Skill Ups: A Guide by Kyrial

Tips For Skilling Up

 * To find good mobs to skill up on, use the first chart to determine what rank your job has with the skill you wish to raise. With that in mind, use the second chart to see what level your skill is currently at. The best mobs to skill up on are mobs that are around 6-8 levels above the level you'd have that skill. For example, a THF with 142 sword skill would see that they had a D ranking in Sword, and that this is in the range of level 52. So ideally, he or she would want to skill up on mobs that are level 58-60. Once skillups slow down on those mobs, repeat the process.


 * You will recieve skill ups on any mob that is Even Match or above for your skill. For example, someone leveling a B skill on a level 50 mob will recieve skill ups until they reach level 147, after which point they will no longer recieve skillups from that mob. This means that any mob level 75 or higher can cap any skill for any job.


 * With weapon skills, if you do 0 damage, you will not recieve a skillup. This was not always the case, but was changed in a certain patch. (Note: There are conflicting reports over whether you can skill get skillups on 0 damage hits. Some say it's just more rare now, while others say it is completely impossible. From my own experience, I've gone for an hour straight spamming my ranged attack macro on Steelshells, and dispite good accuracy, I didn't get a single skillup. All my hits were for 0, including critical hits.)


 * Evasion skill is raised by getting hit (whether the attack connects or not) with physical attacks by mobs Even Match or higher to your skill level, similar to how weapon skills work. (Note: There are multiple reports of people having capped evasion on Decent Challenge mobs one way or another; it is unknown how this happens, but the theory is that it is some kind of bug or glitch in the system.)


 * Guarding skill and Parrying skill is raised by taking hits to the front of your character when your weapon is out (i.e. engaged to the mob). Hits to your back do not count, sadly, so you cannot engage and then turn around. Again, the mobs must be of an appropriate level for your skill for you to receive skillups.


 * Shield skill is raised by taking hits to the front of your character. Your weapon does not have be out to recieve shield skillups, but you still can't be hit from behind and get skillups. As always, the mobs must be of an appropriate level for your skill for you to receive skillups.


 * Any magic that deals damage is leveled just like weapon skills, with the exception that you still receieve skillups when the spell does 0 damage.


 * Healing, Enhancing, and Summoning magic skills are raised by casting the magic. Note that Healing magic can also be used to deal damage to Undead mobs, and doing so makes skillups work the same way as weapon skills and damage dealing magic. Skillups are faster this way, but the downside is that you have to fight things using this method.


 * Enfeebling magic works the same way as weapon skills. If the spell is fully resisted, you will not receive a skillup.


 * Singing and instrument skills are raised in mostly the same way as their corresponding magic types. Enfeebling songs that are fully resisted will give skillups, but songs cast on mobs below Even Match to your current skill level will not. Buffs can give skillups at any level.


 * You cannot recieve skillups on a skill that comes exclusively from your subjob. For example, a THF who subs WHM will not recieve skillups in Healing magic, even if their skill is not capped. The same goes for weapons; using the example from before, a THF subbing WHM will not recieve Staff skillups by using a staff, even if their skill is not capped.


 * Mobs in Dynamis and Besieged are treated as level 75 or higher, and thus can cap any skill for any job. It should be noted, however, that mobs in Besieged have extremely high evasion. As such, it is less practical to level weapon skills on them than it is to level magic skills on them.


 * When it comes to Evasion, Guard, Parrying, and Shield, there is a certain priority the game uses. It checks your evasion first, then Shield, then Parrying/Guard (you can't parry with hand-to-hand weapons equipped, and you can't guard with any other types of weapons, so these skills share a slot), then shadows from Blink/Utsusemi. What this means is that evading attacks is bad when leveling Shield, Guard, or Parrying. Typically when leveling these skills, you want to wear as much gear with Evasion penalties as you can. Shadows from Blink/Utsusemi are okay for Shield and Parrying, but Guard is apparently checked after shadows.


 * Gear or merits that give +skill levels to the skill you are skilling up do not force you to fight higher level mobs to get skillups. Skillups are earned as if you did not have that additional skill. The additional skill simply helps your accuracy, (which is always good ^^). For example, if a BLM with 158 Elemental magic skill equips an Ice Staff (+10 Elemental magic skill), they will still recieve skillups on mobs level 52-53 (and of course, higher level mobs as well). The additional skill simply helps them land their spells better.


 * Enfeebling magic that does not do damage (Paralyze/Slow/Flash/etc; not DoT spells like Dia and Bio) can be leveled on Hpemdes in Al'Taieu, as they will not actually attack you until they have been dealt damage. This is a wonderful way to cap Enfeebling and Divine Magic if you have sea access.

Finding Suitable Skill Up Mobs

 * The best way I've found to do this is to use the following site: http://ffxi.somepage.com/mobdb/ You can enter a level range, specify names, zones, and mob families, exclude NMs and/or fished up mobs, etc. Remember that ideally you want mobs 6-8 levels above your current skill. You can always go higher, but skillups will tend to be slower until they are in the normal VT-IT range for your skill.


 * Please try to use common etiquette when choosing a skillup location and avoid using mobs that people are XPing on as your skillup mobs.