If you’re a long-term player of FFXIV you will understand the luxury of saving time by doing certain duties unsynced. Whether it’s to farm Mounts from Extreme Trials, catch up on loot from previous Savage tiers or get your Wondrous Tails complete for the week, the option to complete duties rapidly is a great perk to FFXIV this type of content.
Though the above tend to be the most common reasons a player will complete content unsynced there are truly many benefits to having the option to do so that a player may not realize at first. Admittedly, unsynced duties are generally less rewarding than completing content synced, but this guide will take you through everything you need to know when it comes to unsynced content including when I think it is most worth doing it. I will also cover what rewards you can and can’t get and cover some extra recommendations to ensure that you are safe when completing content unsynced so you don’t end up wasting time failing.
Note: If you have any questions about FFXIV that you want me to cover feel free to leave them in a comment below, you can also ask me while I am streaming on Twitch or in our community discord.
WHAT IS AN UNSYNCED/UNRESTRICTED DUTY/INSTANCE?
An unsynced/unrestricted duty or instance is essentially the ability to complete content with the gear you are wearing on your current job while maintaining its current level. So, if you queue for a dungeon while in unrestricted/unsynced mode with a level 90 Dancer with Gear that is iLvl 590, not only will you have the skills/abilities you have at level 90, but you will also deal the full damage you would normally do with that gear.
This means a player will be able to clear content extremely swiftly especially if they are at a much higher level than the content itself.
It is important to note that your Job level is not the most important factor in this as Gearscore is incredibly important in these situations.
Players will also be able to enter Unsynced/Unrestricted Duties and Instances with fewer players than are typically required, meaning a player can complete Dungeons with fewer than 4 players and Trials/Raids with fewer than 8 players.
Players will not be able to complete the most recent content unsynced/unrestricted and at the time of writing this post players will not be able to complete Alliance Raids in this mode. even if they have the required number of players.
That being said, players will not be able to complete any roulettes with the unrestricted or unsynced option turned on.
As a note, players will be able to tell what content they can or cannot complete unsynced when it is selected in the Duty Finder as the instances a player cannot complete will be crossed out when this option is turned on.
HOW DO I ENTER AN UNSYNCED/UNRESTRICTED DUTY/INSTANCE?
To enter a Duty or Instance unsynced players must first enter their Duty Finder, click the Gear in the top left corner and select “Unrestricted Party” which is the second option in this tab.
It is important to note that if other players are joining your party they will appear at the level they are, meaning if you have a friend who is level 50 with 120 iLvl they will appear as such even if you are on a higher levelled job or they have a higher levelled job.
Players will still need to meet the minimum iLvl and Level requirements even though duty is unrestricted meaning a player cannot help their friends skip through content if they do not have high enough Gear.
There are very few instances a player will want to do content on a job that is not the highest level or Geared up as the main benefit to completing content unsynced is the speed you can complete the content. The only time I can imagine a player wanting to do this is if they are farming an achievement, however, as achievements are going nowhere it is much more beneficial to simply complete content on your highest-damage dealers.
DO YOU GET ANY REWARDS FROM UNSYNCED/UNRESTRICTED CONTENT?
Although players will not get all rewards from completing Duties Unrestricted/Unsynced, there are several goodies a player can still get.
Loot players can receive in unrestricted/unsynced content include:
Loot from Chests (including Mounts and Minions)
Triple Triad Cards
The Tomestones of Poetics or higher tier Tomestones are guaranteed for completing the duty (shown in the Duty Finder when selecting the content)
Players will not receive the following from completing unsynced/unrestricted content:
EXP from killing mobs
Spiritbond on your Gear
Gil from slaying mobs, including bosses
WHAT LEVEL SHOULD I BE BEFORE I DO A DUTY UNSYNCED/UNRESTRICTED SOLO?
Depending on your skill level, Gear and the difficulty of the content players may or may not want to choose to do certain instances unsynced or unrestricted.
If you are focussing on speed of completion I recommend the following:
Only run dungeons that are 20 levels lower than you, even with good Gear dungeons that are 10 levels lower are extremely slow though still manageable to complete. I would recommend using a tank for unsynced/unrestricted instances that are closer to your level as they have more survivability. If you drastically out-level content, DPS is much more efficient and jobs like Red Mage will be a safer choice as it has a decent heal. I would strongly advise using a healer unless that is the only role you play as this will make content incredibly slow.
I would recommend the same advice for regular Trials, though this does not include Extreme Trials. I strongly recommend only running Extreme Trials that are 30 levels below you if you are planning on completing them solo. This is highly dependent on what Trial you are completing as some have mechanics that require multiple players to complete. These mechanics begin in level 60 Extreme Trials and some will appear in the regular version of these Trials. For the most part, the damage players take when completing unrestricted/unsynced content is not going to impair a player and some of these mechanics can be skipped if high enough damage is dealt though this is not guaranteed.
Normal Raids for the most part can be completed when a player is 20 levels above the instance, though typcially players will not want to or need to run this content unsynced unless they are missing a Minion. Won’t lie, I would only do the Normal Raid Roullete since Gear cannot be dyed (meaning I don’t often use it) and Minions cannot be sold.
