There’s a whole slew of nice gear to unlock using Trophy Crystals in Patch 6.5 of Final Fantasy XIV. But if you’re not familiar with the PvP side of Square Enix’s massive MMO, you might be at a loss trying to grab all the glam.
Thankfully, it’s a mostly straightforward grind to rack up Trophy Crystals in Final Fantasy XIV. The trickiest part is simply getting to where they are in the menus, and once you know what you’re looking for and what to do, you’ll be swimming in Cyberpunk-style gear in no time.
Where to find Trophy Crystals
Trophy Crystals are a main currency of the seasonal PvP track in Final Fantasy XIV, a.k.a. the Series Malmstones. With Patch 6.5, FFXIV is currently in Series 5 of its run.
To access the track, head to the Character menu and access your PvP Profile. Once looking at your profile, find the button in the top-right, directly across from your PvP Rank and Series Level, which should say “Series Malmstones“. Select it to open up the progression path.
Each time you level up, you move ahead on the track. Those blue crystals you see a bunch of are exactly what you want: Trophy Crystals. For most level-ups on this progression path, you’ll get a bundle of 1,000 Trophy Crystals.
If you’re grinding for, say, the A-1 Tactical glamour, then you’ll need 1500 for each piece. So roughly two levels, give or take. If you’re looking for more or unsure if you’ve picked them all up, head to this tab; you claim the Trophy Crystals directly from this tab, and they won’t be automatically distributed while playing. You might have some waiting for you, if you’ve already played a bit of PvP on this patch.
Where to spend Trophy Crystals
Once you’re ready to spend all that hard-earned crystalline cash, head to the Crystal Quartermaster <Trophy Crystal Exchange> in The Braveheart area of Wolves’ Den Pier (X: 4.5, Y:6.1). Depending on when you’re doing this, you can probably follow the crowd. Nothing can keep an FFXIV player from their new glamour.
Again, this is a separate currency from other PvP cash like Wolf Marks, so make sure you head to the Trophy Crystal vendor. Here, you can spend the currency you’ve carefully accrued. But how to make that money for all the new cyberpunk-style gear?
Best way to grind Trophy Crystals in FFXIV
The answer is simple: play some PvP. I know that might seem intimidating for the less competitive folks out there, but this is the way forward. Luckily, the simplicity of acquiring these goods means you have a lot of options.
Here’s my recommendation: play Crystalline Conflict, while also doing at least one Frontline Duty. Specifically getting the reward from the Frontline Duty is worth it, and depending on how the match goes, you can knock it out pretty quick.
Otherwise, head online during peak primetime hours for your server and hit the CC queue. If you need help finding matches, or more amicable PvP partners, you can check out some of the PvP-focused FFXIV Discords to assist in your quest for Trophy Crystals. Heck, you might even start to like this mode.
Grind some matches, and chances are, you’ll have a set or two in no time. Early levels in the Series tend to go quick, so make sure to get the items you want first right away, and save the completing-the-set buys for later on down the line.
