With patch 7.01 of Final Fantasy XIV comes the long awaited new tier of 8-player raids — The Arcadion. This tournament style series of fights will see the WoL face off against many formidable foes, but first we need to unlock it.
According to the lore revealed during Dawntrail, The Arcadion is where fighters test their mettle against one another for glory and riches. It’s a similar concept to the Coliseum in Ul’dah, though possibly more MMA than Gladitorial combat. We saw The Arcadion spring to life in a post-credit scene once the Dawntrail MSQ was done and dusted, and were introduced to a mysterious mustachioed Lalafell, but we’ve not been able to enter until now.
The first four fights of The Arcadion raid series fall under the title of “AAC Light-heavyweight”. The second tier of fights will be titled AAC: Bruiserweight, and the final four fights will fall into the AAC: Heavyweight category.
How to unlock The Arcadion: AAC Light-heavyweight in Final Fantasy XIV
Before you can unlock and take part in The Arcadion: AAC Light-heavyweight raids, you’ll need to have done a few things:
- Reach level 100 on at least one Disciple of War or Magic Job
- Complete the level 100 MSQ quest “Dawntrail”
- Have an average iLvl of 685 or above
To unlock the Light-heavyweight tier of The Arcadion, make your way to Solution Nine and travel to the The Arcadion Aethernet Shard. From here, travel North and find the Stylish Stranger (X:19.1, Y:18.8). Talk to them and pick up the quest called ‘A New Challenger Appears’.
To complete this quest, you simply need to head south and speak to the Arcadion Attendant (X:19.6, Y:21.2) to enter The Arcadion. You’ll meet some of the opponents we’re yet to face, and learn more about the lore of The Arcadion.
After this quest is complete, you’ll need to speak to Metem and pick up the quest called “The Claw in the Dark” to unlock AAC: Light-heavyweight M1.
Further quests in The Arcadion’s quest line will become available after the successful completion of each raid. You’ll need to complete these quests before continuing on to the next AAC Light-heavyweight fight, so make sure to keep an eye out for them.
Once you’ve completed all six of the currently added quests, you’ll gain full access to The Arcadion: AAC Light-heavyweight. You can queue for any of the first four raids via Duty Finder at any time, and there’s never a better time than right now, as a huge number of players will be diving straight in.
What drops from The Arcadion: AAC Light-heavyweight in Final Fantasy XIV
The Light-heavy gear sets, which are available through the normal difficulty Arcadion raids, are iLvl 710. As raid gear, this version is not dyeable, but the higher iLvl variant which will drop in the savage raids (coming on July 30 with patch 7.05) will be. If nothing else, this gear is a solid choice to boost your iLvl.
However, getting gear is complicated. As with all current tier raids, you won’t actually be rolling on the gear itself, but rather on tokens which can then be exchanged for the gear pieces. You can only get one token per week in each of the four raids, so make your rolls count.
Here’s how many tokens you’ll need per piece of gear:
| Type of gear | Tokens needed |
| Head | 2 Light-heavy Holohelm |
| Body | 4 Light-heavy Holoarmor |
| Hands | 2 Light-heavy Hologauntlets |
| Legs | 4 Light-heavy Holochhausses |
| Feet | 2 Light-heavy Hologreaves |
| Accessories | 1 Light-heavy Holearring |
To exchange your Holo tokens for gear, you can talk to Hhihwi in Solution Nine (X:8.7, Y:13.4).
You’ll also get one Light-heavy Holoblade each week by completing AAC Light-heavyweight M4. While the weapons are not currently available, they will be added with patch 7.02 on July 30.
