FFXIV Fishing Leveling Guide 1-80 (Shadowbringers UPDATED)

Shadowbringers UPDATED! How to level up Fishing Quickly!? Confused with Fishing Levequests? Looking for FIsh & Fishing Spots? Power Level your Fisher!

Bring the fish from the shadows to light! Catch onto Shadowbringers Fishing to 80!

FSH Leveling Navigation:
[01-15] | [15-35] | [35-50] | [50-55] | [55-60] | [60-70][70-80]

Key Info per section:

  • Fishing quest item & location.
  • Levequest fish and notes about them
  • If grinding, what’s the best fish/spot to farm? (Most useful)
  • Grinding summary per tier

Before you begin…

For those who haven’t even unlocked the fishing class: The Fisher’s Guild is in Limsa Lominsa.

To gain maximum EXP as a Fisher and level up fast, keep note of the following. Key points are: Choosing the right fish/spot/lure for you level. Also, Keeping key pieces of gear up to date (To up HQ chance, and reduce “got away”). Our Gathering Gear Guide is something you should keep open while leveling up: If you’re curious, here’s the equipment I prepared for my journey to 50.

Have a pile of Rabbit Pie (you can buy it from the Limsa food vendor in the market). If you can, pack some Jack-o-Lanterns, too.

Fishing Class Quest Items

For fishing, you might want to check the Market Board and buy up all the brainlessly cheap fish to make this a little bit less of a hassle. You can submit fish as quest requirements that are bought from NPC/Auction house!

Fisher 01: Lominsan Anchovy x 5
— (Right outside the guild, Bait: Lugworm)
Fisher 05: Harbor Herring x3
— (Right outside the guild, Bait: Pillbug)
Fisher 10: HQ Princess Trout
— (Middle La Noscea: any river, Bait: Crayfish Ball)
Fisher 15: Navigators Dagger  x5
— (Western La Noscea: Brewers Beacon, Bait: Rait Tail)
Fisher 20: Warmwater Trout  x5
— (Upper La Noscea – Oakwood, Bait: Crow Fly)
Fisher 25: Shadow Catfish
— (Fallgourd Float, Bait: Moth Pupa > Striped Goby > Shadow Catfish)
Fisher 30: Fullmoon Sardine x 10
— (South Umbral Isles (Night), Tackle: Spoonworm)
Fisher 35: Desert Catfish
— (Sagoili Dunes, Bait: Rolling Stone)
Fisher 40: Raincaller x5
— (Old Gridania. Whispering Gorge, Rain. Bait: Stem Borer)
Fisher 45: Cloud Cutter x5
— (Whitebrim, Bait: Hoverworm)
Fisher 50: Mazlaya Marlin (North Bloodshore, Double Mooch)
— (Double Mooch, Bait: Floating Minnow)
— (Harbor Herring > Ogre Barracuda > Mazlaya Marlin)

Useful links to have open: Fishing Node Locations | Gathering Gear Guide.

This tiers grinding summary (~1-15)

FromToMAXLocationMapBaitNotes
155Limsa Lower DecksLLLugwormCatches many relevant Levequest fish.
51010Murmur RillsNSHCrayfish BallThe absolute best spot in this tier. (Gridania->Yellow Serpent Gate)
101515SwiftperchWLNPillbugCatches many relevant Levequest fish.
152020AleportWLNRat TailNot many choices in this tier.
202326Yug'ram RiverETHButterworm( night ) 100% Black Eel. Just alt-tab during daytime :)

Fishing Level 1-5

Fishing Quest Level 1: Lominsan Anchovy x 5
Fishing Quest Level 5: Harbor Herring x 3
Level 1 Fishing Levequests:
Limsa Adventurers Guild & Red Rooster Stead.
Level 5 Fishing Levequests: Limsa Adventurers Guild & Red Rooster Stead.

