Catch-up gearing

The final chapter of Echoes of Vana'diel, the 24-player alliance raid that crosses over with Final Fantasy XI. Windurst: The Third Walk closes out the series.

It's worth doing. The gear is a free weekly bump, it stays in the Alliance Raid roulette forever, and if you played XI the nostalgia lands. Low effort, good payoff.

The third and final tier of the Arcadion, Dawntrail's 8-player raid series. It launched with Patch 7.4 in December 2025 and closes out the raid's story.

For catch-up it's the current normal-raid tier: a low-pressure, matchmade source of i770 gear and tomes. Steady and reliable for filling slots as you climb.

The Patch 7.5 dungeon, part of the current Expert roulette. It drops live gear.

If you're gearing, run it. The Expert roulette is a steady trickle of gear and capped tomestones. If you're just here for the story, you'll clear it once and move on.

The current Extreme trial, added in 7.5. Extremes are single-boss fights one step below Savage. They're the usual on-ramp to high-end combat, and this one drops a weapon and a mount.

Worth it if you like a tough fight or you want the glam. It's on-content right now, so people are actively running it. If you're catching up on the story, leave it for later.

Mnemonics is the current capped tomestone. You earn it from most level-100 combat content (roulettes, dungeons, raids, hunts), capped at 450 a week, and spend it on the i780 gear tier.

The catch is that cap: a full set takes a couple of months of weekly earning. That's why crafted gear and the uncapped tome (Mathematics, same vendor) are the fast catch-up, while Mnemonics is the slow, steady top-up once you're close to current.

Augmenting i780 up to i790 needs materials from the current Savage tier, so for non-raiders the unaugmented i780 set is the practical ceiling.

The hard version of Heavyweight (the M1 to M4 fights, abbreviated M9S to M12S). It opened three weeks after Normal, on January 6, 2026, and drops the strongest non-augmented gear in the game (i790, i795 weapon).

Only worth it if high-end raiding is your thing. It's the on-content best-in-slot grind and the assumed floor for Dancing Mad (Ultimate). Everyone else can skip it with a clear conscience.

Eclipticum is the i790 third upgrade, and realistically the 7.55 relic step you'll be working on. Three quests: one shopping trip, then a dispeller grind, then a tomestone exchange.

Budget for it. The first quest wants a 500,000 gil whetstone plus three level 100 four-star crafted items off the market board. The second wants 100 each of three Phantom Dispellers, which drop in North Horn but also from the High-level Dungeons, Trials and Normal Raids roulettes, so it ticks along with your usual dailies. Then 1,500 Mathematics per weapon, which is the real cost if you want more than one.