One of the most common reasons for any player to tackle a challenging boss in a game is for the rewards that can come from it—especially when tackling that boss is optional. Below are the 10 best bosses to tackle for cool rewards in Final Fantasy XIV!

A quick note for those who are new to FFXIV: The FFXIV developer’s philosophy regarding loot is that everyone should leave the encounter feeling as if they got something.

Therefore, killing any boss in an extreme trial gives each player a totem that can be used to purchase the same gear the boss drops as well as the mount. Further, each trial boss will drop one class-specific weapon as well as one weapon coffer that can be opened by any class. Mounts, orchestrion roll fragments, and crafting materials are not guaranteed to drop with each kill.

Regarding Savage raids, each raid boss will drop a tome that can be used to purchase any gear that the boss drops. They will also drop one class- or role-specific item, one coffer that can be opened by any class, one weapon coffer that can be opened by any class, a mount, and an orchestrion roll. There are some limitations on savage encounters from the latest content patch, so please check with your group before proceeding!

1) Hephaistos

Boss Details: As your journey into the depths of Pandæmonium concludes, you are left with nearly more questions than answers. Professor Claudien has disappeared, and Pandæmonium has drifted into the modern age upon the currents of the aetherial sea. Even so, the glint in Nemjiji's eyes shines brighter than ever, and she seems more than eager to provide her own answers as she hears your story. Whether those will give rise to ever more questions, however, remains to be seen...

General Info: Abyssos: The Eighth Circle (Savage) is, as of patch 6.2, the current final boss of the Pandaemonium raids available in Endwalker. In order to access this raid, players must have completed the MSQ quest “Endwalker” and unlocked all of the other Pandaemonium raids starting in Aporia. This is a level 90, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 610.

The Savage version of the fight consists of two phases. If the players are able to complete the first phase before a wipe, the boss will begin at the start of the second phase unless the instance is reset by leaving and returning. The encounter itself has two enrage points, one at each phase, and the raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 120-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

Insights: As with all end-tier content, communication and coordination are key. Each player should understand how to resolve the various mechanics associated with their role and position within the raid arena. Knowledge of the bosses’ abilities, telegraphs, and the best methods of avoiding or mitigating damage are essential. Failing at any of these mechanics, even by just one person, can cause the entire raid to wipe.

Hephiastos will offer telegraphs of what he is about to do and where the attack will land, but paying attention to his speech and the animations is essential!

Rewards: Abyssos weapon x1, Abyssos chest gear coffer x1 (all classes), Sunforged Crystal (mount), White Stone Black Orchestrion Roll

Strategy: Phase One

Phase Two

2) Barbariccia

Boss Details: The void─a world without death, where the strong devour the weak... Upon hearing your tales from that lightless place, the wandering minstrel cannot help but wonder: what if Barbariccia had devoured more of the great wyrm's aether? Having mused thus, the man then calls upon his not inconsiderable dramatic flair to weave a new verse, one which imagines a vastly empowered archfiend. The breezy melody sets your mind adrift upon shadowed winds, where you relive the stormy encounter, now stormier still...

General Info: The Minstrel’s Ballad: Storm’s Crown is the extreme version of the current final trial in Endwalker’s latest patch, patch 6.2. In order to access this raid, players must have completed the MSQ quest “The Wind Rises” and the normal version of this trial (Storm’s Crown). After completing those, players must speak with the Minstreling Wanderer at Old Sharlayan and select the option to recount the encounter with Barbariccia.

This is a level 90, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 585.

The extreme version of the fight consists of five phases before the boss enrages. The raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 60-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

Insights: Knowing the boss’s telegraphs, paying attention to what element she is invoking, and knowing how to resolve the mechanics are essential. Careful positioning, communication, coordination, and the use of waymarks are all very useful tools in overcoming this encounter.

