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Final Fantasy XIV: A Rush of Cold Wind walkthrough

SportsSep 8, 2026
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Final Fantasy XIV’s A Rush of Cold Wind quest is one of the patch 7.56 Main Scenario Quests that offers players a glimpse into the world of Evercold. This quest takes place after A Winter’s Dream, and will take the Warrior of Light, Alphinaud, and Estinien to the Fourth, where the next expansion will take place. The fights aren’t wildly challenging, but it’s better to be prepared for them.

The battle that takes place in A Rush of Cold Wind is a lengthy one, so Final Fantasy XIV players will want to block out about a half hour or so of time, especially if you don’t skip cutscenes. Here’s everything we know about this new Main Scenario Quest.

How to complete A Rush of Cold Wind in Final Fantasy XIV

Once the Warrior of Light, Alphinaud, and Estinien arrive in the Fourth, you can pick up A Rush of Cold Wind as one of the new Final Fantasy XIV Main Scenario Quests for Dawntrail. Stranded on a floating island that doesn’t appear to be powered by Wind Crystals, the player will need to figure out where they are, and then survive an encounter with the locals.

The first objectives for Final Fantasy XIV's A Rush of Cold Wind are very easy to spot (Image via Square Enix || Sportskeeda)The first objectives for Final Fantasy XIV's A Rush of Cold Wind are very easy to spot (Image via Square Enix || Sportskeeda)
The first objectives for Final Fantasy XIV’s A Rush of Cold Wind are very easy to spot (Image via Square Enix || Sportskeeda)

Quest objectives

  • Investigate the surroundings x3
  • Speak with Estinien
  • Win the battle

First things first: investigate your surroundings. This is an easy objective, so just head to the quest markers, and interact with them. Everything here is frozen over and is barely alive. After looking things over, you’ll want to speak with Estinien. He’ll point out that we need some mode of travel to get off of this island. Right after this, an instanced battle will trigger. Whenever you’re ready, interact with Estinien and join the battle.

If you are above the maximum allowed level (Level 100, Item Level 755), your level and gear will be synced down to the aforementioned stats. There are phases to this fight, so if you’re defeated you can try again from specific points.

In addition, it’s likely that, if you’re defeated, you can choose to play on an easier difficulty, if necessary. Don’t worry about needing to be a healer for this fight, because Alphinaud handles the healing.

This reminds me of a watered-down Ultima Weapon AOE (Image via Square Enix || Sportskeeda)This reminds me of a watered-down Ultima Weapon AOE (Image via Square Enix || Sportskeeda)
This reminds me of a watered-down Ultima Weapon AOE (Image via Square Enix || Sportskeeda)

When you enter the fight, you’ll have to contend with several waves of weak enemies, Thrall Impalers. You aren’t alone at least, because Estinien and Alphinaud are here to help. These are pretty weak, so you can AOE them down with whatever skills you prefer.

The second wave of Thrall Impalers will do a screen-wide AOE that you can see in the image above. Just stand in one of the spaces where it’s not orange, and you’ll be just fine. Take them down with more AOE attacks and a third wave will show up.

You will fight a few more waves of these Thrall Impalers, with the fifth requiring you to group up with your party to tank a repeated water AOE attack. There are other AOE line attacks from the Thrall Impalers too, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. After Estinien wipes one of the groups out, Alphinaud will conjure a barrier to keep you safe from a full-screen AOE.

Just mash like you mean it! Mash like you're a Blanka player in Street Fighter 2! (Image via Square Enix || Sportskeeda)Just mash like you mean it! Mash like you're a Blanka player in Street Fighter 2! (Image via Square Enix || Sportskeeda)
Just mash like you mean it! Mash like you’re a Blanka player in Street Fighter 2! (Image via Square Enix || Sportskeeda)

The next part of A Rush of Cold Wind in Final Fantasy XIV will require you to rapidly mash buttons to escape the clutches of the Thrall Impalers. To make this as easy as possible, hover your mouse over the button, and just rapidly hit any keys on your keyboard. I just mash ASDFASDF over and over until the meter fills.

After one final group of Thrall Impalers, you’ll get another cutscene, where a much larger foe will spawn. Once again, you aren’t alone. A mysterious, pink-haired girl offers to lend a hand, and fires her crossbow at the mechanical foe. This is where things get just a little bit more difficult.

How to beat Thrall Subjugator in Final Fantasy XIV’s A Rush of Cold Wind

The Thrall Subjugator has some pretty devastating attacks that you’ll have to endure and avoid in Final Fantasy XIV’s A Rush of Cold Wind quest. This boss doesn’t take a whole lot of damage, so you just need to push through with whatever attacks or rotation your job does, while avoiding its assortment of attacks. Below is everything the boss does, and what to do to avoid it.

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(Fight begins at 8:53)

Thrall Subjugator’s attacks

  • Vatnsfloo: Conjures columns of water that explode into circular AOEs after a short time. Repeats 5 times and adds Vulnerability stacks. Keep moving and you should be safe.
  • Thrash: Covers most of the field in an AOE damage field. Get behind the boss. This attack happens sporadically throughout the fight.
  • Thrall’s Water IV: Screen-wide damage that cannot be avoided.
  • Rainy Day: Large blue ring AOEs appear on the screen in pairs. As they shrink, the AOE field grows. This happens three times. Keep moving out of their way until this phase ends.
  • Thrall’s Water III: An AOE attack that requires the party to stack together to mitigate.
  • Will-o-the-Water: A trio of large circular AOEs appear that intersect. They create large bubbles that slowly bounce, and wherever they land, an AOE appears. These will bounce repeatedly.
  • Underwater Cell: Slowly creates large AOE areas that will explode with water magic. The tell shows up in the air and slowly fills up towards the ground. It’s not too hard to evade if you stay mobile. The first shows up alone, but then it is followed up with pairs that do the same thing. Third blast will be three AOEs.
  • Raiding Force: Summons a series of Thrall Impalers to try and bind the party, via “Quelling Tactics”. Stay out of the large AOE cones.
  • Osmatic Sting: This attack deals unavoidable AOE damage.

The most frustrating attacks are Vatnsfloo and Will-o-the-Water. Vatnsfloo’s AOEs appear very quickly so you have to stay moving to avoid getting a bunch of Vulnerability stacks. Will-o-the-Water on the other hand, is very slow, but you have to keep an eye on where you think all three orbs will land.

They bounce a couple of times, so focus less on DPSing your opponent for this part of the Final Fantasy XIV boss fight. For Will-o-the-Water, the AOE area is large, and it appears just before the damage triggers.

When you get the Thrall Subjugator down to around 40-50% health in Final Fantasy XIV, the pink-haired girl will tell you to target the heart. Tab to the Subjugator’s Heart and throw all of your DPS at it as quickly as you can. You may need to aim your camera up to target it. After this, Estinien will call upon Nidhogg to unleash his rage, and that will end the fight.

I won’t spoil the following cutscenes, but you’ll learn more about the Fourth, who this mysterious girl is, and what she can do. It may just be a clue to what our second new job will be, when Evercold launches in January 2027. After the cutscene ends, you can pick up the next Main Scenario Quest for Final Fantasy XIV, The World Locked in Ice.

Check out our other Final Fantasy XIV guides and features