Guide to Endgame Gear & Content at Level 80 [Patch 5.1]
Credit to u/Cetonis & u/Atosen for previous Stormblood versions of this guide
Welcome to my comphrehensive guide to Endgame Gear & Content. The scope of this post is to help you get an understanding of what gear is available at level 80 and find efficient ways of catching up. If you are an FFXIV Veteran and just want the current list and related duties, see below. If you are brand new to FFXIV Endgame Content in general, read on for in-depth explanations and ideal routes.
=== TL;DR ===
FFXIV operates on a ~4 month patch cycle with even patches (5.0, 5.2, 5.4) offering a higher ilvl cap and odd patches (5.1, 5.3, 5.5) being "catch-up" patches with alternate paths to said ilvl cap. Your average ilvl is like a gear score in other games - a rough estimate of how geared you are for harder content compared to fresh Level 80s who have just finished the MSQ.
Endgame gear is attained through a mixture of dungeons drops, uncapped and capped endgame currency (tomestones), weekly normal/alliance raid clears, and high-end trials and raids. Alternatively, you can buy or craft decent starter gear with gil and upgrade it to just shy of the ilvl cap with a tiny bit of effort and uncapped currency.
Listed in order of increasing difficulty, endgame content would look something like this:
4-man Dungeons < 8-man Normal Raids =<= 24-man Alliance Raids << 8-man Extreme Trials <<< 8-man Savage raids <<<< 8-man Ultimate raids
with tomestones earnable through most level 80 combat activities, including Hunts, PvP and queuing Duty Roulettes as a level 80. Keep in mind, though you may feel comfortable skipping some steps and jumping straight into High-End content, you will need to meet minimum ilvl requirements for most endgame content. Additionally, some methods of gearing are timegated through weekly limits.
Current Endgame Currencies & Timegates:
Eden Savage also has a weekly timegate but is complex enough to warrant its own section when we get to it.
A Note on Materia Melding:
You may have asked about it in the daily questions & answers thread by now. Typically it's recommended not to worry about melding materia (socketing) to your gear until you hit cap, and now that you're here you may not be sure how it works. Materia comes in eight different grades and is limited to substats like Critical Hit or Skillspeed. Ideally, you'll want to meld Grade VIIIs (+60) in any guaranteed slots you have. If you can't afford Grade VIIIs for your guaranteed slots, do NOT use Grade VIIs - use Grade VIs (+40) you might have from Stormblood or the Marketboard instead. Grade VIIs are for overmelding beyond the guaranteed slots and only for crafted gear - because there's a higher chance of failure the more you overmeld, this can get prohibitively expensive fast.
You can exchange Cracked Stellaclusters & Planiclusters for Grade VIIIs and VIIs respectively in Eulmore or The Crysterium, and Cracked Clusters for Grade VIs in Rhalgar's Reach. Knowing what to meld and where goes beyond the scope of this guide - for additional information, visit The Balance Discord.
All of that aside, we can finally move on to the actual gear and content itself. If you're rich, you get to skip straight to Step 2 through the power of Gil. For everyone else, proceed to Step 1.
=== Step 1: Getting Started (Fresh 80, ilvl 410-435) ===
First things first. If you haven't already, follow the Main Scenario Questline (MSQ) up until you are asked to go do your Job Role questline, then finish that and return to the MSQ with a crystal in hand. You will be offered the chance to exchange it for a set of ilvl 430 Artifact gear for your Job; do this right away, ignore him saying to come back later. You should get a Weapon and all left side gear minus the belt. Continue through the MSQ until you clear the final boss of 5.0 and finish the quest titled "Shadowbringers". If you're lucky you'll have picked up some ilvl 430 accessories from a dungeon along the way - if you're missing some, go unlock Akademia Anyder at the base of Eulmore and The Twinning in The Crysterium, two extra dungeons to help you stock up on accessories. By running these you'll also get some tomestones for your trouble - trade these for ilvl 440 and 460 gear in Eulmore as you get enough of them. From here, if you're average ilvl 430 you can continue on the MSQ to the latest Dungeon (The Grand Cosmos) for some extra ilvl 445 gear if necessary, or continue on to entry-level endgame content.
