How to get a Dawntrail (Phantom) relic weapon in FFXIV

The sun is shining and the Dawntrail field operation and relic weapon is here, as of patch 7.25. For those wanting to get a jump on the relic grind, we got your back, as we detail how to get the Phantom relic weapon in FFXIV below.

Just like other relics, the Phantom relic is no joke and it requires quite a bit of play either in the Occult Crescent (the Dawntrail field operation) or some FATE grinding in the expansion’s zones.

Below we explain what FFXIV relic weapons are and how to start your Dawntrail relic weapon.

Relic weapons, explained

Relic weapons are unique weapons for each job that need to be upgraded by following a series of quests. The end result? The best weapon in the Dawntrail expansion — though since all the steps aren’t out yet, you won’t be able to get there just quite yet.

If this is your first relic weapon, know that you have quite the grind ahead of you, but also this stuff drops in patches, so you can do it as it releases to lessen the grind. (Or maybe you’re reading this guide years in the future and you’re gonna do it all at once!)

This weapon series involves the Occult Crescent, the field operation duty for Dawntrail, though you can complete your weapon by other means, if you hate field ops.

Step 1: How to get your Phantom Penumbrae weapon

This first step was added in patch 7.25 and the weapon is item level 745. All of these weapons are pretty unique in design, so if you don’t know which one you want to make, here’s a pretty nice video showing off all the weapons.

To get your first weapon:

1. Complete the “Dawntrail” main scenario quest.
2. Unlock the Occult Crescent hub by completing the quest line that starts with “One Last Hurrah” in Tulliyolal.
3. Keep completing the quests until you finish “Unfamiliar Territory.” (You can go further than this, as continuing this quest will be required to participate in the Occult Crescent, but you don’t have to do more than this for the relic weapon.)
4. Talk to Lydirceil in the Phantom Village to start the quest “Arcane Artistry.”
5. Obtain three of each of the six different types of demiatma — obtained either by completing FATEs and critical encounters in the Occult Crescent or by completing FATEs in the Dawntrail zones.
6. Turn in the 18 demiatma to Gerolt.
7. Accept the quest “Forging the Phantasmal” as the job you want the weapon for.
8. Buy three Arcanite for 500 Allagan Tomestones of Heliometry each from Ermina in the Phantom Village (1,500 tomes total).
9. Turn in the Arcanite to Dodokkuli.

It takes quite a few critical encounters to get a single demiatma drop, so don’t expect to just get one from each you complete. You’ll know when you get one as a pop-up will appear on your screen noting that you got a demiatma. After doing around 20 critical encounters, I walked away with about three demiatma, so it has a pretty brutal drop rate.

For subsequent weapons, you will only need to effectively repeat step eight and nine. You can buy three more Arcanite and trade them straight to Dodokkuli as a merchant — there’s no quest to do so. You will not need to grind out any more demiatmas, thank Hydaelyn.

The demiatma drops from specific areas in the Occult Crescent and from specific maps. Based on our experience, as well as some crowdsourced information, here’s where to find the specific demiatma:

Note that in the aforementioned crowdsourced info, there are a few players noting that it’s possible to get other colors of demiatma from outside of their “native” area listed above. We didn’t have this happen for us, but we’re not ruling out that possibility.

Step 2: Upgrade to a Phantom Umbrae weapon

This step was added in patch 7.31 and it augments your Phantom weapon so that it glows, has higher stats, and improves its item level to 760. To supe up your relic, you’ll need to do the following:

1. Complete the above steps.
2. Talk to Lydirceil in the Phantom Village and start the quest “Keeping the Old Ways Alive.”
3. Turn in the following five items to Gerolt. Note that these items can be bought from the marketboard as well, which may be the required method if you don’t have leveled up crafters with the 12th mastery recipe book or gatherers with the relevant regional folklore books:
   1. Rroneek glue, bought from Goplu in Tuliyollal (13.1, 12.7) for 300,000 gil.
   2. Ut’ohmu siderite, bought from Rral Wuruq in Yak T’el (13.8, 12.7) for 600 bicolor gemstones.
   3. Synthetic dark matter alpha, crafted by blacksmiths, armorers, or goldsmiths using eight octahedrite, four raw rhodochrosite, and two levinchrome aethersand.
   4. Synthetic dark matter beta, crafted by carpenters, leatherworkers, or weavers using four cordia logs, four cochineal pigment, four Shaaloani coffee, and two levinchrome aethersand.
   5. Synthetic dark matter gamma, crafted by alchemists or culinarians using four filgurite, four Shaaloani coffee, and two levinchrome aethersand.
4. Once you turn in those items to complete the above quest, talk to Lydirceil to start the quest “Aether, Aether, Everywhere.”
5. Fill in the four aetherwells in the Aetherwell Array by completing duty roulettes. There’s an aetherwell for four types of roulettes: high-level dungeons, trials, alliance raids, and normal raids. Each well requires 10,000 aether. The first time you run any of these roulettes per day, you’ll also get a bonus amount of aether. With the daily bonus, you’ll get anywhere from around 450-850 aether per roulette. Without the daily bonus, you’ll get much less, especially from trials and normal raids.
6. Turn in your filled-up Aetherwell Array to Gerolt.
7. Talk to Lydircceil to start the quest “Wrought by Hands Phantasmal,” as the job you want the weapon upgrade for.
8. Buy three Waxing Arcanite for 500 Allagan Tomestones of Heliometry each (1,500 total) from Ermina (the same vendor in step one who sold you the tomestone materials).
9. Turn them into Gerolt to upgrade your Phantom Penumbrae weapon to a Phantom Umbrae weapon.

