Occult Crescent

“

Even the most dauntless of sailors would sooner abandon ship than steer into Shades' Triangle. Be not fooled by the lush and fertile island you spy on the horizon─men and vessels alike have been lost to its allure, never to be seen again. Yes, the wisest choice is to dismiss it as mere illusion. But of course, there are inevitably those who cannot resist the call of adventure.

— Dawntrail Special Site

Occult Crescent is a Field Operations series that was released starting in patch 7.25 (May 27, 2025) of the Dawntrail expansion. It takes place on an island within the Shades' Triangle near Tural and incorporates aspects from both The Forbidden Land, Eureka and Save the Queen: Blades of Gunnhildr (Bozja).

Players are able to equip and level up secondary jobs known as Phantom Jobs, giving access to additional actions and traits within the field operation. These jobs are directly based on Final Fantasy V jobs, including some that are existing FFXIV jobs (e.g. monk, bard) and others that were not suitable for implementation as a full job in FFXIV (e.g. chemist). However, this does not necessarily rule out the possibility that some jobs may receive a full implementation in the future.^[1]

Battle encounters in this field operation are inspired by those found in Bozja, including open world FATEs, and critical engagement-like boss encounters (called Critical Encounters) taking place within enclosed arenas. There is also a high-end raid, The Forked Tower: Blood, that allows up to 48 players to participate.

Similar to previous field operations, the Relic Weapon series for Dawntrail (Phantom Weapons) are tied to Occult Crescent activities, although players can also progress their weapons via existing activities outside of the field operation.

Unlock

To begin unlocking Occult Crescent, players must complete the quest One Last Hurrah which requires completion of Dawntrail and be level 100 Disciple of War or Magic. The first zone is unlocked by completing Unfamiliar Territory in this quest chain.

Gear

To enter the Occult Crescent, players must have an average item level of at least 690.

Occult Crescent zones have an item level sync of 700, meaning that IL 700 Neo Kingdom Weapons, Neo Kingdom Armor, and Neo Kingdom Accessories melded with certain materia are tentatively the best-in-slot starting gear, although there are some exceptions. Neo Kingdom gear can be purchased from Ryubool Ja in Tuliyollal (X:13.9 Y:13.5) for Sacks of Nuts. Using higher item level gear will cause materia melds to be ignored due to item level sync calculations, resulting in lower damage.

Starting gear sets for each job are provided here. It is not necessary to go out of the way to farm this gear, as the damage difference compared to syncing down higher item level gear is fairly marginal.

By obtaining specific items within Occult Crescent, players may obtain and upgrade Phantom Armor, providing additional main stat within these zones and Special Attribute, increasing their damage dealt by Phantom Job actions. As the item level (745) of this armor is higher than the IL sync, materia melds will be ignored, but this is outweighed by the bonus stats.

Zones

As of patch 7.25, Occult Crescent consists of one field zone and one 48-player high-end raid within the zone.

Duty	Knowledge Level	Enemy Knowledge Level(s)	Player Limit	Time Limit
The Occult Crescent: South Horn	1	1—28	72	180 min
The Forked Tower: Blood (Within South Horn)	20	N/A	48	30 min + extensions

Knowledge Level

Similar to Elemental Level in The Forbidden Land, Eureka, players have a separate leveling system in Occult Crescent, which is represented by Knowledge Level. Overworld enemies are also assigned a knowledge level. Specifically:

Enemies with a lower knowledge level than the player will not aggro unless if attacked, while those with an equal or higher level will automatically aggro based on their aggro type (e.g. sight, proximity, etc.).
Enemies with a higher knowledge level than the player will both deal more damage and take less damage based on the difference in level.

Upon reaching knowledge level 5, players will lose knowledge points if they are incapacitated and return to camp without being resurrected. Losing too much experience will result in a demotion in knowledge level. At knowledge level 20, returning without resurrection will result in a 30,600 knowledge loss, thus needing 2 Critical Encounters (or 1 Critical Encounter and 2 FATEs) worth of knowledge to re-level to 20.

