Player versus Player, or PvP, is an activity in Final Fantasy XIV that sees players battle against one another. All PvP modes can be unlocked once the player reaches level 30 on a disciple of war or magic.

Overview[]

While there are various different PvP modes, all share the same core rules. In PvP level and equipment do not matter, as all characters are normalized to the same attributes, depending on their job, to ensure a fair matchup. Characters are limited to a set of actions and traits that can only be used in PvP areas, regardless of level. When entering a PvP area, all hotbars are replaced with PvP-specific ones, PvP actions are enabled, and PvE combat actions are disabled. Only non-limited jobs may participate in PvP, and PvP areas that allow players to change discipline will only allow them to switch to other non-limited jobs. The damage formula is not used in PvP; damage dealt is simply equal to the potency of the attack, combined with any relevant modifiers.

Player attributes in PvP areas[]

Job	HP	Frontline		Rival Wings
		Damage Dealt	Damage Taken	Damage Taken
Paladin	60,000	+10%	-30%	-20%
Warrior	63,000	+10%	-30%	-20%
Dark Knight	60,000	+10%	-30%	-20%
Gunbreaker	61,500	+10%	-30%	-20%
Monk	60,000	+10%	-30%	-20%
Dragoon	58,500	+10%	-25%	-15%
Ninja	57,000	+10%	-25%	-15%
Samurai	58,500	+10%	-30%	-20%
Reaper	58,500	+10%	-30%	-20%
Bard	51,000
Machinist	52,000
Dancer	54,000
Black Mage	48,000
Summoner	49,500
Red Mage	51,000		-20%	-10%
White Mage	51,000
Scholar	49,500
Astrologian	49,500
Sage	48,000

Battle system[]

Select battle mechanics change while in PvP areas. Spell casting can no longer be interrupted by taking damage. Auto-attacks, blocking, parrying, critical hits, and direct hits are disabled. Players inflicted with Stun, Heavy, Bind, Silence, Sleep, or Knockback will gain resistance to that effect for 10 seconds when the effect wears off. In areas where mounts are allowed, flight cannot be used and taking damage will knock players off their mount, as well as inflicting the Hoofing It enfeeblement, removing players ability to remount for a certain amount of time.

Each job has its own Limit Break, and gauges are personal. The limit break gauge is filled through combating enemies, completing certain objectives, or simply over time, dependent on the PvP duty.

Certain general actions are unavailable in in select PvP areas:

Action	Wolves' Den Pier	Dueling	Crystalline Conflict	Frontline	Rival Wings
Sprint	Yes	No	No	No	No
Teleport	Yes	No	No	No	No
Return	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Mounts	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes

Wolves' Den Pier[]

Wolves' Den Pier serves as the main PvP hub for players. Here players can redeem their winnings earned in PvP duties for a variety of rewards, check their current standings in ranked mode, and hone their skills against striking dummies or other players in the Dueling Circle. Players in Wolves' Den Pier with a PvP-eligible job will have their abilities replaced with their PvP equivalents, allowing players to customize their action bars safely before entering into a PvP duty.

Dueling[]

Dueling allows players to engage in 1 on 1 combat with each other with no outside interference. Players can only duel within the Dueling Circle found at Wolves' Den Pier. All normal PvP restrictions apply. Certain beneficial effects will be cancelled at the start of a duel. Duels have no time limit, and will end only when one of the combatants is incapacitated. However, should a player or their pet step outside of the Dueling Circle, their opponent will be declared the winner.

PvP duties[]

Frontline[]

Three teams of adventurers, each representing one of the three Grand Companies as freelancers, contest for control over the specified area. Teams consist of up to 24 players in an alliance, allowing for a grand total of 72 players in a single battle.

The objective of a Frontline campaign is to accumulate a resource by controlling key points and completing objectives. The specifics vary between campaigns, with some campaigns having stationary control points and others having points that move about the map. In all Frontline campaigns, incapacitating opposing players will also grant resources while draining them from their team.

Only certain Frontline campaigns are playable per day, the selection rotates through all presently available maps.

