FFXIV Botanist Job Guide (Patch 6.5)

Players eager to explore the wild and fascinating regions in Final Fantasy XIV can do so by playing Botanist, one of the gathering classes in the game. With a hatchet and a scythe, Botanists are ready to delve into the nearest forest.

In FFXIV, gathering is not a profession whose purpose is to only complement the main class.  Botanist, as well as Miner and Fisher, allow players to engage with Eorzea in a unique manner, different from the Disciple of War and Magic classes/jobs. While the bread and butter of a gathering class is to collect materials, in FFXIV, they go as far as looking for hidden nodes which appear only at specific times of the day to find extremely rare materials. 

How to unlock the Botanist job in FFXIV

For players to learn the ways of the forest, the path is simple. Players can unlock Botanist quite soon into the game because it doesn’t require leveling up another class as a prerequisite. To do so, they need to visit Old Gridania and look for Leonceault at X: 6.4, Y: 8.3. This NPC gives the “Way of the Botanist” quest, which any level one character can accept. Completing it unlocks Botanist and rewards players with their first hatchet.

An introduction to Botanist in FFXIV

Botanist is one of the three Disciple of the Land classes in FFXIV and is responsible for allowing players to collect materials such as wood, fruits, plants, and more. These are materials of great value for Disciple of the Hand classes such as Culinarian, Carpenter, and Alchemist and selling them on the Marketboard makes a solid source of gil.  

Playing Botanist tasks players with finding and interacting with nodes in areas outside of the cities to collect materials. When players interact with a node, a list opens up showing all the materials present in that specific node. The chances they have when attempting to collect them as well as the chance of obtaining more than one unit of a material per attempt. These actions are all affected by Botanist’s two main attributes: Gathering and Perception. Increasing the numbers of both attributes is key to advancing with this class, and is done by leveling up and equipping better gear.

Botanists have some important tools to make exploring easier. First, the Gatherer Role skills are abilities shared by all the Disciple of the Land classes. Triangulate makes the nodes appear on the minimap and it activates automatically when players change to Botanist. Arbor Call and Arbor Call II can be executed to point to the location of the nearest, or highest-level node, respectively.

When it comes to Botanist’s skillset, players have access to abilities that spend Gathering Points (GP) to increase the chance of collecting a material or the quantity of materials collected. The skills used when gathering collectables, such as Scour, Brazen Woodsman, and Meticulous Woodsman also require GP. To make sure players have enough GP as well as Gathering and Perception, they need to constantly upgrade their gear.

For more details on the Botanist’s kit, be sure to check the FFXIV official guide. 

Botanist job quests in FFXIV

As with most things in FFXIV, the path of the Botanist is followed by a rich narrative in the form of a chain of quests. These become available when players unlock Botanist and they serve not only to entertain you as well as contextualize the Botanist in the game’s world but to also teach all the basic aspects of playing Botanist. 

While familiarizing players with new characters and the whole universe behind the class is great, the reason to complete these quests goes beyond that. Usually, players receive gear, consumables, experience, and skills as rewards from these missions.

There isn’t an exact moment in the process of leveling up that players should run them. The rule of thumb is to start them as soon as they become available. For those who want to spend their time as efficiently as possible, it might be a good idea to run one of these missions after getting tired of grinding in Diadem or waiting for collectables.

Here is a list of all the Botanist quests in FFXIV.

How to level up Botanist in FFXIV

When it comes to leveling up Botanist, there are a good variety of activities to run. While some of them are only available in later stages of the process for higher levels, some useful ones help speed up the first 50 levels. 

One of the best items players can use when starting to level up Botanist is the Survival Manual. This item increases the amount of experience obtained when collecting materials. To buy them, players should visit the Quartermaster NPC in their Grand Company from whom they can buy the Company-issue Survival Manual and Company-issue Survival Manual II. The latter should be used only after level 40 and up to level 50. Once players already have some White Gatherers’ Scrip to spend, they can buy the Revised Survival Manual, which should be used up until level 90, even though the effect is halved after level 80.

By always consuming meals, players have access to an extra – but small – buff to the experience they receive. There is no need to use a specific food for this purpose since all of them give the experience buff.

Tribal Quests are an important asset available to players to assist them in leveling up. These are daily missions that players can run to a max of 12 each day. Players should focus on running only the Tribal Quests within their level range. In the following section, players can check what are the Tribal Quests available for each tier and where to unlock them.

