Guide and Overview to Eureka in FFXIV

The Forbidden Land, Eureka is the Field Operations content released across the 4.x patch series of Stormblood, and serves as the source of the Stormblood Eurekan Relic Weapons. Up to 144 players can work together to explore unmapped terrain and battle against the inhabitants of said terrain, growing stronger in the process.

There are four zones that make up Eureka:

• Eureka Anemos, the land of Wind.
• Eureka Pagos, the land of Ice.
• Eureka Pyros, the land of Fire.
• Eureka Hydatos, the land of Water.

In addition to these four zones, Hydatos contains a special dungeon called The Baldesion Arsenal ('BA') that has unique entry requirements and allows up to 56 players to work together to clear the content.

Yes, while this content can be completed without ever communicating or partying with other players, players who take this path will have a less rewarding journey to its completion.

Community and collaboration are driving forces behind all field content, especially Eureka. Players are often seen teaming up with strangers in order to spawn FATEs and farm loot, and the /shout chat channel sees constant usage, from the calling of FATE spawns and Elemental Fairy locations, to players asking for raises or 'taxis' (requesting someone with a multi-seater mount take them to a FATE location they cannot safely reach alone). Much information about this content is also unavailable or obscured in-game, but is readily available from veteran players.

On the other hand, it should be noted that this content is now several years old, and it is not unusual to find oneself in a low-population or nearly-empty instance. To alleviate the issues with this, a 150% Echo buff was introduced to Eureka in patch 5.1, significantly easing the difficulty of the content. Additionally to this, the health of Notorious Monsters will scale based on the number of players in the instance, meaning that they will generally take less time to complete in a quiet instance than they will in a more populated one. As such, solo play is sufficient for the majority of content in Eureka.

If you're looking to join the Field Operations Community, multiple Discord servers exist for each region, with some being more generalistic while others are specifically focused on scheduled runs of the more challening content, such as the Baldesion Arsenal. You can find a list of many of these Discord servers below, separated by region and detailing what types of Field Operations content they cover.

• Eurekan Explorers (Worldwide Research, All)
• Lunar Forays Group, aka LFG (EU, All)
• Aether Bozja & Baldesion Arsenal, aka ABBA+ (NA, All)

The Forbidden Land, Eureka can be unlocked by completing the quest And We Shall Call It Eureka in Rhalgr's Reach, which can be unlocked by first completing the Main Scenario Quest Stormblood. Players must have a Disciple of War or Magic at level 70 to enter. Additionally, players may wish to purchase two Cryptic Seals or three Damascene Cloths from the Marketboard, and exchange them at the Nostalgic Fellow for a chestpiece (or chestpiece + hood for casters and healers) that will give them increased stats inside Eureka areas, marked on the gear itself as an Elemental Bonus.

Players may also wish to obtain two consumables: Potion of Harmony, and Eurekan Potions. The former of these can be bought from the Marketboard or crafted with materials found inside Eureka, while the latter can be bought from the Expedition Provisioner NPC within Eureka itself. Potions of Harmony will increase your EXP gained inside Eureka by 10% for up to 90 minutes, and Eurekan Potions provide a strong regen for 40s.

Exploration and Combat are the main focus of Eureka, and will be how players progress. By partaking in battles, players can raise their Elemental Level, which will greatly influence the outcome of battles. Players can also gain an advantage through the use of the Magia Board, a unique system that allows players to spec into offense or defence as they see fit. See below for more information on this system.

Additionally, Eureka has a mechanic where players will lose EXP, and can even level down, if they Return To Start upon being KO'd. Due to this system, it is extremely common to use the /shout chat channel to ask for a raise if you are caught out in the field. While players cannot change jobs in the field, they are able to do so while in the base camp, and a Phoenix Down can be used as a last resort.

Once the player reaches Eureka Pyros, they will gain access to Logograms and Logos Actions, powerful limited-use abilities that can turn the tide of combat. See below for more information on this system.

The story of Eureka will progress through quests offered by Krile as you increase your Elemental Level. This level can be raised by defeating stand-alone mobs in the area, clearing FATEs (also referred to as 'Notorious Monsters'), and completing the Eureka-specific section of the weekly Challenge Log. EXP can be increased by drinking a Potion of Harmony, or finding an Elemental Fairy and receiving a one-hour damage and EXP buff from it.

