Whether you’re a newbie to Final Fantasy XIV or if you’ve been playing since 1.0 (#rip), you’ve likely heard about the new Pandæmonium raid. This raid is available at the end of the newest expansion, Endwalker.
Endwalker is the most recent expansion, and it acts as the culmination of the entire storyline that was started back in Patch 1.0 in 2010. As with all other patches that came before, Endwalker adds additional end-game content for those who wish to challenge themselves after the Endwalker storyline wraps up.
One of the reasons is because many players don’t want the storyline to end, some enjoy the additional difficulty inherent in end-game content, and – for some – the draw of raids such as Pandæmonium is that they can get very powerful gear that is unattainable otherwise.
We’ll be talking about how to get this exclusive loot, so read on if you’re confused by how it’s formatted. If you’ve never done end-game content, it might be confusing!
Last thing: keep in mind that before you even gain access to the Pandæmonium Raid, you must first:
- Have finished the Main Scenario Quest “Endwalker”
- Have a character who is level 90
- Must complete the questline that begins with the quest “The Crystal from Beyond” (unlocked by speaking with Nemjiji (X: 9.6, Y: 11.9) in Old Sharlayan
- Your character needs to have an overall item level of 565.
Pandæmonium Loot
If you’re one of the ones who wants this exclusive loot, you’re going to have to jump through quite a few hoops. And if you have multiple characters who you’re trying to gear, you should plan to set aside a number of hours to grind, grind, and grind.
Grinding for end game loot in Final Fantasy XIV can be a pretty frustrating beast, so make sure to stay hydrated, take deep breaths, and put your patience pants on.
With that out the way, Pandæmonium gear works on a very specific loot exchange system. If you were hoping it’d be as easy as running the raid and rolling on a lottery system, we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s worse than that.
There are four levels of Pandæmonium:
- Asphodelos: The First Circle
- Asphodelos: The Second Circle
- Asphodelos: The Third Circle
- Asphodelos: The Fourth Circle
Each level of the Pandæmonium raid can drop the specific Pandæmonium loot. When you reach the end of any of the four levels, a unique piece of loot will be dropped and each piece of loot will be used as currency for a specific part of your gear (head, body, legs, shoes, etc.).
Once you reach the end of a raid, you will be able to enter a lottery for the dropped loot. At this point, you’ll have a 1/8 chance of getting the dropped loot.
If you manage to be one of the lucky ones who happens to get a piece of loot early (in each Asphodelos circle) during your Pandæmonium raid grind… that’s it for the week. No matter how much more you play that week, you will not be able to get another piece of loot until it resets.
To reiterate, you will only be able to get four pieces of loot each week (one per Asphodelos circle). The reset rolls over on Tuesdays at 11:59pm PST, so make sure you do your due diligence and ensure that you’re giving yourself enough time to grind for whatever loot tokens you want.
As mentioned, each raid will only drop specific types of loot (four total types), and you’ll need specific amounts of each loot drop to get a single piece of gear.
Oh, Final Fantasy XIV, you are too cruel to those who love you.
Pandæmonium Raid Drop Amounts (Armor)
| LOOT DROP | # NEEDED FOR GEAR | WHERE TO OBTAIN |
| Unsung Helm of Asphodelos | 2 | First Circle
Second Circle Third Circle |
| Unsung Armor of Asphodelos | 4 | First Circle
Second Circle Third Circle Fourth Circle |
| Unsung Gauntlets of Asphodelos | 2 | First Circle
Second Circle Third Circle Fourth Circle |
| Unsung Chausses of Asphodelos | 4 | First Circle
Second Circle Third Circle Fourth Circle |
| Unsung Greaves of Asphodelos | 2 | First Circle
Second Circle Third Circle Fourth Circle |
| Unsung Ring of Asphodelos | 1 | First Circle
Second Circle Third Circle Fourth Circle |
This means you need 15 total pieces to get all the end-raid loot.
If you’ve been paying attention… this means that if you manage to get four pieces a week, that means it’ll take you just about four weeks to gear one character (sans weapon) in this exclusive end-raid gear.
Thus, the aforementioned patience pants are a big deal.
Pandæmonium Raid Drop Amounts (Weapon)
The raid drops for getting the Pandæmonium weapon (item level 580) are comparatively easier.
| LOOT DROP | # NEEDED FOR GEAR | WHERE TO OBTAIN |
| Unsung Blade of Asphodelos | 7 | Fourth Circle |
Once you get to The Fourth Circle of Asphodelos, so long as you and your team can clear it, you will automatically get one Unsung Blade of Asphodelos. Once you get seven of them, you’ll be able to trade them at the Pandæmonium Relic Exchange NPCs for an item called a Discal Tomestone.
Although this Tomestone is useless right now, you’ll be able to trade it for the Pandæmonium weapon in Patch 6.05 (along with 500 Astronomy Tomestones, as well).
Loot Exchange
Once you manage to get enough loot to exchange for whatever piece of gear you’re going for, you can go to either “Pandæmonium Relic Exchange” NPCs (Mylenie in Labyrinthos (X: 8.3, Y: 27.6) or Djole in Radz-at-Han (X: 10.3, Y: 9.6)) for the exchange.
Also, it probably seems obvious, but realize that this loot is only for the gear. Although there are additional FFXIV mounts released in Endwalker, none of them can be acquired through the Pandæmonium raid.
Why Do the Pandæmonium Raid?
Now that we’ve detailed the existence of the raid and how you’re meant to get the loot from it, you might be wondering if it’s worth the effort. Surely you can just spend money in the FFXIV store, or wait for the gear to be discounted in a later event, right?
Unfortunately, that’s where you would be wrong.
As it stand, all of the gear that is currently available in the Pandæmonium Raid is only available via the raid. If the Pandæmonium Raid follows in the same pattern as the raids from earlier patches, you should be able to get the gear eventually.
However, keep in mind that you would only be able to buy the gear with in-game currency – not FFXIV gil, but a different currency – once Patch 6.1 is released. You will still have to do the lottery for the tokens, but you’ll be able to get more than four a week once the lockout is removed in 6.1.
Conclusion
Whether you’re gearing up for your first – or hundredth – Pandæmonium Raid, statistically, you will eventually get what you’re looking for, even if the RNG gods have forever abandoned you. Hopefully you don’t have to deal with too much grinding or too much pain, but if you do… you’re not alone.
Log back into your FFXIV account and start racking up those hours. That’s the only way to reach item level 580 before 7.0 comes out (which isn’t even yet a twinkle in Naoki Yoshida’s eye).
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