Eureka Orthos Dungeon in Final Fantasy XIV Explained

Eureka Orthos is a new deep dungeon included in Final Fantasy XIV patch 6.35. It is a labyrinth of ancient Allagan experiments locked away beneath the Crystal Tower. This new challenge asks players to battle their way through 100 floors of deadly enemies, as well as ten unique bosses, to uncover the scientific achievements of a fallen empire. Even for the most seasoned warrior of light, that can be a daunting task. Luckily, we’re here to help with this handy primer. Read on to find out about what you can expect from Eureka Orthos.

What is the Eureka Orthos Dungeon in Final Fantasy XIV?

Eureka Orthos is a ‘deep dungeon’, the third of its kind in Final Fantasy XIV. It was released as an update to the current main patch, Gods Revel, Lands Tremble. The other two deep dungeons, Palace of the Dead and Heaven on High, were released during the A Realm Reborn and Stormblood expansions, respectively.

Eureka Orthos, like other deep dungeons, has 100 semi-randomly generated floors for players to explore, which can be completed in batches of ten. Each run of ten floors takes about thirty minutes to an hour to complete (depending on how fast you move) and is capped off by a unique boss. 

You’ll be given two ‘save data slots’ to save your progress between your ten floor runs, which you can reset or overwrite at will. Additionally, new runs can be started from later floors once you reach them. For example, if you’ve beaten floor 30, you can start a new run at floor 21.

You can create three kinds of Eureka Orthos ‘save files:’

• Matched Party: You’ll be matchmade with three player allies every ten floors, allowing you to tackle the first few levels of Eureka Orthos as a solo player without the masochistic challenge of a solo run. This option is only available for floors 1-30, however.

• Fixed Party: You and a group of your friends can tackle Eureka Orthos together. Keep in mind that once you’ve created a fixed party, you’ll need to assemble the same group of players to continue.
• Fixed Party (Solo): You can try to beat all 100 floors of Eureka Orthos solo — there’s even a fancy title for doing so without dying. This is a long and arduous challenge, however, and not for the faint of heart.  

Eureka Orthos is filled with challenging enemies, but the rewards are worth the danger. There are mounts, hairstyles, orchestrion rolls, and more to find inside, as well as a public leaderboard of deep dungeon fanatics to compete against.

Eureka Orthos Requirements

To enter Eureka Orthos, you must first have completed the main scenario quest ‘Endwalker,’ as well as floor 50 of Palace of the Dead, which will get you comfortable with the deep dungeon structure. You can only enter Eureka Orthos with a combat job level of 81 or higher. 

To unlock Eureka Orthos, speak to Koh Rabanth in Mor Dhona (X:21.8, Y:8.1) to begin the quest ‘Delve into Myth’. You can read our full step-by-step guide for that introductory quest here.

Eureka Orthos Dungeon location

The quest ‘Delve into Myth’ will lead you to the entrance of the Eureka Orthos Dungeon, which is located at the Eight Sentinels in Mor Dhona (X:35, Y:19 on your map). However, if you want to return there for future runs, it’s very straightforward.

You can either head to the Eight Sentinels yourself by travelling to the Crystal Gate (X:33, Y:16). Or to save time, talk to Burnel (X:21, Y:8) in Mor Dhona for an instant teleport. Once there, simply speak with Khatun (X:35, Y:19) to enter. 

Eureka Orthos Battle System: How to Survive the Allagan Ruins

As previously mentioned, you need to enter Eureka Orthos with a job of level 81 or higher. Entering at level 90 versus entering at level 81 gives you no additional benefits, as you begin each run at level 81 regardless. Your gear doesn’t matter either, as you’ll be given Orthos Aetherpool Gear (more on that later). You’ll have completed floor 50 of the Palace of the Dead, meaning you’re most likely familiar with the basics, but here’s a refresher in case it’s been a while.

You level independently in the Eureka Orthos deep dungeon, and you’ll often find you hit level 90 in 15 to 20 floors. This level is not preserved outside of Eureka Orthos, although you do gain a chunk of ‘real-world’ exp for your chosen job every ten floors. This makes it a great way to preview your level 81-90 abilities ahead of time, especially since they’ll remain on your hotbar afterwards. Your level in Eureka Orthos will reset with each run. 

