The Arkasodara of Final Fantasy XIV, who you might know as the elephant people in Thavnair, are the latest Tribal Quest faction made available with Patch 6.15. They’re also the first to go by the new “Tribal Quest” naming after the FFXIV team decided to move away from the phrase “Beast Tribe” and into something a little more universal. Some of our previous Tribal Quest factions included Pixies, Dwarves, and even Moogles. It makes sense that the Arkasodara should go by a slightly different name. Whether or not you still use the old phrasing, however, you probably want to know how to unlock the new FFXIV quests.
We’re going to provide a step-by-step overview of which quests you need to hit in order to unlock the latest Tribal Quests in Endwalker. The journey of course begins with the Arkasodara in Thavnair, but first you must first finish the level 85 Main Scenario Quest “Under His Wing” as part of the Endwalker campaign. This is required in order to access one of the two optional questlines needed to unlock the Arkasodara Tribal Quests, which we’ll get into shortly.
Editor’s note (6/7/2022): With the FFXIV 6.15 patch notes out now and the patch itself live, we have all the information on how to unlock the Arkasodara Tribal Quests and where to go to find them. This guide has been updated accordingly.
How to Unlock the Arkasodara Tribal Quests in FFXIV
Just as with the previous few expansions, the Arkasodara Tribal Quest chain actually begins with two different sidequests: “Steppe Child” and “What’s in a Parent.” The former can be completed relatively early in Endwalker. However, “What’s in a Parent” requires completion of the level 85 main story quest “Under His Wing,” just as we mentioned above. That means you’ll have to wait until at least level 85 before considering making progress with the Arkasodara until then.
“Steppe Child” is worth a special mention, however. You should finish this quest right at level 80 since it grants you an Aether Current. It begins in Thavnair when you speak to the NPC named Ogul (X: 25.6, Y: 36.1) after the Main Scenario Quest “A Fisherman’s Friend.” Players should always grab Aether Currents as soon as possible to speed up their movement and start flying in any FFXIV region. Here’s a full list of all Aether Current locations in Thavnair, if you still need it.
Here’s the first sidequest series (and the locations) in its entirety, which is required to unlock the Arkasodara Tribal Quests:
- “Steppe Child” – Thavnair (X: 25.6, Y: 36.1)
- “The Matanga Along the Way” – Thavnair (X: 25.4, Y: 31.2)
- “Ogul Repays Her Favors” – Thavnair (X: 19.0, Y: 33.8)
- “The Yedlihmad Hunt” – Thavnair (X: 25.4, Y: 31.3)
Next, we have “What’s in a Parent” and its subsequent quests. Note that while this requires you to beat the level 85 quest “Under His Wing,” the sidequest itself has a minimum level requirement of 80. This means you can complete “What’s in a Parent” as any different Job at level 80 or above to soak up the EXP on an alternate Job.
Here’s the second sidequest series (and the locations) in its entirety, which is required to unlock the Arkasodara Tribal Quests:
- “What’s in a Parent” – Thavnair (X: 29.2, Y: 15.3)
- “Curing What Ails” – Thavnair (X: 29.6, Y: 17.2)
- “The Sins We Bear” – Thavnair (X: 29.6, Y: 17.2)
- “Societal Alchemy” – Thavnair (X: 29.7, Y: 16.2)
As with previous FFXIV Tribes, the Arkasodara unlock requirements end with a single mission that ties both optional questlines together. This one is called “A Budding Adventure,” and it can be found in Thavnair by speaking to Yezahn (X: 29.6, Y: 17.2).
Once you’ve done that, you can then access the quest titled “Hippos Born to Run” from the NPC named Kancana in Thavnair (X: 25.3, Y: 31.2). Completing this quest will finally unlock the Arkasodara Tribal Quests. You’ll be able to take on these new Tribal Quests with any combat Job at level 80 or higher — they are subject to quest sync, so the difficulty and enemy level will automatically adjust based on the level of your equipped Job.
It appears that there will be five daily Tribal Quests to cycle through. Completing the daily quests will reward you with Arkasodara Pana, the new Tribal currency, which you can use at the Arkasodara Tribe vendor, Ghanta, located in Thavnair (X: 20.4, Y: 28.4). At the starting Friendly rank, the only thing you can purchase is various Materia IX and Materia X, at 3 Arkasodara Pana and 6 Arkasodara Pana respectively.
Arkasodara Tribal Quest Rewards & Mount
The Arkasodara Tribe, also known as the Hippo Riders, uses their hippo carts to deliver goods around Thavnair. The hippo cart mount is available in this patch. You can unlock it by paying 18 Arkasodara Pana for the Hippo Cart Horn after reaching the Sworn reputation rank with the Tribe. Just like the Shadowbringers Tribes, which also required the Sworn rank, meaning 21 days of doing your three daily quests every 24 hours. Just use the horn from your inventory to unlock the mount!
We really can’t wait to watch these hippos fly as more and more players unlock them; Yoshi-P even joked during the Arkasodara segment of the Live Letter that the hippo cart flies with the power of Dynamis.
Previous FFXIV Tribes have always offered an exclusive mount as their more-or-less ultimate reward. To acquire them, you need to finish the entire story questline presented via the Tribe Quests — gaining faction reputation by completing daily missions. By default, you can complete three of these per Tribe every 24 hours, which means it takes multiple real-world weeks to reach the ultimate reputation rank. After that point, you gain access to the mount using a special, Tribe-specific currency (which can also be used to buy other rewards from the group).
The mounts in these cases traditionally factor into the daily Tribe Quests, usually as something you temporarily fly during certain missions. That holds true with the Arkasodara. You can effectively “preview” the Hippo Cart by doing the quests!
That’s what we know about the FFXIV Arkasodara Tribal Quests. We’ll be back with more information about the elephant-inspired alchemists of Thavnair if we determine there’s more to be said about Patch 6.15. For more on the update, be sure to check out our breakdown of the FFXIV 6.15 patch notes, which includes how to unlock the new Hildibrand adventures and Custom Deliveries for Ameliance Leveilleur!
