Final Fantasy XIV Strategy Board guide: How to use, edit, and share

Patch 7.4 of Final Fantasy XIV introduced the Strategy Board system, allowing players to help each other figure out where to stand and what to do during boss fights. It’s a feature we’ve wanted for a very long time, and the system allows for some truly incredible flexibility in terms of what you explain and show. Instead of taking a screenshot and using Paint.net to scribble some arrows and lines on a screenshot, you can just show it off in-game.

There are plenty of reasons to have access to Strategy Boards, but don’t worry, because you don’t have to recreate them personally in Final Fantasy XIV. Players can share access to their work, so if you’re new/unfamiliar, someone else can help you figure out what to do.

---

How to find and use the Strategy Board in Final Fantasy XIV

The Strategy Board is a new feature in Final Fantasy XIV where players can make a layout for small/large party combat, using icons, arrows, and other displays to show attacks, and how you should respond to them. It’s easy enough to find in your menu. You can find it under the Party tab, under Strategy Board. You can also drag this to your hotbars, or add it to your Command Panel.

The Strategy Board UI is very user-friendly (Image via Square Enix)

When you pull up the Strategy Board, it will show all of your folders, and any strategies you have in them. If you don’t have any yet, it’s a simple matter of clicking New Strategy. You can then use a Preset Strategy Board, a Blank Strategy Board, or Share Code Strategy Board. The third option is for important someone else’s code, and checking out their Strategy Board in Final Fantasy XIV.

The presets are one of the best places to begin, for someone new to the system. You’re given quite a few options, in terms of Field Layout, Enemy Type, Party Positioning, and Waymarks.

Field Layout is the battlefield, Enemy type is the size of the enemy, Party Positioning is Light Party, or three options for a Full Party. Waymarks are your various number patterns on the strategy board (spreading out, standing together, et cetera).

Once you’re happy, click Set, and it will place them on the board, and you can adjust them to your heart’s desire. From there, you can adjust and move the enemy, player icons, markers, to wherever you need them, and then add the attack(s) that players need to look out for in the strategy.

You can make them as simple or as complex as you need them to be (Image via Square Enix)

You can even account for multiple attacks in one phase of combat, by using layers, or hiding objects, so you can only look at specific placements/attacks. Occasionally, bosses will have overlapping attacks, and you can account for that too.

It’s really something that’s going to take effort and practice to get good at. It also will, of course, help to know all the mechanics of the battle you’re making Strategy Boards for. Since you can make folders, you can have folders for specific fights, with Strategy Boards for various situations within that fight, for ease of access.

One tip for making these a bit easier, is when you’ve placed an attack on the Strategy Board, and need to move the party icons around, right click the attack and click “Move to Back”. This puts it at the end of your layers. I also tend to lock them for the time being, so I can adjust around them.

You can edit these later, so they're never truly set in stone (Image via Square Enix)

With enough effort and practice, you can replicate pretty much any enemy attack, and show where players need to stand in order to deal with it. Sadly, these aren’t animated, so you can’t show people moving, but you can add arrows and lines to show where someone should be transitioning to.

If you want to adjust a Strategy later in Final Fantasy XIV, just open it up, and click the Edit button in the bottom left to pull up all your options. The other button is to Review Strategy, which can be enlarged or shrunk as needed.

---

How to share your Strategy Boards with other players in Final Fantasy XIV

It's incredibly easy to share these, which is nice for all types of groups (Image via Square Enix)

When you’ve set your Strategy Boards into a series of folders, you’ve got a few options when it comes to sharing in Final Fantasy XIV. Just open up your Strategy Board UI, and right click the folder or specific strategy you want to share. Then, select either Share with Party, Real-Time Sharing, or Create Share Code.

That’s what makes this system so great. You can easily share these with others without having to be on someone’s friends list, in a Linkpearl, or even a Free Company together. The Share Code is better for large groups, or sharing on social media. Share with Party is for when you just want to make sure everyone can see what they need to do.

Real-Time Sharing is when you’re going to need/want real-time input. That way, your party can chat about it in real-time, and you can adjust it on the fly. This is great for if a strategy isn’t working, and you and the others have better ideas to try. Only the person who initiated the share can adjust it, but everyone else will see it.

If someone uses a Share Code, you can input it by selecting the Share Code option when creating a new Strategy Board in Final Fantasy XIV, and you can input the code, or just copy from your clipboard. It's very easy to share this way.

It's worth noting that you can have up to twenty temporarily shared Strategy Boards, viewable in the View Shared List button on the Strategy Board List. You can permanently save any of these by selecting Save from the subcommand menu.

---

Check out our other Final Fantasy XIV guides and features

• Final Fantasy XIV patch 7.4 part 2 Live Letter 90 Recap
• Final Fantasy XIV: All Gwiber mounts (Landerwaffe) and how to get them
• Final Fantasy XIV: How to make crafting macros for any item

Edited by Jason Parker