With Patch 6.4, Final Fantasy XIV players got a new dose of Savage content. The last tier of the Pandaemonium Savage raids has released and teams are already taking to the new bosses to try to complete all of them first.
There are no official rewards for World First finishes from Square Enix, partly due to the fact that the company cannot ascertain whether players have used third-party tools to complete the fights. In fact, FFXIV producer Naoki Yoshida has stopped congratulating World First finishes due to the track record of scandals stemming from the fights.
Regardless, players and fans alike enjoy watching teams race to see who can complete this difficult content first. This time around, the fights are yet again being broadcast for the world to see from various teams who are competing. Many teams choose not to stream their fights in order to keep their strategies secret from other teams, but those who do stream broadcast the fights on Twitch.
Savage fights are just behind Ultimate content in the game in terms of difficulty. Unlike Ultimates, Savage clears can be achieved using the Party Finder, but they are far easier to complete with a coordinated team of eight players. While Ultimate fights can take days or weeks to complete, Savage fights usually don’t last much longer than a day or two.
The World Race teams also have the chance to compete for prizes and charity. The Mog Talk channel broadcasts all of the teams that are streaming, and keeps track of teams that aren’t streaming as well. Those who watch the fights donate money to Extra Life, which is a program of Children’s Miracle Network. At the time of writing, the fights have only been live for a few hours and the Mog Talk team has managed to raise almost $4,000 for charity.
Teams who are eligible to win prizes will have the chance to win some pretty cool items from Corsair and independent artists.
All Teams Signed up will be eligible to win this first place prize back! We are also doing prizes for 2nd and third (in the comment)
Thank you @CORSAIR @BattleBeaver for providing the products and community members @wisteriaphyte and @sidefury for offering their services! #FFXIV pic.twitter.com/oy4IxaxQEr
— MogTalk (@MogTalkTweets) May 28, 2023
Where to watch the Final Fantasy XIV Race to World First for Pandaemonium: Anabaseios (Savage)
The best way to watch the Race to World first for the 6.4 Pandaemonium Savage raids is to tune into MogTalk on Twitch. They will be broadcasting all teams who have chosen to stream their progress and will include commentary on some of the mechanics, as well as provide context for those who might not be familiar with how Savage raids work. There are also individual teams that will stream their progress, such as members from Kindred and Krile.
If you’re not keen on actually watching the fights and just want to keep up with who is ahead in the race, there is a table of teams and how far they’ve progressed on MogTalk’s website. There is also a list on FFLogs, which gives fans a quick look at the top 20 teams and what progress they’ve completed.
Teams will be competing to defeat all four raid wings, from P9S to P12S. Here is a list of all of the bosses players need to defeat in order to complete the World Race:
- P9S: Kokytos
- P10S: Pandaemonium
- P11S: Themis
- P12S Phase One: Athena
- P12S Phase Two: Pallas Athena
Pandaemonium: Anabaseios (Savage) live updates and leaderboard
Thursday, June 1
11:50am ET: Last night, several teams were able to complete the second phase of P12S, but Neverland was the first. Since their clear, they’ve released the videos of their clear from the Dancer, Astrologian, and Warrior’s point of view. The first streamed team to clear the fight was DN, who cleared the fight early this morning. Now that there is a clear winner with videos released to legitimize the win, the race is over. Other teams still trying to clear the fight are being tracked on FFLogs and fans can expect more clear videos to come as teams complete the fight.
Wednesday, May 31
5:40pm ET: More than 10 teams have cleared the first phase of P12S and are moving on to Pallas Athena. Neverland is still in first place and is slowly chipping away at the fight. Currently, their best run has seen the boss down to 10.2 percent, with GRIND the closest one behind them at 40.1. The EU team still seems to be going even though it’s getting late there, but if they feel like they can finish the fight, they might push through the night until they can get the clear.
12:10pm ET: The first streamed team has reached the second phase of P12S, and players now know the name of it. The phase two boss is called Pallas Athena. The arena has completely changed, and players who have reached this checkpoint are now figuring out the mechanics for the fight for the first time on stream. So far, Neverland is still the closest to a clear with 48.3 percent left on the boss.
11:05am ET: Neverland, Alice in Abyssos, and GRIND have all reached phase two of the Athena fight, but none of them are streaming the fight, which means fans won’t know what the second phase looks like until someone clears the first phase on stream. Currently, Kindred and DN are the two teams that are closest, with Kindred at 6.69 percent and DN at 11.7 percent. Once one of the stream teams reaches phase two, fans will get their first glimpse at what phase two Athena looks like.
1:20am ET: Neverland is back at it and fans are starting to wonder if there is a checkpoint in the fight. Currently, they have Athena down to 2.79 percent, with Aether Group 3 the closest behind them at 25.1 percent. There’s been no phase change so far, so either there is no phase change, or players will have to bring Athena all the way down to zero before they can clear it. Without a clear, players can’t tell how long the fight is taking for Neverland to get it down to two percent, which means fans and players alike will be keeping a close eye on the top team to see if there is a phase change.
Tuesday, May 30
9pm ET: It seems like Neverland has taken a break, since Aether Group 3 and Kindred have pulled ahead of them. Plenty of teams have reached Athena, but none have been able to beat her first phase yet. Aether Group 3 has gotten it down to 33.4 percent, with Kindred not far behind at 35.8. As the day draws to a close, it’s looking unlikely that a team will clear all five bosses by the end of day one.
3:15 pm ET: Teams are moving along quite nicely, and Neverland has moved onto the final boss of the raid series. Neverland, Mental Stillness, and GRIND have all moved onto the final boss, Athena. Neverland remains in first place, with prog sitting at 69.2 percent. Mental Stillness is sitting at 84.9 percent, with GRIND not too far behind them. No one streaming their progress has beaten Themis yet, so those watching are still blind as to what any of the Athena mechanics look like.
12:46pm ET: The World Race has been up for a few hours now and some teams have already defeated P10S. Neverland, a prominent EU team that fans of World First races will recognize as one of the teams that frequently wins these competitions. Five teams have completed P10S so far, Neverland, Maximum Spinach, Mental Stillness, Aether Group 3, and GRIND have all cleared the second boss fight and are working on Themis, while the large majority of teams are still stuck on Pandaemonium.