Where to find Lominsan Anchovy & Harbor Herring? These can be found right outside the guild. The bait you use should be Lugworm and Pillbug respectively. I suggest just grinding it out here until you reach level 5. You would have caught 5x Lominsan Anchovy and 3x Harbor Herring by then.

Level 1 Levequest Fish
(?) 3 Merlthor Goby : Limsa Lominsa lower decks | Lugworm
(?) 3 Malm Kelp: ^
(?) 3 Lominsan Anchovy: ^
(?) 3 Finger Shrimp: ^

These are really… REALLY not worth doing EXP wise. But given how lazy I was (and other people surely) to muck around in lower levels, you can use these to speed the process up immensely. If you have 100 leves lying around… go for it!

FSH Level ~1-5 Grinding spots
Just fish around the front of the guild :) (See advice above). If you’re lazy just buy up 5x Lominsan Anchovy, 3x Harbor Herring, all the cheap Merlthor Gobies and Malm Kelps you can and just submit stuff to the Levequest guy.

 

Fishing Level 5-10

Fishing Quest Level 10: HQ Princess Trout
Level 5 Fishing Levequests:
 Limsa Adventurers Guild & Red Rooster Stead.
Level 10 Fishing Levequests:
Western La Noscea, Swiftperch.

Where to find Princess Trout? In virtually any river you find in Middle La Noscea (Use Crayfish Ball). Exact rivers it can be found in: Nym, Rogue, West Agelyss and The Mourning Widow)

Level 5 Levequest Fish
(?) 3[9] Sea Cucumber [R] :
(?) 3 [9] Harbor Herring [R] :
(?) 3 Ocean Cloud :
(?) 3 Coral Butterfly :

I didn’t really bother looking for a good spot to fish these up since the grinding spot mentioned below far exceeds hunting for levequest fish in this tier. I feel that in this tier either you go out and grind it, or buy a pile of these fish off the MB and spam the levequests. Fishing these up just for submission straight up loses to the grinding option.

FSH Level ~5-10 Grinding spots

This may seem out of the way, but fishing in Murmur Rills (NSH) using Crayfish Ball is the absolute best and fastest spot to reach level 10!

Fishing Level 10-15

Fishing Quest Level 15: Navigators Dagger  x5
Level 10 Fishing Levequests:
 Western La Noscea, Swiftperch.
Level 15 Fishing Levequests:
Lower La Noscea, Moraby Drydocks.

Where to find Navigators Dagger? Use Rat Tails in Brewers Beacon, Western La Noscea. Fairly easy catch, no problems here.

FSH Level 10 Levequest fish
(?) 3 [9] Harbor Herring [R] : Swiftperch, WLN | Goby Ball
(?) 3 [9] Pebble Crab [R] : ^
(?) 3 Moraby Flounder : ^
(?) 3 Tiger Cod : ^

Swiftperch using Goby Ball has a small chance to get you ALL of the fish you need! Save the Rothlyt Oysters and White Corals – they’re used for the next tiers leves.

FSH Level ~10-15 Grinding spots

Thankfully, Swiftperch is the best choice for both leve-fishing AND grinding. Continuously fishing and submitting make this tier extremely fast to get through. No reason not to just sit your butt in Swiftperch and grind.

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FSH Leveling Navigation:
[01-15] | [15-35] | [35-50] | [50-55] | [55-60] | [60-70][70-80]

FFXIV Gathering (DoL) Gear Guide

Don’t waste time worrying about your Gathering Gear – and get that DoL class to 50!

Confused about when or what DoL / Gathering gear you should get? When and what are the best gathering gear upgrades, and why? Find out all about that here – and save money on your road to a level 50 gatherer!

Why upgrade your Gathering gear?

Moreso than crafting, better gathering gear = faster levelling. We all know how “exciting” it is levelling a gathering class, ey?

