FFXIV Eureka Orthos guide - unlock location, boss strats, rewards, lore, and more

At long last, a new Deep Dungeon has arrived in Final Fantasy XIV. If you're looking to make your mark on the challenge and varied PVE content, follow along with our in-progress FFXIV Eureka Orthos guide to learn about the peculiarities and rewards.

For more FFXIV guides, check out how to unlock Alisaie's hairstyle, the FFXIV 6.3 hub, and our Euphrosyne raid guide if you're yet to dive into the latest 24-man brawl. And for a longer read, check out our FFXIV interview with the devs. We talked about the breakout success of Crystalline Conflict and the game's PVP inspiration.

What is Eureka Orthos?

Eureka Othos is the latest 'Deep Dungeon' content to arrive in FFXIV, following on from Palace of the Dead in Heavensward, and Heaven-on-High during the Stormblood days.

The aim is to make it through as many floors as you can without wiping. You collect and use unique weapons, armour, and items as you go, with luck, risk assessment, and skill playing a major role in your chances of success.

Though you only need to make it through a set number of floors to enjoy the story, attempts to reach the final floor (solo or in a squad) have become a whole sub-genre of content, with a place on the FFXIV website's leaderboards being the major aim.

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How to unlock Eureka Orthos

You can unlock Eureka Orthos by picking up the quest 'Delve into Myth' from Koh Rabntah in Mor Dhona. You'll find her at the coordinates X:21.8 Y:8.1.

To see the quest, you'll need to be on a level 81+ quest and have completed both the initial Endwalker MSQ from patch 6.0 and have cleared Floor 50 of Palace of the Dead.

How many floors is Eureka Orthos?

Eureka Orthos has a total of 100 floors. 30 of these are tied to the story, with any subsequent floors serving purely as a challenge for those who want to carry on. They're also good for earning EXP toward the outside level of the class you enter as.

You can explore up to floor during the unlock quest. After that, you'll want to return to Koh Rabntah to accept the Rage Extinguished quest, which instructs you to explore up to floor 100. With that cleared, you'll be able to accept the quest Orthos Unveiled for the current conclusion.

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How to get back to Eureka Orthos

Don't really want to be making the long trip from Revenent's Toll all the way down to the Eight Sentinels in the southeast corner? You don't have to. There's a shortcut you can take as soon as you've officially unlocked Eureka Orthos.

To quickly get back to the Eureka Orthos entrance, just teleport to Revenent's Toll (Mor Dhona) and look for Burnel. They'll but slightly to the west under the lamp post just as Roh was before you started the unlock quest. He'll take you straight there.

What happens if you wipe in Eureka Orthos?

If your whole team is incapacited at the same time in Eureka Orthos, you're forced to leave the Deep Dungeon.

You'll lose all of your progress from that ten-floor journey, meaning you'll start at the floor following the last boss you cleared. So if you wipe on floor 30, you'll restart at 21. But if you clear floor 20 and wipe on 21, you'll start at 21.

What level do you start at in Eureka Orthos?

Eureka Orthos will start you off at level 81 regardless of your level at the time of entering. It's a great way to get a feel for a class you haven't leveled up yet. The accelerated EXP rate means it's a good way to quickly test the rotation of any class you may have at 80 that you're not sure you want to level up further.

You'll earn EXP toward the actual level of your class with every ten floors you clear. This can be repeated, so it's a good way to level up classes while consuming new content.

What are the Eureka Orthos rewards?

Mounts, minions, music, and Triple Triad cards are par for the course in Eureka Orthos. Maybe some new fashion accessories, some glamour gear, and a hairstyle and emote. The usual. It's hard to get a complete loot table this early on, but rewards from the Accursed Hoard are what you'll primarily be looking for.

These are gacha-style lootboxes you'll find inside the dungeon that you can only open when you leave. The rewards are completely random, with better rewards like mounts and minions having lower drop rates.

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How to find Accursed Hoards in Eureka Orthos

Accursed Hoards in Eureka Orthos work the same way they have in Deep Dungeon content like Palace of the Dead and Heaven-on-High.

