How to Use Hunt Trains and S-Ranks to Get Currencies Faster
Final Fantasy XIV is in between major patches right now, so now is the perfect time to farm for tomestones of Causality, Astronomy, and even older ones like Poetics. Making the most of player organized Hunt trains and S-rank spawns is one of the fastest ways to do that.
If you’re new to Hunts, the Hunt is a system of bounty hunting smaller marks as well as elite marks. These elite marks, A and S rank elite marks specifically, are what Hunt communities focus on. If you get full credit, an Endwalker A rank drops:
40 Sacks of Nuts
30 Tomestones of Poetics
20 Tomestones of Astronomy
10 Tomestones of Causality
A random chance for a Cracked Anthocluster or Dendrocluster (which can be exchanged for materia at the materia vendor in Radz-at-Han or Old Sharlayan)
There are 2 A ranks per Endwalker zone, and trains run across all of them in one go. Which means if you go for a full train and get full credit for each A rank (you will want to be in a party for these), you could get up to 480 Sacks of Nuts, 360 Tomestones of Poetics, 240 Tomestones of Astronomy, and 120 Tomestones of Causality. There are Shadowbringers trains that still run on some worlds, which don’t give Tomestones of Causality but still give Tomestones of Astronomy as well as Shadowbringers A rank achievement completion, so they still run somewhat reliably depending on the world and conductor.
Then there are S ranks, which are rarer and have varying spawn conditions. But if you join local Linkshells or Hunt Discords to get pings on when S ranks spawns, those also give:
100 Sacks of Nuts
100 Tomestones of Poetics
80 Tomestones of Astronomy
30 Tomestones of Causality
1 Anthocluster
1 Dendrocluster (which can be exchanged for materia at the materia vendor in Radz-at-Han or Old Sharlayan)
This is a large part of why players organize hunt “trains”—or “boats” if you’re on Crystal Zalera because we’re named after a fish and had to meme. Listen, my main is on Zalera, I’m obligated to explain this, it’s fine.
Patch 6.35 introduced the next tier of Manderville weapons, and it requires 3,000 Tomestones of Astronomy total to get one weapon to the current Amazing step.
On top of that, Moonshine Twine and Moonshine Shine, the upgrade material for Augmented Lunar Envoy gear, can be purchased with Sacks of Nuts—3,000 for Moonshine Twine and 2,000 for Moonshine Shine.
If you’re into mounts and/or achievement completion, the Hunt also has mounts and title rewards for specific amounts of A and S rank kills. Extra Tomestones of Astronomy, Sacks of Nuts, Tomestones of Poetics, Anthoclusters and Dendroclusters are efficient ways of buying materia or crafting items to then sell on the market.
A and S ranks are very tough. Some players do try to take them down solo, but it’ll take time and isn’t really worth it unless you want the thrill of the challenge (which some players do, so occasionally an A rank is missing from a train).
To unlock the Hunt, there’s a series of quests you have to complete. It’s going to look like a lot, but they’re largely brief quests that have stacked up over the expansions. Note that you’ll need to be level 90 for current (as of 6.38) Endwalker Elite Marks. The quest chain starts at your Grand Company, unlockable once you’re a Second Lieutenant. It starts with “Let the Hunt Begin” and can be found in each of the three starting cities:
Maelstrom: Trachraet - Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks (X:12.7, Y:12.8)
Twin Adder: Scarlet - New Gridania (X:9.9, Y:11.4)
Immortal Flames: Mimio Mio - Ul’dah - Steps of Nald (X:8.6, Y:9.4)
From there, do Heavensward’s:
Hunt quests Let the Clan Hunt Begin (Aytienne, Foundation (X:12.9, Y:11.8))
Better Bill Hunting (Eustacia, Foundation (X:12.6, Y:11.6))
Top Marks (Yloise, Idyllshire (X:6.4, Y:6.8))
Elite and Dangerous (Ardolain, Foundation (X:13.0, Y:11.8))
Then Stormblood’s Hunt Quests are:
One-star Veteran Clan Hunt, Two-star Veteran Clan Hunt, Three-star Veteran Clan Hunt, and Elite Veteran Clan Hunt (all at the same person and place, Estrild, Kugane (X:10.3, Y:10.2))
Whoever wrote Shadowbringers’ Hunt Quests had a fun time because the quests are:
Nuts to You (Hume Lout, Crystarium (X:12.1, Y:15.0))
Two Nuts Too Nutty, How Do You Like Three Nuts, and Too Many Nutters (Halldor, Crystarium (X:9.5, Y:9.3))
And finally, Endwalker’s Hunt Quests are:
The Hunt for Specimens (Diminutive Gleaner, Old Sharlayan (X:11.2, Y:12.0))
That Specimen Came from the Moon, A Hunt for the Ages, and Perfect Specimens (Northota, Old Sharlayan (X:11.7, Y:13.2))
Again, that seems like a lot but they’re fairly fast quests and the rewards are worth it!
Once you decide to start attending Hunt trains or S rank spawns, be mindful of some etiquette. Join a party in the party finder Hunt tab or make your own: /pfinder brings it up fast, then look for the Hunt tab. Don’t pull S-ranks early—if you didn’t spawn it, don’t pull it is a solid general rule. Not every world or data center has the same rules, so try to keep that in mind.
Hunt trains are sometimes chaotic, but one of my favorite things is watching the giant cloud of players descend on their various mounts towards a mark. There’s even some neat art of it. They can be a lot of fun and are especially great to hyperfocus on the lull between MSQ dungeons or new Alliance Raids. Not that I’m currently focusing on the Centurio Tiger mount while we wait for patch 6.4 or anything.
