Final Fantasy 14 has tons of optional content, including alliance raids, which are grand 24-man dungeons. If you’ve recently caught up to the main story in the game, you may want to work on unlocking these raids.
Notably, most of the gear from these raids (except the last Endwalker raid) is pretty outdated, though lots of it does make good glamour. You can also get things like minions, orchestrion rolls, and Triple Triad cards from these raids, too. (Not to mention that the story for each of these raid lines is good!)
FFXIV alliance raids and alliance raid roulette, explained
Once you have two such raids unlocked, you’ll unlock alliance raid roulette in the duty finder, rewarding you with lots of EXP and Poetics for queueing into a randomly selected one of these raids.
Unlocking and completing alliance raids is entirely optional, with exception of the A Realm Reborn alliance raid series, The Crystal Tower. While it used to be optional, it became a mandatory part of the story in patch 5.3. If you already progressed past the main scenario quest “A Time to Every Purpose,” then you don’t need to complete it, though.
That said, we list where to unlock all FFXIV alliance raids below. We point out where to start, but as you complete the quests, you will need to continuing talking to any nearby NPCs with the blue plus sign quest marker above their heads to continue progressing.
Where to unlock A Realm Reborn’s alliance raids, ‘The Crystal Tower’
The three raids for this series are “The Labyrinth of the Ancients,” “Sycrus Tower,” and “The World of Darkness.”
To start this raid, you need to have completed the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon,” and then talk to the NPC called Outlandish Man in Mor Dhona at the spot below to start the “Legacy of Allag” side quest:
The quests that actually unlock the duties in the quest line share the name as their respective alliance raid. (So the quest “Labyrinth of the Ancients” unlocks the raid of the same name.)
Where to unlock Heavensward’s alliance raids, ‘Shadow of Mhach’
The three Heavensward alliance raids are “The Void Ark,” “The Weeping City of Mhach,” and “Dun Scaith.”
To unlock these raids, you will need to have completed the main scenario quest, “Heavensward.” You can start the side quest “Sky Pirates” from the NPC Unquiet Trader in The Pillars (Ishgard) at the spot below:
The names of the actual quests that unlock the duties throughout the story are as follows:
Where to unlock Stormblood’s alliance raids, ‘Return to Ivalice’
The three Stormblood alliance raids are “The Royal City of Rabanastre,” “The Ridorana Lighthouse,” and “The Orbonne Monastery.”
You’ll need to finish the MSQ “Stormblood” to start this quest line. It begins at the NPC Keiten in Kugane with the quest “Dramatis Personae” in the location below:
The names of the actual quests that unlock the duties throughout the story are as follows:
Where to unlock Shadowbringer’s alliance raids, ‘YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse’
The Shadowbringers alliance raids are a crossover with the Nier series. You’ll see familiar faces like 2B and 9S in the three raids, “The Copied Factory,” “The Puppets’ Bunker,” and “The Tower at Paradigm’s Breach.”
You’ll need to complete the MSQ “Shadowbringers” to unlock these raids fully. Talk to the Gossipy Dwarf in Kholusia at the spot below to start “Word about Komra.”
The names of the actual quests that unlock the duties throughout the story are as follows:
Where to unlock Endwalker’s alliance raids, ‘Myths of the Realm’
The Endwalker alliance raids are “Aglaia,” “Euphrosyne,” and “Thaeleia.”
To start this quest line, you’ll need to finish the MSQ “A Brother’s Grief.” Once you do this, you can talk to the Fresh-faced Student in Old Sharlayan to start the quest “A Mission in Mor Dhona.”
The names of the actual quests that unlock the duties throughout the story are as follows:
If you’re just starting out in the massive world of Final Fantasy 14, we have tons of guides to help you. We have a beginner’s guide to get you started, along with guides detailing when you’ll get your mount and which Grand Company you should join.
If you’re starting but are feeling overwhelmed, we have guides to help with picking a job and a guide that explains how long it takes to beat FFXIV and catch up to current content.
We also have guides on side content, like ocean fishing, relic weapons, and Island Sanctuary, for those who want to take a break from it all.
