Approaching Final Fantasy XIV as a new player can be overwhelming with all sorts of jargon and symbology being thrown at you. While these icons are great for communicating information to experienced veterans, like where to go to progress the main story or how to handle enemy attacks, they can be more confusing and stressful than they are helpful to those uninitiated.
To explain these icons, we've compiled a list of the most common markers and telegraphs used in the game along with their meaning. Many of these icons will likely become familiar to you through the course of playing the game, though even experienced players may find themselves learning something new or benefiting from a refresher.
Those looking for a glossary on terms not associated with visual indicators, check out our glossary of FFXIV terms!
Non-Player Character Icons
The following icons are found above Non-Player Characters (NPCs), identifying them as a part of a quest or objective for a relevant piece of content. The specific symbol used provides additional information on the type of quest or content the NPC is related to.
Quest Icons
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
Main Scenario Quest | The indicated NPC is part of a Main Scenario Quest (MSQ). These quests are the main form of progression through the game, advancing the story, unlocking major dungeons and trials. |
Sidequest | The indicated NPC is part of an optional sidequest. These quests may contain supplementary stories or reward experience, currency, equipment, and consumables. |
Sidequest to unlock optional content | The indicated NPC is part of an optional sidequest that is a prerequisite to unlock optional content. Examples of optional content include raids, optional dungeons, beast tribes, PvP, and more. |
Repeatable Sidequest | The indicated NPC begins an optional sidequest that can be repeated, such as daily quests for beast tribes or quests to obtain Relic Weapons. |
Hall of the Novice | The indicated NPC begins an optional sidequest related to the Hall of the Novice, a tutorial system designed to teach new players basic concepts used in group play. |
Levequest | The indicated NPC provides Levequests, repeatable sidequests that require Levequest Allowances to accept. |
Guildhest | The indicated NPC provides access to Guildhests, a form of small-scale, instanced group content. |
FATE | The indicated NPC starts a Full Active Time Event (FATE), a limited time quest that occurs in the open world rewarding players with experience, gil, and Grand Company Seals. FATEs can be a good alternative to sidequesting, and rare FATEs can even reward special items like cosmetic armour or tokens to redeem for mounts and minions. In the Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions, FATEs are tied to the Shared FATE system and reward Bicolor Gemstones which can be used to buy unique rewards. |
Hostile NPC Icons
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
 | The indicated mob is passive, allowing you to approach without drawing hostility or entering combat. |
 | The indicated mob is hostile, entering combat with you on sight. Certain enemies may have other conditions for entering combat, such as proximity, running versus walking, casting spells, or missing health. |
 | The indicated mob is a target objective of a Main Scenario Quest. |
 | The indicated mob is a target objective of a sidequest. |
 | The indicated mob is a target objective of a sidequest that unlocks optional content. |
 | The indicated mob is a target objective of a FATE, limited time quests that occur in the open world. |
 | The indicated mob is a target objective of a Levequest. |
 | The indicated mob is a target of the Hunt. Hunt marks provide hunt-specific currency like Centurio Seals or Sacks of Nuts and experience when their bounty is completed. |
 | The indicated mob is a target of your Hunting Log. The Hunting Log is a list of target monsters to kill that grants experience points when completed. Each class has its own Hunting Log, making it a good resource for leveling low-level jobs and classes. Each Grand Company has its own Company Hunting Log as well, which is required to advance to certain ranks within the company. |
 | The indicated mob is a target of a Treasure Hunt, unlocking an unearthed treasure chest when defeated. |
Player Icons
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
New Player | The indicated character is newly created. Commonly referred to as sprouts by the community. |
Returner | The indicated character has at least one class at or above level 50, and has not logged in for over 45 days. |
Online | The player is online. |
Disconnected | The player is experiencing connection difficulties. |
Offline | The player is offline. |
Viewing Cutscene | The player is currently viewing a cutscene. |
Away From Keyboard | The player is idle. This status can be manually set or automatically enabled after a set duration. By default, this status is set after being idle for 10 minutes, but can be changed via the System Configuration menu under Other Settings. |
