The Heroes' Gauntlet is a main scenario dungeon in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers added in patch 5.3.
Story[]
When yet another starshower manifests over Norvrandt, the Warriors of Darkness find themselves under attack from mysterious spectral foes, who by all appearances are being summoned forth with the selfsame magick the Crystal Exarch employs─a magick that should lie beyond even the Ascians' ken. Seeking to take the battle away from innocent civilians, the heroes flee Eulmore in an airship, setting course for the Crystarium...
Duty Finder description
Objectives[]
- Arrive in the Mount Argai Mines
- Clear the Mount Argai Mines
- Arrive in the Summer Ballroom
- Clear the Summer Ballroom
- Arrive in the Illuminated Plaza
- Defeat the spectral berserker
Progression[]
Mount Argai Mines[]
The party will begin by heading towards the bridge, where they will be confronted by a group of 4 Spectral enemies. Beyond the bridge, 2 Spectral Samurai will also spawn and need to be defeated. Once all enemies here are defeated, the path forward opens. The party will then be confronted by 3 Spectral Monks that will begin casting line aoes in front of them. At this point, 2 Talos NPCs join the fray to assist in defeating the enemies. Further down the path 3 more Spectral enemies will bar the way. While fighting them, a Spectral Dragoon will appear after performing a ground aoe. The Talos NPCs will deactivate after performing a large aoe. After defeating all the enemies, the path forward will open, and the party will confront the Spectral Thief.
The main mechanic for this encounter is that the Thief will clone and teleport himself to perform aoes in different areas. These areas will be marked by tethers and a countdown. The Thief will also send out flying daggers that will randomly target players with line aoes. Defeating the Thief will cause Feo Ul to appear and open a portal to the next section of the Dungeon. The party needs to interact with the protal to continue forward.
Summer Ballroom[]
In the next section of the dungeon, the party will encounter 3 more spectral enemies just ahead of where they arrive. Moving down towards the lake, the party will be joined by Aenc Thon as an NPC ally as 4 more enemies spawn on the field. Aenc Thon will use a conal aoe to run all of the enemies hit by it into imps and greatly reduce the damage they deal. Once these enemies are defeated, Aenc Thon will head into the background, while a path across the lake appears.
On the other side, the party will encounter a Nu Mou mage and an Amaro as an NPC allies. Moving forawrd, 2 Spectral Ink Mages will spawn to attack the party, while at the end of the path a group of 4 more spectral enemies will join the fray. Peaseblossom and Mustardseed appear as NPC allies at this point on top of the Nu Mou and Amaro. After all enemies are defeated, the NPCs will head into the background while the path forward opens. Here the party will cofnront the Spectral Necromancer.
The main ability of the Necromancer is her ability to summon zombie adds that perform a variety of mechanics. The first use of this ability will summon 4 zombie adds that will chase players before dropping a point blank aoe. The 2nd use will have the the zombies tether to and eventually bind players in place before exploding and dealing damage. the 3rd use will have 2 sets of zombies performing both previous attack patterns at once. While these mechanics are happening, the Necromancer will cover the arena in aoes, cutting of portions of it to limit the area players have to work with. Once the Necromancer is defeated, Feo Ul (as Titania) will appear to open they way to the final are of the dungeon.
Illuminated Plaza[]
After jumping off a cliff, the party will be joined by Giott and Cerrig as NPC allies while dealing with enemies. Heading further down, Granson and Lue-Reeq will also join the fray. Defeating all the enemies here will open the path forward, where another group of enemies will spawn. Defeating these and heading to the end of the path will cause a spectral paladin and two mages to spawn. The paladin will use an ability that drastically increases the defense of the enemies, until Giott uses an attack to permanently decommision them, allowing the enemies to be defeated normally. After this, a drawbridge will lower to allow the party to progress, while the NPCs remain behind.
Here, the party will confront the Spectral Berserker. After an initial raid-wide attack, the arena will become cross-shaped, with the edges becoming a wall of death. The Berserker will target players with line aoes telegraphed by him raising his sword high into the air, giving enough time for players to move out of his way. The berserker will also use a circular knockback aoe. This aoe will leave a depression in the arena, and cause rubble to hit each player. After this, the Berserker will target all players with stack markers. The players need to stand with 1 stack of rubble each and away from each other to avoid being killed and minimise damage. The Berserker will also head to the north or south edge of the arena to perform a large pushback into the opposite death wall. To avoid this, players will need to hide in the depression created earlier, however standing inside it for too long will cause the players to go 'berserk' and uncontrollably attack the boss. As the fight goes on the Berserker will create another depression and repeat mechanics until he is defeated.
Enemies[]
- Spectral Black Mage
- Spectral Monk
- Spectral Paladin
- Spectral White Mage
- Spectral Samurai
- Spectral Bard
- Spectral Dragoon
- Spectral Thief
- Chicken Knife
- Spectral Ink Mage
- Spectral Necromancer
- Necrobomb
- Distant Ideal: Spectral Berserker
Treasure[]
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Musical themes[]
"Where All Roads Lead" plays at all times in the Heroes' Gauntlet, except during boss battles. The track contains arranged portions from each of the main area themes in Shadowbringers, in the following order: Kholusia ("Unmatching Pieces"), Amh Araeng ("Sands of Amber"), Il Mheg ("Fierce and Free"), Lakeland ("The Source") and the Rak'tika Greatwood ("Civilizations").
An arrangement of "Insatiable" from Dissidia Final Fantasy NT plays when fighting the Spectral Thief and the Spectral Necromancer, while the original version of "Insatiable" plays during the battle with the Spectral Berserker.
Behind the scenes[]
Hildibrand Manderville makes a cameo appearance in the last leg of the dungeon as one of the untargetable summoned spectres. He does not always appear there, and it is currently unknown what conditions are needed to get him to spawn. His appearance would later be directly referenced in Somehow Further Hildibrand where it is shown that Giott knocks him away in the confusion
Certain dialogue of Giott, Cerrig, Granson and Lue-Reeq will change depending on whether the player has completed the role quests associated with them.
The Shadowless gearset is named and based off of the Ascians, playing into the role reversal of Shadowbringers and the theme of the dungeon as the players are fighting against shades of other heroes, as well as foreshadowing revelations in the subsequent Trial. In particular, the Healing, Maiming and Aiming sets are colored white to resemble Elidibus' unique color palette.