The importance of high Gathering Stat:

Striking at a node and not getting anything means ZERO exp, BROKEN CHAINS and ultimately, wasted time (and money! since you could have gotten the item!) So first and foremost you’re going to want as much gathering as possible.

Gathering is insanely useful in maximizing Levequest EXP. more on this later…

The importance of high Perception Stat:

If you’re doing a lot of grinding, Perception becomes very useful in boosting you EXP gains. Why? At max, you have a 15% chance to gather HQ items without a buff. Let’s compare a gatherer with 0% HQ chance versus 15% HQ chance: 100+[(2*100)*0.15] (HQ percent chance) = 30% Average EXP Bonus.

If you aren’t a level 50 calculator, then it’s fine. All you need to know is that being capped in perception gives you quite a sizeable exp bonus. 30% is not a joke, and it stacks with chains, food and rested EXP.

Perception however, isn’t useful if you’re planning to use levequests… why?

Gathering gear, Levequests and You:

Since getting HQ items is impossible during leves, Perception is useless during a leve attempts. Gathering becomes the single most useful stat, with GP as a supporting stat.

If you’re planning on grinding, both Perception and Gathering are important. However, Gathering is still your most important stat. Why? Again, ENSURING exp gains and ENSURING chains is your first goal. Then once that’s fulfilled, modify it with Perception for massive exp gains.

So we can conclude, during leveling up, Gathering is the most important stat, whether you choose to grind or use leves. And if you’re planning to do a bit of both, getting Perception is a great bonus to grinding. So what does this mean in terms of gearing up?

GP – How useful is it?

Going to level 50, GP isn’t exactly a sustainable resource to rely on. It’s a welcome boost, but not exactly necessary. At 50 though, that’s a completely different discussion…

Gathering gear upgrade strategy

Okay so you want Gathering, no matter how you level up. In terms of gear slots that would be the: Main Hand, Off-hand, Chest (coincidentally they also give huge perception, and are considered critical upgrades). So you want these no matter what you’re going to do. Upgrade as often as possible.

Two more pieces give Gathering: Gloves and Pants. These are less critical, and you should upgrade if you can afford it. Gloves are more powerful than pants! Around 50% more gathering is found on gloves compared to pants! Keep this in mind when buying upgrades.

Now for Perception… The most important pieces were already mentioned above (MH, OH, Chest). The rest are: Helmets, Boots and Belts. Again when thinking of bang for buck – Helmets are the best investment, which are usually 100% more powerful than boots. And belts are the worst investment, as they’re only half as powerful as boots typically!!!

Overall, a cost-efficient upgrade path will be discussed in the end of this post, before that – tables of what level you get upgrades…

Gathering Critical Upgrades – What Level?

The table below represents the levels you get a new DoL chest, Miner main and off-hands, Botanist main and off-hands, and fishing main hand. (All possible critical upgrades)

LevelChestMIN MainMIN OffBTN MainBTN OffFSH Main
1xxxxxx
2
3
4
5
6x
7
8xxx
9x
10
11xxx
12xxx
13
14x
15xxxxx
16
17
18x
19xxx
20xx
21x
22xx
23x
24xx
25xxx
26x
27x
28xx
29xxx
30x
31xx
32xx
33x
34xx
35xx
36
37x
38xxx
39xx
40x
41x
42
43xxxxx
44x
45
46x
47xx
48xxxx
49
50xxxxxx

 

Disciple of Land (DoL) Body pieces

The table is sorted by (at least in my opinion) importance. The left side being more important and more worth the investment, and gets less important as you go right. Gear marked (G) gives gathering, and (P) gives perception. So ignore the Perception pieces if you’re primarily thinking of getting to 50 using Fieldcraft Leves.

