FFXIV Lancer (LNC) Leveling Guide & Rotation (Shb Updated)

How to level up your Lancer (LNC) fast! Rotation, useful reminders, and the best places to be in any level – HERE!

DAWNTRAIL Guides! Dawntrail L90-100 Miner Leveling, Botanist Leveling
Dawntrail Normal Raid Guide (Quick, Spoiler Free)
See:
Viper STARTER Guide / Rotation | Pictomancer Starter Guide / Rotation


 

Piercing through the early game? If you’re going to thrust yourself to level a Lancer, you’ve found the right place. Hopefully, our Lancer Leveling Guide helps you out!

While this page focuses on Lancer info like skills, traits, rotation, and playstyle notes. The GENERAL PROCESS that you follow is outlined in our FFXIV General Leveling Guide use it alongside this guide. Looking at that, we’re in the “A Realm Reborn Tier” as we’re only looking to level our Lancer up to 30.

Lancer Unlocking? Other basics?

How to unlock the LNC Class? Taken from Lancer General Guide & FAQ – which you should read if you need more basic info about LNC.

Location: Old Gridania, Lancer’ Guild (14, 6)
Related Quests: (all in the same place)
> So you want to be an Lancer
> Way of the Lancer
> My First Spear
Others: You may also begin the game as Lancer

Lancer is a melee dps class, falling under the Disciple of War category. Also, if you’re curious about the job you turn into, Lancer is the prerequisite class for unlocking Dragoon.

This guide has three major segments:

  • Lancer Leveling Rotation & Skill Changes – How new skills affect your play.
  • Lancer L1 to L16 – General reminders and notes.
  • Lancer L15 to 30 – General reminders and notes.
  • I’ll mention it again, knowledge from General Leveling Guide is REQUIRED.

I put rotation changes up top as you might reference it often. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Lancer Rotation for Leveling, Skills, Traits, Etc.

In this segment we run down how each skill and trait affects your Lancer’s rotation during the leveling process.

L1 Skill Unlocked True Thrust – Your basic attack and very first skill! Spam this until you unlock the combo skill at L4.

L4 Skill Unlocked Vorpal Thrust – This combos from True Thrust. Combo actions need to be pressed within a certain timeframe or else the combo opportunity falls off. 

L6 Skill Unlocked Life Surge – Causes your next weaponskill to do increased damage and heal you. Basically, always use this right before your most powerful weaponskill – at this point that’s Vorpal Thrust. 

L8 Role Action Unlocked Second Wind – A personal, instant self-heal. Useful both in soloing and leveling, dungeons, raids, ANYTHING! For the purpose of this guide, Second Wind will definitely help you in the leveling process. One habit to get into is, USE IT EARLY so you can use it again soon  (for example, when soloing a FATE boss). 

L10 Role Action Unlocked Leg Sweep – An instant OGCD stun. Interrupting enemy spells is the most basic use case here, but honestly keep in mind that in dungeons stunning an enemy will greatly reduce the damage your tank receives, and helps your healer out. 

L12 Role Action Unlocked Bloodbath – Your third “self-heal”, this one essentially gives you a “lifesteal” effect that scales on your own DPS. This is actually great. Again, it’s better to use these kinds of skills early if you know you’re soloing a long fight, or just to help your healer out.

L15 Skill Unlocked Piercing Talon –  a ranged attack that’s typically only used if you’re not in range of your enemy. Generally speaking do not use this simply when “approaching” an enemy as it’s typically a DPS loss compared to just using your skill straight up.

L18 Skill Unlocked Disembowel – Gives you an increased damage buff that you have to try and keep up at all times!

L22 Role Action Unlocked Feint – Reduces an enemy’s physical damage dealt. Almost useless in soloing (reduces mostly auto attacks and the rare physical boss skill). Of course, very good in terms of group mitigation options in a group scenario. In the leveling process, however, this will almost never be used.

