FFXIV Leveling Guide 1-90 [Definitive Methods]

You do not have to do anything complicated for your first ever job or even farm any experience points. You simply have to progress through the main story quests, and you will fast-track leveling guide 1-90 in FFXIV. But most people want to know how to reach max level with their second job in FFXIV, which is the real challenge.

Takeaways

• Reach level 50 first using The Palace Of The Dead and Duty Finder.
• Use the hunts to reach level 60 and Heaven On High to reach level 70.
• Utilize The Southern Bozjan Front and Pixie Tribe Quests until you reach level 80.
• Use Zadnor and Tribal Quests to reach level 90.
• Use Dungeons and EXP buffs throughout your entire journey to level 90

Level 1-50

These are all the methods you should use until you reach level 50. We will switch up the methods at higher level ranges to accommodate the higher experience points requirements.

There are also Dungeons you should use throughout your entire journey that we will talk about at the very end in our Dungeon section. We will explain the way to farm experience points using them and also list all of the dungeons, plus their requirements. So be sure to refer to the dungeon section at the very end of this guide. Additionally, we will also include several different ways to buff your overall experience points. 

The Palace Of The Dead

This is a deep dungeon that most beginners can immediately start using to gain experience points without any complicated requirements to unlock it. That is why this is the very first method you should use to start your leveling journey from 1-90. 

The dungeon itself has a unique leveling-up system. You always start with level 1 in the dungeon, regardless of your actual level. But don’t worry; this system is synced to your actual level and gear. The advantage of this is you don’t have to worry about changing up your gear as you level up.

This dungeon works in chunks of 10 floors; every time you pass 10 floors, the difficulty increases. You never want to go solo for this one. It might work for the first 10 floors, but as you progress, it will become impossible. You want a matched party with other online players or try to convince some friends to go in this dungeon with you.

The floors starting from 51-60 in POTD are one of the most optimal and time-saving ways of leveling up fast. Of course, reaching floor 50 first is required for this. But the experience points earned by the initial climb from floor 1-50 are very generous. This is certainly one of the fastest methods of getting experience points early on.

Unlocking The Palace Of The Dead

To unlock the deep dungeon, you have to progress in the main story and complete the quest “The House That Death Built” in New Gridania after you have completed the quest, head over to the Gridania adventurous guild and talk to the Lalafell sitting on a box.

Duty Finder

This is a menu you can use to access almost everything in the game, including matchmaking and to enter duties. Upon opening it, you will be greeted by a list of Guildhests, Trials, PvP, Dungeons, and all sorts of other duties. You need to have unlocked the actual duty before you can register for it in the duty finder. To enter one of the duties, you must check the box next to them and select join.

We will be using two of the duty finder’s functions to gain extra experience points; Duty Roulette: Leveling and Frontline.

Duty Roulettes: Leveling

Roulette: Leveling simply selects a dungeon or a trial at random from the ones you have unlocked. If you complete the dungeons or trials from Duty Roulette Leveling instead of manually doing them, it will earn you more than twice the usual experience points.

You also get daily rewards from Duty Roulette, which depends on your character’s level at the time of signing up. Additionally, you get even more experience points based on the difference between your level and the dungeon or trial completed. An even larger amount of experience points are given to the player who completed a higher-level dungeon or trial.

If you are doing a dungeon or a trial for the very first time using roulette leveling, you get even more experience points. These points are completely separate and added on top of the experience points you’re already getting.

Frontline

This is the PvP (Player vs. Player) part of the duty finder, which was mentioned earlier. 

In frontline, you play in teams of up to 24 players, and there are a total of 3 teams. Which takes the overall player count in a single match up to a total of 72 players. Of course, as it is PvP, your skills and your ability to work as a team with other players will heavily affect the outcome of the battle. You need to play at your best if you wish to optimize experience points so you can level up as fast as possible.

Frontline consists of a total of 4 maps:

• The Fields Of Glory
• Seal Rock
• The Borderland Ruins
• Onsal Hakair

All 4 of the maps have unique attributes to them, and they are rotated daily. There is only 1 thing common between every map, the PvP aspect of it. You always have to take down other players while you achieve each map’s unique goal.

Level 50-60

There are only 2 methods at this level range that will effectively get you to level 60, Dungeons and hunts.

