This is a guide for FINAL FANTASY XIV: Stormblood’s Deep Dungeon, Heaven-on-High, introduced in Patch 4.35: Under the Moonlight. This guide will attempt to help both newcomers and current challengers understand the various, unique mechanics of the dungeon by breaking down each section into digestible parts.
Heaven-on-High requires at least Disciple of War/Magic at Level 61 and the completion of the Main Story Quest, Tide Goes in, Imperials Go Out. Players must also have completed Floor 50 of Palace of the Dead. A new quest, Knocking on Heaven’s Door, will be available in the Ruby Sea. Following this quest will unlock Heaven-on-High as well as further quests that expands upon Heaven-on-High and its story.
Progressing past Floor 30 requires a fixed party. Furthermore, wiping on any floor above Floor 31 will lock the save-file, meaning the party won’t be able to re-enter through that save and must restart completely.
Every instance also has a time limit of 60 minutes, meaning you have an hour to get through 10 floors. This may seem generous — many early runs rarely take more than 30 minutes — but the higher floorsets will quickly test how fast and efficiently parties can get through. It is not uncommon for the last few floorsets to be completed with minutes to spare. Therefore, while it is important to take this slow and calmly, you do not have all the time in the world.
Throughout the guide, terms such as “later floorsets” will be used. For clarification purposes, this means Floors 61+.
General Tips
Your gear outside of Heaven-on-High has no bearing whatsoever. You can literally walk in with Item Level 1 gear as a fresh Stormblood job and it wouldn’t make a difference.
You’re only allowed to have two save slots. Be sure to delete saves when you clear or wipe.
If you’re joining a Party Finder group, expect to sink a lot of time on a single run. Most PUGs will try to clear in a single sitting, and this can take at least 5 hours. Set aside plenty of time before you start. In my experience, it is nigh impossible to continue a run with randoms the day after without some form of external communication.
Heaven-on-High can be very stressful for some people, especially people making the climb for the first time. Take (or ask for) frequent breaks between floorsets, if need be. Being calm, collected, and distraction-free is one of the best ways of being successful.
Consider the use of external communications. You can utilize Voice Comms like Discord, since communicating through voice chat is significantly better than through text. If you are personally against this, then just don’t join parties that ask for it.
Leave the salt at the door. Every mistake you make is a learning experience. It can suck when you wipe extremely close to the end (trust me, I’ve wiped on Floor 99 before), but you’ll know what to do next time. The worst thing you can do is tilt the party; try to give constructive feedback rather than flaming.
Items
Deep Dungeons are unique in that while inside, parties have access to a special inventory. This inventory is shared across the entire party and includes pomanders and magicite, which are covered in their respective sections.
In a matched party, the inventory is wiped upon leaving the dungeon. Therefore, they should be used much more frequently in order to clear the floorset overall as fast as possible. In a fixed party, the inventory is retained between floorsets. Therefore, they should be used much more sparingly. Many parties agree to save a majority of their items until the higher floorsets, sometimes saving them all up for the very last floorset.
Pomanders
Pomanders are special items that can only be obtained within Deep Dungeons and can only be stacked up to 3 times each. They all provide a variety of effects to both players, enemies, and the floor in general. These are only obtained from Gold Treasure Coffers.
Pomander of AffluenceIncreases the amount of treasure coffers on the next floor. If you are in need of emergency pomanders or are lacking in pomanders in general, use it.
Pomander of AlterationTurns all enemies in a room on the next floor into Mandragoras or Mimics. If you’re on a earlier floorset or intend to clear the floor with some kind of instant-kill pomander, this can be a great chance at getting extra items since Mimics drop extra loot. On higher floorsets, if you have an abundance of concealment pomanders, you can gamble on this to potentially get an easy room but honestly it’s not worth the risk/pomander usage.
Pomander of ConcealmentRenders the party invisible to traps and enemies. This is great if your starting to run low on time, encounter a Treasure Room that you must absolutely go through in order to get to the Beacon of Passage, or simply need to get through a tough room quickly and easily. If your party pops one for the sake of rushing to the Beacon of Passage, absolutely under no circumstances open any chests, since a Mimic will instantly unstealth you and potentially cause a lot of trouble. Fake Beacon of Passages while on the Hall of Fallacies will not trigger their trap effect while under the effects of this pomander, but neither do they allow the party to progress. If the beacon doesn’t pulsate, look for another one.
Pomander of FlightDecreases the number of enemies on the next floor. Another great pomander to use if you’re starting to run low on time or when you’re on the higher floorsets. This one is pretty straightforward; use as need be.
