Levelling up in FFXIV is quite an easy task and more often than not, players will find themselves out levelling their Gear much faster than they can acquire the Gear they need.
I found this to be extremely true when I was levelling my NA alt for raiding. Even though I wasn’t putting in nearly as much effort as I typically do when levelling on my main, I regularly found myself needing to purchase gear from the Market Board to continue through the main story or to get to the next tier of Dungeons.
While at first, this wasn’t as much of an issue as a full Gearset only cost a few hundred thousand Gil, Gearsets kept getting more and more expensive and I wasn’t able to keep up with the Gil I needed since I set limits on how long I would allow myself to play on my Alt. You see while buying a Gear Set from the Market Board whenever you need one isn’t a setback for the majority of players, especially if they know the best ways to farm Gil, it is never my go-to recommendation especially when power levelling. Depending on the iLvl of the gear you purchase from the Market Board you may even run into occurrences where you cannot progress through the story or Dungeons, especially if you were unlucky and did not get any of the loot dropped in previous Dungeons.
Luckily for you today I’m going to cover all the places you can get yourself a set of Level 50 Gear as this is the first instance we see a pretty steep jump in the iLvl requirements to continue completing content.
Before I begin though, I want to state, that as much as it’s preferred and nice to have the highest iLvl possible for the content you are completing it is not a requirement. In many cases, I would strongly suggest that you focus on your average iLvl which can be seen in the Character Menu (“C”) as you can always continue upgrading your Gear while continuing through a tier. This typically means purchasing only the highest iLvl accessories and allowing your left-hand side Gear to be a lower level. While yes, this means that a player will not receive as many juicy stats, it does mean that a player can enter content faster, especially if they do not have enough currency to cover all 11 pieces of Gear.
I only recommend this when catching up, however, when you are completing late-game content in the future your priority will be Weapon > Chest/Legs > Remaining Body > Accessories. Luckily when players are completing content as it comes out it is much easier to keep up with your iLvl as in my experience it has only been the earlier levels which are harder to Gear up for (unless you’re also playing on an Alt and limiting your playtime.)
So let’s get started and jump into the different ways you can Gear yourself up at level 50 and cover the different ways this can be possible for you.
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.
LEVEL 50 GEAR FROM VENDORS (GIL)
Players can purchase level 50 Gear from three Vendors in the Jeweled Crozier which is located in Foundation.
These are generally expensive and only come in Normal Quality, meaning that you do not get as many stat bonuses from them as you would their HQ counterparts, which are typically sold on the Market Board.
Of course, if you like the look of any of these, grab them since you can always use them for Glamour later, but I would advise switching them out as soon as you can since beyond level 50 your stats begin significantly impacting how fast content will go.
Weapons are purchased from Elbert in The Pillars (X: 6.9, Y: 10.0)
Armour is purchased from Norlaise in The Pillars (X: 7.1, Y: 10.2)
Accessories fare purchased from Seghuie in The Pillars (X: 7.4, Y: 10.4)
Again, you will be teleporting to Foundation and then taking the Aetheryte to The Jeweled Crozier to find this. The Pillars is simply the subsection of this area.
LEVEL GEAR FROM THE MARKET BOARD
The price of Market Board Gear will vary from server to server and has to do with the supply and demand of the player base.
Crafted Gear at level 50 has an iLvl of 110 and while the tier is called “Ebony Armor” different pieces will have various prequels such as Wootz or Arachne.
Although I would generally advise avoiding making purchases for these as there are plenty of free alternatives for Gear, they can be helpful if a player is locked out of content due to their iLvl.
At the time of writing this most of the Gear from this tier costs between 2,000-30,000 Gil depending on the Role and type of Armour/Weapon. This isn’t that expensive compared to higher-level Gear that can be purchased on the Marketboard. That being said, I would recommend this method much faster than purchasing directly from an NPC Vendor as both share the same iLvl, at least on my server the Market Board prices are cheaper and you can pick up the HQ versions which will provide you with some extra stats.
With that being said though, there are two issues with this tier of Gear, first since it must be crafted as the gear that has a chance to be retrieved from a Retainer using a Quick Venture is only iLvl 55, it will not always be available and if a player hopes to use this for Heavensward content they will only make it to the level 55 Dungeon before they are required to upgrade their iLvl again. Now, this isn’t the biggest issue as the Dungeons will drop more appropriate pieces of Gear immediately upon entering the tier, but it will make a messy inventory which can be avoided by using the tips in the next sections.
LEVEL 50 GEAR FROM VENDORS (GRAND COMPANY SEALS)
Depending on what you are using your Grand Company Seals for, you may or may not want to go down this route for Gear.
Quite frankly, the only piece of Gear I would even suggest grabbing is the Grand Company Captain’s Weapons as it is iLvl 130, but it costs a whopping 35,000 Company Seals.
This can be worth it if you are farming Grand Company Seals at a very high rate and simply don’t know what to spend them on, though for min-max players they tend to be avoided.
