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Final Fantasy 14’s latest patch brings with it a new way to fight other players in Crystalline Conflict, a fast-paced PvP mode that pits two teams of five against each other in a race to move a crystal to the goal. Crystalline Conflict is a mode that’s easy for players new to PvP in Final Fantasy 14 to pick up and learn, forming the foundation of an overhaul for the game’s PvP generally.
Playing Crystalline Conflict also offers a variety of exciting rewards, from Wolf Marks that can be exchanged for unique PvP gear in addition to tomestones and EXP for the new PvP series system, a battle pass-style mechanic that allows players to level up in set series of PvP progression.
Updated May 4, 2022: We've updated this article to include a helpful video to show you all there is to know about Crystalline Conflict. Now go push that crystal!
How To Unlock Crystalline Conflict
If you’ve already unlocked PvP, then you won’t need to take any steps to unlock Crystalline Conflict. If you haven’t already unlocked PvP, then you’ll need to do that first by completing your Grand Company’s variant of the quest A Pup No Longer. You’ll need to be level 30 in any disciple of war to take on this quest.
The quest A Pup No Longer can be found by talking to an NPC in your grand company: specifically, players in the Maelstrom Grand Company will need to talk to R’ashaht Rhiki in Limsa Lominsa - Upper Decks (X:13.1, Y:12.8). Players in the Immortal Flames Grand Company will need to talk to Swift in Ul’Dah - Steps of Nald (X:8.4, Y:8.9). Players in the Twin Adders Grand Company will need to talk to the NPC Vorsaile Heuloix in New Gridania (X:9.7, Y:11.1).
Completing this quest will give you access to the special PvP zone Wolves’ Den Pier in addition to the ability to play the Crystalline Conflict PvP mode.
How To Play Crystalline Conflict
To get started playing Crystalline Conflict, you’ll need to select it from the Duty Finder. You can select either Casual or Ranked modes. Casual matches will not count against your official progress as seen on your PvP profile, whereas Ranked matches will count towards your rank.
Once you’ve registered for the duty, you’ll soon be matched into a team. You’ll either be placed in team Umbra or team Astra, which have a blue and red color scheme respectively. Each team has five players.
The objective of Crystalline Conflict is simple: move the ‘tactical crystal’ from the center of the map to a goal point at the other end of the map to achieve victory. The opposing team is attempting to do the same thing, and the teams will attack each other to maintain control over the crystal’s movement. Crystalline Conflict matches last for a maximum of five minutes. If no winner is found during that time, overtime will begin.
At the beginning of the match, you’ll have a short period where each team is locked in opposite corners of the map. After a short countdown, you’ll be freed, and you should start running to the Crystal in the center of the map as soon as possible. For a short period at the beginning of the match, the tactical crystal you need to move will be locked in place.
It will eventually become unshackled, allowing the team that stands in the ring marker whilst uncontested to move it forward along a designated path. If players of the enemy team are in the ring at the same time, the crystal will not move. This is the ‘Player Versus Player’ part of the game, where you kill the enemy team to ensure you can move the crystal.
If you are moving the crystal after the other team has already made more progress than your team, the crystal will move faster. If the crystal reaches a point it has already reached before, it will also move faster. The speed increases are small but noticeable.
Throughout the map, the crystal will also reach various checkpoints where it will briefly pause. The team moving the crystal must stay in the crystal and defend it whilst waiting for it to continue to move along the track.
If the game goes past five minutes into overtime, the conditions for a win will change slightly: If your team has made more progress moving the crystal towards the goal, you will simply need to kill the other players within the Crystal’s ring to win. On the other hand, if you have less progress than the other team, you will simply need to overtake them to win. Lastly, if both teams are at the same level of progress or the crystal hasn’t moved (a rare occurrence), one team will merely need to gain more progress to win.
Tips For Winning Crystalline Conflict
Despite being a pretty simple game, there are a few strategies to consider when playing Crystalline Conflict.
- The best approach to Crystalline Conflict generally is to stay close to your team and form a cohesive unit. The more you separate from your team, the harder the process of moving the crystal will be, as the enemy team can easily gang up on players who are on their own. If everyone on your team is dead, that's the valuable time where the crystal can't be stalled or moved!
- There are Jump Glyphs and Sprint zones on each map that you can use to quickly move to specific parts of the map. Seek these out the first time you play each map to get used to the best routes for moving quickly.
- The weapon skills and abilities you'll use in PvP are slightly different from standard content. Although most of them are principally the same, some abilities will not be usable in PvP and others will have altered potencies or effects. Read the PvP versions of your tool tips in the Actions & Traits menu or PvP profile before playing.
- Players will move erratically and quickly to avoid attacks, so get used to the basics of targeting and become familiar with the distance required for each of your attacks, so you know when it's safe to engage. Mistiming your button presses may result in being caught by someone else!
- Health potions will sometimes appear in the margins of the map: run into them to gain a lot of HP.
- Each map has a hazard associated with it: expect turbulence and volcanic eruptions to interrupt your match!
- Draw enemies out of the ring by engaging them with ranged attacks or use abilities that will lock them in place outside of the ring, giving your teammates a chance to step into the ring and start moving the crystal.