Pomander of FortuneIncreases the chance that enemies will drop treasure coffers on the current floor. Same deal as the Pomander of Affluence, use when you need to restock on pomanders. It’s also a good idea to pop this if you intend to clear a floor using a Pomander of Petrification or a Magicite, since you can get a bunch of extra treasure coffers.
Pomander of FrailtyIncreases the damage enemies take and decreases the damage they deal on the current floor for 3 minutes. These should generally be used for bosses or on higher floorsets in order to put less stress on the tank.
Pomander of IntuitionAllows the party to see the Accursed Hoard. Discuss with your party when to start using these, if at all. On higher floorsets, if the Accursed Hoard is off the beaten path, it can potentially eat up a lot of time and potentially risk the run. This effect disappears once the party finds the Accursed Hoard, and persists until this happens. Remember, Gold-Haloed and Platinum-Haloed sacks are found on Floors 31-70 and Floors 70+, respectively.
Pomander of PetrificationTurns all enemies on the current floor to stone for 30 seconds, causing them to die from a single hit. This is arguably one of the best pomanders, especially when combined with a Pomander of Fortune or simply in a tough situation. If you intend on using one to clear the floor quickly, make sure the party spreads out as far as possible in order to maximize the amount of kills.
Pomander of PurityRemoves the Accursed Pox. In all honesty, unless you desparately need the DPS or you don’t have a Healer (for some reason), just deal with the debuff. The DoT damage isn’t that scary as long as the Healer slaps a Regen buff on you.
Pomander of RaisingInstantly raises the first party member to be KO’ed. If you are only running one Raiser, this pomander is absolutely critical in the higher floorsets. However, its usefulness drops quickly when you have more than one raiser. I would recommend using these on Floors 81-100, since certain enemies, such as Chimeras, Minotaurs, and Cyclops, can instantly wipe the entire party if handled poorly. It’s also worth mentioning that this will save a Solo-run, should you die.
Pomander of SafetyClears all traps on the current floor. Very straight-forward. In my opinion, if you know you’re on a small-ish floor, use this over the Pomander of Sight. My rule of thumb is that if you run into a 3 or 4-way room early on, Pomander of Sight takes priority. It is also worth noting that, on floors with the Hall of Fallacy effect, this pomander will remove all fake Beacons of Passage.
Pomander of SerenityClears all enchantments on the current floor, both buffs and debuffs. Save these for when you get at least three debuffs per floor. The frequency of debuffs on the higher floors are so frequent that you’ll simply run out of these very quickly, so use them sparingly.
Pomander of SightReveals the entire map of the current floor and its traps. Basically a super Pomander of Safety. On the higher floorsets, this can be very helpful for getting through labyrinthian floors very quickly. Remember, these only reveal traps, not clear them. Please don’t be dumb.
Pomander of SteelDecreases the damage the user receives by 40% for 8 minutes. On the higher floorsets, these should be exclusively used by the Tank, since (for the most part) they should be the only ones taking damage in the first place, and anybody else will probably die in seconds regardless.
Pomander of StrengthIncreases the damage dealt and health restored through healing spells by 30% for 8 minutes. Typically should be used by DPS for obvious reasons, but if for some reason the Healer is having trouble keeping up with the Tank on the higher floorsets for one reason or another, let the Healer take priority. Many of the DPS checks are soft checks since a majority of them can be crowd-controlled, so the extra DPS is solely for getting through floors quicker.
Pomander of WitchingPolymorphs all enemies within a 30-yalm radius for 30 seconds. Another emergency pomander that should typically be used when a second enemy is accidentally pulled on the higher floorsets, or in any similar situation that does not warrant using a Pomander of Petrification. Around the middle floorsets, you can use excess Pomanders of Witching by pulling a large group of monsters then immediately popping one to get through rooms quickly. Keep in mind that this will also stop enemies from using their skills, including Mimics and their Accursed Pox. Ergo, you can effectively use this instead of using a Pomander of Purity to deal with Mimics.
General Tips
Use pomanders immediately when capped. The amount of people that will leave behind a buff-type pomander because they’re capped without having one active in the first place is staggering. If you run into a pomander that you’re capped on, pop it and grab the coffer. Obviously certain pomanders are exempt from this rule, like Pomanders of Purity or if the party is already running a pomander’s effects.
Designate a pomander user. The worst thing that can happen in an emergency is when the party panics and everyone uses more pomanders than they have to. In order to prevent this, designate someone who will use the majority of the pomanders. If you want, you can also establish a chain of command in the event that they die.
