Final Fantasy 14: Shadowbringers is right around the corner, and players are scrambling to get as many Jobs to 70 as they can! Thankfully there’s a very efficient way to do just that: Heaven-On-High. However, while most players are familiar with floors 21-30 (the highest tier a non-fixed party can reach) there are an extra 70 floors just waiting to be experienced. We’ll go over all of them and more our with Final Fantasy 14 Heaven On High tips and strategy guide.
Heaven On High is chock full of fabulous rewards for those that reach the top. This guide will cover two main sections. If you’re a player just looking to level their Job, check the next subheading! However, players seeking to finish one of Final Fantasy 14 toughest challenges, Heaven On High Apex, should continue reading further down. Now let’s get started!
- Final Fantasy 14: Shadowbringers Has a Release Date and a NieR: Automata Crossover
- Navigating the Confusing, Horny World of MMO Roleplay
- Dating the Primals of Final Fantasy XIV
How to Unlock Heaven On High in FF14
To access Heaven On High in Final Fantasy 14, players must first complete Floor 50 of Palace of the Dead. The quest line for that Deep Dungeon begins with “The House That Death Built” in New Gridania, once you beat the main scenario quest “Into a Copper Hell.” You can then enter and power through Palace of the Dead at Quarrymill, in the South Shroud, by speaking to the Wood Wailer Captain. If you’ve already unlocked this activity, but forgotten where to find it, it’s not easy to locate on a map. So just head directly to Quarrymill. Odds are, you’ll see a large group of other players standing near the Wood Wailer Captain.
Next you must also finish the main scenario quest “Tide Goes In, Imperials Go Out” in The Ruby Sea, as well as the unlock quest “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.” That last one is also in The Ruby Sea!
Heaven On High Tips & Basics – FF14 Tips
Heaven On High (and Palace of the Dead for that matter) utilize a system where your normal gear has absolutely no bearing on the dungeon. Instead, Deep Dungeons use “Aetherpool” gear. This equipment is only good in the dungeons, and can only be improved in the dungeons via Silver Chests. So if you’re worried about not having optimal gear, worry no longer! Everyone starts on an equal footing.
The party shares an inventory of items, known as pomanders and magicite. Any pomanders or magicite the team collects are usable by any other party member. Generally, though, you should save these items for certain scenarios. We will cover those below!
Get in the practice of “hugging the walls” when exploring Heaven On High. The dungeon is filled with invisible traps, which can be extremely punishing. However, these traps do not spawn near the walls. As long as you’re skirting the perimeter of any given room, you will not trigger anything at all! Traps also do not spawn in the hallways that connect the rooms, as well as the starting room of each floor. You’re free to explore those as you like.
Fixed parties can’t start past floor 30. Normally, Heaven On High allows players to re-enter at various checkpoints you unlock by beating bosses. You can do this with a fixed party, too, but only starting as high as floor 21. This makes the trip from floors 21 through 30 a race of sorts, as parties try to blitz through them and get to the good stuff.
As you kill monsters on each floor, you will unlock exit portals (The Beacon of Passage) and revival stations (The Cairn of Return). Once you unlock the exit, avoid extra combat! You do not level past 70, and the odds of the monster dropping a useful chest are quite low (not to mention that chest could turn out to be a Mimic, which can kill entire parties)!
Speaking of avoiding combat, run behind monsters! Most Final Fantasy 14 enemies in Heaven On High become aggressive on sight. That means, as long as you run behind the monster, you can skip fighting it altogether. This is especially useful when you try to rush through floors 21-30. Some monsters do have a full 360 degree aggro, however, so be careful!
Use pomanders and magicite if you find a fourth. You can only hold three items of a given type at any one time. And there is virtually no reason not to use them when you max out, as doing so can only only speed up the run. The exception to this rule is the Pomander of Alteration, which can spawn either Mimics or Mandragoras — and a room full of Mimics is a dangerous thing indeed.
Magicite and the Pomander of Frailty work on bosses. For Apex runs, you want to hold off on using these items, but for floors 21-30, it will absolutely speed up a run to take 25 percent off boss HP — per magicite. If you get the Odin Magicite (a very rare find), you can immediately kill any boss you use it on!
Spread your team out before using a Pomander of Petrification. When petrified, enemies only take one point of damage to die. However, you only have 30 seconds before they return to normal. By spreading out before using the pomander, you can ensure that you get a full floor clear, find any chests you may need, and reach the exit portal rapidly. Be careful, though. New monsters spawned via the Luring Trap or opening a Mimic Chest will not petrify!
Try to save a Pomander of Petrification or a magicite for the large rooms (The Hall of Fallacy). Using the same principle mentioned above — spreading out through a floor first — can maximize your monster clears. A magicite, however, will simply kill everything on the floor. Consider using a Pomander of Fortune before doing this to effectively double your treasure chest rate!
Heaven On High Floors 21-30 Speed Tips – FF14 Tips
If you only plan to use Heaven On High to level Jobs, just speed clear floors 21-30 using the matched party option. The above tips will greatly decrease your run times! With that in mind, here are some more tips specifically meant to help you speed through floors 21-30 of Heaven On High in Final Fantasy 14.
