FFXIV Arcanist (ACN) Leveling Guide & Rotation | ShB UPDATED

How to level up your Arcanist (ACN) fast! Rotation, skills, reminders, and the best places to be in any level – HERE!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Aching to level yer’ Arcanist? Lured in by the pets? Don’t sweats. Well you’ve found the right place. Hopefully, our Arcanist Leveling Guide helps you out!

While this page focuses on Arcanist 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 Arcanist up to 30.

Arcanist Unlocking? Other basics?

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

Location: Limsa Lominsa – Lower Decks, Arcanist’s Guild (6, 10)
Related Quests: (all in the same place)
> So you want to be an Arcanist
> Way of the Arcanist
> My First Grimoire
Others: You may also begin the game as Arcanist

Arcanist is a Magical Ranged DPS class (commonly referred to as “caster), falling under the Disciple of Magic category. Also, if you’re curious about the job you turn into, Arcanist are the prerequisite class for unlocking Scholar and Summoner.

This guide has three major segments:

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

Arcanist Rotation for Leveling, Skills, Traits, Etc.

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

L1 Skill Unlocked Ruin – Essentially, this is your “basic attack”. Or basic spell, I guess.

L2 Skill Unlocked Bio – An instant cast DoT (Damage over time) spell. Always open fights with it, and renew it when its duration is 3s or less. While this is a good habit to form, the initial form of this DoT is actually horrible – the enemy life expectancy has to be 24 seconds for it to be good.

L4 Skill Unlocked Physick – A basic healing spell. Nothing else to say here! 

L4 Skill Unlocked Summon – Calls forth a blue caster-type minion that helps you DPS! Emerald Carbuncle is cute ain’t it? 

L2 Skill Unlocked Miasma – A second DoT! Like its predecessor, it’s still quite unimpressive. Only worth if enemy life expectancy is around 21 seconds. 

L8 Role Action Unlocked Addle – Reduces targets INT (reduces enemy magic damage). Has almost no use in non-boss encounters and basic leveling activities.

L10 Skill Unlocked Egi Assault – Has different effects depending on which summon you’re using. Blue pet: AoE attack. Yellow pet: gives you a chunky self shield. 

L12 Skill Unlocked Resurrection – Revives a dead ally, even in combat, but at the cost of a lot of mana, a huge cast bar, and your newly returned friend suffering a stat penalty. That being said, this is one of the most important skills in group content.

L15 Skill Unlocked Summon II – Brings Topaz Carbuncle by your side – a yellow “support” / tank type pet. The self-shield (from Egi Assault) is pretty useful for tougher solo encounters.

Summon I – Blue is more suitable for AoE (dungeons), while
Summon II – Yellow is more suitable for single target and most solo content.

L18 Role Action Unlocked Swiftcast – Primarily used to speed up Resurrection. Advanced usage is “continuing to DPS while moving”. In group content, I highly suggest simply saving it for res during the leveling process.

L18 Skill Unlocked Energy Drain – An off-gcd nuke that gives you your first stack of Aetherflow! USE THIS AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN, but never “overcap” your Aetherflow. Aetherflow is used to execute certain skills. The first of which is Fester. This is the cornerstone mechanic of any Arcanist-evolved class.

L18 Skill Unlocked Fester – Ah, your first skill which REQUIRES Aetherflow to use . It’s a single target nuke that is stronger for each of YOUR DoT’s on the target. 

While your DoT’s may not be the best, keeping them up so you have a more powerful Fester is worth it.

L24 Role Action Unlocked Lucid Dreaming – Gives you mana! Use this early and often as there’s almost no point holding on to it. Don’t wait until you’re low on mana.

L26 Trait Unlocked Corruption Mastery – Transforms Bio into Bio II, which is just better all around. Stronger initial damage, stronger DoT. Doesn’t change your rotation in any way – the key even rebinds itself…

L26 Skill Unlocked Bio II – This isn’t really an unlock – the previously mentioned trait simply upgrades your old Bio. 

L30 Skill Unlock Bane – Finally, some consistent AoE! Spreads your DoT’s to all nearby targets, but weakens them on the “new targets”. There’s some math and situationality of when to bane and when to manual DoT – let’s save that discussion for Summoner related discussion as it’s irrelevant now, and irrelevant for Scholar. 

