Experimental investigations on the conditions to achieve transient gain in neon-like Ti and nickel-like molybdenum XUV laser pumped by a 10-Hz sub-Joule femtosecond laser are presented. The 4d-4p (J=0-1) lambda= 18.9 nm and 4f-4d (J=1-1) lambda= 22.6 nm lines in Ni-like Mo as well as the 3p-3s (J=0-1) lambda= 32.6 nm line in neon-like titanium have been observed. The Ni-like laser lines show a threshold behavior with respect to the pump irradiance as they appear only above 10(15) W/cm(2). Simulation for the fs-laser pumped Ni-like Mo XUV laser are also presented.