How to Become a Summoner in FFXIV

A little birdy told me that you wanted to be in charge of something giant Primals that obliterate mobs and wreak havoc on the world.

The Summoner is a Job that recently underwent arguably the biggest changes we’ve seen in FFXIV in the last 5 years. What was once one of the busiest Jobs in the game has been simplified to become a very beginner-friendly Job without seeing any major damage loss.

Though Summoner mains from previous expansions have made their frustrations known, I genuinely appreciate what the developers did with this Job as it provides a significant amount of utility and provides players with at least one started Class that doesn’t have too many changes to the rotation as it reaches end game and makes more difficult content much more accessible to those who get overwhelmed.

While I do validate the frustrations of playing a Job for years only to have it completely change, especially since many Summoner players enjoyed the complex rotation even though it wasn’t reflected in the amount of damage it dealt. Truthfully this is why I put the Summoner down when changes were made in Shadowbringers since I could crank out similar amounts of damage while gaining a good amount of utility skills to support the team on other Jobs.

Admittedly, I have not returned to the Summoner very much in Endwalker, mostly levelling it and letting it rot since I’ve been enjoying other Jobs a lot more there are niche pieces of content I still play Summoner for since it’s terribly useful and can help a team pull stunts they would otherwise be unable to do.

You see, while the Summoner is a DPS Job, it now offers phases that buff team damage, provide them with healing and of course, the Summoner can still resurrect as they always have. The only other major difference is how streamlined the rotation has become as it no longer requires players to keep track of any Dots (Damage over Time skills) and a player doesn’t have to worry as much about what phase they are in during each segment of a fight as this tends to come down to preference now versus optimization.

Of course, there is still some optimization a player will need to have to maximize their damage or make the best use of their Spells, but there is nowhere near as much complexity and it has simply become a lot more forgiving than it used to be.

So, I’m happy to see you unlocking the Summoner as even though it is not one of the main Jobs I play, I do believe it’s a Job everyone should have in their back pocket simply due to how useful it can be and how easy it is to pick up and put down.

Note: If you have any questions about FFXIV that you want me to cover feel free to leave them in a comment below, you can also ask me while I am streaming on Twitch, YouTube or in our community discord.

FIRST YOU MUST UNLOCK THE ARCANIST

The Summoner requires players to unlock the Arcanist initially as it is part of the archaic Class system. At launch, all Battleclass Jobs began as a Class and when they completed a set of pre-requisites, they could become their specialized Job.

Now, the Arcanist is the most unique of all the Classes as it is the only one that is not only tied to two different specialized Jobs, but both specialized Jobs fall into different Roles. While this was a system the FFXIV creators were hoping to have for future Classes, the idea was ultimately let go due to a series of unforeseen problems and complications. I’ll be honest, I’m really glad they dropped this idea because it’s truly not worth it.

That being said, some of you may already have the Archanist unlocked and have simply gone the route of Scholar instead of Summoner. For those of you who are not aware, the Scholar is the Healer the Archanist can become and though both Specialized Jobs come from the same base Class they have different requirements that must be fulfilled to play them.

So, if you’re someone who already plays the Scholar you are free to skip this section, however, if you are someone who doesn’t have the Arcanist unlocked please follow the steps below.

To begin players must have access to the starting city Limsa Lominsa. Players who started as a Class whose Guild is in Limsa will be able to unlock the Archanist immediately, however, if your starting Class started in another city you will need to get through the MSQ to around level 15 for the remaining starter cities to begin unlocking.

Players will want to make their way to the Archanists’ Guild to speak to Murie located in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (X:4.5, Y:11.2). Murie will have the quest “Way of the Archanist” which will give you the base Job.

From here you will be speaking to Thubyrgeim who is located at Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (X:4.7, Y:11.4) for Archanist quests.

You will not need to complete all of these quests immediately, especially if you are power levelling outside of Dungeons, however, there is one you will absolutely need to complete if you enter a Dungeon before level 30. I will make a note of it.

Otherwise, these quests are only useful for subpar loot that can be purchased from Vendors and will be replaced immediately with Dungeon Gear.

The following are the Archanist quests:

At Level 1 players will be able to complete My First Grimoire.

At Level 5 players will be able to complete What’s in the Box.

At Level 10 players will be able to complete Tactical Planning.

At Level 15 players will be able to complete Over the Rails. I would strongly recommend that players complete this quest as soon as they can if they are planning on going into a Dungeon as it provides players with their first Summon (Summon Topaz) and provides Ruby and Topaz Arcanum when using Aethercharge. This is also useful for players levelling in the Overworld, though given how fast a player can get to level 30 if they know what they are doing, it might be faster to skip it until later.

At Level 20 players will be able to complete Pincer Maneuver.

At Level 25 players will be able to complete Grimoire Fandango.

At Level 30 players will be able to complete Sinking Doesmaga. Completing this quest will upgrade the player’s Ruin spell into Ruin II which simply deals more damage.

If you have hit level 30 in the Overworld, I strongly recommend you power through all of these Class Quests and complete the next section before entering a Dungeon.

HOW TO BECOME A SUMMONER IN FFXIV

When players have reached level 30 on their Archanist and have completed all of the Class Quests they will gain access to the quest Austerities of the Flame which is also provided by Thubyrgeim at Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (X4.7, Y:11.4).

Players who have already unlocked the Scholar can simply accept this quest as the aforementioned prerequisites must have been completed to become the Scholar. Otherwise, this is where the two specialized Jobs split and essentially the point where players can choose to be a DPS or Healer.

Upon completing the quest Austerities players will receive the Spell Summon Ifrit and will gain the Ruby Summoning Mastery which allows for the summoning of Ifrit to take place.

Players will also receive the Soul of the Summoner which is called a Job Stone. This is the method in which players can either choose to be a Healer or DPS. If players have the Soul of the Summoner equipped they will become the Summoner, though if they have the Soul of the Scholar equipped they will be the Scholar.

If players have neither of these equipped they will be the Archanist, though this is never recommended as you lose access to many of your Spells and Abilities and will not be able to equip Gear that is specific to the specialized Job.

With that being said, players may notice when they equip the Soul of the Summoner that their Hotbar changes. This is because the Archanist is technically a different Job altogether, so take this opportunity to rearrange your Hotbar and make sure you save this Gearset so whenever you switch onto the Summoner you have your Soul Stone equipped.

Now, if you’re wondering if there is any use for the Archanist moving forward the answer is no… not unless you want to make Custom Menus by using Macros and its Hotbars.