FFXIV Rogue (ROG) Leveling Guide & Rotation (Shb Updated)

How to level up your Rogue (ROG) 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


 

Gettin’ Restless, rolling a Rogue? If you’re leveling a Rogue, you’ve found the right place! Take a stab at it, and hopefully our Rogue Leveling Guide helps you out!

While this page focuses on Rogue 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 Rogue up to 30.

Rogue Unlocking? Other basics?

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

Location: Limsa Lominsa – Lower Decks, Rogue’s Guild (8, 16)
Related Quests: (all in the same place)
> So you want to be an Rogue
> Way of the Rogue
> My First Daggers
Others: Rogue is the ONLY base class you can’t start the game with.

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

This guide has three major segments:

  • Rogue Leveling Rotation & Skill Changes – How new skills affect your play.
  • Rogue L1 to L16 – General reminders and notes.
  • Rogue 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.

Rogue Rotation for Leveling, Skills, Traits, Etc.

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

L1 Skill Unlocked Spinning Edge – Your “basic attack”, essentially your combo starter. Spam this until you get Gust Slash at L4.

L2 Skill Unlocked Shade Shift – A self-shield that scales with your max HP. It’s a welcome defensive cooldown. Use it early and often when soloing tough encounters. Very similar to Second Wind, which you’ll unlock soon (and the notes I place there are applicable here).

L4 Skill Unlocked Gust Slash – Your first combo! Basically Spinning Edge combos into Gust Slash. You have a limited time to press this (or any combo skill) before your combo “expires”. 

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 Skill Unlocked Hide – Avoid monsters by moving stealthily. While this has more uses in the future – this is it for now. (At L15, Trick Attack is a skill you can only use while hidden)

Hide Macro

Here’s a useful macro that we will evolve over time…. This functionality should honestly be baked into the base game.

/micon “Hide”
/ac “Hide”
/statusoff hidden

How this works is press it once to hide, and press it again to reveal yourself.

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.

L14 Trait Unlocked All Fours – Pretty much a throwaway “thematic” passive. Reducing fall damage is almost never relevant.

L15 Skill Unlocked Throwing Dagger – A ranged attack primarily used to hit enemies while you’re not in range. Generally speaking you do not want to use this “while approaching an enemy”, as it’s likely a DPS loss.

L15 Skill Unlocked Mug – I would honestly ignore the “stealing an item” half of this skill, and just simply treat is as an off-gcd bonus attack. Use it often.

L18 Skill Unlocked Trick Attack – Very difficult to use at this low level. It’s an extremely powerful attack that “softens up” your enemy. However, this is only usable with Hide. Use it when you open on an enemy and bosses! 

L20 Trait Unlocked Fleet of Foot – Now this, this is a useful passive. Increased movement speed is welcome EVERYWHERE. Soloing and questing? Great! Dungeons and RAIDS? AMAZING! 

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 Aeolian Edge – Ah, finally! Your combo finisher! Anytime you press Gust Slash – press Aeolian Edge next. This rather benign addition is actually quite a significant increase in DPS. 

L30 Skill Unlocked Shadow Fang – A long duration DoT (Damage over time) skill. Only use this against fat enemies. It has a hefty cooldown so it’s not all that regularly you press it. While it does affect your rotation somehow, it’s very minimal.

Completing the L30 ROG class quest and unlocking Shadowfang marks your final class quest as Rogue. You now have the right to become a Ninja!


Rogue Rotation – L1 to 30 SUMMARY

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

ROG 30 Single Target RotationROG AoE Rotation

ROG L30 Single Target Rotation

    • Shadowfang on enemies with a long life expectancy (or an “off-target”)
    • Use Mug as often as you can.
    • Spinning Edge > Gust Slash > Aeolian Edge

Opening with Trick Attack is “optional”, can be a hassle.
Check the Hide macro posted above…

ROG L30 AoE Rotation

    • None

Yeahp, there’s no AoE skill for Rogues at this level range. Feelsbadman.

Rogue 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.


Rogue Leveling L1 to 30 Activity Flowchart

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

ROG 1 to 16ROG 16 to 30

ROG 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.

ROG 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 (ROG L1 to 30)

Here are the important things to keep in mind during the process.

ROG 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

ROG 1 to 16ROG 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 – Throwing Dagger. 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 Ninja!

