Your friendly Final Fantasy XIV Blacksmith keeps the game supplied with fresh weapons for each new patch. You can easily join the ranks of this honored profession, too. If you know where to start. That’s the purpose of this guide!
Here, you can find a list of locations for each step in the class quest chain. We’ve even got some coordinates to help you out along the way. After all, even with its many impressive features, Final Fantasy makes it harder than it should be to figure out where the next step in a questline is. Especially if you fall off for a bit and do something else (which can often happen with crafters). So let’s take a look at this FFXIV Blacksmith unlock guide!
FFXIV Blacksmith Quest Locations
Finding your next Job quest in FFXIV can be tedious. You can search through your log of completed quests, which tells you the last mission you completed for any particular class, as well as the name of the NPC you need to speak with for the next one. But where is that NPC? Are they in the same place as last time, or did they move? Assuming you haven’t played a particular class in a while, where the hell was “last time”?
To help with this, we’ve laid out a simple table to indicate the region, coordinates, and required level for every Blacksmith Job quest. Note: The first quest, “Way of the Blacksmith,” begins at the Blacksmiths’ Guild in Limsa Lominsa, the capital city of La Noscea. The coordinates are listed below, but it’s worth noting the guild does NOT have its own Aethernet shard. The closest one is the Aftcastle within the Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks. Look straight south from there. Notably, the Blacksmiths’ Guild and the Armorers’ Guild share the same building in the area.
| Level | Quest Name | Area | Coordinates |
| 1 | Way of the Blacksmith | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 15) |
| 1 | My First Cross-pein Hammer | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 5 | Hammer Time | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 10 | Riveting Ramblings | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 15 | The Business of Blacksmithing | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 20 | By the Sweat of Your Brow | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 25 | True as Steel | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 30 | As Iron Sharpens Iron | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 35 | Set Faezahr to Stun | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 40 | Forging Ahead | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 45 | Beauty and the Bardiche | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 50 | Waiting in the Winglet | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 50 | Forging Northwards | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 14) |
| 55 | The Good Fight | Ishgard – The Pillars | (X: 7, Y: 10) |
| 58 | Blade That Was Broken | Ishgard – The Pillars | (X: 7, Y: 10) |
| 60 | Integrity | Ishgard – The Pillars | (X: 7, Y: 10) |
| 60 | A Missive from the Far East | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10.6, Y: 14.9) |
| 63 | The Client is King | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10.6, Y: 14.9) |
| 65 | Blood Ties | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10.6, Y: 14.9) |
| 68 | The Missing Piece | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10.6, Y: 14.9) |
| 70 | The Final Face-off | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10.6, Y: 14.9) |
| 70+ | The Crystalline Mean | The Crystarium | (X: 11.4, Y: 8.8) – Speak to Iola |
| 80+ | Studium Deliveries | Old Sharlayan | TBD |
Notes on The Crystalline Mean
Starting at Level 70 on all FFXIV crafters and gatherers, including the Blacksmith in this case, there are no more class-specific quests. Instead, you gain access to “The Crystalline Mean.” This is a small gathering spot for special NPCs in The Crystarium, back on Norvrandt, after you reach the capital city during the Shadowbringers campaign. It has its own Aethernet point (simply marked as “The Crystalline Mean”). It’s on the upper floor of the city near the Amaro Launch if you have trouble finding it initially. Crafters and gatherers of sufficient level will further find their eyes drawn there by the blue side quest marker. The opening quest is also simply called “The Crystalline Mean.”
There are five notable NPCs in the area with five unique quest chains. Each chain is tied to not just one crafting or gathering class, but several — meaning you can complete any step of the questline as any one of the appropriate classes. The sole exception is the Fishers; they get their own quests separate from any other classes.