Know that the Aetherwell Array portion is the lengthy grinding portion of this relic step, but you will only have to do that step once, even if you want extra weapons. You can sit and spam roulettes to grind this out quickly, but seeing how we won’t get more relic steps for quite a while, it should be fine to take your time. It should take around two weeks of daily roulettes to finish this step.

If you want additional Phantom Umbrae weapons, you’ll only need to buy more Waxing Arcanite and turn them in to Dodokkuli, so long as you’ve already done the Phantom Penumbrae step for the weapon you want.

Image: Square Enix via Polygon

After you finish this step, you can also buy replicas for any of the Phantom Penumbrae weapons you’ve completed to use as glamour, if you prefer the non-glowing versions. The NPC that sells the replicas is the Expedition Metallurgist next to Ermina in the Phantom Village.

Step 3: How to get your Phantom Obscurum weapon

This step was added in patch 7.41 and provides you with a brand-new item level 775 weapon. To get it, you’ll need to do the following:

1. Complete the above steps.
2. Talk to Lydirceil in the Phantom Village to start the quest, “Timeworn Techniques.”
3. Talk to the NPCs and then turn in the following four items to Gerolt. Note that just like in the last step, the crafts can be bought from the marketboard, otherwise you’ll need Master Recipes 12 to make them, as well as high gathering stats to grab the materials:
   1. Umbral clay, bought from Goplu in Tuliyollal (13.1, 12.7) for 500,000 gil
   2. Aspected aether agglomerate, crafted by carpenters, leatherworkers, or weavers using four fulgurpine logs, four carnauba leaves, four Urqopacha flax, and two levinchrome aethersand
   3. Aspected aetheroconductor, crafted by goldsmiths, armorers, or blacksmiths using eight dense aluminum ore, four rose garnet ores, and two levinchrome aethersand
   4. Aspected aetherocatalyst, crafted by alchemists or culinarians using four windspath water, four carnauba leaves, and two levinchrome aethersand
4. Talk to Lydirceil to start “In Pursuit of Perfection.”
5. Obtain 100 crystal paste by completing specific roulettes, Occult Crescent Critical Engagements, the Pilgrim’s Traverse Deep Dungeon, The Final Verse (Quantum), Heavyweight Tier raids (Normal or Savage), or Hell on Rails (Extreme). Turn the paste into Gerolt.
6. Obtain 200 more crystal paste (by doing the same thing as above) and turn it into Gerolt.
7. Obtain 300 more crystal paste and turn it into Gerolt.
8. Obtain a whopping 600 more crystal paste and turn it into Gerolt.
9. Talk to Lydirceil to start “A Phantom Reborn.”
10. Buy three chunks of Waning Arcanite from Ermina for 500 Tomestones of Mathmetics each (1,500 tomes total).
11. Turn in the arcanite to get your Phantom Obscurum weapon.

If you want additional Phantom Obscurum weapons, you’ll only need to buy more Waning Arcanite and turn them in to Dodokkuli, so long as you’ve already done the other steps for the weapon you want.

The above information is courtesy of Garland Tools’ datamines. We’re still working out the steps for this, grinding out the weapon for ourselves. We’ll update this guide with more context as we trudge through the grind.

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How to farm crystal paste

Different types of content give you different amounts of paste. Depending on how fast you want to grind this weapon out, you may want to party up, lower your gear item level, and spam leveling roulette in hopes of a quick A Realm Reborn duty, or you might just opt for doing a few roulettes daily, sprinkling in your usual raid clears in. Farming crystal paste is the “grindy” part of this step, so keep in mind that it’s not really meant to be done within a couple of days. Take your time!

Here’s a breakdown of how much paste you get from some of the various duties, according to this crowdsourced post on Reddit by Phruck:

If that didn’t satisfy your itch, we have guides on how to make the previous relic weapons, too: Resistance (Shadowbringers), Eureka (Stormblood), Anima (Heavensward), and Zodiac (A Realm Reborn). We also have a guide for the Manderville (Endwalker) relic, but that is literally just a tome dump alongside a straight-forward quest, so that may not scratch the grinding itch you got.