Final Fantasy XIV and MHW: Crossover Event Guide

Fight Rathalos in Final Fantasy XIV and Behemoth in Monster Hunter: World! Here’s what to know about these crossover events.

The Final Fantasy XIV x Monster Hunter: World crossover event offers unique challenges and new, unlockable items for players of both games. Earlier this month, Monster Hunter: World received an update adding the legendary beast Behemoth as free DLC. Players will be able to challenge a more difficult, Tempered version of the beast later this month.

Final Fantasy XIV has now received its own update, and subscribers can challenge the famous Monster Hunter wyvern Rathalos during this new in-game event. In this guide, we’ll go over everything you need to know to get the most out of these epic events and acquire awesome new items along the way.

Monster Hunter: World event

The Behemoth encounter is included in Monster Hunter: World’s 5.0 update, so you won’t have to download any separate content. To gain access to the encounter, you must first be Hunter Rank 16 and complete the Special Assignment “A Visitor from Another World.” You can pick up this assignment by speaking with the Serious Handler in Astera, located near the stairs in the Tradeyard.

A Visitor from Another World (6★) – HR 16 or higher.

For this assignment, you travel to the Wildspire Waste, following Cactuar Cutting (that can be caught!) until facing an incredibly powerful, absolutely gigantic Kulu-Ya-Ku!

The Legendary Beast (9★) – HR 16 or higher.

Once you’ve returned to the Serious Handler, you can take this assignment and go face to face with the deadly Behemoth for the first time. This assignment doesn’t have you to slay the Behemoth, you’ll simply damage it until it flees. Upon turning in this assignment, you’ll receive a special “Final Fantasy XIV Jump” gesture, which is essentially a non-damaging version of the Final Fantasy Dragoon’s “Leap.”

He Taketh It With His Eyes (9★) – HR 16 or higher.

Finally, the Serious Handler will task you with slaying the Behemoth, which will be quite a challenge and will generally require a group, although it can be soloed by the most skilled of hunters. It’s a challenging encounter with an easily avoidable instant-kill mechanic and an extremely limited cart allowance, so you’ll likely want to group with friends. Defeating the Behemoth will grant you the opportunity to carve it, and completing the assignment awards the following items:

• Bacon Behemoth Poogie costume
• Dragon Soul Kinsect
• Guild Card Titles, Backgrounds, Poses

Craft incredible Dragoon armor

The Final Fantasy XIV crossover event brings a brand new armor set to Monster Hunter: World, the Drachen α Armor Set, based on the armor worn by Final Fantasy’s famed Dragoon class. Unlike many previous crossover event armors, the Drachen armor is seriously beastly. It features bonuses to Attack Boost, Critical Eye and Critical Boost, which are easily the all-around best skills for any offensive role.

As with everything in Monster Hunter: World, crafting the full set will require a bit of farming. You will obtain nearly all of the required materials from Behemoth itself, with others obtained by defeating large monsters including Uragaan, Radobaan, and Kirin. Here’s the materials required to craft each piece of the Drachen α Armor Set:

• Drachen Armet α: Behemoth Mane x2, Behemoth Bone x3, Behemoth Great Horn x1, Aetheryte Shard x3
• Drachen Mail α: Behemoth Mane x2, Behemoth Bone x3, Behemoth Shearclaw x2, Dragonbone Relic x2
• Drachen Vambraces α: Behemoth Mane x3, Behemoth Bone x3, Behemoth Great Horn x1, Behemoth Tail x1
• Drachen Coil α: Behemoth Mane x1, Behemoth Bone x2, Behemoth Tail x1, Novacrystal x2
• Drachen Greaves α: Behemoth Mane x1, Behemoth Bone x2, Behemoth Shearclaw x1, Firecell Stone x2

To craft the full Drachen α Armor, you’ll need a total of:

• Behemoth Mane x9
• Behemoth Bone x13
• Behemoth Great Horn x2
• Behemoth Shearclaw x3
• Behemoth Tail x2
• Aetheryte Shard x3
• Dragonbone Relic x2
• Novacrystal x2
• Firecell Stone x2
• 10,000z

Forge a powerful new Insect Glaive

In addition to the insanely powerful Drachen Armor set, there’s also a new, craftable Insect Glaive: Gae Bolg, and it’s upgraded version True Gae Bolg. The weapon and its upgrades will also set you back a few Behemoth pieces, but it’s well worth it. You’ll receive the new Kinsect, the Dragon Soul Kinsect, by completing the assignment, so you can only get one of those.

Gae Bolg: Behemoth Bone x2, Behemoth Shearclaw x2, Aetheryte Shard x3, Firecell Stone x3, 32,000z

True Gae Bolg: Behemoth Bone x2, Behemoth Great Horn x2, Behemoth Tail x1, Elder Dragon Blood x5, 56,000z

Turn your Palico into a Moogle

Not to be left out of Monster Hunter: World’s trend of wacky crossover Palico outfits, this event lets you change your Palico into a Moogle! You can even craft him a new weapon, just like the one once weilded by the great Good King Moggle Mog XII.