LevelHands (G)Head (P)Legs (G)Feet (P)Waist (P)
1xxxxx
2
3
4
5xxx
6x
7
8
9x
10xx
11xx
12x
13x
14
15xxx
16x
17x
18
19xx
20xx
21
22x
23x
24
25xxx
26
27xxx
28
29
30xxx
31x
32
33
34
35xxxxx
36
37x
38x
39x
40xxxx
41
42x
43xxxx
44x
45xx
46x
47x
48xxxx
49
50xxxx

Disciple of Land (DoL) GP pieces (Accessories)

While not super important while leveling up… you cant really be “sad” to have more MAX GP.

LevelNecklaceEaringsBraceletRing
1
2
3
4
5x
6
7xx
8
9
10
11
12
13
14x
15
16
17xx
18
19
20x
21
22
23
24x
25
26
27xx
28
29
30
31
32
33
34x
35
36
37xx
38
39
40x
41
42
43
44x
45x
46
47xx
48
49
50x

Summary: DoL Cost-efficient upgrade path

First of all – Everything below level 15~ is negligible. and you don’t need to really think about your gear before then.

Main HandOff-Hand and Chest should be upgraded when you can afford it.

As a side upgrade to Gathering: updating your Gloves are a good idea every now and then. Legs are less imporant. Here’s our suggestion for a cost-efficient upgrade path:

  • Gloves: (16) (25) (35) (45)
  • Legs: (15) (27) (40). The level 27 ones are from ANY Grand Company, and are pretty worth it.

If you need more Perception, Helmets are the best investment. Helmets generally come from weavers or armorsmiths. The weaver ones are typically more expensive. So here’s a pretty cost-efficient path:

  • Head: (13) (19) (31) (35) (42) (47). Want something in the 20’s? (27).
  • Boots are okay, and you probably wont need more than: (15) (30) and (40).
  • Waist is even less important. (17) and (37) should be fine.

Of course feel free to pick anything up you can afford, and check the Market Board when you reach the levels in the tables above.

Be sure to check out our Mining Leveling Guide, and Botany Leveling Guide, which make great additional resources to this guide.
Also, Mining Node/Material Locations, and Botany Node/Material Locations [Mining is 1-50, BTN is in the proces of being updated…]

Whacking at nodes got you to 50, huh? Then it’s time to gear up. Check this out: Gathering End-Game Gear (+Max Melds) Guide.

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FFXIV Gathering Guide / FAQ

Gathering: Where, How to?

To add a gathering class to your your list of classes, you must first pass level 10 in your story quest. After that, speaking to the Guild Receptionist will direct you to the respective Guild leader. Then that’s it! Equipping the main hand arms of the class will switch you to the corresponding class (Botanist: Hatchet, Miner: Pickaxe, Fishing: Fishing Rod)

The Botanists Guild is in Gridania
The Miners Guild is in Ul’dah
The Fishing Guild is in Limsa Lominsa
[City & Guild Locations]

What gathering class suits what crafting class?

Botany: Weaving, Carpentry, Culinarian, Leatherworking

Mining: Blacksmithing, Armorsmithing, Alchemy, Goldsmithing

Fishing: Alchemy, Culinarian

Note that this is a very general breakdown. Each gathering class contributes to every crafting class in a small way – the above just represents the more commonly used items. In the end, we would recommend being a high level gatherer for all classes so you have the freedom to get whatever you need.

Gathering Skills & Traits

Mining and Botany have almost the exact same skills & traits, with a different name and icon. They only very slightly differ in three skills.

From what we’ve heard about Fishing, the system will be different. We can assume the skills and traits will be a bit different too.

How do I gather?

The first step to gather is to make sure your ‘triangulate’ (Botany) or ‘Prospect’ (Mining) skill is toggled on. These skills are learned at level 1, and allow you to see gathering nodes on the minimap. Note that at level 2, you get the trait “Auto-triangulate” or “Auto-prospect” which automatically toggles this on when you change to a gathering class. Below is a sample of what nodes look like on the minimap.

