As useful as they might be in traversing the overworld, Chocobos currently can’t battle alongside their owners in dungeons. That, however, will change when Patch 8.1 arrives. With that update, Warriors of Light and their Chocobo will be able to join another player and their Chocobo in a light party. This upcoming feature has led to FFXIV players buying more Thavnairian Onions to feed to their Chocobos.
Chocobos need Thavnairian Onions to increase their maximum rank. Up until Rank 10, your Chocobo simply needs to accumulate experience points while adventuring with you. For every rank thereafter, you’ll need to feed it one Onion until it reaches Rank 20. In total, you’ll need 10 Onions. It doesn’t sound like much, but they can be difficult to come by.
Where Can I Purchase or Earn Thavnairian Onions?
Thavnairian Onions can be difficult to obtain because no NPC vendor sells them. Your Retainers won’t be able to bring them back to you after completing Ventures either. Fret not, as you have several ways of acquiring Onions.
You can earn a Thavnairian Onion from two side quests each. The first, Landing a Stable Job, requires you to be at Level 50. Talk to Mathye in The Pillars (X:6.2, Y:9.4) to start the quest. The second, A Hunter’s True Nature, is a Level 57 quest you can undertake by speaking with Hervoix in The Dravanian Forelands (X:31.6, Y:22.9). These quests are easy to complete, but two Thavnairian Onions aren’t enough to max out your Chocobo from a low rank.
To acquire more Onions, buy them from the Market Board in any major city such as Limsa Lominsa. Unfortunately, purchasing Onions will become very expensive very quickly. On the North American servers, for example, the cheapest Onion is marked at 199,999 Gil. If you’re short on Gil or just don’t want to spend that much currency, grab some seeds and head to your garden! 👩🌾
The Joys of Gardening
The other option is to grow your own Onions, either through purchasing Onion seeds or crossbreeding different seeds to attain Onion seeds. This method requires you to own a housing plot or have access to one through a friend or Free Company. If you’re a free trial player, you can’t own a house. You can, however, become a someone’s tenant and request gardening permissions. This process is going to take time, but it can yield more than enough Onions for your Chocobo.
Next, you’ll need a Deluxe Garden Patch, available from Housing Merchants and other vendors for 48,000 Gil. To secure Onion seeds from crossbreeding, plant seeds from different plants, such as Honey Lemon Seeds and Apricot Kernels, in an alternating fashion. Then plant seeds from two other plants, such as Krakka Root Seeds and Mirror Apple Seeds, together.
Finally, plant the Tantalplant and Umbrella Fig seeds from both of those combinations next to each other to receive Thavnairian Onion seeds. Note that this is just one of numerous combinations that can yield Onion seeds. No matter what seeds you use, we strongly recommend Grade 3 Thanalan Topsoil. Using other kinds of topsoil will lower your chances of getting the desired results.
Finally, you’ll need patience. Onions take 10 days to grow. And you’ll need to water them every day or they’ll wither and die. If you don’t have the patience like I do, ask a friend or someone in your FC whether you can harvest their Onions.
Should I Stockpile Onions for Evercold?
Will we need Thavnairian Onions in Evercold? We can’t say with 100% certainty that our Chocobos will continue to need them to rank up. The general consensus in the FFXIV subreddit is that Square Enix won’t lock a major Evercold feature behind access to a housing plot and a tedious gardening process. This could mean that Onions would be available through NPC vendors. It’s also possible that the Onion requirement could be removed entirely, though all of this is conjecture.
In the end, we won’t know for sure how helpful Chocobos will be in dungeons until we experience this new combat system in-game. The good news is that this feature is optional. If you prefer playing with other human players, you’ll still be able to play with them and park your Chocobo outside the dungeon. Start growing those Thavnairian Onions if you can, though, just in case.
Check back with Icy Veins to stay on top of FFXIV news, including information on the FFXIV Fan Festival in Tokyo and the next All Saints’ Wake event!