I’ve hunted across the First for years, and I’m a woman who still jumps when an S-rank screams into chat. If you want a clear, no-fluff explanation of Shadowbringers hunting in Final Fantasy XIV (as of June 1, 2025), this is it. Read fast or bookmark—your time matters.
Hunts are about finding and killing named “Marks” for rewards. They’re social, they teach map awareness, and they pay—literally. In my experience, they also teach patience and how to move in a crowd without causing chaos (honestly, people forget basic etiquette).
What hunts are, simply
Marks are elite overworld monsters with bigger HP and special attacks. A-ranks show up roughly every 4–6 hours after they’re killed. S-ranks need special triggers and have a minimum 84-hour respawn delay after death (these numbers match community tracking data as of June 2025). Why chase them? Nuts, tomestones, materia, mounts—stuff that helps you gear up or finish a collection.
Want specifics? Sure: daily bills ask you to kill 3–5 common enemies; weekly bills ask for five B-rank elites. Elite marks (A and S) are the ones that get people shouting in chat.
How to find targets
Use community trackers—Faloop and FF14 Hunt are still common tools (many active servers use their maps and Discord hooks). Why use them? They save you time. Why not rely only on them? Reports can be wrong; cross-check before you sprint across a zone.
// Example spawn notes (June 2025)
A-rank: ~4–6 hour timer after last kill.
S-rank: min 84 hours + special trigger (weather, kills, item use).
Always confirm with at least two tracker reports.Maps and Discords are your friends. Also: learn the common spawn points in each zone. If you know the handful of tile spots for an A-rank, you’ll run circles around newcomers.
Types of hunts (short table)
| Type | Freq | Typical Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | Daily reset | 10–15 Nuts |
| Weekly B-rank | Weekly reset | ~100 Nuts |
| A-rank | 4–6 hours | 40 Nuts + tomestones |
| S-rank | 84+ hours + trigger | 100 Nuts + top-tier tomestones |
Combat and practical tips
Tactics matter. Positioning keeps the mark off spawn points and away from roaming players. Tanks: move the mob to a safe patch. Healers: expect bursty damage. DPS: hit your opener but save some cooldowns for enrage windows.
Here’s a short checklist I use before every session:
- Food and potions (carry both)
- Repair gear
- Highest iLv you own on that job
- Plan where you’ll run if things go wrong
Why these? Food and potions increase sustain (so fights end faster). Repairs avoid embarrassing wipes when gear breaks at the worst time. Use your best gear because elite marks punish slow DPS—time is reward.
S-rank reality check
S-ranks often need 20+ people and precise mechanics. They’re thrilling. They’re also occasionally overhyped: many S-ranks are more about managing crowd control than pure skill—controversial, I know. Some folks treat S-ranks like the only endgame worth doing; I disagree. You can gear faster just running targeted weekly content. There, I said it!
Finding and joining hunt trains
Hunt trains are organized runs where a conductor moves groups through zones to clear marks. You see them in major cities and on Discord. Want in? Follow the conductor, wait for the pull countdown, and don’t attack early. Pulling too soon ruins rewards. People get salty—between us, that etiquette matters more than you think.
“Wait the countdown. If you don’t, you waste everyone’s time and risk getting kicked.” — practical advice
Etiquette list (short):
- Wait for pull timers
- Stay with the group
- Keep chat usable
- Share useful callouts
Rewards and spending priorities
Sack of Nuts is the hunt currency. Spend it on materia first—especially if you plan to raid or push high-end content—because materia increases your long-term power. That’s why I buy it early and often (depends on your niche, but generally true).
| Item | Cost (Nuts) | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Materia VIII | 25–40 | High |
| Riding maps | 250 | Medium |
| Minions | 200–800 | Low |
Tomestone drops from A and S provide solid currency (Poetics and other tomestones). If you need gear quickly, hunting can outperform hour-long dungeon runs in tomestones-per-hour. Counterintuitive? Maybe, but true for certain goals (like materia or specific tomestone caps).
Advanced spawn tricks and an odd tip
Some S-ranks need weather, others need you to clear a set of enemies, or to use items at specific nodes. One odd but useful trick: sometimes doing the associated daily bill in the same zone helps the spawn chain progress faster (this depends on the mark; there are exceptions).
Example S-rank triggers (not exhaustive, check trackers):
- Lakeland Nuckelavee: 84h min + many region kills during Fog.
- Il Mheg Aglaope: 84h min + specific harvests.
Always confirm exact steps on your server's tracker (June 2025).Final thoughts (short)
Hunting builds gear, social ties, and map knowledge. It won’t always be fast, and some marks are rote (boring!), while others are brilliant. Join trains, learn spawn points, spend Nuts on materia, and have fun. You’ll get better every week—trust the grind, but pick your fights.
Want one last tip? Bring patience. And a chocobo whistle—no, really, it helps when you need to sprint across a zone in a hurry!
— a veteran hunter who still loves a good hunt (and gets annoyed when people pull early).