Magicite
Magicite are special items that are stored separately from pomanders. Only three magicite can be held at a time, regardless of type. Magicite can only be obtained through Silver Treasure Coffers (blue).
Crag, Inferno, and VortexMagicite instantly kills all enemies on the current floor and grants the party temporary invincibility. On bosses, they do roughly around 20% of their maximum health as damage. These are extremely helpful to have and should only be used in emergencies or if the party is running out of time. However, these are far rarer than some of the more available solutions, such as the Pomander of Petrification and Witching, so save these when all other solutions are unavailable. Do not use these for clearing bosses. The 20% damage and invincibility buff is extremely negligible, as many of the bosses’ mechanics and damage are extremely predictable and can be dealt with very easily.
The Elder Magicite is unique in that, in addition to the effects of the aforementioned magicite, it can also instantly kill bosses. However, the only boss that this is even remotely worth saving for is the Floor 90 boss, as its mechanics can easily overwhelm the party. It is also far rarer; finding one of these is considered very lucky. If you have an abundance of these, use them just like the aforementioned magicite.
Other
In addition to pomanders and magicite, the party has access to their own inventories as well. You can utilize this to bring some very helpful items that can aid the run.
Empyrean PotionGrants the Sustain effect to its user for 15 seconds, healing for 8% of the user’s HP every tick. These are invaluable for solo-runs, and can help ease the burden off the Healer in every situation. DPS players should use this so that the Healer can focus on the Tank when raid-wide damage comes out. Tanks can use this during pulls on higher floorsets to allow the Healer to DPS more. These can be purchased from the Confederate Custodian in the Ruby Sea for Empyrean Potsherds. 1 potsherd gets you 20 potions.
Phoenix DownRaises a KO’ed party member outside of combat. Very straight-forward. Use this when no other Raisers are alive and the Beacon of Raising is either inactive or too faraway. These can be found within Bronze Treasure Coffers, or purchased from the Market Board. Only one can be held at a time.
Echo DropsInstantly cures Silence. If you’re playing as a caster, bring a healthy amount of these. In the event that someone pops an Impeding Trap, you can use one of these to instantly cure your Silence and then proceed to cleanse the rest of the party or continue to deal damage. These can be purchased from potion-sellers in every city-state for very cheap.
FoodBelieve it or not, the Vitality effect from foodstuffs work inside Deep Dungeons. Since only the Vitality portion works, just use whichever gives the most and is the cheapest.
Treasure Coffers
Within Heaven-on-High there are three types of Treasure Coffers: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. These coffers contain different items based on their type.
Bronze Treasure CofferContains either Phoenix Downs, Super Potions, or Empyrean Potsherds. Potsherds will appear at an increased frequency on higher floorsets. Most parties will generally avoid these completely since it’s extremely risky due to the possibility of a Mimic.
Silver Treasure CofferEither increases the entire party’s Aetherpool Arms or Aetherpool Armor, contains a random magicite, or will explode for 80% of nearby players’ maximum HP.
Gold Treasure CofferContains a random pomander. If no more of that pomander can be obtained, the Coffer will remain.
Banded CofferA rare treasure coffer that may or may not appear once per floor. It is initially invisible and will only appear by standing above it for a couple of seconds. It’s location will be marked by a Pomander of Intuition. Upon opening it, the party will receive a haloed sack that can be traded in for items outside of the Deep Dungeon, but will only be obtained if the floorset is cleared completely; dying will forfeit all Accursed Hoard found. Silver-Haloed Sacks can be found from Floors 1-29.Gold-Haloed Sacks can be found from Floors 31-69.Platinum-Haloed Sacks can be found from Floors 71-99.
General Tips
Discuss with your party whether or not you want to go for Treasure Coffers. Some parties like to open coffers as they go in order to use excess pomanders to speed up progression. Other parties prefer to skip them once they have all the pomanders they need due to the increasing frequency of Mimics. Both strategies are fine, but discuss with your party how you want to deal with them.
Never open up Treasure Coffers in the middle of a pull. You can very easily end a run by opening up an explosive Silver Treasure Coffer or spawning a Mimic. Don’t be that guy.
Send one person to open Treasure Coffers. Sending one person to open Treasure Coffers reduces the odds of triggering a floor trap or aggroing enemies. You could even designate a Treasure Coffer opener to eliminate any confusion.
Traps
There are a variety of traps present throughout the dungeon. They are invisible (unless the party uses a Pomander of Sight), and are activated when a player steps over them. The trap’s effects will only apply to the person who stepped on it and nearby players, if applicable.
