Final Fantasy XIV: How to begin The Windward Wilds trial (Guardian Arkveld)

Guardian Arkveld is the new Final Fantasy XIV trial boss found in The Windward Wilds. Part of the Monster Hunter x FFXIV collaboration, the Monster Hunter foe can now be fought in Square Enix’s hit MMO, now that patch 7.35 has launched. The only real drawback to this fight, is if you want to farm all the cool weapons, and start upgrading them, you need to have put some pretty serious time into this game. You can’t just jump in as a fresh player and hope to fight Arkveld.

If you want to know the requirements to begin the Guardian Arkveld fight, as well as the rewards in Final Fantasy XIV, we’re here to help. Once we’ve had time to actually fight the boss a few times, we’ll be back with the strategies needed to best him. For now though, here’s how to queue up.

How to unlock The Windward Wilds trial to fight Guardian Arkveld in Final Fantasy XIV

In order to queue for The Windward Wilds trial in Final Fantasy XIV to fight Guardian Arkveld, you need to meet a few important requirements. The least of which is, of course, to be level capped for Dawntrail (Level 100) on any combat job of your choice. Here are the specific requirements:

Disciple of War or Magic Level 100
Item Level of 725 or above
Must complete the Dawntrail main scenario quest

If you’ve met those requirements, head to Tuliyollal (13.3, 13.1), and speak to the Dawn Hunt Tracker to begin the quest The White Wanderer. Completing the objectives short quest will unlock the ability for you to fight Guardian Arkveld in Final Fantasy XIV; or at least, the normal version. The quest will not complete until Arkveld is slain, however.

When you complete the trial, you’ll receive a Veldian Weapon Coffer, to unlock a Monster Hunter-themed weapon, and Guardian Scales may be carved from the bosses’ hide. These scales are exchanged for weapons and items at the smithy, in Tuliyollal, once you’ve completed The White Wanderer quest.

Beginning this quest puts you on the hunt for Arkveld! (Image via Square Enix)

Completing the Guardian Arkveld fight also unlocks the Extreme version of The Windward Wilds, provided you also go and speak to The Wandering Minstrel in Tuliyollal (11.1, 14.6), as a level 100 combat job. This fight has a higher requirement for gear, requiring Average item level of 740 or above.

You can expect the Guardian Arkveld fight to be a rough one (Image via Square Enix)

Defeating this version of Guardian Arkveld grants you a Veldian weapon coffer and two Guardian Arkdveld certificates. You can still carve out some Guardian scales, too. The Guardian Arkveld certificates are required to enhance the Veldian weapons, at the smithy. It’s likely that a Guardian Arkveld mount will drop from this fight, or at least, will have a very low chance to drop.

Unfortunately, we do not know if the Guardian Arkveld mount will be in the game, but considering Rathalos had a mount, we’re figuring the same will be the case here. Once we have confirmation, we’ll update this accordingly.

Check out our other Final Fantasy XIV guides and features

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 15 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

Know More

Edited by Jason Parker