FFXIV Mounts: The Ultimate 2026 Guide to Collecting, Obtaining, and Mastering Every Mount

If you’re playing Final Fantasy XIV, you’ve probably seen other players zooming across the landscape on dragons, chocobos, or some truly bizarre-looking creatures. Those are mounts, one of FFXIV’s most rewarding and visually satisfying progression systems. Whether you’re a fresh sprout or a veteran warrior of light, understanding how to unlock, collect, and optimize your FFXIV mount library is essential for making the game feel less like a grind and more like the epic adventure it should be. Mounts in FFXIV aren’t just for show: they fundamentally change how you experience the world, improve your travel speed, and serve as a status symbol that reflects your dedication to the game. This guide covers everything you need to know about FFXIV mounts, from your first cheap rental to that rare Extreme trial drop you’ve been farming for weeks.

What Are FFXIV Mounts and Why You Need Them

How Mounts Impact Your Gameplay Experience

Mounts in FFXIV serve multiple purposes beyond just looking cool. When you’re out in the world, a mount increases your movement speed by 50% on the ground, which means less time spent running in circles and more time actually enjoying content or progressing through your objectives. This might sound minor, but when you’re doing your daily zone quests or running across Mor Dhona for the hundredth time, that speed boost legitimately saves hours of gameplay across a month.

Beyond pure utility, mounts carry social weight. Certain rare FFXIV mounts, particularly those from Extreme trials or limited seasonal events, instantly signal to other players that you’ve put in serious effort. Seeing someone ride into a major city on a Phenix or a Khloe’s Wondrous Tails exclusive mount gets attention. It’s a badge of honor without needing to equip specific gear.

Mounts also unlock content progression in later expansions. You can’t access flying zones without a flying mount, and certain endgame areas require specific movement types. Your first FFXIV horse mount might seem basic, but it’s a gateway to exploring vast regions that are otherwise inaccessible.

Mount Speed Tiers and Travel Efficiency

Ground Mount Speed Tiers Explained

Not all ground mounts are created equal. In FFXIV, mounts fall into distinct speed categories:

Standard Mounts (50% Speed Increase): Most mounts you’ll encounter, chocobos, horses, and common drops, boost your movement speed by 50%. This is the baseline and what you’ll rely on for the bulk of your early game.

Company Chocobo (100% Speed Increase): This is a major jump. Your Free Company Chocobo, obtained through company progression, increases speed by 100%, effectively doubling your movement. Reaching this tier is a significant early-game milestone.

Tier 4 Mounts (100% Speed Increase): Certain expensive trophy mounts and some older seasonal rewards also offer the 100% boost. Prices vary wildly, some cost millions of Gil on the market board, others are outright expensive.

Higher-tier mounts don’t make you faster than Tier 4: they’re about exclusivity and style. Speed caps out at 100%, so once you’ve got a good Tier 4 mount, you’ve optimized travel for that environment.

Flying Mounts and Airship Travel

Flying mounts unlock in Heavensward and become increasingly important as you progress. Flying mounts don’t increase your speed compared to ground mounts, but they bypass obstacles and let you access aerial regions entirely. This is transformative, entire zones open up when you can fly.

You unlock flying by progressing the main story and meeting specific zone requirements. Each expansion zone requires its own flying unlock, earned through completing the zone’s aether currents. It’s a nice system because it forces organic world exploration: you’ll discover content naturally while unlocking flight.

Airships function differently, they’re primarily a gil sink and a convenience for quick travel between certain ports. They’re less critical than actual flying mounts but useful if you’re doing a lot of zone hopping.

Swimming and Diving Mount Mechanics

Not all mounts can swim or dive. Some mounts let you move through water at normal speed, while specialized aquatic and diving mounts let you access underwater zones in Shadowbringers and beyond.

You don’t technically need special mounts for water, you can swim on foot, but riding a seahorse or hippocampus makes traversal significantly less tedious. Diving mounts are required for certain underwater zones and content, so acquiring at least one diving mount is mandatory if you want full zone access in later expansions.

Earning diving mounts usually involves running specific dungeons or purchasing them from vendors with dedicated currency. It’s not a massive grind, but it’s something to plan for when you reach those zones.

How to Obtain Your First Mount in FFXIV

Early-Game Mount Acquisition Methods

Your very first FFXIV mount isn’t a quest reward, it’s a purchase. The most accessible early mount is the Chocobo, bought from the NPC Limsa Lominsa Aetheryte attendant for 100,000 Gil. This is cheap enough that you can grab it by level 20-25 if you’re doing your main scenario quests and scrapping vendor trash.

