Every Final Fantasy 14 Expansion Ranked

After 13 long years of active development, Final Fantasy 14 is set to receive its sixth, frosty expansion, Evercold, in January next year.

Once again, the Warrior of Light and our party of Scion companions will be journeying to a new reflection, this time one encased in ice and overrun with terrifying giants. Along with the new expansion, we're set to receive a number of game-changing updates to core systems, which are hoping to redefine the game once more.

With all the changes already revealed coming to the game, in addition to its promising story and upcoming raid content, Evercold is shaping up to be one of the most exciting expansions to date. We've got our tragic new setting steeped in wonderful mythology, a brand-new tank class that's sure to be a fan-favorite, and confirmation we'll be getting a long-awaited crossover with Final Fantasy 7.

Sadly, we'll have to wait until January to dive into the Fourth reflection and start punching giants with shields. But with all this buzz surrounding the expansion, it's got me feeling nostalgic for all the ones that came before it.

That's why, for today, I'll be definitively ranking the best Final Fantasy 14 expansions, from genre-defining experiences to unfortunate misfires.

5 Dawntrail

Growing Pains

Following up the Zodiark and Hydaelyn story was no easy task, and sadly, Dawntrail had to be the one to do it. Not only did Dawntrail need to set up the next arc for the Warrior of Light and the world of Eorzea, but it also needed to modernize the Final Fantasy 14 experience. The beloved MMO was already over 10 years old by the time this expansion released, and the devs made it clear they needed time to rebuild the game's core.

Players were mostly on board with this premise as well, as we were told that Dawntrail would be our "summer vacation" expansion, with fairly low stakes. This doesn't last long, sadly, as we quickly find ourselves thrust into yet another world-ending event.

What hurts most is that Dawntrail's story beats aren't bad on paper, it's just that the execution was fairly lacking. I don't think I cast a single spell in the first five hours of the expansion outside of Sprint, as all you could do was run from quest marker to the next. These starter sequences also featured long, tedious conversations about a region players weren't connecting with, and new characters that also weren't landing.

By the time Dawntrail finally gets interesting, it's toward the very end of the expansion, where most players were burned out and just wanting it to end. It doesn't help that the expansion would introduce its most broken DPS class in the Pictomancer. Players would also rightly criticize the "2-minute meta" all fights seemed designed around, leading to predictable boss encounters also.

The post-patch content for the game would slightly redeem Dawntrail in players' eyes, but after the main story quest, it was hard to find the motivation to return to Tural any time soon.

4 Stormblood

"Sloppeh"

Stormblood isn't a terrible expansion by any means, but it does suffer from one of Final Fantasy 14's biggest flaws: the pacing.

So much of the story in Stormblood feels very "stop-start". You'll experience a really cool sequence in the story, and then you'll be left running errands for hours up until the very next exciting moment. The lack of momentum throughout the story would come back and haunt some of its major story moments, as it was easy to feel burned out by the fluff surrounding the payoff that you'd have already started tuning out.

The characters of Lyse and Zenos would also be polarizing to a large portion of players, which is rough, as they're the two main side characters with the most narrative focus. Zenos was essentially criticized for being a maniacal Gary Stu, whereas Lyse's character felt somewhat contrived, and her position as a leader somewhat unearned.

What redeems Stormblood is its excellent raids and dungeon battles, plus the post-patch content with Omega and Yotsuyu, which were genuinely engaging stories with tear-jerking payoffs. The Far East also worked as a stand-out region, where even if its story wasn't as engaging as other expansions, the sheer vibe of getting to roam around places like Doma was still worth it.

3 Endwalker

An Epic Conclusion to the Story's Saga

After years of building up to our inevitable showdown with Zodiark and the Final Day, Endwalker delivers on a grand finale, closing 10 years of storytelling up to this point. In a lot of ways, though, this emphasis on the game being such an epic finale makes the job difficult for anything that has to follow afterward.

