From the Frontline battlefield of Onsal Hakair to Crystalline Conflict's arena of The Palaistra, there is one thing each Warrior of Light participating in Final Fantasy XIV's player-versus-player (PvP) modes aims to earn — Wolf Marks. Players can exchange Wolf Marks for rewards, such as mounts, minions, glamours, and titles.
Wolf Marks are awarded after completing any of FFXIV's three PvP modes — Frontline, Crystalline Conflict and Rival Wings. Each mode offers varying amounts of Wolf Marks depending on whether you achieve victory or suffer defeat, meaning you don't necessarily have to be a top-tier PvP player to get your hands on the exclusive currency. However, your teammates likely hope to see your very best. While you may receive the Wolf Marks you're after even if you lose, that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it your all.
Prizes exchanged with Wolf Marks were introduced in Patch 2.1, shortly after the game's reboot with A Realm Reborn. With 10 years' worth of PvP rewards to earn, adding everything to your collection can seem daunting to those just now dipping their toe into the waters of the Wolves' Den. You'll need to know the best methods of amassing Wolf Marks to grab the many glamour items and other rewards PvP offers.
How to earn Wolf Marks quickly in FFXIV
Competing in any of the three PvP matches
Knowing how to horde Wolf Marks requires knowing how much currency each PvP mode provides with a win or a loss and how long they take to queue for and complete.
Frontline
This mode has a time limit of 20 minutes with an average queue time of around five minutes during peak hours. Since it is the only of the three PvP modes to feature three competing teams, there are distinct rewards for first, second and third placements.
- First place - 1,000 Wolf Marks
- Second place - 750 Wolf Marks
- Third place - 500 Wolf Marks
Crystalline Conflict
These short PvP matches have a time limit of five minutes with the potential to go into overtime. The queue time is usually around two minutes on average.
- Victory - 500 Wolf Marks
- Loss - 250 Wolf Marks
Rival Wings
Rival Wings has a 15 minute time limit, though queuing through the Duty Finder usually results in painfully long wait times. Rival Wings is the least active of the three modes by far, with many players having to rely on dedicated communities like PvP Revival to schedule events.
- Victory - 1,000 Wolf Marks
- Loss - 250 Wolf Marks
With the queue times of Rival Wings throwing it out of the running for the fastest way to earn Wolf Marks, the 1,000 Wolf Marks reward from a first-place Frontline victory may seem like the best method, but "bigger" doesn't mean "better." Achieving first place is never guaranteed, as the ebb-and-flow of each Frontline match changes drastically thanks to the variables of having 72 players scrambling around the map.
Crystalline Conflict's quick queue times and match lengths make it the best method for farming Wolf Marks. Even if you lose four matches in a row, you could potentially receive the same 1,000 Wolf Marks you were trying to earn in Frontline, only to end up in third place. However, that doesn't mean you should only focus on the one mode. Frontline is the only PvP mode with a daily Duty Roulette, and completing it gives a guaranteed 1,000 Wolf Marks once per day, regardless of your alliance's placement. It's worth participating in at least one Daily Challenge: Frontline for the guaranteed currency before doing any other method.
The Challenge Log
The PvP category of the Challenge Log is another source of Wolf Marks. While each objective is only completable once per week and rewards what you could earn in a few quick victories, it adds a supplementary income of the PvP currency. Thankfully, there aren't any overly complicated challenges for PvP, like defeating a certain number of players. Instead, they have simple requirements like participating in a specific number of matches and earning victories, which you'll naturally complete as you play.
Exchanging Trophy Crystals for Wolf Marks
With each match of whichever PvP mode you participate in, you'll gain Series EXP for the current ongoing PvP Series, earning you Trophy Crystals as a reward. While Trophy Crystals offer their own unique set of rewards, you can indirectly exchange them for Wolf Marks. The Crystal Quartermaster at the Wolves' Den Pier (X: 4.4, Y: 6.1) offers a Wolf Collar in exchange for 1,000 Trophy Crystals in the "Trophy Crystal Exchange (Other)" category. You can trade one Wolf Collar to the Collar Quartermaster (X: 4.4, Y: 6.2) at the stall to their left for 4,000 Wolf Marks.
Trophy Crystals initially come quickly thanks to the low Series EXP requirements of the PvP Series's lower levels, and you'll naturally earn them as you're farming Wolf Marks. As you progress through the series, the Series EXP requirements will grow, meaning the rate at which you gain Trophy Crystals will lessen over time. If there are rewards exclusive to Trophy Crystals that have also caught your eye, it will be worth holding off on trading Wolf Collars until you've purchased your desired rewards to keep yourself from having to farm PvP even more for Trophy Crystals.
Doing one Daily Challenge: Frontline per day, followed by several matches of Crystalline Conflict and potentially exchanging unwanted Trophy Crystals for Wolf Collars, is undoubtedly one of the fastest and most efficient methods to earning Wolf Marks. This method will allow you to complete some Challenge Log entries other than those requiring Rival Wings, adding even more currency to your total.
