Inspired by Final Fantasy VIII, heroes of high enough level can take on a raid series against the ultimate summon Eden. But even more secrets await.

While the next expansion Endwalker is months away, many players are still spending lots of time enjoying Final Fantasy 14. Some may be sticking around to forge ultimate weapons, while others have been enticed by the upgrades of the PlayStation 5 version. Others are instead just trying to catch up.

Many players might only be coming off their free trial which allowed free play of both A Realm Reborn and Heavensward. Newer players may only now be reaching level 80 and the current end game. For those, the Eden raid series is a good place to both gear up and learn about various story elements emulating Final Fantasy VIII.

Unlocking Eden in Final Fantasy 14

The Eden sidequest can be started once players are level 80 and have completed all of Shadowbringer’s main storyline. Players will need to accept the quest In the Middle of Nowhere from Anxious Crystarium Guard in The Crystarium (x:9.8, Y:12.4). This will subsequently lead to other follow-up quests from Ryne at the Empty: Deploy the Core, One Fell Swoop, Nor Any Drop to Drink, Super Seismic, and The Next Piece of the Puzzle. Each quest will unlock new battles or reward grade seven materia.

Each battle rewards Early Antiquity pieces that can be traded for item-level 450 Edengate equipment. If a player is hit by an avoidable mechanic and manages to survive they will suffer a stack of Vulnerability Up, increasing further damage they take.

Eden Gate Fights in Final Fantasy 14

Eden’s Gate Resurrection

For the first fight, players will face off against Eden Prime, a humanoid version of the ultimate summon from Final Fantasy VIII. The edges of the wall are sustained with Electric Wall, an instant death if ever touched so avoid touching it. Its two main attacks are Spear of Paradise, which deals massive damage to the main tank, and Eden’s Gravity that will hit everyone for moderate damage. The boss will also commonly use special attacks like Eden’s Flare, a donut attack with the safe spot directly near the enemy; and Pure Light, where the boss will teleport to an edge of the arena before cleaving anything in front of it. Once Eden Prime has taken significant damage, it will crest white orbs that fire off line attacks while also using Pure Light immediately after.

Eventually, two Guardians of Paradise that cleave and should be tanked separately. When they are killed, the full summon animation play in the form of Eternal Breath. This damage will be surprisingly low if both minions were killed, but may instead annihilate the party if either survived. The boss will repeat its move set until destroyed. The raid chests may contain a head, body, belt, leg, feet, or up to three accessory currencies.

Eden’s Gate Descent

For the second fight, the party will leave the memory dimension and instead head to the roof of the tower to face off against the Voidwalker. The boss will summon Nyx that fly in a straight line of wherever they are facing, simply move out of their slow flight path to avoid damage. Shadowflame is its tankbuster, which will hit both tanks regardless of position (it will aim for DPS, followed by healers if the tank is killed). They will also summon The Hand of Erebos on the edge of the arena that will use a powerful knockback in the form of Empty Hate; stand very close to Erebos to avoid falling out of bounds. The boss will simultaneously use Punishing Ray - meteor circles that one person must stand in stop a room-wide burst attack. Players will want to position themselves so that Empty Hand pushes them into (or at least close) to different Punishing Ray markers.

Voidwalker’s main gimmick is Spell-in-Waiting, which will freeze a mechanic until it slowly counts down towards activation. Some of the affected abilities include: Dark Fire III, heavy damage with a moderate area of effect; Unholy Darkness, a party stack; and Shadoweye, look away from the boss or take damage. Even if a player is hit with a particular attack marker, it is important to mostly ignore it at first and instead position according to the Spell-in-Waiting timers. The raid chests may contain a head, body, hands, belt, leg, feet, or up to two accessory currencies.

Eden’s Gate Inundation

The third encounter will be against a strange memory of Leviathan. Rip Current will fire a line attack at a tank, likely killing DPS or Healers caught in the path. Temporary Current will blast a wide diagonal push-back, requiring standing in the safe corners to avoid being pushed off the arena. The boss will simultaneously use Drenching Pulse to place attacks on the ground, and Freak Wave for more attacks directly on players; players should position so they are only hit with a single Freak Wave. The big arena transition is Undersea Quake, where Leviathan will charge up a beam in both of its mouths. It will either spread its heads and destroy the left and right areas of the stage, or come to together and destroy the middle. Regardless, players will need to stand correctly to avoid instantly dying.

Eventually, the boss will mark party members with different attack markers: Splashing Tsunami will deal moderate damage to four characters; Swirling Tsunami will put a donut attack on one character; Smothering Tsunami is a stack that needs at least three players to survive; and Surging Tsunami that pushes players away from the marked character. The goal is to be in a place where Surging Tsunami will place the other players in positions to minimize damage. Drops from the fight include a head, two bodies, hands, two legs, and up to two accessory currencies.

Eden’s Gate Sepulture

The final Eden’s Gate fight will be against Titan. The first thing to note is the battlefield is divvied into a 4x4 grid, which will affect mechanics. Weight of the Land will cause eight random tiles to explode. Crumbling Down will bring down two huge boulders, one of which will simply crumble; players will need to stand behind the other to avoid Seismic Wave. Bomb Boulders will place bombs on different tiles, while Colbat Bomb will transform a single rock into a massive blast.

Titan will also use the cogs on his back in different ways. Massive Landslide will send an attack in a line and knock players in all untargeted tiles off the arena; the trick is to stand in the attack’s indicator, but move out of the wave before it goes off. With Fault Line, the boss will knock away every one to the left or right of him and kill all those in front. For this attack, stand very close to his sides, with enough tiles left to not fully fall off. This will be followed by Magnitude 5.0, a donut where players will need to rush back to the boss quickly. Rewards for the fight include two bodies, hands, two legs, feet, and up to two accessory currencies.

Next: How to Get The Magicked Card Mount in Final Fantasy 14

Final Fantasy 14 A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers are available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.