While inside, you’ll clear out halls filled with wandering Allagan genetic experiments. They aren’t the only danger you’ll face, though; there will also be deadly traps that harm or debuff you, similar to the ones found in Palace of the Dead and Heaven on High. To help, you can loot protomanders from gold chests. 

Each protomander is shared between the party and gives a different benefit when used, such as clearing a floor of traps, giving a bonus to your defence for a few minutes, and more. You can only carry three of each protomander at a time, and they reset completely every 10 floors, so don’t hoard them. A protomander unused is a protomander wasted!

There are also silver coffers, which boost your Aetherpool Gear, and bronze coffers, which can give you normal items or Orthos aetherpool fragments to exchange for bonus loot.

Some of the foes inside Eureka Orthos can be pretty deadly, especially with lower-level Orthos Aetherpool Armor, so make sure to pay attention to their cast bars and telegraphed attacks. It’s not uncommon to get one-shot by these abilities if you’re caught out of position, which isn’t that big of a deal in a party, but it can end a solo run very quickly. If your allies fall and you don’t have a job that can resurrect in the party, you can use either a Phoenix Down or activate the Cairn of Return.

Once you’ve killed enough enemies, you’ll get a message alert telling you that the Cairn of Passage has activated. Gather all of your party members inside to move on to the next floor. Rinse and repeat until you’ve plundered the depths of Eureka Orthos!

How to Upgrade and Use Orthos Aetherpool Gear

Instead of carrying your gear into Eureka Orthos, you’ll be given Orthos Aetherpool Gear: a weapon and a set of armor. This is automatically equipped, so don’t worry about trying to find it in your bags.

Orthos Aetherpool Gear is upgraded via silver coffers in Eureka Orthos, which randomly increase either your weapon or your armor’s strength by one. This strength caps out at +99. Your Orthos Aetherpool Gear strength is conserved between runs, save files, and jobs switches, but not between types of deep dungeon. For example, you can’t use the Aetherpool Gear you upgraded in Palace of the Dead in Eureka Orthos or vice-versa.

If you want permanent versions of your Eureka Orthos Aetherpool weapons for transmog purposes, you’ll need to do a little grinding. You can consume 10 levels of your aetherpool gear (both arms and armor, so 20 levels in total) to receive one Orthos aetherpool grip at the Synthesis Node (X:34, Y:19) in the Eight Sentinels. 

Trade three of these to the same NPC, and you’ll get a level 90 version to stuff in your glamour closet. These weapons are item level 620, which is on-par with the Lunar Envoy weapons, so they might be an upgrade for you.

Eureka Orthos Rewards

Eureka Orthos has a lot of rewards for brave adventurers. These rewards are mainly obtained via the Accursed Hoard, hidden treasures that are revealed by protomanders of intuition. Once you complete a set of 10 floors with pieces of the Accursed Hoard obtained, you’ll receive sacks of varying quality that you can turn into Valeroine in the Eight Sentinels (X:35 Y:19) for rewards.

Along with a whole host of other goodies, Eureka Orthos has a few items specific to its Accursed Hoard:

• Allagan Barding, to give your chocobo a cyberpunk feel.
• Raindrop Defensive System Parasol, an entirely over-engineered umbrella.
• Modern Aesthetics – A Close Shave, which unlocks a hairstyle for use at the aesthetician.
• The Gancanagh card, for use in Triple Triad.
• The Private Pachypodium minion.
• The Orthos Craklaw Mount.
• Orchestrion rolls, including Forbidden Land (Endwalker), The Promise of Plunder, and Crystal Rain.
• Allagan Terminal Beta and Alpha furniture items.

In addition, you can gain both accessories and a high-status mount by completing several 100-floor runs, letting you show off just how much time is on the Warrior of Light’s hands these days. Each completion gives you a tomestone to trade in for an accessory at the Synthesis Node (X:34, Y:19) in the Eight Sentinels. Once you have all four accessories in your inventory, speak with Koh Rabntah to gain an achievement as well as the Aeturna mount. 

That’s it for our explainer on the Eureka Orthos dungeon in Final Fantasy XIV! If you want to dig a little deeper into the game’s lore, you can read our recent deep-dive into patch 6.3’s revelations. Alternatively, browse our full host of guides to up your game.