FFXIV Gathering (DoL) Gear Guide

Don’t waste time worrying about your Gathering Gear – and get that DoL class to 50!

Confused about when or what DoL / Gathering gear you should get? When and what are the best gathering gear upgrades, and why? Find out all about that here – and save money on your road to a level 50 gatherer!

Why upgrade your Gathering gear?

Moreso than crafting, better gathering gear = faster levelling. We all know how “exciting” it is levelling a gathering class, ey?

The importance of high Gathering Stat:

Striking at a node and not getting anything means ZERO exp, BROKEN CHAINS and ultimately, wasted time (and money! since you could have gotten the item!) So first and foremost you’re going to want as much gathering as possible.

Gathering is insanely useful in maximizing Levequest EXP. more on this later…

The importance of high Perception Stat:

If you’re doing a lot of grinding, Perception becomes very useful in boosting you EXP gains. Why? At max, you have a 15% chance to gather HQ items without a buff. Let’s compare a gatherer with 0% HQ chance versus 15% HQ chance: 100+[(2*100)*0.15] (HQ percent chance) = 30% Average EXP Bonus.

If you aren’t a level 50 calculator, then it’s fine. All you need to know is that being capped in perception gives you quite a sizeable exp bonus. 30% is not a joke, and it stacks with chains, food and rested EXP.

Perception however, isn’t useful if you’re planning to use levequests… why?

Gathering gear, Levequests and You:

Since getting HQ items is impossible during leves, Perception is useless during a leve attempts. Gathering becomes the single most useful stat, with GP as a supporting stat.

If you’re planning on grinding, both Perception and Gathering are important. However, Gathering is still your most important stat. Why? Again, ENSURING exp gains and ENSURING chains is your first goal. Then once that’s fulfilled, modify it with Perception for massive exp gains.

So we can conclude, during leveling up, Gathering is the most important stat, whether you choose to grind or use leves. And if you’re planning to do a bit of both, getting Perception is a great bonus to grinding. So what does this mean in terms of gearing up?

GP – How useful is it?

Going to level 50, GP isn’t exactly a sustainable resource to rely on. It’s a welcome boost, but not exactly necessary. At 50 though, that’s a completely different discussion…

Gathering gear upgrade strategy

Okay so you want Gathering, no matter how you level up. In terms of gear slots that would be the: Main Hand, Off-hand, Chest (coincidentally they also give huge perception, and are considered critical upgrades). So you want these no matter what you’re going to do. Upgrade as often as possible.

Two more pieces give Gathering: Gloves and Pants. These are less critical, and you should upgrade if you can afford it. Gloves are more powerful than pants! Around 50% more gathering is found on gloves compared to pants! Keep this in mind when buying upgrades.

Now for Perception… The most important pieces were already mentioned above (MH, OH, Chest). The rest are: Helmets, Boots and Belts. Again when thinking of bang for buck – Helmets are the best investment, which are usually 100% more powerful than boots. And belts are the worst investment, as they’re only half as powerful as boots typically!!!

Overall, a cost-efficient upgrade path will be discussed in the end of this post, before that – tables of what level you get upgrades…

Gathering Critical Upgrades – What Level?

The table below represents the levels you get a new DoL chest, Miner main and off-hands, Botanist main and off-hands, and fishing main hand. (All possible critical upgrades)

LevelChestMIN MainMIN OffBTN MainBTN OffFSH Main
1xxxxxx
2
3
4
5
6x
7
8xxx
9x
10
11xxx
12xxx
13
14x
15xxxxx
16
17
18x
19xxx
20xx
21x
22xx
23x
24xx
25xxx
26x
27x
28xx
29xxx
30x
31xx
32xx
33x
34xx
35xx
36
37x
38xxx
39xx
40x
41x
42
43xxxxx
44x
45
46x
47xx
48xxxx
49
50xxxxxx

 

Disciple of Land (DoL) Body pieces

The table is sorted by (at least in my opinion) importance. The left side being more important and more worth the investment, and gets less important as you go right. Gear marked (G) gives gathering, and (P) gives perception. So ignore the Perception pieces if you’re primarily thinking of getting to 50 using Fieldcraft Leves.

