My Top 5 Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Dungeons

If you’re the type of FFXIV player who caps all your tomes for the week and levels all of your jobs, then you probably spend a lot of time in dungeons. And if you’re like me, it doesn’t matter what level you’re at: when you go into a roulette you will inevitably get slapped in one of the dungeons under level 30, which admittedly can be a slog.

Even though I’m current with Shadowbringers content and have most of my jobs geared, I still do my roulettes and I still end up revisiting dungeons from A Realm Reborn. Since it’s on my mind, I’d like to look at my favorite dungeons from the base game and what makes them so fun for me. To formulate my list, I considered a combination of story elements, actual dungeon mechanics, and general design/ambiance.

**SPOILER ALERT** Most of the dungeons on the list are the "hard" versions of their lower level counterparts. Some of my descriptions contain some light spoilers, so if you’re new to A Realm Reborn, I suggest waiting until you’ve finished all of them to read on!

#5 - Wanderer’s Palace (Hard)

OK, look - I know that Tonberries have this reputation for being dangerous, murderous, and downright impossible to kill, but you just cannot argue one very simple fact.

They’re freaking adorable.

Wanderer’s Palace made my list largely because it features one of my favorite Final Fantasy critters of all time: the Tonberry. Well known throughout the series as the knife-wielding danger turtles, these adorable little buggers have been enslaved and mistreated by the Mamool Ja, and the entire dungeon centers around you breaking in there and liberating them.

Although the bodies of dead Tonberries littering the floor is pretty depressing, it only served to fuel my rage as my Warrior of Light tore through there, laying the smack down on lizard people and freeing the precious creatures from their dank, dusty cells.

Thematically, this dungeon is one of my favorites. I also enjoy its aesthetic, which takes what was once meant to be a beautiful place inhabited by Tonberries and shows the devastation that the Mamool Ja have wrought, erecting spiked wooden fences and leaving bodies everywhere in their wake.

On the mechanical side of things, this dungeon has a few of my favorite boss fights. The first one isn’t so memorable, but I know my friends and I had a fantastic time fighting over power totems (and frog totems!) with Slithy Zolool Ja and listening to the constant arguing between the two-headed Manxome Molaa Ja Ja as we dodged their spells and rotting gas.

In all, the dungeon’s compelling theme, excellent design, and enjoyable boss fights earned The Wanderer’s Palace the #5 spot on my list.

#4 - Sastasha (Hard)

Even though this dungeon has what I consider to be one of the most obnoxious final boss fights in all of A Realm Reborn, it’s among my favorites for the theme alone. What can I say? I love pirates.

Anyway, Sastasha’s design is eerie and beautiful, all at the same time. It places you smack in the middle of a Davy Jones’ Locker-esque landscape, giving this feeling of foreboding and a sense of having been drowned yourself.

The glow of the coral reefs lights your path through the dimly winding trails, which leads you from one challenge to another, starting with a massive scorpion with an attitude problem (he’s annoying to fight, but manageable), crescendoing with a drowned pirate captain (whom you may recognize from a previous dungeon!) and his obnoxiously persistent crew, and finally into the heart of the dungeon where a true monstrosity awaits you.

Yeah, it’s totally a Kraken. It’s massive, takes up pretty much the entire screen, and I absolutely love the very idea of it. Mechanically, though, it’s kind of an annoying fight - you have to attack certain tentacles individually while dodging others and also avoiding being sucked in, while the tentacles also dive underwater to...avoid...you…

Alright, on second thought, pretty much all of the bosses in here suck and are annoying. However, Sastasha (Hard) earns a pass because of piracy, and because the rules for ranking here are more like guidelines anyway.

Moving on!

#3 - Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard)

This dungeon is a depressing drag, to be sure, but it is one of my favorites because of the extremely unsettling story that it tells as you progress through it. Notes scattered throughout the dungeon hint at a pretty terrible fate for a fellow named Avere. Turns out, his girlfriend Edda went cuckoo bananas and tried to resurrect him as a giant floating head thing.