Otter TrapTurns a player into an otter, making them unable to take any actions and have reduced HP for 20 seconds. Functions just like the Toad Trap from Palace of the Dead.
Luring TrapSpawns three random enemies from the current floor that instantly aggro on the player that stepped on the trap. This may seem scary at first, but in reality is very easy to deal with in party-play. Allow the player that triggered it to die while the rest of the party runs away. This allows the summoned enemies to de-aggro and lets the rest of the party raise the KO’ed party member. In solo-runs, you can survive these traps by activating a Pomander of Raising and running away from the original spawning location. The mobs will de-aggro and return to their original spots, allowing you to safely recover.
Landmine TrapExplodes, dealing damage equal to 80% of nearby players’ current HP. This effect can also be caused by opening Silver Treasure Coffers. The explosion will also damage nearby enemies, but cannot be activated by them.
Enerveration TrapReduces the afflicted players’ damage dealt and increases the damage they take. Lasts for a minute.
Impeding TrapInflicts Silence and Pacify on all nearby party members for 30 seconds. These effects can be cleansed.
Mimic TrapTriggered by opening Treasure Coffers, rather than being a floor-based trap. Summons a Quivering Coffer mob.
General Tips
On higher floors, always pull enemies into hallways. Traps will only appear within rooms, but not hallways. Therefore, there is zero chance to pop one.
Stand still as much as possible. Less movement means less chance to pop a trap.
Be wary of Accursed Hoard markers. The Accursed Hoard is often located near traps, so take caution before grabbing them.
Only one floor trap can exist per room. Use this to your advantage to determine which rooms are “safe rooms”.
The spawn room is always free from floor-based traps.
Hug the walls. This is essentially the safest way to traverse through rooms without activating any traps.
Enchantments
Every floor throughout Heaven-on-High has a chance for multiple enchantments to affect the entire floor. These enchantments can be either beneficial or detrimental, and can be completely cleansed through the use of a Pomander of Serenity. Enchantments will never appear on the first floor or the boss floor.
Enchantments will also increase in frequency on higher floorsets. Therefore, it is imperative to discuss with the party how to deal with floor enchantments. It is highly recommended to only use a Pomander of Serenity when there are three debuffs. Parties on higher floorsets are more likely to go straight for the exit, and therefore this is when pomanders, such as the Pomander of Serenity, will become the most scarce.
Beneficial Enchantments
HasteParty members’ downtime between actions are reduced.
SprintParty members gain the effects of Sprint permanently. Sprint itself cannot be used.
HP/MP IncreaseParty members’ maximum HP and MP are increased.
Detrimental Enchantments
Damage DownDamage dealt by the party is reduced.
BlindedOffensive actions by the party have a chance to miss. This can be slightly scary, as it may severely lower the party’s overall DPS or cause crowd-control abilities to miss.
UnmagickedParty members cannot use magicite.
Auto-Heal PenaltyNatural HP regeneration is disabled.
No ItemsParty members cannot use items from their inventory or pomanders. Pomanders of Serenity exempt from this, and can used.
AmnesiaParty members cannot use Abilities. This includes buffs and most oGCDs.
HP ReductionParty members’ maximum HP is reduced.
GloomAll monsters on the floor deal increased damage, take reduced damage, and have bonus movement speed.
Hall of Fallacies
The Hall of Fallacies is a new effect introduced in Heaven-on-High. Floors have a random chance to be a “mega-room”, essentially being a massive chamber 4 cells long and 3 cells wide. This effect is not listed under the Floor Enchantments and does not take up a slot.
There is also a random chance for there to be more than one Beacon of Passage on the floor. Only one of these will be an actual Beacon of Passage, while the others will trigger a random floor trap upon being stepped on and disappear. As of this writing, there are no known ways to visually discern the difference between a real and fake Beacon of Passage without the use of a Pomander of Concealment.
General Tips
Save Pomanders of Serenity for triple-debuff floors. Floors on Heaven-on-High have a chance for up to three different enchantments, in addition to a Hall of Fallacies. If you don’t have a way to quickly clear these floors, be it magicite or pomander, popping a Serenity will greatly reduce the stress on the floor.
Take things slow. Having at least one of the debuffs warrants that the party should slow down and play much more carefully. Enchantments such as Amnesia will disable some DPS, defensive, and support cooldowns, while Auto-Heal Penalty will require parties to heal up after every pull.
Send one person at a time for Hall of Fallacy beacons. Not only does this reduce the effects of debuffs, this also allows the party to quickly recover from a Luring Trap.