Rewards: Windswept weapon x1, Windswept weapon coffer (all classes) x1, Lynx of the Imperious Wind flute (mount), Pearl of Winds (crafting material), Faded Copy of Battle with the Four Fiends (Buried Memory) (Orchestrion Roll fragment)

Strategy: 

3) The Endsinger

Boss Details: Had the Endsinger succeeded in gathering but a few more stars' worth of despair─or even that of a few more souls─might the darkness you faced have been so deep, not even the light of hope kindled by your comrades could pierce it? So muses the wandering minstrel, and by his consummately evocative words, you find your mind set adrift amidst that unsettling possibility, where you can rely upon naught save your own conviction to overcome the ultimate incarnation of despair...

General Info: The Minstrel’s Ballad: Endsinger’s Aria is the Savage version of the capstone trial at the end of the Endwalker MSQ from Endwalker's launch. In order to access this raid, players must have completed the MSQ quest “Endwalker” and the normal version of this trial (The Final Day). After completing those, players must speak with the Minstreling Wanderer at Old Sharlayan and select the option to recount the encounter with the Endsinger.

This is a level 90, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 580.

The extreme version of the fight can last for 11 minutes and 50 seconds before the boss enrages. The raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 60-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

Insights: Assigning Light parties and splitting the arena to help with resolving some of the mechanics is useful. It is critical to enter the fight knowing the boss's abilities, mechanics, and the best way to resolve them. This is a difficult and often chaotic fight, so clear communication and coordination are essential. If you cannot go with a group of people who you know, then finding a learning party on the Party Finder is a good way to get help learning how to overcome this encounter.

Rewards: Bluefeather weapon x1, Bluefeather weapon coffer x1 (all classes), Blue Feather (crafting material), Bluefeather Lynx Flute (mount), Faded Copy of The Final Day (Orchestrion Roll fragment)

Strategy: 

4) Hydaelyn

Boss Details: From the first note of the minstrel's melody, you recall the scene with crystal clarity─your allies and Hydaelyn, hope against hope. Overcome once again with the emotion of that day, no epithet seems too grand, no verse too epic...

General Info: The Minstrel’s Ballad: Hydaelyn’s Call is the extreme version of the first trial during the Endwalker MSQ. In order to access this raid, players must have completed the MSQ quest “Endwalker” and the normal version of this trial (The Mothercrystal). After completing those, players must speak with the Minstreling Wanderer at Old Sharlayan and select the option to recount the encounter with Hydaelyn.

This is a level 90, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 560.

The extreme version of the fight consists of five phases before the boss enrages. The raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 60-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

Insights: Knowing the boss’s telegraphs, paying attention to what element she is invoking, and knowing how to resolve the mechanics are essential. Careful positioning, communication, coordination, and the use of waymarks are all very useful tools in overcoming this encounter.

Rewards: Weapon of Divine Light x1, Divine Light Weapon coffer (all classes) x1, Crystal of Divine Light (crafting material), Lynx of Divine Light flute (mount), Faded Copy of Your Answer (Orchestrion Roll fragment)

Strategy: 

5) Zodiark

Boss Details: The account of your triumph over the god of Darkness has prompted the wandering minstrel to once again perform the impossible, by taking an already senses-shattering encounter and exaggerating it to ludicrous extremes. His mellifluous musings transport your mind to that fateful moment, where your terrifying foe awaits, His unfathomable strength surpassing even your wildest imagination...

General Info: The Minstrel’s Ballad: Zodiark’s Fall is the extreme version of the first trial during the Endwalker MSQ. In order to access this raid, players must have completed the MSQ quest “Endwalker” and the normal version of this trial (The Dark Inside). After completing those, players must speak with the Minstreling Wanderer at Old Sharlayan and select the option to recount the encounter with Zodiark.

This is a level 90, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 560.

The extreme version of the fight consists of four phases before the boss enrages. The raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 60-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

Insights: This is one fight where waymarks, player marks, Light parties, and other strategies that are often used for other encounters are useless. Instead, players must know each individual mechanic and ability and be prepared to resolve any of them on their own. Communication and coordination are essential to helping prevent the spread of additional damage to the other raid members.

