Carpenters aren't just Final Fantasy 14's foremost furniture-makers. Their wares can be used in battle as well. Sturdy shields, powerful longbows, even macuahuitls — all these and more have led soldiers to owe their lives to workshop artisans half a realm away.
There's also the easy allure of selling bulk lumber. Indeed, Carpenters can take advantage of the game economy's constant need for the stuff at a relatively early level. Even by level 30 or so, excess lumber will begin to demand more on the marketboard than many players tend to expect.
Whether you're out to make millions or you just want to help your friends, let our FF14 Carpenter guide be your formal centerpiece.
Unlocking Carpenter and Leveling to 20
Getting Started
Are you itching to craft some room-and-board? You can unlock the Carpenter class in Gridania at the Carpenter's Guild headquarters. The only prerequisite is that you have a combat-based class at level ten or higher. Players who start in either Ul'dah or Limsa Lominsa will be unlikely to arrive in Gridania until several levels after that, so no worries there.
If the forest nation is your home, on the other hand, there's a good chance you'll swing by before you're allowed to join. Don't let the sting of denial get you down. Head outside into the Shroud, do some quests, and you'll be at level ten in no time.
Leveling to 20
As with most guilds, the Carpenter's Guild questline does a decent job keeping you moving through the levels. Buffer those gains with easy recipes and leves to ensure smooth progression. We'll start by looking at this first batch of quests:
|
Quest Name |
Quest Item |
Level |
Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Way of the Carpenter |
N/A |
1 |
N/A |
|
My First Saw |
Maple Lumber |
1 |
|
|
To Be the Wood |
3x Square Maple Shield |
5 |
|
|
Supplies for the Sick |
12x Ash Lumber |
10 |
|
|
A Carpenter in Need |
|
15 |
(Ash Shortbow)
(Feathered Harpoon)
|
|
The Lance's Lesson |
Iron Lance |
20 |
|
Easy Recipes
Since carpentry involves so much lumber, there's no wiser way to crack your coin purse a bit in the pursuit of fast level gains. We mentioned this earlier, but the in-game marketboard can be pretty good at times about earning one's keep this way, too. Maybe not so much with Elm Lumber, but once we move onto the next couple of stages you'll really start to see some returns.
|
Crafting Recipe |
Ingredients |
|---|---|
|
Maple Lumber |
|
|
Ash Lumber |
|
|
Elm Lumber |
|
Best Early-Game Gear
If you're following some of our other Final Fantasy 14 crafter leveling guides, you'll doubtless begin to notice that our gear advisement is largely universal. These are the kits that will get you through just fine, but you can feel free to update your arsenal more rapidly. There's no downside save for cash investment, after all.
|
Gear |
Optimal Level Range |
Acquisition |
|---|---|---|
|
Amateur Doublet Set |
10-15 |
Purchase from Domitien in Old Gridania
|
|
Cotton Kurta Set |
18-26 |
Purchase from Domitien in Old Gridania
|
Leveling to 40
|
Quest Name |
Quest Item |
Level |
Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
|
A Crisis of Confidence |
Walnut Lumber |
25 |
|
|
Between Captain and Conjurer |
Walnut Cane |
30 |
|
|
Growing Apart |
Oak Longbow |
35 |
|
|
Memento Mori |
Oak Composite Bow |
40 |
|
Take Your Leves
Now that you've hit level 20, leves should play a more active role in the leveling process. It's not so much that the earliest leves are bad, per se; but your gains are greater now and the crafting itself is less of a burden. Especially by the time you hit level 30 or so, you should find that with our gear recommendations in mind there isn't much these quest-givers will trouble you with.
Grand Carpentry
The level 20 main scenario quests send the Warrior of Light off to join one of Eorzea's three Grand Companies. There's no right or wrong answer here, so choose the Grand Company whose ideals you identify with the most. Or whose colors are the nicest. Or whose NPCs have the funniest names. Truly, it matters little to any aspiring Carpenter.
What does matter to an aspiring Carpenter is the Supply and Provision missions which now become available. Keep tabs on these. You can access them at your GC's headquarters, and they will contain crafting tasks to sign up for on a rotating basis. Just go with the flow, crafting up whatever they ask of you. If you've ever wandered into a Grand Company area and found players leveling up almost comically quickly, this is probably why.
As you accrue Grand Company seals, be sure to purchase some Company-issue Engineering Guides. These are consumable buffs — you activate it, and it provides a 150 percent experience boost for your Carpenter class for the next 18 hours. Very nice.
