Gathering (DoL) Collectables Guide for FFXIV Patch 7.0

Collectables have several purposes. They unlock scrips that can be used for materia, gear, and endgame nodes. They also help support crafting by allowing you to obtain aethersands by using Aetherial Reduction, which is the act of breaking down specific collectables into sands you can craft with.

While leveling, collectables are an easy method to gain experience points. While this is not the fastest method, because collectables grant scrips, it is the most efficient after around level 70.

To unlock the collectable system at level 50, you must first complete the main story quest "The Better Half" and the side quest "Inscrutable Tastes." Additionally, there are side quests for each scrip exchange that are located beside said NPC for each expansion.

Unlike crafting classes that use their regular skills to make collectables, Mining and Botany instead have unique skills that are only used for collectables. Fisher toggles an action called Collect, which turns certain fish into collectables based on their size.

As mentioned above, Mining and Botany have unique skills with the sole purpose being for gathering collectables. Some cost GP. Others do not and have various effects which impact your Integrity and Collectability.

The skills can be pressed inside of the collectable menu, meaning you can even move those skills off your hotbars and save some space. If you hover over the skills, the circle above will show you your predicted Collectability rating, and there are also toggle buttons below to see the prediction with certain buffs applied.

The top of the menu shows your Collectability out of the max rating of 1000 and predicts ratings when you hover over skills. For the skill Brazen Prospector, it shows the range your rating can be between.

The Primary Actions include Scour, Brazen Prospector and Meticulous Prospector alongside Collect. This also includes the nodes Integrity as well as the % chance of Meticulous's integrity saving effect occurring.

The Secondary Actions & Bonuses include Scrutiny, Collector's Focus and Priming Touch as well as your Intuition Rate (which grants increased collectability) as well as Collectors Standard (which buffs Brazen and Meticulous).

It is also worth knowing a few extra things, Scrutiny scales on both Gathering and Perception (unlike what the skill says), and you can also use non-collectable skills where relevant. The main use being Solid Reason/ Ageless Words which grant you additional integrity and therefore more collectables from each node.

For a more in-depth explanation of FFXIV's Mining and Botany skills, check out our dedicated guide linked below.

Ephemeral nodes hold items that you also have to gather as collectables in a similar way to other collectables. The difference is that their only purpose is for the items to be broken down using Aetherial Reduction to turn the items into aethersands, crystals, and clusters for crafting. It is the equivalent of desynthesis. Fishing classes can also reduce specific fish into aethersands using the same methods.

To unlock reduction, you need to complete the level 56 quest "No Longer a Collectable" and the quest "The Better Half" that unlocks the scrip exchange.

Once you hit 400 Collectability rating on these items, you have a chance to obtain aethersands. At 1000 Collectability, you have a chance to gain a bonus that can grant you up to 10 sands per item. You always want to aim for either 400 or 1000 - there is no need to waste GP aiming for anything different.

Collectable rotations for Dawntrail will be listed as theorycrafting has been completed for Dawntrail Gathering Collectable Rotations. Click on any of these images to see an enlarged version.

It is important to understand that you do not necessarily need the GP listed on the rotation. That is the total GP that it costs, but you gain 6 GP per hit meaning you can have a little less GP than the rotation asks for. The exact amount of GP depends on the nodes integrity.

This is the more standard endgame rotation you can follow in Dawntrail to utilise the new Collector's High Standard trait whenever it procs. Collector's Standard generally procs less than 20% of the time and therefore this will not occur regularly.

This is a variation of the 1000GP Rotation but instead adjusted for less than 1000 GP by using Priming Touch. This rotation can either cost 800 or 900 GP depending on where you use Priming Touch.

This rotation instead is setup to allow you to reach 1000 collectability even with the lowest stats possible. It will cost 600GP unless you get really unlucky which it will then cost 800GP instead.

Listed are some of the older rotations which are suitable before level 100.

While leveling, 600 rating is enough for quests and Custom Deliveries but is only the minimum for Rowena's Splendors. Instead, try to aim for 1000 for those items.

This is the generally used rotation if you reach the stat requirements mentioned for the item. Lower stats can also use this rotation, but you might need to spend more GP on collectable skills.

This is the lower stat rotation if you do not hit close to the max Collectability rating. It trades off yield for rating because the max rating (1000 in most cases) is always better. Depending on your stats, you will need either 400 or 600GP.

This is simply an example of an ephemeral rotation you would use to hit 400 rating when you have no GP. 400 is required to be able to get a chance at sands.