There’s an axiom that whenever there’s an RPG, there will be a fishing mini-game. While Final Fantasy XIV isn’t a complete RPG – it’s an MMO, fishing is still a fun and complete experience, with some players touting it as their favorite Disciple of the Land Job. If you haven't experienced the joy of spending an entire day catching digital fish, you too can go from being a greenhorn to a pro angler with this FFXIV fishing guide.
The Journey to Becoming A Fisher
If you’re not a part of the Fisherman’s Guild yet, speak to N’nmulika at the Fisherman’s Guild in the Limsa Lower Decks. To join the guild, you must have at least one Magic class (level 10 or above) or one Disciple of War. Unless you’re an Arcanist, Marauder, or Rogue, that’s pretty much it as far as requirements go.
In this guide, we will be breaking it down into sections of leveling, including:
- 1-15
- 15-35
- 35-50
- 50-65
- 65-80
FFXIV Fishing Leveling Guide
So without further ado, let’s get started with this FFXIV fishing leveling guide!
Fishing Leveling 1-15
You will be looking for fish known as Lominsan Anchovy and Harbor Herring for the first five levels. There are also levequests to finish, though you are best off visiting the best grinding spots for the most efficient experience at these lower levels. With that in mind, we are looking for the two fish types that we just mentioned, which can be found just outside of the guild itself. Use Lugworm bait for the Anchovy and Pillburg for the Herring until you reach level 5, which requires five Lominsan Anchovy and three Harbor Herring.
To hit level 10, we will be looking for Princess Trout. Again, you may want to hold off worrying too much about the Levequests here since there’s more to be gotten from the grinding spot. The level 5 Levequests involve Sea Cucumber, Harbor Herring, Ocean Cloud, and Coral Butterfly. Going back to Princess Trout, you can find them in most rivers in Middle La Noscea when using the Crayfish Ball. You should look in Nym, Rogue, The Mourning Widow, and West Agelyss. Your best way of hitting level 10 is to hit Murmur Rills with the Crayfish Ball to get there quickly.
From there to level 15, we will be going for five Navigators Dagger. Your best bet is to use Rat Tails over in Brewers Beacon. Swiftperch is very helpful to get to 15 in particular, using the Goby Ball to bring you the fish required to get to the target. The Goby Ball is the best choice of fish for this level tier, so get grinding.
15-35
From 15 to 20, mainly switch your focus to using Rat Tails in Aleport to give you the best chance of catching the Levequest Fish, including Razor Clam, Helmet Crab, White Coral, and Rothlyt Oyster. We will need five Warmwater Trout for Fishing Quest Level 20, which can easily be found in Oakwood using Crow Fly. For grinding, the Fallgourd Float with Midge Basket is effective simply because of its XP offerings.
To reach 25, we are going after Shadow Catfish. You will have learned the Release skill, which lets you release the fish you have caught. As for the Shadow Catfish, you can help yourself using Moth Pupa to catch them out in the marshes. You will need to be able to mooch to finish this class quest, which you won’t get until level 25. Meanwhile, your Levequest fish are Dark Sleeper, Copperfish, Black Eel, and Faerie Bass. Your best places to grind are the Yugram River with Butterworm to get Eels at night or Oakwood with the Crow Fly and Brass Spoon Lore.
The Fishing Quest for Level 30 is 10 Fullmoon Sardine. These can be found at the Isles of Umbra, though they only spawn at night. So take your Spoonworm, and head north between 6 pm and 6 am to get the catch. Once more, don’t worry too much about the Levequest Fish here, including Dark Bass, Five-Ilm Pleco, Yugr’am Salmon, and Black Ghost. The grinding spots are a better use of your time, including Ceruleum Field. Using the Chocobo Fly Lure here will see you grinding for a long time due to how effective it is.
For level 35’s Fishing Quest, we need Desert Catfish. These are located in Southern Thanalan, using Sand Leech at the two sandfishing areas found here. Stick with the Ceruleum Field with the Chocobo Fly Lure to keep those levels rising.
