Patch 6.25 for Final Fantasy XIV is here and with it comes a ton of new content. The official FFXIV 6.25 patch notes have been published on the official FFXIV site, aka The Lodestone. But here, we’re going to breakdown and highlight the things you need to know about this latest patch.
While it’s an intermittent patch, there’s no shortage of new content to play through. This includes a new batch of wacky Hildibrand Quests, the introduction of the Manderville relic weapons, the brand-new Variant and Criterion Dungeons, and the next wave of Tribal Quests with the Omicron. We also get a few mounts, minions, and emotes with Patch 6.25, which are rewards tied to the new content. Let’s dive into the details below.
New Hildibrand Adventures
In order to take part in the new Hildibrand Quests, you’ll need to have completed all the previous ones. If you haven’t started these, it’ll be a long but rewarding road. These date back to A Realm Reborn and follow the goofy adventures of Hildibrand Manderville, aka the inspector extraordinaire. He has an important role in the greater FFXIV lore and the story for these quests are a real treat, showing the game’s more comedic side.
If you need help on where to start (or pick up the quests if you can’t remember where you left off), use our Hildibrand Quests guide. You’ll need to have a level 90 combat Job to take part in these latest quests. For those who are caught up, you can find Nashu Mhakaracca in Radz-at-Han (X: 11.8, Y: 11.2) to start the new Patch 6.25 questline, starting with the quest named “Lunar Conspiracy.”
Manderville Relic Weapons
These Hildibrand Quests aren’t just for kicks and giggles, however. They are also tied to the new Manderville relic weapons. Those familiar with the relic weapon grinds from A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, and the like know about Gerolt and his unparalleled weaponsmithing. Well, Godbert Manderville is in the mix and these new relic weapons will make a Manderville out of you.
To start the Endwalker-era relic weapon grind, you must first complete the Hildibrand Quest named “The Imperfect Gentleman” which is the latest patch-current one. The quest named “Make It a Manderville” will be available and also requires a level 90 combat Job to complete.
What You Need to Know About Variant Dungeons
Variant Dungeons are one of the more exciting editions to FFXIV since it’s an all-new type of content. These are dungeons with variable difficulty depending on party size and multiple paths that lead to different results and story outcomes. The first one is called The Sil’dihn Subterrane, which takes place alongside the Ul’dahn ruler Nanamo Ul Namo.
If you want to give this a try, you’ll need to use a level 90 combat Job and have completed Endwalker MSQ and spoken to the NPC named Osmon in Old Sharlayan (X: 11.9, Y: 13.3). Once that’s all done, speak to the NPC named Shallow Moor in Old Sharlayan (X: 12.0, Y: 13.3) for the quest titled “A Key to the Past” to start the unlock process.
Players may enter The Sil’dihn Subterrane alone or with up to a party of four — the difficulty will scale accordingly. You must have an average Item Level of 575 to enter. Variant Dungeons can be found in the Duty menu option and under the new V&C Dungeon Finder tab. If you select “Enable party matching” then you will enter a queue. There are no role requirements for Variant Dungeons and you can change Jobs within the dungeon.
Variant Dungeons also feature Variant Actions, which are special Duty Actions to help players fulfill the function of any missing roles. These include similar functions of actions like Cure and Rampart in case you’re missing a Healer or Tank, respectively. You can select the actions you want before entering and change them at any time while in the dungeon.
Completing the Variant Dungeon will reward you with tokens which you can exchange for rewards with the NPC named Trisassant in Old Sharlayan (X: 11.9, Y: 13.3).
Criterion Dungeons and ASS (Savage)
Think of Criterion Dungeons as Hard and Savage versions of the Variant Dungeons. These are more challenging, have one dungeon path to follow, and include standard role requirements. You will need to be at Item Level 610 or higher to enter the matchmaking queue as well. Once you’ve done the aforementioned quest “A Key to the Past,” speak to Osmon in Old Sharlayan (X: 11.9, Y: 13.3) to unlock Another Sil’dihn Subterrane (aka ASS), the Criterion Dungeon.
A gameplay twist for Criterion Dungeons — damage bonuses will be applied based on roles and party composition and all players get the Duty Action called Variant Raise II. Healers cannot use their standard revive abilities.
The Savage version of Another Sil’dihn Subterrane is even harder. To unlock it, you must clear the standard version of ASS then speak to Osmon in Old Sharlayan again. There is no Item Level requirement, but it’s safe to say that you’ll need to geared up as high, if not higher, than normal ASS.
ASS (Savage) forgoes all Variant Actions and applies additional rules to make things more challenging. There is no ability to revive party members, you cannot respawn to the dungeon entrance after dying, and a party wipe means starting from the beginning again. Over time, enemies will gain the Sewer-dweller buff that increases their damage output — this resets if the party wipes.
Tokens earned from completing ASS and ASS (Savage) can be exchanged for rewards with the NPC named Trisassant in Old Sharlayan (X: 11.9, Y: 13.3).
The Omicron Tribal Quests
The Omicron Tribal Quests take place on Ultima Thule and focus on Disciples of the Land (gathering) Jobs. Like other Tribal Quests, these revolve around daily quests to raise the loyalty ranking with the Tribe which gives you access to more story content in the questline and additional rewards.
To unlock the Omicron Tribal Quests, you must first complete the quest “Where No Loporrit Has Gone Before” and have a gathering Job at level 80 or higher. You can then access the quest titled “The Cafe at the End of the Universe” from Jammingway in Ultima Thule (X: 25.4, Y: 26.3).
Daily quests are given by the NPC Stigma-4 at Ultima Thule (X: 27.8, Y: 24.4). Materials required for these quests will appear in the Duty List but won’t be listed in your Gathering or Fishing Logs. Completing daily quests will net you Omicron Omnitokens which can be exchanged for rewards with the vendor named N-0598 located in Ultima Thule (X: 27.7, Y: 24.7).
Be sure to check out our guide on Omicron Tribal Quests so you can earn your cute jellyfish mount called Miw Miisv.
Emotes, Glamour, Mounts, Minions, and More
While there’s a bunch of exciting new content in FFXIV 6.25, the real star of the show is the super cute Wow emote! It’s a reward from completing the Variant Dungeon, The Sil’dihn Subterrane and can be bought with tokens. You can use the emote by typing “/wow” into the in-game chat.
There is also a new spy-themed glamour set, a little lizard minion, and a Cactuar umbrella available to earn, as well as the aforementioned jellyfish Miw Miisv mount from the Omicron Tribal Quests. The housing furnishing items from the 2019 design contest are now in the game, too.
Miscellaneous Changes in FFXIV 6.25
Additional changes in FFXIV via Patch 6.25 include extra adventurer plate and portrait elements, more fishing spots and fish to catch, and new recipes for crafters. Asphodelos (Savage) raid instances have been made a bit easier by increasing the effect of the Echo to 15% (buffing max HP, damage output, and healing potency).
There are no Job changes in this patch, but director and producer Naoki Yoshida mentioned in the previous Live Letter that adjustments will be made in Patch 6.28. The FFXIV team is also working on other tweaks to Jobs for Patch 6.3, which we can expect in December 2022 or January 2023.
You can check out the full list of changes in FFXIV 6.25 by checking out the full published patch notes on The Lodestone, including bug fixes and existing known issues. For more on what’s happening with FFXIV in the near future, read our breakdown of the latest Live Letter from the Producer.
