FFXIV Leveling Guide: How to Level Your Alternate Jobs Fast

Completing the latest arc of the Warrior of Light's journey in Final Fantasy XIV is a milestone that marks your entry into the current endgame of Eorzea, Etheirys and beyond. Some players move into the endgame with a focus on the more complex content, like Extreme Trials and Savage raiding, while others expand their power by going back and leveling their other jobs.

Your primary job will reach the current level cap by the end of the expansion's Main Scenario Quests, as each provides enough experience to meet the level requirements of any dungeons they unlock and its following quest for you to continue the story. With no more story to experience until the next major patch and no levels to gain for your primary job, the path of how to spend your time forks here for many players. Some immediately move toward what is considered "endgame" content, like the many Extreme Trials, Savage raids, and Ultimate raids. Others start a secondary journey — leveling their other jobs. While some of the later released jobs, like Reaper and Sage, begin at level 70, the original jobs found in A Realm Reborn start from the very beginning at level one.

There isn't one specific path to take to earn experience, but taking certain paths is certainly a more productive use of your time. This guide describes the most efficient ways to earn experience for specific level ranges to help level your alternate jobs quickly.

General Details

There are steps you can take to improve the amount of experience gained across all level ranges. For example, each food item in the game provides a three percent increase to any experience earned from defeating enemies for 30 minutes. Food also buffs specific stats, but since your focus is on leveling rather than being the most optimal at your alternate jobs, which snack you choose to munch on while leveling doesn't matter. While a three percent increase isn't the most significant, the bonus experience earned adds up over time to shorten the overall grind.

Some gear items offer an experience bonus until reaching a particular level, but most can only be earned through pre-ordering expansions, with the exception of one item earned through the Recruit-a-Friend campaign. If you've missed your opportunity to purchase an expansion before its release, you'll have to live without the additional experience or rely on other methods for bonuses. The gear pieces that offer bonus experience are:

For those who have multiple experience-increasing gear pieces by pre-ordering expansions, the general rule of thumb is to equip the item from the "newest" expansion you have. For example, the 30 percent experience bonus given by Menphina's Earring from Endwalker's pre-order bonuses last until level 81. While the Ala Mhigan Earrings offer an identical bonus, they lose their effectiveness at level 51, and you'd have to swap them for another item anyway. The more recent experience-boosting gear also offers better stats than its older counterparts, allowing you to benefit from the moment you equip it.

Players also can gain experience faster through the Armoury Bonus. This feature gives players a 100 percent experience bonus for any job lower than their max level job. If your Samurai job was level 90, every job below 90 would benefit from the Armoury Bonus. This bonus applies any experience earned from Main Story Quests, Dungeons, FATEs, Leves, and everything between. However, once an alternate job reaches the final 10 levels of the current expansion's level cap, the Armoury Bonus halves 50 percent from its original 100 percent.

Both Free Companies and Grand Companies offer various items and buffs that increase experience gain. Free Company members with privileges can purchase and activate one of the various Heat of Battle buffs that increases the experience earned from battle for all Free Company members by five percent at rank one, 10 percent at rank two, and 15 percent at rank three for 24 hours. Completing the Grand Company Squadron Missions "Imperial Recon" and "Infiltrate and Rescue" can drop a Squadron Battle Manual, which applies the previously mentioned "Heat of Battle III" for two hours.

Levels 1-16

Your journey leveling a fresh new job starts you back in A Realm Reborn's zones. Only the jobs introduced during A Realm Reborn begin at level one, and rather than starting with the desired job from the beginning, you'll start as its predecessor class instead. To be a Paladin, you must start as a level one Gladiator. Here are all the jobs that begin at this leveling range, their starting classes, and the cities they're found in:

After grabbing the starting class and beginning its class quest, you'll head out of the city gates to complete your quest's objectives and work on your Hunting Log. Each class has a Hunting Log filled with targets for you to defeat. Defeating the specified amount of each enemy rewards a sum of experience in addition to any earned from defeating the creature itself. Completing these objectives unlocks the next tier, which contains higher-level enemies and more experience to earn.