Busy | The player is busy, blocking tells, invitations to parties, linkshells, and Free Companies, and requests to trade or become friends. |
Party Member | The player is part of a party. |
Party Leader | The player is the leader of a party, allowing them to invite and kick members, promote another member to party leader, disband the party, and list the party in the Party Finder. |
Cross-world Party Member | The player is part of a party that can accept members from other servers within the same data center. |
Cross-world Party Leader | The player is part of a party that can accept members from other servers within the same data center. They can invite and kick members, promote another member to party leader, disband the party, and list the party in the Party Finder. |
Recruiting Party Members | The player is the leader of a party currently listed in the Party Finder. Additional information on the player's party listing can be found via the "View Party Finder" option within the subcommand menu. |
Waiting for Duty Finder | The player is currently in queue for a duty, such as a Dungeon, Trial, or other content via the Duty Finder. |
Mentor | The player has fulfilled a variety of requirements demonstrating their experience with the game, and is willing to provide advice or help to new players. The sword icon denotes a battle mentor, the hammer icon denotes a trade mentor, and the flag icon denotes a PvP mentor. A crown with no additional icon indicates a mentor qualified in both trade and battle. |
Role playing | The player is engaged or open to engaging in roleplay. |
Camera Mode | The player is currently using the group pose (/gpose) or idle camera (/icam) feature. |
In Another World | The player is in an instanced duty. |
In Duty/PvP | The player is currently engaged in player versus player (PvP) combat, or a non-instanced duty such as a Levequest. |
Playing Triple Triad | The player is currently playing the card game, Triple Triad. |
Looking for Party | The player is looking to join a party. |
Looking to Meld Materia | The player is looking for a crafter to help with melding materia, items that can be placed inside the materia sockets of equipment to provide stat bonuses. |
Map Icons
Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
Aetheryte | Large crystals located in the world that players can teleport to. In order to unlock a destination for teleportation, you must first travel to the Aetheryte and attune to it. |
Aetheryte Shard | Small crystals located within large cities that allow for teleportation between Aetheryte Shards within the same zone. Like regular Aetherytes, players must first attune to a shard before it is available for teleportation. |
Shop | An NPC that sell items for gil. |
Trader | An NPC that sells items in exchange for alternative forms of currency from gil. |
Sundry Splendors | An NPC that sells equipment and items associated with the endgame of previous expansions. Allagan Tomestones of Poetics are required to purchase gear and items for Disciples of War and Disciples of Magic, while White Crafters' Scrips and White Gatherers' Scrips are required to purchase items associated with Disciples of the Land and Disciples of the Hand. |
Itinerant Moogle | An NPC associated with the Moogle Treasure Trove event, trading various items and exclusive rewards in exchange for Moogle Tomestones. |
Mender | An NPC that allows you to repair the durability of your gear. |
Delivery Moogle | Delivery Moogles are used to both send and receive messages and items to and from a recipient a player on your friends list. The mail system is also used by the game to deliver certain rewards and items to you, such as Veteran Rewards obtained by subscribing to the game for certain periods of time, and items purchased from the Mog Station Store. |
Market Board | A catalog of player-listed items available for purchase with gil. |
Retainer Vocate | NPCs that allow players to hire retainers, customizable NPCs that perform a variety of services. |
Summoning Bell | The Summoning Bell allows players to access the services of a retainer, such as listing items for sale on the market board, holding items for storage, and earning item rewards from Retainer Ventures. |
Achievement Exchange | An NPC offering various unique rewards in exchange for Achievement Certificates obtained by earning various achievements in the game. |
Linkshell Distributor | Linkshell Distributors allow players to create private chat channels known as Linkshells. |
Company Chest | Company Chests are a form of additional item storage provided by a Free Company (FC). Access to a Company Chest will depend on the specific FC and permissions granted by your rank within the FC. |
Inn | The indicated location allows you to enter an inn room, a private location providing a variety of basic and unlockable services. |
Ferry Docks and Airship Landings | Ferry Docks and Airship Landings provide instant travel between designated locations, either for free or a small fee in gil. |