The Hunt

Hunts were introduced in patch 2.30 and are a completely open-world activity. You have to track down or sometimes even spawn gigantic monsters while you work in a large group. All 4 expansions have added different hunts since our goal is to use them to climb from level 50-60. We will use The Clan Hunt, introduced in “Heavensward”. It is an excellent way to farm experience points as it also offers daily objectives that you can do.

Unlocking Hunts

All the different hunt boards for the 4 expansions span across the game. That means you have to be at different locations to access all the different hunts. Since we are looking for the Heavensward Clan hunts, we can unlock them in Ishgard by completing a series of side quests. 

This is the list of the Quests you need to complete and their requirements:

• Let the Clan Hunt Begin. The required level for this Quest is level 53, and it will unlock the Clan Hunt.
• Better Bill Hunting. The required level for this Quest is level 56, and it will unlock level 2 Clan Marks.
• Top Marks. The required level for this Quest is level 59, and it will unlock level 3 Clan Marks.

Level 60-70

At this level range, you should be using Dungeons and Roulette Leveling that is close to your level. Besides those, the best way to farm experience points is by doing the deep dungeon, Heaven Or High. 

Heaven On High

This deep dungeon is essentially like the sequel to Palace Of The Dead, which we had mentioned earlier in this FFXIV leveling guide 1-90. Just like POTD, Heaven On High is one of the best ways to gain experience points at this level range. There is a very interesting aspect to it that is different from POTD, though Heaven On High will never be quite the same every time you enter it.

Your level is also synced to level 61, which means everyone starts Heaven On High at the same level. Do note that you will get a fixed amount of experience points inside Heaven On High. Regardless of how many people are in your party or the level of the monster, you defeat inside the deep dungeon.

In case your entire party is KO’d, all players will receive a score based on the enemies they defeated and the highest floor they reached. You should try to defeat as many monsters inside Heaven On High and climb up as many floors as possible until you have reached level 70.

Unlocking Heaven On High

To unlock Heaven On High, you must fulfill a series of prerequisites. You need to be at level 61 and clear 50 floors in The Palace Of The Dead. Additionally, you must complete the main scenario Quest “Tide Go’s in, Imperials Go Out”.

Once you have fulfilled these prerequisites, you need to go to The Ruby Sea (X: 6.2, Y: 11.7) and talk to Hamakaze, he will allow you to take the Questline “Knocking on Heaven’s Door“. Once completed, it will unlock Heaven On High for you.

Level 70-80

Now, at this high of a level range, a lot of the methods previously mentioned stopping being the optimal ways of earning experience points. But you can use this to your advantage. Since your level is very high now, you have fulfilled the requirement for a lot of the high-level methods that need you to be at this level for you to be able to access them. They will also earn you a much larger amount of experience points.

But a lot of these methods require at least level 71, so make sure to refer to our dungeon section. As previously mentioned, since there are dungeons at every level range, you can always utilize them to earn a great number of experience points.

The very first thing you should do now uses the level 69 Dungeon called “Castrum Abania” and quickly farm enough experience points to reach level 71. Once there, use the methods mentioned below to go all the way to level 80. 

The Bozjan Southern Front 

It is widely believed that The Bozjan Southern Front is one of the most optimal ways currently available in FFXIV that you can use in your journey from level 70-80 to farm experience points. It’s an adventuring Foray that was introduced with the Shadowbringers expansion. An Adventuring Foray is simply the end-game content of a lot of the FFXIV expansions. They usually contain gigantic trials and raids but are not part of the main storyline quests.

The Bozjan Southern Front is specifically huge because it can consist of up to a total of 72 players. There are no preset teams, but you can make a party with any other online players to play together. It also boasts an endless amount of FATEs and duties that players can queue up for. Completing any of these events can earn you a large number of experience points.

Another very interesting thing about The Bozjan Southern Front is that it will sync your character’s level to 80, even if you are at level 71. That means you will be allowed to use all of your powerful abilities as a level 80 character.

Utilizing this, you will be able to run through Bozja with a buffed version of your character while gaining an insane amount of experience points. Bozja earns you a very large amount of experience points with unique attributes; as such, this should be your main method of getting to level 80. 

But it can certainly get a bit boring if you are only doing 1 thing over and over. This is why we have listed several methods in this guide. If you get bored of Bozja, you can use the method mentioned below to farm experience points or even switch to Dungeons for a bit. Doing this will ensure you have fun while farming experience points and will not have to take breaks.  

