Final Fantasy XIV: Leveling Gatherers in Endwalker from 80-90
Perhaps you're accustomed to leveling through the Diadem or Ishgard Restoration with Gathering and Crafting, but those days are over post-80 with Final Fantasy XIV's Endwalker expansion. In the grind to level 90, there are already much better ways to get your Miner, Botanist, and Fisher to the new level cap without spending any of your own Gil.
To get you started, we're breaking down buffs, daily quests, Endwalker collectable turn-ins, and how to spend your new White and Purple Scrips. It shouldn't take long, and with a few days of diligence, you'll have all three gathering classes to 90.
- Buffs, Food, and Gear
- Challenge Log
- Grand Company Deliveries
- Studium Deliveries
- Collectable Turn-Ins
- Levequests
- Spending White & Purple Scrips
Experience Buffs, Food, and Gearing Gatherers at Level 80
Every little bit counts, and with how easy it is to get Free Company Seals, food, and extra buffs in FFXIV, you might as well use it all when you can. Some effects aren't worth chasing, but there are a few you should always try to have going while working on your levels.
Free Company Actions
Gathering Actions you can pick up from the Free Company Quartermaster for Miners, Botanists, and Fishers buff your experience grind. The Earth and Water Action adds percentage-based buffs to your gathering actions for 24 hours.
- Earth and Water
- Increases EXP earned through gathering by 5%
- Available for 3,010 Credits at a Grand Company Quartermaster
- Earth and Water II
- Increases EXP earned through gathering by 10%
- Available for 6,020 Credits at a Grand Company Quartermaster
- Earth and Water III
- Increases EXP earned through gathering by 20%
- Craft a Grade III Wheel of Productivity in your Free Company Workshop. It must be charged for 72 hours in a Grade 6 Aetherial Wheel Stand before use.
Keep in mind, no Earth and Water Buff stacks with the Squadron Survival Manual. They replace each other.
Survival Manuals
These EXP buffs come from a few different places, but not all of them offer the same benefits. Since White Gatherer's Scrips are easy to come by, you can pick up a few Revised Survival Manuals from the Scrip Vendor for 300 currency (like the one mentioned below in Radz-at-Han).
- Commercial Survival Manual
- 30 White Scrips from Scrip Exchange
- 150% EXP boost up to 1,750,000 points (Effect is halved at level 70 and above)
- Revised Survival Manual
- 300 White Scrips from Scrip Exchange
- 150% EXP boost up to 2,000,000 points (Effect is halved at level 80 and above)
- Company-issue Survival Manual
- 1,440 Grand Company Seals from Company Quartermaster
- 150% EXP boost up to 250,000 points (Effect is halved at level 40 and above)
- Company-issue Survival Manual II
- 2,300 Grand Company Seals from Company Quartermaster
- 150% EXP boost up to 1,000,000 points (Effect is halved at level 50 and above)
- Squadron Survival Manual
- +20% EXP for 120 minutes
- Obtained from Squadron Missions (Imperial Pursuit, Outlaw Subjugation)
- Cannot stack with Earth and Water FC Action
Leveling Food
Every meal buff lasts for 30 minutes by default and gives you an additional 3% experience while gathering. It's not a lot, but there's no way you don't have food laying around from various sidequests and Endwalker's MSQ. It's free, so keep the bonus going while you're collecting items.
As for what food to use, it doesn't really matter while leveling. If you don't have anything handy, vendors sell plenty of gathering meals for cheap, like Shepard's Pie from Grege in The Gold Saucer (X:5.0, Y6.4). Food stacks with your Free Company buffs and any Survival Manuals you may use.
Rested Experience
Rested Experience is accumulated by going AFK or logging out in Sanctuaries around FFXIV, and takes several days to fully recharge. A Sanctuary is anywhere you're able to log out without seeing the 20-second countdown timer, so places like cities, inns, houses, etc.
Rested Experience adds +50% EXP to your gathering actions, and it stacks with other buffs listed here. Since gatherers can be quite a grind, it's worth prioritizing these classes for your rested bonus.
