Beginner’s Guide to FFXIV Shadowbringers Retainers

A Complete Guide on FFXIV: Shadowbringers Retainers, what are they, Best Classes of Retainers, their Ventures, and more…

FFXIV: Shadowbringers was launched back in 2019. Currently it is running the patch 5.4. FFXIV Retainers are an indispensable part of the game economy. But they are not restricted to that alone. The Retainers are NPCs or Non-Playing Characters in the game and ffxiv retainer jobs include storing your items as well. We will cover in details all the aspects such as the above as well as the retainer personality in FFXIV.

Ever since Shadowbringers have been launched the flow of new players has been on a rise. With the patch 5.4 some new aspects have also been launched. They are in the following:

  • New levels for retainer exploration ventures have been added.
  • The additions and adjustments have been made to quick exploration are in the following:
    • Retainers that have reached maximum level can now obtain new items
    • Retainers will receive items in greater quantities when equipped with more powerful gear, with a greater chance of obtaining high-quality items.

* Following this change, the chance to obtain rare items based on gear has been removed.

  • Certain items have been removed which were previously obtainable via retainer ventures.
    • depending on the retainer’s level, the amount of experience gained via retainer ventures is fixed.

FFXIV Retainer Guide

If you are new then you might be wondering what are these retainers how can they help you. In this guide we are going to explore A to Z of retainers. So, read on to find out everything about the FFXIV: Shadowbringers Retainers.

What are Retainers?

In short, they do the job of your assistant. They are necessary to help you take care of your valuable resources. They hold items for you. In total you can hold up to 175 items with them. They are not limited to holding items for you alone, they can hold your Gil and crafting crystals as well. 

What are Retainers in FFXIV

The most important part of Retainers is, however, selling things for you in the market to make some gil for yourself. You can use them to sell a product on the city market and when the product is finally sold the money goes to Retainer itself to be stored safely. They, as already told, work as a manager of your affairs. In the above case, they do financial management! They are truly helpful in getting things done. They are about as much useful as your assistant or manager under you in daily life.

How to Unlock Retainers?

If you are looking forward to unlock the Retainers for yourself in the game then you must be done with the main story quest – “The Scions of the Seventh Dawn”. The quest is available in the 17th level of the game. Don’t worry, the number of the level shouldn’t bother you as initially leveling up is not a big issue.

The Retainers are available in three main cities that are available to you in the game early on. After you complete the quest you can then hire Retainers from these cities.

How to Hire Retainers?

Retainers are available in the Retainer evocate by the Market board in any of the cities said above. You can, by default, hire only two Retainers.

Hiring a retainer in FFXIV Shadowbringers

However, if you are interested in more than two in numbers of these then you can purchase them from their website. The Retainers you get out of purchase are billed monthly. Just in case for your information that they are like monthly subscriptions.

How to Build Retainer?

You can build your Retainer just like your main character. It is very interesting! You can fashion your Retainer as per your choice. However, there is a difference between your main character and your Retainer. You get to choose a Retainer personality. This will include how the Retainer will behave with you, i.e., how will it address you and what are the responses that are going to be there, etc.

When you create a Retainer, you can select the gear that is more appropriate for the job that you have chosen for the Retainer. You can put a high-level gear on it as well. And if you want to change the appearance of the Retainer then you can do that too. That is also similar to glamouring up your main Character’s gear.

The Jobs of the Retainer

The jobs of the Retainers are pretty much interesting! You can choose it for them and as they perform their jobs they will generally level up. The primary thing that you can do out of them is send them to Ventures.

Jobs For Retainers

You can have any job be done by the Retainers except crafting specialists such as carpenter or weaver. Otherwise, most are available such as botanist, minor, or fisher. You can even pick up jobs such as gathering for your Retainer.

All things are fine, but there is one thing you should bear in mind, and that is your Retainer cannot have a higher level than your Character itself. That is if you are at level 10 then your Retainer as well can reach up to level 10. As you raise the level of your main Character so can you raise the level of your Retainer.

Disciples of war and magic Retainers

For the Disciples of war and magic Retainers you can send them hunting for monsters and when they will kill the monsters, they will get you back some materials.

There is not much of a difference in items acquired by jobs of war and magic. So, you can choose either of them. The only difference is in the appearance of the jobs. The materials in either of these jobs of war and magic are animal hides, ingredients, feathers, and a variety of other random objects.

You can send the Retainers for a particular material or you can send them for just any material at random by sending them for EXP. When they return, they will return with any random material.

Botanist Retainers

In the game, Botanical Retainers specialise in getting resources related to plants. It’s a in which you are allowed to gather crafting materials and gardening items such as ingredients, seeds, and plants.