Unlocking The Bozjan Southern Front

Unlocking The Bozjan Southern Front can be a bit confusing, especially for players that are new and have just finished the main scenario quests. Of course, you need to be at level 71 before you can even enter it so make sure to get there first using the Dungeon mentioned previously in this FFXIV guide. 

One of the prerequisites to unlocking it is that you have to complete a series of quests. More specifically, it is a Questline called The “Alliance Raid” in the Stormblood DLC expansion. The very first series you will be doing is the “Return to Ivalice” raid series, which is heavily inspired by the hit and iconic game “Final Fantasy Tactics”. It consists of 3 alliance raids which are very fun to complete. It should take you a good couple of hours to complete all 3 of them. These are the 3 raid series:

• The Royal City of Rabanastre
• The Ridorana Lighthouse
• The Orbonne Monastery

Now you have to unlock Gangos; that is where you will find the main quest, which will completely unlock Bozja for you. It is called “Where Eagles Nest”, and is given to you by Sjeros. But before you are even able to get to the main quest, you have to unlock the Gangos region.

You have to finish “The city of lost angels”. Once you do, Keiten will have another Quest for you called “Hail To The Queen”. This will start the 5.25 Shadowbringers aspect of the storyline. In this Questline, you have to complete the Quest “Path To The Past,” and this will unlock the Gangos Region for you.

Once in Gangos, go to X: 5.5, Y: 5.4, and Sjeros will be there to greet you with the Quest “Where Eagles Nest”. Once you complete that Quest, you will have full access to the Bozjan Southern Front. 

Pixie Tribe Quests

The Pixie Tribe Questline is part of the Tribal Quests. (More information is mentioned regarding Tribal Quests later down in the guide.) Pixie Tribe Quests is another amazing way to farm experience points at this level range. This Questline has 2 different types of quests; the main quests and daily quests. We will be focusing only on the daily quests in this guide since our main goal is to get from level 70-80 as fast as possible.

This Questline gives you 3 quests to complete every 24 hours. There are, of course, a lot more than 3 quests in total. The 3 Quests you receive daily are rotated at random from the actual number of Quests in the entire Questline. They are located in Il Mheg at Lydha Lran (X: 12.4, Y: 32.9).

Unlocking Pixie Tribe Quests

To unlock The Pixie Tribe Quests, you have to complete the main scenario quest “The Wheel Turns”. You are then allowed to take the quest “Manic Pixie Dream Realm” from the Pink Pixie in The Crystarium (X13.1 Y15.3).

Level 80-90

This is the final stretch to the max level. Just like the previous level range, you have to make sure to get from level 80 to 81 before you can start utilizing any of the methods mentioned below. You will use the level 79 Dungeon called “Mt. Gulg”. This will ensure that you get the most optimal amount of experience points at level 80 and get to level 81 at fast as possible.

You may think of using the level 80 Dungeons, but they will earn you fewer experience points compared to the level 79 Dungeon. For more information, be sure to check the Dungeon section at the end of this guide.

Zadnor

Now that you have successfully managed to make it to level 81, you can begin the big grind to level 90. Do keep in mind you can’t get there through normal means anymore, as it can take way too long.

That is why we will be using Zadnor instead, and it is like the higher-level version of The Southern Bozjan Front. But it works exactly like Bozja. Zadnor can consist of up to 72 players on a battlefield, and there are no preset teams, meaning you can make a party with any other players online to play together. It also consists of an endless amount of FATEs and duties that you can complete to earn a large number of experience points.

While Zadnor is almost completely identical to Bozja, it being a higher-level version of Bozja means that it will also net you a higher amount of experience points. Since this guide is the definitive way to reach level 90, we recommended Zadnor over Bozja.

In case you do not have Zadnor unlocked, you can either unlock it with the method provided below, or you can simply choose to run Bozja instead.

Unlocking Zadnor

The Quest you need to complete to unlock Zadnor is called “A New Playing Field”. There are just a few prerequisites you need to complete before that Quest becomes available to you though. You must complete the main scenario quest called “Futures Rewritten” after that, you will have to complete the quest “Fit for a Queen”.

Once you have done these steps, you can go talk to Marsak in Gangos (X: 6.4, Y: 5.7). He will allow you to take the quest. Complete it, and you will have unlocked Zadnor.

Tribal Quests 

Tribal Quests are quests given to you by different tribes across the continent. We had mentioned one of these tribes previously; The Pixie Tribe. Tribal Quests are also known as The Beast Tribe Quests. These quests are an amazing way to earn some extra experience points and should be utilized along with the other methods listed in this FFXIV leveling guide 1-90.