=== Step 2: Weekly Timegates & Entry-level Endgame Fights (ilvl 435-460) ===
Now is the point where weekly timegates kick in. Luckily there are multiple gearing options that can be worked on simultaneously. Capping Tomestones of Phantasmagoria (Phanta) each week will be key, as the current best gear in the game for all classes is a mix of Eden Savage loot and Augmented Deepshadow gear. It's too soon to worry about Savage just yet, but you can actually start on Augmented Deepshadow gear right away by capping Phanta and earning your weekly Alliance Raid coin.
If you cleared The Grand Cosmos and the other dungeons earlier, this should have opened up Expert Dungeon Roulette in Duty Finder, a daily bonus you can queue for each day that puts you in one of those 4 dungeons at random. This is a relatively good way of capping Phanta each week, but I prefer another way: Hunts
Find and join your Datacenter's Hunt Discord (For Aether, that's this one here). It may take some finaggling, but you should be able to set push notifications for Hunt Trains - player run events that see swarms of people moving from zone to zone killing A-Rank Hunts for easy Tomestones, Nutsacks Sacks of Nuts, and Materia Clusters. This is usually the most efficient way of capping Phantasmagoria assuming you can catch the beginning of a Train, as you'll be getting a bunch of Materia in the process, as well as Goetia if you need it and Poetics for your alts. It's also a great way of making money if you don't craft or gather.
Phanta in hand, you should be more than geared for the Eden Normal Raids (min ilvl 425) by now. If you're new to raiding in general, don't stress - "Normal" difficulty is mostly just for the story and not designed to be particularly difficult. As long as you know your job and can dodge AoEs, these fights shouldn't prove too much trouble; MTQCapture's Guides are a good resource if you're unsure how to handle the mechanics. Do this to snag some tokens for iLvl 450 gear, and be sure to clear Eden 4 Normal (E4N, aka Titan) every week for a blade; 4 of these and 1000 Phanta nets you an ilvl 460 weapon. Token exchange for Normal raids can be a bit unintuitive, so check this handy post on where to get what and how many you'll need.
There's also the 24-man Alliance Raid, The Copied Factory (min iLvl 435), featuring crossover content from Nier Automata. In terms of difficulty this won't be that much harder than Normal Raids, though due to the higher ilvl and the chaotic nature of having 3x the amount of players, you might see some wipes if one or several groups struggle with the mechanics. You are allowed to win one drop of ilvl 460 gear here each week; minions, triple triad cards, orchestrion rolls and the 2B Glamour Coffer do not count towards this limit, and if you don't win anything on your first run you can run it again as many times as you'd like til you get what you want. You also get materia clusters and a Coin once a week for your troubles, regardless of what rolls you win - the coin comes into play once you have Deepshadow Gear and want to augment it to ilvl 470 gear. Exchange the coin in Eulmore for a Coating if you want to upgrade Accessories, or a Twine if you want to upgrade Armor.
If all of this seemed easy, good. By now you'll have 450+ average ilvl, and might want to consider tackling high-end content to hit the ilvl cap.
=== Step 3: Extreme and Savage Content ===
Before we move on, take a look at what ilvl your weapon is. If you did E4N for four weeks to get your Blades of Early Antiquity and are rocking that ilvl 460 Deepshadow Weapon, you can pretty much skip Extreme trials and go straight to Savage. If you didn't, because that takes too long and/or sounds boring, you're likely still rocking a Ronkan 440 Weapon unless you bought a crafted weapon. Weapons are the single most important piece of gear you can get, statwise, and tend to be harder to come by - you'll notice none of the above content save for E4N put you on the path to an upgrade. This is where EX Trials come in. (If you bought crafted weapons go upgrade them in Eulmore with some Goetia to get the 460 version, otherwise read on)
Extreme Trials
There are three Extreme (EX) trials currently available, and all of them are story spoilers, so final warning for those of you curious readers that haven't actually finished the MSQ yet.
