Levequests, otherwise known as just Leves, have long been a great way to make gil in Final Fantasy XIV. Endwalker addressed that little “problem” by nerfing them somewhat, but it’s still a perfectly reasonably way to make around 62,000 gil per day without a major time investment — and you can make even more if you have a surplus of Leve Allowances built up. You just need to know where to look and which Leves to take. We’ve prepared this guide to the best Levequests for making gil in Endwalker.
As you can probably assume from the description that this means you need the aforementioned expansion to FFXIV. You also need to be leveled in the mid-80s or higher on your crafting classes: specifically Alchemist and/or Culinarian. Alchemist has the better Leve options, but Culinarian is a solid second choice. You also need Water Crystals, which are easiest to acquire as a Fisher through desynthesis. Leveling up your Miner and Botanist classes will also help you gather materials for free. None of these gatherers are strictly necessary; you can always buy ingredients on the Market Board. This will just result in lower profit margins overall.
Once you meet the requirements, you can accept the quest “Leves of Old Sharlayan.” This lightning quick introductory mission grants access to, well, leves in Old Sharlayan. Just speak to the NPC named Grigge (X: 12.2, Y: 13.4). You must also first complete the Main Scenario Quest “Old Sharlayan, New to You.” Though this is one of the very earliest missions in the Endwalker campaign, so it shouldn’t be any kind of hurdle. From here on out Grigge will offer you Leves that can be turned in to Ahldiyrn (the NPC just to Grigge’s left).
This should all be old hat to anyone who has done Tradecraft Leves before. Still, we figured we should go through the basics for anyone that skipped this process on the way to leveling up their crafters to Level 90. A deeper explanation of Tradecraft Leves, and what makes them so efficient, can be found at the bottom of this guide. For now let’s just get to the meat of things.
The Best Leves for Gil in Endwalker
After speaking to Grigge, select “Tradecraft Leves” and switch to either the Alchemist or Culinarian tab. We’ll start with Alchemist since it has the lowest requirements of the two.
The Leve we want is the level 86 mission “Practical Command.” It’s one of only two level 86 Alchemist Leves in Old Sharlayan, so it’s hard to miss. The Leve requires nothing more than three bottles of “Commanding Craftsman’s Draught.” You can make these yourself or buy them on the Market Board, if they’re cheap enough for your liking. Just remember that turning in three High Quality (HQ) draughts will double your gil reward. This is true of all Tradecraft Leves in Old Sharlayan. Your mileage may vary, but on my server, Leviathan, HQ draughts sell for five times more than Normal Quality ones as I write this.
Always make sure to do the math and make certain you’re still turning a profit if you choose to save time by purchasing items from other players. Also remember that, like most potions, you get three bottles per craft. That means you only need to craft once per Leve if you make them yourself.
The exact gil reward for Practical Command varies slightly every time you accept it, just like every other Leve. However, you should typically receive more than 5,000 gil per completion. Plus a material reward. These often include Ambrosial Water, Petalouda Scales, or Lightning Crystals (all of which are used in the craft). When you factor in this ingredient “refund” it makes even more sense to craft each Commanding Craftsman’s Draught yourself. Not to mention this is a simple craft that takes just seconds to complete with even basic level 90 gear.
Notably, this mission has no intermediate crafting requirements. All the necessary ingredients can also be acquired by Retainers. These include:
- 2x Ambrosial Water: Mined from Elpis (X: 14.0, 18.3).
- 2x Petalouda Scales: Dropped by Petalouda enemies just west of “The Twelve Wonders” Aetheryte in Elpis, around (X: 7.0, Y: 32.0).
- Can be purchased using Bicolor Gemstones from the Gemstone Trader in Elpis, just north of the Anagnorisis Aetheryte.
- 2x Lime Basil: Harvested as a Botanist in Lakeland in Norvrandt (X: 25.5, Y: 30.0).
- 2x Kudzu Root: Harvested as a Botanist in The Fringes in Gyr Abania (X: 12.0, Y: 25.0).
The next best option is a slightly more involved quest called “The Mountain Steeped.” This is a level 88 Culinarian Leve, also available from Grigge. Though it tends to provide slightly less gil per completion than Practical Command. It’s still a potentially useful option for players who either don’t have a combat Retainer or haven’t yet farmed many Bicolor Gemstones. To complete the mission, you need to craft three cups of “Tsai tou Vounou.” As a food item, this also produces three cups per craft. Ergo you only need to craft it once to complete each Leve.
The ingredients can all be acquired by mining and botany. Though one of the items, Palm Sugar, must be crafted from Palm Syrup. The total list includes:
- 2x Sideritis Leaves: Harvested as a Botanist in Elpis (X: 20.7, Y: 23.8)
- 2x Ambrosial Water: Mined from Elpis (X: 14.0, Y: 18.3)
- 1x Palm Sugar: Crafted as a Culinarian with Palm Syrup, which is gathered as a Botanist in Thavnair (X: 17.0, Y: 22.0)
- 1x Cinnamon: Purchased from various vendors, including Engerrand on the Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (X: 8.6, Y: 11.8), or gathered as a Botanist in the North Shroud (X: 26.4, Y: 27.3)
- 1x Lemonette: Gathered as a Botanist in Kholusia (X: 20.0, Y: 27.0) between the hours of 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and/or 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in-game time
Using this method, you should get somewhere between 9,800 to 11,000 gil per quest completion. That’s an average of 62,400 gil every 24 hours! All of which can be earned without moving from a single spot. Just stand at the corner of the stall between Ahldiyrn and Grigge. From here you can target them both without moving.