When completing the story in one area of Eureka, it is recommended to move on to the next area immediately, as EXP gained will usually be higher there than in the current area. In the case of Eureka Anemos however, ensure you have completed your relic before moving on to Pagos if you are choosing to complete one alongside the story, as this gives time to gain the last few levels needed to reach the level cap of Anemos and progression of the Pagos stage of the relic is locked until you have completed the level 25 story quest from Krile.

Additionally, all Eureka areas have multiple aetherytes. While the one in the base camp for a given area can be attuned to immediately upon arrival, ones found in the field will require players to reach a certain Elemental Level before being able to use them.

Relics in Eureka are progressed by collecting Crystals from defeated NMs, alongside a material from the highest level NM in a given region for the final step of the relic in that region. In Pagos specifically, Light must also be farmed alongside these crystals. The details of each part of the process will be explained in the detailed guide for each region.

Upon progression a relic to the Eureka step, it is regarded as complete. However, it can be further upgraded to the Physeos step using 100 Eureka Fragments from The Baldesion Arsenal. This step is visually and statistically identical to the Eureka step, except for the addition of a Eureka-specific Elemental bonus that increases your effective level. These Eureka Fragments are also used to upgrade the Elemental gear to +2, giving it the same Elemental bonus.

Early on in a zone, the best way to level is through chain-killing standard mobs of higher Elemental Level than yourself. Chains go up to 30, with EXP increasing with each kill and bonuses to EXP (and other rewards where applicable) being given every 5th kill. Once the chain hits 30, it resets. The timer before the chain cancels will also decrease with each kill. Mobs will give increased EXP the higher level they are in comparison to you, capping at +6 levels above the player.

Something to be aware of is that all enemies have different aggro types. Similar to the overworld, the majority of enemies use the standard forward-facing vision cone. However, Eureka has some common exceptions to this rule that can be easily worked around.

• Wind-attuned mobs commonly have Sound aggro, meaning they will attack if the player is moving too fast when near them.
• Sprites always have Spell aggro, meaning they will attack if the player uses a spell nearby them. This includes certain Logos Actions.
• Undead have Blood aggro, meaning they will attack if a player is missing a large percentage of their HP and enters their range.
• Sleeping Dragons, found in Pagos and Pyros, have both Touch and Sound aggro. Walk slowly, and avoid making contact with their hitbox.

It is incredibly important to note that, if you are in a party with one or more players who have Elemental Levels too far above or below your own, none of you will gain EXP or other rewards from standard mobs, nor will they count towards the chain. This does not affect NMs however, as players whose levels are too high will need to Sync in order to participate in the battle.

Any Notorious Monster ('NM') that has a level more than +1 above your current level will give reduced EXP, and no additional rewards such as Lockboxes, Crystals or special items. As such, it is recommended to focus on chaining mob kills, unles an NM spawns nearby that you will get full rewards for and you have just finished or will soon finish a chain, at which point you should move to the location and ask for a party in order to ensure full rewards. If you are farming a relic alongside the story, you may wish to prioritise NMs that will give crystals, though note that this will result in an overall slower gaining of EXP.

While chaining mob kills together, your Eureka-specific Challenge Log entries should be approaching completion. These will provide a nice bonus early on, but are an incredibly powerful levelling tool at later levels and in later zones, and should not be ignored when possible. Note that it is possible to complete the entire challenge log in Anemos, as your Elemental Level is synced down to 20 even if it is actually higher.

From Eureka Pagos onwards, standard mobs have a chance to undergo either Mutation or Adaption. While slightly different, both function similarly in that Mutated or Adapted mobs give significantly increased EXP, and often have a change of dropping an Elementally-warped Lockbox upon death. In these three zones, attempt to kill Mutated or Adapted mobs on a multiple of the 5th kill of the chain in order to further boost their EXP.

From Eureka Pyros onwards, the Reflect L Logos Action can be used to easily farm Sprites for EXP when they are present, as their attacks always count as magical and thus deal damage to themselves if they hit a target under the effect of Reflect L.

As said before, Potions of Harmony and Elemental Fairy buffs will both speed up this process, as they affect all Elemental EXP gained aside from that given by the Challenge Log. Fairy buffs also increase the Light gained in Pagos and Pyros, though only Pagos is relevant for the relic these days as the Pyros Light step is optional.

