling under the Disciple of Magic category. Also, if you’re curious about the job you turn into, Arcanist are the prerequisite class for unlocking Scholar and Summoner.

This guide has three major segments:

  • Arcanist Leveling Rotation & Skill Changes – How new skills affect your play.
  • Arcanist L1 to L16 – General reminders and notes.
  • Arcanist L15 to 30 – General reminders and notes.
  • I’ll mention it again, knowledge from General Leveling Guide is REQUIRED.

I put rotation changes up top as you might reference it often. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Arcanist Rotation for Leveling, Skills, Traits, Etc.

In this segment we run down how each skill and trait affects your Arcanist’s rotation during the leveling process.

L1 Skill Unlocked Ruin – Essentially, this is your “basic attack”. Or basic spell, I guess.

L2 Skill Unlocked Bio – An instant cast DoT (Damage over time) spell. Always open fights with it, and renew it when its duration is 3s or less. While this is a good habit to form, the initial form of this DoT is actually horrible – the enemy life expectancy has to be 24 seconds for it to be good.

L4 Skill Unlocked Physick – A basic healing spell. Nothing else to say here! 

L4 Skill Unlocked Summon – Calls forth a blue caster-type minion that helps you DPS! Emerald Carbuncle is cute ain’t it? 

L2 Skill Unlocked Miasma – A second DoT! Like its predecessor, it’s still quite unimpressive. Only worth if enemy life expectancy is around 21 seconds. 

L8 Role Action Unlocked Addle – Reduces targets INT (reduces enemy magic damage). Has almost no use in non-boss encounters and basic leveling activities.

L10 Skill Unlocked Egi Assault – Has different effects depending on which summon you’re using. Blue pet: AoE attack. Yellow pet: gives you a chunky self shield. 

L12 Skill Unlocked Resurrection – Revives a dead ally, even in combat, but at the cost of a lot of mana, a huge cast bar, and your newly returned friend suffering a stat penalty. That being said, this is one of the most important skills in group content.

L15 Skill Unlocked Summon II – Brings Topaz Carbuncle by your side – a yellow “support” / tank type pet. The self-shield (from Egi Assault) is pretty useful for tougher solo encounters.

Summon I – Blue is more suitable for AoE (dungeons), while
Summon II – Yellow is more suitable for single target and most solo content.

L18 Role Action Unlocked Swiftcast – Primarily used to speed up Resurrection. Advanced usage is “continuing to DPS while moving”. In group content, I highly suggest simply saving it for res during the leveling process.

L18 Skill Unlocked Energy Drain – An off-gcd nuke that gives you your first stack of Aetherflow! USE THIS AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN, but never “overcap” your Aetherflow. Aetherflow is used to execute certain skills. The first of which is Fester. This is the cornerstone mechanic of any Arcanist-evolved class.

L18 Skill Unlocked Fester – Ah, your first skill which REQUIRES Aetherflow to use . It’s a single target nuke that is stronger for each of YOUR DoT’s on the target. 

While your DoT’s may not be the best, keeping them up so you have a more powerful Fester is worth it.

L24 Role Action Unlocked Lucid Dreaming – Gives you mana! Use this early and often as there’s almost no point holding on to it. Don’t wait until you’re low on mana.

L26 Trait Unlocked Corruption Mastery – Transforms Bio into Bio II, which is just better all around. Stronger initial damage, stronger DoT. Doesn’t change your rotation in any way – the key even rebinds itself…

L26 Skill Unlocked Bio II – This isn’t really an unlock – the previously mentioned trait simply upgrades your old Bio. 

L30 Skill Unlock Bane – Finally, some consistent AoE! Spreads your DoT’s to all nearby targets, but weakens them on the “new targets”. There’s some math and situationality of when to bane and when to manual DoT – let’s save that discussion for Summoner related discussion as it’s irrelevant now, and irrelevant for Scholar. 

Completing the L30, “Sinking Doesmaga” quest and unlocking Bane marks your final class quest as Arcanist. You now have the right to become a Scholar or Summoner!


Arcanist Rotation – L1 to 30 SUMMARY

Here’s a by the book summary of what your ACN rotation is in the early leveling process. Adjust to your currently learned skills.