Note: EX Trial Drops and Totems are never weekly capped, so farm to your hearts content. You get 1 totem per clear of Innocence & Titania, and 2 totems per clear from Hades EX.
Innocence can be skipped entirely at this point, outside of doing it just for fun and/or the mount. Titania can likely be skipped if you're well on your way to getting your Deepshadow weapon, though it might not hurt to make future fights a tad easier, and to familiarize yourself with high-end mechanics and expectations. The Hades weapon will help a ton if you're jumping straight into Savage raids without your Deepshadow weapon, as a Ronkan weapon tends to be a liability at that point.
About High-End Content
Extreme Trials are what many consider the entry point to "High-End" content. They're not quite as difficult as Savage raids, but they introduce a few concepts that distinguish them from what you've seen so far - Coordinated Mechanics, Tank Swaps and Enrage.
These concepts carry into Savage and beyond - understanding them will be mandatory from here on. It's usually good etiquette to watch fight-specific guides before going in, the exception being "Blind" run parties. Either way, expect to wipe for a good hour minimum on your first lockout before you get that clear, unless you're pretty skilled and get a lucky party finder group.
Speaking of which -
Quick Tutorial on Party Finder
For some new players, the thought of jumping from Duty-Finder content to Party-Finder (PF) can be a little intimidating, given the use of unfamiliar terms and the higher expectations compared to your average dungeon run. Don't fret - as long as you know your job, are committed to improvement, and have a positive attitude, it's not too bad. Some key things to know:
The Three Party Types:
PUG Strats: Again, apart from Blind parties, it might be a good idea to know how to handle certain mechanics from a video before going in. Different regions might also have preferred ways of handling them with PUGs (pick up groups) for simplicity or consistency's sake. If the PF description has abbreviations like "T/H N, DPS S" or mentions directions like clockwise, it means they're expecting a specific strategy for certain mechanics. When in doubt, ask in party chat before they queue up for the instance.
Mindset & Toxcity: Because of the higher skill floor in this kind of content, tension tends to run higher than normal if people aren't pulling their weight - we have a Friday Rage Thread to vent in for a reason. The best I can do to prepare you is to be positivee, be patient, and focus on how you can improve to make the run go smoothly. Know your class and abilities and keep an open mind - I cannot stress that enough. The Balance Discord can help. Be flexible if you have to. That said, if a party clearly isn't a good fit after a lot of pulls or a few red flags, don't be afraid to say "Sorry, this isn't working for me" and leave - it's best not to waste their time and yours if no meaningful progress can be made together. And if things didn't work out, don't take it personally - it's hard to raid well when you're tilted or discouraged. Shake It Off, even if you aren't a WAR.
Anyway, assuming you've upgraded your weapon and gear, you should be well past the minimum iLvl to start Savage, though padding it a little will make things easier in the long run. Savage is where you'll find many of the Best In Slot (BiS) gear pieces for your class, as well as a new token to upgrade your Deepshadow weapon. Accordingly, Savage is some of the hardest content in the game, second only to the Ultimate fights. The loot works a little differently here:
Savage Loot
Each week, you are allowed one chance at loot per fight - simply clearing a fight counts towards your weekly limit, and you won't get another chance until the following Tuesday, regardless of whether you rolled on or actually won anything. Additionally, if you decide to help another group clear that week after you've already done so, they'll get reduced loot rewards - half if 1-4 party members have cleared, and none if 5+ have cleared. Also, you must clear the fights in order each week - you forfeit any loot from fights you skip since they count as being "cleared" once you do so.
These rules might seem harsh, but the debate on their merit goes beyond the scope of this thread. Regardless, keep them in mind so you don't accidentally shoot yourself (or another party) in the foot.