Notorious Monsters do not appear randomly. Instead, each one requires that a specific standard mob be killed several times until they spawn. Once an NM spawns, a two hour cooldown begins, during which they cannot spawn again. Certain NMs can block others from spawning at the same time, though special NMs such as Ovni in Hydatos, as well as all Happy Bunny FATEs, are able to spawn regardless. Any NMs that have their spawn conditions triggered while an NM (that they are blocked by) is active will be queued, and will spawn once the previous NM is defeated or times out. Some NM can only spawn during the night, or in specific weathers.

In order to keep track of the cooldown and availability of each NM in a given instance, The community uses the Eureka Tracker website created by Noranda La'luna. A tracker can be created for any of the four Eureka areas with a single click, and each NM can be marked as being on cooldown very easily. When entering a Eureka instance, it is often the case that people will ask for a link to the tracker for that instance.

There are two main unique systems: The Magia Board, and Logos Actions. The latter of these are not available until Pyros, but the Magia Board is accessible to the player from the moment they arrive in Anemos.

The Magia Board consists of a wheel, upon which the six elements are placed. The six elements are split into two groups of three:

• Lightning is strong against Water.
• Water is strong against Earth.
• Earth is strong against Lightning.

• Fire is strong against Ice.
• Ice is strong against Wind.
• Wind is strong against Fire.

All enemies within Eureka will be aspected towards one of these elements. In Pyros and Hydatos, all enemies also recieve a passive buff that is unique to their elemental attunement.

Players will receive Magicite as they progress through the story of Eureka Anemos, up to a maximum of five. A sixth and seventh magicite can be obtained in Pyros and Hydatos respectively by trading rare drops earned from specific FATEs. These items can also be bought and sold on the Marketboard. These magicite can be slotted into any element, and the board can be rotated in order to alter which elements the magicite, and thus the player, are attuned to. Each magicite gives a bonus to attack (if in the element the target is weak to) or defence (if in the element the target is attuned to), which more magicite in one element giving a stronger bonus.

• 1 Magicite in an element gives a base effect of 28%.
• Each Magicite after the first has its effect reduced by 4%. For example, the 3rd Magicite in an element only gives a 20% bonus, and the 5th Magicite in an element gives just 12%.
• At the maximum of 5 Magicite, a 100% bonus is achieved, doubling damage dealt if in an offensive element, and halving damage taken if in an defensive element.
• This percentage bonus is calculated before any elemental bonus or buffs (including logos actions) are applied.

The standard magicite layouts are a 5-0 split for DPS and Healer jobs (five in Lightning, zero in Water when assigning) and a 0-5 split for Tank jobs (zero in Lightning, five in Water when assigning). With access to the sixth and seven magicite, these layouts change to a 5-1 or 5-2 split for DPS and Healer jobs, and a 1-5 or 2-5 split for Tank jobs.

To rotate the Magia Wheel in the field, there are four methods available to players:

1. Manually rotate the Wheel by clicking on the UI element. Controller players will need to cycle to it with Touchpad or Select, then use the displayed commands.
2. Open the subcommands menu through its assigned keyboard keybind on your targeted enemy (this is the left face button on controller by default). As a non-tank, select the option 'Set Magia Board aspect to Offensive.', and as a tank, select the option 'Set Magia Board aspect to Defensive.'.
3. Use the command '/magiaauto attack' or '/magiaauto defense' in order to make the wheel rotate automatically each time an enemy is targeted. This can be turned off with the command '/magiaauto off'.
4. Use one of the macros below (assigned to a button on your hotbar) in order to achieve the same result as methods 2 or 3.

Logos Actions are accessed by giving items known as Logograms to the NPC Drake, who will appraise the item in order to extract the 'Mneme' within. There are nine different Logogram items: Conceptual, Fundamental, Offensive, Protective, Curative, Tactical, Inimical, Mitigative, and Obscure. Each one of these items has a pre-set chance to become one of a list of specific Mnemes upon its appraisal, with there being a total of 28 base Mnemes. All Logograms can also be bought and sold on the Marketboard, and some are very expensive or lucrative depending on your goals.

These Mnemes can be played in either the Astral Array or Umbral Array in order to transform them into usable actions. While there are only 28 base Mnemes, there are a total of 56 available actions to unlock and use, which can be created through combining specific base Mnemes together to create new abilities. 30 unique actions must be registered in order to complete the Pyros stage of your first Eurekan relic weapon, 50 are required to unlock the Elemental Armour in Pyros, and all 56 are required to unlock the Elemental Armour +2 in Hydatos.

