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FFXIV Savage & Ultimate Raid Guide (Dawntrail 2026)
FFXIV's Savage tier (Arcadion) and Ultimate raids (Futures Rewritten, UCoB, UWU, TEA, DSR, TOP). Prog timelines, gear requirements, how to find statics, and the raid mindset.
Savage & Ultimate Raid Guide · FFXIV Dawntrail 2026
FFXIV's endgame PvE sits at two tiers: Savage (current-patch 8-boss gear progression) and Ultimate (no-gear-reward superbosses that test player skill). Arcadion is the current savage tier. Futures Rewritten is the latest Ultimate. This guide covers prog planning, gear requirements, timeline expectations, and how to find a group for each tier.
What's the Difference Between Savage and Ultimate in FFXIV?
Savage = current-tier gear progression raids. 4 fights per tier, released every 6 months with new expansions. Loot = current BiS gear tokens. Expected prog timeline: 2-4 months per tier for most raid groups.
Ultimate = prestige-tier superbosses. No gear rewards beyond a purely cosmetic weapon. Designed to test mechanical skill at absolute peak. Expected prog timeline: 4-12 months per Ultimate for a dedicated group.
What Are the Current Dawntrail Raids?
Savage Tier: Arcadion (M1S-M4S)
Arcadion is the Dawntrail expansion's savage raid series, released in tiers with the expansion launch and each major patch (7.0, 7.2, 7.4). Current tier as of early 2026:
Arcadion (Savage)
Dawntrail's 4-fight savage tier
Wicked Thunder → Honey B. Lovely → Brute Bomber → M4S (final boss). Each fight drops tome gear tokens that build your current-patch BiS set. 6-hour weekly lockout per fight.
Ultimate Tier: Futures Rewritten
Futures Rewritten (FRU) released in Dawntrail as the current-tier Ultimate. Based on Shadowbringers content themes.
Futures Rewritten (Ultimate)
Dawntrail-tier Ultimate raid
~70-minute fight with 5+ phases and tight enrage timing. Required completion of UCoB, UWU, TEA, or DSR (any previous Ultimate) to unlock. Clears: ~8,000 worldwide as of early 2026.
Legacy Ultimates Still Completable
How Much Time Does It Take to Clear Savage?
Realistic prog times for an organized static group:
- M1S (Wicked Thunder): 1-2 weeks
- M2S (Honey B. Lovely): 2-3 weeks
- M3S (Brute Bomber): 3-4 weeks
- M4S (final): 4-6 weeks
Raid timing math: A typical raid group runs 3-4 nights per week, 3 hours per session = 10-12 hours prog per week. First-week M1 clears happen at 30-40 hours of raid time (3-4 weeks). Progression difficulty ramps — M4S often takes 80-120+ hours of prog, equivalent to 2-3 months of weekly raid nights.
Prog takes dozens of hours. If you'd rather join a static group already on their savage clear week, an FFXIV account with current savage completion and BiS gear gets you straight into fresh-clear farm groups. Browse FFXIV accounts with savage progress →
What Gear Do I Need for Savage?
You need ilvl minimum = current patch's tome + crafted tier. For Dawntrail 7.2:
- Entry (M1S/M2S): ilvl 720-725. Tome gear + a few crafted pieces suffice.
- Mid-tier (M3S): ilvl 725-730. All crafted + materia melds.
- Endgame (M4S prog): ilvl 730+. Full augmented tome / pre-BiS.
How Do I Find a Raid Group in FFXIV?
Static Groups (Best for Serious Progression)
- Clan/FC raid teams — organized groups running same nights each week
- Discord raid servers — Balance Discord has hundreds of static recruitment channels per role
- Reddit r/ffxiv recruiting threads — weekly-ish recruitment sticky
- In-game Party Finder "permanent static" — less reliable but some options
Pugs (More Flexible, Longer Prog)
- Party Finder at Titan or Louisoix servers during peak hours
- PF groups labeled with prog point (e.g., "P4 → end 20M" means Phase 4, ending at 20 million HP)
- Pros: can join at current skill level, no schedule commitment
- Cons: prog progresses slower due to group turnover
What Tools Do Raiders Use?
- Balance Discord — Raid rotation sharing, prog guides, and community
- FFXIV ACT / FFLogs — damage parser + upload to FF Logs for analysis
- RaidPlan.io — visual raid strat editor
- Cactbot / Splatoon — timeline triggers (some controversial)
- MissingPiece — Waymark importer for specific encounter strats
- XIVAnalysis.com — post-fight automatic rotation review
The parse mindset: Parsing (grey/green/blue/purple/orange) via FFLogs is the measurement of individual performance. Green = 50th percentile (OK). Orange = top 10%. Pink = top 1%. Purple = top 25%. Most raid groups expect blue+ (median 75th percentile) for savage progression. Not required for clearing; required for optimization discussions.
What's the Ultimate Experience Like?
Ultimates are tier-1 FFXIV content. The expectation for each attempt:
The attempt loop
Progression through memorization
A single Ultimate attempt is 70-90 minutes. You enter, execute phases, wipe at a specific point, run back, and try again. You'll see the same opening 20 times before consistently clearing past it; the same Phase 2 50 times; the same Phase 3 100 times. The whole fight requires 400+ individual attempts to clear, spread across months.
The clear moment
The payoff
The first-time clear of an Ultimate is among the most memorable experiences in FFXIV. After months of preparation, the final enrage approaches, the boss dies at 1-2%, and the room erupts. FFXIV's community preserves the gravity of these moments — Ultimate clears are posted in clan chats, on Reddit, on Discord. The glamour weapon you earn is a permanent marker of the accomplishment.