Moogle Head α and Moogle Body α: Behemoth Mane x1, Behemoth Tail x1, Aetheryte Shard x1

Gold Chocobo Rod α: Behemoth Bone x1, Behemoth Shearclaw x1, Aetheryte Shard x1

Capture Cactuar to keep as pets

If you’re a fan of inviting endemic life to your home, the event adds three new pets you can capture: Cactuar, Cactuar Cutting, and Flowering Cactuar Cutting.

The cactuar spawn during regular missions and expeditions, so you don’t have to go out of your way to complete any special tasks. You can find some great tips on locating these little guys in this reddit thread. Happy hunting!

Final Fantasy XIV event

The Final Fantasy XIV event was added with Patch 4.36, and introduces regular and Extreme difficulty versions of the Rathalos encounter, along with a plethora of rewards. Players who have reached level 70 and have completed the main scenario quest “Stormblood” can seek the Hearty Hunter (X:9.7 Y:8.9) in Kugane to start the quest.

The New King on the Block

The Hearty Hunter will send you to the Azim Steppe to investigate rumors of a Rathalos spotted snatching up the wildlife. There, you’ll meet a Palico and work together to get to the bottom of things. Complete a few short tasks and you’ll unlock a new Duty: The Great Hunt, which pits a Full Party of eight players against the challenging Rathalos!

You can queue up for this encounter using the Duty Finder, or by entering the instance at Bardam’s Mettle in the Azim Steppe, and it’s a fairly easy encounter. You’re given access to a special Duty Action, Mega Potion, which must be used in the fights later phase as you’ll be otherwise unable to heal.

When you’ve successfully defeated the Rathalos, you’ll be able to carve Rathalos Scales from its remains. You’ll get only two scales per run, so get ready for a lot of hunting. Completing The New King on the Block quest rewards the following items:

• Palico (minion)
• Indoor BBQ Spit (indoor furnishing)
• BBQ Spit (outdoor furnishing)

Once you’ve successfully defeated the encounter, you’ll gain access to the Extreme difficulty of the Duty (accessible from the “High End Duty” tab), offering a more challenging fight. In this difficulty you’ll be able to obtain both Rathalos Scale and Rathalos Scale+, which are required for, most notably, the Augmented (dyeable) versions of the Rathalos Armor set, and the Rathalos Whistle. This difficulty allows only four players and requires an item level of 350. As usual, item level is unrestricted if you queue with a four-person party. This Duty features a “cart” mechanic similar to Monster Hunter: World’s in which the encounter will automatically end if the party experiences a total of three player deaths.

Exchange Rathalos Scales at the Smithy for event-exclusive items

You can exchange the Rathalos Scale you’ve gained from carving at a new NPC, the Smithy (located right next to the Hearty Hunter), who is the spitting image of his Monster Hunter: World counterpart. He offers a ton of items, including new cosmetic Rathalos Armor pieces (for Glamour), Orchestrion Rolls and the illustrious Rathalos Whistle, which allows you to summon and mount the flying wyvern. The mount requires a whopping 50 Rathalos Scale+, so be prepared to farm! Here’s a full list of the items you can purchase with Rathalos Scales:

• Rathalos Helm [M / F]: 4 Rathalos Scale
• Rathalos Mail [M / F]: 8 Rathalos Scale
• Rathalos Vambraces [M / F]: 4 Rathalos Scale
• Rathalos Coil [M / F]: 8 Rathalos Scale
• Rathalos Greaves [M / F]: 4 Rathalos Scale
• BBQ Spit: 10 Rathalos Scale
• Indoor BBQ Spit: 10 Rathalos Scale
• Cornerstone of the New World – Astera Orchestrion Roll: 10 Rathalos Scale
• Savage of the Ancient Forest Orchestrion Roll: 10 Rathalos Scale

These items will also require Rathalos Scale+, obtainable only in the EX version Duty:

• Augmented Rathalos Helm [M / F]: 2 Rathalos Scale+, Rathalos Helm [M / F]
• Augmented Rathalos Mail [M / F]: 4 Rathalos Scale+, Rathalos Mail [M / F]:
• Augmented Rathalos Vambraces [M / F]: 2 Rathalos Scale+, Rathalos Vambraces [M / F]
• Augmented Rathalos Coil [M / F]: 4 Rathalos Scale+, Rathalos Coil [M / F]
• Augmented Rathalos Greaves [M / F]: 2 Rathalos Scale+, Rathalos Greaves [M / F]
• Poogie (minion): 5 Rathalos Scale+
• Rathalos Whistle (mount): 50 Rathalos Scale+
• Proof of a Hero – Monster Hunter: World Version Orchestrion Roll: 5 Rathalos Scale+