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Final Fantasy 14 has tons of dungeons to explore, but none as unique as the Deep Dungeons. Palace of the Dead and Heaven-on-High are two unique, rogue-like dungeons that will test your capabilities as an explorer.
Each time you enter Heaven-on-High the dungeon's layout will change, as will the enemies you face and items you find. This makes exploring the dungeon an entirely different experience each time you enter. Paired with deadly traps and enemies, you'll definitely want to be prepared before you take your first steps into Heaven-on-High. Let's take a look at how to unlock this dungeon and the basics of what you can do and find there.
How To Unlock Heaven-on-High
- Pre-requisites
- Complete the Main Scenario Quest 'Tide Goes in, Imperials Go Out'
- Complete Floor 50 of Palace of the Dead
- Lvl. 61 Disciple of War or Magic
- Complete the quest 'Knocking on Heaven's Door'
- NPC Location: Hamakaze - The Ruby Sea (x: 6.x, y:11.7)
To unlock Heaven-on-High, you will need to progress far enough in the Stormblood storyline to complete the quest 'Tide Goes in, Imperials Go Out'. This quest is Lvl. 63, so it is fairly early on in the expansion's story quests.
Second, you will need to complete floor 50 of Palace of the Dead, which is the game's first Deep Dungeon. This can be done solo or in a group, and should only take a few hours of playing to reach.
After that, complete the quest 'Knocking on Heaven's Door', which can be received from the NPC Hamakaze in the Ruby Sea. Follow the questline to unlock Heaven-on-High.
Entering Heaven-on-High
You can only enter Heaven-on-High as a level 61 or above Disciple of War or Magic. You will receive different rewards depending on your level when you enter.
Heaven-on-High is split into increments of 10 floors. Every time you enter the dungeon, you will explore 10 floors at a time, the final floor of each being a boss. After exploring each set of 10 floors, you have a chance to save your progress and either continue to the next floor or exit the dungeon.
To enter Heaven-on-High, speak with Kyusei (x:21.4, y:9.2). You will have two save slots that can be used to save your exploration progress through the dungeon. When re-entering Heaven-on-High, you may either select a save slot to load from or start over from the beginning. When loading a save, you have to enter as the same Job as the one you previously entered as. Additionally, the number of times you die during exploration will be recorded.
When you enter Heaven-on-High with random party members and save your progress to a save slot, you do not need to enter again with the same random players. Instead, you will be matched with another set of random players, meaning you can continue from where you left off with different players. They will, however, also need to have a save slot at the same floor as you.
Each 10 floor exploration has a time limit of 60 minutes. If you don't complete those 10 floors within the time limit, you will be forced out of the dungeon, losing all progress.
Basics of Heaven-on-High
Character Growth
In Heaven-on-High, your character will grow separately than they do outside the dungeon. When you first enter floor 1 of the dungeon, your level will be set to 61, and you will only be able to use actions that are gained up to level 61. As you defeat enemies in Heaven-on-High, you will gain experience points. Gain enough and you will level up, unlocking new actions as you would normally.
Treasure Coffers
Throughout the dungeon, you will find Treasure Coffers that hold a variety of items. Coffers come in Bronze, Silver, and Gold, and different items are held in each.
- Bronze Coffers: Contain normal items like Potions, Phoenix Downs, or Empyrean Potsherds.
- Silver Coffers: Has a chance to increase your Empyrean Aetherpool Arm and Armor level by one. Silver coffers may also contain a random Magicite, or they might explode, dealing damage to all nearby players equal to 80 percent of their maximum health.
- Gold Coffers: Contains a random Pomander.
Gear
One of the first things you may notice when entering Heaven-on-High for the first time is that your current gear has no effect inside the dungeon. Instead, you will be equipped with an Empyrean Aetherpool Arm and Armor. These can be strengthened only while inside Heaven-on-High through Silver Coffers.
Every time you open a Silver Coffer, there is a chance that either your Aetherpool Arm or Amor's level will increase by one. With each level, your Arm or Armor will deal more damage or prevent more damage, respectively. The levels of your gear will be saved when you exit Heaven-on-High and can be raised to a maximum of 99.
Pomanders
Pomanders are special use-items that can only be found while exploring Heaven-on-High, most often when opening Gold Coffers. There are several different types of Pomanders, and each has a different effect when used, but you can only carry a maximum of three of each type. Their effects range from granting temporary stat buffs to turning all enemies to stone. Making good use of Pomanders is essential to reaching higher floors in the dungeon.
Magicite
Magicite are special items that allow you to summon a Primal to assist you on the current floor. When used on a non-boss floor, summoning a Primal using Magicite will instantly kill all enemies on the floor and grant all players a temporary invincibility buff.
If the Magicite is used during a boss fight, it will instead deal damage equal to 20 percent of the boss' maximum health, while still granting invincibility to all players.
You can hold a maximum of three Magicite, so use them wisely.
The Accursed Hoard
The Accursed Hoard is a special treasure that can be found rarely in Heaven-on-High. To pick up this treasure, you need to stand on a specific spot on the current floor for a few seconds to reveal the Branded Coffer that contains the treasure. You would have to get extremely lucky to find the Accursed Hoard in this way. Instead, you can use Pomander of Intuition, which will reveal the spot you must stand for the next Accursed Hoard treasure. This Pomander's effect will remain until you find the Accursed Hoard, so you can freely use it as soon as you get it.