Rewards: Eternal Dark Necklace x1, Eternal Dark Ring x1, Eternal Dark Earrings x1, Eternal Dark Bracelets x1, Crystal of Eternal Darkness (crafting material), Lynx of Eternal Darkness flute (mount), Faded Copy of Endcaller (Orchestrion Roll fragment)

Strategy: 

6) Eden’s Promise/Oracle of Darkness

Boss Details: The entity formed by the fusion of Mitron and Gaia seeks to create a utopia where time has no meaning. Should this plan succeed, not only will the vast quantities of aether absorbed by Eden drain the land of life, but Gaia as you know her will be lost forever. Ryne makes a desperate bid to send you in pursuit, though there is no way of knowing what manner of danger you will face.

Following your adventures in the Empty, a crystal has been found that bears distorted memories of your recent encounters. As if facing such nightmarish foes once was not enough, you now have the opportunity to experience these struggles anew, though far more perilous than you remember...

General Info: The savage version of the fight consists of two phases: Eden’s Promise (first) and the Oracle of Darkness (second). If the players are able to complete the first phase before a wipe, the boss will begin at the start of the second phase unless the instance is reset by leaving and returning. The encounter itself has two enrage points, one at each phase, and the raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 120-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

This is a level 90, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 560.

Insights: Coordination and communication are key to mastering this encounter, even if running unsynced at level 90. The boss has several instant-kill mechanics that must be resolved. Knowing the boss’s abilities and how to resolve them is critical to overcoming this encounter.

Rewards: Edenmorn weapon x1, Edenmorn chest gear coffer x1 (all classes), Edenmorn weapon coffer (all classes), Wind-up Gaia (minion), Eden Crystal (mount), The Extreme Orchestrion Roll

Strategy: Phase One

Phase Two

7) The Warrior of Light

Boss Details: Though history will paint them as villains, the Ascians were driven by a deep and abiding desire to which all men may relate, and the minstreling wanderer cannot help but spare a thought for Elidibus, whose demise spelled the end of his people's hopes and dreams. Likening your struggle to that of love, the man weaves a bittersweet tale of passion undying─a tale witnessed by the shimmering spires of the Crystal Tower, to be reflected and retold for generations to come.

General Info: The Seat of Sacrifice, Extreme, is the final encounter in the main story trials from Shadowbringers. In order to access this raid, players must have completed the MSQ quest “Hope’s Confluence” and the normal version of this trial (Seat of Sacrifice). After completing those, players must speak with the Minstreling Wanderer at the Crystarium and select the option to recount the encounter with the Warrior of Light.

This is a level 80, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 465.

The extreme version of the fight consists of three phases before the boss enrages. The raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 60-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

Insights: Coordination and communication are key to mastering this encounter, even if running unsynced at level 90. The boss has several instant-kill mechanics that must be resolved. Knowing the boss’s abilities and how to resolve them is critical to overcoming this encounter. The main abilities to prepare for in advance are the meteors and the towers.

Rewards: Light weapon x1, Light Weapon coffer x1 (all classes), Gwiber of Light trumpet (mount), Faded Copy of To the Edge (Orchestrion Roll fragment)

Strategy: 

8) Diamond Weapon

Boss Details: The climactic midair confrontation with the Diamond Weapon is one you will not soon forget. Nevertheless, Garlond Ironworks has provided a means by which you can relive those memories, albeit in a highly exaggerated fashion. Though nothing more than a simulation, it will demand every onze of mettle you can muster to overcome this enhanced version of an already formidable foe.

General Info: The Cloud Deck, Extreme, is the Extreme version of the final optional Weapon trial in Shadowbringers. In order to access this raid, players must have completed the MSQ quest “Endwalker,” the raids The Cinder Drift, Castrum Marinum, and the normal version of this trial (The Cloud Deck). After completing those, players must speak with the Warmachina Fanatic at Portia Praetoria and select the option to recount the encounter with Diamond Weapon.

This is a level 80, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 510.

