How to get a mount in FFXIV (2024)

The beginning of Final Fantasy 14 involves running everywhere on foot. While you can fast travel through the Aetheryte you find, you still need to visit them in person first. The quickest way to get around without teleporting is to get a mount.

In this FFXIV guide, we’ll explain how to unlock your first mount, the modest chocobo. We’ll show you the quests that lead up to it, as well as the requirements to get one and how to unlock flying mounts.

When do you get your first mount in FFXIV?

Your first mount will be the chocobo which you’ll get at around level 20 after completing a chunk of the main scenario quest:

1. Decide which Grand Company you want to join, as part of the “A Hero in the Making” main scenario quest.
2. Complete the main scenario quest “The Company You Keep” for whichever GC you decide to join.
3. Complete the next quest, which is different depending on which GC you joined. It’ll either be “Till Sea Swallows All,” “Wood’s Will Be Done,” or “For Coin and Country.” The quest will reward 300 Company Seals.
4. After completing those quests, “My Little Chocobo,” a side quest with the blue plus mark, will become available. The quest is slightly different depending on which Grand Company you joined. Use the Company Seals from the previous quest’s reward to buy your chocobo license and complete this quest to get your Chocobo Whistle.
5. Use the Chocobo Whistle in your inventory to permanently gain access to your new feathery friend.
6. You can add the chocobo mount to your hotbar by accessing the “mount guide” from the character menu.

Image: Square Enix via Polygon

At level 30, you’ll unlock a quest called “My Feisty Little Chocobo.” Complete that, and your chocobo can fight alongside you, level up, and learn new skills.

You can also get bardings to dress your chocobo up and feed it specific veggies to dye it in a stable.

When do you get a flying mount in FFXIV?

After you complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon” (around level 50), you will be able to fly in all the A Realm Reborn zones automatically.

However, in each expansion, you’ll need to unlock Aether Currents in order to fly in each zone. About half of the Aether Currents are just interactable swirling winds on the map in notable locations, whereas the other half come from completing quests in the zone. (These quests will be marked with the blue plus mark symbols.) Notably, you will not unlock flying for an area until after the main story mostly wraps up in that area, since there’s always an Aether Current locked behind main scenario quests. Bummer.

How to increase mount speed in FFXIV

Many main scenario quests will bump up your mount speed as you play and you can unlock further mount speed increases by buying riding maps in exchange for Allied Seals, Centurio Seals, and Bicolor Gemstones, depending on which expansion you’re buying the riding map for.

Image: Square Enix via Polygon

However, these speed increases are only for when you’re on the ground, so they’re effectively useless once you unlock flying, since flying is always faster. Getting riding maps involves grinding out specific currencies, so you will very likely unlocking flying before you actually get the riding map for a specific area. You can see more info about riding maps via the FFXIV Wiki, if you’re still curious.

How to get more mounts in FFXIV

There’s no easy answer for this, as there are a ton of mounts in the game. Some mounts may come from completing hard content like extreme trials or savage raids, whereas other may come as rewards for doing specific side quests or optional content like Island Sanctuary or tribal quests.

There are also a ton of mounts locked behind the Mog Station online shop that cost real money. The most famous of these mounts is the SDS Fenrir mount, which is based off Cloud Strife’s bike from Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children. The mount is notably faster on the ground than every other mount, so you often see people using this motorcycle in new zones when an expansion first launches.

We recommend using a tracking site like FFXIV Collect to track which mounts you have or want.

If you’re just starting out in the massive world of Final Fantasy 14, we have tons of guides to help you. We have a beginner’s guide to get you started, along with a guide detailing which Grand Company you should join.

If you’re starting but are feeling overwhelmed, we have guides to help with picking a job and a guide that explains how long it may take to catch up to current content in FFXIV.

We also have guides on side content, like ocean fishing, relic weapons, and Island Sanctuary, for those who want to take a break from it all.