Evercold (Patch 8.0) lands in January 2027, and the single most common question in the pre-expansion lull is some version of: "How much gil should I be sitting on before it drops?" Short answer up top, then the breakdown.
Quick answer: how much gil to save before Evercold
For most players, 3–5 million gil is a comfortable launch cushion. That covers early glamour, food, potions, materia melds, and a little market-board flexibility in the first weeks of a new expansion when prices on everything spike. If housing is on your list, you need far more — plot and furnishing costs dwarf everything else. If you only play casually and don't chase housing, 1–2 million gil is genuinely enough.
Here's the part people get wrong: gil does not expire, and almost nothing you buy now becomes "wasted" in Evercold. Unlike gear (which is replaced in the first few levels of a new expansion), gil, glamour, mounts, minions, and housing all carry forward untouched. So the real question isn't "how much do I hoard" — it's "what am I actually saving for, and is now the smart time to buy it?" This guide answers both, with current numbers verified against the live market and the community's own consensus.
Key takeaways
- Target 3–5M gil as a flexible pre-Evercold cushion; 1–2M if you're casual, 10M+ only if you want housing or big glamour projects.
- Don't buy gear now — it's replaced within the first several levels of Evercold (new cap: 110). Buy things that last: glamour, mounts, minions, and housing.
- Prices spike at launch. Common consumables (food, pots, low-level crafting mats) jump hard in the first weeks of a new expansion as the whole server crafts and levels at once.
- Evercold's new job system changes gear prep. Per Square Enix's Fan Festival 2026 reveal, all 21 existing jobs will have a Reborn Mode and an Evolved Mode that share level and gear — so you gear a job once, not twice, and the raid tier resets anyway.
- There is no official "enough gil" number; the community rule is save for your next goal, not for a vault balance.
When does Evercold actually release?
Square Enix revealed the sixth expansion, Evercold (Patch 8.0) — known in Japan as The Silver Walker — at Fan Festival 2026, with a confirmed January 2027 release window and the start of the new "Godless Realms Saga." As of Patch 7.56 (the final Dawntrail content update, live since September 8, 2026), that's still the active patch, so you have roughly a two-to-three-month runway to prep.
That runway matters for one reason: the pre-expansion window is the cheapest time to buy most things, and the launch window is the most expensive. When an expansion drops, the entire server crafts gear, levels jobs, re-glams, and re-melds all at once. Demand for mats, food, and potions goes vertical and so do prices. Buying your consumable stockpile now — while the market is quiet — is one of the few genuine gil plays available in the lull.
What should I spend gil on before Evercold?
Think in terms of permanence. Everything in FFXIV splits into two buckets: things a new expansion erases and things it doesn't. Save your gil for the second bucket.
Buy now (carries into Evercold untouched)
- Glamour and dyes. Cosmetics never go obsolete. If there's a market-board glamour set or a specific dye you want, the pre-expansion lull is a cheaper, calmer time to grab it than launch week.
- Mounts and minions. Vendor mounts, market-board mounts, and FATE/tradeable minions are permanent collection items. A vendor mount (~120,000 gil where available) is the single best "fixed-price, permanent value" gil buy in the game.
- Materia for jobs you'll keep playing. Melding a job you'll main into Evercold still holds value for the content you do now — just don't meld current best-in-slot raid gear, since that specific gear resets at launch (see the job-system note below).
- Housing, if you want it. This is the one true gil sink that justifies a large balance. More below.
Don't bother buying now (Evercold replaces it)
- Current best-in-slot combat gear. Pentamelded 7.x raid gear is replaced within the first handful of Evercold levels. Spending millions melding it in October is lighting gil on fire.
- Anything "to be ready for savage." The Evercold raid tier won't use your current gear. Prep your account (jobs leveled, unlocks done), not your gear.
One returning player on r/ffxiv put the mindset plainly while debating whether to level alt jobs before the expansion: "Evercold is months away and the job changes aren't going to be so severe that you won't be able to adapt. Just play what you want, now." The same logic applies to gil — enjoy what you have; don't hoard for a vault number.
How does Evercold's new job system change what gil prep is worth?
This is the detail that reshapes pre-expansion gil planning in 2026, and it's being actively discussed by players right now. Per the Fan Festival 2026 reveal, Evercold's headline systemic change is that all 21 existing standard jobs gain two forms — a Reborn Mode (today's combat system) and a new Evolved Mode (a streamlined, contextual version) — and a job shares its level and gear across both modes. The two new jobs (the Bastion tank and a physical ranged DPS) are Evolved-only.
The practical takeaway for your gil: you don't need to gear a job twice. Switching a job between Reborn and Evolved doesn't ask you to build a second gear set, so there's no new gil cost hiding in the mode system. Combined with the fact that the Evercold raid tier resets everyone's best-in-slot anyway, this is another reason not to pour gil into current endgame gear right before launch.