Banner	Name	Objective	Release
	The Borderland Ruins (Secure)	Increase tactical rating by controlling key points and slaying monsters.	2.3[note 1]
	Seal Rock (Seize)	Accumulate research data by occupying Allagan tomeliths, which activate and deactivate throughout the match.	3.05
	The Fields of Glory (Shatter)	Accumulate research data by occupying Allagan tomeliths and shattering icebound tomeliths.	3.3
	Onsal Hakair (Danshig Naadam)	Increase tactical rating by claiming ovoos, which activate and deactivate throughout the match and cannot be contested once claimed.	5.15
Worqor Chirteh (Triumph).	Worqor Chirteh (Triumph)	Increase tactical rating by claiming triumphs, which require capturing individual nodes of each triumph and cannot be contested once fully claimed.	7.4

Rival Wings[]

Two teams of 24, the Falcons and the Ravens, lay siege to each others' bases with the assistance of mammets and goblin mechs. Rival Wings gameplay is based on multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs); the NPC mammets will automatically march down two lanes in the battlefield, engaging opposing mammets and players. Each lane contains a tower for both teams that enhances all allies in its vicinity, and must be destroyed to reach the core in their main base. Teams must destroy the opposing core to claim victory.

Throughout the match players can use ceruleum to deploy powerful mechs to aid their cause: the combat-oriented Cruise Chaser, the siege-oriented Oppressor, and the all-powerful Brute Justice. Players collect ceruleum by destroying enemy mammets, mechs, and towers, claiming it from defeated enemy players, collecting it from spawn points around the map, and by completing map-specific bonus objectives.

Astralagos was made unavailable with the launch of Hidden Gorge. Hidden Gorge was made unavailable with the PvP rework in patch 6.1 and relaunched with patch 6.2.

Banner	Name	Bonus objective	Release
	Astragalos	Claim the power generator in the center of the map to generate ceruleum over time for the entire team.	4.15[note 2]
	Hidden Gorge	Claim the ceruleum engines that periodically arrive in the center of the map for a variety of effects and recruit powerful goblin mercenaries.	4.55

Crystalline Conflict[]

Crystalline Conflict consists of two teams of 5 players, Astra and Umbra, competing to seize control of a crystal which starts at the middle of the arena. When the crystal is under the control of a team, it will move towards a goal point along the crystal line, resulting in victory when it arrives. To take control of the crystal, only members from a specific team can stand within the crystal's area, otherwise the crystal will remain locked in place. If the crystal remains unclaimed anywhere other than the origin, it will then slowly move back to the origin after a certain amount of time has passed. Toward either goal point is a checkpoint that needs to be cleared by the advancing team, and once a checkpoint has been cleared, it does not need to be recleared.

If no team has reached the goal point after 5 minutes, the match enters overtime with extra rules; the team with the furthest advancement to the goal point needs to seize total control of the crystal to win, while the the second team instead needs to push the crystal beyond the advancement of the former. Different maps for the mode introduce specific mechanics that help or hinder teams in reaching the goal points.

This mode replaced the Feast as the primary ranked PvP mode of the game.

Banner	Name	Features	Release
The Palaistra.	The Palaistra	No arena events.
The Volcanic Heart.	The Volcanic Heart	Bombs spawn periodically during eruption event, exploding and leaving behind bomb cores that can be collected to increase damage and limit gauge.
Cloud Nine.	Cloud Nine	Turbulence event that sending unprepared players into the sky to take massive damage, unless they catch a black chocobo feather in the air. Turbulence leaves behind damaging twisters and gale spheres that increase player speed.
The Clockwork Castletown.	The Clockwork Castletown	Trick floors and doors which can harm players or help them in their movement. Pneumatic parade event where automatons to attack parts of the arena, and piles of gold that increase the limit gauge spawn.
The Red Sands.	The Red Sands	Sandpits that can spawn different creatures with different effects, and oasis regions that grant beneficial status. Heat waves event causes damage to players, while sandpearl shrouds soothe damage and fill the limit gauge.
The Bayside Battleground.	The Bayside Battleground	No arena events.

