Final Fantasy XI revives the Shadow Lord fight on August 22 with three new weapons

Final Fantasy XI brings back its Day of the Shadow Lord seasonal event on August 22, renamed The Shadow Lord's Dominion, and attaches three new weapons to a six-player battlefield. The event runs from 1:00 a.m. PDT on Saturday, August 22 to 7:59 a.m. PDT on Wednesday, September 9.

Square Enix is running it to mark the third instalment of Echoes of Vana'diel, Windurst: The Third Walk, arriving in Final Fantasy XIV as part of Patch 7.5.

The Rank 5 Mission battlefield

The event's centrepiece is a starred Rank 5 Mission battlefield entered by examining the Throne Room. Players need to be level 95 or higher, to have completed the Rank 5 Mission, and to hold a Shadow Lord phantom gem, which is traded from listed NPCs for 10 Merit Points. The fight takes up to six players, carries no level restriction and has a 30-minute time limit.

Five difficulty tiers run from Very Easy to Very Difficult, but only Very Easy, Easy and Normal are selectable on a first attempt; clearing Normal unlocks Difficult and Very Difficult. Completing the battlefield can award the great sword Lament and the swords Extinction and Nihility, modelled on the Shadow Lord's weapons. All three can drop at any difficulty, with higher tiers improving the odds.

Because reaching the Rank 5 Mission takes levelling and mission progress, Square Enix is running the battlefield three separate times — this month, again in September and once more in October — so more players can clear it. The spoils will not change across the three sessions, though the publisher plans to add new Curator Moogle items to each one.

Returning seasonal items

Running alongside it, and over the same August 22 to September 9 window, is a trial run at making long-unavailable event items obtainable again. The first two are the Shadow Lord shirt, a t-shirt based on the Shadow Lord, and Pungent Powder III, which randomly transforms the user into a baby adamantoise, a behemoth cub or a dragon hatchling.

Both are handled by the Curator Moogle, who can be found in Chateau d'Oraguille, Metalworks and Heavens Tower's Clerical Chamber. Players check the required trade items with the Moogle, take part in the current seasonal event or other activities to earn the rewards those items may require, then trade the full set back to claim the reward.