Not every floor has an Accursed Hoard to find. And given they're completely invisible until you accidentally stand on one, there's a pretty low chance you naturally find one unless you're purposefully stepping on every bit of land you can - risking the wrath of explosive traps, debuffs, and the dungeon timer.

The best way to find Accused Hoards is to open gold chests and hope to find a Protomander of Intuition. Casting this means the next Accursed Hoard available will shine, making it much easier to find. The effect persists through floors until you open one.

Once you have an Accursed Hoard, just talk to the NPC between Khatun and the Synthesiser Node outside the dungeon to open it. You can stockpile Accursed Hoards between runs if you want to open them all at once.

Eureka Orthos Accursed Hoard loot table

Here's an in-progress look at the loot that can drop from Accursed Hoards in Eureka Orthos.

What do the Eureka Orthos weapons look like?

Once you've gained enough levels on your Eureka Orthos weapons, you'll be able to convert them for outside use glamours. Check out the video above to see what they look like. We'll add images at a later date.

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Eureka Orthos boss strategies - Gancanagh, Cloning Node, and more

Eureka Orthos blocks your way with a unique boss every ten floors. And unlike other bosses, wiping against these means losing all of your progress through those last ten floors.

While going in blind adds tension that makes victory all the sweeter, wiping to a mechanic you just can't get the hang of fast enough can be infuriating. Especially if it happens again on your next run. Read on to learn how to beat the bosses or Eureka Orthos and what to look out for.

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Gancanagh - Eureka Orthos floor 10 boss strat

The first boss of Eureka Orthos, found on floor 10, it's too difficult. It spams the same three mechanics is a relatively predictable way.

You'll notice nine more Gancanagh set evenly along the floor of the arena. They're essentially bombs the boss detonates throughout. If there are set patterns here, they're not important. You'll have plenty of time to get out of range of their small blast radius.

Just DPS Gancanagh down while watching its cast bars. When it casts Authoritative Shriek, around four mines will become electrically charged. Just hug any of the inactive ones to avoid.

The only other spell Gancanagh will channel is a proximity-based slam you'll want to get as far away from as possible. Heal up right after, as Gancanagh charges every bomb on the battlefield by each of the three lines soon after.

These explode in sequence, so just note the marker counts on each and hug a mine with three dots above it. This will explode last. Assuming the middle row is always set to blow first, just move to hug those bombs once they explode, and you'll avoid the lot.

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Cloning Node - Eureka Orthos floor 20 boss strat

Cloning Node can be a little tricky and quite unforgiving. It pulls the non-tubed Cloned Shield Dragons surrounding the arena onto the battlefield early on and will periodically channel sets of them to unleash conal Flame Breath attacks across the map.

These come in a few different patterns, denoted by the tethers between the boss and the soon-to-be-active clones along the edge.

Sometimes the boss will only tether to a select few. You can avoid these easily enough by parking yourself between two tethered ones, or by hugging one that isn't. It's all about mentally working out where the cones and line AOEs might intersect.

Things get hairy whenever the boss decides to tether to more clones than not. You'll need to quickly work find a spot that isn't about to get pummeled by a dragon. The further away from a tethered dragon you go, the larger its conal strike.

The easiest way to do this is to look at which Cloned Shield Dragons aren't tethered. Hug a non-tethered one that's between two tethered ones and you should avoid things easily enough.

Just like the last boss, if you see Cloned Shield Dragons get tethered in sequence, hug one that's set to blow second that's adjacent to one set to blow first. Just move to the spot of the first as it resolves.

Tiamat Clone - Eureka Orthos floor 30 boss strat

We haven't reached this one ourselves just yet, but we're starting to hear all about it from the community.

Simply put, this one just uses three distinct skills you'll want to watch out for, which are very reminiscent of dragon-based boss battles.

• Whei Morn
  • Summons a circular AOE that slowly chases its target. Don't let it touch you.
• Dark Wrymtail
  • Strikes the front and rear of the boss in a linear fashion (move to either side)
• Dark Wyrmwing
  • Strikes the left and right flank of the boss (move into the middle)

You basically just want to DPS this one down while keeping a close eye on the skill it casts. Stay in the middle if it casts WyrmWING, and move to the sides if it casts WyrmTAIL.

