FFXIV Leveling Guide: How to Level Your Alternate Jobs Fast (2024)

The main scenario of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is behind you and you want to know what to do next. Or maybe you’re looking for a new Job moving forward and need to catch it up with your current progress. We’re here to help.

Your main Job will reach the current level cap of 90 simply by finishing the main story scenario of the expansion. You’ll need to do this regardless because a number of end-game systems like the latest Extreme Trials and Expert Duty Roulettes are locked until after you complete the story. This will also likely be the case when the new raid goes live on December 24, 2021, and its Savage-level version on January 4, 2022.

What about your other Jobs though? Some will start taking on the max level gear grind, while others will begin leveling their alternate Jobs. This guide is here to help you across multiple level ranges, because the best ways to level change as you progress. We’ll start at the top, not the bottom, because many are trying to level up their brand-new Sage or Reaper Jobs.

• General Details
• Levels 80-90
• Levels 70-80
• Levels 60-70
• Levels 50-60
• Levels 16-50
• Levels 1-16

General Details

Before we get into specific level ranges, let’s touch upon some general information. These are general ways to improve your experience gain that stretch across all level ranges. First, you should probably have a stack of any basic food. All food gives you a 3% bonus to experience gain from killing enemies. It’s not a ton, but it will add up over time and shave a bit off your overall leveling grind.

Second, there are a number of items that offer experience bonuses within certain level ranges. Most of these items are sadly pre-order bonuses for various expansions, while one is an item gained when you bring a new subscriber into FFXIV. The list of items:

• Moogle Cap (from pre-ordering A Realm Reborn): 20% bonus until level 11
• Helm of Light (from A Realm Reborn Collector’s Edition): 20% bonus until level 11
• Friendship Circlet (from having a friend sub for 30 days): 20% bonus until level 26
• Brand-New Ring (from completing Hall of the Novice): 30% bonus until level 31
• Ala Mhigan Earrings (from pre-ordering Stormblood): 30% bonus until level 51
• Aetheryte Earring (from pre-ordering Shadowbringers): 30% bonus until 71
• Menphina’s Earring (from pre-ordering Endwalker): 30% bonus until level 81

An easy rule of thumb for these is to simply equip the latest one you have until it stops being useful. As an example, Menphina’s Earring from Endwalker not only lasts longer than the rest, it also has better additional stats compared to its counterparts.

Finally, there’s the Armoury Bonus. This feature gives players a 100% experience bonus for any Job that is lower than their max level Job. So if your primary Job is Samurai, at level 80, then every Job below 80 will benefit from the armoury bonus. This bonus applies to main story quests, dungeon bosses and completion, FATEs, Leves, and Deep Dungeon. Note, the Armoury Bonus is only an additional 50% for the current expansion. For Endwalker, this means from level 80-90. For subsequent expansions, you can expect the same.

There are also three Free Company buff actions, but most players aren’t going to have access to change this, so I’m leaving it out of this guide.

Levels 80-90

This is the most recent leveling range, added with the release of Endwalker. If you’re taking your first Job through this range, the main story quest is enough to carry you through. Beyond that, you’ll want to at least tackle a few daily activities. Your daily Duty Roulettes should be your first stop. Roulette queues called Leveling, Main Scenario, and Alliance Raid are well worth the experience, although you can take care of all of them (including Trials, 50/60/70/80, and Normal Raids) if you have the time and inclination. And if you’re a Tank or Healer, the queue times should be relatively short. If you’re willing to do PvP, the Frontline Roulette is also worth it.

One bit of additional questing for experience are the Tribal quests. In this range, you’ll be tackling daily quests for the Arkasadora. To unlock this series of daily quests, you’ll want to grab the quest “Hippos Born to Run” from KancanainThavnair (X: 25.3, Y: 31.2). Of course, there are some prior sidequests that need to be taken care of first. Check out our Arkasadora Tribal Quest guide for more information. Once unlocked, you’ll want to grab these dailies for a good chunk of quick experience.

