Final Fantasy XIV Patch 7.56 released on September 8, 2026, adding the limited job Beastmaster and its solo duty, the Crucible of the Unbroken. The update also continues the level-100 main scenario, starts PvP Series 12, and relaxes several end-of-tier limits for AAC Heavyweight Tier (Savage). Square Enix lists the additions and adjustments in the official Patch 7.56 notes.
Beastmaster starts at level 1
Beastmaster is a limited melee DPS job that begins at level 1 and can reach level 50. It shares equipment with monk and samurai. The unlock quest, Strangers in the Wood, begins in New Gridania. Access requires level 50 with any Disciple of War or Magic and completion of the main scenario quest The Ultimate Weapon.
The job revolves around finding beasts and forging pacts. Its gauge shows whether a pact can be forged with a target and how difficult the attempt will be. Capture applies a status to that beast; defeating it while the status remains active can produce a pact. Weakening the target first improves the chance of success, but an attempt may still fail.
Familiars gained through successful pacts are registered in the Master’s Bestiary. Players assign them to battlehorns and can summon one familiar at a time. Beastmaster earns more experience from FATEs than other jobs, but it does not receive blue mage’s bonus for defeating open-world enemies. It also cannot use role actions.
Limited-job rules restrict duties
Multiplayer duties require a preformed party or the unrestricted-party option, so Beastmaster cannot rely on the usual roulette matchmaking route. Limited jobs may accept only job quests and quests available to all jobs and classes. Retainers cannot be assigned Beastmaster. Its exclusions cover these categories:
- Matchmade content: Duty Roulettes.
- Field operations: Eureka, Bozja, and the Occult Crescent.
- Special duties: Variant and Criterion dungeons, Ultimate raids, Deep Dungeons, Squadron Missions, and Stone, Sky, Sea.
- Competitive and training content: PvP, duels, and the Hall of the Novice.
The Crucible of the Unbroken is Beastmaster’s dedicated solo duty. It consists of a series of boards followed by a final boss. Each board sets its own limit on how many familiars the player can bring. Before an attempt, players may assemble a team from captured familiars or take the recommended lineup presented for that board. The displayed layout names the foes waiting on its spaces and lists their weaknesses. The duty tracks player and familiar HP separately, and neither regenerates naturally inside it.
Individual board spaces can grant ephemeral items exclusive to the duty, pieces of beast gear, or feed for familiars. The final score accounts for factors including how many spaces the player traversed and how much player HP remains. The resulting number of remnants is proportional to that score. Players can exchange those remnants for Kornago gourds or upgrades to Beastmaster gear. Every familiar that participated also receives experience proportional to the achieved score.
Crucible rankings begin September 24
Ranking entries require third-degree Crucible Mode. Scores are based on the last three attempts on each board, rather than one best result kept indefinitely. Season One begins Thursday, September 24, 2026, and is scheduled to run until Patch 7.58, though Square Enix says the start and end times may change. The top 300 players on each physical data center will receive rewards through moogle delivery.
The main scenario continues
Patch 7.56 begins its new main scenario quests with A Winter’s Dream. The level-100 quest starts at the Rising Stones and requires completion of Trail to the Heavens.
The story precedes Final Fantasy XIV’s sixth expansion, Evercold. An official Square Enix announcement gives the expansion a January 2027 release window. The Patch 7.56 introduction and the official Evercold site both refer to the Solstice, but the patch notes do not explicitly describe A Winter’s Dream as an Evercold prologue.
Savage, tomestone, and PvP changes
The patch removes both the weekly chest restriction and the weekly entrance restriction from AAC Heavyweight Tier (Savage), while applying a 12% Echo to the raid tier. The weekly cap for Allagan tomestones of mnemonics increases from 450 to 900. That change doubles weekly acquisition without changing the overall storage limit of 2,000. PvP Series 12 begins with Patch 7.56 and continues until Patch 8.0.
