The Final Fantasy XIV Botanist may not seem as important as its mining counterpart. You pick flowers, gather wood, and harvest vegetables. While these aren’t often used for armor and weapons, like the various ores of Eorzea, they still serve many purposes from fueling potions to cooking combat-boosting food. Though that’s great news for Alchemists and Culinarians, most crafting classes will eventually require something from the garden variety gatherer.
Let’s take a look at how to unlock this vital class, as well as a list of its quest locations throughout FFXIV!
FFXIV Botanist Quest Locations
Finding your next Job quest in FFXIV can be tedious. You can search through your log of completed quests, which tells you the last mission you completed for any particular class, as well as the name of the NPC you need to speak with for the next one. But where is that NPC? Are they in the same place as last time, or did they move? Assuming you haven’t played a particular class in a while, where the hell was “last time”?
To help with this, we’ve laid out a simple table to indicate the region, coordinates, and required level for every Goldsmith Job quest. Note: The first quest, “Way of the Botanist,” begins at the appropriately named Botanists’ Guild in Old Gridania, part of the capital city of The Black Shroud. The coordinates are listed below, but it’s worth noting the guild does have its own Aethernet shard. It’s on the far western side of the zone. There’s a good chance you’ve already unlocked said fast travel point if you’ve been to the city (and attuned to all its Aethernet nodes as you should).
In addition, because this is a gathering class, there’s a lot more travel involved than just the quests. You need to hit up some gathering nodes in the wider world. These are listed in the table below as well — alongside any special notes, such as when limited-time “Unspoiled” gathering spots are available in-game. Take a look!
| Level | Quest Name | Area | Coordinates | Gathering Location | Gathering Coordinates | Special Conditions |
| 1 | Way of the Botanist | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 8) | N/A | ||
| 1 | My First Hatchet | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | Central Shroud | (X: 22.8, Y: 17.9) | |
| 5 | Sap for Smiles | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | North Shroud | (X: 5.9, Y: 6.9) | |
| 10 | Weapons of a Feather | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | Central Shroud | (X: 26.3, Y: 20.3) | |
| 15 | Haste Makes Waste | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | Central Shroud | (X: 18.7, Y: 19.3) | |
| 20 | Dressed to Harvest | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | Western La Noscea | (X: 6.5, Y: 3.5) | |
| 25 | Aromatic Aspirations | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | Upper La Noscea | (X: 14.3, Y: 24.6) | |
| 30 | What Nature Giveth | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | South Shroud | (X: 26.2, Y: 19) | |
| 35 | A Feast to Say the Least | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | Southern Thanalan | (X: 20.4, Y: 8.5) | |
| 40 | Crisis of Faith | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | Eastern La Noscea | (X: 21, Y: 29) | |
| 45 | Botanist in a Bind | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | Coerthas Central Highlands | (X: 22.8, Y: 17.8) | |
| 50 | Seeds of Hope | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | Coerthas Central Highlands | (X: 29.1, Y: 12.7) | Available from 09:00-12:00 Eorzea Time |
| 50 | Call from the Clouds | Old Gridania | (X: 6, Y: 7) | N/A | ||
| 53 | Onions of Life Bestowing | Ishgard – Foundation | (X: 9, Y: 11) | The Dravanian Forelands | (X: 37.5 Y: 19.5) | Hidden |
| 55 | Two Nations, One Seed | Ishgard – Foundation | (X: 9, Y: 11) | The Churning Mists | (X: 22.1, Y: 22.4.) | Hidden |
| 58 | Love for Harmony | Ishgard – Foundation | (X: 9, Y: 11) | The Sea of Clouds | (X: 26.4, Y: 33.4) | Hidden |
| 60 | Seeds Know No Borders | Ishgard – Foundation | (X: 9, Y: 11) | Coerthas Western Highlands | (X: 8.7, Y: 10.4) | Available from 08:00-10:00 and 20:00-22:00 Eorzea Time |
| 60 | Never Meet Your Heroes | Old Gridania | (X: 6.5, Y: 7.8) | N/A | ||
| 63 | You Say Popoto, I Say… | Idyllshire | (X: 5.2, Y: 4.2) | The Fringes | (X: 11.5, Y: 26) | Only available during the quest |
| 65 | Walking for Walker’s | Idyllshire | (X: 5.2, Y: 4.2) | The Ruby Sea | (X: 8.3, Y: 5.4) | Only available during the quest |
| 68 | The White Death | Idyllshire | (X: 5.2, Y: 4.2) | The Ruby Sea | (X: 13, Y: 14) | Only available during the quest |
| 70 | Edgyth’s Winning Streak | Idyllshire | (X: 5.2, Y: 4.2) | The Lochs | (X: 7.8, Y: 9.5) | Available from 04:00-06:00 Eorzea Time, only during the quest |
| 70+ | The Crystalline Mean | The Crystarium | (X: 11.2, Y: 8.3) – Speak to Qeshi-Rae | N/A | ||
| 80+ | Studium Deliveries | Old Sharlayan | TBD | N/A |
Notes on The Crystalline Mean
Starting at Level 70 on all FFXIV crafters and gatherers, including the Botanist in this case, there are no more class-specific quests. Instead, you gain access to “The Crystalline Mean.” This is a small gathering spot for special NPCs in The Crystarium, back on Norvrandt, after you reach the capital city during the Shadowbringers campaign. It has its own Aethernet point (simply marked as “The Crystalline Mean”). It’s on the upper floor of the city near the Amaro Launch if you have trouble finding it initially. Crafters and gatherers of sufficient level will further find their eyes drawn there by the blue side quest marker. The opening quest is also simply called “The Crystalline Mean.”