You might also grab the new Guildship Hunts. This is the latest version of the Clan Hunt system that’s been in FFXIV since Heavensward. You’re given a group of targets to hunt down and kill. Once you do, you’ll receive rewards that you can turn in for sweet items and some experience. Combined with FATEs, the Hunts give you something to do while waiting for your Roulette queue to pop, while still getting a good chunk of experience. The link above will show you how to unlock the feature. (You’ll need to have unlocked Hunts already. See below: Level 50-60.)

FATEs are slower than Duty Roulettes, but you do get decent experience and more importantly, you can use the bicolor gemstones you get to buy materials you can sell on the Market Board. I’ll also note that Square Enix will eventually release a new version of the Deep Dungeon. Once that’s released, it’ll probably slot right in as a go-to place to level.

Another method to level you can weave into your rotation would be using the Trust system to run level-appropriate Endwalker dungeons and rack up EXP from the fights alone. It might not be the most exciting thing to repeatedly run the same instance, but you won’t have to wait for queues which is especially nice for DPS players or those who’ve exhausted their Daily Roulettes.

The Bozjan Southern Front

The option that surprisingly still works well is the Bozjan Southern Front and Zadnor. Introduced as a standalone instance and zone in Patch 5.35, this area allows you to partake in an ongoing conflict with its own storyline. Within Bozja, Job levels are synced to level 80 and item levels are synced to 430, so you don’t need to worry about gear.

While in Bozja, you can tackle Skirmishes — which are essentially FATEs — and Critical Engagements, which are like Trials. Engagements are instanced encounters that pop up randomly, akin to boss fights with 24 or 48 players signing up to fight them. You have to sign up to Critical Engagements, and there is a priority system in case the queue exceeds capacity. Priority is gained through completing Skirmishes or paying Bozjan Clusters that drop from mobs on the battlefield. Basically, do Skirmishes until the Critical Engagements pop, and then do those. Rinse and repeat.

The overall composition of Bozja basically encourages a freeform FATE train in a way that most other zones in the game do not. Plus, in addition to all the experience you’re gaining, you’ll also be working on your Job’s Resistance Weapon and getting tons of gil. This was one of the most efficient ways to level from 71-80 in Shadowbringers, and that didn’t change for Endwalker. You can get a level in under an hour.

You’ll unlock the Bozjan Southern Front by picking up “Hail to the Queen” from Keiten (X: 12.2 Y: 12.3 – Kugane). To access this quest, you need to be level 80. You’ll also need to have completed the Shadowbringers main scenario quest “Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty” and the entire Return to Ivalice Alliance Raid questline. Once you’ve unlocked the region, you’ll need to be level 71 with any job to enter.

Zadnor is a later instance in the Bozja questline. You’ll gain far more Mettle, Bozja’s separate zone-based leveling system. If you’re focusing on getting that Resistance Weapon in addition to leveling, Zadnor may be a better choice. I’d personally stick with Bozja, but some have reported that FATE spawns are better in Zadnor.

Levels 70-80

There’s going to be some repetition here, as the way you level from 70-80 is remarkably similar to 80-90. Hit your daily Duty Roulettes: Prioritize Leveling, Main Scenario, and Alliance Raids, but you can tackle them all if you have the time. Pick up the Nutsy Clan Hunts in the Crystarium to fill out the time while you’re waiting for Duty Roulettes to pop. You can unlock them by picking up the quest “Nuts to You” from Hume Lout (X: 12.1, Y: 15.0 – The Crystarium). (You’ll need to have unlocked Hunts already. See below: Level 50-60.)

The last bit of additional questing for experience are the Beast Tribe quests. In this range, you’ll be tackling daily quests for the Pixies. To unlock this series of daily quests, you’ll want to grab the quest “Manic Pixie Dream Realm” from Pink Pixie (X: 13.1, Y: 15.3 – The Crystarium). Once unlocked, you’ll want to grab these dailies for a good chunk of quick experience.

Otherwise, your best bet from level 71-80 is the Bozja Southern Front. Take a gander at the same section from the 80-90 range above for how the region works for leveling. Outside of your dailies, this is where you’ll live. And if you wish, you can start using the Trust system at level 71 for the combat EXP, which will definitely help with long DPS queue times, but again, it can get repetitive — be sure to mix things up.