For details on what each fight drops, see the table below. The coffers work like the ones you got throughout the ShB MSQ. If you don't win anything in a given week, don't worry - you still get a 'Book' for each fight you clear, and books can be turned in for the specific loot you want after you've attained enough of them.
Loot Table:
If you've cleared all of Savage and are already BiS, and want to know what comes next, congratulations, you probably didn't actually need this guide and were just reading for fun. I'm flattered that you did. The only content above Savage in difficulty and rewards are the Ultimate raids. The current one is The Epic of Alexander, which, as of 6:48pm EST 11/15/2019, hasn't even been cleared yet was only just cleared yesterday on 11/17/2019 by 'Thoughts Per Second' (Congrats guys). The fight is a ~18 minute gauntlet of some of the hardest mechanics in the game, featuring bosses from Heavensward's raid series but stronger and angrier. Your reward, should you manage to clear this excruciating challenge, is a very gorgeous weapon that's identical in stats to the Savage Edengrace one, but with one extra materia slot. Though technically BiS, it's mostly for bragging rights and that extra sweet glam, since there won't be anything else for you to kill with it until 5.2 drops next year.
Note on BiS for Tanking Ultimate: The recommended BiS for progging Ultimate can actually be quite different from the BiS you might've looked at while clearing Savage. That's because it's often recommended to stack as much Tenacity as possible just so that you don't die as fast. That might sound sacrilegious if you're used to the mantra of CH > DH > DET, but Ultimate breaks a lot what passes for normal elsewhere, including rotations, so do some research before you go in.
Final Thoughts and Things to Come:
That about wraps up the guide. If you spot any bad links/mistakes please let me know in the comments - I will try to keep it maintained until patch notes for 5.2 become available, at which point I will likely make a new post.
Based on FFXIV's known patterns, when 5.2 drops we can expect:
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Credit to u/Cetonis & u/Atosen for previous Stormblood versions of this guide
Welcome to my comphrehensive guide to Endgame Gear & Content. The scope of this post is to help you get an understanding of what gear is available at level 80 and find efficient ways of catching up. If you are an FFXIV Veteran and just want the current list and related duties, see below. If you are brand new to FFXIV Endgame Content in general, read on for in-depth explanations and ideal routes.
=== TL;DR ===
- iLvl 475: Eden Savage Weapons, Ultimate Alexander Weapons
- iLvl 470: Upgraded Phantasmagoria Tome Weapons & Gear, Eden Savage Gear
- iLvl 465: Hades EX Weapons
- iLvl 460: Upgraded Crafted Weapons & Gear, YoRHa Alliance Raid Gear, Phantasmagoria Tome Weapons & Gear
- iLvl 450: Crafted Weapons & Gear, Titania EX Weapons, Innocence EX Accessories, Eden Normal Gear,
- iLvl 445: Grand Cosmos Dungeon Gear
- iLvl 440: Goetia Tome Gear
- iLvl 430: Job Artifact Weapon & Armor, Early Dungeon Accessories
FFXIV operates on a ~4 month patch cycle with even patches (5.0, 5.2, 5.4) offering a higher ilvl cap and odd patches (5.1, 5.3, 5.5) being "catch-up" patches with alternate paths to said ilvl cap. Your average ilvl is like a gear score in other games - a rough estimate of how geared you are for harder content compared to fresh Level 80s who have just finished the MSQ.
Endgame gear is attained through a mixture of dungeons drops, uncapped and capped endgame currency (tomestones), weekly normal/alliance raid clears, and high-end trials and raids. Alternatively, you can buy or craft decent starter gear with gil and upgrade it to just shy of the ilvl cap with a tiny bit of effort and uncapped currency.
Listed in order of increasing difficulty, endgame content would look something like this:
4-man Dungeons < 8-man Normal Raids =<= 24-man Alliance Raids << 8-man Extreme Trials <<< 8-man Savage raids <<<< 8-man Ultimate raids
with tomestones earnable through most level 80 combat activities, including Hunts, PvP and queuing Duty Roulettes as a level 80. Keep in mind, though you may feel comfortable skipping some steps and jumping straight into High-End content, you will need to meet minimum ilvl requirements for most endgame content. Additionally, some methods of gearing are timegated through weekly limits.
