FFXIV Lancer (LNC) Basics Guide & FAQ | Shadowbringers Updated!

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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 into Lancer? Launch yourself into and lift your limits with our FFXIV Lancer Basics Guide & FAQ. As implied, this is for players wanting to know the absolute basics, and answer some of the most common questions regarding LNC.

Likely, one of the main reasons you’re here is either unlocking Lancer, or wondering about the eventual advanced job you can evolve into, Dragoon.

How to become a Lancer? Unlocking LNC:

Primarily, you can begin your journey into Eorzea and start the game as a Lancer – simply choose it as your starting option upon character creation.

If you didn’t start as a LNC, you can unlock the Lancer class by going to the Lancer Guild in Gridania – Old Gridania (around 14,6), look out for the quests either “Way of the Lancer”, or “So you want to be a Lancer”.

Other unlocking prerequisites? I’m 99% sure you need to complete the Level 10 class quest of your STARTING CLASS if you want to unlock any other new ones.

Why should I play or choose Lancer?

This question is semi irrelevant as, along with any of the other base classes, the only reason you’re a Lancer is simply a stepping stone into Dragoon. But, I’ll give you a little description of what to expect anyway.

Dragoons are, well, “Draconic Lancers”… I don’t know what else to say. Fans of the general Final Fantasy series would know them well, and the FFXIV Dragoon is the good ‘ol high flying DPS you imagine them to be. Heavy hitting, long combos, and lots of positionals! So if you want don that Dragoon – get on the Lancer leveling opportunet

You’ll do well to learn a little more about what you’ll eventually BECOME:
FFXIV Dragoon Basics Guide.

Lancer Crafters and Gatherers?

I often get asked “What Disciple of Hand or Disciple of Land classes go well with LNC?” Another related question to this is “Should I level them with my Lancer simultaneously”? 

Leveling up your DoH and DoL classes should be thought of as a separate goal all on its own. I suggest leveling up DoH classes all together, and all DoL classes together (except the optional Fishing). Do not try to align your combat class levels to your non-combat levels. Trust me.

My only advice related to this is to never cap your levequests. If you’re at max leve allowances, feel free to spend them on Fieldcraft, Tradecraft, or Battlecraft leves just to uncap ‘em.

What’s the best race for Lancer?

TLDR: I don’t know a single person who changes race for their main class for stats. The gain is not even .1% from worst to best. My advice? Choose for aesthetics.

If you REALLY wanna do it, check out our FFXIV Racial Stats Guide, which, FAIR WARNING – I am about to recheck and update next week. But honestly, it’s best you don’t even click on that – THE MICROSCOPIC INCREASE IN STATS IS NEAR IRRELEVANT.

Related Lancer Guides – Read More!

Here’s a few useful links for you

Upcoming Odds and Ends

Here’s a few things we’ll be adding on here in the near future:

  • A small skill list for “human readability”, as the in-game one seems like the best source for EXACT information.
  • List of relevant links for this for Lancer, and some links for Dragoon.

Feel free to suggest anything else via comment or socials!

Summary & In Closing

Well that’s it for our Lancer Basics Guide & FAQ. There’s not much to say but these are really basic little guides to help out the budding or confused LNC, and hopefully future DRG! Hopefully we answered a few of your questions.


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7 thoughts on “FFXIV Lancer (LNC) Basics Guide & FAQ | Shadowbringers Updated!”

  1. Just a tip that this guide is not listed in the navigation menu. I had to find it by typing the URL in manually.

    1. It’s obtained from class quests no? I missed this prolly when I made it way back in beta. However, we will be doing a complete overhaul of the older guides come 3.0 for the newer players. Thanks for the heads up!

  2. Why is Mi’qote and Roegadyn listed as best race? Since dragoon is a DD class wouldn’t Hyur Highlanders technically be the *best* race since they have the highest starting str. From what is listed and i’ve seen so far Dex does nothing for DD, and Vit just makes you tankier. So from a pure DD min/maxing standpoint wouldn’t this be correct?

    1. Acewar,

      The race recommendation must have been copied over from the CNJ page! Thanks for pointing it out! Yes Highlanders are indeed best! While this isn’t exactly our Lancer theorycrafting or Min/Maxing page (those are coming up), this is more of a basics page. Which is why the recommendation for VIT has “If you want to be less squishy” – for PvP purposes or for personal preference. But yes, If i were to make a lancer with PVE in mind I’d stack full strength! and maybe crit chance materia.

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