- This tile set is not dangerous in the slightest, with one distinct exception: Heavenly Hatamoto (Samurai). The Heavenly Hatamoto will charge up an attack called Tenka Goken, which will knock you back, and follow it up with Hidare Setsugekka. This is a tankbuster — otherwise known as a move that will outright kill non-tank Jobs with ease. If you lack a self-heal, or are not confident in your ability to burst this monster down quickly, you should just avoid Heavenly Hatamoto altogether.
- You can solo this tier on any Job and at (almost) any Aetherpool level. What this means is that you shouldn’t follow your fellow party members unless you have no other choice. Once you or one of your party members discovers the exit portal, you should drop whatever path you’re on and move directly to the exit, tagging monsters as you go until the portal opens. Be wary of opening Gold chests and avoid the Bronze chests entirely!
- Drag monsters to the exit portal. It’s relatively minor, but sometimes you get party members that, once the portal is discovered and open, will sit on the portal waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. If you aggro a monster accidentally, do not stop and fight; drag it to the exit so they can help (and you can progress to the next floor quicker)!
Heaven On High Floor 30 Boss: Hiruko Tips – FF14 Guide
Hiruko is, as you can probably guess, the boss of Heaven On High floor 30 in Final Fantasy 14. They’re far from the most difficult boss in the dungeon. In fact, you’ve almost certainly faced worse while playing through the main story. But the boss has a few different moves to watch out for. They are as follows:
- Lightning Strike: A wide-line AOE that targets a random party member (Lighting Strike). Move to avoid this when you see it being cast.
- Supercell: A 180 degree room wide AOE that faces the front of the boss. Tanks should move through and behind Hiruko to dodge this move. Players with other Jobs probably shouldn’t be standing in front of him to begin with!
- Combo Attack: Cloudcall / Shiko: Hiruko will spawn clouds throughout the arena. Find a cloud and stand under it! The boss will knock you up; as long as you hit the cloud during the knock-up, you will avoid the resulting AOE, as well as the subsequent Vulnerability debuff… and will feel big and strong and cool.
Heaven On High Floors 31 and Higher Tips – FF14 Guide
Now that you’re a 21-30 tier speedrunner, you’re probably asking yourself if you can handle the next 70 floors. Most players can — whether they think so or not. Most of Final Fantasy 14 is totally doable, in fact, even if it uses intimidating phrases like “Alliance Raids.” That goes for Heaven On High as well.
And don’t fret! Below we’ve got some Heaven On High Apex strategies that will help you immensely in your quest to the top.
Bring Some Friends
First and foremost; find three other people interested in the climb, and ensure that they are chill people to run with. Getting angry, salty, or snappy will kill runs (and prevent re-tries!). Remember, it’s you four against this 5 to 6 hour long dungeon, not each other.
Bring a Red Mage
Party composition is not super important, with one exception. Almost any party composition is able to clear Heaven On High Apex, but if you’re interested in a safer run, bring a tank, healer, melee DPS, and a Red Mage or Summoner for additional Raises. Red Mage is desirable over Summoner, since the Job has more on-demand burst; whereas the action doesn’t typically last long enough for Summoner to get the full benefit of Damage Over Time rotations going.
Talk to Each Other
Utilize voice communication. While there are no doubt teams that can do this without ever needing to hear each other, it’s generally easier to sit in a Discord with a group and coordinate (or talk about the last Game of Thrones episode — you know, whatever works for you).
BYOP – Bring Your Own Potions
Every player should have a stack of 60 Empyrean Potions; you can get 20 for just one Empyrean Potsherd out of Heaven On High itself. Also take a Phoenix Down and a handful of Echo Drops. Use the potions whenever your healer starts to struggle, the floor disables Auto-Heal, or you know unavoidable damage is about to come out – the potion heals about 40 percent of your max HP over 15 seconds.
Choose a Quartermaster
Pick someone to manage your pomanders and magicite — and let only them use the stuff. That person should understand what each pomander does, as well as when others should use individual pomanders (like Strength and Steel). This will prevent waste of valuable pomanders or magicite — like Petrification or Odin — in the event of an emergency.
General pomander rules and tips include the following:
- Stockpile and only use what is necessary up to floor 60.
- From floor 60 onwards, you will slowly begin to bleed yourself of items, but always try to keep the following on hand for floors 80 to 100: Sight, Serenity, Safety, Petrification and the magicites.
- If you’re wall-hugging, you do not need to use Sight or Safety except in The Halls of Fallacy.
- Use Serenity when you have two or more debuffs on a floor (or encounter The Gloom).
- Save Pomanders of Petrification and magicites as much as possible for emergencies.
- Save Pomanders of Intuition for floors 70 and up, as this will get you Platinum-Haloed Sacks. These have a chance to net you the extremely rare Dodo Mount!
Stun & Silence
Just like out there in the main world of Final Fantasy 14, if an enemy attack has a cast time, you can stun or silence it. There are exceptions to this — like against bosses — but this is especially useful for floors 80 and higher, where timing and space are tight.
