Which Dungeons and Trials Are Mandatory As Of 2020?

[Darthzilla]

Hi, I'm a returning player and there have been a lot of changes since I played last. I made a post about this a few years ago and I need help creating an up to date list of all Dungeons and Trials you HAVE to complete at a minimum to finish the story line.

Why am I asking for help with this? I'm not a fan of dungeons, in fact, I find them very unfun so I'd like to do as few of them as I absolutely have to.
(If you find them super fun and easy, more power to you, but I really don't. )

Is this list still current? And how many Trials are required and where do they fit in? If you can, start at the beginning because I've had to start over to relearn how to play with all the changes. There are other players out there who also dislike doing the Dungeons and Trials so this might be of interest to them too.

[Darthzilla]

Please be kind, I'm only asking because this is the only thing about FFXIV that I do not love. (I didn't enjoy dungeons in any other MMO I've played over the years either).

Here's the old list kindly provided by helpful players:
(I have up to Heavensward xp so far).

FFXIV Required Dungeons and Trials

Lvl15 Sastasha (story dungeon for quest "It's Probably Pirates.")
Lvl16 Tam-Tara Deepcroft (story quest "Fire in the Gloom.")
Lvl17 Copperbell Mines (story quest "Into a Copper Hell" )
Lvl17 Bowl of Embers (:Lord of the Inferno") Ifrit Trial
Lvl20 Halatali (OPTIONAL)
Lvl24 The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak(Story "Into the Beast's Maw")
Lvl28 Haukke Manor (Story "Skeletons in Her Closet,")
Lvl32 Braflox Longstop (Story "The Things We Do for Cheese.")
lv.34 The Navel (Lord of the Crags) Trial
Lvl35 Sunken Temple of Qarn(OPTIONAL)
Lvl38 Cutter's Cry(OPTIONAL)
Lvl41 Stone Virgil (Story "In Pursuit of the Past")


***I completed up to here on my old Main



Lv.44 The Howling Eye (Lady of the Vortex) Trial
Lvl44 Dzemael Darkhold (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl47 Aurum Vale (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lv.49 Camp Westwind (Operation Archon) Trial
Lvl50 Castrum Meridianum (story)
Lvl50 Praetorium (story)
Lvl50 Wanderer's Palace (optional)
Lvl50 Amdapor Keep (optional, but required for your relic weapon)
Lv.50 Snowcloak (The Path of the Righteous)
Lv.50 Keeper of the Lake (The Rising Chorus)


lv.50 Thornmarch (You have selected regicide) Trial
lv.50 The Whorleater (Lord of the Whorl) Trial
lv.50 The Striking Tree (Levin an Impression) Trial
Lv.50 Akh Afah Amphitheatre (the instruments of our deliverance) Trial
Lv.50 The Chrysallis (**SPOILER**) Trial
Lv.50 The Steps of Faith (The Steps of Faith) Trial

[Darthzilla]

Heavensward expansion, these are the level 50-60 dungeons and Trials:

Sohm Al (Mourn in Passing)
Thok Ast Thok (Lord of the Hive) Trial
The Aery (Into the Aery)
The Vault (A Knight's Calling)
Limitless Blue (Bolt, Chain, and Island) Trial
Great Gubal Library (Forbidden Knowledge)
Aetherochemical Research facility (Heavensward)
Singularity Reactor (Heavensward) Trial


these are all the Trial battles required:

Bowl of Embers NM (Ifrit) (Lord of the Inferno)
The Navel NM (Titan) (Lord of Crags)
The Howling Eye NM (Garuda) (In Search of the Past)
Cape Westwind (Rhitayan sas Arvina) (Operation Archon)
Thornmarch (hard) (Good King Moggle Mog the XIIth) (You Have Selected Regicide)
The Whorleater (hard) (Leviathan HM) (Lord of the Whorl)
The Striking Tree (hard) (Ramuh HM) (Levin an Impression)
Akh Afah Amphitheater (hard) (Shiva HM) (The Instruments of Our Deliverance)
The Bowl of Embers (hard) (Ifrit HM), The Navel (hard) (Titan HM), The Howling Eye (hard) (Garuda HM) (Let Us Cling Together)
The Chrysalis (Nabriales) (An Uninvited Ascian)
The Steps of Faith (Vishap) (The Steps of Faith)
Thok ast Thok (hard) (Ravana HM) (Lord of the Hive)
The Limitless Blue (hard) (Bismarck HM) (Bolt Chain and Island)

[Enkidoh]

Welcome back! That's pretty much correct, although a low level optional dungeon was made later mandatory as part of the ARR patch storyline (Halatali). You can still unlock it and run it before that point, you'll just have to run it again when the storyline requires it (odd I know).

As for everything else, raid-wise SE have made it a requirement in the current expansion story that you must have completed the Crystal Tower raids (Labyrinth of the Ancients, Sycrus Tower and The World of Darkness) in order to proceed in the most recent patch story (5.3), so it would definetely be reccomended to undertake those as well.

[Darthzilla]

Great, thanks for responding!


It's weird, I remember the quests going dead until you completed the dungeons but that hasn't happened yet this go round (lvl 21 on a new toon) so I thought I'd better ask. The guides you find online now aren't as up to date now either.



Can you actually level and play through to the new xp content without doing any of the dungeons? Say if you just want to do the quests and class progression and crafting type stuff? Does that cut the mandatory dungeons down even more?

[Stepjam]

Nope, dungeons and trials will be mandatory no matter how you play. Starting with Shadowbringers there is a single player option for dungeons where you fight along side npcs, but you still gotta do the dungeons.

Heavensward and Stormblood do have one leveling dungeon that's 100% optional, but otherwise yeah, all leveling dungeons (in the expansions) and multiple patch dungeons are mandatory

[Darthzilla]

Ok, cool!



Thanks so much, @Enkidoh and @Stepjam.

[Hasrat]

It's weird, I remember the quests going dead until you completed the dungeons but that hasn't happened yet this go round (lvl 21 on a new toon) so I thought I'd better ask.

Mind you, your own level has little bearing on this. You can level up as much as you want, but content will remain gated by story. Since story, and dungeons, gate content, you cannot make it to new expansion without doing dungeons. You won't even be able to progress past level 50 job quests without doing dungeons.

[Darthzilla]

Mind you, your own level has little bearing on this. You can level up as much as you want, but content will remain gated by story. Since story, and dungeons, gate content, you cannot make it to new expansion without doing dungeons. You won't even be able to progress past level 50 job quests without doing dungeons.

Good to know, thanks!

[Enkidoh]

And, I goofed. I just realized I made a mistake, it was not Halatali that was made compulsory for the main scenario in ARR, but the Sunken Temple of Qarn (the main story quest that involves it requires you to get a key item from it, that is automatically gained upon completing the dungeon). Halatali therefore remains completely optional. I'm so sorry for that mixup.