35-50
For Fishing Quest level 40, we need five Raincaller, which you will need to catch in the rain. When the weather is on your side, head to Gridania City. Use the Stem Borer bait to get the best results possible. Your Levequest Fish from 35-40 include Seema, Crimson Trout, Lamp Marimo, and Giant Bass. You can grind in Sagoili to get to level 37, then head to The Nail to advance to 40.
For quest level 45, there are five Cloud Cutter to find. These are just outside Whitebrim, and you can unlock Cloudfishing when you hit 45. Focus on The Nail for your Levequest Fish, at least for Northern Pike, Bronze Lake Trout, and Abalathian Smelt. You don’t need to bother with Golden Loach. To grind, take some Stem Borers to the Burning Wall, followed by Exploratory Icehole in Coerthas Central Highlands with the Topwater Frog Lure.
Your next target is level 50, so we will be looking for Mazlaya Marlin. The Mazlaya Marlin is a difficult fish to find, and you will need the trait Double Mooching to catch it, which will unlock at level 40. Try to catch HQ Harbor Herring and HQ Ogre Barracuda with a Floating Minnow to help you with your catch. Rather than focusing on grinding spots, you will want to spend more time with Levequest Fish, Ignus Snail, Sludgeskipper, Ilsabardian Bass, and Boltfish, all found in Ceruleum Field with Honeyworm bait.
50-65
We need to find Glacier Core and Icepicks for the first couple levels. The former is much easier to catch, though Icepicks will prove helpful later on. The latter is in South Banepool as well as Unfrozen Pond. You will need clear skies to get Glacier Core, but you can hit level 52 pretty well by farming these. Otherwise, head over to South Banepool for Lake Urchins and Fanged Clams.
For the Level 53 Quest, you’ll need three HQ Icepick. Getting to level 55, you will want to head to the Hundred Throes to get yourself some Whilom Catfish and Blueclaw Shrimp, plus three HQ Shadowwhisker for the level 55 quest.
Overlook the Levequest fish for level 56 since you will mainly need a lure that isn’t unlocked until you hit level 58. Check out the Smoldering Wastes for Warmwater Bichir and Whilom Catfish for Blueclaw Shrimp. Then you can get Noontide Oscar from Eli Tohm in Churning Mists. At level 58, we will need the Letter Puffer, often found in the skies near the Landlord Colony. For this set of levels, concentrate on comfortable grinding areas. From 58, you will be looking for Weston Bowfin in the Curning Mists and Illuminati Perch in the Hinterlands and Thaliak River. You can use the Goblin Jig for both of these fish in any weather. There’s also Bullwhip, which you should focus on to get yourself to the next level, though you will need Fiendworms for this. There’s also Fountish from level 59 and Yalm Lobsters after level 60.
The good thing about hitting 58 is that it opens up many new avenues for you to catch fresh fish. Focus on Bullwhip and Illuminati Perch with the Goblin Jig, then Cat Killer for the quest fish at 60 located in the Eddies.
From 61, look into the Rapids Jumper to get you to advance. These are available from mooches too, which will save us a lot of time, though you can also opt for the Highlands Perch. At 62, grab the Muudhorn Fishing Rod and 99 Live Shrimp before grinding Common Whelk in Yanxia. At 63, you have the Deep Velodyna Carp as the quest fish, which can be caught in the Velodyna River. Meanwhile, 64 brings you Calm Waters too, which can be a useful skill for spearfishing. As for what you will be catching, you should stick with the Common Whelks for now and the Armored Crayfish since it’s the faster way to go forward.
65-80 – The Home Stretch for FFXIV Fishing Leveling
At 66, we have Truth of Oceans and Stealth XII to help us with spearfishing. Meanwhile, to advance to the following levels, you should look into the Kobayashi Maru for Sea Lamps, and the Doman Bubble Eye from The Sunken Junk. This is where you can catch the HQ Dafangshi, which is the level 68 quest fish. Suppose you don’t want to do anything related to spearfishing. In that case, the Isle of Zekki is an excellent place to grind for collectible fish such as the Daio Squid or the Levequest Koromo Octopus, which can be caught using the Bream Lure. We also need to catch the Giant Lesiosaur for level 70’s quest, so head to Onokor with Live Shrimp.