Opening the Branded Coffer will reward you with one Haloed sack, the quality of which depends on which floor you obtain it. This item needs to be appraised by the Confederate Appraiser (x:21.3, y:9.2) to obtain rewards.
Progressing in Heaven-on-High
Moving to Higher Floors
To progress to higher floors in Heaven-on-High, you will need to charge the Beacon of Passage by defeating enemies. The Beacon of Passage is randomly located in one of the rooms on each floor, but will appear as an icon on the map when its room is entered. As you defeat enemies, the Beacon will charge up, its icon growing noticeably with each stage. After the necessary number of enemies are defeated, the Beacon of Passage will be open, allowing you to enter its glowing ring and move to the next floor.
Note that all current surviving party members must be standing inside the ring for the Beacon to send you to the next floor.
Bosses
On floors 10, 20, 30, and so on, you will fight a boss. The first few bosses that you face will have basic mechanics and attacks that can be easily avoided. However, later bosses have complex mechanics that have a high chance of killing you if you aren't prepared.
After defeating the boss, you can either save and leave or continue to the next section of the dungeon.
Resurrecting
If you die while exploring Heaven-on-High with a party, you have a chance to be revived. Using the Beacon of Return, all downed players can be revived, but only if the Beacon is fully charged. The Beacon will charge up as enemies are killed, and once it is fully charged, it can be used by a living player to bring all other players back to life.
If you are exploring Heaven-on-High solo, you will only have one life. If you die, you will have to restart at the beginning again. However, you can use the Pomander of Raising to essentially give you an extra life. This Pomander will instantly revive the first downed player. This effect will last until it has been used, and you can only have one instance of this effect active at one time. This means you can't 'stack' extra lives outside of collecting more Pomander of Raising.
Auspices
While exploring Heaven-on-High, you will very rarely come across an Auspice. These helpful NPCs will grant you and your party members a buff that lasts for five minutes. Which buff you receive depends on the Auspice.
- Komainu: Increases damage dealt
- Inugami: Decreases damage received
- Senri: Grants health regeneration
Traps and Floor Enchantments
Heaven-on-High is littered with traps that will attempt to impede your exploration progress. Traps can be hidden on the ground or may be activated when opening Bronze or Silver Coffers. These traps range from inconvenient to deadly, so it's important to avoid them when you can. Using a Pomander of Safety will remove all traps on the current floor, while the Pomander of Sight will reveal all traps on the current floor, allowing you to avoid them manually.
Floor enchantments have a chance to appear when moving to a new floor. Unlike traps, floor enchantments can be beneficial or detrimental; which one you get is random. You can get bonuses like increasing movement speed or boosting maximum health and MP, or negative effects like increasing enemy damage or disabling abilities. Using a Pomander of Serenity will clear the floor of its enchantments, bad and good.
At later floors, enchantments can come two or three at a time, making detrimental effects even more debilitating.
Rewards and Loot
Every time you complete 10 floors, you will be rewarded with items, experience, and gil corresponding to your level.
- If you are between levels 61-69, you will receive experience points, gil, and Tomestones of Poetics.
- If you are level 70 or above, you will receive current-issue Tomestones and gil.
If you have explored beyond floor 30, you will be rewarded with an Empyrean Potsherd. These can be traded for various items outside of Heaven-on-High.
Outside of Heaven-on-High, you can appraise your Accursed Hoard for various different items. These include Primal weapons, rare mounts and minions, and glamour items.
Upon completing floor 100, you will receive an Empyrean Reliquary. This item can be traded for one of four accessories or a furniture item. If you collect all four accessories and speak to the Cast-Off Confederate, you will receive the title 'True Hero' and the Juedi Horn, allowing you to summon the Juedi mount.
Beginner Tips and Tricks
Now that you know the basics of exploring Heaven-on-High, let's go over some tips and tricks that can make your first few runs through the dungeon easier.
- Fight enemies one-on-one. Only pull enemies one at a time to prevent being overwhelmed. This is especially true when playing solo or without a healer.
- Hug the walls. One of the most effective strategies for remaining safe is to move close to the walls of the dungeon. Most enemies stay near the center of each room, meaning you can avoid enemies more effectively if you stay near the walls.
- Don't hoard Pomanders. In general, Pomanders are abundant enough that you shouldn't hoard them if you can help it. Use them when they would be beneficial.
- Play with friends over randoms. If you have a group of friends or FC members that you can play with, you will have a much better time exploring Heaven-on-High than with a group of random players. This will make it easier to coordinate Jobs, and entering the dungeon again at a later time will be easier.
- Study your enemies. Knowing the attacks of enemies inside the dungeon will help immensely. This is especially true for bosses on later floors. These bosses will employ complex mechanics that you should know about before fighting them.
- Some Jobs are better than others. Contrary to the rest of the game, some Jobs do better in Heaven-on-High than others when playing solo. When you're playing by yourself, you need to perform the roles of Tank, Healer, and DPS all on your own. Jobs like Gunbreaker, Warrior, and Red Mage make exploring Heaven-on-High much easier because of their defensive options and healing capabilities. It is possible to clear floor 100 with every Job, but certain ones will have a much easier time doing so.
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