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!
(ROG turns into Ninja at Level 30)

Rogue L30 Onward: Unlocking Ninja

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING ONCE YOU HIT Rogue LEVEL 30.
Unlock Ninja ASAP!

How to become a Ninja? Unlocking Ninja requires a Level 30 Rogue, and completion of the L30 ROG 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 infamous NINJUTSU and your first Mudra), but most if not all new skills and traits going forward are for NINJA and not Rogue, so you have no reason to stay as an ROG any longer.

Rogue Leveling – Related Reads

Some good reads and related links here:

Summary and Closing

And with that YOU’RE DONE WITH LEVELING Rogue! Congrats! Hopefully our Rogue Leveling Guide helped you out.


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FFXIV Rogue (ROG) 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


 

Resolved to go Rogue? I recommend you regale our reading on FFXIV Rogue Basics Guide & FAQ. As implied, this is for players wanting to know the absolute basics, and answer some of the most common questions regarding ROG.

Likely, one of the main reasons you’re here is either unlocking Rogue, or wondering about the eventual advanced jobs you can evolve into, Ninja.

How to become a Rogue? Unlocking ROG:

You can unlock the Rogue class by going to the Rogue Guild in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (around 8,16), look out for the quests either “Way of the Rogue”, or “So you want to be a Rogue”.

Rogue is the ONLY base class you CANNOT start the game as.

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 Rogue?

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

Ah, so you wanna be a Ninja? To each their own I suppose, heh. Seriously though, Ninja is a very technical melee DPS class which has the very cool Mudra system (the hand signs, if you’re wondering) and somehow after years of refinement finally feels pretty fluid and fun. So if you wanna omae wa no shinderu as Ninja, you better start omae wa no level uppu your Rogue.

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

Rogue Crafters and Gatherers?

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

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 Rogue 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 Rogue, and some links for Ninja.

Feel free to suggest anything else via comment or socials!

Summary & In Closing

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


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?

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FFXIV Ninja (NIN) Basics Guide & FAQ – Shadowbringers Updated!

Shadowbringers Updated! A guide on the basics of Ninja! NIN unlocking & requirements, why play a Ninja, and other FAQ’s

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


 

Need info on Ninja? You’ll notice some neat notes on the NIN job here! Find basic information and FAQs in our Ninja Basics Guide. Read on if you’re expecting to learn about unlocking NIN, Ninja Job Identity, trait and skill list, crafters and gatherers related to NIN, and link to other important Ninja info!

Ninjas are a Melee DPS job, and the very first job to be released “mid-expansion”. They came out around patch 2.4 (Final Coil of Bahamut tier). NIN’s were the very first job to be added into the game aside from the original nine. In their role of Melee DPS, they are preceded by Monks and Dragoons.

How to become a Ninja? Unlocking NIN:

First and foremost you need to have a Level 30 Rogue, and have completed the L30 ROG class quest, “Cloying Victory”. After doing this you can unlock the actual quest to become a Ninja, “Peasants by Day, Ninja’s by Night” which is issued by Jacke at the Rogues Guild in Limsa Lominsa – Upper Decks.

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

Note that, upon completing Peasants by Day, Ninja’s by Night you MUST EQUIP the “Soul of the Ninja” to actually formally BECOME a NIN. Interestingly, in the old days, unlocking Ninja required L15 PGL – 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.

Ninja Playstyle & NIN Job Identity

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

Well it doesn’t get any more ninja than this. Handsigns? Double Daggers? Fast movement and “Teleports”? Then I got some good (or bad) news for you… Ninja is right up your alley!

While not known for their high personal DPS, they are known to increase raid DPS quite a bit via Trick Attack (historically the main reason to use a NIN). While their movespeed and Shukuchi allow them great mobility for resolving mechanics, the job itself is one of the harder (ehem, Mudras) to pull off well as it actually punishes you for mistaken inputs.

As you get better at Ninja, its complexity can be used to your advantage as the Mudra system can be done WHILE MOVING to allow a higher uptime if you plan your attacks wisely.

Aesthetically and thematically, the FFXIV Ninja’s look borrows heavily from FFVI’s Shadow. They are pretty spot on with the “anime ninja” look and feel.

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 Ninja level?

While it’s common in MMORPG’s to think you want to craft your own gear as you level up your NIN… 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 Ninja?

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 Ninja 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 Ninja.


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.