Is there a greater joy in a loot based game than coming across a new piece of gear that not only has better stats than your current equipment, but also just looks rad as hell? Final Fantasy XIV has no shortage of armor that fits this bill, including the Augmented Ironworks sets. But how do you get these gear sets and are they worth grinding out to get them?
What is the Augmented Ironworks Armor and How Do I Unlock it?
The Augmented Ironworks Sets are a collection of gear that is available once players complete the final pre-patch quest of A Realm Reborn,“The Ultimate Weapon.” A full set would contain a piece for every equipable slot. including a weapon and ancillary equipment such as earrings and armbands. Each piece will require you to be level 50 to equip, but if you’re able to accept and complete the mission, you’re already there.
After “The Ultimate Weapon” is turned in, three new shop NPCs named “Sundry Splendors” will be added to each of the starting cities, Limsa Lominsa, Gridania and Ul’dah. They will sell you a piece of Augmented Ironworks gear of your choosing in exchange for Tomestones of Poetics. It doesn’t matter which one you talk to, as their inventory and pricing is the same across all locations. It’s also worth mentioning that previously these vendors sold Ironworks Gear, and then an item called a “Carbontwine” was used to turn them into Augmented Armor Pieces—however after a game update, they now sell the latter directly and no Carbontwine is needed.
There are two primary methods to obtaining Tomestones of Poetics. One of the fastest is by completing the Main Scenario Duty Roulette once a day. Upon completion, this will reward you with 350 Tomestones. While this is a lot of the currency, these roulettes can be fairly tedious, as it only offers one of three quests, all rather lengthy with multiple boss fights and unskippable cutscenes. Luckily, you have another option to grind these out, as you can complete a High-Level Duty Roulette.
This will enter you into a random Level 50 or higher dungeon that you have unlocked. The great thing about this option is not only do you have a wider variety of content to play through, but you also get 100 Tomestones after the Duty is completed, as well as the normal Tomestone payout for completing the dungeon and certain bosses inside. To maximize efficiency, you can do both daily, but if you are tired of the Main Scenario Roulettes, just stick with the High-Level Ones.
Is It Worth Buying
At the point in FFXIV where you are able to purchase the Augmented Ironworks Armor, your current setup is most likely the one gained from completing your Job Questline (assuming you were up-to-date on it). The Augmented Ironworks Set is significantly better than these, but you also have to spend a lot more time obtaining the currency. Given the somewhat quick rate you have been upgrading your gear, it may seem like a waste of time to spend hours grinding out Main Scenario Roulettes and High Level dungeons to obtain enough poetics to purchase the entire set, made longer by the sheer number of components each contains. However, there is some benefit to taking the time to obtain what is currently the best armor available.
“The Ultimate Weapon” was the original ending of A Realm Reborn, after Final Fantasy XIV’s relaunch. Between its release and the first expansion, Heavensward, Square Enix added roughly 80 quests in a series of patches. Given the level cap of the game at this time was 50, you really won’t otherwise obtain useful gear until you start accepting quests above this level, which won’t happen until well into Heavensward. Since the patch quests can take up to 20 hours to complete, and the midpoint of Heavensward is close to an additional 20 hours, the Augmented Ironworks Armor will be useful for roughly 40 hours of content, and that’s just with a single class.
As an additional benefit, many different jobs share identical Ironworks Sets. For example, the tank classes—Paladin, Warrior and Dark Knight—all use the “Fending” Ironworks sets. So, if you’re maining a Paladin and then decide to level up your Warrior, the equipment can be re-used for that job. The one caveat is that the secondary (or tertiary) job must be level 50, but it is still a good way to get extra mileage out of the rather expensive sets of armor.
The Augmented Ironworks set is one of the best armors in Final Fantasy XIV when it becomes available, and given the long stretch until you are able to receive better gear, as well its utility among multiple different jobs, spending the time to grind it out is well worth it. However, none of the main scenario quests are so difficult that an insanely powerful set of gear is needed, so if you would rather spend your-in game time on other tasks, you aren’t missing out. Honestly though, they also look pretty badass.
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