Island Rock Salt in FFXIV is a fairly rare and definitely useful crafting material. It’s located on every player’s Island Sanctuary after Patch 6.2 during Endwalker. Salt can be used for several different things, but mostly you want it for Handicrafts to boost your production of Cowries. The problem? Final Fantasy XIV almost goes out of its way to hide Island Rock Salt in hard-to-see places. That’s why this guide is here to help! Let’s get started and share some salt locations in FFXIV.
But first, while this should be obvious, we should note for posterity that Island Rock Salt is currently only available on your Island Sanctuary. You need to first unlock said Island Sanctuary and go through the initial few stages of its associated tutorial quest. After which point you will be directed to “The Wilds” section of your island and must gather materials.
Once in this location, you can hunt for Island Rock Salt to the north and northeast sections of your map. The material is found in unique deposits located inside of shallow caves on beaches. While these caves are fairly sparse, the bright side is that each contains a whole heap of salt. Multiple gathering nodes with a white, crystalline, and frankly just salty appearance are closely packed inside each alcove.
Note that all gathering nodes are unmarked until you activate the “Gather” mode from your Islekeep’s Index. That’s the big, yellowish menu that appears on your screen whenever you return to your Island Sanctuary.
With Gather enabled, you can target the salt to see that each deposit is technically labeled “Crystal-banded Rock.” Though they’re pretty obvious at a glance. Just get out your hammer and start harvesting!
Speaking of which: you must have an Islekeep’s Stone Hammer to collect Island Rock Salt. That goes for most mineral materials in the game, like stone and metal. This basic hammer is acquired pretty early on during the tutorial segment of your Island Sanctuary excursion. However, until that point, salt deposits will only produce Island Stone when you gather from them.
Specific Island Rock Salt Locations in FFXIV
You can see two such Island Rock Salt cave locations for yourself on the map. The easiest one to reach is likely the one due north of the Pristine Pond; you can reach it more-or-less just by following the Northward Stream up to the beach.
The other cave is found much farther to the east — just shy of a dead-end beach north of Peak Point (where you can find a good supply of Island Copper if you make a detour). Just be warned that you may need to double back and return from the way you came to get out of this location.
Finally, it’s worth noting that rocks, trees, sand, etc. all respawn in whatever locations you last harvested them. Once you walk far enough away and gather enough other materials, of course. Similar to normal Botany and Mining in FFXIV. Thus, you can leave Sunrise Lookout and return later to get more of whatever you need.
Hopefully that helps set you up on your Island Sanctuary adventure! We’ll be sure to update this guide to Island Rock Salt as we find more good farming methods in FFXIV.