Utilize Pomanders. Both the Pomander of Concealment and Pomander of Safety can help deal with false exits, with the former preventing the traps from triggered and the latter removing them altogether.
Auspices
Throughout Heaven-on-High there are also three different auspices that will very rarely appear randomly within rooms. When standing near them, they will do an AoE that will buff all party members within its range after a short delay. These buffs last for 5 minutes and will only be given out once every few minutes, so ensure party members are nearby when you encounter them, and possibly grab the buff again on the way to the next floor, if convenient.
KomainuIncreases damage dealt.
InugamiDecreases damage taken.
SenriAdds a HP regeneration effect.
Floors and Enemies
As one would expect, there are a variety of enemies that will impede your party’s progression. These can range from very negligible to run-ending. This guide will only cover notable enemies; for a complete database, please check out the HoH Monster Database uploaded by Reddit user /u/silversun247. It’s very helpful and covers each enemies’ attack patterns, the floors they are present on, their movement patterns, etc.
All Floors
Enemies and General Tips
Quivering Coffer (Mimic)
These can sometimes appear after opening a Treasure Coffer, and increase in frequency the higher the party goes.
Large aggro radius — don’t expect to sneak past a room full of these.
High auto-attack damage.
Death Trap— Point blank AoE attack. Easily dodgeable.
Malice — Relatively long-cast that targets a random party member and inflicts Accursed Pox, which reduces their damage dealt, halts natural HP regeneration, and applies a damage-over-time effect. This effects lasts for 10 minutes and persists through death. Can only be cured via a Pomander of Purity. This can be stunned up until Floor 61 and beyond.
Unless you desparately need the DPS gain or you have no way to get Regen, it’s usually not worth using the Pomander.
Focus down lone roamers/patrolling monsters. I would even highly recommend pulling them as you see them, if the situation allows it. Lone roamers that are left alive may eventually be a problem later on, possibly interrupting a pull or grouping up with another roamer.
But what if there’s two roamers coming in? Utilize aggro radiuses and hallways. Some hallways have side-alleys that can be used to hide from roamers, as they will not patrol into those areas nor look towards those areas. You can also hide within the corner of a room — there’s a chance that you will be missed by the patroller.
Bring as many Stunning abilities as possible. If your party is running a Tank, you’ll definitely have access to at least one — Low Blow. Melee/Ranged DPS also have access to Role Actions that can stun, AST and WHM have access to Celestial Opposition and Holy respectively, and MNK has both One-Ilm Punch and Shoulder Tackle, just to name a few examples. Many of the enemies’ mechanics can be outright prevented by Stunning them (save for a few examples), significantly reducing the chance of a wipe.
Floor 1-10
Some parties will opt to start on this set of floors rather than 21-30 in order to collect pomanders.
Enemies
Heavenly Shark
Roamer-type.
Jaws — A powerful tank-buster attack. These can do a surprising amount of damage, and is known to kill solo-runs early on. Stun or kill as fast as possible.
Boss — Mojabune
Similar to the first boss of Sirensong Sea.
Overtow — Knocks all players to the edge of the arena and immediately uses Hydroball.
Hydroball — Massive AoE that hits one half of the arena.
Floor 11-20
Enemies
Heavenly Hand
Aside from a DoT effect, it will eventually enrage and deal room-wide damage that will instantly kill the party. As long as a party member is putting forth a modicum of effort and are prioritized, this should never be an issue.
Boss — Beccho
Similar to the first boss of The Lost City of Amdapor (Hard)
Neuro Squama — Gaze-based attack that confuses players that fail to turn.
Psycho Squama — Large conal AoE.
Occasionally summons moths along the edge of the arena that explode after a short while. Stay in the center.
Floor 21-30
Enemies
Heavenly Hatamoto (Samurai)
High auto-attack damage.
Tenka Goken — Frontal conal AoE that functions exactly like the Samurai skill. Not telegraphed, but can easily be discerned by its distinct sound. Knocks all players hit back a short distance.
Midare Setsugekka — Tank buster that functions exactly like the Samurai skill. Shouldn’t be an issue as long as they are killed somewhat quickly.
Heavenly Yuki
Enter Night — Targets a random player. After a short while, they will be pulled towards the Yuki and then take a sizable amount of damage. Make sure they aren’t nearby other enemies to prevent avoidable kills.
Boss — Hiruko
Supercell — AoE attack that covers the entire arena in front of the boss.
Lightning Strike — Wide AoE line attack that targets a random party member.
