FFXIV Experience 'A Nocturne for Heroes'

Not a Spoiler-free Guide

Normally I try to hide story spoilers in my FFXIV Event Guides. But to be able to make this guide worth doing, and as helpful for you as possible, I could not avoid spoilers.

So, if you just want to see the glamour, hairstyle and other goodies, then click/tap here to skip to the rewards.

When is the Noctis Event in 2024?

A Nocturne for Heroes runs from

• 28th February 2024 at 12am PST, 8am GMT (UK Time), to
• 13th March 2024 at 7:59am PST, 3:59pm GMT

Find Your Zone

This FFXIV event has a much higher requirement than most of the others. You have to have finished the “base” pack of A Realm Reborn. This means completing the MSQ up to and including The Ultimate Weapon.

Technically, the other requirement is to be Level 50. But you cannot do that quest without being Level 50 or above. So the minimum level issue really isn't an issue!

Are You Eligible?

In case you skipped to this section, check out the Can I Take Part? information.

Also, if you completed this story on your character, but once isn’t enough, see I Want To Replay A Nocturne for Heroes!.

Head to Ul’dah

Take the airship or port straight to Ul’dah. The nearest Aetheryte is the main Plaza.

You’re looking for Kipih Jakkya who is outside the Flame Barracks.

Speak to Kipih Jakkya

Once you have found the avid Raven reporter, pick up The Man in Black quest from her.

Then you follow the story!

You’ve done the event on your character before, but want to redo it – say, for new screenshots? You need to use Seasonal Event Replay.

How to Use Seasonal Event Replay

It sounds like a special feature, or menu item but it’s not. You can just trundle along to Kippih and reboot the storyline.

You cannot obtain rewards by using the Seasonal Event Replay feature.

FFXIV
You will not be able to purchase or exchange quest-related items from the Ironworks hand or Recompense Officers until all of the [event] quests have been completed.

Quoted from: The official site.

FATE in Thanalan

As the story starts in Thanalan, the first major story part is here too.

Look out for the recurring FATE Like Clockwork in Central Thanalan once you hit that part of the story.

This FATE awards Unidentified Magitek upon completion.

In the Dark of Night

Your hunt for answers continues onto the Black Shroud, which leads to a solo duty.

You’ll spend a night camping with Noctis. And, as I saw in chat the other day – walk away with his pants¹!

During that you’ll have to fight alongside Noctis, which culminates in this beast of a machine. It’s called Iseultalon, which features in FFXV.

Garuda (Solo) Duty

The story reaches its climax and conclusion at the Howling Eye, where you have faced Garuda before. It turns out the Primal has various incarnations. This one is so weird (or “normal” in Noctis’ world) that even the Ixal run away in confusion and fear!

You’ll have to fight alongside Noctis in a solo duty to defeat her. Noctis is the one who deals the final telling blow, however.

• Noctis doesn’t self-heal. If you have no healing skills that affect others, try to keep the aggro off him.
• When the first tower appears, stand in the AoE beneath it.
• Keep looking for two towers after that. Noctis heads for one of them – sprint to the other. He generally does the brave thing and heads to the nearest one. (At least on my run!). Not managing to be in both towers inflicts huge damage on you both – but is really noticeable on Noctis’ HP.
• The Iseultalon has a move that I think was called “Stomp”. Noctis runs a certain distance away from it when this is channelling. Do the same.

• Start as you would any primal/boss fight, avoiding AoEs etc. Try to keep the heat off Noctis again.
• The pillars don’t protect you from her AoEs, but you can use them to Warp quickly away from.
• When Garuda uses a skill that pulls you to her, you must warp to a pillar of stone. Noctis reminds you of this if you forget. (Or “when you forget” in my case).
• When Garuda casts a huge AoE with only a pillar of stone outside the area:
  1. Warp to the pillar and immediately target Garuda
  2. As soon as the AoE vanishes and/or Noctis yells “Now”, Warp to Garuda. This creates a Link Attack which deals more damage.

When Garuda’s down to really low health (I want to say 5%, but I haven’t checked yet), you have “just one job” to do.

In case you’ve only done A Realm Reborn the last phase may come as a surprise. The “maneuver” called “Storm Call” tells you to free yourself.

You have to hammer that button multiple times until the progress bar is full and before the timer runs out.

Succeed in that, and Noctis takes over to complete the fight.

This is the easiest reward to obtain! You receive piece of Noctis’ outfit with each of the three quests:

1. Lucian Prince’s Gloves (Well, Glove): The Man in Black
2. Bottoms (aka Pants): In the Dark of Night
3. Lucian Prince’s Jacket and Boots: Messenger of the Winds

→ See on Different Races

Here are some race/body shape shots on other characters, so you can see whether it’d be a good “fit” for yours:

• Female Au’ra
• Male Hrothgar
• Male Lalafell
• Male Miqo’te
• Male Viera

Apologies for the typo, or missed message. The Regalia is 200k, not 100k MGP.

How you get the Regalia Mount is:

1. Finish the whole A Nocturne for Heroes storyline.
2. Earn 200,000MGP at the Gold Saucer
3. Speak to the Ironworks Vendor in the Gold Saucer and buy your Regalia Type-G Title.

Regalia Type-G Pictures

Right, I’ll straight up and admit that I don’t own the Regalia Mount. I don’t use Magitek items very often so I usually save my MGP for something else. But thankfully, a friend on Mastodon shared theirs! See this below (or on the right on larger screens).

by @[email protected]

I didn’t even know the word “pillion” existed before playing FFXIV. That aside, the Regalia Type-G takes the driver and up to three passenger players. Sorry, no Chocobos allowed.

Right-click the someone else’s mount and select “Ride Pillion”. Not that “pillion” is actually the correct word for a car. But then cars aren’t normal in Eorzea, so what the heck, really!

See It In Flight

You can also see screenshots over on ConsoleGamesWiki that depict it on the ground and in flight.

Orchestrion Rolls

The following Orchestrion Rolls can be obtained in exchange for Unidentified Magitek:

• Hammerhead
• Valse di Fantastica
• Relax and Reflect
• Veiled in Black
• Apocalypsis Noctis
• A Quick Pit Stop

Ironworks Hands

You can trade your magitek with Ironworks Hand NPCs in various locations: Black Brush Station (Thanalan), Ul’dah, Gridania and Limsa.

Triple Triad Card

There is just one card available and you’ll never guess who it depicts!

Oh, you guessed. Never mind then, carry on!

• Noctis Lucis Caelum Card (5*)
  Price: 10,000

Note: You must purchase this from the Ironwork Vendor to get this discounted price.

The usual price is 200,000!

This will be the third time I’ve run the Noctis Event and each time I have another character who has yet to do the story. It’s really well written and the combat types are varied too.

You get a great new outfit glamour for free. Then you can relax in the gold saucer to earn any of the other things you may or may not want, too. However you choose to play FFXIV, and whichever aspects of A Nocturne for Heroes you engage in – enjoy playing and help others to do the same.

Official Sites

Naturally, you should check out the official pages too:

• Official Blog
• Special Site