You may need to watch for allies if you're having to reposition for these while being chased by Whei Morn, so everyone needs to pay close attention.

The other major part of this is just how often Tiamat summons walls of floating dragon heads. At the start, they'll form behind the boss. Just look for an opening and line yourself up with it as they pass.

This sort of thing will repeat from different directions throughout the fight, but you'll need to pop sprint to avoid colliding with area attacks covering the arena while you dodge some of them. It's not too difficult it practice, but it will keep you on edge.

Twintania Clone - Eureka Orthos floor 40 boss strat

At it again long after its appearance as the final boss of the first raid tier back in A Realm Reborn, many of Twintania's skills a reused for this fight. And that's bad news.

• Twisting Dive (divebombs)
  • Drops a line AOE as well as twisters. Just keep moving to avoid. Probably save Sprint for this.
• Twister
  • Keep moving as the cast goes out. Tornardos will spawn and move along the arena. Touching one almost certainly spells death.

Keeping on your toes is a major factor with this fight. You can't use spells like Surecast to negate the pushback of a twister, and while hitting the wall won't kill you like it did in the old days, it will stack a powerful damage-over-time on you.

Servomechanical Chimera 14X - Eureka Orthos floor 50 boss strat

This one borrows a lot from the Chimera fight from Cutter's Cry. It uses Thunder and Ice attacks to force you to react in different ways. The order of the spell's wording denotes how you should react, but you can get the general idea by breaking them down to the following:

• Thunder (donut/ranged AOE)
  • Go in.
• Ice (melee AOE)
  • Go out.

In practice, the boss uses both in a single spell, but the order of them differs. See below:

• Song of Thunder and Ice
  • Go in, then out.
• Song of Ice and Thunder
  • Go out, then in.

Servomechanical Chimera 14X also uses a bunch of other, similarly themed, skills. Then there's Cocophony, which releases the slow-moving ball toward the tethered player much like the Cutter's Cry Chimera. Just kite this away from the squad until it explodes on its own accord.

• Thunderous Cold
  • Dashes to a target. Get in, then get out.
• Cold Thunder
  • Dashes to a target. Get out, then get back in.
• Leftbreathed Thunder
  • Casts thunder to the left of the boss. Move to the right.
• Rightbreathed Thunder
  • Casts thunder to the right of the boss. Move to the left.

Servomechanical Minotaur 16 - Eureka Orthos floor 60 boss strat

According to the few that have managed to square off against this beast, there's only one major mechanic to watch for - Octuple Swipe.

This skill telegraphs eight strikes. But they don't resolve at the same time. Instead, the first four always strike up, down, left, then right. The final set either repeat the same pattern or reverse it for left, right, down, up.

Prototype Unknown - Eureka Orthos floor 70 boss strat

We'll have a guide for this (and a name) soon.

Proto-Kaliya - Eureka Orthos floor 80 boss strat

We'll have a guide for this (and a name) soon.

Administrator - Eureka Orthos floor 90 boss strat

We'll have a guide for this (and a name) soon.

Excalibur - Eureka Orthos floor 99 boss strat

We'll have a guide for this (and a name) soon.

Eureka Orthos Dread Beasts - Effects, buffs, and how to kill

You'll randomly come across very threatening mobs on your journey through Eureka Orthos. It's recommended that you learn all about them simply so you can avoid them. But if you're up for taking on a risk with a high reward, there is a way. They're generally covered in a bright red aura, so watch out for that. And yes, they can appear on floor 1.

Dread Beasts hit hard and carry a real risk of a wipe. Each one offers a different buff if killed. Here's what we know so far:

• Demi-Cochma
  • Can hit for around 27k per attack
  • Awards a strong defense buff
  • Can be killed by using a Protomander of Storms to reduce to 1 HP and attacking before it fights back.
• Lamia Queen
• Meracydian Clone
• Dread Beast

We'll surely have a lot more to say on the FFXIV Eureka Orthos rewards soon. We'll be sure to line up tips regarding how to clear the floors, the best items to hold onto, and the boss strategies you'll need to save a run. Check back on launch, but check out how to get Manderville relic weapons while you're at it. A new step is coming with this patch.