Endwalker Gearing Guide for FFXIV

This guide serves as an introduction to gearing and details how to acquire leveling and endgame gear in the latest expansion, Endwalker. Additionally, we will go over the various methods of gearing and how to quickly and efficiently gear your jobs up to tackle more challenging duties.

Players who are already familiar with FFXIV's vertical progression system can head to the gearing section to see how to gear up in the latest patch.

Equipment is divided into weapon and armour. All jobs except Paladin have a single weapon slot, while Paladin has both a Sword main-hand and a Shield off-hand. Armour is divided into armour and accessories, commonly referred to as left-side and right-side gear as they are displayed on the left and right in the character menu, respectively. Each has five slots: Head, Chest, Arms, Legs, and Feet for armour, as well as Earrings, Necklace, Bracelet, and two Rings for accessories.

Each piece of gear will denote the affinity of the equipment, which describes what classes or jobs can equip it. Gear is divided into sets based on role: Tanks, Healers, Caster DPS, and Ranged Physical DPS all have their own sets, while Melee DPS have a unified accessory set but are split based on their armour sets.

Gear progression is based on item level, commonly referred to i# or iL#. For example, if a piece of gear is i560, its item level is 560. The higher the item level, the stronger the piece of equipment is. Upgrading gear is very straightforward in FFXIV. Endgame gear with higher item levels can be acquired from various types of content. Increasing your item level is important, as all duties have a required minimum item level, although this can be bypassed when queueing with a full premade party.

The maximum item level is increased during each expansion and each patch which introduces a new Savage raid tier. The base item level for that patch's content is the maximum armour item level for the previous patch cycle plus 10. On odd-numbered patches, the maximum item level is not increased. However, more ways to upgrade gear are introduced. Best-in-slot (BiS) gear, or the strongest gear that is available in a patch, is generally a mix of gear acquired with capped currency and acquired from Savage raids.

If you examine your gear, you will notice that each piece has materia slots. Materia are gems that are inserted into gear to gain additional substats. After players acquire endgame gear, they must get materia to meld into them to maximize their potential and customize stats to suit their job's needs. Gear acquired from raids generally has one or two materia slots, but certain pieces have three or even five guaranteed slots. Each piece of crafted gear has five slots in total.

Players can meld gear at any Materia Melder NPC in major cities or by themselves if they have a crafter job leveled to the appropriate level. Crafters can also overmeld crafted gear, allowing them to put up to five materia in them.

Materia comes in ten grades, and the current endgame materia in Endwalker are Grade IX and Grade X materia. Grade X gives the highest substats, while Grade IX materia are strictly used for overmelding.

Melding gear is extremely important for endgame content, as it gives many substats. Materia meld priorities for jobs can be found on our job guides. Players can acquire materia from a variety of sources.

• All max level dungeons randomly drop materia, which can be either grade.
• The Adventurer in Need bonus for Duty Roulette: Leveling and Duty Roulette: Alliance rewards Cracked Anthocluster and Cracked Dendrocluster, which can be traded in for combat-based varieties of materia.
• Hunts reward many materia, including the currency listed above that can be traded for materia of the player's choice.
• Players can extract fully spiritbound gear for materia.
• Wondrous Tails commendations can be traded in for materia currency.
• Materia can easily be bought from other players on the market board with gil.

Gear can be acquired from a variety of sources in FFXIV.

1. Dropped in dungeons;
2. Dropped in Extreme Trials, or purchased with tokens from those trials;
3. Dropped in raids, or purchased with tokens from those raids;
4. Crafted by Disciples of the Hand;
5. Purchased with Allagan Tomestones.

To learn more about the different types of content and how to acquire loot from them, visit our raiding loot and lockouts page.

Dungeon gear is generally the weakest option out of all the endgame gear sets. However, dungeon gear serves as a decent stepping stone for leveling for the expansion launch and for players who are catching up to the current patch cycle. These drop from dungeon treasure coffers, and players who complete a leveling dungeon will receive a random piece for their job that they do not already have. To learn more about dungeons in Endwalker, visit our Endwalker dungeon guide!