Approaching a node will give you information on what kind of node it is. example “Level 5 Mature Tree”. Note that not all of the same nodes are equal, different areas with different “level 5 Mature Trees” will have different gatherable materials within. Interacting with the node will bring up the gathering window, pictured below. You do not have to rush to gather nodes in fear of other people getting there first, each person has their own nodes.

gathering interface guide ffxiv arr a realm reborn

1. Item preview: Here is the item preview of what you’re trying to gather, along with its name on the far right. You can highlight the picture to see the tooltip.

2. Gathering Chance: The chance you will successfully gather a no quality version of the material. This is increased by level and the Gathering stat.

3. High-Quality Chance: The chance that you will succesfully gather a high quality version of the material. This is increased by level and the Perception stat. Note that there is never a minimum 1% chance, if your perception is lower than the item levels minimum perception needed, as pictured above, you will have zero chance to gather a high quality material.

4. Item Level: An materials level is an indicator of its difficulty to gather (both no or high quality). Naturally, the higher it is – the more difficult.

Each node naturally has a lifespan of 6 strikes. Meaning you can attempt to gather 6 times from any given node, whether you choose to gather 6 different items, or 6 of the same item – it doesn’t matter.

 

Finding New Nodes

New nodes are made available for you to see for each five levels. Note that there is no way around this. Even if you have godly gear or whatever, you simply cannot see nodes above your gathering level.

When first gathering a new node, you will see that the various materials are still “Unknown”. This is annoying because unknown materials have a base gather chance of 10%. So on average, you’re going to need 2 nodes to successfully discover 1 Unknown Material.  Luckily you can increase this chance. The botanist skill [Field Mastery] and mining skill [Sharp Vision] increases the chance to successfully gather items. They also affect unknown materials!

 unknown material gathering guide ffxiv arr reborn

Once you’ve successfully gathered an unknown item, you do not have to go through this process again. So expect to go through each time you find a new cluster of nodes. Since new nodes are available every 5 levels, you might as well go to your guildmaster (They offer a new quest every 5 levels)  to get a clue as to where they are, and free gear upgrades!

Another way to increase your chances at gathering unknown (and known) materials are discussed below –

Tree Whisperer / Stone Whisperer

Starting level 11 you will obtain the Tree Whisperer and Stone Whisperer trait (Botanist and Miner respectively). Some nodes have special requirements that, if met, give you a bonus to gathering or perception. Note that not all nodes have this. It’s pretty random, but it’s a nice boost when it comes around. Make sure to make the most out of it!

n the example below, we see this certain Lv.15 Lush Vegetation has this special requirement triggered. It’s pretty self explanatory – If you have a Gathering Stat of 77 or higher -> You get a 10% bonus to gathering success rate! Note that this differs between types of nodes.

tree whisperer stone whisperer example gathering guide ffxiv arr reborn

Preparation: Gathering HQ Items

Starting level 12, you can passively see how much minimum perception you need to gather a high quality item. This is made possible by the passive skill [Preparation]. In the example below, you can now see how much minimum perception you need to gather an HQ item. In the case of Gridanian Chestnut, you need 30 perception for a 1% chance.

preparation example gathering guide ffxiv arr reborn

Gathering Stats & Gear

GP: Increases GP, which is used to cast gathering skills.
Gathering: Increases chance to gather an item successfully.
Perception: Increases chance to gather a high quality item.

These are mostly gained through better fieldcraft gear. More info on gathering gear coming soon!

Summary

  • Mining & Botany are the main gathering classes, and you should try to max one of them (Whichever suits your crafting needs more)
  • New nodes are made accessible every 5 levels, and new quests are handed out by your guildmaster every 5 levels.

For now, I guess that’s all we can write about in a general sense. Please subscribe so you’ll be the first to know about anything new we pick up! We are cooking up a HQ item gathering guide, class specific guides, gear guides and more!

Check out our other Gathering class guides:
Botany | Mining | Fishing
[ Gathering Starters Guide ] [ General Gathering Leveling & EXP Guide ]

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