Players who saved up or forgot about their Leve Allowances can very quickly make over one million gil by burning all 100 allowances in one sitting. After which you just need to keep using your allowances as they accrue — making sure to never let them overcap. That’s all there is to it!
The Importance of Tradecraft Leves
Now for that deeper explanation promised above — Leves are just a type of infinitely repeatable side quest in FFXIV. They provide semi-random rewards in exchange for completing the same set of objectives, as many times as you can. The number of Leves you can complete is limited, however, by a sort of currency called “Leve Allowances.” You gain three allowances every 12 real-world hours but can hold up to 100 at a time. The exact number you currently hold is shown at the bottom of the Levequests menu when you go to accept missions form an NPC (Grigge in this case).
The general idea is to never let your allowances overcap. That is to say, if you’re already holding 100 Leve Allowances, the next batch of three you would normally get at the 12-hour mark simply disappear. This is tantamount to throwing gil away. Especially when you consider how quick and easy it is to complete Tradecraft Leves.
Tradecraft Leves are just the Levequests designed for crafting classes. There are also Fieldcraft Leves (designed for Botanist, Fisher, and Miner to complete) and Battlecraft Leves (meant for combat classes). Tradecraft Leves tend to be the most profitable, because the greatest rewards for the smallest time investment. You can theoretically complete Tradecraft Leves without ever leaving Old Sharlayn. Just as long as you can buy the necessary crafting ingredients off the nearby Market Board, that is. You can even buy the completed items and turn them in that way. You do not need to craft the items yourself.
The obvious downside to buying items is spending money on items. This cuts into your total revenue from each Leve — possibly to the point where it’s no longer profitable in the first place. This means we want to target Leves with overall fewer material requirements. That includes Crafting Catalysts (i.e. shards, crystals, and clusters). Leves that require more intermediate crafting materials — like logs, leather, ingots, nuggets, etc. — don’t just take longer to complete. They add more overhead costs by requiring, for example, more Fire Crystals or Wind Crystals per quest you complete.
This is where Alchemist and Culinarian come in handy. Both crafting classes typically require far fewer intermediate crafting materials than their counterparts. Carpenters usually require lumber, which you craft from logs, which costs more crystals and takes extra time. Blacksmiths use ingots, which do the same. You get the idea. Culinarian and Alchemist also require intermediate materials, just usually not as many. (This is also what makes them so good at farming Crafter’s Scrips.) Instead they use more raw ingredients harvested from the world — usually from monsters or Botanist gathering points.
Both types of items can be easily acquired in a couple of ways: getting them yourself or sending Retainers for them. Retainers are special, customizable NPCs that FFXIV players use to expand their item storage and sell things on the in-game Market Board. They can also be sent on passive missions called “Ventures” to acquire items. If you make a retainer into a combat class, like Paladin or Red Mage, they can acquire monster parts. If you make them a Botanist, they can gather herbs and wood. This takes just one real-world hour per Venture. That way you can passively accrue the necessary crafting materials en masse without even leaving Old Sharlayan, or while you run dungeons and other activities.
Or you can just get it yourself. Monster parts can also be purchased for Bicolor Gemstones. These have become a highly useful resource in FFXIV. Particularly after Endwalker introduced unique fashion rewards for completing many FATEs in every zone. You get 14 Bicolor Gemstones for every Endwalker FATE you complete with the highest possible rating. You can also get 12 per FATE by doing them in Shadowbringers zones. Gemstone Traders in every region of the world will then sell you monster parts for two Bicolor Gemstones apiece. In other words, one FATE equals seven ingredients. If you decide to use this method, be sure to check the Party Finder. It’s very common for squads of random players to team up and roll through FATEs very quickly together to harvest Bicolor Gemstones and level up their “Shared FATEs” to access those exclusive items.
Also just like FATEs, Leves are entirely noncompetitive. The approximate 62,000 gil you can earn per day from using up your allowances is guaranteed money. No undercutting other players for higher placement on the Market Board. No waiting for buyers. No worrying about your Retainers’ sales slots. You don’t even worry about the queue times of running Duty Roulettes. You just get gil. This makes it far and away one of the most time efficient ways of making money in FFXIV.
Hopefully you can put this knowledge to good use! You can always invest the profits on more high-end crafting materials to sell bigger and better stuff on the Market Board, too. Or maybe you just need a little extra for a glamour or three. If you don’t have a crafting class quite up to level yet, be sure to use our guide on how to level crafting classes fast in FFXIV and get in on the action. Either way, best of luck and happy crafting!