Collectables are the backbone of leveling up Botanist in the second and third tiers. These special materials require players to find nodes that in many situations appear only at specific times of the day, and use skills to increase the material’s collectability. In order to reach high collectability, players need to constantly upgrade their gearsets. 

How to level Botanist fast

Level 1 - 70

In the first 10 levels, the goal is pretty simple. Players should use this period to get used to Botanist’s main skills and grind their way up to level 10 by collecting materials which gives a small amount of experience. 

Once players pass these initial levels, a whole new array of possibilities opens up. First, players who already have a Disciple of War or Magic job at level 60 and have completed the “Litany of Peace” Main Scenario Quest, can unlock the Diadem. This special area is related to the Firmament. Players can grind in the Diadem, collecting materials that they can then exchange for Skybuilders’ Scrips. 

To unlock the Firmament, players need to talk to Recruitment Notice, a NPC in Foundation at X: 9.7, Y: 11.5, who gives the "Towards the Firmament” quest. After unlocking it, access the Firmament by interacting with the Foundation’s Aetheryte. 

Players should look for two other activities: Levequests and the Gathering Log. The former are missions players can accept by using allowances, and the latter is a system that rewards players with experience upon collecting certain items. These two aren’t necessarily the most efficient methods when compared with Diadem but they offer a considerable amount of experience. 

When players get to level 50, it’s time to unlock Collectables. Go to Foundation at X: 10.1, Y: 10.4 to talk to Morgayne who gives the "Inscrutable Tastes” quest.  Players shouldn’t rely on Collectables before level 70 but completing the quest guarantees the system is unlocked once players need it and it also gives a little bit of experience. 

At level 60, players have access to the first Tribal Quests that offer missions for gathering classes, the Namazu. These quests work perfectly as an additional source of experience when combined with the others. To unlock the Namazu Tribal Quests, players need to talk to Floundering Namazu in Azim Steppe at X: 17.4, Y: 37.5 and complete the "Something Fishy This Way Comes” quest. 

Level 71 - 80

Once players get to level 70, most methods used in the previous tier become obsolete. Because of this, it’s time to focus mostly on Collectable Appraisers and Custom Deliveries. 

Collectable Appraisers are the main source of experience from now on. These are NPC to whom players can deliver as many collectables as they want and receive experience as well as White and Purple Scrips. In Custom Deliveries, players turn in collectables to NPCs that are part of the list of clients players can unlock. There is a limit of 12 deliveries per week and each NPC requests specific items each week. 

In Shadowbringers, players got access to new turn-in missions called Crystarium Deliveries. These are limited deliveries that players can complete while playing Botanist. Completing them rewards players with scrips and experience. However, before doing all of these missions, players should know that Botanist shares these missions with Miner. So, in case you are leveling up both of them, note that you can’t use these missions with both classes. In any case, you can unlock the Crystarium Deliveries in The Crystarium at X: 11, Y: 8.5, by talking to Katliss who gives “The Crystalline Mean” quest.

By reaching level 70, players can also unlock new Tribal Quests. The Qitari offer quests for the Disciple of the Land classes and to get access to these daily missions players need to talk to the Concerned Mother. This NPC is in The Tak’tika Greatwood at X: 21, Y: 27.6. By talking to them, players get “The Stewards of Note” quest which unlocks the Qitari Tribal Quests.

Level 81- 90

From level 80 up to level 90, the priorities don’t change. Players should focus on completing Custom Deliveries and turning in collectables since they are the most basic sources of experience in this tier. There are, however, a couple of other activities players can run secondarily to speed up the process.

Similar to the Crystarium Develiries, Endwalker’s Studium Deliveries are missions that players can complete with Disciple of the Land classes to earn a lot of experience as well as scrips. Miner and Botanist share the Studium Deliveries quests, so only one of these two receives the experience from the quests. 

At level 80, players can unlock new Tribal Quests and add new dailies to their level-up routine.  Players unlock the Omicron Tribal Quests by talking to Jammingway in Ultima Thule at X: 25.4, Y: 26.3. This NPC gives “The Café at the End of the Universe” quest. 

Botanist levequests in FFXIV

While FFXIV offers a considerable amount of quests for players to complete, when leveling gathering classes, they aren’t usually enough. That’s when running levequests become helpful. These repeatable quests are extremely useful to complement leveling. Allowances are received every 12 hours and cap at 99. Levequests in any of the tiers mentioned should be weaved into your leveling routine to avoid losing experience and gain a little bit of gil.