You can go for a Botanist Retainer if you have a weaver or culinarian crafting class. The materials acquired in these jobs are directly related to these classes.

One more thing related to materials acquired. You need to gather the materials once before your Retainer can have access to it. This is applicable to any item in the gathering log for this class.

Miner Retainers

If you are looking for the mineral wealth of Eorzea miner Retainers could be of some use to you. This gathering class is meant for gathering crafting materials such as minerals, ore, and rocks. If you have a blacksmith or goldsmith then you should go for a Retainer as a miner. Having a mining Retainer can help you with these jobs as they directly correlate with them.

The same as with other classes in this class too your main character should have mined first any given item and only then the Retainer would be able to do it for you.

Fisher Retainers

Fisher class is meant for fishing the Eorzea’s freshwater and marine resources. This one is the third and the last one of the gathering classes. You can collect materials for crafting such as shells, fish, corals, and a variety of different sea creatures.

If your character belongs to this character then it is sane to have a Retainer as a fisher particularly if there is an alchemist or culinarian with you. The materials directly correlate with the jobs.

The same as with other classes in this class too your main character should have mined first any given item and only then the Retainer would be able to do it for you.’

How to Maximise Profits

The Retainer jobs that provide the best results are, doubtlessly, botanist, miner, and fisher. Many of you are probably grumbling at the fact of how boring it’s to level up these gathering classes, however, it’s very much worth the grind.

Gatherers are famous in the game for raking in the moolah. The materials you can gather together with your Retainer can bring in huge profits. That is so because the materials are in huge demand in the market and the more you gather the more money you can make.

The most important thing about Retainers is that they can gather rare materials on your demand! However, regular jobs cannot do that.

Gatherers have these rare crafting items that can be gained and these are called “unspoiled materials”. These unspoiled materials are nodes that are timed. They appear for a short duration. This duration is just a matter of few minutes. It is not possible for you to gather for unspoiled materials outside their spawning time. But interestingly, your Retainers can! Retainers are possibly the only way you can get unspoiled resources outside their spawning time. That is what we mean by saying getting rare items on demand.

Now the point is that not everybody is a gatherer. However, everybody requires these rare items. Out of your stock of rare materials you can keep some for crafting high level items and whatever is surplus that you can sell them for making Gil.

The Retainers are your best option for gathering rare items so quickly in the game. There is no other option in the game to do so on demand.

Interacting with your Retainer and Ventures

You can speak to your Retainer is when there is a summoning bell in the area where you are. You can find summoning bells in main cities and only sometimes in small towns. When you find a summoning bell and ring it then you will find an option of which Retainer to call.

Ventures

Ventures allow you to assign tasks to your Retainers. When you interact with your Retainers you have an option to send them forth on ventures. Ventures tasks are essentially sending your Retainers to gather items that you may need. You need to send your Retainers on ventures as that is how the Retainers level up, by completing ventures.

The currency “ventures” are required to send your Retainers on Ventures. You can earn this currency rather easily. You can earn it through level quests, beast tribe quest. The most common way, however, is through purchasing them at your Grand Company with GC seals.

Ventures are of different kinds. You can send your retainers on explorations, quick explorations or just the regular hunting or gathering ventures.

Explorations

Explorations consist of an 18-hour venture. You can send your Retainer for explorations and gain the highest EXP. And if your Retainer is a high level one then they have the potential to gather and bring you either high-level or rare items; such as crafting materials, minions, and more.

Quick Explorations

Quick explorations can also get you rare items, however, these are potentially the costliest proposition as compared to other kind of ventures. They last an hour, but the EXP that they provide is dependent upon the value of the item that the Retainers have gathered. The item could be a low-level fish and up to a high-level gear. Quick explorations are you can say a gamble.

Regular Ventures

Regular ventures do not cost you a fortune and sending your Retainers regularly on these will get you a steady gain in EXP. In terms of time, it takes about anywhere between 40 minutes and one hour to complete. More valuable a material the more time the regular ventures would require.

Conclusion

Materials are difficult to earn in FFXIV and Retainers can get you those relatively easily. If you want a quick gain leveling up and be rich with Gil then Retainers is the way. If you do not get the Retainers then things are going to be a bit difficult for you in the world of FFXIV. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and get the two Retainers for yourself.

Thank you for paying us a visit and wish you happy gaming!

Further Reading…

Murphy Wilson
Murph is a gamer journalist based in Dallas TX, USA. He loves to be around both new and old-gen gaming consoles. He has a vast collection of physical gaming discs from PS1s to PS4s. You can find his home as a gaming museum.