Overall there is a large number of quests across all the different tribes. But you are only allowed to complete 3 quests every 24 hours per tribe. These quests are rotated daily from within the endless amount of quests in each tribe.

You earn reputation points as well, and these allow you to rank up with the tribe. If you rank up, you can do 3 additional quests on the same day, essentially allowing you to surpass the 3 quests a-day limit. Though, you are still limited to 12 quests at max if you keep ranking up on the same day.

Unlocking The Tribal Quests 

To unlock Beast Tribe Quests, you need to be above level 41, of course. Then complete the main scenario quest called “In Pursuit Of The Past”. Once this quest has been completed, It will unlock Beast Tribe Quests.

Unlocking the Arkasodara Tribe Quest is a bit more complicated than that. To unlock it, you have to complete 2 series of side quests, and they start with the side quests called “Steppe Child” and “What’s In A Parent”. They both have 4 side quests each, respectively; in total, you have 8 side quests to complete.

For “What’s In A Parent,” you are required to be at level 85 and have to complete the main story quest “Under His Wing”. Once done, you will be able to start this series of quests.

For “Steppe Child” you are only required to be at level 80. To start this series of quests, you have to complete the main scenario quest called “A Fisherman’s Friend”. Once completed, you have to go to Thavnair (X: 25.6, Y: 36.1) and talk to Ogul. You can now start “Steppe Child”.

Here is the full list of the side quests starting with “What’s In A Parent”:

• “What’s in a Parent” Found in Thavnair (X: 29.2, Y: 15.3)
• “Curing What Ails” Found in Thavnair (X: 29.6, Y: 17.2)
• “The Sins We Bear” Found in Thavnair (X: 29.6, Y: 17.2)
• “Societal Alchemy” Found in Thavnair (X: 29.7, Y: 16.2)

Here is the full list of the side quests starting with “Steppe Child”:

• “Steppe Child” Found in Thavnair (X: 25.6, Y: 36.1)
• “The Matanga Along the Way” Found in Thavnair (X: 25.4, Y: 31.2)
• “Ogul Repays Her Favors” Found in Thavnair (X: 19.0, Y: 33.8)
• “The Yedlihmad Hunt” Found in Thavnair (X: 25.4, Y: 31.3)

Wondrous Tails Journal 

This journal is ridiculous when it comes to how little work you will have to do compared to the huge amount of experience points you will get from it. It is a weekly event that lets you power-level your job like no other. You simply need to fill out the tasks in a journal every week. You can receive your journal from Khloe Aliapoh in Idyllshire (X: 5.7, Y: 6.1).

A completely new Wondrous Tails journal is ready for you to receive every Tuesday. When you open the Journal, you will see 9 different tasks. Your basic objective is to complete them and, of course, complete them before the week is over so that you can receive your next Wonderous Tails journal. Keep in mind you can hold on to 1 journal for only 2 weeks. Once completed, you need to hand your journal to Khloe Aliapoh so that you can actually get the experience points.

Unlocking The Journal 

In order to unlock the Wondrous Tails journal, you need to complete the quest “Keeping Up with the Aliapohs”. The required level for this is only 60. You can accept this quest in Idyllshire (X: 7.0, Y: 5.9) by talking to the Unctuous Adventurer.

Dungeons

Dungeons are single-handedly one of the best general ways to farm experience points. Do keep in mind, though, doing Dungeons over and over again can definitely get repetitive. That is why you should use the same strategy we mentioned earlier with Bozja.

Keep switching between different methods. Use Dungeons; once you are bored of them, switch to one of the methods mentioned earlier, which applies to your level range and vice versa.

No matter what level range, you will always find dungeons close to or higher than your level. The way you use these dungeons to level up is also simple; once you progress to a higher level, you pick the next dungeon and repeat this whole process.

The minimum level required for your job to enter one of the dungeons is level 15. So make sure to get to level 15 first, using any of the methods mentioned in the level 1-50 section of the guide.

Do take note that the dungeons you will encounter from levels 80-90 are much harder than any of the dungeons you would have previously completed. You will need to be on your toes and play your best game in order to complete them. But as hard as it will be, it will also net a large number of experience points.

You should not be doing Dungeons that are at levels 60, 70, 80, and 90 to level up. The Dungeons that are at level 59, 69 and 79 will earn you more experience points. Of course, for the level 90 Dungeon, you have no reason to do it, as level 90 is the max level.