If we're just talking about an expansion's main story quest, then Endwalker would be in hot contention for the top spot. Sadly, it's the game's post-launch content that brings it down a bit.

After preventing the Final Days, redeeming Meteion, and winning a fist fight with Zenos at the end of the universe, the Scions go their separate ways, with the hope that one day, they'll all meet again. Thankfully, they don't have to wait long, as three months later, we team up with Estinien and Alphanaud on a treasure hunt that leads us to discover a portal into the Void.

After a few shenanigans (and enlisting the help of even more Scions), we're able to actually travel through to the other side. It's here, we end up returning a Voidsent to its original form, that of the Reaper Zero, and learn about the world and the invasion that started everything.

As a fan of Final Fantasy 4, I loved all the explicit references and crossover details throughout this post-patch content. But even I have to admit, the overall core experience was fairly slow, and the structure of Final Fantasy 14's raiding and dungeon design was starting to crack.

That said, raid content such as Pandemonium would go on to be some of the series' best. Sage and Reaper would also be home run successes that proved the team were still capable of designing distinct Jobs so many years into the game. Even with some of these minor flaws, I still think Endwalker is in contention for one of the best FF14 expansions. Given that it also did the impossible and delivered a phenomenal finale within an MMO, I think it deserves all its flowers.

2 Heavensward

Dragons, Evil Religions, and Alexander, Oh My

Hey, have you heard of the award-winning expansion Heavensward?

When fans think of the moment that cemented Final Fantasy 14 as a true rival to World of Warcraft, we all look to Heavensward. While A Realm Reborn did its best to redeem the MMO's image following FF14's original launch, Heavensward finally put the game on the map, delivering one of the best expansions for any MMO ever.

After being framed for some light-regicide, the Warrior of Light and Alphinaud flee to the isolationist nation of Ishgard. We learn that this gothic city cloaked in snow is engaged in a centuries-long war with dragons, but as we later learn, there are several dark secrets to the origins of this conflict, and who's really to blame.

It's Final Fantasy 14 firing on all cylinders, setting the expectation for its gripping and tragic storytelling, filled with a roster of characters you can't help but fall in love with – and in the case of Haurchefant, grieve every single day.

We also got three stellar new jobs with the Machinist, Astrologian, and the Dark Knight, whose job quests to this day remain some of the best in the game. Throw in some Alexander raids and the Wondrous Tales to speed up grinding other jobs, and you had an absolute banger of an expansion. Also, you just can't go wrong with dragons.

1 Shadowbringers

Where Final Fantasy 14 Peaked

It should come as no surprise that Shadowbringers is the ultimate expansion for Final Fantasy 14. I'd go as far as to say that not only is it the greatest expansion for the game, but it might possibly be one of the best pieces of Final Fantasy content ever.

After you and your party are abducted into the world of the First, your party of Scions experiences something of a soft reboot. For the first time throughout the game, I'd say it's Shadowbringers that really cements the personalities of your fellow Scions, and makes them genuinely interesting characters worth caring for.

We're also introduced to a number of iconic villains. Vauthry is one of the most despicable and grotesque villains in any Final Fantasy game, yet his arc is undeniably engaging. In a game that has had so many incredible villains you love to hate, Vauthry is an absolute stand-out. Which is all the more impressive, as this expansion also features the Ascian Emet-Selch, who may just be the best Final Fantasy villain ever (yes, better than Kefka and Sephiroth).

Shadowbringers is also responsible for introducing Bozja, which was some of the best content in the game in my humble opinion. We'd also get treated to the epic Eden Raid series, which reimagined classic fights with iconic primals, giving them new forms that live up to their terrifying power. I'd be remiss if I also didn't mention the superb NieR: Automata raids as well, which surprisingly fit the bleak tone of the expansion.

With Evercold letting us travel between shards once more, I'm hopeful that this next expansion will reach the same heights that Shadowbringers did with its narrative. A man can hope, at least.