As for Savage content, I strongly recommend you always do these with at least two players. It doesn’t matter how easy the content is, Savage content can be extremely frustrating to complete due to the number of rapid mechanics that can lead a player to wipe and again more often have unavoidable mechanics that require multiple players. I typically team up in groups of 3 when reclearing Savage tiers for Glams or Mounts, even if I am comfortable with the content. The reason for this is that some of the Savage fights simply require a minimum of 3 players to complete and not just two.
DO UNSYNCED DUTIES COUNT TOWARDS MY TANKING ACHIEVEMENTS?
Unsynced Duties count towards your Tanking Achievements, however, I wouldn’t recommend farming this way unless you make or find a Party Finder that is specifically for achievement farming.
Realistically, while unsynced content can be completed relatively quickly, an achievement that requires 500 high-level duties will obviously go much faster with more players.
There are a few Duties that players farm regularly for tank achievements as they only take a few seconds to clear with a minimum of 6 players, one for example, the Alexander Raids. Though a player can complete these on their own or with two players, they typically take a few minutes instead of seconds.
I can’t say that content like this interests me and I would much rather take the Tanking achievements slower, especially since I’m well on my way through the majority of all 8 achievements as I regularly Tank Roulettes.
The only time I “farm” this achievement solo is when completing tasks for Wondrous Tails as I always complete the Extreme Trials as a Tank.
WHEN WOULD YOU RECOMMEND I RUN DUTIES UNSYNCED?
There are a few instances I would highly recommend you always run Duties unsynced and there are various reasons for this.
To start, I highly recommend completing the lower-level Extreme Trials in your Wondrous Tails unsynced as soon as you get a new book. If you have 9 re-rolls available, immediately re-roll one and redo it as the chances of you getting more re-rolls throughout the week is tremendously high.
If you have some friends around or if you can stomach doing a Dungeon Unsynced solo complete any Dungeons on your Wondrous Tails that are at least 20-levels below you. I only really recommend this if you have a Minion, Glam or Triple Triad Card you want from a specific Dungeon. Otherwise, it’s more worth your time to just keep re-rolling an Extreme Trial.
I can’t lie and pretend that I regularly run Dungeons unsynced and the only time I do them this way is when my friends ask me to help out if they don’t have enough time on their hands to run a Dungeon properly. Realistically most of the loot I need is from Level 80+ Dungeons which I’d prefer not to solo even unsynced simply due to the time they take to complete.
Otherwise, if players are utilizing their Tomestones of Poetics to get Relic Weapons, they can complete the Duties required for the steps unsynced. Even though the Weapons you need to use for these steps are generally weak, you can solo these instances when unsynced though in between pulls I would recommend opening up a Party Finder to see if other players want to join as it will make things go much faster.
Speaking of Poetics, although I wouldn’t recommend spamming unsynced content to farm them repeatedly I would recommend completing a Duty you’ve never completed before this way as this will give you a good chunk of Poetics for minimal effort. If you’re looking for the fastest way to farm Tomestones of Poetics check out this guide.
With somewhat the same breath, the other time I strongly recommend you do unsynced content is if you are attempting to unlock the Mentor Roullete as the queues, especially for Extremes are awful. Although this is a pretty niche thing to unlock, players attempting to unlock the Roulette will have to complete all content (except Ultimates and Savage) at least once.
Obviously, you will need to learn these fights sooner or later as they will pop up in that Roulette.
CAN YOU GET BLUE MAGE SPELLS WHEN COMPLETING AN UNRESTRICTED/UNSYNCED DUTY
I’m hit and miss about recommending acquiring Blue Mage Spells unsynced as it seems to lower the chances of the player learning the spell. Admittedly, the higher the star rating of the spell the lower the chance of actually obtaining the spell.
I’ve had some very good luck and some very bad luck when it comes to trying to learn Spells unsynced. Sometimes I’ve gotten them in a couple runs while other times I’ve run an instance 16+ times and still not gotten the spell.
My recommendation is to always try to run Dungeons synced as this raises the chance of you learning the spell and Dungeons will not take long to complete especially if you have Rams Voice and Ultravibration, but if you are trying to learn a Primal Spell it is probably better to do this unsynced since it is a low chance to learn anyways and this content takes quite a bit longer.
When it comes to synced Blue Mage content you will need to pre-form a party either in the Party Finder or you can half unsync the content so you still get rewards but can enter with less than 4 players.
To do this head to your Duty Finder click the Gear and select Unrestricted Party and then Level Sync. This will allow Dungeons to remain relatively easy still, especially if you Ultra Vibration mob packs, though bosses will take a bit more time as it’s not like the Blue Mage is OP in dungeons and is pretty average when it comes to damaging bosses.
I strongly recommend only doing dungeons fully unsynced if you are playing during downtime, otherwise, Party Finders fill relatively quickly as many players want to get all the spells for Blue Mage due to how useful it is so opening up a Party Finder is the best option.
Leave a Reply