ACN 30 Single Target RotationACN AoE Rotation

ACN L30 Single Target Rotation

    • Energy Drain up? Use as an OGCD if possible.
    • Have Aetherflow? Fester, use as an OGCD if possible. DoTs must be up!
    • Miasma > Bio (Unless enemy is on brink of death)
    • Egi Assault (If Blue)
    • Ruin Spam

ACN L30 AoE Rotation

    • Apply DoT’s one one guy, then Bane (Definitive value at 3+ targets, not bad at 2)
    • Energy Drain up? Use as an OGCD if possible.
    • Have Aetherflow? Fester, use as an OGCD if possible. DoTs must be up!
    • Egi Assault (If Blue)
    • Ruin Spam

Wow, now that I typed it out – pretty much Bane is the only difference.

While your DoT’s may not be the best, keeping them up so you have a more powerful Fester is worth it, even if your full or “good enough” DoT duration won’t tick. Don’t sweat about optimizing it this early on.

Arcanist Leveling: L1 to 30

As per the general leveling guide, this tier is divided into two sub-chunks. So I’ll be sub-chunking the following segments into two “tabs” as well. These two tabs represent A) L1 to 16, and B) L16 to 30.


Arcanist Leveling L1 to 30 Activity Flowchart

A rundown of things you can do to gain EXP – again split “to 16”, and “to 30”.

ACN 1 to 16ACN 16 to 30

ACN Leveling Activities to L16

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, terrible for LOW levels)

Burst EXP sources

    • Challenge Log* (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (Great source of EXP this early on)
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

*Challenge Log won't be unlocked in this tier if it's your first time around. While you need to be L16 to initially unlock it, it can be used by any level character thereafter. 

Well, there’s not much to point your bow at this early on, but here’s where the arrow falls nonetheless. It’s slim, but you gotta start somewhere.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

ACN Leveling Activities to L30

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • Dungeons (Stable, "fun", massive EXP easpecially with rested bonus)
    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, but fast)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Beast Tribe (EXP is meh, but great for getting cosmetic items)

Burst EXP sources

    • Duty Roulette: Leveling (The ultimate EXP source until L50)
    • Challenge Log (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (More for completionism or first timers, it's "alright")
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

A few adjustments to your leveling mentality here, mainly the addition of  Duty Roulette: Leveling, as a daily burst, and straight queuing Dungeons as an option as well.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

Important Notes (ACN L1 to 30)

Here are the important things to keep in mind during the process.

ACN L1 to 30 Gear Updates:  Needed?

TLDR: Not really significant. This applies to both sub-tiers. Just make sure to pick up whatever along the way, or find dirt cheap upgrades in the MB or wherever (quests etc).

More detailed answer?

In all honesty you DO NOT NEED to put much thought into your gear from Level 1 to Level 30. Simply “get what you can”, with Weapons being the highest priority. You can get gear from Quests, buy from NPCs, Marketboard, Crafting, GC – it’s purely up to you and your budget as to what you wanna get.

Of course getting gear will increase your efficiency (being a little stronger helps kill speed), but this tier is pretty “newb friendly”, and designed as such – PLUS you “outgrow” gear by gaining levels so rapidly that tryharding on gear up to Level 30 is pretty irrelevant.

Just try not to run around naked, and get “what you can” without being outright negligent.


Important notes to keep in mind

ACN 1 to 16ACN 16 to 30

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

There are too many skills that get unlocked here for me to talk about individually, which is why the skill unlock / rotation segment above should be your guiding light in that regard.

Limited Burst EXP sources take priority: Newly unlocked Guildhests, Challenge Log entries, Hunting Log.

Renewable EXP sources if you need to grind: FATE’s are great, followed by Levequests and if so you choose, Sidequests. (Deep Dungeon: POTD – can you zone it from Level 1? Even if you could, I don’t think I would…)

At level 15 you get access to your first Dungeon, Sastasha, but I don’t see much reason to grind there, unless you wanna burn rested EXP and want to hit 16 ASAP.

At 15 you should catch up and do your class quests, as you do get a skill form it – Summon II, which is pretty alright. It’s a better summon for soloing.

A note on Levequests: Can be an attractive source of EXP. Every tier has “good and bad” levequests so it’s up to you if you wanna go try them out. Main downside is using them up in place of DoH / DoL. Consider using them if you’re at or near the Levequest allowance cap!

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

Starting L16, you open up Duty Roulette: Leveling, which is you should be doing everyday! This is an important source of EXP – it’s a huge daily burst! Also at L16 you can unlock Challenge Log if you haven’t already.