Completing the L30, “Sinking Doesmaga” quest and unlocking Bane marks your final class quest as Arcanist. You now have the right to become a Scholar or Summoner!


Arcanist Rotation – L1 to 30 SUMMARY

Here’s a by the book summary of what your ACN rotation is in the early leveling process. Adjust to your currently learned skills.

ACN 30 Single Target RotationACN AoE Rotation

ACN L30 Single Target Rotation

    • Energy Drain up? Use as an OGCD if possible.
    • Have Aetherflow? Fester, use as an OGCD if possible. DoTs must be up!
    • Miasma > Bio (Unless enemy is on brink of death)
    • Egi Assault (If Blue)
    • Ruin Spam

ACN L30 AoE Rotation

    • Apply DoT’s one one guy, then Bane (Definitive value at 3+ targets, not bad at 2)
    • Energy Drain up? Use as an OGCD if possible.
    • Have Aetherflow? Fester, use as an OGCD if possible. DoTs must be up!
    • Egi Assault (If Blue)
    • Ruin Spam

Wow, now that I typed it out – pretty much Bane is the only difference.

While your DoT’s may not be the best, keeping them up so you have a more powerful Fester is worth it, even if your full or “good enough” DoT duration won’t tick. Don’t sweat about optimizing it this early on.

Arcanist 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.


Arcanist Leveling L1 to 30 Activity Flowchart

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

ACN 1 to 16ACN 16 to 30

ACN 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.

ACN 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 (ACN L1 to 30)

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

ACN 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

ACN 1 to 16ACN 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 – Summon II, which is pretty alright. It’s a better summon for soloing.

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.

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 either Scholar or SUmmoner!

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!
(ACN turns into Scholar or Summoner at Level 30)

Arcanist L30 Onward: Unlocking ADVANCEJOB

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING ONCE YOU HIT Arcanist LEVEL 30.
Unlock Scholar or Summoner ASAP!

How to become a Scholar or Summoner? Unlocking Scholar or Summoner requires a Level 30 Arcanist, and completion of the L30 ACN 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 (SCH gets Adloquium, SMN gets Summon III – Ifrit), but most if not all new skills and traits going forward are for SMN/SCH and not ARCANIST, so you have no reason to stay as an ACN any longer.

Arcanist Leveling – Related Reads

Some good reads and related links here:

Summary and Closing

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


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 Arcanist (ACN) Basics Guide & FAQ – Shadowbringers Updated!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Ascertaining to be an Arcanist? Arrive unto answers with our FFXIV Arcanist Basics Guide & FAQ. As implied, this is for players wanting to know the absolute basics, and answer some of the most common questions regarding ACN.

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

How to become an Arcanist? Unlocking ACN:

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

If you didn’t start as an ACN, you can unlock the Arcanist class by going to the Arcanist Guild in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (around 5,11), look out for the quests either “Way of the Arcanist”, or “So you want to be an Arcanist”.

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 Arcanist?

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

Scholars are a technical shielding / mitigation healer job (which still retains the pet, don’t worry). They’re a type of healer which rewards encounter knowledge and healer duo cohesion more so than its peers. While not known for sheer power, they are hyper efficient and have tools to help any situation.

Summoners are a DoT / Pet based magical DPS job which has been known to have a multi-phase rotation. Their job identity has been the most “fluid” of all, as they’ve been soft reworked quite a bit over the years.

So if either or both of these jobs got you thinking, go get your Arcanist levels dinging! You’ll do well to learn a little more about what you’ll eventually BECOME:
FFXIV Scholar Basics Guide, FFXIV Summoner Basics Guide.

Arcanist Crafters and Gatherers?

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

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 Arcanist 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:

  • 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 Arcanist, and some links for Scholar and/or Summoner.

Feel free to suggest anything else via comment or socials!

Summary & In Closing

Well that’s it for our Arcanist Basics Guide & FAQ. There’s not much to say but these are really basic little guides to help out the budding or confused ACN, and hopefully future SCH and/or SMN! 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?

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.