Put another way: The Crystalline Mean functions very similar to Role Quests for the combat classes, where any DPS magic-user can complete any step of the DPS magic questline, and so on. In this case, Crystalline Mean missions for the “Facet of Forging” are shared between Armorer, Blacksmith, and Goldsmith. You can complete any quest in this series as any of these three Jobs (so long as they meet the level requirements). Said quests start at Level 70 with “Cherished Memories,” after talking to the NPC Recording Node at (X: 11.4, Y: 8.8) in The Crystalline Mean.
Pretty much every Crystalline Mean mission involves talking to someone, crafting or gathering items, and turning them in — like Custom Deliveries for characters in Idyllshire, Eulmore, etc. You receive XP and Gil for every quest and delivery — as well as Scrips from the latter. This makes the quest chains an excellent way to level up your non-combat classes. You can also use the Scrips to buy useful items and gear as you progress your Disciples of the Hand and Land.
Note: You must complete the Level 72 Main Scenario Quest “The Crystarium’s Resolve” as any combat Job to reach and unlock The Crystalline Mean.
Notes on Studium Deliveries
We don’t currently know a lot about this new series of quests, but developer Square Enix laid out the very basics in a November Live Letter prior to the release of Endwalker. On that topic: These appear to be the Endwalker equivalent of The Crystalline Mean quests. Given the Studium is a confirmed location in Old Sharlayan, it’s fairly safe to say the quests will occur there. Just know this is based on preview information and some educated guesses, so take it with a grain of salt until Endwalker goes live. At that point, we’ll have a Studium Delivery guide to go with everything else.
FFXIV Blacksmith Basics & Importance
The Blacksmith is a very popular choice among crafters in FFXIV. The class is responsible for crafting weapons used by many other Jobs in the game, as well as a number of crafting and gathering tools. Though some weapons still fall to other classes to create.
Weapons are typically one of the hardest types of equipment to acquire at higher levels. The absolute top-tier gear for every class comes in the form of Relic Weapons, which are massively time-consuming to acquire. Those looking for the best and quickest bang for their buck usually use endgame-crafted weapons in the interim. That’s where the Blacksmith comes in: supplying tanks, Monks, Ninjas, and more with their accouterments of death.
As a Blacksmith, that makes you quite valuable to other players and yourself. You can power through endgame content without being gated by “item level” as a result. Weapons and tools are never shared between classes, either. That means more weapons tend to be bought and sold than other pieces of gear — which are often applicable across multiple Jobs in the same role. A Gunbreaker player who decides to try out Warrior, for instance, can most often use the same armor for both. Not so with the weapons.
You can also sell nuggets, ingots, and other metal items to less patient players who don’t want to make those themselves. These are used across several crafting classes (not just Blacksmith), so there’s a wide variety of buyers. At the same time, many of these low-level recipes are shared between Blacksmith, Armorer, and sometimes Goldsmith. That means more potential competition on the market board. Serious crafters tend to level up every Disciple of the Hand in the game, however. If you choose to do the same, you’ll have a wider variety of uses for those crafting materials yourself. And be sure to note: FFXIV inventory space is quite limited.
Blacksmith doesn’t really create many rare cosmetic items for Glamours. Weavers and Leatherworkers do most of that among the crafting classes. Instead, Blacksmiths focus on fixtures and outdoor furnishings (e.g. lampposts) for players engaged with housing. That makes the endgame cosmetic recipes pretty limited for Blacksmith. Very few players have access to in-game housing (which has been an ongoing problem with FFXIV for years now). Potential buyers may be few and far between.
Even so, you really can’t go wrong with Blacksmith. The access to a wide array of weapons makes them a lock for players in need of power leveling. As with so many crafting classes, though, consider swooping in quickly whenever there’s a new patch. Raiders looking to access endgame content will love you for it — and empty out their pockets.
And there you have the very basics of how to unlock the Blacksmith (and why you should) in FFXIV. Not to mention you now also have a handy list of locations to check as you progress through the class quests and your adventure. Best of luck arming your friends for the future!
