Alexander Has Risen – Guide to Gearing For and Benefiting From FFXIV’s New Raid

Alexander Has Risen – Guide to Gearing For and Benefiting From FFXIV’s New Raid

Jul 08, 2015BrentGuides & Cheats0

Over the past few weeks, Final Fantasy XIV’s design team has done a great job pacing the content from the release of the Heavensward expansion in order to give the majority of the player base time to level from 50 to 60 and gather enough Tomestones of Law to purchase the next tear of gear that will serve as the stepping stone into endgame content.

The tomestones are gained from completing dungeons via daily roulettes, or simply running through the three new level 60 dungeons  (each yields 80 tomestones before the new player bonus of an additional 60), and from killing hunt monsters. These tomestones are required to purchase the new Doman gear at item level 170.

Additionally, the hunt targets and daily/weekly allotment of hunt bills from the Clan Hunt Board in Foundation will also grant Centurio Seals which are used to purchase what seems like insignificant Doman materials in the Forgotten Knight pub. These materials are important, however, as they are also used as currency to purchase the item level 180 version upgrade of the i170 Doman gear, weapon included.

The Doman Whetstone, which costs 395 Centurio Seals, will upgrade your weapon. The Doman Urushi will cost you 300 seals and is used to purchase the upgraded armor pieces (excluding a belt), while the Raw Doman Urushi only costs 150 seals and will allow for the purchase of i180 accessories (and a belt).

There are also two Extreme modes for each of the primal fights, Bismarck and Ravana, which will drop weapons, or provide tokens for the purchase of weapons, that are higher item level than the base Doman weapon at i170. Bismarck’s weapons are i175 while Ravana’s are i190 (making them best in slot going into the Alexander raid.)

As of this morning, FFXIV’s patch 3.0.1 is live, which means that groups have undoubtedly already bested the four levels of Alexander’s Story Mode version, and can confirm the precious loot table information we’re all looking for.

First off, the raid can be unlocked by speaking to Slowfix at Idyllshire (X:7, Y:6) and completing the resulting questline, but it requires a minimum item level of 170 to enter.

Each floor in this raid has a chance to drop a token (Tarnished Gordian Lens, Shaft, Crank, Chain, Spring, Pedal, or Bolt) which correspond with a body part (Head, Body, Arms, Belt, Legs, Feet, or Accessories). Each piece of gear requires a certain number of tokens for purchase (4 for Body and Legs, 2 for Head, Arms, and Feet, and 1 for Belt and Accessories), but each floor has its own respective lockout for tokens lotted on by either Need or Greed limiting you to only one piece per floor, and each floor only drops specific tokens. It should also be noted that completing the raid nets you a Bolt for free, but we won’t know until next week if that is a weekly bonus or not.

Floor 1 drops a Pedal (Feet), Chain (Waist/Belt), and a Bolt (Accessory). Floor 2 drops a Lens (Head), Pedal, and Bolt. Floor 3 a Spring (Legs), Lens, and Crank (Hands). Floor 4 a Shaft (Chest), Spring, and Crank.

*Credit goes to reddit user /u/thendcomes for breaking things down into a nice, neat table.

This loot system is similar to the gear lockouts of the Crystal Tower series of 24-man raids, and it seems to be possible to obtain multiple accessories per week, or one of either the Feet, Hands, Legs, or Head pieces. However, be prepared to wait about a month if you want the chest piece, but by that point we’ll have Esoteric Gear, which is speculated to be the new Artifact Armor shown in the trailers, to supplement our Prototype Gordian Gear. However, for now, the Gordian Gear will be best in slot at i190. The raid does not, however, drop any weapons so for now Thok Ast Thok (Extreme) – Ravana EX – is your best bet for the best weapon available for your job.

The consensus at this point is that Alexander Story Mode is slightly more difficult, and requires more cooperation, than the Crystal Tower raids at their respective launches, but is not quite as difficult as the early turns of the Binding Coil of Bahamut with the Echo stat boost. This means that even those players without a dedicated static raid group can complete the content with a bit of in-game communication, and still benefit by purchasing the new, pretty sweet looking, gear with their allotted tokens.

This pacing should give you a nice chance to get some tokens for new gear this week and maybe work on leveling up an alt or two, so enjoy the rest while you prepare for Alexander Savage in a couple of weeks.