We all know the Primal Titan – the big stompy boy you’ve probably squashed multiple times in Duty Roulette. Titan is often a bit of a sticking point for new groups. At the tender age of level 34, you haven’t really been introduced to a lot of fiddly mechanics, and he can come as a bit of a surprise. Once you’ve bested him a couple of times though, the fight becomes incredibly simple. Rest assured that tackling The Navel (Hard) steps up the challenge appropriately for the level 50 Trial. The really cool thing about Final Fantasy XIV compared to other MMOs is that Square Enix will often completely reimagine the fight for increases in difficulty. It’s not just the boss dealing more damage while taking less. No, they evolve in pretty significant ways, requiring new tactics while maintaining the “theme” of the original encounter. Especially when it comes to these early Primal fights.
How To Unlock The Navel (Hard)
You’ll need to meet a few prerequisites before you go toe to stony toe with Titan again. You’ll have to be level 50 for starters, and have completed the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon”. This is the quest that marks the end of A Realm Reborn’s content. Once you’ve conquered those milestones, you’ll be able to return to The Waking Sands yet again to acquire the quest “A Recurring Problem” from Minfilia (X:6.9, Y:6.1). Here’s where it becomes a bit of a mission. In order to reach the quest to unlock The Navel (Hard), you’ve gotta make your way through the other Primals on Hard too. You’ll have to follow a quest chain that starts with “Ifrit Bleeds, We Can Kill It”, acquired from Thancred in the Waking Sands. This will unlock Bowl of Embers (Hard). Conquering Ifrit’s harder incarnation will progress the quest to “In for Garuda Awakening”, acquired from Papalymo at The Waking Sands. Defeat Garuda, and you’ll finally have access to “In a Titan Spot”. (I hope you’re absolutely loving all these puns, by the way). With all that done, Y’shtola will finally entrust you with access to The Navel (Hard) – after jumping through a few fetch quest hoops first, naturally.
Is The Navel (Hard) Pretty Difficult?
I imagine at one point in time, yes. These were essentially endgame content for A Realm Reborn before any of the expansions launched, so they needed to be challenging to keep players engaged. Now it would be extremely unlucky to see a full party wipe even once on any of these dungeons. Simply put, most of the playerbase are just well over-geared and experienced for these challenges now. Level sync may bring everyone to around the same level, but it can only do so much – and if most of the party knows the encounters back to front, they’re a walk in the park. It’s even possible for higher level players to solo these fights without any external assistance. I can flatten Titan in a matter of minutes by myself, and I’m nothing special as a player!
Is There An Even Harder Version Of The Navel?
Yes, of course. If your Hard encounter with Titan has left you wanting more, you can go on to unlock The Navel (Extreme). This was introduced back in patch 2.1 and requires significantly more involved teamwork and coordination to overcome. Much like unlocking the first string of hard Primal fights, your journey to The Navel (Extreme) begins with Urianger at The Waking Sands. These only become available once you’ve cleared The Navel (Hard) and handed in the quest. Just grab the quest “Primal Nature” after that, and follow the next string of Extreme difficulty Trials to get to The Navel again.
