Patch 7.4 Content Overview for Dawntrail

Dawntrail's second major content update, Patch 7.4 Into the Mist, was announced during Live Letter 89. It will be released on December 16, 2025, with further updates staggering through the patch cycle. Here's all the information about the latest patch that we currently know of.

Full dates for the Patch 7.4 release schedule have not been announced yet, but the content delivery schedule we know of is as follows.

1. Patch 7.4 will be released on December 16, 2025. It includes the MSQ and its associated trial and dungeon, the final tier of the Arcadion raid series, and all miscellaneous or quality-of-life updates. New Allagan Tomestones and crafted recipes will be added as well.
2. The Savage difficulty of the final Arcadion raid tier, Heavyweight, will be released on January 6, 2026.
3. Cosmic Exploration updates will be released during Patch 7.41 and introduces a new planet as well as further Cosmic Tool upgrades.
4. The first Variant Dungeon of Dawntrail and the fourth overall will be released during Patch 7.45. It is called The Merchant's Tale, and will come with changes to the Variant/Criterion system.

Patch 7.4 introduces features originally shown prior to Dawntrail and highly anticipated quality-of-life changes.

The strategy board was first announced prior to Dawntrail, but has been in limbo ever since. Patch 7.4 will mark the first official release, and we can see they've made great improvements to make the strategy board a competitive in-game tool to share encounter strategies with. Functionally it is no different than the popular third party apps used to compile raid strategies like Toolbox or Raidplan.

The developers will continue to add Duty Support for dungeons not featured in the main scenario. Patch 7.4 will introduce changes and Duty Support for both Dzemael Darkhold and the Aurum Vale.

Further updates to the Occult Crescent Field Operations zone will be made in Patch 7.4 and beyond. Three new phantom jobs will be added: Mystic Knight, Dancer, and Gladiator. In addition, Phantom Weapons will be able to be upgraded to item level 775. Further Occult Crescent updates are slated for Patch 7.5.

Cosmic Exploration will receive further updates, including a new planet, Oizys, as well as upgrades to Cosmic Tools. New rewards and recipes will be added.

Patch 7.4 introduces the Command Panel, which is a set of 4 panels with 25 hotbar buttons that can be toggled on or off with a button for each panel. This will save players enormous amounts of hotbar space by condensing the buttons needed for job swaps, shortcuts, macros, emotes and any other buttons needed for overall gameplay.

Quality-of-life updates are generally shown in the Live Letter immediately preceding the patch and fully expanded on once the patch notes are live. Here are some miscellaneous updates we're aware of so far.

1. Arguably one of the most anticipated quality-of-life changes of all time is coming to FFXIV in Patch 7.4: the removal of glamour class, job, and level restrictions. Now all players can glamour any gear from any class no matter what. The glamour possibilities are now endless!
2. Alongside this change, certain class/job-exclusive gear, racial starting gear, and special fashion gear will be treated as outfit glamours.
3. Players attempting to solo Deep Dungeons would previously lose their run and hours of progress if they were disconnected from the server. Patch 7.4 adds disconnect protection to Deep Dungeon runs so that players have a 10-minute grace window to reconnect after disconnecting to continue their run.
4. Two new UI colour themes have been added: Clear Green and Clear White.

No PvE changes were discussed in the 7.4 Live Letters. We will have to wait until the patch to see if there will be any adjustments. Some balance changes are anticipated due to the new raid tier, but we will have to wait and see.

Several new duties will be released in Dawntrail with Patch 7.4. As always, one dungeon, one trial, and one Extreme trial will be released immediately. This patch will also feature a Raid tier and an Unreal Trial.

Patch 7.4 will have new main scenario quests, continuing where the Dawntrail Patch 7.3 MSQ left off and starting the lead for the next expansion.

Hildibrand sidequests will be released in Patch 7.4. These will expand on quests released previously, so complete them beforehand if you want to jump into these immediately.

One new endgame dungeon will be released in Patch 7.4. Mistwake seems to be still located in the final zone of Dawntrail in an area unexplored as of yet.

One new trial and one Unreal trial will be released in Patch 7.4. The trial features the enemy Phantom Trail, famous within the Final Fantasy franchise with a version seen previously in the Deltascape raid tier. The Unreal trial for this patch will be Tsukuyomi's Pain, another Stormblood-era fight. Written tips and guides on the trials will be released on our Trials hub after the patch is live, so take a look if you are interested in conquering these duties!

The final tier of the Arcadion raid series, Heavyweight, will be released in Patch 7.4. We have seen three of the four bosses of the tier, with speculation rising on who the final boss of the entire Arcadion could be. This new raid tier also features new music from Tom Morello and Beartooth, the former famously known for being the guitarist of bands Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave. Don't miss the thrilling conclusion to one of the most exciting raids in FFXIV!

To keep up with endgame raids in Dawntrail, visit our Dawntrail Raid hub below.

The fourth overall Variant/Criterion Dungeon and the first in Dawntrail will be released during the Patch 7.4x patch cycle. The Merchant's Tale is a dungeon located in Thavnair, where players are able to change their path and the outcome of the dungeon each time they enter. Explore the entire dungeon for awesome rewards! For players looking for more of a challenge, they can tackle the Criterion version, which ramps up the difficulty and adds sweet loot to boot

The developers have responded to feedback regarding Variant and Criterion dungeons and have made adjustments to the system for all players to enjoy. The base Variant dungeon is unchanged, with different paths and an overarching lore behind the area. Now players are able to gain EXP in the dungeon and level jobs above level 90. There is now a harder difficulty called Variant Dungeon (Advanced), which increases the difficulty of the bosses which players can fight in any order. Criterion is now the highest difficulty, with three bosses fought in a set order and much more difficult mechanics.

As FFXIV is a vertical progression MMO, new and improved gear can be acquired in the patch. Patch 7.4 features an increased base item level, with new Disciple of War and Magic gear added that can be crafted at item level 770. This will allow returning players to catch up to current content quickly. Learn more about how to gear up from our Dawntrail gearing guide. You can also find best-in-slot gear lists on each of our job guides!

With the release of Patch 7.4, PvP Series 10 will begin and Series 9 will end. A new Frontlines map and mode will be released: Worqor Chirteh (Triumph). This mode operates similarly to Seize and Danshig Nadaam, except players need to stand inside nodes on the map for a period of time to capture them rather than interacting with them.

Additionally, there are a few important combat and quality-of-life changes coming to PvP in 7.4. These include the following.

1. General balance adjustments will be made to PvP actions.
2. New items will now be available for purchase with Commendation Crystals. These include replicas of previously exclusive ranking rewards for Seasons 1 and 2 of the Feast.