Unfortunately, you aren't able to choose what Rested Experience is used on. If you want to use it on Battle Jobs, don't work on your gatherers until this is all spent.
Gear for Leveling Fisher, Miner, and Botanist
Your class gear or HQ Aesthete set from Shadowbringers should be fine for leveling your Fisher, Botanist, and Miner to 90. There is vendor gear available in Endwalker for higher item level, but any melded Aesthete gear should still be better.
As a general rule, do not worry about regearing these classes until you reach level 90. Then you can go for the AR-Caen crafted set or equipment from Purple Scrips. It's a waste of Gil to try and upgrade between levels.
Challenge Log Journal for Fishing, Botany, and Mining
Challenge Log activities for your Fisher, Botanist, and Miner are pretty easy and usually attained automatically while working towards other leveling objectives. They reset every Tuesday, so you should check in just to make sure you aren't missing any and clean up before the week begins anew.
- The Gathering Storm - 461,550 EXP
- Successfully gather items of comparable level to your own 100 times
- Hooked on the Reeling - 461,550 EXP
- Catch 30 fish
- Catch of the Day - 461,550 EXP
- Catch 10 large-sized fish
- Spear Me - 461,550 EXP
- Spear 50 fish
- Spear No Effort - 461,550 EXP
- Spear 20 large-sized fish
- A Boon from Nature - 461,550 EXP
- Successfully trigger the Gatherer's Boon effect while gathering items of comparable level to your own 30 times
Grand Company Turn-Ins for Fishing, Botany, and Mining
Daily Grand Company Provisioning Missions reset every 24 hours, make sure you always do them before the reset occurs. They're easy experience gained with little effort and can net you several levels on all three gatherers in just a few days.
Check your daily turn-ins through the Timer window (CTRL+U on mouse and keyboard). Select next Mission Allowance and look for the three at the bottom under Provisioning. Do these every day before your Studium, Levequests, or Collectable farming so you can make the most of other allowances.
How to Complete Sharlayan Studium Delivery Quests
Completing your Studium Delivery Quests will provide massive EXP bonuses and valuable White Scrip currency. We've got a whole guide on how to unlock The Studium Quests in Endwalker, but once you've got that sorted, you can talk to two NPCs in Old Sharlayan to open up a series of quests for your Miner/Botany jobs, and an additional line of tasks for your Fisher.
Make sure you do not cap on White Scrips while doing your Studium Deliveries. Always go to the Scrip Vendor to spend your currency before accumulating 2,000 White Scrips.
Miner and Botanist Studium Delivery Quest Locations
- Cultured Pursuits- Level 80
- No deliverables, but EXP reward for completion
- Cooking Up a Culture - Level 80
- (6) Hannish Staples
- Found in Thavnair
- The Culture of Ceruleum- Level 83
- (6) Garlean Staples
- Found in Garlemald
- The Culture of Carrots - Level 85
- (6) Lunar Staples
- Found in Mare Lamentorum
- Hinageshi in Hingashi - Level 85
- Hairpin Material
- Found in The Ruby Sea
- The Culture of the Past - Level 88
- (6) Elpis Staples
- Found in Elpis
How do you catch Collectable Endwalker Fish?
To catch fish for your Endwalker collectables, make sure you have Collect turned on before casting your line. Once you've caught the right fish use Identical Cast to reel in the same target.
You can also use Surface Slap to prevent your rod from hooking the same fish again if you're trying to avoid more common catches.
Where do you buy Endwalker Fishing Bait?
You can buy bait for the Studium Quests (and other Endwalker fish) from Synnove in Old Sharlayan (X:12.7, Y:10.4). She sells Shrimp Balls, Gold Salmon Roe, and Leeches.
This guide also uses the Sky Spoon Lure, available from the Scrip Exchange merchant for 50 White Scrips.