L26 Skill Unlocked Full Thrust – Your combo finisher! Anytime you would press Vorpal Thrust

L30 Skill Unlocked Lance Charge – A straight up damage steroid. In solo, leveling, and dungeon type content simply use this early and often. Not much to optimize here right now, but optimizing DPS cooldowns are something you will grow into over time.

Completing this quest and unlocking Windbite marks your final class quest as Lancer. You now have the right to become a Dragoon!


Lancer Rotation – L1 to 30 SUMMARY

Here’s an overarching shot of what your LNC rotation is in the early leveling process. Adjust to your currently learned skills.

LNC 30 Single Target RotationLNC AoE Rotation

LNC L30 Single Target Rotation

    • Lance Charge if you have the opportunity to maximize its duration.
    • True Thrust > Disembowel – Keep this buff up at all times!
    • True Thrust > Vorpal Thrust > Full Thrust – is your basic filler.
      • Life Surge + Full Thrust, is pretty much the only time you should use it.

LNC L30 AoE Rotation

    • None

Not even kidding, there’s no AoE skill for Lancers at L30. You’ll wait a while, sadly.

Lancer Leveling: L1 to 30

As per the general leveling guide, this tier is divided into two sub-chunks. So I’ll be sub-chunking the following segments into two “tabs” as well. These two tabs represent A) L1 to 16, and B) L16 to 30.


Lancer Leveling L1 to 30 Activity Flowchart

A rundown of things you can do to gain EXP – again split “to 16”, and “to 30”.

LNC 1 to 16LNC 16 to 30

LNC Leveling Activities to L16

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, terrible for LOW levels)

Burst EXP sources

    • Challenge Log* (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (Great source of EXP this early on)
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

*Challenge Log won't be unlocked in this tier if it's your first time around. While you need to be L16 to initially unlock it, it can be used by any level character thereafter. 

Well, there’s not much to point your bow at this early on, but here’s where the arrow falls nonetheless. It’s slim, but you gotta start somewhere.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

LNC Leveling Activities to L30

Remember the universal truths: Main Scenario Quest is king, and always have your passive EXP buffs (FC, Food, Chocobo, etc)

Renewable EXP sources

    • Dungeons (Stable, "fun", massive EXP easpecially with rested bonus)
    • FATES (Great when you're in queue)
    • Deep Dungeon -Palace of the Dead (Repetitive, but fast)
    • Levequests (Actually good EXP but better saved for DoH or DoL)
    • Beast Tribe (EXP is meh, but great for getting cosmetic items)

Burst EXP sources

    • Duty Roulette: Leveling (The ultimate EXP source until L50)
    • Challenge Log (Complete passively until nearing reset, then force it)
    • Guildhests (First completions per class is mega bonus EXP)
    • Hunting Log (More for completionism or first timers, it's "alright")
    • Sidequests (Personal preference. Better if in tandem with MSQ!)
    • Duty Roulette: Guildhest (Pretty irrelevant...)

A few adjustments to your leveling mentality here, mainly the addition of  Duty Roulette: Leveling, as a daily burst, and straight queuing Dungeons as an option as well.

Of course, adjust this to your own personal preference.

Important Notes (LNC L1 to 30)

Here’s the straight and pointy about what to keep in mind during the leveling process.

LNC L1 to 30 Gear Updates:  Needed?

TLDR: Not really significant. This applies to both sub-tiers. Just make sure to pick up whatever along the way, or find dirt cheap upgrades in the MB or wherever (quests etc).

More detailed answer?

In all honesty you DO NOT NEED to put much thought into your gear from Level 1 to Level 30. Simply “get what you can”, with Weapons being the highest priority. You can get gear from Quests, buy from NPCs, Marketboard, Crafting, GC – it’s purely up to you and your budget as to what you wanna get.

Of course getting gear will increase your efficiency (being a little stronger helps kill speed), but this tier is pretty “newb friendly”, and designed as such – PLUS you “outgrow” gear by gaining levels so rapidly that tryharding on gear up to Level 30 is pretty irrelevant.

Just try not to run around naked, and get “what you can” without being outright negligent.