Cloudcall and Shiko — Summons a bunch of clouds and then does a proximity-based attack that knocks all players up. Players that are knocked into clouds destroy the clouds. Any remaining clouds will do a small AoE that applies a Vulnerability down.
Floor 31-40
This floorset is a joke, especially if everyone has max aetherpool. Just don’t be stupid and use this time to farm more pomanders.
Boss — Bhina
Ancient Aero III — Summons wind clouds on opposite sides of the map and then knocks players back after a moderate delay. Be sure to be knocked back away from the clouds, but you can honestly just walk away from the clouds should you be knocked into them.
Floor 41-50
Enemies
Heavenly Mizumimizu (Worm)
Roamer-type.
Will eventually enrage and pull all nearby party members and deal lethal damage. You should be prioritizing roamers anyways, so deal with this as needed.
Heavenly Kuro-usagi
Roamer-type.
Very wide line-AoE. Easy to dodge, but can displace unprepared players.
Boss — Gozu (Hrodric Poisontongue)
Exactly like the last boss of Drowned City of Skalla, sans Tail Swipe.
Ripper Claw — Lifts his arm and then does a frontal AoE after a short delay. Move away from the front to dodge.
Laser — Targets a random party member, crouches a bit, then shoots a line AoE after a short delay. Break Line of Sight to dodge.
Roar — Summons a bunch of orbs then does a proximity-based AoE. The orbs will pulse for AoE damage repeatedly and disappear after a short while.
Floor 51-60
Around this point is when parties should stop splitting up and stick together.
Enemies
Heavenly Maru-ishi
Barely moves. Instead, it shoots wide line-AoEs that can nuke players without high Aetherpool Armor.
Heavenly Rachimonai
While un-aggroed, it will occasionally shoot undodgeable lasers at a random party member for a small amount of damage. This can be very annoying, so pull these guys first.
Heavenly Tesso
DoT damage.
Boss — Suikazura (Scylla)
Summons a number of staves across the arena in two sets. They will do donut-AoEs after a short while, one set after another. Afterwards they will do line AoEs, one set after another.
Also does a small, dodgeable AoE on a random party member. This appears shortly before the staves detonate, so make sure you don’t accidentally drop this on a safe spot.
Every other time Suikazura summons staves after the first time (2nd time, 4th time, etc.) will have it so that there are safe spots in the very center and in every cardinal and sub-cardinal direction.
Floor 61-70
Mimics’ Malice can no longer be stunned.
Enemies
Heavenly Wakakuso (Morbol Sproutling)
Stacking Poison DoT.
Boss — Kenko (Hellhound)
Predator Claw — Frontal AoE that can be dodged by sidestepping it. Not telegraphed,
Innerspace — Drops a neuro-link pool on a random player. While in this neuro-link, players are inflicted with Mini, increasing the damage they take and reducing the damage they deal.
Hound Out of Hell and Devour — Line AoE that tracks a random player, then immediately follows up with an instant-kill attack. Players that are in the neuro-link from Innerspace take no damage from Devour.
Floor 71-80
Enemies
Heavenly Noyagi (Deer)
Rear AoE attack that is not telegraphed, casts instantly, deals moderate damage, and knocks targets back. Stay away from the rear.
Heavenly Mammoth
Prehistoric Trumpet — While un-aggroed, does a massive, undodgeable AoE around itself. Does somewhat negligible damage, but is very annoying.
Wooly Inspiration — Conal AoE that sucks up players and then follows up with a lethal attack. The range is deceptively wide; it is wider than what the indicator leads you to believe. Stand on the opposite side of the Mammoth to dodge completely.
Heavenly Tofu
Golden Tongue — Buffs its own damage every 15 seconds. Recommended to either Stun this ability or kill quickly in order to prevent things from getting out of hand.
Heavenly Jujishi (Griffin)
When aggro’ed, will immediately attempt to do a circular AoE attack on whoever pulled it.
Words of Winter — Enrage attack that will likely instantly kill non-Tank players. Can be stunned.
Heavenly Yuki-Otoko (Yeti)
Eventually enrages and does a massive circular AoE around itself and applies Deep-Freeze, freezing afflicted in place and applies a DoT. Either kill it quickly or be ready to Stun it.
Heavenly Ichijama (Wraith)
While un-aggroed, shoots circular AoEs at random players.
Scream — After a short while, attempts to cast a large circular AoE around itself. Pull it to a place that leaves plenty of room to safely dodge this.
Heavenly Hyoga (Tiger)
Roamer-type
Absolute Zero — Very large conal AoE that inflicts Deep-Freeze on its targets. Stand near it in order to easily dodge it.
