A core concept of Final Fantasy XIV's endgame is the constant need and hunt for better gear capable of withstanding high-difficulty content. Warriors of Light go through dozens of gear sets to achieve better stats and a higher item level until they reach what's definitively considered the best gear for their job.
Item level plays a significant role in progressing through the game's Main Scenario and participating in Duties. Each Duty in FFXIV has a minimum item level that your gear set must meet before you can enter. Having a significantly higher item level than the Duty requires can lower the perceived difficulty of the instance despite it being synced to the Duty's level.
Your gear set's item level isn't the be-all, end-all for what's considered the best, however. While item level plays a major part, comparing the stats of two items with the same item level can tell a different story. Once you bring materia melding into the equation, the “best” gear in your inventory could differ from what you initially thought.
What is Best-in-Slot in FFXIV?
Having BiS gear will give you the highest optimization for your job when combined with its proper rotations. Best-in-Slot gear is beneficial mainly for those engaging in higher-difficulty endgame content, such as Savage raids or Ultimate Trials, thanks to the increase in damage mitigation and your damage output. An entire party having BiS gear can help compensate for any shortcomings or weaknesses the group may have in their composition, but that's not to say that the more complex content suddenly becomes "easy."
The gear usually considered BiS for each job is typically a combination of the latest augmented endgame Tomestone gear and items rewarded from either the newest Extreme Trial or Savage-difficulty raid. Obtaining the gear can be a long process gated by weekly limits for gathering the items needed to enhance said gear, along with the demanding requirements necessary to clear any high-end Duties.
While each job has an all-encompassing BiS set, some variations take things like players' pings, GCD speed, and specific Duties into account. For example, the general BiS set for a job may aim for a GCD speed of 2.5 seconds but has a variant for players with low pings that aims for 2.4 seconds instead, and neither of those sets may be the best for running content like Dragonsong's Reprise (Ultimate). There are many variables to consider when assembling your BiS set, but the rule of thumb is to aim for the general BiS set unless you have specific requirements.
When does Best-in-Slot gear change in FFXIV?
Each major patch of Final Fantasy XIV usually introduces new post-Main Scenario content that requires a higher minimum item level than the Duties that came before it, while offering new gear pieces to obtain. Since new content essentially "raises the cap" of what's required to participate in a Duty, any new gear introduced in that patch usually has the highest item level to date.
Obtaining BiS gear is a common goal of many players, and while it's not necessary to have the ultimate gear set for casual content, that doesn't mean it isn't beneficial to have. What was considered BiS in Patch X.2 doesn't suddenly become worthless when Patch X.3 rolls out, but your contributions will likely fall behind party members who have updated to the newest set, even if only slightly.