Duty Support

You should remember only to do the Dungeons that have Duty Support enabled. If you do not know what duty support is, it essentially allows you to bring NPCs along with you to the dungeons instead of real players. It allows you to entirely skip waiting for queues and go right into the Dungeon, enabling you to farm experience points at a much faster pace. 

List Of The Dungeons And How To Unlock Them

Refer to this full list of all the Dungeons you need to do, their level requirements, and how to unlock them:

• Sastasha. Required level: 15 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “It’s Probably Pirates”
• The Tam-Tara Deepcroft. Required level: 16 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Fire in the Gloom”
• Copperbell Mines. Required level: 17 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Into a Copper Hell”
• Halatali. Required level: 20 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Hallo Halatali” 
• The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak. Required level: 24 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Into the Beast’s Maw”
• Haukke Manor. Required level: 28 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Skeletons In Her Closet”
• Brayflox’s Longstop. Required level: 32 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “The Things We Do for Cheese”
• The Sunken Temple of Qarn. Required level: 35 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Braving New Depths”
• Cutter’s Cry. Required level: 38 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Dishonor Before Death”
• The Stone Vigil. Required level: 41 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “In Pursuit of the Past”
• Dzemael Darkhold. Required level: 44 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Fort of Fear”
• The Aurum Vale. Required level: 47 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Going for Gold”
• Castrum Meridianum. Required level: 50 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Rock the Castrum”
• The Praetorium. Required level: 50 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “The Ultimate Weapon”
• The Dusk Vigil. Required level: 51 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “For All the Nights to Come”
• Sohm Al. Required level: 53 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Mourn in Passing”
• The Aery. Required level: 55 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Into the Aery”
• The Vault. Required level: 57 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “A Knight’s Calling”
• The Great Gubal Library. Required level: 59| You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Forbidden Knowledge”
• The Sirensong Sea. Required level: 61 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Not without Incident”
• Shisui of the Violet Tides. Required level: 63 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “The Palace of Lost Souls”
• Bardam’s Mettle. Required level: 65 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “In the Footsteps of Bardam the Brave”
• Doma Castle. Required level: 67 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “The Die Is Cast”
• Castrum Abania. Required level: 69 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “The Price of Freedom”
• Holminster Switch. Required level: 71 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “The Lightwardens”
• Dohn Mheg. Required level: 73 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “The Key to the Castle”
• The Qitana Ravel. Required level: 75 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “The Burden of Knowledge”
• Malikah’s Well. Required level: 77 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “A Fresh Start”
• Mt. Gulg. Required level: 79 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Extinguishing the Last Light”
• The Tower of Zot. Required level: 81 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “In the Dark of the Tower”
• The Tower of Babil. Required level: 83 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Gateway of the Gods”
• Vanaspati. Required level: 85 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Skies Aflame”
• Ktisis Hyperboreia. Required level: 87 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Caging the Messenger”
• The Aitiascope. Required level: 89 | You can unlock it by completing the Quest “Her Children, One and All”

General Buffs To EXP

There are several ways to buff the experience points you earn in FFXIV. You are also able to stack these methods on top of each other. These extra buffs are most effective at a relatively low-level range. So make sure to use these items to maximize the experience points earned as much as possible during the start of your journey. Here’s a list of these buffs:

• The Heat Of Battle 2. If you join a free company with this, you can buff your experience points earned through battle by 10%. It lasts up to 24 hours, so make sure to put it to good use. 
• Food. You have to make sure to eat food throughout the entire time you’re playing the game. Eating food gives you an extra 3% boost in experience points. It may seem like a trivial amount, but it does add up a lot over time.
• Items. There are a lot of items available in FFXIV that allow you to buff your experience points. One of these items is the Brand New Ring from the novice halls, which increases EXP earned by 30% as long as you are under level 30. 

Wrap-up

Developed and published by Square Enix, Final Fantasy XIV is one of the best MMORPGs ever made. It released 4 huge DLC expansions, which introduced level cap increases along with numerous other things. They are; Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and finally, Endwalker, which was released in December 2021 and is the latest expansion out right now.

These are all the methods you will ever need to get your job to max level in FFXIV. As such, we will now be wrapping up this FFXIV leveling guide 1-90. You might want to reach max level with an entirely new job as well, so make sure to refer back to this guide again! 

Next:

• FFXIV Hydatos Weapons 
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