FFXIV Scholar (SCH) Basics Guide & FAQ – Shadowbringers Updated!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Studying up on Scholar, ey? Surely, you’ll find supplemental and support info on the SCH job here! Basic information and FAQs in our Scholar Basics Guide. Read on if you’re expecting to learn about unlocking SCH, Scholar Job Identity, trait and skill list, crafters and gatherers related to SCH, and link to other important Scholar info! Perfect for the 

Scholar is a Healer job, and is one of the first nine jobs to be released in 2.0 A Realm Reborn. SCHs healed with White Mages as the only healing jobs at the time.

How to become a Scholar? Unlocking SCH:

First and foremost you need to have a Level 30 Arcanist, and have completed the L30 ACN class quest, “Sinking Doesmaga”. After doing this you can unlock the actual quest to become a Scholar, “Forgotten but Not Gone”. This quest is issued at the Arcanist’s guild by Murie, at Limsa Lominsa – Lower 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 Scholar. 

Note that, upon completing Forgotten but Not Gone you MUST EQUIP the “Soul of the Scholar” to actually formally BECOME a SCH. Interestingly, in the old days, unlocking Scholar required L15 Conjurer – thankfully 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.

Scholar Playstyle & SCH Job Identity

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

Scholars heal alongside a fairy pet. Curious now ey? FFXIV’s SCH is a very “technical” healer that rewards encounter knowledge and optimization heavily. It’s primary niche is damage mitigation through “prevention” via shielding and resists.

Through the management of Aetherflow stacks and your “fairy bar”, there’s a tension on how best to use your resources (Heh, Energy Drain). Scholars are undoubtedly on the technical side of healer jobs, as mitigation skills are utterly useless if mechanics blindside you. The payoff? IMO the most EFFICIENT healing kit overall – this coming from a White Mage main.

Aesthetically and thematically, Fairy + Book + Glasses + “Technical job”, this kind of schtick attracts quite a few people, heh. FFXIV’s Scholar, on a more serious note, hits a home run in the theme department. The job is, lore wise, focused on tactics and your gameplay reflects that.

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 Scholar level?

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

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 Scholar 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 Scholar.


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.

FFXIV Summoner (SMN) Basics Guide & FAQ – Shadowbringers Updated!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Striving to set out as a Summoner? Simmer on how to stir up a storm with the SMN job! Basic information and FAQs in our Summoner Basics Guide. Read on if you’re expecting to learn about unlocking SMN, Summoner Job Identity, trait and skill list, crafters and gatherers related to SMN, and link to other important Summoner info!

Summoner is a Ranged Magical DPS job (“caster”) introduced as one of the nine original jobs in 2.0 A Realm Reborn. SMNs came out at release with another caster job, Black Mage. It took years before another caster was added into the mix (During 4.0 Stormblood, Red Mage).

How to become a Summoner? Unlocking SMN:

First and foremost you need to have a Level 30 Arcanist, and have completed the L30 ACN class quest, “Sinking Doesmaga”. After doing this you can unlock the actual quest to become a Summoner, “Austerities of Flame” found at Limsa Lominsa – Lower 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 Summoner. 

Note that, upon completing the quest you MUST EQUIP the “Soul of the Summoner” to actually formally BECOME a SMN. Interestingly, in the old days, unlocking Summoner required L15 Thaumaturge – 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.

Summoner Playstyle & SMN Job Identity

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

Pet class DPS? Sign me up! For sure you know at least ONE dude that said it. FFXIV’s Summoner has gone through quite a few transformations over the years… 

Historically, SMN’s are a reasonably mobile caster class. While their “multi phase” rotation is a little too much to swallow for some, it’s a welcome challenge for some. They have a DoT subtheme if you’re into that. Aligning and being smart about timings and cooldowns are a CORE mastery aspect for the job. Be warned, their “only human” phase is some of the most feelsbad parts of any jobs rotation heh.

Aesthetically and thematically, I mean, you can’t not love the classic Summoner horn, and your cast of pets include the classics Ifrit, Titan, Bahamut, Garuda, Phoenix. The flashiness is off the charts as well. FFXIV’s Summoner might not be for everyone, but they (literally they) get the job done.

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 Summoner level?

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

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 Summoner 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 Summoner.


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.