FFXIV Armorsmith Leveling Guide L1 to 80 | 5.3 ShB Updated

ARM Leveling Guide 50-60

ARM Leveling Guide – Navigation: [0-15] | [15-35] | [35-50]
[50-60] | [60-64] | [64-70] | [70-80]

So you’re planning to make armor and plate in the land of knights! I can’t say I don’t blame you for seeing the obvious opportunity! Welcome to the Armorsmith Leveling Guide 50 to 60 edition! For quick reference I’ll be putting the ARM levequest and class quest items up top.

“Armor and courage are one and the same. One protects us from the foes without. The other?

…from foes within.”

– Mahiko “Vulcan” San.

Armorsmithing Levequest Table 50 to 60

You can find a COMPLETE (All eight DoH classes) List of the above and below tables here: Full listing of 3.0 DOH Leve/Class Quest Items.

Armorer Class Quest Table 50 to 60

>> Important: UNLOCK MOOGLE BEAST TRIBE! <<

Before you begin ARM 50+

• Go to the Armorer guild in Limsa, and get your quest to point you to your new quest giver.
• It’s still in Limsa! Remember Blanstyr? (Upper Decks) He’s now the questgiver!
• You get 3 Commercial Issue Crafting Manuals: Use them wisely! Read the damn tooltip.
• Reminder: DO YOUR GC TURN-IN EVERYDAY. It’s worth a lumbering amount of EXP!
• Go to Ishgard and complete the quest “Inscrutable Tastes“. It unlocks the Scrip turn-in system.

Crafting Scrips, turn-ins and your Armorer:

So how does this all work? Basically, you craft Collectibles and hand them in for EXP, and later on, Scrips. This acts like a ‘free’ levequest! It’s infinitely repeatable – as long as you can afford to make the items. How do you craft a collectible? Using the skill Collectible Synthesis gives you a status effect wherein anything you craft will end up as a collectible.

UNLIKE NORMAL CRAFTING HQ% doesn’t matter. An items collectability is defined by its quality upon completion. So you dont need to “HQ” everything you craft – just make sure you reach the minimum collectability! When you’re done, you’re prompted to keep the item as a collectible, or complete the synthesis normally. These items cannot be stacked, sold or traded. You may also “lower” an item from a collectible to a regular item!

Armorsmithing Level 50 to 52

Leveling up your retainer, and especially (your) Miner are value for ARM!

ARM 50 Levequest comparison:

• Mythrite Rivet x3 : The cheapest choice but may be difficult to HQ, and takes a long time to make.
• Mythrite Tassets of Maiming : Worth trying from excess NQ nuggets. (Still cheap, and less time consuming)
• Mythrite Scutum x2 :(R) Not worth it.

Sayin’ it now: Always consider using your higher level BSM
(If you have one)
to help synthesize “ingots” (Rivets, nuggets etc)

What I did in this tier: Ahhh the first step! First of all let me warn you that crafting 50+ recipes are hard when not level 51. You get a highly scaled buff to completion once you hit 51. So keeping this in mind I first started this tier by grinding out on a ton of Mythrite Nugget. You can stop at 52, but I just stopped at 51 and did a few leves after. Speaking of leves..

With this newfound treasure trove of Mythrite Nuggets, go ahead and try to make a few Mythrite Rivets for submitting. I personally used some excess NQ’s I had and attempted to make Tassets of Maiming – unlike most recipes these do not require Solvents! Pretty basic tier, again be the best judge wether you need HQ or NQ to give the best chance of HQ end-product.

When in doubt: Craft a ton more Mythrite Nuggets – and save NQ rivets for the next tier!!

ARM 52,53 Gear Check: Depending on how your 50 gear was, upgrading your Mainhand at L52 to Mythrite Raising Hammer, and Offhand at 53 to Mythrite Pliers is a chunky gain in stats. Just as HQ Rainbow Coatee. Since majority of your crafting stats come from these three items, other upgrades are optional.

Armorsmithing Level 52 to 54

ARM 52 Levequest comparison:

• Mythrite Alembic : Value since it requires ‘previous tier’ mats!!
• Mythrite Bladed Lantern Shield : Terrible value.
• Frypan Caliente x2 :(R) Also uses nuggets and rivets! (+ a Cedar Wood). Still value if you need to do triples.

What I did in this tier: If you followed the advice in the previous tier you will now have a chunky stock of Mythrite Nuggets & Rivets (or even just a bunch of Nuggets). You don’t? Then let me copy paste for you –

If you don’t have Mythrite Nuggets by now – make some MORE.

Even if you’re a dirty hipster and decide to choose Mythrite Bladed Lantern Shield to promote levequest equality – YOU’RE STILL GOING TO NEED RIVETS. Literally every levequest in this tier needs BOTH Mythrite Nuggets and Mythrite Rivets. So have a look at your stock and see how you can divide it to meet your goals –

• Don’t overdo the use of HQ mats to create an HQ 80 Durability end-product. Split em up for MORE crafts instead.
• The Mythrite Alembic and Frypan Caliente have almost exact materials needed. Do Frypan if you’re short on leves.
• I’d say you need 2 of the 4 metal materials to be HQ for you to have an easier time at this point.

I really don’t know what else to say. The first two tiers of ARM are a walk in the part. MYTHRITE NUGGET IS GOD. Treasure this tier – it won’t get any easier past this point.