Once you are past the dead zone at level 70, fishing kind of kicks up a gear because you have Surface Slap and gear updates. Once you have the equipment required, you can then grab some Fruit Worm and farm Eighteyes Eels over at Lakeland. This should be enough to get you to level 72, and you can speed it up with Albino Caiman. You shouldn’t have to focus too much on Levequest fish here, but if you want to, then check out Xanthic Bass in Lakeland and use Fruit Worm once more. Going up to 74, check out the Blood Cloud and Weedy Seadragon for Levequests and collectibles. From there to 76, look into Lemonfish and Cherry Herring, though the Lemonfish is probably your best bet since it has the best XP ratio.
Next, we will be getting crabby with the Gourmand Crab. The Gourmand Crab at the Rak’tika Greatwood, so find the North Lake Tusi Mek’ta hole for your fishing needs. The crustacean is better than your other options, so make sure to farm as many as possible. At 77, you will receive a quest in which you will need to get yourself a Calico Trout, which you can use Fruit Worm to catch at Longmirror Lake.
Finally, we are at the home stretch. The facet quest at this level is for the Amber Monkfish, which shouldn’t be too difficult for you to find. You can get it in the Hills of Amber, suing the Desert Dessert Frog. To get to the coveted level 80, you can keep going after the Gourmet Crab, literally trying to catch everyone you come across. Honestly, spearing the crabs is your best way forward, but you can also go with a few collectibles here and there with Golden Lobster and Albino Caiman. Any of the ones you can spearfish will also be of use if you want to go down the collectibles route, but you should be able to hit level 80 courtesy of the crabs.
Extra Things to Take Note Of When Fishing
Before you start fishing all kinds of critters in the sea, there are a few things that you should take note of to make your experience as seamless as possible. First off, it’s best to get your Fisher class to level 80 before even thinking about challenging the Fishing Log. At the moment, level 80 is the maximum level players can attain for fishing in FFXIV. This is because you’ll be able to take advantage of newer skills and better gear once you’ve hit the threshold.
Second, the Gathering Rate will affect your success in reeling in a fish, so if you’re having trouble trying to catch the sea critters, this is most likely why. Perception increases the odds that a fish will be HQ; therefore, if a fish is large, you’ll never have a perfect/foolproof chance of catching it.
Finally, there’s a 50-minute time limit in any fishing hole in Final Fantasy XIV. Once you’ve used up those 50 minutes, there’ll be a message, "The fish senses something is amiss…”. After that, you won’t be able to fish at that spot until the time limit resets. To reset it, simply cast your line at another location and return – you don’t have to catch anything at that location.
Shadowbringers Introduced Crystarium Deliveries
All of the things we’ve talked about can be applied in all expansions, including Endwalker. But when Shadowbringers came along, Fisher quests got a lot more colorful. This is thanks to a new dynamic called Crystarium Deliveries. With Crystarium Deliveries, each Disciple of the Hand and Land is given multiple quests. Each of these quests requires six of a specific item (or items) to be turned in, hence the word “deliveries” being used.
You can say that Crystarium Deliveries are another alternative that players can do to net plenty of experience points, should the other methods we’ve talked about start becoming tedious. After reaching level 80, Cryarium Deliveries will be replaced with Studium Deliveries; the formula will still be more or less the same, but this time, there’s a new storyline involving another NPC dedicated to the art of fishing.
FFXIV Fishing Leveling Guide Conclusion
Congratulation for reaching this far! It is undoubtedly a fair old hike to get to the dizzying heights of the 80th level for fishing, but following these methods should get you there in a reasonable time. Knowing what lures and bait to have with you and where to make the most of where you are going for grind spots. There are also specific tactics to adopt, and whether you choose to focus on Levequests or collectibles will determine how quickly you make your way to 80. Regardless of the tactic you use, you will be a pro-FFXIV angler in no time and will be a master of the fishing rod amongst your peers.