LevelHands (G)Head (P)Legs (G)Feet (P)Waist (P)
1xxxxx
2
3
4
5xxx
6x
7
8
9x
10xx
11xx
12x
13x
14
15xxx
16x
17x
18
19xx
20xx
21
22x
23x
24
25xxx
26
27xxx
28
29
30xxx
31x
32
33
34
35xxxxx
36
37x
38x
39x
40xxxx
41
42x
43xxxx
44x
45xx
46x
47x
48xxxx
49
50xxxx

Disciple of Land (DoL) GP pieces (Accessories)

While not super important while leveling up… you cant really be “sad” to have more MAX GP.

LevelNecklaceEaringsBraceletRing
1
2
3
4
5x
6
7xx
8
9
10
11
12
13
14x
15
16
17xx
18
19
20x
21
22
23
24x
25
26
27xx
28
29
30
31
32
33
34x
35
36
37xx
38
39
40x
41
42
43
44x
45x
46
47xx
48
49
50x

Summary: DoL Cost-efficient upgrade path

First of all – Everything below level 15~ is negligible. and you don’t need to really think about your gear before then.

Main HandOff-Hand and Chest should be upgraded when you can afford it.

As a side upgrade to Gathering: updating your Gloves are a good idea every now and then. Legs are less imporant. Here’s our suggestion for a cost-efficient upgrade path:

  • Gloves: (16) (25) (35) (45)
  • Legs: (15) (27) (40). The level 27 ones are from ANY Grand Company, and are pretty worth it.

If you need more Perception, Helmets are the best investment. Helmets generally come from weavers or armorsmiths. The weaver ones are typically more expensive. So here’s a pretty cost-efficient path:

  • Head: (13) (19) (31) (35) (42) (47). Want something in the 20’s? (27).
  • Boots are okay, and you probably wont need more than: (15) (30) and (40).
  • Waist is even less important. (17) and (37) should be fine.

Of course feel free to pick anything up you can afford, and check the Market Board when you reach the levels in the tables above.

Be sure to check out our Mining Leveling Guide, and Botany Leveling Guide, which make great additional resources to this guide.
Also, Mining Node/Material Locations, and Botany Node/Material Locations [Mining is 1-50, BTN is in the proces of being updated…]

Whacking at nodes got you to 50, huh? Then it’s time to gear up. Check this out: Gathering End-Game Gear (+Max Melds) Guide.

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12 thoughts on “FFXIV Gathering (DoL) Gear Guide”

  1. So im super confused in this guide can you make Gathering gear? if so which job do you need? and if not where do I even buy Gathering gear????

    1. Gathering gear can be made, or bought. If you have no clue, the Marketboard is your best bet. NQ pieces aren’t too expensive.

    2. You can if you have Weaver or Leatherworker (and the rare Carpenter). Refer to http://xivdb.com/ and do searches for gear.

      Nice guide, though I disagree about everything below 15 being negligible. Stat boosts are always nice, and especially for the casual player, will actually allow you to land hq things before lvl 15. Might be mainly for fish, though…Botany and Mining are just really painful regardless before 11 or so, haha. As a bonus, crafting and gathering materia sell for a decent amount (generally a few k, depends on the materia) on my server, but I expect that varies.

  2. Not sure if this just hasn’t been updated in a while, but what is the level 20 DoL chest piece referring to? There’s the Initiate’s Doublet Vest which is crafter level 20 but requires DoL level 24 to wear. Aside from that, there’s the Cotton Doublet Vest of Gathering, both crafted at level 21 and wearable at DoL level 21.

    Am I missing something?

  3. @(Disciple of Land (DoL) Body pieces)
    Waist (P) is 10 from npc Haberdasher 25×24 in Western Thanalan, Scorpion Crossing but not 9.

  4. When will you upload the “Gathering End-Game Gear (+Max Melds) Guides”? :)
    My Miner and my Botany are waiting for this. ;) :P

      1. wuuhuu THX! :)
        I already used your “Crafting Gear Guide” and i love it!! :)
        Big Thanks for this great work! :)

  5. perception while doing leves is worth it if your fishing! while fishing you get a bonus if you turn in HQ items like with crafting. the grinding with high perception while fishing is the same though. perception is more important in fishing than it is in mining or botany because it affects the length of fish you get. any size over a certain length is HQ. so essentially fishing is all about perception.

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