Important notes to keep in mind

LNC 1 to 16LNC 16 to 30

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

There are too many skills that get unlocked here for me to talk about individually, which is why the skill unlock / rotation segment above should be your guiding light in that regard.

Limited Burst EXP sources take priority: Newly unlocked Guildhests, Challenge Log entries, Hunting Log.

Renewable EXP sources if you need to grind: FATE’s are great, followed by Levequests and if so you choose, Sidequests. (Deep Dungeon: POTD – can you zone it from Level 1? Even if you could, I don’t think I would…)

At level 15 you get access to your first Dungeon, Sastasha, but I don’t see much reason to grind there, unless you wanna burn rested EXP and want to hit 16 ASAP.

At 15 you should catch up and do your class quests, as you do get a skill form it – Piercing Talon. Just use it if you can’t reach your target. Don’t use it when “approaching”, it’s not optimal.

A note on Levequests: Can be an attractive source of EXP. Every tier has “good and bad” levequests so it’s up to you if you wanna go try them out. Main downside is using them up in place of DoH / DoL. Consider using them if you’re at or near the Levequest allowance cap!

As always, Main Scenario Quest takes the highest priority.

Starting L16, you open up Duty Roulette: Leveling, which is you should be doing everyday! This is an important source of EXP – it’s a huge daily burst! Also at L16 you can unlock Challenge Log if you haven’t already.

Overall, the same concept applies. Daily and Weekly bursts of EXP > Basic Renewable EXP sources of your choice > Other side activities to alleviate boredom or monotony.

 Renewable EXP sources? At this point it’s Dungeons, FATES and Deep Dungeons, and maybe some Levequests. Burst EXP sources? Roulettes, new Guildhests, Hunting and Challenge Logs.

As a DPS class, you’ll likely queue up for dungeons or POTD then do FATES and “other activities” while you’re in queue.

at L20 If you haven’t unlocked your Companion (combat Chocobo), do so now. You can begin the process now – it entails getting your first mount as well (at least for most new players).

At level 30 get your class quests done, as it’s one of the prerequisites to transform into Dragoon!

Levequests notes, same as usual. Sad to take ’em away from crafters and gatherers, but it’s viable EXP. Definitely use them up if you’re overcapped on allowances.

Stop at Level 30! Unlock your advanced job as soon as you can!
(LNC turns into Dragoon at Level 30)

Lancer L30 Onward: Unlocking Dragoon

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING ONCE YOU HIT Lancer LEVEL 30.
Unlock Dragoon ASAP!

How to become a Dragoon? Unlocking Dragoon requires a Level 30 Lancer, and completion of the L30 LNC Class Quest. From there, return to your guild and it should point you to the quest! See: Unlocking all jobs.

The reason we unlock ASAP is, not only to get a new skill at L30 (In your case, the famous Jump skill – your first of many), but most if not all new skills and traits going forward are for DRAGOON and not LANCER, so you have no reason to stay as an LNC any longer.

Lancer Leveling – Related Reads

Some good reads and related links here:

Summary and Closing

And with that YOU’RE DONE WITH LEVELING Lancer! Congrats! Hopefully our Lancer Leveling Guide helped you out. As you enter into the Dragoon tier, I wish you luck in your literal flight.


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FFXIV Lancer (LNC) Basics Guide & FAQ | Shadowbringers Updated!

DAWNTRAIL Guides! Dawntrail L90-100 Miner Leveling, Botanist Leveling
Dawntrail Normal Raid Guide (Quick, Spoiler Free)
See:
Viper STARTER Guide / Rotation | Pictomancer Starter Guide / Rotation


 

Looking into Lancer? Launch yourself into and lift your limits with our FFXIV Lancer Basics Guide & FAQ. As implied, this is for players wanting to know the absolute basics, and answer some of the most common questions regarding LNC.

Likely, one of the main reasons you’re here is either unlocking Lancer, or wondering about the eventual advanced job you can evolve into, Dragoon.