Current Endgame Currencies & Timegates:
- Tomestones of Goetia: Uncapped, gives iLvl 440 Ronkan gear, also used to upgrade crafted gear
- Tomestones of Phantasmagoria: Capped 450 per week, gives ilvl 460 Deepshadow Gear
- Blade of Early Antiquity: 1 per clear of Eden 4 Normal (E4N) each week, takes 4 blades + 1000 Phantasmagoria for an ilvl 460 Deepshadow Weapon.
- ilvl 460 YoRHa Gear: 1 gear drop + 1 coin per week from The Copied Factory Alliance Raid
- Sacks of Nuts (yes, really): Uncapped, Earned through 'Hunts', exchanged for Deepshadow upgrade tokens, materia and cosmetic rewards, and will eventually offer Ronkan gear once Geotia is phased out in patch 5.2
Eden Savage also has a weekly timegate but is complex enough to warrant its own section when we get to it.
A Note on Materia Melding:
You may have asked about it in the daily questions & answers thread by now. Typically it's recommended not to worry about melding materia (socketing) to your gear until you hit cap, and now that you're here you may not be sure how it works. Materia comes in eight different grades and is limited to substats like Critical Hit or Skillspeed. Ideally, you'll want to meld Grade VIIIs (+60) in any guaranteed slots you have. If you can't afford Grade VIIIs for your guaranteed slots, do NOT use Grade VIIs - use Grade VIs (+40) you might have from Stormblood or the Marketboard instead. Grade VIIs are for overmelding beyond the guaranteed slots and only for crafted gear - because there's a higher chance of failure the more you overmeld, this can get prohibitively expensive fast.
You can exchange Cracked Stellaclusters & Planiclusters for Grade VIIIs and VIIs respectively in Eulmore or The Crysterium, and Cracked Clusters for Grade VIs in Rhalgar's Reach. Knowing what to meld and where goes beyond the scope of this guide - for additional information, visit The Balance Discord.
All of that aside, we can finally move on to the actual gear and content itself. If you're rich, you get to skip straight to Step 2 through the power of Gil. For everyone else, proceed to Step 1.
=== Step 1: Getting Started (Fresh 80, ilvl 410-435) ===
- Get your artifact gear
- Pick up some dungeon accessories and Ronkan gear
First things first. If you haven't already, follow the Main Scenario Questline (MSQ) up until you are asked to go do your Job Role questline, then finish that and return to the MSQ with a crystal in hand. You will be offered the chance to exchange it for a set of ilvl 430 Artifact gear for your Job; do this right away, ignore him saying to come back later. You should get a Weapon and all left side gear minus the belt. Continue through the MSQ until you clear the final boss of 5.0 and finish the quest titled "Shadowbringers". If you're lucky you'll have picked up some ilvl 430 accessories from a dungeon along the way - if you're missing some, go unlock Akademia Anyder at the base of Eulmore and The Twinning in The Crysterium, two extra dungeons to help you stock up on accessories. By running these you'll also get some tomestones for your trouble - trade these for ilvl 440 and 460 gear in Eulmore as you get enough of them. From here, if you're average ilvl 430 you can continue on the MSQ to the latest Dungeon (The Grand Cosmos) for some extra ilvl 445 gear if necessary, or continue on to entry-level endgame content.
=== Step 2: Weekly Timegates & Entry-level Endgame Fights (ilvl 435-460) ===
- Cap Tomestones of Phantasmagoria Every Week
- Grab tokens fron Eden Normal, particularly the weekly gated Blade of Early Antiquity
- Grab your weekly drops from The Copied Factory
Now is the point where weekly timegates kick in. Luckily there are multiple gearing options that can be worked on simultaneously. Capping Tomestones of Phantasmagoria (Phanta) each week will be key, as the current best gear in the game for all classes is a mix of Eden Savage loot and Augmented Deepshadow gear. It's too soon to worry about Savage just yet, but you can actually start on Augmented Deepshadow gear right away by capping Phanta and earning your weekly Alliance Raid coin.
