Final Fantasy XIV: A complete guide on how to get an Anima Weapon

Relic Weapons are weapons developed through a long series of missions and, for a brief moment, are the best weapons in the game. However, all Relics outside of the most recent DLC are purely cosmetic weapons.

Yes, all relics tend to have this more unique and flamboyant design – some more than others. Keep in mind that you'll be spending a colossal amount of Tomestones of Poetics. Starting this quest chain with a good supply can speed things up a bit.

Requirements

- First, you need to have completed the last base mission of the Heavensward DLC. You'll know it's the last mission because it's named after the DLC.

- Once you've completed it, go to Idyllshire and look for the mission An Unexpected Proposal. It's a relatively simple mission, of the "go from location X to Y" type.

- The next mission will begin the production of the relic itself for the job you’re using, which leads us to the next topic.

Jobs

Not all classes in the current game have an Anima Weapon. If you want to start the quest, you’ll need to have one of these:

Tankers

- Paladin, Warrior and Dark Knight.

DPS

- Casters: Black Mage and Summoner.

- Ranged: Machinist and Bard.

- Melee: Dragoon, Monk and Ninja.

Healers

- Scholar, Astrologian and White Mage.

This mission will require you to deliver 1 Astral Node and 1 Umbral Node. To acquire these items, you’ll need to purchase them from an NPC, and she’ll exchange them in two ways:

Farming Fates

In exchange for an Astral Nodule, she wants a Luminous Wind Crystal, a Luminous Fire Crystal, and a Luminous Lightning Crystal. In exchange for an Umbral Nodule, she wants a Luminous Ice Crystal, a Luminous Earth Crystal, and a Luminous Water Crystal.

- All of these crystals drop from Fates in the Heavensward areas, and each Fate has a 33% chance of dropping one of them.

Selling a Zodiac Weapon

- If you have a complete Zodiac Weapon, the same NPC will accept one in exchange for 1 Astral Nodule and 1 Umbral Nodule. Keep in mind that this’ll cause you to lose the Zodiac Weapon; however, you’ll still have access to purchasing replicas of it.

- With both Nodules in hand, return to Azys Lla and speak with Ardashir to receive phase one of your Anima Weapon.

- This step is simpler, but it requires more work on your part. You’ll need to complete about ten dungeons with the weapon you just acquired equipped, but there’s a trick to do this quickly if the class you’re using is at a higher level (such as level 80 or above).

- The tip is to complete all these dungeons in Unsynced mode. To do this, simply open your Duty Finder, click on the gear icon in the upper left corner and enable the "Unrestricted Party" option in the menu that appears.

As soon as you enter the dungeon, complete it as quickly as possible. However, before leaving, make sure you have the mission weapon in hand. It's fine to complete the entire dungeon with a high-level weapon, as long as the weapon equipped when you exit is the first stage weapon of the Relic.

- If you don't have a high-level class, you'll have to do it the good old-fashioned way, waiting in line at the Duty Finder.

This is when the grind starts to get tough. At this stage, you'll need to acquire four items: Enchanted Rubber, Fast-drying Carboncoat, Divine Water, and Fast-acting Allagan Catalyst.

- These four items can be purchased from an NPC named Cristiana in Mor Dhona.

For didactic purposes, I’ll separate them into primary items (the Unidentifiable ones) and secondary items, as they’re required in smaller quantities.

Acquiring Unidentifiable Items

- All four items with this prefix can be purchased with Tomestones of Poetics from NPCs who trade items in the main cities. Each Unidentifiable item costs 150 poetics.

If you’ve upgraded your Heavensward Societies, these items can also be purchased there using their exchange currency.

Acquiring secondaries

Unless it's a free trial, they can be purchased from other players via auction, also known as the Market Board. This would be the quickest and easiest method.

- If that's not an option, they can also be purchased from your Grand Company's Quartermaster, but for that you'll need to have at least the rank of "Second Lieutenant". They’ll be in the first "Materials" tab of the "Second Lieutenant" shop. Each item will cost 5,000 seals from your Grand Company.

- If that's not a viable option either, these items can be crafted using the "Master Recipes" of Blacksmith, Alchemist, Carpenter, and Culinarian. If this has motivated you to level up one of these crafters, check out our Complete Crafting guide.

- With the items in hand, return to Azys Lla to give your relic another upgrade.