If you’re broke, your Free Company can help. Most active FCs will give newer members a ride on their company chocobo or even buy you one outright. The community in FFXIV tends to be generous toward sprouts, so don’t hesitate to ask in your FC chat.

The other early option is the Amalj’aa Camel, purchased from Amalj’aa tribe vendors in the Thanalan region once you reach Friendly reputation with them. It costs less Gil than the chocobo, but grinding reputation is slower than just earning Gil naturally.

Both are identical in speed (50% boost) and function identically, the only real difference is aesthetics. Pick whichever appeals to you visually: you’ll replace it soon enough.

Quest-Based Mount Rewards

Progressing the main scenario questline nets you several free mounts without any grinding:

• Magitek Armor: Story reward from A Realm Reborn’s final quest. It’s a iconic FFXIV mount that doubles as a nostalgia piece.
• Manacutter: Quest reward from the Heavensward story. It’s fast, unique-looking, and comes for free just for finishing an expansion’s MSQ.
• Flying Mounts: Each expansion storyline unlocks flying and awards at least one flying mount for progression.

These free story mounts aren’t just handouts, they’re designed to give you a solid foundation. By the time you finish an expansion’s story, you’ll have a decent mount roster that covers most travel needs.

Free Trial players have limited mount access, only the earliest story mounts, so upgrading to a paid account is worth it for the expanded mount library alone.

Rare and Exotic Mount Collections

Primal Mounts and Trial Rewards

Primal fights drop some of FFXIV’s most visually striking mounts. Defeating Ifrit, Titan, Garuda, or newer primals in their story difficulty gives you a chance to roll on their mounts. These aren’t guaranteed drops, you’re rolling against other party members, but the odds are decent, and running story trials multiple times is manageable.

The twist: Extreme difficulty versions of the same trials drop faster versions of those mounts. An Ifrit Extreme mount is functionally identical to the story version but has a sleeker appearance and costs significantly more to obtain because competition for drops is fiercer. Only people actively progressing Extreme content will pursue these, which makes them slightly more exclusive.

ProtoChronos and other newer primal mounts from recent patches follow the same pattern. These mounts are worth farming if you like the aesthetic, but they’re not mandatory for any endgame content.

Extreme Difficulty Mounts

Extreme trials are the primary gatewall for rare mounts in FFXIV. Defeating an Extreme primal gives you access to its unique mount, one that only exists for that specific encounter. These drops are somewhat generous, but you’re rolling against up to seven other party members, so expect 8+ runs before you see your mount.

The barrier to entry is mechanical skill. Extreme trials require learning complex rotations, positioning, and team coordination. It’s not casual content. But, once you’ve cleared it once, farming it becomes muscle memory, and most players can farm an Extreme mount in a week or two of casual play.

Patches 6.1 through 6.5 released numerous new Extremes, and Endwalker patch cycles added even more. If you’re interested in collecting Extreme mounts, you’ve got a substantial backlog, which is actually great if you enjoy the challenge.

Seasonal and Limited-Time Mounts

FFXIV’s seasonal events, Gold Saucer, Valentione’s Day, Moonfire Faire, and others, offer exclusive mounts that rotate in and out yearly. Missing these means waiting 12 months for them to return.

The good news: Most seasonal mounts are purchasable with event currency, not RNG drops. You’ll grind a few event quests to earn tokens, then buy the mount directly. This removes the frustration of bad luck and makes the process purely time-based.

Limited-time collaborations are the real scarcity markers. Crossover events with other games (Final Fantasy properties, seasonal promotions) sometimes release exclusive mounts that never return. These become instant collector’s items.

Khloe’s Wondrous Tails also offers rare mount rewards on a rotation. Weekly completion nets you a token, which you can cash in for a random mount from a pool of past event/rare mounts. It’s a solid way to fill gaps in your collection.

Crafting and Currency-Based Mounts

Certain mounts are purely purchasable with in-game currency, no RNG or mechanics required. Housing furniture vendors, Gold Saucer vendors, and the market board all sell mounts.

Market Board Mounts: These are expensive. Most cost anywhere from 500,000 to several million Gil. Examples include the Fenrir and Behemoth, which are status symbols purely because of their price tag. Newer players shouldn’t prioritize these: focus on free/farmable mounts first.

Currency Vendors: Specialized mounts can be purchased with Tomestones, Grand Company Seals, or other currency. The Cavalry Drake costs 2,000 Wolf Marks from PvP vendors, a decent mount if you’re casually PvPing anyway.

Crafting: No class directly crafts mounts, but Crafting Desynth sometimes yields mount-related items. This isn’t a primary farming method.