There are five notable NPCs in the area with five unique quest chains. Each chain is tied to not just one crafting or gathering class, but several — meaning you can complete any step of the questline as any one of the appropriate classes. The sole exception is the Fishers; they get their own quests separate from any other classes.
Put another way: The Crystalline Mean functions very similar to Role Quests for the combat classes, where any DPS magic-user can complete any step of the DPS magic questline, and so on. In this case, Crystalline Mean missions for the “Facet of Gathering” are shared between Botanist and Miner. You can complete any quest in this series as either of these two Jobs (so long as they meet the level requirements). Said quests start at Level 70 with “On the Trail of a Myth,” after talking to the NPC Qeshi-Rae at (X: 11.2, Y: 8.3) in The Crystalline Mean.
Pretty much every Crystalline Mean mission involves talking to someone, crafting or gathering items, and turning them in — like Custom Deliveries for characters in Idyllshire, Eulmore, etc. You receive XP and Gil for every quest and delivery — as well as Scrips from the latter. This makes the quest chains an excellent way to level up your non-combat classes. You can also use the Scrips to buy useful items and gear as you progress your Disciples of the Hand and Land.
Note: You must complete the Level 72 Main Scenario Quest “The Crystarium’s Resolve” as any combat Job to reach and unlock The Crystalline Mean.
Notes on Studium Deliveries
Studium Deliveries function almost exactly the same as Crystalline Mean quests. The biggest difference is that they begin in Old Sharlayan. You can reach the area fastest through the appropriately named Studium Aethernet point.
To begin these deliveries, first complete the Level 82 Main Scenario Quest “Sound the Bell, School’s In.” After that is the side quest “The Faculty,” which requires at least one crafter or gatherer to reach Level 80 first.
FFXIV Botanist Basics & Importance
As mentioned in the introduction, the Botanist is responsible for harvesting plants, which includes wood, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and even more esoteric stuff. Unlike the Miner, which gathers ore for a wide variety of crafting classes, these Botanist items are mostly used by Carpenters, Alchemists, and Culinarians. It’s not the flashiest thing in the world to collect the items necessary for a single potion that will be gone in a flash. However, it can be awfully lucrative.
Armor and weapons can last the length of an entire patch. Potions and food? Players (literally) chew through those more quickly. Everyone needs more consumable items — especially at high levels of play. But not just anybody has the patience to bother harvesting ingredients en masse. That’s where you come in as a Botanist! Not to mention some high-end gear recipes still use wood and other, similar materials. Whether you pick Miner or Botanist, you can’t go wrong! Many players actually level up all Disciples of the Hand and Land together — giving them access to every option all at once.
Meanwhile, even though FFXIV inventory space is quite limited, the arrival of Endwalker makes gathering less of a strain on your bags than it used to be. Square Enix has removed the concept of High Quality gathering materials from the game in the 6.0 update. That severely reduces the number of inventory slots eaten up while harvesting materials as any one of the gathering classes.
And there you have the very basics of how to unlock the Botanist (and why you should) in FFXIV. Not to mention you now also have a handy list of locations to check as you progress through the class quests and your adventure. Best of luck bringing home a beautiful bounty of beets! And other stuff, of course.