If you cleared The Grand Cosmos and the other dungeons earlier, this should have opened up Expert Dungeon Roulette in Duty Finder, a daily bonus you can queue for each day that puts you in one of those 4 dungeons at random. This is a relatively good way of capping Phanta each week, but I prefer another way: Hunts
Find and join your Datacenter's Hunt Discord (For Aether, that's this one here). It may take some finaggling, but you should be able to set push notifications for Hunt Trains - player run events that see swarms of people moving from zone to zone killing A-Rank Hunts for easy Tomestones, Nutsacks Sacks of Nuts, and Materia Clusters. This is usually the most efficient way of capping Phantasmagoria assuming you can catch the beginning of a Train, as you'll be getting a bunch of Materia in the process, as well as Goetia if you need it and Poetics for your alts. It's also a great way of making money if you don't craft or gather.
Phanta in hand, you should be more than geared for the Eden Normal Raids (min ilvl 425) by now. If you're new to raiding in general, don't stress - "Normal" difficulty is mostly just for the story and not designed to be particularly difficult. As long as you know your job and can dodge AoEs, these fights shouldn't prove too much trouble; MTQCapture's Guides are a good resource if you're unsure how to handle the mechanics. Do this to snag some tokens for iLvl 450 gear, and be sure to clear Eden 4 Normal (E4N, aka Titan) every week for a blade; 4 of these and 1000 Phanta nets you an ilvl 460 weapon. Token exchange for Normal raids can be a bit unintuitive, so check this handy post on where to get what and how many you'll need.
There's also the 24-man Alliance Raid, The Copied Factory (min iLvl 435), featuring crossover content from Nier Automata. In terms of difficulty this won't be that much harder than Normal Raids, though due to the higher ilvl and the chaotic nature of having 3x the amount of players, you might see some wipes if one or several groups struggle with the mechanics. You are allowed to win one drop of ilvl 460 gear here each week; minions, triple triad cards, orchestrion rolls and the 2B Glamour Coffer do not count towards this limit, and if you don't win anything on your first run you can run it again as many times as you'd like til you get what you want. You also get materia clusters and a Coin once a week for your troubles, regardless of what rolls you win - the coin comes into play once you have Deepshadow Gear and want to augment it to ilvl 470 gear. Exchange the coin in Eulmore for a Coating if you want to upgrade Accessories, or a Twine if you want to upgrade Armor.
If all of this seemed easy, good. By now you'll have 450+ average ilvl, and might want to consider tackling high-end content to hit the ilvl cap.
=== Step 3: Extreme and Savage Content ===
Before we move on, take a look at what ilvl your weapon is. If you did E4N for four weeks to get your Blades of Early Antiquity and are rocking that ilvl 460 Deepshadow Weapon, you can pretty much skip Extreme trials and go straight to Savage. If you didn't, because that takes too long and/or sounds boring, you're likely still rocking a Ronkan 440 Weapon unless you bought a crafted weapon. Weapons are the single most important piece of gear you can get, statwise, and tend to be harder to come by - you'll notice none of the above content save for E4N put you on the path to an upgrade. This is where EX Trials come in. (If you bought crafted weapons go upgrade them in Eulmore with some Goetia to get the 460 version, otherwise read on)
Extreme Trials
There are three Extreme (EX) trials currently available, and all of them are story spoilers, so final warning for those of you curious readers that haven't actually finished the MSQ yet.
- Two trials offer weapons: Titania EX (min ilvl 430) for ilvl 450 weapons, and Hades EX (min ilvl 450) for ilvl 465 weapons, 10 totems each or random drop
- One offers accesories: Innoncene EX (min ilvl 430) for ilvl 450 accesories, 5 totems each or random drop
Note: EX Trial Drops and Totems are never weekly capped, so farm to your hearts content. You get 1 totem per clear of Innocence & Titania, and 2 totems per clear from Hades EX.