Knowledge can be earned from quests, defeating overworld enemies, and completing FATEs and Critical Engagements. The amount of knowledge earned from FATEs and Critical Encounters will scale based on the player's current Knowledge Level. Defeating higher knowledge level overworld enemies relative to one's current knowledge level will also yield greater knowledge compared to lower level enemies.

Knowledge Level	Knowledge to Next	Knowledge Level	Knowledge to Next
1	100	11	58,640
2	600	12	66,750
3	2,800	13	77,500
4	8,000	14	89,000
5	15,500	15	103,160
6	25,000	16	118,200
7	30,800	17	136,200
8	37,000	18	155,400
9	43,740	19	177,800
10	50,940	20	N/A
Total		1,197,130

Phantom Jobs

Players may equip secondary jobs known as phantom jobs to gain access to additional actions and traits. Any phantom job may be equipped by any regular job, although some phantom jobs synergize better with certain roles. This system replaces the Logos Actions and Lost Actions in previous field operation series. Players may freely change their phantom job outside of combat from the Occult Crescent UI.

Phantom jobs can also be leveled up separately to unlock additional actions and traits. Up to 5 phantom job actions can be assigned on the Duty Action bar, although a scroll button allows players to cycle through the currently active phantom job action to prevent button bloat.

There are initially 13 phantom jobs available, including the default Phantom Freelancer. After freelancer, the first 3 jobs are unlocked through a starting quest, while the others are unlocked from using phantom job-specific Soul Shards that can be purchased with Occult Crescent currency or as drops from specific Critical Encounters.

Each time the player masters a phantom job (i.e. reaches their level cap), they will gain a stack of Phantom Mastery, permanently increasing their damage dealt and healing potency within Occult Crescent zones, regardless of which phantom job they have equipped.

Parties

Like other field operations, Party Finder is disabled within Occult Crescent. Players may form premade parties outside of the instance or post recruitment via /shout chat inside.

If all members of a party are within 3 knowledge levels of each others, it will be classified as a Balanced Party and be eligible for EXP chains (see next section). If not, the party leader may use an option in the Occult Crescent UI to sync all members' knowledge level to the lowest-leveled party member. Typically, unless if the party is specifically farming overworld mobs for EXP chains, it is advised to disable knowledge level sync by default.

Battles

EXP Chains

Higher-level enemies relative to the player's knowledge level are harder to defeat. However, defeating high-level enemies with a double crescent symbol will initiate an timed EXP chain, giving enhanced EXP and rewards. The bonus yielded increases incrementally up until chain 30, beyond which the bonus is capped.

During solo play, the threshold is based on the player's own knowledge level. While in a balanced party, the threshold is based on the party's average knowledge level. The exact thresholds are as follows:

Solo: 2 levels higher
2 players: 3 levels higher
3 or 4 players: 4 or 5 levels higher
5 or 6 players: 6 or 7 levels higher
7 or 8 players: 7 or 8 levels higher

Chain bonuses will not occur when defeating enemies whose knowledge level falls outside the applicable threshold.

Enemies that can generate an EXP chain upon defeat are indicated with a special icon.

FATEs

FATEs will spawn at certain areas on the map and can be challenged by any number of players. Players may join a FATE that has already started. All FATE spawns are automatic with no prerequisite mobs.

FATEs have two types: either a single boss (purple symbols) or multiple waves of enemies (blue symbols), the latter of which are tied to the Persistent Pot minigame. Up to one boss FATE may spawn at a time per instance. The pot FATEs spawn on a 30 minute timer and alternate between the two possible FATEs.

FATEs and Critical Encounters are agnostic to knowledge level. Players at any knowledge level may participate in them, and it is not necessary to have a Balanced Party to receive rewards. Players should avoid syncing down their knowledge level when participating in a FATE or traveling to a FATE/Critical Encounter as this will make them more vulnerable to high-level enemies that are nearby the FATE area or en route to the FATE/Critical Encounter.