Fishing Studium Delivery Locations and Quests
- Fear the Thesis - Level 80
- No deliverables, but EXP reward for completion
- Go with the Flow - Level 80
- (6) Giant Aetherlouse
- Bait: Gold Salmon Roe
- Found in Labyrinthos - Unmoved Source Alpha (X:17.3, Y:5.7)
- Data across the Decades- Level 83
- (6) Garjana Wrasse
- Bait: Shrimp Ball
- Found in Thavniar - The Great Runoff (X:10.4, Y:22.0)
- History Lesson - Level 85
- (6) Garlean Clams
- Bait: Gold Salmon Roe
- Found in Garlemald - The Elban Thaw (X:11.6, Y:30.8)
- The Wandering Whale- Level 85
- (1) Alnairan Salmon
- Bait: Gold Salmon Roe
- Found in Thavniar - Ksiroda (X:10.4, Y:22.0)
- Fish Time Forgot - Level 88
- (6) Smaragdos
- Bait: Sky Spoon Lure
- Requires Patience II, Powerful Hookset
- Found in Elpis - Lethe (X:31.8, Y16.3)
Turning in Collectables at Radz-at-Han
The Collectables Vendor rotates your options weekly. That means this section of the guide will continue to update through Endwalker, but we do have some of the options and their rewards already available. Farming nodes as they pop up in Eorzean time is a great white to quickly work towards completing your White Scrip goals and picking up all of the new Endwalker node tomes. These will stay useful even after hitting level 90.
What is the Miner and Botanist Endwalker Collectable Rotation?
Using pentamelded equipment or job gear from Shadowbringers should be fine for gathering Endwalker turn-ins while leveling. Gathering materials at 1,000 Collectability nets you a hefty bonus to your base EXP and White Scrip reward. The rotation below isn't strict, but it's good to work towards that max collectability, just be careful not to run out of integrity and hit the minimum requirements for your rewards.
You'll need a minimum of 700 GP to use this Miner/Botanist rotation.
- Scrutiny
- Meticulous Prospector
- Scrutiny
- Meticulous Prospector
- Scour, to get as close or exactly to 1,000 Collectability
- Collect
Botanist Collectables Exchange 81-90
- Rarefied Coconut (600 Collectability) 15 White Scrips
- Location: Thavnair (X: 14.4, Y: 14.4)
- Time: 14:00 - 16:00, 2:00 - 4:00
- Rarefied Red Pine Log (600 Collectability) 14 White Scrips
- Location: Garlemald (X:35.2, Y:5.5)
- Time: 16:00 - 18:00, 4:00 - 6:00
- Rarefied Palm Log (600 Collectability) 13 White Scrips
- Location: Thavnair (X: 14.4, Y: 14.4)
- Time: 14:00 - 16:00, 2:00 - 4:00
- Rarefied Thavnairian Perilla Leaf (400 Collectability) 3 White Scrips
- Location: Thavnair (X: 24.0, Y:30.6)
- Time: No timer
Miner Collectables Exchange 81-90
- Rarefied Sharlayan Rock Salt (600 Collectability) 15 White Scrips
- Location: Labyrinthos (X: 32.4, Y: 21.3)
- Time: 12:00 - 14:00, 0:00 - 2:00
- Rarefied Bismuth Ore (600 Collectability) 14 White Scrips
- Location: Mare Lamentorum (X: 16.5, Y: 32.7)
- Time: 18:00 - 20:00, 6:00 - 8:00
- Rarefied Raw Ametrine (600 Collectability) 13 White Scrips
- Location: Labyrinthos (X: 32.4, Y: 21.3)
- Time: 12:00 - 14:00, 0:00 - 2:00
- Rarefied High Durium Ore (400 Collectability) 3 White Scrips
- Location: Thavnair (X: 16.1, Y:17.8)
- Time: No timer
How do you catch Collectable Fish for turn-ins in Endwalker?
