New FF14 special site unveils Monster Hunter Wilds crossover rewards

A new Final Fantasy 14 special site has just been launched covering the imminent Monster Hunter Wilds crossover event, which is set to land in early October. The collaboration is one of the most-requested for both games in recent years following the success of Stormblood's dance with Monster Hunter World. It will bring Guardian Arkveld to FF14, while MH Wilds is gearing up for the arrival of Omega Planetes. Now, Square Enix has given us a more in-depth look at the gear, mounts, minions, and housing items we'll be able to get their hands on - although I've got a sneaking suspicion there are still some treats to come.

With the Dawntrail story wrapped up, Final Fantasy 14 players are preparing for our next journey. Before we take center stage in the 8.0 expansion, however, there are a few more interludes ahead, including the arrival of the Beastmaster limited job and the new deep dungeon, Pilgrim's Traverse, which heralds a shift in direction for the way the MMORPG handles difficulty. Arriving roughly alongside that latter addition is the new Monster Hunter collaboration, and I'm already itching to take Arkveld to task.

"A mysterious mark bill finds its way into your hands, sparking a hunt for otherworldly prey," the quest reads. "Alongside your Felyne client and dependable Seikret steed, you soon discover your target is none other than the dread Guardian Arkveld, bane of hunters. With a hearty meal of grilled meat, and a generous supply of mega potions in hand, the hunt for the White Wraith is on."

That last sentence suggests we can expect a similar self-healing mechanic to Stormblood's Great Hunt fights, and Yoshida hinted to PCGamesN at Gamescom that we'll also need to watch Arkveld's movement more than its cast bar to succeed. As for item level, the base-difficulty fight 'The Windward Wilds' comes in at a 725 item level requirement, the same as the most recent 7.3 story trial and the San d'Oria alliance raid. The extreme, meanwhile, comes in with a 740 minimum, which similarly lines up with 7.3's extreme trial.

As for rewards, we're getting both variants of the Hope armor set, which is the starting gear in Monster Hunter Wilds. I'm quite pleased with this - they're great designs that do fit nicely into the world of FF14, so they don't need as much manipulation as the old Rathalos set did. Hopefully, they won't be gender-locked; the restriction on Stormblood's offering was eventually lifted, and there's no such limitation in Wilds either.

The weapon designs, naturally, are based on the Guardian Arkveld incarnations. We're shown the Dual Blades, Greatsword, Gunlance, and Hammer. Obviously Square Enix is going to have to do some fiddling to squeeze them into the FF14 job lineup, but I'm curious how these are actually going to be implemented. Based on the poses, the Dual Blades look to be modeled by a Ninja, the Greatsword by a Samurai, Gunlance by a Dragoon, and Hammer by… a Black Mage?

I can already hear tank players sweating; what will Dark Knight and Warrior get to wield? It's worth noting that there's no actual details given, so it's possible the team just chose these stances for showcase purposes and they don't reflect the jobs they'll appear on in-game. Samurai, for example, seems a natural fit for a Longsword. Still, the designs look great, and I'll certainly be grabbing the Greatsword wherever it's available.

Alongside that, there's the Seikret mount that we already knew about - I'm slightly sad it appears to be a unique model rather than special Chocobo barding, as it means we can't bring it into battle with us, but I'll begrudgingly admit that's also true in Monster Hunter. The two minions are very exciting: there's an adorable baby Seikret, and a floating Vigorwasp carrying a big globule of healing juice.

We also get to see housing items based on the pop-up camps in Wilds, and the covered storage box. There's also a Palico-styled training dummy, fold-out seat, and new BBQ with a full rack of roasting meat. That's all we see today, and while it looks good, there are certainly a few notable absences. I suspect this doesn't paint the whole picture quite yet, however.

Square Enix notes that it will "continue to update the special site with the latest information on the crossover," and the description for the extreme variant of the White Wraith does note that it will offer "exclusive rewards." In Stormblood's 'The Hunt For Rathalos,' the Rathalos mount and Poogie minion were both locked behind the extreme trial, but the armor on offer was simply an augmented version of the existing Rathalos-themed set.

I wouldn't necessarily expect too much more, then, but a little voice in the back of my head can't stop wondering how cool it'd be to see the Guardian Arkveld armor realised in some form as extreme rewards. What I do think we're likely to see (and would be rather surprised if we don't) is a Guardian Arkveld mount; it's not listed on the site yet, but it'd be an ideal extreme inclusion if the Seikret ends up as a reward for the standard-difficulty bout.

The FF14 Monster Hunter Wilds crossover, The Windward Wilds, arrives in early October. As previously noted, you'll need to be an active subscriber that has completed the 7.0 Dawntrail MSQ with a character at level 100. If you're not there yet, don't worry; the collaboration is a permanent addition, so it'll still be waiting for you once you're ready.

If the crossover tempts you to pick up Capcom's latest, be sure to check the Monster Hunter Wilds system requirements first, as it's proven rather demanding so far. Alternatively, we've rounded up more of the best action games in 2025.

Are you looking forward to the crossover, or did you have dreams of a different fight? Tell us in the PCGamesN community Discord server. While I admit the prospect of taking on Bahamut in Monster Hunter would be enticing, the mechanical aspect of Omega does make it a more interesting unknown than what boils down to 'basically another dragon.'