Jobs that start in this level range: Sage, Reaper

Level 60-70

Once again, do your daily Duty Roulettes. At this level range, you’ll probably want to queue for the Leveling Roulette at least, but the Dungeons, Main Scenario, Tria, and Alliance Raid options are worthwhile depending on the queue times. If you’re a tank or healer, you can also queue for the highest dungeon available to you.

Deep Dungeon: Heaven-on-High

At level 61, you can unlock Heaven-on-High. This is the second iteration of the Deep Dungeon system, offering instanced dungeons of multiple floors. Like the first (Palace of the Dead, mentioned below), all players will be synced in terms of level and item level with a separate leveling system existing only within the Deep Dungeon itself.

To unlock Heaven-on-High, you first need to have completed floor 50 of the Palace of the Dead. You’ll also need to have completed the Stormblood main scenario quest “Tide Goes in, Imperials Go Out”. Once that’s done, you’ll want to grab the quest “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” from Hamakaze (X: 6.2, Y: 11.7 – The Ruby Sea). This will unlock the dungeon.

You’ll gain Job EXP while playing Heaven-on-High and make progress on the special Empyrean Aetherpool Weapons at the same time. Many players tend to simply repeat floors 21-30, since it offers the best risk-reward ratio with solid experience.

You can level purely in Heaven-on-High, but to be honest, it’s a mind-numbing process. This is why I say players should incorporate Duty Roulettes and Hunts into their routine. (Stormblood’s Hunt iteration is the Veteran Clan Hunts, unlocked by getting the quest “One-star Veteran Clan Hunt” from Estrild at X: 10.3, Y: 10.2 in Kugane.) This allows you to break up the monotony if you’re doing a lot of job leveling back-to-back. There’s no reason to level up all these jobs if you simply burn out.

Jobs that start in this level range: Gunbreaker, Dancer

Levels 50-60

This is a weird level range that shares a lot of options with the ranges before and after it. You’ll basically want to do your daily Duty Roulettes (with the Leveling Roulette being the most effective one), alongside Challenge Logs. This system unlocks at level 15 and gives you experience for completing challenges, like running 5 dungeons or defeating 20 enemies with your Chocobo. Most of the time, you’ll complete these simply by playing. They also reset every Tuesday.

Beyond that, running the highest level dungeon available to you is always key, or alternatively running Floors 51-60 of the Palace of the Dead. (Learn how to unlock that below.)

You’ll get one new leveling addition here, and that’s the Clan Hunts. Hunts give you a specific target to kill, and when you do so, you get Centurio Seals, gil, and experience. You can unlock them by being Second Lieutenant in your Grand Company and picking up the quest “Let the Hunt Begin” from an NPC in your GC.

• Maelstrom – Trachraet (X: 12.7 Y: 12.8 – Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks)
• Twin Adder – Scarlet (X: 9.9 Y: 11.4 – New Gridania)
• Immortal Flames – Mimio Mio (X: 8.6 Y: 9.4 – Ul’dah Steps of Nald)

Once that quest is done, you can pick up the level 53 quest “Let the Clan Hunt Begin” from Aytienne (X: 12.9 Y: 11.8 – Foundation). The Clan Hunts are picked up in Ishgard and are a decent way to fill out the leveling process. Hunts in general are also useful at later levels, so you should unlock them now. Keep in mind, some Hunts are higher levels, so avoid Hunts in places like Azys Lla or The Dravanian Hinterlands until you’re around level 58-59.

Jobs that start in this level range: Samurai, Red Mage

Levels 16-50

At this point, you will unlock your first dungeons. Sastasha unlocks at level 15, Tam-Tara Deepcroft at 16, and Copperbell Mines at 17. You should do the newly-unlocked Duty Roulette: Leveling every day for that extra experience. Challenge Logs are also a decent way to gain experience. (See above.) After that, you should queue up for whatever is the highest level dungeon available to you.

Deep Dungeon: Palace of the Dead

The first iteration of the Deep Dungeon system is Palace of the Dead. This is unlocked via the level 17 quest “The House That Death Built” via Nojito Marujiro (X: 12.0, Y:13.1 – New Gridania).

