It’s been awhile, huh? I took some time away from writing in general through December and most of January for a variety of reasons, but I have still been playing FFXIV just about every day (though I’ve been diving into some other games, including the simply excellent Hades from Supergiant Games). I’ve been sitting on a number of glamours in the meantime that I want to get up (as well as some Heirloom sets from Matoya’s Relict), but getting back into the groove of things has been a bit slow-going!

Today, though, marks the 5th anniversary of Fashion Ninjutsu, and I couldn’t let today pass without at least posting something! So, here’s one of my favorite glamours 5.4 thus far!

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Glamour Components
Jobs: MNK/SAM — Level: 80
Weapon: Emperor’s New Fists
Head: Shadowless Mask of Scouting
Body: Exarchic Top of Striking
Hands: Exarchic Armguards of Striking (Jet Black)
Legs: Exarchic Bottoms of Striking
Feet: Neo-Ishgardian Boots of Striking

Normally, I’m not really a fan of longer body pieces in FFXIV: a large number of them look simply awful fem’qote due to the way the gear is designed to fall around the legs, often extending out in ways that make very little sense for their body frames. But as with the Exarchic Coat of Fending, the Exarchic Tops for Aiming, Scouting, and Striking classes fall in a way that feels far more natural. Of the three, the Striking version has quickly become my favorite (though I’ve also been running around with a version of this look for Ninja, too).

By default, the Striking Exarchic set has all of Alahra’s primary colors: black, gold, red, and white, and when I picked up the full set not long into 5.4 so that I could continue to play Monk without feeling too weak in my Expert runs, I fell in love with how it looked on her (minus the hood, of course!). It’s one of those sets that I didn’t really have to do too much to in order to make it work, as I’m fond of just about everything other than the headpiece and the boots.

While I’m not using the Shadowless Mask full time (instead largely favoring Alahra’s normal Reading Glasses), I’ve included it here because it was part of what initially brought me to change Alahra’s hair style once again. I wanted something I could wear the mask with that wouldn’t clip because the Exarchic set has a real Golden Age Athens vibe that I thought was perfect for an Amaurotine look (and the mask just so happens to match the gold on the set, too). Since I’ve long imagined that her Amaurotine self has elaborate braids, the Gyr Abanian Plait was the perfect fit (with minor clipping, but not so much that it bothers me).

Otherwise, all I really wanted to change was the boots: they were just a bit too short for my tastes, but I didn’t exactly want to go full thighboots because I actually rather like the leather straps that come along with the Exarchic Bottoms! After scouring the Market Board for quite some time, I ultimately settled on the Neo-Ishgardian Boots—they’re already in the proper color scheme, have just a bit more height, and are less chunky than the Exarchic pair, too. All of that made them the perfect fit (and I’m bummed I haven’t been able to find a good pair for Ninja outside of some old Omega raid gear I need to see about farming somehow).

I did look long and hard for a solid Monk weapon to accompany the glamour, but so far I’ve not found something that really suits my tastes. Samsara Recollection do naturally match the set quite well, outside of the glow (which I always hate to glamour over), but I didn’t really care for the tonfa alongside the cyclas. Other options, like the Makai Fists, got rid of the rather nice Exarchic Armguards, and so for now I’m just running around with the Emperor’s New Fists.

I’ll hopefully have glamours and gearsets coming up at a more regular pace in the weeks to come, but for now, given that it’s the site’s anniversary, I just want to extend a thank you to everyone who has read and supported the site over the last five years! I never thought this little personal project would take off the way it has, nor that I would actually still be doing it five years down the line (with a few breaks here and there, admittedly). We’re just over a week away from the (presumed) announcement of the game’s next expansion, so hopefully we’ll have a lot to dissect and look forward to soon!