Overall, the same concept applies. Daily and Weekly bursts of EXP > Basic Renewable EXP sources of your choice > Other side activities to alleviate boredom or monotony.

 Renewable EXP sources? At this point it’s Dungeons, FATES and Deep Dungeons, and maybe some Levequests. Burst EXP sources? Roulettes, new Guildhests, Hunting and Challenge Logs.

at L20 If you haven’t unlocked your Companion (combat Chocobo), do so now. You can begin the process now – it entails getting your first mount as well (at least for most new players).

At level 30 get your class quests done, as it’s one of the prerequisites to transform into either Scholar or SUmmoner!

Levequests notes, same as usual. Sad to take ’em away from crafters and gatherers, but it’s viable EXP. Definitely use them up if you’re overcapped on allowances.

Stop at Level 30! Unlock your advanced job as soon as you can!
(ACN turns into Scholar or Summoner at Level 30)

Arcanist L30 Onward: Unlocking ADVANCEJOB

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING ONCE YOU HIT Arcanist LEVEL 30.
Unlock Scholar or Summoner ASAP!

How to become a Scholar or Summoner? Unlocking Scholar or Summoner requires a Level 30 Arcanist, and completion of the L30 ACN Class Quest. From there, return to your guild and it should point you to the quest! See: Unlocking all jobs.

The reason we unlock ASAP is, not only to get a new skill at L30 (SCH gets Adloquium, SMN gets Summon III – Ifrit), but most if not all new skills and traits going forward are for SMN/SCH and not ARCANIST, so you have no reason to stay as an ACN any longer.

Arcanist Leveling – Related Reads

Some good reads and related links here:

Summary and Closing

And with that YOU’RE DONE WITH LEVELING Arcanist! Congrats! Hopefully our Arcanist Leveling Guide helped you out.


Join our IRL Cross-World Linkshells (socials lol): 

Contact us about anything and everything. Don't be shy! Love our guides and want to let us know? Got questions or corrections? Suggestions for improvement? TALK TO US! How, you say?

Comment below if it's about this guide. Message us on any of our socials above about anything.  We're organizing our email situation if you're into that.

FFXIV Thaumaturge (THM) Leveling Guide & Rotation | ShB UPDATED

How to level up your Thaumaturge (THM) fast! How your rotation evolves, reminders, and what to do at any level – HERE!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

If you’ve tempered yourself into the hot and cold journey of leveling Thaumaturge into Black Mage, you’ve found the right place. Hopefully, our Thaumaturge Leveling Guide helps you out!

While this page focuses on Thaumaturge info like skills, traits, rotation, and playstyle notes. The GENERAL PROCESS that you follow is outlined in our FFXIV General Leveling Guide use it alongside this guide. Looking at that, we’re in the “A Realm Reborn Tier” as we’re only looking to level our Thaumaturge up to 30.

Thaumaturge Unlocking? Other basics?

How to unlock the THM Class? Taken from Thaumaturge General Guide & FAQ – which you should read if you need more basic info about THM.

Location: Ul’dah – Steps of Nald, Thaumaturge’s Guild (7, 12)
NPCs: YayakeCocobuki
Related Quests: (all in the same place)
> So you want to be an Thaumaturge
> Way of the Thaumaturge
> My First Scepter
Others: You may also begin the game as Thaumaturge

Thaumaturge is a Magical Ranged DPS class (commonly referred to as “caster), falling under the Disciple of Magic category. Also, if you’re curious about the job you turn into, Thaumaturge are the prerequisite class for unlocking Black Mage.

This guide has three major segments:

  • Thaumaturge Leveling Rotation & Skill Changes – How new skills affect your play.
  • Thaumaturge L1 to L16 – General reminders and notes.
  • Thaumaturge L15 to 30 – General reminders and notes.
  • I’ll mention it again, knowledge from General Leveling Guide is REQUIRED.

I put rotation changes up top as you might reference it often. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Thaumaturge Rotation for Leveling, Skills, Traits, Etc.

In this segment we run down how each skill and trait affects your Thaumaturge’s rotation during the leveling process.

L1 Skill Unlocked Blizzard – Your basic and only spell for now. You gain a buff called “Umbral Ice” when casting this, which massively improves mana regen. I’ll explain in more detail once you reach L4 to get skill “Transpose”. 