Innocence can be skipped entirely at this point, outside of doing it just for fun and/or the mount. Titania can likely be skipped if you're well on your way to getting your Deepshadow weapon, though it might not hurt to make future fights a tad easier, and to familiarize yourself with high-end mechanics and expectations. The Hades weapon will help a ton if you're jumping straight into Savage raids without your Deepshadow weapon, as a Ronkan weapon tends to be a liability at that point.
About High-End Content
Extreme Trials are what many consider the entry point to "High-End" content. They're not quite as difficult as Savage raids, but they introduce a few concepts that distinguish them from what you've seen so far - Coordinated Mechanics, Tank Swaps and Enrage.
Coordinated Mechanics: Fail these and it's likely an instant wipe, or at least a whole lot of bad. Up until now, most of what you've seen is "don't stand in this or you'll die", and if any one person makes a mistake, the group can usually keep going and revive them when possible. Here, you'll start seeing mechanics that must be resolved correctly or you might end up killing everyone. You will also have to pay more attention to the buffs/debuffs on you and the boss - a lot of mechanics can't be resolved through telegraphs alone, and you'll have to look at buffs/debuffs to know what to do.
Tank Swaps: Tank specific, but Tankbusters tend to hurt a whole lot more in High-End content. Sometimes you might be forced to swap tanks due to stacking debuffs and/or finally put those invuln abilities to use. Not knowing where Provoke and Shirk are on your hotbar - and when to use them - will hurt.
Enrage: Unlike everything so far, if the boss isn't killed within a set amount of time, they'll begin casting an ultimate spell that will kill the party if allowed to finish. This is unavoidable - the only option is to kill them before they kill you, and you need to push a fair amount of damage to do this. Be considerate to the others in your party and try to pull your own weight - avoid dying, and know your job inside and out.
These concepts carry into Savage and beyond - understanding them will be mandatory from here on. It's usually good etiquette to watch fight-specific guides before going in, the exception being "Blind" run parties. Either way, expect to wipe for a good hour minimum on your first lockout before you get that clear, unless you're pretty skilled and get a lucky party finder group.
Speaking of which -
Quick Tutorial on Party Finder
For some new players, the thought of jumping from Duty-Finder content to Party-Finder (PF) can be a little intimidating, given the use of unfamiliar terms and the higher expectations compared to your average dungeon run. Don't fret - as long as you know your job, are committed to improvement, and have a positive attitude, it's not too bad. Some key things to know:
The Three Party Types:
- Learning Party - For people who just want practice and aren't expecting a clear. You may be expected to know up to a certain phase or mechanic, so read the description thoroughly. Listed with [Practice] in Green text
- Clear Party - For people who have seen all of the mechanics, including enrage, and are looking to clean up and clear. Usually listed with [Duty Completion] in Blue text
- Farm Party - For people who have cleared and would like multiple clears within an extended time frame. It's probably good etiquette not to join unless you can give at least a few runs or more, rather than being one-and-done, though I won't fault you if the "farm" party is wiping more than they are clearing. Usually listed with [Duty Complete] in Orange text.
PUG Strats: Again, apart from Blind parties, it might be a good idea to know how to handle certain mechanics from a video before going in. Different regions might also have preferred ways of handling them with PUGs (pick up groups) for simplicity or consistency's sake. If the PF description has abbreviations like "T/H N, DPS S" or mentions directions like clockwise, it means they're expecting a specific strategy for certain mechanics. When in doubt, ask in party chat before they queue up for the instance.