Should I Start with Savage or Ultimate?
Always savage first. Ultimates require prerequisite Ultimate clears to unlock — you can't skip directly to Futures Rewritten. The natural path:
- Complete MSQ through Dawntrail (level 100)
- Gear through Normal raids + tome weekly
- Join a savage static, prog and clear one tier
- After first savage clear, consider Ultimate (UCoB is the most accessible)
- Build up Ultimate completions over time
Prog vs. reclear mindset: Progression prog groups are long-term commitments. Reclear groups (for weekly gear / glamour) are 1-2 hours/week. Most raiders cycle through: Prog → Clear → Reclear farm → Break → New tier. Plan your FFXIV schedule around this rhythm.
Arcadion Savage Boss-by-Boss Overview
M1S (Wicked Thunder)
Wicked Thunder
Dragon trio boss
Phase-based fight with thunder attack rotations. Key mechanic: positional marker management during raid-wide attacks. Prog time to clear: 1-2 weeks for new static groups.
M2S (Honey B. Lovely)
Honey B. Lovely
Stack + spread mechanics
Complex stack-and-spread mechanics. Group communication is key. Phase 3 introduces positional tile mechanics — requires raid to coordinate movement patterns.
M3S (Brute Bomber)
Brute Bomber
AoE and adds phase
Brutally difficult phase transitions. Adds spawn during burn phases — tanks must manage threat across multiple targets. Expected prog time: 3-4 weeks of dedicated raid nights.
M4S (Final)
M4S (Arcadion finale)
Multi-phase endurance
The final boss of the current savage tier. Multi-phase fight with enrage timer. Mechanics stack — Phase 1 mechanics return in later phases with added complexity. 4-6 weeks of prog for efficient groups.
Ultimate Raid Phase Breakdown
UCoB (The Unending Coil of Bahamut)
Stormblood Ultimate
5 phases: Twintania, Nael, Bahamut Prime, Adds (Twisters + Towers), Golden Bahamut. Total fight length: 18-20 minutes. 80%+ of the difficulty is Nael (Phase 2) — memorize Nael dives + Ravensbeak attack patterns.
UWU (The Weapon's Refrain)
Stormblood Ultimate 2
5 phases: Ultima Weapon, Garuda, Ifrit, Titan, Ultima. Garuda Phase 2 is the notorious progression wall — requires precise timing of Eye of the Storm + Wicked Wheel mechanics.
TEA (The Epic of Alexander)
TEA
Shadowbringers Ultimate
6 phases: Living Liquid, BJCC, Brute Justice + Cruise Chaser, Alexander Prime, Perfect Alexander. 3-minute combat cycles with tight enrage. Considered the cleanest Ultimate design by many raiders.
DSR (Dragonsong's Reprise)
DSR
Endwalker Ultimate
7 phases: Thordan, Hraesvelgr, Nidhogg, Haurchefant (death phase), The Dragon's Deed, Death of the Heavens, Nidhogg rage. Longest Ultimate at 19-minute runtime. Story integration via cutscenes between phases.
TOP (The Omega Protocol)
Endwalker Ultimate 2
5 phases: Omega MF, Omega F, Omega MF split, The Red Bottom, Omega Reversed. Hardest legacy Ultimate. Phase 3 (The Red Bottom) is considered the most difficult single raid phase in FFXIV.
FRU (Futures Rewritten)
Dawntrail Ultimate (current)
5 phases. Current tier, still being cleared by dedicated teams. ~8,000 worldwide clears as of early 2026. Mechanics themed around Shadowbringers-era content.
Static vs Pug Trade-offs
Rotation Optimization for Savage
The 2-minute alignment
Raid buff windows
All jobs have buff abilities that align at 2-minute intervals. A coordinated raid composition has every job's burst window active simultaneously at 0s / 2:00 / 4:00 / 6:00 / etc. Achieving 100% of DPS potential requires this alignment.
Downtime planning
Movement-aware rotation
FFXIV bosses have forced downtime phases (knockbacks, forced movement). Plan your rotation around these — save instant-cast abilities for movement phases, hold burst windows until you're stationary. This is "fight optimization" and separates good parsers from average.
Openers vs. opener skip
Post-pull rotation
Most jobs have a "standard opener" memorized from Balance Discord. In practice, you might skip the opener and start in mid-rotation depending on boss positioning. Advanced raiders memorize 2-3 opener variants per job.
Consumable Management for Raids
Typical raid week consumable cost for a savage raider: 2-4M gil.
Reclear vs. Progression Mindset
Progression mindset
Learning mode
First 3-6 weeks of a tier. Expect 50% of raid time to be spent on mechanics and 50% on DPS. Mistakes are expected and communicated — no blame. Focus on clean attempts, not kills.
Reclear mindset
Farm mode
Post-clear. 2-hour weekly sessions with loot as the goal. Minimize wipes, optimize kill time. Expect 1-3 reclears per night if efficient. Less stressful than progression.
Prog → Clear → Reclear cycle
Raid rhythm
FFXIV raid rhythm: Major patch → 2-4 weeks of progression → first clears → 3-4 weeks of reclear for BiS gear → onto the next tier. Each tier is ~2-3 months of relevance before next patch.
Related Reading
- FFXIV Job Tier List — pick the right raid job
- FFXIV Leveling Guide — reach 100 for savage eligibility
- FFXIV Gil Making Guide — gil for consumables + BiS
- FFXIV Mount & Minion Collection — rewards from raid prog