How to become a Lancer? Unlocking LNC:

Primarily, you can begin your journey into Eorzea and start the game as a Lancer – simply choose it as your starting option upon character creation.

If you didn’t start as a LNC, you can unlock the Lancer class by going to the Lancer Guild in Gridania – Old Gridania (around 14,6), look out for the quests either “Way of the Lancer”, or “So you want to be a Lancer”.

Other unlocking prerequisites? I’m 99% sure you need to complete the Level 10 class quest of your STARTING CLASS if you want to unlock any other new ones.

Why should I play or choose Lancer?

This question is semi irrelevant as, along with any of the other base classes, the only reason you’re a Lancer is simply a stepping stone into Dragoon. But, I’ll give you a little description of what to expect anyway.

Dragoons are, well, “Draconic Lancers”… I don’t know what else to say. Fans of the general Final Fantasy series would know them well, and the FFXIV Dragoon is the good ‘ol high flying DPS you imagine them to be. Heavy hitting, long combos, and lots of positionals! So if you want don that Dragoon – get on the Lancer leveling opportunet

You’ll do well to learn a little more about what you’ll eventually BECOME:
FFXIV Dragoon Basics Guide.

Lancer Crafters and Gatherers?

I often get asked “What Disciple of Hand or Disciple of Land classes go well with LNC?” Another related question to this is “Should I level them with my Lancer simultaneously”? 

Leveling up your DoH and DoL classes should be thought of as a separate goal all on its own. I suggest leveling up DoH classes all together, and all DoL classes together (except the optional Fishing). Do not try to align your combat class levels to your non-combat levels. Trust me.

My only advice related to this is to never cap your levequests. If you’re at max leve allowances, feel free to spend them on Fieldcraft, Tradecraft, or Battlecraft leves just to uncap ‘em.

What’s the best race for Lancer?

TLDR: I don’t know a single person who changes race for their main class for stats. The gain is not even .1% from worst to best. My advice? Choose for aesthetics.

If you REALLY wanna do it, check out our FFXIV Racial Stats Guide, which, FAIR WARNING – I am about to recheck and update next week. But honestly, it’s best you don’t even click on that – THE MICROSCOPIC INCREASE IN STATS IS NEAR IRRELEVANT.

Related Lancer Guides – Read More!

Here’s a few useful links for you

Upcoming Odds and Ends

Here’s a few things we’ll be adding on here in the near future:

  • A small skill list for “human readability”, as the in-game one seems like the best source for EXACT information.
  • List of relevant links for this for Lancer, and some links for Dragoon.

Feel free to suggest anything else via comment or socials!

Summary & In Closing

Well that’s it for our Lancer Basics Guide & FAQ. There’s not much to say but these are really basic little guides to help out the budding or confused LNC, and hopefully future DRG! Hopefully we answered a few of your questions.


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Contact us about anything and everything. Don't be shy! Love our guides and want to let us know? Got questions or corrections? Suggestions for improvement? TALK TO US! How, you say?

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FFXIV Dragoon (DRG) Basics Guide & FAQ – Shadowbringers Updated!

DAWNTRAIL Guides! Dawntrail L90-100 Miner Leveling, Botanist Leveling
Dawntrail Normal Raid Guide (Quick, Spoiler Free)
See:
Viper STARTER Guide / Rotation | Pictomancer Starter Guide / Rotation


 

Diving into Dragoon? Don’t distress! Devote a little time to digest about the DRG job! Find basic information and FAQs in our Dragoon Basics Guide. Read on if you’re expecting to learn about unlocking DRG, Dragoon Job Identity, trait and skill list, crafters and gatherers related to DRG, and link to other important Dragoon info!

Dragoon is a Melee DPS job, and one of the starting nine jobs released in 2.0 A Realm Reborn. DRG’s came out alongside another melee DPS, Monk.

