Final Fantasy 14features more than enough excellent 8-player content via the game’s various Trials and Raids. Still, there’s also a form of content that demands the attention of 24-entry players: Alliance Raids. These raids play similarly to dungeons, with the parties involved needing to take down multiple bosses and regular enemies as they traverse an area. However, they are much more difficult than your average dungeon to accommodate how many characters are in the fray.
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With each expansion of the game adding a single Alliance Raid series to the game, it can be very difficult to decide which one is the best. However, if one judges them based on various gameplay mechanics, the raid structure themselves, and the story surrounding them, then the following list of the best Final Fantasy 14 Alliance Raids can be made.
Due to not yet being completely implemented into the game, the Dawntrail Alliance Raid series “Echoes of Vana’diel” will not be included in this ranking.
5Shadow of Mhcah
Sky Pirates
Topping off the list is the Alliance Raid series introduced in the Heavensward expansion: Shadow of Mhcah. These raids see the player go on a voyage with Sky Pirates to investigate rumors of a ghost ship. The content of these raids features some of the best battles of Heavensward, with one of the stand-out moments being when the three Alliances of players theoretically work together to send a boss’ attack animation back at it in a DBZ-style beam struggle.
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The plot of the Shadow of Mhcah raids isn’t much to write home about on account of being Heavensward content. However, what truly makes the story of these raids hard to stand is the bizarre design Final Fantasy 14 gave to Cait Sith. For these reasons, Sky Pirates ranks at the bottom of this list. While the fights in the raids themselves are enjoyable, the story surrounding them isn’t.
4Return to Ivalice
A Callback to a Simpler Time
Next on the list is the Alliance Raid series from the Stormblood expansion: Return to Ivalice. These raids see the player travel to Rabanastre and fight against characters from the Ivalice subseries of the Final Fantasy franchise that Final Fantasy Tactics andFinal Fantasy 12are part of, with the music from said games accompanying these fights. Thanks to being level 70 content, these Alliance Raids feature mechanics that require much more effort than previous ones and can truly challenge the player.
While the callbacks and references to Final Fantasy Tactics are appreciated (the twist on how ‘Thunder God’ Cid is portrayed being especially clever), it’s also a much more esoteric game to call back to than most other content in the game. While that isn’t necessarily a negative, it does make it harder to judge when compared against the other raids in the game and thus lands in the lower half of this list.
3Myths of the Realm
The Twelve Manifest
Near the end of theEndwalkerexpansion, the player is told about various parts of the world they haven’t engaged with. One of those mysteries, the true identity of the Twelve, is the focus of Endwalker’s Alliance Raid series: Myths of the Realm. These raids have players fight against the patron deities that the player had to choose from when creating their character. For many players, this was the first time that choice has been relevant in the ten years they have been playing the game.
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While the story of these raids is controversial due to demystifying an aspect of Final Fantasy 14’s world, from a gameplay perspective they are as great as any of Endwalker’s other content and a joy to learn the mechanics. Getting the opportunity to fight Rhalgr on top of the famous hand from Rhalgr’s reach just feels perfect. No matterwhich job you’re playing as, the fights in these raids will challenge your skills. While the queue times for these raids have become extremely long in recent months, it is still a joy whenever players get the chance to experience them.
2YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse
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Placing second on the list is the most ambitious crossover that Final Fantasy 14 has ever done: theirNierAlliance Raid series. While the Stormblood expansion dedicatedan entire Trial to a crossoverevent, Shadowbringers went a step further and dedicated their entire Alliance Raid series to Nier Automata content. The fights and music in this raid are some of the best in the game, with dozens of excellent mechanics and tricks for the players to learn during the fights. This is one of the best duties to get on your daily roulettes.
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While the actual content of these Alliance Raids and mechanics like the hacking segment are the best in the game, it is held back by its story, which focuses on wholly uninteresting dwarf beast tribe characters and doesn’t truly tap into what makes Final Fantasy 14 side content interesting to engage with. If the story were just a bit better, this Raid series would have easily placed at the top of this list.
1Crystal Tower
Forever Relevant
Placing first is the first Alliance Raid series in the game: the Crystal Tower. This series of raids calls back to Final Fantasy 3 and has the player face off against creatures from the void, including The Cloud of Darkness from FF 3 herself. While the mechanics of these raids aren’t too impressive compared to later ones, the initial wonder of entering your first piece of 24-player content never truly fades.
Crystal Tower stands out among most of the other optional content in Final Fantasy 14 as it remained relevant to the story long after its release, to the point where it was eventually promoted from being optional content to being a required quest to begin Shadowbringers. With that type of relevance, it would be difficult to rank the Crystal Tower Alliance Raid series anywhere but at the top of this list.
Final Fantasy 14
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