There are some cool glamours among this set so it might be worth it if you plan on keeping the Weapon for the future.
Otherwise, there are no pieces of Armour that can be purchased using Grand Company Seals that are worth purchasing as their iLvl caps out at 55 and will not put you in a better position than you probably already are.
LEVEL 50 GEAR FROM VENDORS (HUNT MARKS)
For players who are taking part in Hunts, whether that’s from completing your Hunt Bills or from farming A or S Ranks you can purchase iLvl 110 Gear from your Hunt Billmaster located in your Grand Company’s headquarters.
I personally always have Allied Seals, since I regularly farm A Ranks and S Ranks, though I must admit without a Blue Mage the average player will find Allied Seals to be the most daunting to farm of all the Hunt currencies.
You see, while the Hunt Bills in newer expansions are quite straightforward, the ones in A Realm Reborn are a bit more annoying. There are two reasons for this. The first is that there are simply fewer bills to complete compared to other tiers and the second is that the tier that provides the most Allied Seals has too many spawn points for the Elite mob.
Now, this is why I personally only farm Allied Seals from A Ranks, S Ranks and from my Blue Mage Masked Carnivale.
I will admit, I don’t remember if I participated in Hunts when I initially started the game, but when I was power levelling all of my side Jobs I absolutely was and greatly benefitted from this Gear when levelling my Alt since I was unable to keep up with Tomestones of Poetics while levelling 4 jobs in 2 different Roles.
While yes, the Gear provided by the Hunt Billmaster is not the most ideal, being that it is iLvl 110, depending on the piece of Gear it will only cost 20-40 Allied Seals. This is essentially one A Rank at most or 3 pieces for one Elite Rank or an S Rank.
I would not make it your goal to be fully suited in a Gearset provided by Hunts, but if you were planning on buying some Gear from the Market Board this tends to be less expensive, especially if you’ve stockpiled some Allied Seals. These can also be used if players have a couple pieces of Gear that are under iLvl 100 that they quickly need to swap out to reach lockouts from iLvl.
The Gearset is called Gerolt’s Masterwork and was essentially the first tier of Tomestone Gear that could be bought before the tier I will mention below was released.
LEVEL 50 GEAR FROM VENDORS (WOLF MARKS)
I must admit, I wasn’t a huge PVP player when I first started playing FFXIV and it took me about 6 years before I got into the thick of it.
Now, with that being said, I am regularly struggling to figure out what I want to spend my Wolf Marks on. While there are a few decent options for players, this currency is not nearly as evergreen as other currencies in the game.
Similar to Allied Seals, players can purchase either Packliege Gear for 250-1,000 Wolf Marks depending on the type of Gear which is an iLvl 110 armour.
This means for simply queuing for a Frontline Roullete, players can get 1-4 pieces of Gear which can be used to boost their iLvl if they have reached a cap.
While again, players will want to change these pieces out as soon as they can, they tend to be cooler glams than the Hunt ones and can be obtained much faster and more regularly than the ones for Allied Seals. Of course, I would never recommend picking up PVP simply to get a Gearset you’re going to swap out, but as a good number of players complete at least their Frontline Roulette daily, this is a very accessible method.
LEVEL 50 GEAR USING TOMESTONES OF POETICS
As you may or may not know, FFXIV has a catchup mechanic when it comes to Gear using a currency called Tomestones. In every expansion a few different types of Tomestones will make an appearance, allowing players to slowly get their iLvl up, however, once a new expansion is released any Gear from that expansion can be purchased using a catch-all currency called Tomestones of Poetics.
Generally, Tomestones of Poetics are easy to farm and most late-game players will agree that they are the most useful of all the Tomestones since they provide the most options for purchases. That being said, the biggest benefit to utilizing Tomestones of Poetics for Gear is that their iLvl will take you through a full expansion without needing to swap out your Gear until you hit the maximum level of that expansion.
This is simply because the Tomestone of Poetic Gear, which was once bought with another form of Tomestones, would be equivalent to the second-highest Gearset in the game for that expansion. This means it’s going to be a higher iLvl than any crafted Gear and is only second to Savage Gear, which is never a requirement.
Now, if players are using gear purchased with Tomestones of Poetics they will notice that Dungeon Gear begins to out iLvl their Gear from level x7+ onwards. This is when a player can choose to either begin using the Dungeon Gear or simply continue carrying on with the Poetics Gear as the improvement is not too significant.
I personally only use the Dungeon Gear when it is part of the latest expansion unless I am on my Alt. This is because the next Duty iLvl cap is at the x0 level, which is when you would switch out your Poetic Gear for another set anyway. I also chose to do this because I levelled all of my side Jobs at once on my main account, meaning I had dozens of Gearsets clogging up my inventory at once and since Dungeon Gear requires certain level thresholds to wear, waiting to hit these levels is more of a nuisance rather than a cost-saving measure.