Achievement Mounts and Hidden Unlocks

Challenging Content Mounts

Certain mounts are locked behind achievement requirements. The Astrope Mount, for example, requires earning a staggering 99 Rank 3 (high-difficulty) Challenge Log entries. It’s designed to reward dedicated players who engage with varied content over time.

Other achievement mounts include:

• Morbol Mount: Completion of Hildibrand’s questline (lighthearted optional story)
• Magicked Bauble Mount: Unlocked via Anima Weapon quest completion
• Various Raid Tier Mounts: Completing entire raid tiers on Savage or Ultimate difficulty

These aren’t speedrun-friendly: they require genuine progression through challenging content. But, they’re guaranteed drops (not RNG), so you just need dedication.

Event-Exclusive and Seasonal Rewards

Beyond rotating seasonal events, there are one-off achievement-based seasonal mounts. FFXIV’s anniversary event, for instance, offers a free mount for logging in during the celebration window. Missing it means waiting another year.

Limited-time collaboration mounts fall here too. The FFXV Event rewarded the Regalia Mount, which was available for a few months and hasn’t returned since 2020. Players who missed it have zero way to obtain it now, it’s pure collector FOMO.

This creates a natural collection hierarchy: common seasonal mounts, rare seasonal mounts, and unobtainable legacy mounts that only veterans have. It’s part of what makes mount collecting feel meaningful.

Mount Customization and Barding

Understanding Mount Barding Systems

Barding is FFXIV’s answer to mount customization, armor and decorations you equip on your mount to change its appearance. Every mount type (chocobo, horse, dragon, etc.) has its own barding pool, so a Chocobo in full-plate barding looks completely different from one in modern armor barding.

Barding doesn’t affect performance: it’s purely cosmetic. But, it’s a rabbit hole, some players spend more time coordinating barding with their character outfit than actually running content. The system is robust enough that it genuinely matters if you care about aesthetics.

You equip barding through the mount gear interface in your character window. Applying barding to a mount doesn’t lock the item: you can swap barding instantly without needing multiples.

Collecting Barding Sets and Cosmetics

Barding drops from dungeons, trials, raids, and can be purchased from vendors. Popular sources include:

• Dungeon Drops: Most dungeons reward barding as gear drops
• Crafting: Tanners, Armorsmiths, and Weavers craft mount barding from raw materials
• Event Vendors: Seasonal events often have barding-specific reward tracks
• Market Board: If you’ve got Gil, just buy complete sets

Some of the most visually stunning barding comes from expensive sources, Savage raid drops or limited-time event vendors. This creates another status layer: your mount’s appearance signals what content you’ve cleared.

Completing a full barding collection per mount type is a long-term goal, not something to rush. Focus on a few mounts you actually ride, then outfit those nicely. Trying to max-bar every mount’s cosmetics is a Gil sink that’ll bankrupt you.

Mount Management and Organization Tips

Sorting Your Mount Collection

Once you’ve got 20+ mounts, your mount list becomes chaotic. Here’s how to organize it efficiently:

Category by Function:

• Ground mounts for overland content
• Flying mounts per region
• Aquatic/Diving mounts
• Status-symbol/rare mounts
• Seasonal/special mounts

This mental sorting helps you instinctively grab the right mount for the activity.

Favorite System: FFXIV lets you mark mounts as favorites, which moves them to the top of your mount list. Put your main three or four mounts here, the ones you ride 80% of the time.

Naming Convention: Use your hotbar system (explained below) to assign mounts logical slots. Slot 1 = daily driver ground mount, Slot 2 = flying mount, Slot 3 = rare show-off mount, etc.

Mount Hotkeys and Quick Switching

Mounting via the menu every time is tedious. Use your hotbar instead. Drag a mount directly onto your hotbar, and it becomes a one-click summon. Once a mount is hotbarred, pressing its button instantly mounts you.

Advanced setup:

• Hotbar 1: Your primary ground mount
• Hotbar 2: Flying mount for current zone
• Hotbar 3: Rare/status mount
• Hotbar 4: Aquatic mount if needed

You can set up macros to auto-summon the “correct” mount based on whether you’re in a flying zone, but frankly, that’s overcomplicated. Just hotbar your top three and swap them as needed.

For truly lazy players, the Random Mount feature exists, press a button and it summons a random mount from your collection. It’s novelty more than practical, but it’s fun for keeping things fresh.

Popular Mounts Every FFXIV Player Should Know About

Most Iconic and Status-Symbol Mounts

Certain mounts have achieved legendary status in the FFXIV community:

Phenix: The Anima Weapon quest mount. Obtaining it requires finishing the entire Anima weapon grind, a massive time investment even by FFXIV standards. Seeing someone ride a Phenix means they’ve committed hardcore effort to that questline. It’s beautiful and immediately recognizable.