Extreme Trials mainly reward weapons, although certain trials will reward accessories and even armour. These duties and their weapons serve as a precursor to Savage raiding, and the difficulty of Extreme Trials is certainly a step up from all other non-Savage content in the game. Visit our Trials hub to learn more about the Extreme Trials available in Endwalker.

Raid gear can be acquired on a weekly lockout. There are three types of raids players can acquire gear from: Normal Raids, Alliance Raids, and Savage Raids. Normal Raids and Alliance Raids are of low difficulty and can be done through the duty finder on a weekly basis, while Savage Raids are much more difficult - it is recommended to form a premade party to challenge them. The gear acquired from Savage raids is some of the strongest gear available in a patch and forms a majority of the best-in-slot gear set a player can acquire. To learn more about raids, visit our Endwalker raiding hub.

Crafted gear forms the cornerstone of raid progression. Crafted gear can be acquired for any job and is essentially unlimited with no lockout, so players can acquire crafted gear at any point for any job they would like. In addition, crafted gear is at the same item level of gear acquired through the Normal difficulty raid.

As the name denotes, crafted gear is made by Disciples of the Hand with materials purchased with Allagan Tomestones and those gathered by Disciples of the Land. Players without access to crafters or friends who are crafters will need to purchase these from other players on the market board. These recipes require the crafter and gatherer to have high stats, but the payoff is well worth it. To learn more about endgame crafting, visit our Endwalker crafting guide.

Gear purchased with capped Allagan Tomestones is generally the first major upgrade players will acquire. Capped tomestone gear is ten item levels higher than crafted gear or gear acquired from Normal Raids and can be upgraded further with upgrade materials acquired from Savage Raids or Alliance Raids. Upgraded gear from Allagan Tomestones forms the other half of best-in-slot gear that can be acquired.

Uncapped Allagan Tomestones can be used to purchase gear or can be used to purchase materials needed for crafted gear. The tomestone vendor Cihanti is located in Radz-at-Han (x10.8, y10.3) and services both types of tomestones.

The most efficient way to acquire the capped Allagan Tomestones is to unlock and complete Duty Roulette: Expert. The dungeons reward 50 tomestones, and the roulette reward 40 for a total of 90, so it takes five roulettes a week to cap tomestones! It also rewards a great deal of uncapped tomestone both from the roulette and the duty. To learn more about Allagan Tomestones, visit our Currencies page.

Patch 6.0 is the first patch of Endwalker, and with it comes a massive item level increase. Players will be given many equipment coffers as they progress through the MSQ. Between these coffers and dungeon drops, players will catch-up if needed and stay up-to-date with their item level as they approach Level 90.

Once players reach Level 89, they will receive their Artifact Gear from a vendor (Varsarudh) in Old Sharlayan. This includes a full set of item level 560 armour and a weapon. This will be serviceable left side equipment for the entirety of endgame released so far.

Once players reach the level cap, they will be able to start acquiring stronger accessories. The level cap dungeons will drop item level 560 accessories, although the ring is unique. Additionally, unlocking and completing the two level cap dungeons is necessary to unlock Duty Roulette: Expert.

At this point, players can start farming uncapped tomestones to purchase item level 570 Moonward gear. In addition, players can tackle the two Extreme Trials in order to acquire an item level 580 weapon and item level 580 accessories, which are the strongest gear for their slots available so far. Gear up and prepare for the release of Pandaemonium: Asphodelos!

Patch 6.1 is the second patch of Endwalker. As it is an odd-numbered patch, there is no item level increase. Instead, returning players will find new content catered towards catching players up to the max item level of the patch in order to prepare for the next raid patch.

Players can do the Hunt or the new Alliance Raid, Aglaia, in order to acquire tokens to upgrade gear purchased with Allagan Tomestones of Astronomy to item level 600. Players can upgrade all gear in this method, except a single ring.

Alt jobs are much easier to gear as well, as Savage's loot lockout has been removed and item level 590 upgraded crafted gear is able to be acquired by trading in i580 crafted gear and tokens purchased with Allagan Tomestones of Aphorism.

Players can tackle the new EX trial in order to acquire an item level 595 weapon.