Mindset & Toxcity: Because of the higher skill floor in this kind of content, tension tends to run higher than normal if people aren't pulling their weight - we have a Friday Rage Thread to vent in for a reason. The best I can do to prepare you is to be positivee, be patient, and focus on how you can improve to make the run go smoothly. Know your class and abilities and keep an open mind - I cannot stress that enough. The Balance Discord can help. Be flexible if you have to. That said, if a party clearly isn't a good fit after a lot of pulls or a few red flags, don't be afraid to say "Sorry, this isn't working for me" and leave - it's best not to waste their time and yours if no meaningful progress can be made together. And if things didn't work out, don't take it personally - it's hard to raid well when you're tilted or discouraged. Shake It Off, even if you aren't a WAR.
Anyway, assuming you've upgraded your weapon and gear, you should be well past the minimum iLvl to start Savage, though padding it a little will make things easier in the long run. Savage is where you'll find many of the Best In Slot (BiS) gear pieces for your class, as well as a new token to upgrade your Deepshadow weapon. Accordingly, Savage is some of the hardest content in the game, second only to the Ultimate fights. The loot works a little differently here:
Savage Loot
Each week, you are allowed one chance at loot per fight - simply clearing a fight counts towards your weekly limit, and you won't get another chance until the following Tuesday, regardless of whether you rolled on or actually won anything. Additionally, if you decide to help another group clear that week after you've already done so, they'll get reduced loot rewards - half if 1-4 party members have cleared, and none if 5+ have cleared. Also, you must clear the fights in order each week - you forfeit any loot from fights you skip since they count as being "cleared" once you do so.
These rules might seem harsh, but the debate on their merit goes beyond the scope of this thread. Regardless, keep them in mind so you don't accidentally shoot yourself (or another party) in the foot.
For details on what each fight drops, see the table below. The coffers work like the ones you got throughout the ShB MSQ. If you don't win anything in a given week, don't worry - you still get a 'Book' for each fight you clear, and books can be turned in for the specific loot you want after you've attained enough of them.
Loot Table:
- E1S: 3x Accessory or Belt Coffers
- E2S: 2x Head/Gloves/Boots Coffers, 1x Deepshadow Accessory Upgrade, 1x Lightweight Tomestone (Deepshadow Weapon)
- E3S: 1x Head/Gloves/Boots Coffers, 1x Pants Coffer, 1x Deepshadow Armor Upgrade, 1x Deepshadow Weapon Upgrade
- E4S: 1x Weapon (Direct Drop), 1x Weapon Coffer, 1x Body Coffer, 1x Mount
If you've cleared all of Savage and are already BiS, and want to know what comes next, congratulations, you probably didn't actually need this guide and were just reading for fun. I'm flattered that you did. The only content above Savage in difficulty and rewards are the Ultimate raids. The current one is The Epic of Alexander, which, as of 6:48pm EST 11/15/2019, hasn't even been cleared yet was only just cleared yesterday on 11/17/2019 by 'Thoughts Per Second' (Congrats guys). The fight is a ~18 minute gauntlet of some of the hardest mechanics in the game, featuring bosses from Heavensward's raid series but stronger and angrier. Your reward, should you manage to clear this excruciating challenge, is a very gorgeous weapon that's identical in stats to the Savage Edengrace one, but with one extra materia slot. Though technically BiS, it's mostly for bragging rights and that extra sweet glam, since there won't be anything else for you to kill with it until 5.2 drops next year.
Note on BiS for Tanking Ultimate: The recommended BiS for progging Ultimate can actually be quite different from the BiS you might've looked at while clearing Savage. That's because it's often recommended to stack as much Tenacity as possible just so that you don't die as fast. That might sound sacrilegious if you're used to the mantra of CH > DH > DET, but Ultimate breaks a lot what passes for normal elsewhere, including rotations, so do some research before you go in.
Final Thoughts and Things to Come:
That about wraps up the guide. If you spot any bad links/mistakes please let me know in the comments - I will try to keep it maintained until patch notes for 5.2 become available, at which point I will likely make a new post.
Based on FFXIV's known patterns, when 5.2 drops we can expect:
- ilvl cap increased to 500
- More MSQ, including new dungeons
- A new Trial, separate from the MSQ
- A new Eden's Gate raid tier
- The beginning of Shadowbringer's Relic line midway through the patch
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