FFXIV Island Sanctuary Leveling Guide (2024)

A new update to FFXIV's Island Sanctuary just dropped and we figured it is high time to teach you how to level optimally or how to at least get some sense of direction!

With the most recent patch of Final Fantasy XIV 6.4 The Dark Throne has just been released and features a big update to the Island Sanctuary. Aka the only good content currently available in FFXIV.

If you're new to the Island Sanctuary you probably wonder how you can level up your Scancutary Rank as fast as possible to unlock all its features, bells, and whistles.

But don't worry, here is everything you need to know about Island Sanctuary Ranks, how to gain EXP as fast as possible, and what rewards wait at the other end of it. Just remember to take it slow.

Final Fantasy XIV Island Sanctuary Ranks Explained

Island Sanctuary Ranks indicate the current level of your Sanctuary. Depending on what Rank you're at, you'll unlock different features, new things to build, and certain rewards that unlock at different level intervals.

It gives you something to do besides just endlessly farming Seafarer's Cowrie's and Islander's Cowries. Once you reach Rank 10, 12, and 16 you'll also unlock quests that progress the storyline and reward new glamours.

But first, here is a detailed breakdown of all the Sanctuary Ranks and what they'll unlock:

Experience points are acquired by basically everything you'll do on your Island sanctuary so there is little to no reason to skip anything. Most of your EXP will be earned by simply progressing the content until you have to farm.

If you're new to the content or need some advice on how to get started, check out our beginner's guide to the Island Sanctuary here.

The Many Ways to Grind FFXIV's Island Sanctuary

When it comes to gaining experience points in your Sanctuary, you have a lot of options. And with a lot of options we mean just a few until it just becomes a timesink and or endless grinding.

Visions and Buildings

At a baseline, everything you do will reward you experience points to some degree from gathering materials to using these materials to build whatever your heart desires.

You earn the most EXP by realizing visions. Visions are constructing buildings, clearing out more sections of your hideaway, and generally achieving certain feats such as completing quests.

Gardening and Animal Keeping

The next major way to earn experience points is by tending to your pasture and croplands. Depending on how many animals you have and what you feed them, this can be a great daily experience gain.

Crops, if watered regularly (keep in mind that they will water themselves if it rains) are also a great source of experience points.

For both of them, keep in mind that you will only earn experience points by collecting both animal droppings and veggies yourself. If you employ the Caretaker or Gardener this experience will be void.

Crafting

You'll also earn experience points from crafting various items. Generally for food and animal restrains you can earn 10 exp per craft. Which isn't that much until you start stockpiling.

Once you're deep into growing veggies at your Cropland you'll soon notice that you'll often have way more than you'll ever need.

It's not much but if you happen to sit on a bunch of resources There is never a good reason not to craft as much as possible into Premium Island Greenfeed.

The tools on the other hand, while requiring a lot more materials will also have a heavier experience point payout. This will be different from tool to tool but since you need them to progress you'll probably craft these anyways.

Gathering

Do you know what is really not fun to do, takes forever, and will eventually drive you insane? Grinding via gathering. We only advise you to do this if you really have nothing else to do and or love to suffer.

Per gathering action in The Wilds, you earn 10 Island experience points to contribute to your total Island Sanctuary Rank. If you're in the later stages of the leveling process this will most certainly cost you your sanity.

That said, once you unlock flying at Rank 10, you'll be able to reach the top of the mountain, The True Summit which is full of rare resources. There you can also just run in a circle for hours on end and don't have to worry about stuff respawning on time.

Animal Capture

Arguably the worst and most resource-hungry way of grinding out experience points is trying to capture animals. It is certainly possible to gain some experience points, especially since rare ones give bigger payout.

But the 20 experience points you'll be earning per capture are not worth it unless you have an entire capture to fill up.

Workshop

The workshop on the other hand is probably the best way to earn experience points in your Island Sanctuary it also requires the least amount of action by the player.

Simply set up your workshop agenda for a week or two, make sure you have enough raw materials, and sit back and relax while your dutiful mammets do all the work.

There is some optimization you can do for an even greater experience gain. But for this, you'll need to set the workshop up on each individual day depending on how demands and the market shift.

But did you know that the way the market shifts is the same at the start of the week for every player and there are some beautiful people on Reddit that solve the workshop every single week?

Make sure to follow the bot on Twitter here and or join the Oversea Casuals Discord for detailed information and more Island Sanctuary goodness.

And that wraps everything you need to know about Leveling in the Final Fantasy XIV Island Sanctuary, for more on FFXIV just visit our dedicated page here!