Final Fantasy XI armor sets/Artifact Armor

This is a list of artifact armor in Final Fantasy XI.

Artifact Armor, also known as AF, are the most well known armor sets in Final Fantasy XI. They were first introduced with the launch of Rise of the Zilart in 2003.

Artifact Armor were unique for being the first Job-Specific Equipment (JSE) sets to be introduced in the game, and also for resembling the traditional attire worn by the respective jobs throughout the Final Fantasy series. As such, the design of AF is generally accepted as the official gear for each job. Because the armor sets are unique to each job, they usually come with stats that specifically benefit it. All jobs have AF gear, but the method of acquisition varies according to which expansion the jobs are from.

For the 11 jobs released prior to Rise of the Zilart, two pieces of equipment could be obtained via AF quests. AF quests typically explore the history of Vana'diel as well as the backgrounds of numerous characters that play a part in the story in Final Fantasy XI. In addition to the armor set, a weapon is typically also rewarded in the quest series.

For the remaining 3 pieces, the hand piece would need to be obtained by doing a Borghertz's hands quest, where a pair of old gauntlets would be restored into Artifact Armor. The other two pieces would subsequently be found by opening treasure coffers with the appropriate job in dungeons. Jobs released at the start of Rise of the Zilart are nearly identical, except the treasure coffers they are required to open are all located in Rise of the Zilart dungeons. As for jobs released in Treasures of Aht Urhgan, Wings of the Goddess and Seekers of Adoulin, two pieces of AF gear are obtained from AF quests, whereas the remaining 3 have to be crafted by providing items to specific NPCs.

Prior to the release of Seekers of Adoulin, AF gear span the range of Lv52-60, and can be upgraded to Lv74 AF+1 gear via items obtained from the Chains of Promathia event called Limbus. However, due to the fact that the level cap was already significantly raised at the release of Seekers of Adoulin jobs, the initial level of AF gear for Geomancer and Rune Fencer was set at 99 (Item Level 109). A new method was introduced to reforge existing AF armor sets to Item Level 109 as well.

In the 11th Dec 2013 version update, it was possible to upgrade Artifact Armor even further, to Item Level 119, making them among the highest item level gearsets available at the time.

Relic and Empyrean armor are JSE armor sets that are similar to Artifact Armor.

Warrior
Warrior AF is known as the Fighter's armor set, and comprises of a mask, lorica, mufflers, cuisses and calligae. It is accompanied by the Razor Axe weapon.

Phara gets the player to obtain sword-grip material to repair her son's sword to give to Naji, her grandson. Naji discovers that his father, Yasin, had once gone on an expedition with Raogrimm, who had the sword crafted for him as a reward. Naji decides to use the sword, and gives his Razor Axe to the player.

Raogrimm had gifted a pair of calligae to Deidogg, in return for giving him a pair of shoes as a child. Although Deidogg was the only friend who treated Raogrimm as an equal in the past, he continues to speak ill of the former Talekeeper. When the player presents Deidogg with parasite skin which had been used to make the calligae, he recalls Raogrimms gratitude, and uses the skin to repair the old calligae. He decides to give them to the player as his days of battle are over.

When Raogrimm was sent as an envoy to San d'Oria, he offered his armor as a gesture of friendship to them. The armor was recently stolen by a group of Goblin thieves, and now Bastok is determined to find it first to use as a bargaining tool against San d'Oria. Although the player defeats the goblin thieves, the Mythril Musketeers recover Raogrimm's lorica first. However, they decide to falsely report that they did not find the prized artifact, preferring that it be worn by an adventurer than used as a tool in a political squabble, and give it to the player.

The old gauntlets for the mufflers can be found in The Eldieme Necropolis, whereas the mask and cuisses are obtained by opening the Treasure Coffers as a Warrior in Crawlers' Nest and Castle Zvahl Baileys respectively.

When reforged, the Fighter's armor set is renamed as Pummeler's armor set.