Gaze attack.
Heavenly Shiro-jishi (Lion)
Roamer-type
Cry — Massive circular AoE attack. Be ready to Stun or have plenty of room to safely dodge.
Boss — Kajigakaka (Fenrir)
Don’t stand near ice balls.
That’s it.
Floor 81-90
This is the hardest floorset, even harder than 91-100. Don’t be hesitant to use your pomanders just because “it isn’t the last set of floors”.
From this point on, assume all non-auto attack damage will instantly kill you.
Enemies
Heavenly Mukai-inu (Chimera)
Dragon’s Voice — Donut AoE that deals lethal damage and paralyzes players.
Ram’s Voice — Point-blank AoE that deals lethal damage and freezes players.
The Dragon’s Voice and Ram’s Voice will alternate — one will always be used after the other.
Remember: Ram = Run
Both Dragon’s Voice and Ram’s Voice can be Silenced.
You can explain this to your party members a million times and somebody will always die. Be prepared to raise people.
Heavenly Rowan (Gorilla)
Self-Damage buff and an unavoidable, stacking Physical Vulnerability Down AoE. Wait until both wear off before pulling stuff.
Prioritize first.
Heavenly Ryuji
Elbow-Drop — Instant conal AoE from behind. Avoid standing behind it at all times. It may change the direction its facing as well, so reposition if need be.
Heavenly Garula (Buffalo)
Roamer-type.
Disorientating Groan — Large circular AoE. Leave plenty of room to dodge.
Charges at the first person they aggro.
Heavenly Rakshasa (Manticore)
Roamer-type.
Ripper Claw — Frontal, conal AoE that is not telegraphed. Move to its rear to dodge completely.
Heavenly Gozu (Minotaur)
11-Tonze Swipe — Frontal, conal AoE that is not telegraphed. Lethal damage.
Hex — Gaze attack that polymorphs any party member that fails to look away. If a party member gets polymorphed, the Gozu will devour them, instantly killing them.
Heavenly Araragi (Goobue)
Stacking Poison DoT.
Also has a suction attack — make sure it’s away from other enemies and in a safe area.
Heavenly Hitotsume (Cyclops)
Glower — Line AoE that is not telegraphed.
100-Tonze Swing — Circular AoE that deals lethal damage. Not telegraphed.
Boss — Onra (Xande)
Ancient Quaga — Raid-wide attack. Does around half of a non-Tank’s HP. Also summons sand orbs across the room that pulsate frequency. Every pulse does an AoE attack that deals minor damage, knocks player back, and inflicts Heavy.
Heavy can be a issue with the boss’s multitude of AoEs, but can be easily dodged with a combination of good reaction time and/or Sprint while afflicted with Heavy.
Aura Cannon — Large line AoE attack.
Burning Rave — Targeted large circular AoE attack on a random player.
Meteor Impact — Places a proximity AoE.
This is the last boss of Heaven-on-High. If you wanted to use an Elder Magicite to instantly gib a boss, this is the time.
Floor 91-100
There are three enemies that resemble players and are all called Heavenly Nuppeppo. You must use their appearance to discern their moveset. They resemble a Monk, Warrior, and a Healer, with the most dangerous being the Warrior.
You are in the homestretch! Feel free to use pomanders such as Pomanders of Sight or Safety much more recklessly.
Enemies
Heavenly Nuppeppo (Warrior)
Triple Knockback attack. Make sure the Tank is up against a wall or pops a Knockback Immunity buff, such as Tempered Will or Holmgang, to prevent being knocked into a room.
Heavenly Nuppeppo (Monk)
Haste buff.
Fleet Footwork — Buffs its evasion — basically makes it invulnerable while active. Only lasts a couple of seconds.
Heavenly Mifune (Rider)
Valfodr — Line AoE that tracks a player. Can be avoided by breaking Line of Sight, otherwise does massive damage and will likely kill a non-Tank player without some form of mitigation.
Heavenly Jinba (Centaur)
Gaze attack.
Allagan Meteor — Massive AoE that deals lethal damage and cannot be stunned. Massive is an understatement; either kill quickly or leave a lot of space to dodge it. Is always used after the Gaze attack.
Heavenly Shabti
Death’s Door — Extremely fast line AoE that deals lethal damage. Stay on your toes. You can also Stun them to avoid this altogether.
Heavenly Gozu (Minotaur)
Roamer-type.
Basically the Heavenly Hitosume (Cyclops) and the previous Heavenly Gozu from Floor 81-90 combined, sans Glower and Hex.