L2 Skill Unlocked Fire – The other half of your basic spells. You gain a buff called “Astral Fire” when casting this, which causes your MP regen to be 0, but giving you a massive damage boost.. I’ll explain in more detail once you reach L4 to get the skill “Transpose”. Basically, use Fire until your mana says you can’t, then use Ice.

L4 Skill Unlocked Transpose – Transforms your buff from Umbral Ice to Astral Fire, and vice versa. Now, let’s take a little break to talk about how these buffs interact.

How does Umbral Ice, Astral Fire, and Transpose Work?

Here goes! This is the very basic groundwork for THM and BLM so you might as well drill it into your head now. Here’s the absolute basics of how this rotation works, but it will be modified as you gain levels.

You have no buff?

      • Casting Ice spell gives you Umbral Ice
      • Casting Fire spell gives you Astral Fire

You have Umbral Ice?

      • Casting Ice refreshes buff duration, and at higher levels, more stacks of Umbral Ice.
      • Casting Fire spell ERASES ALL BUFFS. Now, you’re at “You have no buff?” phase.
      • Casting Transpose switches you to Astral Fire.

You have Astral Fire?

    • Casting Ice spell ERASES ALL BUFFS. Now, you’re at “You have no buff?” phase.
    • Casting Fire refreshes buff duration, and at higher levels, more stacks of Astral Fire.
    • Casting Transpose switches you to Umbral Ice.

Transpose notes, continued: Basically you can use Transpose to FOREVER AVOID the “No buff phase”. Continually cycling between the buffs. Being in “No Buff” phase sucks because you have to use up another spell just to gain the desired buff which is a huge waste of damage and “side effects”.

There’s much more to this then meets the eye, such as “mana regen tick” and “estimating what spell is BEST to cast when you hit ice“, and all that jazz that I suppose I’ll introduce to you slowly as you level up.

L6 Skill Unlocked Thunder – Your basic DoT (Damage over Time) spell. Use this as an opening spell, and typically speaking ONLY MANUALLY CAST IT DURING YOUR ICE PHASE. And just in case that isn’t clear enough, DO NOT MANUALLY THUNDER DURING FIRE. Also, do not Thunder if your enemy will die shortly after – try to maximize the DoT.

L8 Role Action Unlocked Addle – Reduces targets INT (reduces enemy magic damage). Has almost no use in non-boss encounters and basic leveling activities.

L10 Skill Unlocked Sleep – An AoE sleep (damage wakes the targets, careful), that’s hardly useful in any serious content. In solo and leveling, however it’s great. In the outside world you can sleep enemies when you need to escape, interact with objects or talk to NPCs without interruption. In dungeons, you can single handedly save your group from a wipe by just chain sleeping if your tank dies, for example. Not a bad skill for clutch moments. 

L12 Skill Unlocked Blizzard II – An AoE version of blizzard, of which the same rules of single target blizzard apply.

L15 Skill Unlocked Scathe – This is a desperation spell that you simply cast if you cannot cast anything else while moving. It’s also great for killing low level trash. Basically, in any serious content Scathe is almost a “fail case”. 

L18 Skill Unlocked Fire II – An AoE version of Fire, of which the same logic from Fire applies. Take note that this has an absolute titanic MP cost.

L18 Role Action Unlocked Swiftcast – For THM (a caster without resurrection), this is basically used to cast while moving, that’s it. While this may not seem like much this early on, this is a HUGE BOON as you learn more and more about THM / BLM, and appreciate every inch of mobility you can afford. 

L20 Trait Unlocked Magick and Mend – Just a passive 

L24 Role Action Unlocked Lucid Dreaming – Weirdly useless for THM. This skill will only work if you ABSOLUTELY BREAK and MESS UP your rotation. Only use it if you got stuck on “no buff” phase with no mana. Why is this useless? Ice generates gigantic MP regen on demand (making this unneeded), and FIre disables all forms of external MP regen (making this useless). 

L26 Skill Unlocked Thunder II – An AoE version of thunder, which is godlike. The same rules apply, avoid reapplication on Fire phase (do it on Ice). Start the fight and refresh it as long as the enemy survives a long time… yada yada.

