Final Fantasy XIV Leveling Guide – Level Fast To 80 In FFXIV

Welcome to our Final Fantasy XIV leveling guide, updated for Shadowbringers.

In this guide, we will show you the fastest ways of leveling to level 80 in FFXIV on new characters and on alts, whether you prefer to solo or level in a group.

Final Fantasy XIV Leveling FAQ

XP Buffs and Bonuses

• Preferred Server Bonus – New players who want to level quickly should pick the Preferred Servers when starting out to get the “Road to 70” buff which will double XP until level 70 for 90 days.
• Rested XP – Always remember to log out in a sanctuary to get the Rested 50% XP bonus which charges up to 1,5 levels. If you see a little moon symbol on your XP bar, you are earning rested XP, and the blue part of your XP bar is your accumulated XP.
• Food Buff – You will get a 3% XP bonus from eating food which isn’t much but you will also get stat bonuses and every bit helps. You can buy cheap food from vendors and any food will do. If you eat two pieces of food the time on the buff will stack up to an hour.
• Free Company – Most Free Companies have the Heat of Battle buff active which will give you a 5%-15% EXP bonus depending on the rank of the buff.
• Armory Bonus – The armory bonus is applied to all your classes below your highest level class. So if you are already level 80 in one class you will get a bonus on all your classes. 100% up to level 70, and 50% from 70 to 80.
• Item XP Buffs – Certain items will give you an XP bonus. Most of these are from pre-ordering expansions or buying the collector’s editions. The Friendship Circlet (20% to level 26) can is from the Recruit a Friend Program, and the Brand New Ring (30% to level 31) is easily attained from completing the Adventurers Guild Trials.

Leveling Your First Character

Final Fantasy XIV is a bit different from other MMOs since it allows one character to level up all the classes in the game. Leveling your first class vs. leveling all the rest is a bit different.

Story

For your first class, you should be sticking mainly to the Main Scenario quests. These give a huge chunk of XP and you will have to do them anyway to unlock much of the content in the game.

If you are uncertain of where to go next for the main story, look no further than to the top left corner of the screen and the game will tell you what quest is next in the Main Scenario.

Do each Guildhest at least once, as these will teach you some important tactics for dungeons and group play.

If you want to, you can of course switch it up a bit and do your Hunting Log, Challenge Log, Fates, and Roulettes in between the story quests.

Class Quests

Every 5 levels you will unlock new class quests, these give even more XP than the story quests, so be sure to always pick these up.

Like the Main Scenario quests, Class quests will show up when available in the top left corner of your screen.

Leveling Alts in Final Fantasy XIV

Now that you are ready to level your second, third, or 18th class, things will go a bit faster, much due to the Armory Bonus.

Hunting Log

Hunting log entries are very fast to complete and give a good amount of XP. Especially for the first 15 levels, after that, they are still worth doing if you are going to the area anyway, but don’t go out of your way to complete these later on.

Fates

Mix fates with your Hunting Log up to around level 15.

Fates are also good for DPS classes when waiting for queues.

Duty Roulette

Roulettes are another huge source of XP, and you should try to do these daily. You will also be completing Challenge Log entries and Wondrous Tails along the way on the Roulettes.

The best Roulettes in terms of XP are:

• Alliance Raids – These are usually done very fast.
• Main Scenario (MSQ) – Much slower but awards a huge amount of XP
• Leveling
• Trials – usually completed in less than 10 minutes
• Normal Raids – Also very fast
• Level 50/60/70 Dungeons
• Guildhests – Decent for lower levels. Only takes a minute or two so I usually do them for the “You’re the Hest Around” Challenge Log entries.

Challenge Log

The Challenge log is reset every week and the challenges often involve activities that you will be doing anyway and can reward you with a huge amount of XP, so be sure to do these every week.

I will usually complete these Challenge Log entries:

• Complete 3 dungeons via the Duty Roulette
• Complete 5 Dungeons
• You’re the Hest Around I & II (One Guildhest per day, and the rest on the last day before reset)
• Exercising the Right
• In Your Fate I & II
• Just Leve It to Me & Making Like a Tree

Wondrous Tails

At level 60 you can visit Khloe Aliapoh in Idylshire to receive the Wondrous Tails journal. This resets every week and ticking off 9 seals in the journal will award you with a massive amount of XP.

Completing 9 seals is rather easy. All you have to do is complete dungeons and duties listed in the journal on the left side.

Use your Second Chance points to reset tasks that you have completed and all you’ll have to do is just a few dungeons and some easy raids to complete the seals. Second Chance points are also easily acquired from duties and dungeons.

Dungeons

Dungeons are a great way to grind XP. The first time you run a dungeon on a character you will get bonus XP.

Always run the highest dungeon available for the best XP per hour.

Command Missions – Dungeons with your AI Squadron

If you prefer to solo, you can do Command Missions with your Squadron from level 20 to 60.

Command Missions are dungeons that you run with your AI-controlled Squadron.

To unlock these you have to become Second Lieutenant in your Grand Company.

Deep Dungeons

There are two deep dungeons in FFXIV and they provide some of the best XP in the game for certain level ranges.

Palace of the Dead (PotD)

At level 17 you can start doing the first deep dungeon, Palace of the Dead. The best way to farm PotD is by clearing floors 51-60.

Heaven-on-High (HoH)

Heaven-on-High can be started at level 61, and the best floors to farm are 21-30.

Bozjan Southern Front

At level 71 you will have another option for leveling, Bozjan Southern Front. In Bozjan, up to 72 players participate in large scale battles.

The XP here is pretty good, especially for DPS classes who might have long queue times in dungeons.

Suggested Leveling Route

• Do your available Class Quests, Duty Roulettes, Challenge Log, and Wondrous Tails when available.
• Level 1-15/17 – Hunting Log, Fates, and Guildhests.
• Level 15-60 – PotD, highest available dungeons or Command Missions. Do Hunting Log or Fates when in queue.
• 61-70 – HoH, highest available dungeons.
• 71-80 – Dungeons, Bozjan Southern Front, or current level fates.

If you have any questions or suggestions for our FFXIV Leveling Guide, let us know in the comments below!