Skywatcher | Skywatchers are NPCs providing information on upcoming weather conditions. |
Settlement | A town in the open world, typically containing NPCs that provide general services like menders and shops. |
Porter | Porters provide transportation between connected locations for a fee in gil. Rather than instant teleportation, porters physically transport you to your destination on an automatically moving mount. |
Hunt Board | Hunt Boards provide bounties on certain enemies in the open world, rewarding experience and hunt-specific currency such as Centurio Seals or Sacks of Nuts upon completion. |
Materia Master | An NPC offering services related to materia, often allowing you to meld materia to equipment for a fee in gil. |
Dungeon Entrance | The entrance to a dungeon, private zones intended for four-player groups, featuring stronger-than-normal monsters, bosses, and gear rewards. |
Raid Entrance | The entrance to a raid, private eight or 24-player endgame encounters with powerful bosses and reward players with high level gear and items. |
Deep Dungeon Entrance | An NPC allowing you to enter a Deep Dungeon, a randomly generated dungeon akin to a roguelike with an independent leveling and gearing system, intended for one to four players. |
Wondrous Tails | An NPC providing you with a copy of a Wondrous Tails journal, a weekly list of activities to complete, randomly filling a bingo board after each one, and providing rewards based on the number of lines completed. |
Specialist Approval | An NPC allowing you to specialize up to three Disciples of the Hand, providing crafting stat bonuses and allowing them to craft recipes exclusive to specialists of their class. |
Masked Rose | An NPC allowing you to submit your currently equipped gear or glamour to the Fashion Report, a weekly activity rating your outfit in exchange for Manderville Gold Saucer Points (MGP). |
Dueling Area | An area allowing for PvP between players. |
Blue Mage | An NPC related to the Blue Mage limited job. |
Variant and Criterion Dungeon Entrance | An NPC providing entrance to a Variant Dungeon, a private endgame zone intended for one to four players, with branching paths voted on by players each run. |
Combat Telegraphs
During combat, enemies will sometimes place various symbols on the ground or attached to a character. These are telegraphs indicating the behavior of an incoming attack, telling you whether to avoid an area, share a hit with your party members, spread apart from teammates, and more.
Not all damage can be dodged, but all telegraphs indicate an opportunity for players to reduce the amount of incoming damage or harmful effects. Depending on the difficulty of the encounter, the impact of improperly handling a telegraph can range from minor annoyance to immediate and catastrophic failure.
Nearly all telegraphs snapshot, locking in their hit registration at the moment the ability finishes casting. This means players will be hit even if they move out of a telegraphed area before the attack animation plays, but after an attack finishes casting. However, this also works in reverse, allowing players to reenter a previously unsafe location immediately after a cast finishes, even before the animation plays.
Ground Telegraphs
Telegraphs placed on the ground generally indicate areas that should or shouldn't be stood in. In some cases, they are combined with additional symbols that modify their behavior like repeating, moving, rotating, and more.
AoE Telegraph
Image by Fanbyte via Square Enix
The basic telegraph indicates an Area of Effect (AoE) where an enemy attack is about to hit. Standing inside this area when the attack finishes casting will result in you being hit. These can come in different shapes and sizes or styled in different ways but often behave the same.
Friendly AoE
Friendly AoEs are executed by allied NPCs, either harming enemies by dealing damage or applying debuffs, or helping allies by restoring health or providing buffs in the designated area.
Puddles/Void Zones/Mines
Image by Fanbyte via Square Enix
These AoEs persist on the ground after being cast, dealing damaging, applying debuffs, or exploding when entered. In some cases, the telegraphs for these AoEs can disappear while still remaining active, requiring you to memorize their locations.
Proximity AoE
This telegraph indicates an attack will deal unavoidable damage to all players based on their proximity to the marked location. The closer players are to the telegraph, the more damage they will take.
Knockback AoE
An AoE knocking all players away from its location, even if they avoid the telegraph. Standing inside the telegraph itself is typically lethal, requiring players to stand close to, but not inside the indicated area.
Soak/Tower/Meteor Circle AoE
Image by Fanbyte via Square Enix
The indicated AoE requires one or more players to be standing inside the telegraph when the attack finishes casting in order to prevent further damage or effects from occurring. In most cases, only one player is required to stand within the AoE to correctly handle the telegraph.