While you're doing your class quests and Hunting Log, hit any errant FATEs around your level that pop up along the way. FATEs are a great way to gain experience while you're out and about in the world. At such a low level, however, it's best to avoid any FATEs whose objective is to defeat a single boss unless you have other players to assist you.

It's best to start the precedent of pulling out your Chocobo companion now and keeping them out as often as possible. Your companion can attack, tank, and even heal, making it a boon to a solo player by filling in the gaps where their class falls short. Be sure to have plenty of Gysahl Greens to keep your feathered friend around.

Levels 16-50

There are three jobs introduced in Heavensward that start in this range at level 30. While you'll start out ahead of the curve with these jobs, the same leveling methods apply.

The first Dungeons that become available are Sastasha at level 15, Tam-Tara Deepcroft at 16, and Copperbell Mines at 17. Completing the newly unlocked Duty Roulette: Leveling rewards extra experience the first time it's completed each day.

By level 15, you will also have access to your Challenge Logs. The entries in your Challenge Log are weekly objectives that offer experience, gil, and other currencies as a reward for their completion. With requirements like completing three dungeons or handing out five Player Commendations, you'll finish a nice chunk of your Challenge Log each week by naturally playing the game.

With your Duty Roulette: Leveling complete for the day, you can take two paths to gain experience quickly — queue for the highest-level dungeon available or delve into the first Deep Dungeon.

Deep Dungeon: Palace of the Dead

A fantastic way to level in this range is by using the first iteration of the Deep Dungeon system, Palace of the Dead. Palace of the Dead is unlocked via the level 17 quest “The House That Death Built” given by Nojito Marujiro in New Gridania (X: 12.0, Y: 13.1).

Palace of the Dead works in chunks of 10 floors, each chunk getting more complex with traps and challenging enemies as you progress. Floor 50 acts as a checkpoint, meaning if you fail the duty before reaching it, any progress you've made will be lost. After reaching the 50th floor, you can reset your progress outside of the Deep Dungeon to begin at floor 51 each time. Completing floors 51 through 60, resetting your progress and repeating the floors is one of the quickest ways of earning experience in this phase of your leveling journey. You’ll need to complete floor 50 regardless if you want to unlock the second Deep Dungeon, Heaven-on-High, for later levels.

The benefits of running the Palace of the Dead are twofold. First, your level and gear are synced to a standard range and moved to a leveling system specific to the Deep Dungeon, meaning you don’t have to worry about changing equipment as you level. There are also no party composition requirements like those found in normal dungeons. You could run as a team of four DPS, four tanks, or any possible composition inside Palace of the Dead. The lack of a rigid party structure means less time is spent in the queue waiting to fulfill role requirements.

Alternative: Duty Support

Running a dungeon when you don't have the most comfortable grasp of the class or job you're playing can be stressful. Playing a DPS job will likely lead to long queue times, especially during your server's non-peak hours, thanks to DPS jobs vastly outnumbering tanks and healers. Duty Support is a solution whether you're experiencing only one or both issues.

Duty Support has players run the dungeons alongside a party of NPCs rather than other players. There's no queue or pressures to worry about, but the trade-off is the time to complete the dungeons will be much longer. The AI party members will only use single-target abilities against packs of mobs and won't attack while avoiding boss mechanics. If you're playing a tank, pulling too many enemies could spell disaster if you put too much faith in the AI healer. So you'll have to take your time running Dungeons through Duty Support, but at least you won't be waiting in queue.

Alternative: Command Missions

Another alternative to queuing through the Duty Finder is through your Grand Company's Squadrons. The predecessor to Trusts and Duty Support, Squadron Command Missions, takes you through dungeons with a party of your AI squadron. The one difference between the Squadron systems and its successors is that the Squadron's stats and effectiveness are based on the training you provide, and they'll look to you for commands during the dungeon.

You'll need to hold at least the Second Lieutenant rank within your Grand Company to unlock your Squadron. By taking the level 47 quest "Squadron and Commander" within your Grand Company's headquarters, you'll unlock a new area to command and train your Squadron. Here, you'll go through the paperwork to enlist new recruits. Each time you complete an objective through the Challenge Log mentioned earlier in the guide, there's a chance for a new recruit to appear.