Armorsmithing Level 54 to 56

ARM 54 Levequest comparison:

• Titanium Nugget x3 : Baseline levequest, decent.
• Titanium Sallet of Maiming : Useful only to process NQ Titanium Nuggets.
• Titanium Mail of Fending :(R) Not worth it unless you’re short on leves.

What I did in this tier: But alas, even gods fall sometimes. The godly Mythrite Nugget is now overtaken by the titanic pain-in-the-@ss TITANIUM NUGGET. Now, the main problem with this tier (and the next) is the volatile market price of Titanium Ore. Some days, it can be good – some days not so. But since we’re not here to b!tch, but level up – start off by making a ton of Titanium Nuggets.

Welcome to the downward spiral of ARM leveling.

What about the levequests? Both of the non-nugget levequests need 3/2 nuggets respectively (+ a whole lot of other materials). So if you’re going to bother with them – why not just turn in the nuggets!? But of course, we should try and avoid handing in NQ’s, that’s the only time where the other levequests come in. Check both recipes and see what you have in your stockpile or what’s cheaper to make. After you’ve decided, go ahead and try to “salvage” NQ Titanium Nuggets by making HQ Sallet of Maiming or Mail of Fending.

ARM Level 56 – Scrip tier collectibles: Once you hit 56 you’ve now entered the scrip tier! Trust me on this, you’re going to need ALOT of these guys. ARM may not be the best class for generating scrips, but you should ALWAYS be on the lookout for a great turn-in. (For both EXP and SCRIPS!)

Armorsmithing Level 56 to 58

ARM 56 Levequest comparison:

• Titanium Tassets of Fending : The lesser evil. (still, read notes).
• Titanium Headgear of Scouting : Not worth it, please read notes.
• Titanium Vambraces of Fending :(R) The absolute worst. Read notes below.

One of the WORST levequest tiers in all of Heavensward combined. Truly, you are in hell.

What I did in this tier: What makes this tier so bad? The best choice in levequest has a 2/2 material dependency on ARM. Meaning 2 from ARM and 2 from other DoH. The other 2 are even worse off at 3/2 and 1/4!!!! The repeatable in this tier is absolutely reprehensible and should be avoided. Is there a tiny brightside? Yes. All three are rewards from quests – so you may find a few off the MB and “cheat” the leve. But, don’t count on it.

In any case we have to carry onwards. Grinding on titanium nugget is not only expensive, it’s hella slow at this point. So you’re going to have to make a tough decision of Time vs Gil vs Practicality. So here’s what you can do:

1. Tasset of Fending will likely always be CHEAPEST. But check anyway. It’s 99% the best leve choice in this tier.
2. Stagger the time you plan on using to complete this tier. Use challenge log and GC daily turn-ins.
3. The problem is the GC daily won’t be any less crappy.

The above is boring advice that I’ve given on all garbage tiers across all DoH’s but it’s always worth mentioning. What do? Good luck on pushing past this terrible tier. You wanna bet if it gets better?

Armorsmithing Level 58 to 60

ARM 58 Levequest comparison:

• Adamantite Leg Guards of Maiming : Is the single of choice in this tier. It’s honestly not so bad.
• Adamantite Chain Hose of Fending : After seeing this, you’ll see why ‘choice’ is only an illusion.
• Adamantite Rivets :(R) It’s basic. While it takes forever to make 15 the EXP in doing so is actually damn high.

While still pretty bad, this tier has more to it than meets the eye.

What I did in this tier: Titanium is a hidden node… Adamantite is a highly sought after, highly turned-in (but thankfully also highly farmed) unspoiled material. While many aren’t a fan of triples, we’re kind of in a bind in this tier – the only “easy” choice is the repeatable Adamantite Rivets. WHAT PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE is that making 15 nuggets and turning them into 15 rivets means massive EXP even before submitting it as a levequest.

So okay, don’t be disheartened. Once hitting this tier your want to safely craft as many Adamantite Nuggets as you can. Remember the three manuals you got? Use as many of them as you can here. Remember they’re worthless past 60 so you may as well. If you ever needed help in this journey – it’s now. You can realistically reach level 59 this way.

After that hurdle you have a few options here (similar to last tier):

• Check out the bullet points in the previous tier (GC turn-ins, Challenge Log)
• Continue farming EXP from Adamantite Nugget, possibly doubling EXP by further refinement to Adamantite Rivets.
• Submit some Adamantite Rivets (My goal was to complete the repeatable twice).
• Submit a few of the Leg Guards of Maiming – it’s not too terrible.
• All is not lost – keep in mind Adamantite Nugget and Rivet can easily sell. At least there’s that.
• Check the MB for the submission items (cross your fingers).

Yeah, it’s not very friendly but we’re not here to cry. Leveling ARM to 60 wasn’t my most enjoyable memory of 3.0 but it is what it is. Good luck on your last push to 60!

ARM Leveling Guide – Navigation: [0-15] | [15-35] | [35-50]
[50-60] | [60-64] | [64-70] | [70-80]

For more Armorsmithing and DoH End-game guides:

So you’ve finally forged a max level 60 ARM! It’s not the easiest DoH to level up, so Congratulations are in order!!! Remember good ‘ol Blanstyr – for that which once was broken: can be REFORGED. GL getting L60 Armorsmith and see you in Eorzea!!

Now, ONTO THE STORMBLOOD TIER!

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