The second Variant Dungeon is out, this one taking us to the remote mountains of Hingashi to deal with all manners of demons and ghosts with everyone’s favorite NPC, Hancock. Doesn’t that sound like so much fun? No? Perhaps the rewards and gorgeous scenery will tempt you instead. Here’s a thorough Mount Rokkon dungeon guide.
Mount Rokkon full dungeon Guide: Start and unlock
The starting quest is ‘Mononoke Aware’, picked up from Shallow Moor in Old Sharlayan (12.0, 13.3). You must have baseEndwalkercomplete, as per last time. A few cutscenes later full of exposition, you’ll be in Kugane with Hancock and with the duty finder for Mount Rokkon unlocked. Now it’s time to venture out.
Variant Dungeon tips and tricks
Being a variant dungeon over a regular dungeon, you do not need four people to do Mount Rokkon. The mobs will all scale HP to the amount of players on each run. However, here are some general rules for climbing the mountain.
Tanks and Healers should always haveVariant Spirit Dartas their first action. Spirit Dart is now part of your rotation to optimize DPS. As an OGCD (Off-global Cooldown), Spirit Dart is meant to be woven between your regular attacks. It does far more damage than your normal attacks, so don’t wait for the DoT to run out. Just spam it until the boss is dead.
DPS’ two actions will vary per composition, but as general rules:
Left Portal: Routes and Pulls Overview
Nothing you do can affect the Left Path until after the first boss. Instead you’ll simply take the scenic route up the mountain.
Route One (Gift of the Onmyoji):When presented with the Auspice statues, ignore the puzzle and use the Crystal Ball immediately. You’ll then find a Katana case in the next room. Interact with it.
Route Two (The Crimson Sword):Do not interact with the Katana this time and proceed into the final boss room.
If you pick these routes, your remaining pulls are this:
Route Three (A Tale of Dead Men):Nowwe’re going to do the Auspice statue puzzle. Rotate Suzaku to the north (facing the door) and Seiryu to the west, then interact with the orb. A new path opens up for you to follow.
After defeating mobs on the roof, you’ll go inside to another room. There’s a mob called Shishu Apa. To get this route, you have to leave it alone until it casts Water III to put out the lanterns in the room, then continue on.
Route Four (Forging a Legacy):Now the party has to focus down and stun the Apa before it can cast Water III to keep the lanterns lit.
Middle Portal Overview
Taking the middle route puts you on a direct path to Shojo Temple. Like the left path, none of your actions affect the route until after the first boss, but you can at least change later enemies encountered and the first boss’ mechanics.
Route Five (The Luthier and the Songstress):Proceed forward with Hancock the whole way. When you come to the White Baboon, accept its offer and spare it.
Route Six (Lost to Avarice):Tell the Baboon you need a moment to think about it. It will attack you, but its easily defeated.
Sixth Pull:Three Koja and two Yamawaro.
Route Seven (Beyond the Lantern’s Light):Don’t follow Hancock through the door. Instead, there’s a makeshift staircase made of crates behind you in the same room.
Climb it all the way up and pull the rope to let Hancock join you.
Route Twelve AKA the Secret Route (The Osgiseru’s Fate):Climb the crates and let him join you again. This time, however, when the Chochin appear, you have to pull them down into the previous room. There are several lanterns in this room. Each one standing underneath a banner needs to be lit by a Chochin. So drag them over to the lanterns one by one and defeat them one by one.
They will light each lantern upon defeat, opening up a Lantern of Passage to interact with.
Sixth Pull:Three Chochin.
Right Portal Routes
If you opt for the right portal, you eschew civilization entirely and take a walk through nature. Cursed objects may or may not be included.
This is the only route where the outcome changes before the first boss. Hancock is drawn to a Dogu statue just below the staircase to the first boss.
Route Eight:Ignore the Dogu and proceed. However, you’ll come across four Scared Stones on the path. You need to interact with each one. The stones are at (11.6, 10.0), (10.8, 8.6) (10.3, 8.3), and (9.8, 6.3) respectively.
Route Nine:Don’t interact with anything, just go through the path.
Route Ten:Now take the Dogu and fight the boss. You’ll come to a path with a picket fence. Ignore the fence and instead focus on the shrine.
Use the Eastern Bow emote in front of it (/ebow) and it will open. Put the Dogu inside and the stump turns into another path. When faced with the final choice of path, pick the Iwakura.
Route Eleven:We’re doing the same thing, but we’re picking the Ancient Tree at the end instead of the Iwakura.
Mount Rokkon Bosses: Yozakura the Fleeting
No matter what route you pick, your first boss will always be this possessed Shinobi woman. She has a set of universal mechanics and then others that vary per route.
Universal mechanics:
The rest vary by route.
Left Path, Windy Weather:
Left Path, Rainy Weather:
Middle Path, Rope Left Alone
Middle Path, Rope Pulled:
Right Path, Dogu Statue Left Behind:
Right Path, Dogu Statue Taken:
Mount Rokkon Dungeon Guide Left Path Final Boss: Moko the Restless
More appropriately called Moko The Confusing Mechanics, this vengeful spirit and the right path boss are both a step up in difficulty. You really have to figure out his mechanics or you’re not going to have fun.
Universal Mechanics:
Image via MS Paint
Route Mechanics:
Mount Rokkon Dungeon Guide Middle Path Final Boss: Gorai the Uncaged
The fallen head monk of the temple is the easiest of the bosses by far. None of his variation mechanics are particularly painful and his main rotation is manageable in the prediction category. Even better, his additional mechanic from routes only happens once. If you’re Potsherd farming, pick his routes.
Right Path Boss:Shishio
If you like pain and nightmare fuel, you’ll come face to face with Shishio, a fearsome creature from Hingashi legend. Most of its universal mechanics are pure suffering and the additional ones range from tolerable to painful. The good news is the route mechanic only happens once, but that’s barely a silver lining.
Mount Rokkon dungeon guide Secret Route Boss: Enenra
Despite being the secret boss, Enenra is the second easiest of all the bosses, because Moko and Shishio insist on being actual hell to beat in their corners. I guess we can’t all be the Sil’dah Subterrane secret boss.
Mount Rokkon Rewards
Related:How to get the Shishioji mount in FFXIV
There are three ways to get rewards from Mount Rokkon. Some are exchanged from Rokkon Potsherds and Shishu Coins (found in Another Mount Rokkon) from Trissant in Old Sharlayan (12, 13.3), while some are a low drop chance from the Personal Spoils coffers.
Rokkon Potsherds
Shishu Coins
Personal Spoils
Completing all twelve routes gives you the Burabura Chochin Whistle from the achievement menu. And with that, the Mount Rokkon Dungeon Guide has completed. Now the bigger question is, was it all worth it, and is Hancock an interesting character now?
Alexa BeMent
Alexa BeMent is an aspiring media creator and writer who may also secretly be a manatee masquerading as a human. A Virginia Tech graduate with Creative Writing and Cinema degrees, she has been a Freelance Writer for PC Invasion since February 2023, and enjoys writing stories and consuming video essays when she’s not planning the Manatee Uprising. Having played video games since before she could read, she is a lover of all things Legend of Zelda, FFXIV, horror games, and can play competitive Pokémon, especially as a Ghost type Gym Leader. We don’t discuss how big her Pokémon plush collection is.