This isn’t as much of a problem for players who stick to playing one Role as your inventory will by no means become as cluttered since Weapons will be the only thing Jobs won’t share. It only becomes an issue if players play multiple Melee DPS as they are the only Role where Gear is not often shared among more than 2 Jobs. I will give you some more advice on things like this in the next section, but let’s talk about what Tomestone of Poetics Gear you’ll want at level 50.
There are 4 places a player will be able to buy level 50 Gear for Tomestones of Poetics, these include Mor Dhona at (X:22.7 Y:6.7) and from Sundry Splendors Representatives in Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, and Ul’dah which should be near the main Aetheryte of the city. The only type of Gear you will want to purchase is called Augmented Ironworks Armour as this provides the highest iLvl boost to the player. The other pieces of Gear are essentially only for Glamour at this point and will cost you the same number of Tomestones without as much improvement. That being said, if you purchase the lower iLvl gear you will get locked out of content as you continue to progress leading you to need to rely on gear that can be obtained in Duties.
Augmented Ironworks Armor has an iLvl of 130 and is only matched by Gear in The Final Coil of Bahamut, which the majority of players will never complete when level-synced.
Although I wouldn’t recommend this, Augmented Ironworks Armour is not bound to a specific Job or Role, technically meaning you can use one set on every Job you level up. The issue with this is that players will be receiving stats they do not need on Jobs that would benefit more from other stats. I would only advise this if you are extremely unlucky with loot drops or simply do not have enough Tomestones of Poetics, but I will cover ways to avoid this in the next section.
WHAT IS A GOOD iLvl TO HAVE AT LEVEL 50?
Although it would be nice to have everyone at iLvl 130 at level 50 you will only need to have iLvl 120 to complete the level 59 Dungeon in the next expansion.
So as you can see, you can through the whole expansion with no issues. The next jump is when players complete the level 60 Dungeon which requires iLvl 142, however, a mixture of Dungeon Gear or the next step of Poetics will cover this easily.
So, in short, the ideal is an iLvl of 120 when at level 50.
GENERAL ADVICE FOR GEARING YOUR iLvl UP
This is mostly advice for players who plan on levelling multiple Jobs that fill out different Roles. If this is your first Job or you only play a single Role this will not necessarily apply to you.
Depending on how many hours you spend playing FFXIV a week and whether you plan on running Roullettes Daily you may want to prepare Gearsets for future Jobs you plan on levelling.
Although Tomestones of Poetics are not locked behind a weekly cap, they are not really a resource you’ll want to spend a day farming for unless you’re completing side content like Bozja which provides large chunks of Poetics in comparison to the time spent in the instance.
Now, though I was heavily invested in side content like Bozja it’s quite obvious that most players will not be as it is extremely repetitive and mostly interesting for those who are aiming to get their Relic Weapons completed. When I wrote my guide on how to farm Tomestones of Poetics quickly and efficiently I tried out all of the evergreen methods of getting this resource and found it would be genuinely unpleasant for the average player to farm Tomestones of Poetics in any other method than Daily Roulettes, especially because you can spend the same amount of time with much less effort to farm the Gil needed to buy Gear.
So, I have a few suggestions. The first may be obvious, pre-buy all gear that you are planning on using so you never overcap your Tomestones of Poetics. While I understand some players will want to use their Tomesontes of Poetics to make Gil you will need to figure out which is more important to you or alternate what you spend your Poetics on based on the current state of your server’s Market.
Now, I personally prebought all of my Tomestone of Poetic gear for all Jobs up to level 80 when the max was level 90. You don’t have to do this, but since at the time I was regularly farming Bozja I was gaining more Poetics than I could use and quite frankly our sever’s Market isn’t generally great for resources that can be purchased with Poetics.
For players who can’t seem to ever have enough Poetics period, I would strongly recommend saving Gear from the third Alliance Raid, World of Darkness. While the iLvl for this Gear is only iLvl 120 this is enough to take you through the Heavensward dungeons until you are level 60. Now, I’m sure you’re going to be wondering how it’s going to be possible to hold onto that much Gear and the answer is quite simple: In your Retainers or Chocobo Saddlebag.
I would never recommend that a player holds onto any Gear that is dropped from a Duty in their Armory for two reasons. The first is the quite obvious lack of inventory space, but the second is because most of these pieces of Gear are classified as Unique items, meaning players cannot hold duplicates. This is mostly a problem for players who are planning on trading in loot for Grand Company Seals. If a piece of Gear is in your Chocobo Saddlebag or Retainer’s inventory the game will treat it as if you do not have it. Your regular inventory, on the other hand, does not have this luxury. That all being said, this tends to not be a necessity, but it is an option for those who don’t want to use Poetics or cannot seem to ever farm enough.
Realistically the difference between iLvl 120 and 130 isn’t that big of a deal, so if you just want to use the Alliance Raid Gear and want to fill in the gaps with Tomestone of Poetic Gear, this is completely acceptable. In most cases, you will only need to purchase a Weapon using Tomestones of Poetics if you use this method. Quite frankly you shouldn’t have to go out of your way to get this Gear unless you’re someone who doesn’t typically do the Alliance Raid Roulette.
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