-This one is quite "short," so to speak. Simply purchase five Aether Oils for 350 Tomestones of Poetics from Hismena in Idyllshire and go to the Special Arms tab.

Later, these items will also be sold by NPCs who exchange Poetics in the main cities. Now, return to Azys Lla to further advance your relic.

Here we have another tough grind to do, and a bit confusing at first, but let's take it one step at a time. The quest will take you to a new NPC named Ullan in Idyllshire.

For this step, you’ll need two items: Umbrite and Crystal Sand to create Treated Crystal Sand, which will be used to improve your weapon's stats.

Okay, but which one should I focus on?

Do this until the mission progresses and asks you to return to Azys Lla.

Acquiring Umbrite

This one is quick and easier to farm. It can be bought in the same place where you bought the Aether Oils before, for 75 poetics each. In total, you’ll need about 55 to 60 Umbrites to advance in this step.

Acquiring Crystal Sand

Crystal Sand can be acquired in many ways. In this stage of the quest, Ullan will give you a quest item called Ullan's Note, which will be located in the last tab of your inventory.

My recommendations for obtaining these items are:

Via Crafters or Gatherers

If you have at least one of these at level 60, do the Custom Deliveries. They’ll give you a lot of Scrips that can be exchanged for the Scrip Token and eventually turned into Crystal Sand.

Via combat jobs

If you still have Poetics left over, you can buy Superior Enchanted Ink and Thavnairian Mist with Poetics and exchange them for Crystal Sand.

Other ways

- The other options available in Ullan's Note aren't exactly efficient, so I only recommend pursuing them if you want to vary the method or if you happen to find some of the items she asks for lost in your inventory.

- Finally, after all this farming, it's time for the upgrade…

This one is simple and can easily be completed in five minutes. Just acquire 50 Singing Crystals, which can be purchased with Poetics from the same NPC as the Umbrites and Aether Oils.

- If you’re low on Poetics, in Idyllshire there are two repeatable quests: "Cut from a Different Cloth", which has a daily limit and gives one Singing Crystal, and "Seeking Inspiration", which gives 18 Singing Crystals, but has a weekly limit.

- With the 50 crystals in hand, please return to Azys Lla…

This is the most tedious part of farming this relic, and it's good to team up with other players here to speed things up. The community itself calls it "Anima Farm," so other players have a clear idea of ​​what you're doing.

- Initially, the mission will require you to complete three dungeons, similar to the sequence we did at the beginning. You can go in Unsynced mode, as long as the relic is equipped when you leave. Upon completion, a new stage of this mission will begin, and this is where the "Anima Farm" starts.

- The NPC will give you a quest item called "Enhanced Anima Glass", which can be found in the same tab as Ullan's Note. This item will show you how much is left to complete the quest.

Best anima farms

My recommendation is that you complete the A9S, also known as Alexander – Eyes of the Creator (Savage), using Unsynced mode. With this method, only 21 completions are needed to finish this step.

- If you haven't unlocked these raids, you can start their questline in Idyllshire, in the mission Disarmed.

- Not only will you farm all that, but you’ll also need to acquire 15 Pneumites. These can be purchased with Poetics for 100 each, or from your Grand Company for 4,000 seals each.

- There will be another stage, but it follows the mission model of "go from point A to point B and that's it".

This is considered the victory lap. Your relic already looks great, and now all that's left is to complete a short series of Trials in the following order:

- Step 1: The Bowl of Embers (Hard), The Howling Eye (Hard) and The Navel (Hard).

- Step 2: Thornmarch (Hard), The Whorleater (Hard), The Striking Tree (Hard) and The Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Hard).

- Step 3: Thok ast Thok (Hard) and The Limitless Blue (Hard).

- Step 4: Containment Bay S1T7, Containment Bay P1T6 and Containment Bay Z1T9. These are optional Heavensward Trials, and if you haven't unlocked them, simply start the quest Gods of Eld in Ishgard.

- Remember that all of these Trials can also be done using the Unsynced method that we use in dungeons.

- Finally… you'll need to spend even more Poetics. The quest will ask you to obtain an Archaic Enchanted Ink, acquired from the same place as all the other Poetics items we bought before.

You may’ve enjoyed one of the previous steps more, but don't worry: there's an NPC for that.

It was a long and arduous journey, but we finally have a complete relic in our hands! I hope this guide has helped and clarified things for you, and I look forward to seeing you here in next week's article!