Rotating AoE
Image by Fanbyte via Square Enix
Spinning arrows indicate an attack will rotate. This can mean the attack will repeat multiple times, rotating in the marked direction after each repetition, or that the telegraph itself will rotate before activation, requiring players to visualize the attack's new location ahead of time.
Moving AoE/Exaflare
The indicated AoE will hit in the telegraphed area before cascading in the direction depicted by the arrow, hitting multiple times in a row. Commonly referred to by the raiding community as Exaflares, after an ability cast by Bahamut Prime in the Unending Coil of Bahamut.
Summoning Circle
Image by Fanbyte via Square Enix
Summoning Circles create additional enemies unless sealed by standing within the telegraph. The number of players required to seal a Summoning Circle is indicated by the number of glowing circles inside the marker. Once a Summoning Circle has been sealed, players can leave the circle without re-enabling the summoning.
Marker Telegraphs
Marker telegraphs are placed above a target's head to indicate an unavoidable attack or mechanic that needs to be handled in a specific way. This could be through using defensive cooldowns, stacking with party members, spreading apart from party members, and more.
Tankbuster
This marker indicates an unavoidable, heavy-hitting attack intended for tanks, often requiring the use of defensive abilities to mitigate incoming damage. Tankbusters can sometimes cleave in a cone or area around the marked target and hit multiple players, requiring you to pay attention to your positioning.
Stack AoE
An unavoidable AoE locked onto a character, splitting the damage across all players hit. These attacks often deal lethal damage unless shared by multiple players.
Stack Triangle
An indicator placed above multiple characters simultaneously, requiring marked players to stack with at least one other marked player. When the marker expires, damage or debuffs will be dealt to any marked players isolated from other marked players.
Targeted Proximity AoE
This telegraph marks a specific player, indicating a proximity AoE will be placed on their location shortly. The marked player should move to place the proximity AoE in a safe location, away from other players.
Flare
Similar to the targeted proximity AoE, a proximity AoE will hit at the marked player's location, however, the Flare marker does not provide an opportunity for the indicated player to place the proximity AoE before moving away.
Gaze
A gaze marker indicates an attack that hits targets facing towards the eye icon. Players can avoid the attack by turning their character away from the marker. Attacks with the gaze icon but without an AoE telegraph hit raidwide, requiring all places to face away, regardless of their position.
Targeted Marker
Image by Fanbyte via Square Enix
Generic markers that can be used to indicate a wide variety of incoming attacks targeted at the specified player. These can range from unavoidable damage or a simple AoE to complex mechanics or debuffs, varying from fight to fight.
Tether
The behavior of tethers aren't always consistently telegraphed based on their appearance, but generally indicate a relationship between the connected targets. They can be used to indicate a variety of things, such as a homing missile tracking the location of its tethered target, an attack whose target can be swapped by intercepting the tether, and more.
Breakable Tether
A common behavior of tethers, typically indicated by either orange chains or thorny brambles. These tethers deal periodic damage while attached, usually resulting in lethal damage if not handled in time. Players can break these tethers by creating distance between them and their attached partner.
Proximity Tether
Image by Fanbyte via Square Enix
A tether that deals damage based on the player's proximity to the attached target. The closer the player is, the more damage they will take. These tethers may sometimes apply a debuff if a minimum distance is not reached, indicated by the tether changing from the proximity telegraph into a solid purple tether when a safe distance is achieved.
Magnets/Polarity
These markers will label certain targets as positively or negatively charged, acting as magnetic charges. Targets with the same charge will be repelled, while targets with opposite charges will be attracted. These are sometimes accompanied with a tether, indicating the magnetic charges will only interact with their tethered partner.
Acceleration Bomb/Dice
Image by Fanbyte via Square Enix
The Acceleration Bomb marker is placed above a character's head and begins counting down, dealing damage if the target is taking any action at the end of the countdown. Actions that trigger the explosion include attacking, casting spells, and movement.
Earthshaker
The indicated player is targeted with an unavoidable conal AoE, requiring the marked player to move away from other party members to avoid hitting them.
Spinning Hand/Misdirection
This telegraph will spin around above your character's head, limiting your movement to the direction the hand is pointing. The hand's spinning will pause when your character begins moving, resuming once your character stops again.