Fight Smart
If you see a roaming monster, target it first, even if it’s patrolling in a different direction. These can and will patrol back around behind you and cause wipes. Once you have their attention, take the beasts into connecting hallways. Monsters do not spawn here, and traps only appear in rooms — so kite your pulls back into the hallways for an easier time.
The Numbers Lie
Shocking, but true: Floors 81-90 are much harder than floors 91-99. You should use game-changing pomanders much more liberally in the 81-90 tier, but save at least one magicite, one Petrification, as well as your Sight, Serenity, Safety pomanders for the final tier.
Emergency Item Usage Order – FF14 Tips
You shouldn’t have too hard a time getting to this point. But you know how it is… Sometimes things just go completely wrong. In those instances, you will probably want to reach for a pomander or magicite to save your bacon. And you absolutely should! That’s what they’re for, after all. But don’t just go using them willy nilly. That wastes valuable items and time.
Instead, we’ve created this emergency item use order. Follow this guide, from top to bottom, to maximize your item usage and prevent waste:
- Pomander of Witching: This item transforms all normal enemies within a short radius into less harmful critters. Use it if you accidentally trigger a Luring Trap, or just aggro too many foes.
- Pomander of Raising: This item puts a preemptive, protective buff on the party. It will raise whichever member of the group KOs next. However, using it effectively requires coordination. If things are going south, have your healer, Red Mage, or whoever else is alive disengage back to a hallway — or even just a corner of the room where they will not be instantly targeted. Then use a Pomander of Raising only when they are the last one left standing. They will revive, and can start throwing Raises or Phoenix Downs out safely (or retreat to a Cairn of Return, if that’s an option).
- Pomander of Petrification: We went over this before, but let’s reiterate. This turns every enemy on the floor to stone for 30 seconds, leaving them vulnerable to a one-hit-kill. Only use it in emergencies where you are out of Pomanders of Witching, and the Raising trick isn’t feasible. Petrification is incredibly valuable on higher floors, so you really want to hold onto these as much as possible.
- Magicite (Not Elder): Dip into these if you are out of Witching, Raising, and Petrification pomanders. And know that magicite gives you invulnerability while casting, so do not hesitate to use it if you must!
- Elder Magicite (Odin): To be frank, if you have to waste an Odin on trash mobs because you lack other options, your run is probably screwed.
Heaven On High Floor 90 Boss: Onra Tips – FF14 Guide
This is Onra, otherwise known as The Run Killer, or “that big stupid jerk.” And our number one tip is to insta-kill it with Elder Magicite (Odin)! Seriously. The fight takes a while and a lot of things can go wrong… That seriously sucks when you get so close to the top of Heaven On High and fall flat.
Of course, that might not be an option. You might not have any Odins left, or didn’t find any in the first place. In that case, we have some Onra boss fight tips for you most adventurous adventurers. Read the following before you start:
- Do not use any other magicite other than Elder Magicite (Odin) — unless you need to give your healer time to heal the group.
- If Sprint isn’t on your hotbar somewhere, put it there. Controller players can also macro the ability to L3. Just set Macro #98 with /ac “sprint” and set it to L3 in the controller setup menu.
- All healers and DPS should have Pomanders of Strength running. If you do not have three Pomanders of Strength, make sure the Healer has at least one. There’s a lot of damage going around in this fight, and they need the help. The tank should pop a Pomander of Steel. Use a Pomander of Frailty as you engage, and reapply it if the healer is struggling.
Next, you need to worry about Onra itself and its many attacks. They work like so:
Ancient Quaga: Hits non-tanks for about 40 percent of their hit points. It’s raid-wide, too, so you can’t avoid it! How fun… After every Ancient Quaga, all players should use an Empyrean Potion.
Aura Cannon and Burning Rave: These target random players. Aura Cannon is a large-line area-of-effect attack, while Burning Rave is a targeted, circular area-of-effect. Position yourselves as necessary; whoever gets hit with Burning Rave will need a heal ASAP.
Meteor Impact: Drops a proximity AOE. You need to be on the far side of the arena when it lands to avoid heavy damage.
Onra will also spawn Sand Orbs that pulsate over time. These kind of hurt, but more importantly they inflict Heavy, which is one of the reasons you added Sprint to your hotbar earlier. Steer clear of these! Paladins can also negate Heavy with Tempered Will.
Heaven On High Onra Boss Strategy – FF14 Guide
Have the tank grab Onra and drag him to the southwest corner of the arena, facing the outside. Have the DPS spread somewhat close around his backside. Make sure to pop those Empyrean Potions after Ancient Quaga, too!
When he casts Meteor Impact, everyone needs to pop Sprint and run to the far northeast side of the arena. Once the impact occurs and damage goes out, return to the previous location. Rinse and repeat, dodging area attacks as necessary.
If you pass the floor 90 boss, you are practically in the clear as long as you continue to play smart and safely. Feel free to pop Sight and Safety freely; use any remaining magicites for instant clears and secure additional magicite to finish strong! The climb is long, but believe in yourself and your friends. You will reach the top in no time. Good luck, adventurers!