Logograms can be obtained from various sources across Pyros and Hydatos, including certain standard mobs (usually Sprites), Happy Bunny Lockboxes, multiple NMs, Elementally-warped Lockboxes, and chests in the Baldesion Arsenal.

For a full list of actions and their combinations, please refer to the Logograms page of the Eureka Tracker website.

There are many rare, valuable and prestigious rewards available from Eureka, including titles, hairstyles, minions, mounts, emotes, bardings and gear.

• Completing the storyline rewards the player with the Making the Most of Hydatos achievement and the Eurekan Explorer title.
• The Modern Aesthetics - Form and Function hairstyle can be obtained from Silver and Gold Happy Bunny Lockboxes in Eureka Pyros.
• The Prince of Anemos, Wind-up Mithra and Wind-up Fafnir minions can be obtained from FATEs in Eureka Anemos.
• The rare Copycat Bulb minion can be obtained from Gold Happy Bunny Lockboxes in Eureka Pagos, and is one of the most expensive minions in the game on the Marketboard with an average price of 15-25 million gil depending on world server.
• The Wind-up Elvaan and Calca minions can be obtained from FATEs in Eureka Pyros. The Dhalmel Calf can be obtained from a Pyros Lockbox in Eureka Pyros.
• The Yukinko Snowflake minion can be obtained from a Hydatos Lockbox or a Moisture-warped Lockbox in Eureka Hydatos.
• The rare Conditional Virtue minion can be obtained from a chest in The Baldesion Arsenal.
• The Red Mage Barding can be obtained from an Anemos Lockbox in Eureka Anemos.
• The Samurai Barding can be obtained from a Heat-warped Lockbox in Eureka Pyros.
• The Tyrannosaur Horn can be obtained from an Anemos Lockbox in Eureka Anemos.
• The rare Eldthurs Horn can be obtained from Gold Happy Bunny Lockboxes in Eureka Pyros, and sells for 2-5 million gil depending on world server.
• The rare Eurekan Petrel Horn can be obtained from Gold Happy Bunny Lockboxes in Eureka Hydatos, and sells for 4-6 million gil depending on world server.
• The rare and prestigious Demi-Ozma mount is obtained from the We're on Your Side I achievement, which is given to players who clear the Baldesion Arsenal at least once. You must be inside the final boss arena when the it dies in order to get this achievement.
• The Ballroom Etiquette - Insufficient Petticoats emote can be obtained from a Cold-warped Lockbox in Eureka Pagos.
• The Ballroom Etiquette - Ideal Gossip emote can be obtained from a Heat-warped Lockbox in Eureka Pyros.
• The Ballroom Etiquette - Overzealous Affirmations emote can be obtained from a Moisture-warped Lockbox in Eureka Hydatos.
• Various gearsets are available throughout Eureka, including the Artifact gear from Anemos and the Elemental gear from Pyros and Hydatos. The Elemental gear can be upgraded in order to grant an Elemental Bonus within Eureka areas.
• Alongside Eurekan Relic weapons and Elemental gear, The rare Cassie Earring and rare Blitzring are both available from FATEs in Eureka Pagos, selling for 10-20 million gil each depending on world server. These two items appear to provide stat bonuses inside Eureka, but are only worth using for specific jobs or builds due to the Haste stat, as they are lacking substats.
• The Optical Hat is also available from a FATE in Eureka Pagos, but has multiple prerequisites that must be filled in order to obtain it. Additionally, while it provides similar stat bonuses to the other items, it is outclassed by Elemental Headgear (and the Nostalgic Fellow's gear in the case of healers and casters), and so is commonly ignored in these discussions.
• The Behemoth Pelt item can be obtained from a FATE in Eureka Pagos, and can either be sold for 500,000 - 1 million gil depending on world server, or can be traded with the Expedition Liaison in Pagos or Aelina in Mor Dhona for a Replica Behemoth Helm.
• The rare items required for the sixth Magicite, Lamebrix's Dice, Ying-Yang's Tissue and Skoll's Claw, can be obtained from FATEs in Eureka Pyros. Each of these items also sells for 2-5 million gil depending on world server.
• The rare items required for the seventh Magicite, Molech's Horn, Goldemar's Horn and Ceto's Claw, can be obtained from FATEs in Eureka Hydatos. Each of these items also sells for 2-5 million gil depending on world server.