Critical Encounters

Critical Encounters (CEs) are large-scale boss encounters, similar to Notorious Monsters in Eureka and Critical Engagements in Bozja. There is no limit to the number of players that may participate in one (aside from the 72-player instance limit). Some CEs must be spawned by defeating prerequisite overworld enemies, while others spawn periodically on a timer.

When a Critical Encounter is about to spawn, it will be displayed on the map and a blue AoE telegraph will appear on its spawn location. Players who wish to participate must travel to inside the AoE before the 3-minute timer expires, after which the arena will enclose and the encounter will begin. This system is designed to alleviate "early pulls" in Eureka but will still require players to travel to the spawn location instead of queuing from anywhere as in Bozjan Critical Engagements.

Being hit with any avoidable AoEs will inflict a stack of Vulnerability Up that lasts indefinitely for the rest of the encounter or until the player dies. Unlike with Bozja, there appears to be no tangible reward for completing Critical Encounters with no vulnerability stacks.

Upon completing a Critical Encounter, players have a random chance of receiving the Battle High status for 15 minutes, increasing their Critical Hit and Direct Hit Rate and providing healing-over-time.

Knowledge Crystals

Knowledge crystals are landmarks that appear near aetherytes and prior to encounters in the Forked Tower. Using certain phantom job actions near a knowledge crystal will provide long-lasting beneficial effects to all party members, such as reducing damage taken and increasing movement speed, depending on the action.

Treasure Coffers

Personal treasure coffers spawn in Occult Crescent field zones, which can be claimed individually. For more information on treasure coffer locations and drop tables, see the above link.

Bronze coffers contain one item while silver coffers contain three. Golden coffers appear when a Fortune Carrot is used near a chewed carrot on the ground, yielding items, 200,000 gil, and Occult Crescent-specific currency.

Persistent Pots

Similar to Happy Bunnies in Eureka, Persistent Pots can be rescued from monsters in certain FATEs. Upon receiving a gold rating in the FATE, up to 20 qualifying players will be able to participate in a minigame where they use a Magical Elixir key item to pinpoint the location of a hidden treasure coffer. Bronze, silver, and gold coffers respectively yield 1,000, 5,000, or 30,000 gil in addition to materia, items, and Occult Crescent-specific currency.

Currencies

Players may have up to 9,999 of each currency, which do not take up space in the regular inventory. Their current amounts are displayed in the Occult Crescent UI.

Enlightenment Silver Pieces

Acquired from FATEs, critical encounters, clearing The Forked Tower: Blood, exchanging excess Occult Crescent-related items with the Expedition Trader, Persistent Pot coffers, and Happy Bunny (carrot) coffers.

Enlightenment Gold Pieces

Acquired from defeating monsters in the wild, Persistent Pot coffers, and Happy Bunny (carrot) coffers.

Occult Record

Players can collect lore entries on various Occult Crescent-related topics, similar to the Field Records in Bozja. Certain Occult Record entries are required to progress with quests.

Release Schedule

7.25: First field instance ( The Occult Crescent: South Horn), 13 phantom jobs, 48-player raid ( The Forked Tower: Blood)
7.3: Adjustments to entering the Occult Crescent with a pre-made alliance, adjustments to the Forked Tower: Blood entry process and increased rewards from Happy Bunny and Persistent Pot coffers.
7.4x: Three additional phantom jobs (dancer, mystic knight, gladiator), along with eight rare accessories (4 each for DoW/DoM) boosting stats in Occult Crescent
7.5x: Second field instance, second raid, additional phantom jobs added^[2]

Gallery

Patch 7.4x Update

Trivia

The setting is inspired by the real-life Bermuda Triangle.
The name of the field operation was revealed in the 2024 Chinese Fan Festival. Previously, a concept art revealed at the 2024 Korean Fan Festival depicted sprite art of various Final Fantasy V jobs.

References

[1] ttp://blog.livedoor.jp/umadori0726/archives/62106335.html

[2] ttps://www.famitsu.com/article/202503/36244

[1]

[2]