L28 Trait Unlocked Thundercloud – Your first proc! Proc basically means “chance of occurring”.  Basically, each time Thunder ticks, you get a chance to get Thundercloud, which basically allows you to INSTANTLY cast for FREE a FULL DAMAGE (FULL DOT DURATION) THUNDER SPELL. Did you catch all that?  FREE, FULL, AND FAST like when I skip the bill.

Typically using these “procs” give you a chance to move – something you shouldn’t take lightly in more difficult content

L30 Skill Unlocked Manaward – a very welcome defensive ability that isn’t game breaking in the solo or leveling department, but very useful in endgame content. Be aware you have it, and use it when appropriate to help your healers out.

Completing this quest and unlocking Windbite marks your final class quest as Thaumaturge. You now have the right to become a Black Mage!


Thaumaturge Rotation – L1 to 30 SUMMARY

Here’s what your THM rotation is in the early leveling process, that hopefully, “Works like magic”. Adjust to your currently learned skills.

THM 30 Single Target RotationTHM AoE Rotation

THM L30 Single Target Rotation

ADJUST DEPENDING ON WHICH ELEMENT YOU’RE AT or at NO ELEMENT. Instead of typing this out in a priority, I’ll go thru it in terms of a cycle…

    • Slam Thundercloud (Thunder I) procs whenever you can.
    • Gain Umbral Ice (via Transpose hopefully, or Blizzard)
    • Thunder I is usually best to reapply here.
    • Cast Blizzard (or whatever, or wait) until MP is full
    • Gain Astral Fire (via Transpose hopefully, feelsbad to double fire)
    • Spam Fire until no more MP
    • Gain Umbral Ice (via Transpose)
    • Repeat

THM L30 AoE Rotation

ADJUST DEPENDING ON WHICH ELEMENT YOU’RE AT or at NO ELEMENT. Instead of typing this out in a priority, I’ll go thru it in terms of a cycle…

    • Slam Thundercloud (Thunder II) procs whenever you can.
    • Gain Umbral Ice (via Transpose hopefully, or Blizzard)
    • Thunder II is usually best to reapply here.
    • Cast Blizzard (I or II, whatever, or wait) until MP is full
    • Gain Astral Fire (via Transpose hopefully, feelsbad to double fire)
    • Spam Fire until no more MP
    • Gain Umbral Ice (via Transpose)
    • Repeat

There’s only two differences from single target and AoE The Thunder you use is obviously affected, and the Blizzard too. Don’t sweat not using the AoE blizzard if it affects your movement too much.

Scathe should only very rarely serve as a Filler, typically in the Ice phase if your mana regen wont be affected. It’s very niche.

Thaumaturge Leveling: L1 to 30

As per the general leveling guide, this tier is divided into two sub-chunks. So I’ll be sub-chunking the following segments into two “tabs” as well. These two tabs represent A) L1 to 16, and B) L16 to 30.


Thaumaturge Leveling L1 to 30 Activity Flowchart

A rundown of things you can do to gain EXP – again split “to 16”, and “to 30”.

THM 1 to 16THM 16 to 30

THM Leveling Activities to L16

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, terrible for LOW levels)

Burst EXP sources

    • Challenge Log* (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (Great source of EXP this early on)
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

*Challenge Log won't be unlocked in this tier if it's your first time around. While you need to be L16 to initially unlock it, it can be used by any level character thereafter. 

Well, there’s not much to point your bow at this early on, but here’s where the arrow falls nonetheless. It’s slim, but you gotta start somewhere.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

THM Leveling Activities to L30

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • Dungeons (Stable, "fun", massive EXP easpecially with rested bonus)
    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, but fast)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Beast Tribe (EXP is meh, but great for getting cosmetic items)

Burst EXP sources

    • Duty Roulette: Leveling (The ultimate EXP source until L50)
    • Challenge Log (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (More for completionism or first timers, it's "alright")
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

A few adjustments to your leveling mentality here, mainly the addition of  Duty Roulette: Leveling, as a daily burst, and straight queuing Dungeons as an option as well.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

Important Notes (THM L1 to 30)

Important things to keep in mind during the process, so you don’t miss out on any potential value.

THM L1 to 30 Gear Updates:  Needed?

TLDR: Not really significant. This applies to both sub-tiers. Just make sure to pick up whatever along the way, or find dirt cheap upgrades in the MB or wherever (quests etc).

More detailed answer?