That’s hardly a way to get ahead in life. ...Please don’t stop reading, I promise the puns (don’t) get better.

While the music is tedious at times, it adds a certain terror to the ambiance of the entire place, which takes place in an eerie series of catacombs. The persistent quiet yet intense melody honestly haunts me throughout the dungeon and it feels a little strange when it’s broken up by the boss theme. There are also some really creepy monsters lurking in the dark.

Whatever you do, don't look behind you.

I actually enjoy all of the fights in this dungeon, too. The first boss, Liavinne, requires you to kite hordes of zombies while everyone else tries to DPS the boss. If you attack and kill a zombie, your group will take massive damage and probably wipe...not that I’d know from experience, mind you. The second boss is simply called “Spare Body,” and the name in and of itself is suggestive and frightening.

Finally, you face down Avere himself, looming just behind a completely unhinged Edda, who is all too happy to summon demons to throw line AOE attacks at you while you try to take down the love of her life (er, and death, I suppose).

Tam-Tara Deepcroft is easily one of the most unsettling dungeons in all of A Realm Reborn, and remains one of my favorites for story and ambiance foremost.

#2 - Hullbreaker Isle

As I established earlier, I really love pirate-themed things (International Talk Like a Pirate Day is my most celebrated holiday!). Hullbreaker Isle is a fantastic little dungeon romp that also ends in a slightly obnoxious boss fight with our dear friend, the Kraken. 

One of the most notable things about Hullbreaker is the music. I love it! It’s upbeat, energetic, and really supports the theme. The scenery is pretty great to look at, too - I mean, who doesn’t want to face deadly monsters against a beautiful tropical backdrop?

They clean up the Kraken fight somewhat in this dungeon, though I have to admit it’s really no less obnoxious. Using waterspouts to fly from platform to platform to avoid whirlpools is pretty fun, even though it’s tedious to get to a platform only to have the tentacle disappear from there and reappear somewhere else.

OK, fine, I admit it! Krakens as a boss absolutely suck mechanically, even if they’re cool as heck thematically. Did I also mention that you’ll get to wind through a cave, encounter some Mimics (THOSE are fun), and take a long plummet off a cliff? In all, a fun-filled evening, despite the broken legs!

#1 - Brayflox’s Longstop (Hard)

I definitely get a few eyebrow raises for this one, but if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m pretty big on themes. Hear me out.

Brayflox (the wise-cracking, smarty pants goblin) is hilarious. She is sassy, takes absolutely no crap from the Warrior of Light, and is going to do whatever the heck she wants (which is something you figure out pretty quickly when you have to save her gobbie-butt in the earlier dungeon).

The entire premise of the dungeon is that you are trying to stop the Illuminati from acquiring a top secret cheese recipe. I don’t know about you, but I would fight someone for a slice of sharp white cheddar, ok? I have absolutely no shame, and neither, apparently, do goblins.

The music is fun and the dungeon itself is a riot. In particular, I love the Gobmachine G-VI, which attacks the party with a flamethrower and a bombardment circle AOE. When you get the boss low enough, it will start circling the room’s perimeter like a cat who just got the 2 A.M. zoomies and eventually launch some massive bomb AOEs that you must then kick away in order to clear a safe spot for yourself.

Is it gimmicky? Yes. Is it fun as heck? Also yes. Brayflox’s Longstop remains one of my faves, even 3 expansions later, and I’m honestly delighted in the rare circumstance when my roulette plops me into it.

That’s it, my top 5 dungeons from A Realm Reborn! I have three expansions to cover yet, so hold onto your hats and get ready for some more nonsense.

What are your favorite dungeons from A Realm Reborn? Share your thoughts with me in the comments!

*All of the above images are from Final Fantasy XIV and are owned by SquareEnix.