The benefit of running the Palace of the Dead is two-fold. First, your level and gear synced to a standard range and moved over to a leveling system specific to the Palace, meaning you don’t have to worry about changing equipment as you level. Second, there are no party composition requirements like normal dungeons. You can run a full team of four DPS, vastly lowering queue times.

Palace of the Dead works in chunks of 10 floors, with each chunk getting more difficult. Once you pass floor 50, you can start at floor 51 each time. You’ll want to pass floor 50 regardless to be able to unlock Heaven-on-High later (see above), but running and re-running Floors 51-60 is the fastest way to level here. They offer more experience and more of the player base at this level is also running these floors.

Alternative: Command Missions

Now dungeon runs can be tedious, but you’ll only need to run them a few times to speed through these levels. If you’re not a tank or Healer, your queue times might be longer. An alternative here is Command Missions. These are essentially low-level Trusts, allowing players to run dungeons alongside NPCs.

There’s a lot that goes into unlocking these. First, you need to be a part of one of the three Grand Companies: Maelstrom, Order of the Twin Adder, or Immortal Flames. Then you need to be at least Second Lieutenant rank with your Grand Company and at least level 47. (You’ll unlock this on your primary Job.) Pick up the quest “Squadron and Commander” from your local Personnel Officer. You’ll then have to recruit some Squadron members and deploy them on missions to get them up to the dungeon levels. Your full Squadron has to match the level requirements of the dungeons you want to run.

Once they’re at the proper level, you can talk to the Squadron Sergeant to unlock Command Missions. This option will now appear whenever you talk to the Squadron Sergeant. Choose the members you want to take with you and select “Deploy”.

It’s worth nothing, that like Trusts, your Squadron in Command Missions aren’t optimal in combat. They won’t use AoEs as much as normal players, and they can get overwhelmed. You’ll have to use the Orders hotbar to tell them to Engage, Disengage, and Execute Limit Break. Use these. Also realize that if a Squadron member is tanking, you need to wait a tiny bit for them to gain enmity before attacking.

Again, Command Missions are just a way to side-step having to wait in queues. If you try to queue up for dungeons with other players and the queue times are low, you should go with that method instead. It’ll usually be faster.

Jobs that start in this level range: Astrologian, Machinist, Dark Knight

Levels 1-16

This is the very beginning of FFXIV. For all of the older jobs—Paladin, Warrior, White Mage, Scholar, Monk, Dragoon, Ninja, Bard, Black Mage, and Summoner—you have to start here as the preceding class. So if you want to be a Paladin, you need to start at level 1 as a Gladiator. Bards will need to start as Archer, Ninjas as Rogues. So on and so forth.

A Realm Reborn Classes

You will blow through these levels relatively quickly and easily. You‘ll want to grab your new class from its home city and then head out of the city gates. You’ll be doing your class quests and the class’ Hunting Log. Every class has a Hunting Log that’s filled with enemies near the starting city. This will be great for EXP.

You’ll also fill out this tier of leveling with FATEs. While you’re doing your class quests and Hunting Log, hit any errant FATEs that pop up along the way. I’d avoid any of the stronger boss FATEs with a single, strong target unless there are other players around to help.

At this level range, you might also want to pull out your Chocobo companion. You may have forgotten your friendly combat companion, but it’s always there for you. The Chocobo can attack, tank, and even heal, making it a boon to the solo player. Pick up some Gysahl Greens from your nearest vendor to summon this companion.

Hopefully, this gives you a solid foundation to work with in regards to leveling. While efficiency is important, I always stress that you should do the content that’s fun for you. Fun will keep you playing FFXIV for far longer than simply grinding every Job to max level.

We hope the guide was helpful. If so, you should check out all of our other greatFFXIV content!

• FFXIV Server Issues Continue, Director Naoki Yoshida Offers Update
• FFXIV Endwalker: Celebrate Launch With The Complete Illustrated Countdown Art
• Final Fantasy XIV: An Outsider’s Perspective
• FFXIV Endwalker Dungeon Guide: Tower of Babil