Where to find and unlock artifact armor in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail
It looks great and it's completely free!
Something I look forward to the most with each new Final Fantasy 14 expansion is seeing the new job-specific gear Square Enix has cooked up, and Dawntrail is no different. Popping on a set of artifact armor—or AF gear as it's commonly called—for the first time is always a neat moment that really plays into the class fantasy. It's not all looks though, as the Dawntrail artifact armor is also a really simple (and free) way of giving yourself a full left-side set of level 99 gear and a much-needed stat increase before heading into the final dungeon and trial.
The main scenario quest actually plonks you right outside the stall to retrieve the armor. However, if you're anything like me you may have accidentally sped through the dialogue telling you to retrieve your new threads. Or perhaps you're levelling up your other classes and forgot where you need to go to grab your AF gear.
Either way, here's where you need to go to get your Dawntrail artifact armor. Be warned that there are big spoilers for a level 99 quest, so proceed with caution.
How to get Dawntrail artifact armor
In order to grab your AF gear, you'll first need to unlock the NPC who's stashing it away. To do that, you'll need to be on the level 99 quest In Pursuit of Sphene. During this quest, you'll speak to Koana next to the NPC Mewazunte in Tuliyollal, which will then unlock the ability to grab artifact armor.
In case you've already completed the quest and are coming back for your secondary class's set, or skipped over Koana's pleas to take the free gear entirely, you can easily find Mewazunte again by teleporting to the Tuliyollal main aetheryte, before going down the stairs and turning right. His stand is all the way at the end on the right-hand side at map coordinates X:12.4, Y:12.8.
You don't need to be level 99 on a class to obtain artifact gear, but you do need to be level 99 to equip it. So if you've got the inventory space there's no harm in grabbing the set for whatever class you're levelling up so you can immediately kit them out as soon as you hit the big 9-9.