Catching fish for Endwalker turn-ins doesn't have a very complicated rotation, but just using Collect isn't enough. Grind your fishing EXP with the following rotation:
- Turn on Collect before casting your line
- Use Patience or Patience II before casting your line
- Use Powerful Hookset (indicated with a '!!' marker) or Precision Hookset (indicated with a '!' marker) to reel them in
Fisher Collectables Exchange 81-90
- Seema Duta (188 Collectability) 34 White Scrips
- Location: Radz-at-Han - Meghaduta (X:4.9, Y:12.3)
- Bait: Versatile Lure, Gold Salmon Roe
- Powerful Hookset
- Topminnow (18 Collectability) 33 White Scrips
- Location: Labyrinthos - Unmoved Source Alpha (X:17.3, Y:5.7)
- Precision Hookset
- Bait: Gold Salmon Roe
- Pantherscale Grouper (217 Collectability) 32 White Scrips
- Location: Thavniar - Yedlihmad (X:10.4, Y:22.0)
- Bait: Versatile Lure
- Powerful Hookset
- Pipefish (31 Collectability) 21 White Scrips
- Location: (Unconfirmed)
- Spearfishing
- Shogun's Kabuto (400 Collectability) 15 White Scrips
- Location: (Unconfirmed)
- Spearfishing
- Othardian Wrasse (181 Collectability) 12 White Scrips
- Location: The Ruby Sea - Exile (X28:0, Y:23.4)
- Spearfishing (Medium-sized, very fast)
Levequest Allowances for Fishing, Botany, and Mining
Endwalker Gathering Levequests are found in Old Sharlayan (X:12.1, Y:13.4) by speaking to Grigge. Fieldcraft Leves for Fisher, Botanist, and Miner, change every two levels at 80, 82, 84, 86, and 88.
Leves should be the last thing you use while leveling gathering classes. They're incredibly useful for crafters, so it's wise to save as many as you can for those roles. However, you do get three new Leve Allowances every 12 hours, so if you're capped at 100, you should pick up at least three quests to do while more are added to your total.
Over just a few days of doing daily Grand Company turn-ins, Studium deliveries, Collectables, and use of experience buffs, it shouldn't take you too many of these to get your Fisher, Botanist, and Miner to level 90.
You can buy turn-ins for Fishing Leves, but it's generally not worth the price. It's just as easy to retrieve those items yourself and stock up on a few extra to sell.
What to Use White and Purple Scrips on in Endwalker
To make Gil as any gathering (or crafting) job, you need the Tomes of Geological Folklore - so prioritize your books. Save up White Scrips in the beginning (if you aren't buying more EXP buffs) and prioritize getting Regional Folklore Trader's Token C. You will trade these tokens for 9 new gathering books in Endwalker.
Scrip Exchange Vendor in Radz-at-Han (X:11.5, Y9.4)
- Regional Folklore Trader's Token C - 100 White Scrips
You'll need 144 Regional Folklore Trader's Token C to collect all 9 Tomes of Geological Folklore. That's 14,400 White Scrips total. You'll go across the hall to the Splendors Vendor to buy your books.
Splendors Vendor in Radz-at-Han (X:11.3, Y:9.1)
- Tome of Geological Folklore - Ilsabard and the Northern Empty - 16 Tokens
- Tome of Geological Folklore - The Sea of Stars - 16 Tokens
- Tome of Geological Folklore - The World Unsundered - 16 Tokens
- Tome of Botanical Folklore - Ilsabard and the Northern Empty - 16 Tokens
- Tome of Botanical Folklore - The Sea of Stars - 16 Tokens
- Tome of Botanical Folklore - The World Unsundered - 16 Tokens
- Tome of Ichthyological Folklore - Ilsabard and the Northern Empty - 16 Tokens
- Tome of Ichthyological Folklore - The Sea of Stars - 16 Tokens
- Tome of Ichthyological Folklore - The World Unsundered - 16 Tokens
Scrip Exchange Vendor Purple Scrip Gear
Go for anything here after you've gotten all of your books. Additional stats will help you gather items from the new nodes above, but they should still be reachable in much smaller numbers without Purple Scrip gear. The vendor sells Minesoph, Fieldsoph, and Tacklesoph equipment for your Miner, Botanist, and Fisher.
- Main Hands - 700 Purple Scrips
- Body - 500 Purple Scrips
- Hats - 300 Purple Scrips
- Pants, Gloves, Boots - 200 Purple Scrips
An entire set of your left side equipment, along with the main hand, requires 2,100 Purple Scrips per job. You can also buy fishing tackle and crafting mats from these vendors, but try to prioritize these pieces and your books first.