There's a job-prep angle worth knowing too, even though it isn't a gil task: the level cap rises to 110, and leveling itself works the same way it does now. If you want to use the Evercold Main Scenario to carry a few jobs up to the new cap, they're easiest to push if they're already near the current cap before launch. As one r/ffxiv player levelling alts in the lull put it, they're deliberately waiting to experience the new mode fresh: "I want to experience what it'll be like to level from 1 to 100 with the Evolved jobs… so rather than absentmindedly leveling them via roulettes, I'm just gonna wait for Evercold." Either approach is fine — just don't spend gil trying to "finish" gear that resets in January.
How much gil do I need for housing before Evercold?
Housing is the only goal that justifies a genuinely large gil balance, and it's the most common reason players set a pre-expansion savings target.
- Plot prices vary enormously by size and ward demand, running from the low hundreds of thousands for a small apartment-style option up to the tens of millions for large plots in contested wards.
- The housing lottery runs on a nine-day cycle — an entry/deposit period followed by a results period — and refunds your deposit in full if you don't win. So you can safely commit gil to multiple attempts without losing it on a loss.
- Furnishing is a second, open-ended cost on top of the plot. A fully decorated house easily runs into the millions beyond the plot price itself.
If housing is your Evercold goal, 10 million gil or more is a realistic working target, and you'll want it liquid before launch since plot competition tends to heat up around major patches. If housing is not on your list, you can safely ignore these numbers entirely.
Is there such a thing as "too much" gil to save?
Practically, no — but hoarding past your actual goals has zero benefit. The community consensus is remarkably consistent on this. As one widely-upvoted r/ffxiv thread on when you stop needing gil summarized it: "If you aren't chasing expensive things, 10–20 million gil is plenty to cover any needs — small house, food/elixirs, some gear for glamours."
So the honest answer to "how much should I save before Evercold" is a decision tree, not a single number:
- Casual, no housing: 1–2M. You're covered for glam, consumables, and melds.
- Active, wants flexibility at launch: 3–5M. Comfortable cushion for spiking launch-week prices.
- Housing goal: 10M+, liquid before launch.
- Collector / big glamour projects: 15–20M+, but only if you have specific targets in mind.
Save for the goal in front of you. A vault balance you never spend isn't a cushion — it's just a number.
How do I earn that gil before January?
If you're short of your target with a couple of months to go, the good news is the pre-expansion lull is a fine time to grind — the market is quiet and the methods are stable. The highest-return approaches right now are retainer ventures running in the background, treasure-map farming for the market-board payout, and if you craft or gather, riding the pre-expansion consumable demand. We've ranked every current method by gil-per-hour so you can pick the one that fits your playstyle:
- See the best gil-per-hour methods in FFXIV, ranked for the full efficiency breakdown.
- For a goal-by-goal view of exactly what each milestone costs, read how much gil you actually need in FFXIV.
- If you'd rather set it and forget it, retainer ventures are the lowest-effort steady income in the game.
If you're short on time and would rather spend the lull actually playing instead of grinding the market board, a top-up is the fastest route to your Evercold cushion.
Want your gil cushion ready before Evercold drops? Skip the grind and show up to Patch 8.0 with your glamour, housing, and launch-week budget already covered.
- FFXIV Gil — fast & safe delivery — best rate, secure in-game delivery
- All FFXIV services — leveling, gil, and more in one place
FAQ
How much gil should I have before FFXIV Evercold? For most players, 3–5 million gil is a comfortable pre-Evercold cushion covering glamour, consumables, and materia, with room for launch-week price spikes. Casual players without housing goals are fine with 1–2 million. If you want a house, target 10 million or more and keep it liquid before launch.
Does gil carry over to the new expansion? Yes. Gil, glamour, mounts, minions, and housing all carry forward into Evercold completely untouched. Only gear is effectively replaced — within the first several levels of the new expansion — so gil you save now keeps its full value.
Should I buy best-in-slot gear with gil before Evercold? No. Current 7.x combat gear is replaced in the opening levels of Evercold, so melting millions of gil into endgame gear right before an expansion is wasted. Spend on permanent items — glamour, mounts, housing — and prep your account by leveling jobs instead.
When does FFXIV Evercold (Patch 8.0) release? Square Enix confirmed Evercold for January 2027 at Fan Festival 2026. Patch 7.56, the final Dawntrail update, has been live since September 8, 2026, giving players a roughly two-to-three-month prep window before the expansion.
Will Evercold's new job modes change how much gil I need? Not in a way that costs you more. Every existing job gains a Reborn Mode and an Evolved Mode that share the same level and gear, so switching modes never asks for a second gear set. Since the raid tier resets best-in-slot anyway, it's one more reason to spend gil on permanent items rather than current endgame gear.
What's the best way to earn gil before the expansion? Retainer ventures in the background, treasure-map farming for market-board payouts, and crafting or gathering into the pre-expansion consumable demand are the most reliable methods right now. See our gil-per-hour ranking for the full efficiency comparison.
