Besides fighting and crafting, the three FFXIV Gathering Jobs, Botanist, Miner, and Fisher let you harvest the land around you. All three specialize in sourcing materials to sell or craft. Most FFXIV crafting jobs just got easier by taking a picking job or two to get their own stuff instead of spending money to buy it from the market.
Like other Jobs in FFXIV, all collecting Jobs are unlocked after completing the level 10 quest for your first Job, but each is in a different city, so we’ll show you exactly where to find them.
It’s worth noting that gathering takes place in the wild, where monsters can potentially attack you – luckily Gathering Jobs has hidden skills to keep them safe. Various levels of collecting nodes can be found on every map except for major cities.
Depending on how you want to play, we can also assist you with FFXIV combat tasks and we have a handy FFXIV leveling guide that lets you quickly level up all your roles.
Botanist
Botanists are the woodcutters of Eorzea – they use axes to cut down trees and scythes to gather vegetation. Carpenter gathers lots of logs and branches that feed his work well, but also gathers many useful food items for Cooks and insects useful for Alchemist’s potions. The Botanist guild can be found in Gridania (the starting city in the jungle), on the Old Gridanian half of the map, a little further north of the Wizard’s guild.
You will need to speak to the receptionist and then the Guildmaster Fufucha to participate. The first few missions will have you search the nearby Northern and Middle Shroud areas before expanding to other parts of Eorzea and beyond.
Miner
Miners, who are masters of stone and earth, surprisingly mine for materials using pickaxes and sledgehammers. They collect many metal ores that are extremely useful for Blacksmiths and Armorers, but also a large number of gems for Jewelers and a number of Fossils and earths useful for Alchemists. They also get the coolest-looking gear of the three to collect.
You’ll find the Miners Guild in Ul’dah (desert city) halfway up the map in the Steps of Thal – slightly ahead of the Jeweler’s guild but quite a long way down. Speak to the receptionist and then to Guildmaster Adalberta Sterne to join. It will send you to nearby Central and Western Thanalan before going any farther.
Fisherman
Fishing in FFXIV is a bit of a special case. While Fishers is a gathering Job, it has much more to it than any other gathering Job. Fisher Job uses rods and bait to catch fish and other sea creatures primarily used by Chefs for cooking but also by Alchemists. Caught fish are not as useful as other materials, but many different species can be added to aquariums as housing decoration.
Fishing, although not beneficial, is the deepest of all foraging and is strictly used as a hobby in its own right. There are no visible knots to collect, you’ll have to test different bodies of water around the world to see what’s underneath. You’ll need to master the bait types, weather conditions, and time of day to lure certain fish, and as you level up you’ll unlock other types of fish, such as spearfishing, which has its own mini-game. We’ll talk more about this below.
To unlock the Fisher you will need to go to the main Aetheryte in Limsa Lominsa and follow the steps to the water where you will find the guild nearby. Talk to the receptionist and then Sisipu to start fishing for yourself – the first few quests can be completed by the water right next to the guild.
If testing lots of different baits at different fishing holes and waiting for various weather changes doesn’t do you good, don’t worry – there’s also a much more convenient way to level up called Ocean Fishing. You can unlock this mod as soon as you unlock Fisher and it has no level restrictions. Essentially Ocean Fishing involves going on a journey and catching as many fish as possible to score as many points as possible. It doesn’t matter what you catch and you only have to worry about three types of bait.
Journeys are a bit like dungeons, so you get on a boat for 24 players. They also only leave during certain real-world times, so you can only catch one every two hours. Journeys only take about 20 minutes, and you gain many levels incredibly quickly.
You can unlock Ocean Fishing by talking to Fhilsnoe, who is right next to Fisher’s guild. You will then be directed to the dock near the Arcanist guild, where you can find boats for voyages.
spear fishing
Spearfishing, another fishing mod that appeared in FFXIV’s Stormblood expansion, involves timing studs with your spear to catch as many fish as possible underwater. It’s like a timed reaction minigame where various shadows swim at different speeds and you have to line up your shot to catch them.
Once you’ve unlocked the underwater swimming ability, you’ll be able to unlock Spear Fishing after completing the level 63 main campaign quest ‘In Soroban We Trust’. Also, your Fisher must be level 61. After meeting these requirements, go to Tamizu in the Yakut Sea and talk to Sumitsubo. He will give you his first spear to start stabbing the fish.