In all honesty you DO NOT NEED to put much thought into your gear from Level 1 to Level 30. Simply “get what you can”, with Weapons being the highest priority. You can get gear from Quests, buy from NPCs, Marketboard, Crafting, GC – it’s purely up to you and your budget as to what you wanna get.

Of course getting gear will increase your efficiency (being a little stronger helps kill speed), but this tier is pretty “newb friendly”, and designed as such – PLUS you “outgrow” gear by gaining levels so rapidly that tryharding on gear up to Level 30 is pretty irrelevant.

Just try not to run around naked, and get “what you can” without being outright negligent.


Important notes to keep in mind

THM 1 to 16THM 16 to 30

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

There are too many skills that get unlocked here for me to talk about individually, which is why the skill unlock / rotation segment above should be your guiding light in that regard.

Limited Burst EXP sources take priority: Newly unlocked Guildhests, Challenge Log entries, Hunting Log.

Renewable EXP sources if you need to grind: FATE’s are great, followed by Levequests and if so you choose, Sidequests. (Deep Dungeon: POTD – can you zone it from Level 1? Even if you could, I don’t think I would…)

At level 15 you get access to your first Dungeon, Sastasha, but I don’t see much reason to grind there, unless you wanna burn rested EXP and want to hit 16 ASAP.

At 15 you should catch up and do your class quests, as you do get a skill form it – Scathe. Not a bad skill, great for finishing off trash while moving. Don’t expect to integrate it too heavily into your rotation is it IS a “mistake” more often than not.

A note on Levequests: Can be an attractive source of EXP. Every tier has “good and bad” levequests so it’s up to you if you wanna go try them out. Main downside is using them up in place of DoH / DoL. Consider using them if you’re at or near the Levequest allowance cap!

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

Starting L16, you open up Duty Roulette: Leveling, which is you should be doing everyday! This is an important source of EXP – it’s a huge daily burst! Also at L16 you can unlock Challenge Log if you haven’t already.

Overall, the same concept applies. Daily and Weekly bursts of EXP > Basic Renewable EXP sources of your choice > Other side activities to alleviate boredom or monotony.

 Renewable EXP sources? At this point it’s Dungeons, FATES and Deep Dungeons, and maybe some Levequests. Burst EXP sources? Roulettes, new Guildhests, Hunting and Challenge Logs.

at L18 THM becomes one of the best dungeon classes this early on due to Fire II. It’s an incredibly powerful AoE spell!

at L20 If you haven’t unlocked your Companion (combat Chocobo), do so now. You can begin the process now – it entails getting your first mount as well (at least for most new players).

L26, unlocks Thunder II – makes THM a GODLIKE AoE DPS. For such a low character level, Thunder II and Thundercloud is GODLIKE.
This makes Dungeons a juicy choice.

At level 30 get your class quests done, as it’s one of the prerequisites to transform into Black Mage!

Levequests notes, same as usual. Sad to take ’em away from crafters and gatherers, but it’s viable EXP. Definitely use them up if you’re overcapped on allowances.

Stop at Level 30! Unlock your advanced job as soon as you can!
(THM turns into Black Mage at Level 30)

Thaumaturge L30 Onward: Unlocking Black Mage

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING ONCE YOU HIT THAUMATURGE LEVEL 30.
Unlock Black Mage ASAP!

How to become a Black Mage? Unlocking Black Mage requires a Level 30 Thaumaturge, and completion of the L30 THM Class Quest. From there, return to your guild and it should point you to the quest! See: Unlocking all jobs.

The reason we unlock ASAP is, not only to get a new skill at L30 (In your case Manaward), but most if not all new skills and traits going forward are for BLACK MAGE and not THAUMATURGE, so you have no reason to stay as a THM any longer.

Thaumaturge Leveling – Related Reads

Some good reads and related links here:

Summary and Closing

And with that YOU’RE DONE WITH LEVELING Thaumaturge! Congrats! Hopefully our Thaumaturge Leveling Guide helped you out. May your fire light your way, and they who bar it. GL AoE’ing in deez dungeons.


Join our IRL Cross-World Linkshells (socials lol): 

Contact us about anything and everything. Don't be shy! Love our guides and want to let us know? Got questions or corrections? Suggestions for improvement? TALK TO US! How, you say?

Comment below if it's about this guide. Message us on any of our socials above about anything.  We're organizing our email situation if you're into that.