The final chapter of the Eden raid draws near. Discover the intertwining secrets of Gaia and Ryne before challenging the ultimate battle.
Final Fantasy XIV has just been updated to patch 5.4 Futures Rewritten. This update brings with it all sorts of new features. Several job classes received changes, most notably the Monk class that no longer has to worry about their Grease Lightning mechanic, it now being a passive trait that is always applied in battle. To test out some of these new improvements, players can take on challenges like the Emerald Weapon from Final Fantasy VII and new main story quests for Shadowbringers.
Arriving in this patch in the third part and conclusion of the Eden raid series based around Final Fantasy VIII (and contains many of the classic music tracks, most of which can be added to player estate/apartment orchestras). Eden’s Promise not only continues the story of Ryne and Gaia, but how the raid links up with the rest of the larger Shadowbringers plotline.
Like with other endgame level 80 content, players will need to have already completed the main story quest Shadowbringers. For Eden’s Promise players will need to go through all postgame content for patches Vows of Virtues, Deeds of Cruelty (5.1), Echoes of a Fallen Star (5.2), and Reflections in Crystal (5.3). The specific concluding main story quest will also share the name with the 5.3 patch. Additionally, players will also need to have completed all eight battles of Eden’s Gate Normal and Eden’s Verse Normal (Savage is not a requirement). This can be started from the Anxious Crystarium Guard (X:10, Y:12 in the Crystarium) who will give the quest In the Middle of Nowhere. After beating Eden’s Verse: Refulgence there will be a new quest from Yalfort (X:27, Y:17 in Amh Araeng) called Empty Promises. Completing this will let players take on the first battle, Eden’s Promise: Umbra.
The Normal version of Eden’s Promise drops item level 510 tokens for various equipment slots. This is weaker than Tomestone of Revelations gear (item level 520-530), but better than Tomestones of Allegory (item level 490-500). Only one token from each of the four battles can be claimed each week (reset every Tuesday 03:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, 08:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time). One token is needed for belts or any of the four accessory slots; two for helms, gloves, or boots; and four required for chests or pants. This means it will take five weeks minimum of perfect token collection to outfit one job. Equipment can be claimed from Yhal Yal in Eulmore or Ghul Gul in Amh Araeng.
The Savage version will drop treasure coffers that can be rolled on by the eight party members. Be default it will be two coffers, but if one-four players have cleared the battle that week it will be reduced to one coffer; five-eight players will prevent any coffer drops. Coffers are not assigned to any job, and will instead spawn item level 530 equipment for a player’s current job when consumed. Beating a Savage battle will also grant apocrypha that can be used as a welfare currency for specific item slots. Four apocrypha are needed for accessories or upgrading Revelation equipment; six for helms, gloves, belts, or boots; and eight for weapons (five and three for Paladin sword and shield, respectively), chests, or pants.
Eden’s Promise: Umbra
This battle will pit the party against The Cloud of Darkness, a rendition of the Final Fantasy III boss using her form from Dissidia Final Fantasy. She uses three different forms and switches between them throughout the fight. Deluge of Darkness uses many room wide damage that healers will need to be prepared for. In this mode the boss will telegraph attacks with The Art of Darkness, simply move away from the side of her that is clearly animating. In Empty Plane mode there will be hazardous zones directly under the boss and in each corner of the arena. Cloud adds will also be summoned, that if they come in contact with the boss will buff her. For Obscure Woods, tethers will attach to players. Stand close to the area of effect markers where the tethers spawn, wait for them to switch to ropes, and then run to break them. Failing to do so will cause instant death.
Eden’s Promise: Litany
This fight will be against The Shadowkeeper, a twisted version of Cerberus. Forward Shadow Implosion will unleash a huge attack on the opposite side of the boss’ shadow. Don’t be confused by the way the enemy turns, only mind its actual independent shadow to know how to dodge. Backwards Shadow Implosion is the opposite, the attack will come out of the shadow itself, but the orientation of the boss isn’t a factor. When it uses Shadow Warrior three clones will appear, but only one is tethered. Watch where this one moves to and stand behind it to avoid the next attack. When it uses Voidgate, two players will need to stand in each of the area of effect spaces to absorb damage. Missing any of them will cause room wide damage and debuff the whole party’s attacks.
Eden’s Promise: Anamorphosis
This battle will be against Fatebreaker that uses a combination of skills and motifs from Thancred and Ran’jit. Its attacks will change based on if it is currently using fire or lightning based attacks. For example, with Burnt Strike the attack will knock back (and potentially off the arena) with fire, but create a close range massive area of effect with lightning. Another change is with Bound in Faith: fire will create a stack marker which players will need to gather in order to divide damage, while with lightning a single player will take continual damage requiring a healer’s full focus or risk death. The last fire/lightning mechanic is Turn of Heavens, that will unleash large overhead attacks of the dominant element, but smaller ones of the other element. This means during fire, safe zones will be between the lightning markers; while in lightning mode the safe zones will be next to fire markers.
Eden’s Promise: Eternity
This final engagement will feature the Ascian Mitron from the role quests. The boss primarily mimics the various primal images placed at the backside of the room, often two at the same time. Leviathan hits on two parallel sides of the arena, Gardua in a four-point fan, Ifrit most of the map expect two small wedges, and Ramuh in the dead center. With Shiva the floor will turn to ice, making them slide when attempting to move. Some players will have standard damage markers meaning they need to spread, while one will have a stack marker to spread damage. Titan will first do raid-wide damage, followed by two sets of bombs. Stand by the second set and wait for the first to explode, and then move into the newly safe zones to avoid the second explosion set. The boss itself will unleash tank busters on the two highest enmity players, so off-tanks should be sure to keep tank stance on if they fall to third place or below.
Players who manage to take out the final area will gain a Blade of Lost Antiquity, four of which can be turned in along with Tomestone of Revelations to Ghul Gal or Yhal Yal for a new weapon. One can also unlock the Savage version of the raid series, and take on a special battle against the second story Ascian Loghrif. She yields the strongest main hand weapons in all of Shadowbringers, which will serve players until the likely fourth Final Fantasy XIV expansion releases.
Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers are available now on PC, Mac, and PlayStation 4.
