It’s a bird… It’s a bird… It’s A BIRD! Just kidding, it’s me, Bananas Foster.
Weirdly enough, how to summon your Chocobo in FFXIV is very easy to do but simultaneously easy to miss or forget. So there’s no shame in needing this guide; I’ve needed it at points long after I should have.
The Chocobo is the signature feathered friend in the Final Fantasy series. It has been flappin’ around since the very second game, and it has appeared in many (most) of the subsequent games. Why are we so in love with this bipedal wonder?
Before you do anything else, please rise for the national anthem.
You can summon your Chocobo to fight alongside you in addition to being your ridable mount. Depending on the adventurer, Chocy (I call him Chocy) might even fight better than they do! How to go about summoning your Chocobo in FFXIV is a simple matter.If you need a little guidance or appreciate my yolks, read on!
If you don’t yet have your Chocobo at all, check out my mount guide. Or check it out for a laugh. Hot people read my articles. Just saying.
Quick Links
Chocobo How-to’s
Summoning Your Chocobo to the Battlefield in Ffxiv
Love may not bloom on the battlefield, but at least you can bring your big-ass bird! (Shout-out Hal Emmerich, you weirdo.)
To call your Chocobo to your side as a combat companion, you need Gysahl Greens. These birdie snacks can be purchased for 36 gil from a bevy of different merchant NPCs across Eorzea. I recommend buying a huge pile of them; You’ll never run out again.
Since I’m not psychic (yet), I don’t know where exactly you are in the game. Below are three easily accessible merchants that sell Gysahl Greens in each of the three major cities.
Roarich in Ul’dah, Steps of Nald (10.6X 9.5Y)
Bango Zango in Limsa Lominsa, Lower Decks (9.9X 11.4Y)
Maisenta in New Gridania (11.5X 11.2Y)
I’ve linked to a complete list of Gysahl Greens merchants at the bottom of this article.
The Chocobo Skill Tree (And Onion!) (And Pepper!)
While kwehsting with your Chocobo, it will accumulate experience points and level up! It’s important that you allocate points into the choco-combat skill trees. You can tailor your companion to be a flappy healer, a peck-prone DPS, or a tank that was hatched from an egg. The ability to suit your needs is why FFXIV players call your Chocobo the VersiBird. (They absolutely do not do that.)
I personally focus on the healing and DPS trees. This has served me well in the open world doing FATEs and MSQ. Gaining Choco Regen, Choco Cure, Choco Slash, and Choco Break makes going alone in the mean streets of the First, or the Source, or wherever Ultima Thule is, much easier.
Don’t stress too much about building your chocobo perfectly. If you ever need to reset your bird, feed it a Reagan Pepper. These are most easily obtained from your Grand Company for 48,000 seals. Scientifically speaking, this pepper is so spicy that it causes severe amnesia, allowing the respec.
Fun fact: A Flaming Hot Cheeto, which is not even as spicy as a Reagan Pepper, would instantly kill a Victorian-era child. Or a particularly weak lalafell. I guess those two aren’t that different.
Finally, the Thavnairian Onion. At rank 10, your Chocobo will stop gaining EXP. Feed them an onion to raise their rank cap. These onions come from gardening or the market board. They can be a little pricey. If you need help affording food for your bird companion, check out my gil guide.
Do Bardings Impact My Chocobo’s Stats in Ffxiv?
No. But it will make you feel like your companion is killing it just a little bit harder. I highly recommend it. Consider the Starlight or Ruby bardings.
Oh! I owe you guys a link! There you go. Honestly, if you buy enough Gysahl Greens in one go, you’ll never need this link again. As Bob, the Drag Queen says: “If you stay ready, you ain’t got to get ready.” I like to think he was talking about this.