You can unlock Command Missions by speaking to the squadron sergeant after training your Squadron and sending them out on missions until they reach Squadron Rank Two. From here, you can choose a dungeon to run with three squadron members whose level meets the dungeon's minimum requirements. Once inside, you can order them to Engage, Disengage, and Limit Break, and you'll need to make good use of these commands to survive.

Like Duty Support, the NPC Squadron party members don't use their multi-target attacks, and they'll rely on you to order them to Disengage to avoid potentially life-threatening AOEs. Since they'll also depend on you for their leveling, gaining levels through Squadrons requires more work, but it's another way to avoid queue times while progressing through your Grand Company.

Levels 50-60

The two jobs added from the Stormblood expansion starting in this range are:

Levels 50 through 60 expand on what you've done thus far by incorporating more daily Duty Roulettes into your routine. The Leveling, Main Scenario, Alliance Raids, and Trials Duty Roulettes all offer the most worthwhile experience for completing them each day. If you don't mind participating in PvP, Daily Challenge: Frontline also provides significant experience. Completing all of your daily Duty Roulettes should result in at least one or two levels per day.

Beyond your Duty Roulettes, the best method of experience is running the highest level dungeon available to you, whether through Duty Finder or Duty Support, or repeating floors 51 through 60 of Palace of the Dead.

This range adds one new leveling addition — Heavensward's Clan Hunts. Hunt Bills give you a number of specific mobs to hunt and reward experience, gil, and a Hunt-specific currency tied to the expansion the mob is from upon their defeat. A prerequisite for participating in Clan Hunts is unlocking The Hunt from A Realm Reborn. After reaching Second Lieutenant or higher within your respective Grand Company's ranks, start and complete the quest "Let the Hunt Begin" found within the Grand Company's headquarters.

The level 53 quest "Let the Clan Hunt Begin," given by Aytienne in Foundation (X: 12.9, Y: 11.8), grants access to the higher-level Clan Hunts. Completing these rewards a respectable amount of experience and makes a good way to break up the monotonous grind of spamming the highest-level dungeon.

Level 60-70

Shadowbringers added two jobs that begin in this level range:

Daily Duty Roulettes will always offer the most experience per instance, so you'll want to continue the trend of doing your Leveling, Main Scenario, Alliance Raids, Trials, and potentially Frontline Roulettes each day for significant experience gains. After that, continue running the highest-level dungeon through Duty Finder or Duty Support, using the Veteran Clan Hunts introduced in Stormblood to shake things up. You unlock Veteran Clan Hunts by completing the quest "One-star Veteran Clan Hunt" given by Estrild in Kugane (X: 10.3, Y: 10.2).

Deep Dungeon: Heaven-on-High

At level 61, you can unlock Heaven-on-High, the second iteration of Deep Dungeons. Like its predecessor, Palace of the Dead, Heaven-on-High syncs all players' levels and item levels, using a separate leveling system existing only within the Deep Dungeon itself.

To unlock the second Deep Dungeon, take the quest "Knocking on Heaven's Door" given by Hamakaze in The Ruby Sea (X: 6.2, Y: 11.7) after completing floor 50 of Palace of the Dead. With the quest complete, you can enter Heaven-on-High by speaking to Kyusei in The Ruby Sea (X: 21.4, Y: 9.2) and forming a party.

Floors 21 to 30 of Heaven-on-High offer the best risk-reward ratio when repeating floors, and the queue time for these floors will likely be the shortest because of it. Heaven-on-High offers much more worthwhile experience for this level range, meaning if you enjoyed avoiding traps and hunting for the Beacon of Passage thus far, the second Deep Dungeon is the preferred option.

Levels 70-80

There are two jobs added in Endwalker that begin at level 70:

Like the level ranges before it, your most significant source of experience comes from your daily Duty Roulette bonuses. Complete the Leveling, Main Scenario, Alliance Raids, Trials, and Frontline Roulettes daily, and run the highest level dungeon you can otherwise. As with the previous expansions, you can use Shadowbringers' Nutsy Clan Hunt to gain experience during queue waiting times or to break up the grind. You can access these Hunt Bills by completing the quest "Nuts to You" via Hume Lout in The Crystarium (X: 12.1, Y: 15.0).