Heavenly Tenma (Pegasus)
Roamer-type.
Quasar — Line AoE. Not telegraphed.
Nicker — Large circular AoE.
Party Composition
A large factor in successful completion of the later floors of Heaven-on-High is the composition of your party. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that some jobs are simply outright better than others due to their mechanics, and therefore certain jobs will be more desirable than others.
Most parties will commonly opt for the classic 1 Tank, 1 Healer, and 2 DPS structure. While this isn’t required to enter, it is theoretically the best formation. The outgoing damage in the later floors is so high that it’s highly recommended to run at least 1 Tank and 1 Healer.
Outside of the higher floors, party composition does not matter at all — play whatever you want.
Suggestions
DPS RaisersSummoners and Red Mages are highly desired due to their access to Raise. By having access to more than one Raise in the party, there is a much larger safety net in the event that a Raiser dies. That said, RDM is much more desirable than SMN. This is because RDM offers a lot more upfront burst compared to SMN’s wind-up and DoT based damage. In addition, RDM’s Verraise does not require Swiftcast and also has access to Vercure. SMN’s summons can also occasionally cause aggro issues, including pulling enemies on accident. By no means are either of these are required. If you think you won’t be able to clear at all without running either of these jobs in your party, “git gud”.
Rewards
Upon completion of Heaven-on-High’s floors, various rewards can be obtained. These rewards can only be obtained by successful completion of each floorset, and are forfeited upon failure to complete the floorset due to a wipe.
Empyrean Weapon10 levels of both Aetherpool Arms and Armor can be converted into an Empyrean Aetherpool Grip. 10 of these (100 Aetherpool Arms and Armor) can be converted into an i365 weapon for any Job. For PLD, 10 Aetherpool Grips will grant both a Sword and a Shield.
Empyrean ReliquaryUpon completion of Floor 100, all party members will be given an Empyrean Reliquary. This can be traded in for one of four accessories or a housing item. These accessories have no major stats and are intended for glamouring purposes.RingEarringNecklaceBraceletHousing
Juedi HornUpon either acquiring or wearing all 4 Empyrean Accessories, speak to the Cast-off Confederate nearby the queue zone to receive the title «True Hero» and a Jeudi Horn. This means that if you used a reliquary to purchase the Housing Item, or want to purchase it in the future and obtain the Juedi Horn, you must do 5 runs total.
TitlesThere are a couple of different Titles that can be unlocked as well: «Hiruko Hunter» Clear Floor 30.«Heavenly Gate Crasher»Clear Floor 100.«True Hero»Acquire all four Empyrean Accessories and speak to the Cast-off Confederate (Clear Floor 100 four times).«Lone Hero»Clear Floor 100 starting from Floor 1 by yourself.«The Lucky»Discover 1,000 pieces of the Accursed Hoard. †«Hoarder»Discover 10,000 pieces of the Accursed Hoard. †«Of the Sixth Sense»Discover 100 pieces of the Accursed Hoard without the use of a Pomander of Intuition. †† Progress towards these titles can also be made in through the Palace of the Dead
Haloed SacksAs mentioned earlier, finding Banded Coffers and clearing the floorset you found them on will reward your party with Haloed Sacks. These sacks can contain potentially valuable items, such as Primal-themed weapons, minions, orchestrion rolls, glamour pieces, or even the elusive Dodo Horn!Silver-Haloed Sack — Floor 1-30 (Loot Table)Gold-Haloed Sack — Floor 31-70 (Loot Table)Platinum-Haloed Sack — Floor 71-100 (Loot Table)
Misc.
The following sections have no bearing on Heaven-on-High — these sections only contain information about the guide itself.
Update Log
7/12/2018 — Added some more miscellaneous information here and there, corrected the NPC you speak you for the Juedi Horn.
7/10/2018 — Made tables’ cells a bit easier to discern.
7/9/2018 — Added some Stun information, added Bosses’ names.
7/8/2018 — Clarified the Beacon of Passages under the Hall of Fallacies section, fixed the HP damage regarding Silver Coffers and Landmine traps, and expanded on the Heavenly Mifunes’s Valfodr attack.
7/8/2018 — Fixed a mistake with Pomander of Petrification, Added more information regarding certain mobs, added Auspices.
Please don’t hesitate to inform me about corrections — a good portion of this guide was written with a combination of personal experiences, cross-referencing with other players, and word of mouth. If you have any questions, comments, corrections, suggestions, personal experiences that you think can make this guide better, or suggestions for Future Readings, please contact me through one of the following ways:
