Food buffs can be make-or-break for hardcore parsing or just living through the top level content in Final Fantasy XIV. While during leveling you can slap on any edible food, enjoy your XP boost, and not think about it, once you reach level 90 and take on high-end content, it’s time to start thinking about your food.
Even in more casual content like Extreme Trials, having the best possible food for your job in FFXIV can be important. Even if you’re just clearing Hydalean Extreme for the 99th time to make sure you get the mount, having the best food means the boss dies faster.
Best Food for Each Job in FFXIV Patch 6.5
Here is every food that players will want to grab up if they're tackling some difficult content. Listed under each food is which jobs are best suited for it.
Baked Eggplant
- Paladin
- Warrior
- Samurai
- Reaper
- Bard
- Machinist
- Dancer
- Summoner
- Red Mage
Baba Ganoush
- Dark Knight
- Gunbreaker
- Monk
- Dragoon
Caviar Canapes
- White Mage
- Scholar
- Astrologian
- Sage
Caviar Sandwich
- Black Mage
Notes on food buffs
It’s worth understanding why you’re consuming each food, rather than just blindly following a guide. That way if your gearing falls short of BiS or you need to do something else, you can understand what you’re missing out on. In general, most jobs will be fine with Baked Eggplant. Everyone uses Crit, Det, and Vitality, so it’s a solid choice.
However, if your job needs more Skill Speed or Spell Speed, that’s when you’d switch to Baba Ganoush (Skill Speed) or Caviar Canapes. Conversely, some jobs need a specific GCD to line up with their built-in buffs - like Samurai. As a result, Samurai reaches a threshold (About 2.00 GCD) where going lower results in drifting. Compare this to Monk who reaches as low as 1.92 GCD with BiS.
BiS Food FFXIV for Patch 6.5
Baked Eggplant
- Determination +8% (Max 82)
- Vitality +8% (Max 114)
- Critical Hit +8% (Max 49)
Baked Eggplant gives you the crucial Crit and Vitality, with some extra Det as a bonus.
Baba Ganoush
- Critical Hit +8% (Max 82)
- Vitality +8% (Max 114)
- Skill Speed +8% (Max 49)
Jobs who’ll need more Skill Speed and don’t have it built into their kit prefer Baba Ganoush over Baked Eggplant.
Caviar Canapes
- Critical Hit +8% (Max 82)
- Vitality +8% (Max 114)
- Spell Speed +8% (Max 49)
The choice for healers due to the Critical Hit, which affects both their healing and their DPS.
Caviar Sandwich
- Spell Speed +8% (Max 82)
- Vitality +8% (Max 114)
- Direct Hit Rate +8% (Max 49)
Direct Hit Rate is more valuable for Black Mages, so this becomes the food of choice, albeit a niche one.