At this range, you can access Trusts, the NPC party system introduced in Shadowbringers that adds the Scions of the Seventh Dawn as your party members. Trust's Scion avatars resemble Grand Company Squadrons. Each avatar has its own level, and completing a dungeon with them in your party will earn them experience. The Scions you choose to bring in a Trust Dungeon must meet the instance's minimum level requirements, meaning you'll have to build them up alongside you. The AI still refuses to hit multiple enemies at once, but they don't need you to give orders like Squadrons. The Trust system has achievements and rewards for growing your avatars' levels, so there's more to be gained than just experience by using it. Otherwise, the Duty Support system functions the same.

Another new addition to this leveling range is the Pixie Tribal Quests. Each expansion has its own set of Tribal Quests that can be used to supplement experience gains, but you shouldn't overlook the amount of experience earned from the Pixies at this point in your leveling journey. You can unlock the Pixies by grabbing the quest "Manic Pixie Dream Realm" from Pink Pixie in The Crystarium (X:13.1, Y: 15.3). You can grab up to three Pixie Daily Quests on any regular day and six on a day where the initial three cause you to rank up. 

The Bozjan Southern Front

The "Save the Queen" Adventuring Forays, The Bozjan Southern Front and Zadnor, are an alternative to the typical dungeon grind. Rather than the dungeon-like atmosphere of Palace of the Dead or Heaven on High, these two areas are open instances with other players.

In these Adventuring Forays, players can participate in Skirmishes and Critical Engagements, the equivalent of FATEs and Trials for the "Save the Queen" areas. Progressing through the Bozjan Southern Front's story will lead you to its second area, Zadnor. While Zadnor is great for gathering Mettle, an experience tracked only in these zones, Bozja is the better option for gaining experience.

Once the Bozjan Southern Front is unlocked, complete any quests that are available in the zone. Otherwise, participate in the Skirmishes around the map, preferably sticking with packs of players for faster progress, and join any Critical Engagements when they're available. 

Levels 80-90

At this point in your leveling career, your daily Leveling, Main Scenario, Alliance Raids, Trials, and Frontline should be muscle memory, as they remain one of your largest sources of experience each day. After completing your dailies, start running the highest-level dungeon available to you. Endwalker's Guildship Hunts and FATEs can make good use of any downtime you have when waiting to queue. Guildship Hunts are unlocked via the level 80 quest "The Hunt for Specimens," given by the Diminutive Gleaner in Old Sharlayan (X: 11.2, Y: 12.0). 

The Arkasodara Tribal Quests introduced in Endwalker's Patch 6.15 should also be a new addition to your daily routine. Taking these three daily quests will give you a nice boost toward your next level and essentially replace the Pixies as your "experience-earning" tribe. Despite one Shadowbringers instance being replaced in this range, the Bozjan Southern Front is still a viable, engaging option at this range. While you won't gain levels as quickly compared to levels 70 through 80, the constantly rolling FATE train feel of the Adventuring Foray keeps things from feeling too monotonous when grinding for longer periods.

Deep Dungeon: Eureka Orthos

The third iteration of Deep Dungeons in Final Fantasy XIV is Eureka Orthos, where parties of four delve into the ancient Allagan unknown. Like Palace of the Dead and Heaven-on-High, Eureka Orthos has its own separate leveling system, starting players at level 81 as they work their way through 100 floors.

After completing the Main Scenario Quest "Endwalker," you can unlock Eureka Orthos through the quest "Delve into Myth" via Koh Rabntah in Mor Dhona (X: 21.8, Y: 8.1). After reaching floor 30 and completing the next quest in the chain, "Rage Extinguished," you'll now have the option to start from floor 21. Like Heaven-on-High, repeating floors 21 through 30 is a reliable way to earn good experience when trying to reach level 90. By adding Eureka Orthos somewhere into your daily leveling grind, you'll keep things engaging and fresh while working towards max level.