Patch 6.2 is the third patch of Endwalker. The maximum item level was raised by 30, and a new raid tier was introduced: Abyssos. In addition, a new capped tomestone was introduced - Allagan Tomestones of Causality. Players should aim to cap these tomestones every week by running Duty Roulette: Expert as usual. These allow players to purchase item level 620 gear.

At a baseline level, item level 610 gear can be acquired by crafting them or purchasing them with tokens rewarded from Pandaemonium: Abyssos (Normal). There is a weekly lockout on tokens, but gear is able to be acquired relatively quickly and players should find their jobs at item level 610 with a few lockouts.

At this point, stronger gear can be acquired by tackling more challenging duties. The new Extreme trial, Storm's Crown (Extreme), will drop item level 615 weapons. The new Savage raid tier will drop item level 630 gear.

Patch 6.3 is the fourth patch of Endwalker. As it is an odd-numbered patch, there is no item level increase. Instead, returning players will find new content catered towards catching players up to the max item level of the patch in order to prepare for the next raid patch.

Players can do the Hunt or the new Alliance Raid, Euphrosyne, in order to acquire tokens to upgrade gear purchased with Allagan Tomestones of Causality to item level 630. Players can upgrade all tomestone gear through this method except a single ring.

Other jobs become easier to gear as well. Savage's loot lockout will be removed later in the patch, and item level 620 upgraded crafted gear will be able to be acquired by trading in item level 610 crafted gear and tokens purchased with Allagan Tomestones of Astronomy.

In addition, a new Extreme trial will be released. Players can attempt this duty in order to acquire an item level 625 weapon.

Patch 6.4 is the fifth patch of Endwalker. The maximum item level was raised by 30, and a new raid tier was introduced: Anabaseios, which is the final tier of Pandaemonium. Again, a new capped tomestone was introduced - Allagan Tomestones of Comedy. Players should aim to cap these tomestones every week by running Duty Roulette: Expert as usual. These allow players to purchase item level 650 gear.

At a baseline level, item level 640 gear can be acquired by crafting them or purchasing them with tokens rewarded from Pandaemonium: Anabaseios (Normal). There is a weekly lockout on tokens, but gear is able to be acquired relatively quickly and players should find their jobs at item level 640 with a few lockouts. Getting to item level 640 will allow players to access all content released in the patch.

At this point, stronger gear can be acquired by tackling more challenging duties. The new Extreme trial, The Voidcast Dais (Extreme), will drop item level 645 weapons. The new Savage raid tier will drop item level 660 gear.

Patch 6.5 is the sixth and final major patch of Endwalker. As it is an odd-numbered patch, there is no item level increase. Instead, returning players will find new content catered towards catching players up to the max item level of the patch in order to prepare for the next expansion, Dawntrail. While baseline item level 640 gear is sufficient for the release of Dawntrail, acquiring item level 660 gear will let you skip upgrading your gear until the second or third dungeon.

Item level 640 gear can be acquired with no lockout from the third tier of the raid, Anabaseios. These fights can now be farmed with no restrictions, so returning players can easily acquire baseline item level gear without spending any gil. Read up on the fights on our Raids page for a refresher on the content.

Players can do the Hunt or the new Alliance Raid, Thaleia, in order to acquire tokens to upgrade gear purchased with Allagan Tomestones of Comedy to item level 660. Players can upgrade all tomestone gear through this method except a single ring. Players can also acquire item level 650 gear from Thaleia itself to use for main jobs or alt jobs.

Other jobs become easier to gear as well. Savage's loot lockout will be removed later in the patch, and item level 650 upgraded crafted gear will be able to be acquired by trading in item level 640 crafted gear and tokens purchased with Allagan Tomestones of Causality.

Players can purchase an item level 650 weapon with Allagan Tomestones of Comedy after doing four weeks of Anabaseios: The Twelfth Circle. Alternatively, players looking for a challenge can defeat Zeromus in the Abyssal Fracture (Extreme) to acquire an item level 655 weapon. Later in the patch, players will be able to purchase the upgrade item for weapons through Hunts or Alliance Raid tokens. This will give easy access to a strong item level 660 weapon for all jobs.