Removed PvP duties[]

The following duties were removed for a variety of reasons, be it unpopularity or changes to overall PvP structure.

The Fold[]

Originally "Wolves' Den", the Fold was an arena where two teams of four, the Fangs and the Claws, did battle with one another. Wolves' Den duties were deathmatches with the main focus being incapacitating the opponent.

The original Wolves' Den, later known as the Fold, was a last team standing mode, where players could not respawn and the objective was simply defeating the opposing team. If neither team was completely defeated before time expired, the match would in a draw. It was the only Wolves' Den mode until the introduction of the Feast in patch 3.2, which saw it renamed to the Fold as both modes fell under the Wolves' Den banner. The Fold was later removed with the release of Stormblood.

Banner	Name	Objective	Release	Removed
	The Wolves' Den (Lv.30)	Last team standing. Synced to level 30.	2.1	3.2
	The Wolves' Den (Lv.40)	Last team standing. Synced to level 40.	2.1	3.2
	The Wolves' Den (Matched Party)	Last team standing. Synced to level 50.	2.1	3.2
	The Wolves' Den (Light Party)	Last team standing. Synced to level 50, party queue.	2.1	3.2
	The Fold (Matched Party)	Last team standing. Synced to level 50, item level 80.	2.3[note 3]	4.0
	The Fold (Light Party)	Last team standing. Synced to level 50, item level 80, party queue.	2.3[note 4]	4.0

The Feast[]

After the removal of the Fold, the only Wolves' Den mode was the Feast, wherein players, still under the guise of teams the Fangs and the Claws, had to accumulate medals dropped by their opponents, with the first team to reach the requisite amount, or the team holding the most medals when time expired, emerging victorious.

The Feast, and as a result the Wolves' Den as a whole, was removed in its entirety with patch 6.1, when it was replaced with Crystalline Conflict as the main competitive mode.

Banner	Name	Details	Map	Release	Removed
	The Feast (8 on 8 - Training)	Collect medals from opposing team. Unranked, 8 on 8.	The Feasting Grounds	3.2[note 5]	4.2
	The Feast (4 on 4 - Light Party)	Collect medals from opposing team. Ranked, 4 on 4 party queue.	The Feasting Grounds	3.2	4.0
	The Feast (8 on 8 - Custom Match - Feasting Grounds)	Collect medals from opposing team. Unranked match on the Feasting Grounds, two 8-player parties and up to 8 spectators.	The Feasting Grounds	3.4[note 6]	4.2
	The Feast (8 on 8 - Custom Match - Lichenweed)	Collect medals from opposing team. Unranked match in Lichenweed, two 8-player parties and up to 8 spectators.	Lichenweed	3.55a	4.2
	The Feast (Training Match)	Unranked, max 2 player queue.	Crystal Tower Training Grounds	4.1[note 7]	6.1
	The Feast (Ranked Match)	Ranked, solo queue.	Crystal Tower Training Grounds	3.2[note 8]	6.1
	The Feast (Team Ranked Match)	Ranked, registered PvP team queue.	Crystal Tower Training Grounds	4.2	6.1
	The Feast (Custom Match - Feasting Grounds)	Unranked, two 4-player parties and up to 8 spectators queue.	The Feasting Grounds	3.4[note 9]	6.1
	The Feast (Custom Match - Lichenweed)	Unranked, two 4-player parties and up to 8 spectators queue.	Lichenweed	3.55a[note 10]	6.1
	The Feast (Custom Match - Crystal Tower)	Unranked, two 4-player parties and up to 8 spectators queue.	Crystal Tower Training Grounds	4.2	6.1
	The Feast (Team Custom Match - Crystal Tower)	Unranked, two registered PvP teams and up to 8 spectators queue.	Crystal Tower Training Grounds	4.3	6.1

Frontline[]

Purely focused on large scale combat rather than objectives, the Slaughter version of the Borderland Ruin's Frontline campaign was removed with the release of Stormblood.

Banner	Name	Objective	Release	Removed
	The Borderland Ruins (Slaughter)	Increase tactical rating by defeating enemy combatants.	2.5	4.0

Maps[]

Notes[]