How to become a Dragoon? Unlocking DRG:

First and foremost you need to have a Level 30 Lancer, and have completed the L30 LNC class quest, “Proof of Might”. After doing this you can unlock the actual quest to become a Dragoon, “Eye of the Dragon” issued by Lancer guildmaster Ywain at Gridania – Old Gridania.

You also have to complete a Level 20 MSQ, “Sylph Management”, which realistically should be completed by the time you’re looking to unlock Dragoon. 

Note that, upon completing Eye of the Dragon you MUST EQUIP the “Soul of the Dragoon” to actually formally BECOME a DRG. Interestingly, in the old days, unlocking Dragoon required L15 MRD – that’s no longer the case.

Rushing to or want to know how to unlock a certain class? Learn more:
FFXIV Job Unlock & Requirements Guide.

Dragoon Playstyle & DRG Job Identity

If you’ve asked yourself, “Why play, try, or choose Dragoon?” – here’s my attempt at selling you the DRG class.

Heavy hitting, extreme looking, high flying (animation locking) goodness – this embodies the DRG in theory and in practice. Dragoons have the longest combos in the game – it’s one of the most unique aspects about it. They also have quite a few positional requirements. 

They’re the slow side of the GCD which can be good or bad for some, but they have MANY off-gcd weaving skills. While Dragoons have a mid to high tier personal DPS, historically they improve overall raid DPS quite a bit via raid buffs.

Aesthetically and thematically, there’s no mistaking that trademark “FF Dragoon look” and that satisfying “Dragoon feel”. The job plays how you expect with the flashiness and heaviness of the jumps. The FFXIV Dragoon hits it home IMO, paying great homage to the general Final Fantasy Dragoon!

DISCLAIMER

DISCLAIMER: This is not meant to be a blurb that aligns with the current meta. That changes from patch to patch. Our goal here is to provide you with an idea of what the job is trying to be, getting cues from both the Developers’ concrete decisions on job design, as well as our own feedback.

What Crafters & Gatherers should Dragoon level?

While it’s common in MMORPG’s to think you want to craft your own gear as you level up your DRG… I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT.

Leveling up your DoH and DoL jobs should be thought of as a different activity completely. To be honest, if you’re a newer player, simply ensure that you DO NOT OVERCAP Levequests (always have less than 100).

The only relation a combat job has to a crafter or gatherer class is “which classes do you need to repair your gear”? My advice, ultimately, is pretty much all or nothing – level up all DoH classes in tandem. As a separate project, level up all DoL classes in tandem (with the optional Fisher).

What’s the best race for Dragoon?

Racial stats are (was?) a thing. However, I highly recommend not caring about it. The difference in performance between the “best” and “worst” race for you is not even 0.1%.

My advice? Pick for aesthetics. Will you stay the same job forever? If you change mains, will you race change? Ultimately, the difference is so microscopic that I cannot in good faith tell you that racial stats are an integral part of your character.

I won’t even link the Racial Stats Guide, as I haven’t checked up on this in a while – and I don’t want to cement the idea that the “best race” really matters.

Related Dragoon Guides – Read More!

Here are a few useful links for you:

Upcoming Odds and Ends

Here’s a few things we’ll be adding on here in the near future:

  • Adding a “links to further resources”, we’re doing a site restructure so once those links are set, they’ll go in here.
  • Human-readable, newbie-friendly skill and trait list.
    > I used to have the in-game skill list here, but I found it useless as the in-game one is better… I’d rather have a new player friendly rundown.
  • More descriptive job identity? Pics?
    > I dunno… pictures of the job gauges? A gif of some flashy skills?
  • Feel free to suggest anything else via comment or socials!

Summary & Outro

Well that’s about it for a really, really basic guide that hopefully points some lost souls in the right direction, or answers some of your questions regarding Dragoon.


Join our IRL Cross-World Linkshells (socials lol): 

Contact us about anything and everything. Don't be shy! Love our guides and want to let us know? Got questions or corrections? Suggestions for improvement? TALK TO US! How, you say?

Comment below if it's about this guide. Message us on any of our socials above about anything.  We're organizing our email situation if you're into that.