Final Fantasy XIV Pilgrim's Traverse: Everything known about the new Deep Dungeon

Among the many changes in Final Fantasy XIV’s patch 7.3, we’ll see a new Deep Dungeon: Pilgrim’s Traverse. The FFXIV Live Letter from the Producer 88, we received tons of new information about this dungeon: How to unlock it, changes from previous Deep Dungeon content, mounts that can drop, new ways to power up (or perhaps curse your group), and of course, the terrifying final boss: The Final Verse.

As a long-time fan of the Deep Dungeon (except Eureka Orthos), I’m thrilled about the many changes and departures from previous content. This upcoming Deep Dungeon, Pilgrim’s Traverse is going to be accessible to casual Final Fantasy XIV players, while also offering something for the sweatiest try-hard players in the game.

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Deep Dungeon: Pilgrim’s Traverse in Final Fantasy XIV: What we know about the new dungeon

As of patch 7.3, Final Fantasy XIV will introduce Deep Dungeon: Pilgrim’s Traverse, found in Il Mheg. As such, players will need to have completed the Endwalker Main Scenario Quest. You also need to reach level 50 of the original Deep Dungeon, but that’s an incredibly easy ask. As with all Deep Dungeons, Pilgrim’s Traverse has 100 floors, divided into 10 sections. Each has a boss at the end as well.

Feo Ul is back (and also has an unlockable minion to collect)! (Image via Square Enix)

If you want to just complete the story quests for Pilgrim’s Traverse in Final Fantasy XIV, you only need to go as far as Floor 30. Everything else is for players who want that extra challenge, including The Final Verse, the boss awaiting at the end. This is four-person content, but there’s another major change coming, probably my favorite one.

In Deep Dungeon: Pilgrim’s Traverse, you can queue for any of it as a Matched or Fixed Party. Originally, there was a floor cutoff, where you could only queue as a Fixed Party. For example, beyond floor 50 of the original Deep Dungeon, and beyond floor 20 of the Heaven-on-High dungeon.

The familiar buffing items, Pomanders, are back (Image via Square Enix)

For those new to the Deep Dungeon system, they have separate leveling and gear systems, so it doesn’t matter what job level or item level you have. You will have separate weapons and armor here, and they will level up as you open chests that reward power-ups to that gear.

Pomanders and Treasure Coffers are still a thing, too. Pomanders are items you can use to offer temporary, but useful benefits. It could be that they make more treasure chests appear on the next floor, increase your attack/defense, and things of that nature. Treasure Coffers are treasure chests that come in a few varieties, and can reward things like:

• Enhancements to weapons and armor
• Pomanders
• Juniper Incense
• Illumed aetherpool glass fragments

The two new things on this list are Juniper Incense and Illumed Aetherpool Glass Fragments. Juniper Incenses are Pilgrim’s Traverse’s answer to summons in previous Deep Dungeons in Final Fantasy XIV. These allow you to gain aid from Feo UL, like powerful, floor-clearing attacks, and other useful support buffs. The Illumed Aetherpool Glass Fragments can be used outside the dungeon to purchase cosmetics and other items, similar to how you would for previous Deep Dungeons.

Votives are a neat way to get useful buffs - or dangerous debuffs (Image via Square Enix)

Speaking of new things, there are also Votives, which appear as candle holders throughout the floors of Pilgrim’s Traverse. They give you a variety of useful buffs for when you reach the subsequent floor. Between floors 1-30, it’s always a positive buff (transform into powerful monsters, gain regen, et cetera). Beyond floor 31, you have to be careful, because it could also be negative debuffs (hidden map, more traps).

This means that, for casual players, you can just click the Votive anytime, but for the players seeking greater challenge, beyond floor 31, you’ll have to carefully consider your party health, status, and other factors before activating a Votive in Final Fantasy XIV’s Pilgrim’s Traverse.

It’s a long way to floor 99, though, but thankfully, we’ve got another new feature: more checkpoints! Instead of having to start all over after defeat, there are specific checkpoints you can reach. If you wipe, there are checkpoints at floors 31, 51, and 71! Sure, it will be awful to start at floor 71 if you want to get back to The Final Verse on floor 99, but it’s better than going back much farther.

The Final Verse is another new feature, and is the final boss of the Deep Dungeon: Pilgrim’s Traverse in Final Fantasy XIV. If you get to floor 99, you can then challenge the boss in a separate trial, to learn how to fight it, or to simply try and get cool drops; even the trial version can occasionally drop items for you.

You can make the Quantum boss as challenging as you want it to be (Image via Square Enix)

Once you reach floor 100, you can then challenge The Final Verse (Quantum), through party finder. This requires you to complete the quest for getting to floor 100, and requires each party member to contribute Offerings to the boss. You gain these from the quest reward, as well as from Accursed Hoard chests in Pilgrim’s Traverse.

There are five types of Offering, and each one corresponds to a different boss stat. That means for each Offering you contribute, you make the boss stronger, and change up its battle tactics. At least 15 total offerings are required to fight this boss, but more can be contributed. Players can contribute up to 8 of each type, for a total of forty offerings at its max. They are:

• Sacramental Spirits
• Sacramental Spices
• Sacramental Grain
• Sacramental Light
• Sacramental Lillies

This makes the fight way more interesting, as there are tons of different stat loadouts you can grant the boss. You can make it ultra challenging, or try to find the loadout that gives him the least amount of ways it can harm your party. Of course, the more Offerings, the better your rewards at the end of the fight.

There are also awesome stained-glass weapons to unlock! (Image via Square Enix)

As you clear floors of the PIlgrim’s Traverse, you’ll also gain other rewards like Luminous Oil and Pieces of the Blessed Hoard. You can also gain these rewards from completing your weekly Challenge Log. If that weren’t enough, treasure chests can also drop several mounts in this Deep Dungeon. They range from a plant version of Omega, to a Votive you can fly around on, and a weird technicolor plant pile.

One final note about Final Fantasy XIV’s Pilgrim’s Traverse Deep Dungeon: Yoshi-P did highlight how player feedback revealed the one-hit KOs from Eureka Orthos were not an enjoyable feature, so we can expect far fewer of those in this Deep Dungeon. Thank goodness for that!

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Check out our other Final Fantasy XIV guides and features

• Final Fantasy XIV patch 7.3 Live letter 87 recap
• Final Fantasy XIV: All new mounts available in patch 7.25 and how to get them
• Final Fantasy XIV Occult Crescent guide: All Phantom Jobs and how to unlock them
• Final Fantasy XIV: How to unlock Dawntrail Relic Weapons (Phantom Weapons)

Edited by Jason Parker