Ultima Weapon: The literal last boss mount. Rare because it drops from one of the most mechanically demanding fights in the game (UCOB or later). If you see someone on this, they’re serious about endgame content.

Neo Exdeath: Another Ultimate raid drop. These mounts are status symbols because the barrier to entry is insanely high, you need a coordinated static, weeks of practice, and skill. Only a small percentage of the playerbase has these.

Chocobo: Even though being dirt-cheap and accessible, the chocobo remains iconic. It’s Final Fantasy’s mascot mount. Every FFXIV player should own at least one.

Behemoth and Fenrir: Expensive market board purchases that signal wealth more than achievement. They’re cool-looking but don’t require skill, just Gil.

Unique and Eye-Catching Mount Designs

Beyond status, some mounts are just visually arresting:

Zu: A bird mount that dominates the screen with its size. Riding it is a statement.

Ananta Mount: Cultural mounts from side quests look distinctive and different from the standard fantasy stock.

Spiked-themed Mounts: Several dark-themed mounts (like the Night Pegasus) appeal to players who want their character to look menacing.

Collaboration Mounts: The FFXV Regalia mount is a car. The FF7 Red XIII mount is literally Red XIII. These are instantly memorable because they’re not traditional mounts.

Most of these aren’t mechanically superior, but they’re conversation starters. In a world where everyone’s on a dragon, standing out matters.

The Complete FFXIV Mount Collection Strategy

Planning Your Mount Hunting Journey

Decide what you actually want before you start farming. Are you going for completion (every mount in existence)? Are you focusing on rare Extreme drops? Are you building themed cosmetic sets?

Completion is a serious undertaking, there are hundreds of mounts, many locked behind limited-time events you might have missed. If you’re a newer player, accept that you’ll never get every legacy mount. Instead, set realistic sub-goals:

• Phase 1 (0-50 mounts): Grab all story rewards, easy currency buys, and basic dungeons. This takes a month of casual play.
• Phase 2 (50-100 mounts): Start farming specific Extreme trials and older raid content. Pursue seasonal event mounts. This takes 3-6 months.
• Phase 3 (100+ mounts): Go deep into specialized content, Ultimate raids, limited-time collaboration events (if available), and expensive market board purchases.

Write down which mounts you actually want. Prioritize based on:

1. Availability (farmable now vs. limited-time)
2. Difficulty (can you do the content?)
3. Visual Appeal (does it match your aesthetic?)

Balancing Mount Farming With Other Content

This is the real challenge. Farming mounts shouldn’t consume your entire FFXIV experience. You need to actually enjoy the game.

Integration Strategy:

• Incorporate mount farming into your regular raid/dungeon rotation. Run your weekly Extreme trial anyway: might as well farm its mount.
• Do seasonal event mount runs during the event window, 2-3 quests a day is painless and nets you the mount before it rotates out.
• Don’t skip MSQ or important story content to mount farm. The story first, mounts second.
• Use leveling dungeons to farm old mount rewards while gearing alts.

Mount farming should feel like a side quest, not your main objective. The moment it stops being fun, step back. There’s no mount worth burning out over.

Casual players should expect 50-100 mounts over a year of play. Hardcore collectors can hit 200+ if they’re ruthless, but that requires organizing your entire gameplay around mount acquisition. Both are valid, just know which playstyle fits you.

Recent resources like comprehensive JRPG guides cover some of FFXIV’s mount strategies and collection planning, which can help supplement your personal research. Also, gaming walkthroughs and guides often feature detailed breakdowns of how to efficiently obtain specific mounts. For broader JRPG coverage and mount collection advice, Japanese gaming news and reviews sometimes feature dedicated FFXIV content that highlights rare mount acquisitions.

Conclusion

FFXIV’s mount system is one of the most rewarding progression mechanics in any MMO, it rewards player engagement across every content type, from casual questing to hardcore raiding. Whether you’re pursuing your first FFXIV horse mount, grinding Extreme trial drops, or amassing hundreds of cosmetic variants, there’s always another mount to chase.

The key is finding your own collection rhythm. Don’t let min-maxing grind soak all the joy out of the game. Pick mounts you genuinely love, prioritize what you can reasonably obtain, and enjoy the journey. The best part of FFXIV’s mount system isn’t crossing the finish line, it’s the excuse to run content repeatedly and see new areas along the way.

Start with the story rewards, grab a couple of cheap early-game mounts, and let your collection grow naturally as you progress through expansions. By the time you reach endgame, you’ll have a solid foundation and a clear direction for what rare mounts to pursue next.