Easy Recipes
|
Crafting Recipe |
Ingredients |
|---|---|
|
Walnut Lumber |
|
|
Oak Lumber |
|
Best 21 to 40 Gear
|
Gear |
Optimal Level Range |
Acquisition |
|---|---|---|
|
`Cotton Kurta Set |
18-26 |
Purchase from Domitien in Old Gridania
|
|
Velveteen Coatee Set |
26-38 |
Purchase from Domitien in Old Gridania
|
|
Linen Coatee Set |
38-43 |
Purchase from Domitien in Old Gridania
|
Leveling to 60
|
Quest Name |
Quest Item |
Level |
Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Gone till the Sixth Astral Moon |
|
45 |
(Cobalt Halberd)
|
|
Saving Captain Gairhard |
|
50 |
(Rosewood Lumber)
(Crab Bow)
|
|
Lance of a Lifetime |
N/A |
50 |
N/A |
|
A-hunting He Will Go |
Holy Cedar Longbow |
53 |
|
|
Ministers of Grace Defend Him |
Dark Chestnut Rod |
55 |
|
|
The Son Also Rises |
3x Birch Lumber |
58 |
|
|
More Fierce than Fire |
Adamantite Trident |
60 |
|
Your questing destination will shift from Gridania to Ishgard midway through this phase. Ishgard is home to many crafting leves in your current level range, and we advise making the most of them. Keep an eye out for Commercial Engineering Manual availability from Rowena's shops in cities like Mor Dhona and Idyllshire. (You might not have Idyllshire unlocked just yet, but don't worry about that. It's a late-Heavensward settlement.)
Once again, lumber is a smart way to earn some pay. This is also a good spot to discuss "crafter/gatherer synergy." Many of FF14's crafting classes play nicely with particular gathering classes. It shouldn't be a shocker to discover that Carpenters do best with Botanists; as a Botanist, you can acquire huge loads of logs, branches, and crystals which can then be used in crafting.
This is by no means mandatory to leveling your Carpenter to 90, but it can be incredibly beneficial.
Easily Craftable Recipes
|
Crafting Recipe |
Ingredients |
|---|---|
|
Rosewood Lumber |
|
|
Dark Chestnut Lumber |
|
|
Birch Lumber |
|
Best 41-60 Gear
|
Gear |
Optimal Level Range |
Acquisition |
|---|---|---|
|
Linen Coatee Set |
38-43 |
Purchase from Domitien in Old Gridania
|
|
Woolen Gown Set |
43-50 |
Purchase from Domitien in Old Gridania
|
|
Culinarian's Set |
50-60 |
Exchange with Rowena's Representatives for White Scrips in Mor Dhona
|
Leveling to 80
|
Quest Name |
Quest Item |
Level |
Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Uncharted Territory |
N/A |
60 |
N/A |
|
The Game of Confidence |
Lavish Dressing Case |
63 |
|
|
A Lesson in Listening |
Stylish Pipe Box |
65 |
|
|
Live and Let Dine |
Ornate Partition |
68 |
|
|
Tea Party Rules |
Teahouse Bench |
70 |
|
Continue investing in Commercial Engineering Manuals from 60 to 70. Leves don't lose their luster, so get some going when you feel like you're up to a bit of traveling abroad. Stormblood, generally, does not throw any real curveballs at players who have grown accustomed to Final Fantasy 14's crafting progression system.
The Crystalline Mean
All bets are off upon your arrival in Shadowbringers, however. Crafting job quests have been condensed into a handful of NPCs, all of whom can be found close together at the Crystarium.
Your new quest NPC is Recording Node, a hovering Allagan robot pal who handles Carpenter, Leatherworker, and Weaver classes. Crystarium Deliveries, as they're called, involve multiple quests in which you will seek out multiples of a particular item that Recording Node is searching for; the nice thing about this is that, in turning in several at once, you'll level faster than ever before.
Easily Craftable Recipes
|
Crafting Recipe |
Ingredients |
|---|---|
|
Black Willow Lumber |
|
|
Urunday Lumber |
|
|
White Oak Lumber |
|
Best 61-80 Gear
|
Gear |
Optimal Level Range |
Acquisition |
|---|---|---|
|
Galleykeep's Set |
60-69 |
Grinmax Trade Gear Keep Augmentation |
|
Ala Mhigan Set |
70-74 |
Craft with Weaver or purchase on marketboard (typically fairly cheap). |
|
Pixie Cotton Set |
74-80 |
Purchase from Doddard at the Crystarium
|
|
Handsaint's Set |
80-86 |
Exchange for Crafter's Scrips at the Crystarium, Eulmore, and Mor Dhona. This was, until recently, the game's ultimate crafting set. |
Studium Deliveries: Leveling to 90
Leveling from 80 to 90 is presently the game's home stretch. Your narrative introduction to Sharlayan comes a few hours prior to your actual chance to unlock Studium Deliveries, also known as Endwalker's crafting questline system. In many ways, it's quite similar to what we see in Shadowbringers — there is an important NPC whom we report to; they assign us with work; we craft that work to a polished sheen; the story continues at level-based increments.
Say hello to Jude, head of the Studium's Department of Astronomy. Through Jude, your journey to Carpenter level 90 rounds its last lap. Complete his requests as they arise, churning loads of lumber on the side (or, ideally, latching on to certain high-demand Shadowbringers-range gear and crafting it for a marketboard premium).
As Endwalker is still fairly new, we have no doubt there will be more content across the board in the months to come. Should any of that pertain to helping Carpenters climb to level 90, we'll be certain to update this guide accordingly.