combat: leveling quickly in ffxi

Contrary to something like Diablo 2, there isn’t a cow level where you can get massive exp for doing nothing. Instead, this tutorial will focus on smoother battles, which in turn will yield quicker leveling. When you are leveling, you want to find the point where you are getting the most exp, having the least down time, and killing the monster as quickly as possible.

Safety first
Safety, above all should be the motto to leveling. Until White Mages are level 25, they cannot revive fallen comrades. Therefore, if one of your party member dies, they have to spend time making up for lost exp, and spend time running back to where your party is after he re-spawns. If this were to happen, your party would be losing valuable leveling time. If your party cannot handle the monster you are currently fighting, don’t hesitate to call for help. It is better to be safe than sorry. Don’t be surprised if a party member leaves after they died because there must be trust among all party members to fulfill all their duties. Spending time looking for a final party member means taking more time away from leveling. With that said, if you are in a new and unknown area, always use the check option and check the monster’s relative strength to your level. Keep in mind that check is not effected by whether you’re in a party or not.

The Goal of Leveling
When you’re in a full party, the monsters that you want to fight should scan as incredibly tough. However, there are situations where it is best to kill tough monsters, but kill more of it. The point of leveling is not to kill one super tough monster, and rest for 5 minutes before fighting another. You want to kill monsters that will give you relatively decent experience, but at the same time gives you the least “down time”. In other words, it is better to kill tough monsters nonstop, and not have to rest.

Simply put, the goal is to get the most amount of exp, in a set amount of time:
Say an incredibly tough monster will give you 160 exp. Your party has to rest for 5 minutes before fighting another. Over a period of 20 minutes, you might be lucky to have killed three total. 3 x 160 = 480exp in 20 minutes time.

However, if you were to fight Very tough, or Tough monster that will give you 70 exp with little or no down time. In a period of 20 minutes, you might be able to kill 8. 70 x 8 = 560. The difference may not seem like much, however, the best way to get exp in Final Fantasy XI is to “chain” monsters. Whenever you chain a monster, you will receive roughly 20exp extra per kill. For example the first monster you kill will give you 70 exp, the second that you chain will give you 90exp. So in reality, chaining 8 tough or very tough monsters will give you more than 560exp in a period of 20 minutes. To chain monsters, you must fight monsters that are either “tough” or above. You must also kill the first, and the second one in a limited time. Chains will be break if you spend time resting. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box. Even though the limit of people to a party is 6, you can always form alliances. However, when you form alliances, it is harder to keep the experience decent. There are times when having 8 people in a party is better than 6. If you have three White mages in a party that can take turns healing the Warriors that are fighting monsters that are more than incredibly tough without any down time, the exp will be reasonably decent.

Minimizing down time
The best way to minimize down time is to have a well-balanced party. For example, if you have two White Mages in your party that knows when to rest for MP and when to heal, chances are, one of the White Mage will have full MP by the time a battle is over.
Keep in mind that it is not a good idea to have more than three White Mages in a party of six because chances are you will not have enough fire power to kill the monster off in a reasonably quick manner. When that happens, the White Mages might actually have to spend more MP healing party members because of the unnecessarily long battle. Support jobs such as Bards are very popular because they can sing songs that will regenerate HP and MP while your party rest.

Basically there are two things to keep in mind when forming a well-balanced party. The first thing you want to do is get enough healers to keep everyone healthy. The second thing you want to do is make sure that you have enough tanks to protect the mages. The two categories, Warrior and Mages, are the basic formation in a party. Warriors fight the monsters in the front line whereas Mages cast spells in the back row. The key is to balance the amount of damage dealers with damage healers.

Even though most players like to solo from level 1-6 since monsters that that level is relatively easy, I highly do not recommend players to solo after level 10. Between level 6-10, it doesn’t hurt to have one or two members in your party. This way, you can minimize downtime and still get decent exp.

Maximizing damage
Another way to minimize down time is to maximize damage. Skill chaining is one of the best ways to do massive damage in a short amount of time. The best time to skill chain is when the mages in your party have low MP, or when you need to finish off a monster quickly to preserve an exp chain.

Skill chaining, also known as “Renkei” in Japanese, is when you, and at least one other person use your weapon skills in a timely manner. When you skill chain, additional effects will be added that will damage the monster. Before you skill chain, you must first make sure that the two skill chains can chain off each other. If you and your skill chain buddy use the same skill chain, it will not work. For example, if person A uses the weapon skill “Burning Blade”, then you must follow that up with “Fast Blade”. The timing for skill chains is very easy to get down. Once you have done it successfully 2 or 3 times, you will almost always get the additional elemental damage effect from skill chaining.

The proper way to skill chain is have person A use “Burning Blade” when person B has enough tactical points to use “Fast Blade”. After Person A uses “Burning Blade”, person B should count in his heart 3 to 4 seconds, and then use “Fast Blade”. Generally if you use the second weapon skill 2.5 seconds to 4.5 seconds, it will work. If you have a third person to skill chain off of, then that person should count 3 to 4 seconds after person B uses his. The same pattern in regardless of how many people are skill chaining. The best advice to keep in mind is that don’t be anxious and rush your count. If you use your weapon skill immediately after the first person uses his, it will not work.
The battle system in Final Fantasy XI did not forget about the mages either. Instead of using weapon skills, mages will use Magic burst in during a skill chain. For example, using the previous example, if person A uses Burning Blade, the mage should cast Fire after person A finishes his weapon skill. The reason that the mage have to cast so early is because casting fire takes 4-5 seconds. Therefore, the mage must cast early to properly time Magic burst. It is much harder to use Magic Burst because each spell has different casting times.

Hot Leveling Areas

Starting from Bastok:
Level 1-10: North or South Gustaberg
Level 10-13: Konschtat Highlands, Palborough Mines
Level 13-20: Valkurm
Level 20-30: Qufim, Battalia, Rolanberry
Level 30-40: Crawler’s nest, Necropolis, Garliage, Davoi, Beadeaux
Level 40-45: Upper level Oztroja, Inner Beadueax

Starting from San d’Oria:
Level 1-10: East or West Ronfaure
Level 10-14: La Theine, Ghelsba
Level 14-20: Valkrum
Level 20-30: Quifm, Battalia, Rolanberry
Level 30-40: Crawler’s nest, Necropolis, Garliage, Davoi, Beadeaux
Level 40-45: Upper level Oztroja, Inner Beadueax

Starting from Windurst:
Level 1-10: East or West Sarutabaruta
Level 10-14: Tahrongi Canyon, Giddeus
Level 14-18: Shakrami Maze
Level 18-22: Mhaura
Level 20-30: Quifm, Battalia, Rolanberry
Level 30-40: Crawler’s nest, Necropolis, Garliage, Davoi, Beadeaux
Level 40-45: Upper level Oztroja, Inner Beadueax

Final Words
As stated before, there isn’t a real quick place to level in FFXI like in many other MMOGs. However, you can still level up quickly by fighting monsters in the locations I have recommended, by minimizing down time, and by maximizing damage. Above all, do not take foolish risks!