The extreme version of the fight consists of four phases before the boss enrages. The raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 60-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

Insights: Splitting the raid into Light parties and having each party know which platform to take is one of the most important strategies for this encounter. Beyond that, knowing when to move to the other platform, how to respond to the mechanics, moving quickly to the positions and switching them between partners as needed, and not falling off the platforms is vital to getting through this fight.

Rewards: Diamond Zeta weapon x1, Diamond Zeta Weapon coffer (all classes) x1, Diamond Gwiber Trumpet, Diamond Plating (crafting material), Faded Copy of In the Arms of War (Orchestrion Roll fragment)

Strategy: 

9) Hades

Boss Details: Hearken unto a requiem for a hero fallen. A man who lived a thousand thousand of our lives clinging desperately to faint hope, never shirking his sworn duty to his long-lost brethren. A man who stood proud and did avow his true name on the threshold of the battle that would see him fall to his rival─the light to quench his shadow. Borrowing liberally from the funereal rites of the Night's Blessed, the minstreling wanderer weaves an elegy in that hero's honor─the tragic-yet-triumphant tale of a man and a battle that ne'er shall be forgotten.

General Info: The Minstrel’s Ballad: Hades’s Elegy, is the extreme version of the capstone trial at the end of the Shadowbringers MSQ from Shadowsbringers launch. In order to access this raid, players must have completed the MSQ quest “Shadowbringer” and the normal version of this trial (The Dying Gasp). After completing those, players must speak with the Minstreling Wanderer at the Crystarium and select the option to recount the encounter with Hades.

This is a level 80, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 450.

The extreme version of the fight consists of four phases before the boss enrages. The raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 60-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

Insights: Splitting the raid into Light parties (1 tank, 1 healer, 2 dps) and having clear assignments of partners and positions is essential to conquering this encounter. Communication and coordination are very useful, even if they are running unsynced at level 90. Understanding how to handle each mechanic and where to move to prevent avoidable damage is very important. Make good use of waymarks to help with positioning through all of the phases.

Rewards: Hades weapon x1, Hades Weapon coffer x1 (all classes), Shadow Gwiber Trumpet (mount), Hades’s Auracite (crafting material), Faded Copy of Invincible (Orchestrion Roll fragment)

Strategy: 

10) Titania

Boss Details: Since the great sundering of the Source, life on the resulting shards was free to grow and evolve independent of outside influence. And yet, perhaps as an indication of a greater plan or a higher purpose, a series of coincidences occurred over the long years and centuries and millennia, resulting in the birth of certain individuals with no particular relation who are nevertheless eerily similar in every respect.

Indeed, the minstreling wanderer has as powerful and vivid an imagination as any soul of the Source, and after listening attentively to your tale of Titania, he has composed a ballad that would move a man with a heart of stone to weep bitterly, and a Warrior of Darkness to walk in her/his memories of a terrible trial, albeit one somewhat enhanced and embellished. As is a minstrel's wont.

General Info: The Dancing Plague, Extreme, is the Extreme version of the first trial during the Shadowbringers MSQ. In order to access this raid, players must have completed the MSQ quest “Shadowbringer” and the normal version of this trial (The Dancing Plague). After completing those, players must speak with the Minstreling Wanderer at the Crystarium and select the option to recount the encounter with Titania.

This is a level 80, 8-man raid requiring 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS with an average item level of 430.

The extreme version of the fight consists of four phases before the boss enrages. The raid can make as many attempts as they like during a single 60-minute window before they must leave and return to start a new instance.

Insights: Boss positioning, dealing with the adds in the correct order, and being able to handle a very chaotic environment are essential to overcoming this encounter. The mechanics can get very messy, very fast. Knowing what each ability does and how to use it is critical to surviving this battle. However, the rewards are well worth the effort even if you run this unsynced at level 90.

Rewards: The King’s weapon x1, Titania Weapon coffer (all classes) x1, Fae Gwiber Trumpet (mount), Dancing Wing (crafting material), Faded Copy of What Angel Makes Me (Orchestrion Roll fragment)

Strategy: 

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