Gold Saucer Active Time Events (GATEs) are fun minigames which allow you an opportunity to win a decent amount of MGP with a quick activity. They’re part of the weekly challenge log, so completing enough of them awards even more MGP and works towards some challenge log gil as well.
You compete as an individual against the ‘house’, and not against other players. However, only one of the GATEs is an actual solo instanced duty. For most of them you and your friends can all participate alongside each other which can be a lot of fun.
GATEs occur three times an hour: on the hour, 20 minutes past, and 40 minutes past. If you’re in the Gold Saucer while a GATE is active, it will show on your minimap with an icon and directional indicator, much like a FATE will in the overworld. Hover over the icon in the minimap to see how much time is remaining on the event.
Speak to a GATE Keeper NPC and they will teleport you to the location of the GATE Client. Speak to this NPC to enter the GATE.
Contents
GATE Schedule
In each time slot there are three possible GATEs that can occur, but you don’t have to wait until it spawns to know what it’s going to be. You can confirm with a GATE Keeper which specific GATE is coming up next as soon as the previous GATE is over. They’ll even teleport you to the square it’ll be held in.
:00 (On the hour)
– Air Force One
– Cliffhanger
– Leap of Faith (The Falling City of Nym)
:20 (20 minutes past the hour)
– Any Way the Wind Blows
– The Slice Is Right
– Leap of Faith (The Fall of Belah’dia)
:40 (40 minutes past the hour)
– The Slice Is Right
– Air Force One
– Leap of Faith (Sylphstep)
In case you were wondering, yes it is possible for one GATE to occur in back to back timeslots.
If you just finished the event “Any Way the Wind Blows” or “The Slice Is Right”, you can immediately ask a GATE Keeper and they’ll tell you what the next event is.
If the previous GATE was “Cliffhanger”, “Leap of Faith”, or “Air Force One”, then you have to wait until entries close, at 10 minutes to the next GATE.
Be warned that if you wait until the GATE spawns to even think about teleporting over to the Gold Saucer, you could miss it (I have done this an unfortunate amount of times because I never seem to learn my lesson).
For the GATES in Event Square (“Any Way the Wind Blows” and “The Slice Is Right”) the entries are only open for about two minutes. Get there early enough to give yourself time to walk and/or teleport to the GATE client.
GATE Tips
Cliffhanger (:00)
Max Reward: 3000 MGP Skill: Medium Luck: Medium
As of 6.3 this GATE only appears in one timeslot. It’s pretty quick and not too hard. You have to make your way up a short obstacle course, jumping between platforms, ascending staircases, and walking narrow ledges to reach the NPC on the highest platform.
While you’re doing this, bombs will drop from above, which explode after a couple seconds and knock you away. If you get knocked off, you can simply speak to the client and try again. You have until the time expires (10 minutes) to reach the goal at the top.
There’s one particular course (different from the photo above) where your character can’t jump the full three steps before the gap in a set of stairs. You can only jump two. However, doing a full jump twice would make you fall into the gap. The way I solve things like this is by doing a full jump, walking back so you fall down one step, and doing a second jump to land on the highest step before the gap. Then you simply clear the gap with a big jump.
It’s basically a jumping puzzle with a little more time pressure, but easier courses. If you’ve done the Moonfire Faire event or if you play a lot of platformers then this will be no trouble for you and you’ll make some easy MGP.
Air Force One (:00, :40)
Max Reward: 4000 MGP Skill: Medium Luck: Low
This is the only solo instanced duty GATE. It’s a point and click shooting game where you destroy targets to earn points while avoiding other targets which will lose you points if you shoot them instead. It’s a fun game that takes a couple of minutes to play out and you can easily obtain the maximum score with a little practice.
One fairly obvious and useful feature is the targeting reticle’s colour. It turns green when it’s hovering over a valid target. Another tip is to work on the targets from one side of the screen to another, You’ll move the mouse slightly less that way, and you can eliminate all of one wave before working on the next wave. The targets only last so long so you want to hit the older ones first.
The bad targets tend to spawn in the same ‘sets’ at each checkpoint. For example, let’s say there’s a section immediately following the stationary ‘bonus round’. Targets will appear in three sets, and the third and fourth sets will always have the anti-targets.
If you can remember small things like that, you can hold your fire for a moment and see where they appear before continuing. Sometimes an anti-target will spawn right on top of where you were shooting a regular target which is unfortunate. Also, the little orb at the top of the anti-target does not count, so if you shoot that you won’t lose points.
Leap of Faith (:00, :20, :40)
Max Reward: 4000 MGP Skill: High Luck: Low
This GATE is all skill. It’s a jumping puzzle game (of which FFXIV has several) so if you’re good at those this will be quick MGP for you. Some of my friends absolutely detest jumping puzzles, so if you’re like them or if you get easily frustrated, this may not be the GATE for you.
There are three different maps and which one you get depends on the timeslot the GATE appears in: The Falling City of Nym (:00), The Fall of Belah’dia (:20), or Sylphstep (:40)
Keep in mind you don’t need to collect all the trophies to finish. If you just make it to the goal that’s worth 2000 MGP on its own. The silver and gold cactuar trophies can be really tricky to get to sometimes, so you’re only missing out on 300 or 500 MGP respectively for passing them up. There is an achievement for obtaining 20 gold cactuar trophies, but there’s no item or title reward.
It usually takes me about 2-3 minutes to complete this GATE. If I’m having a particularly rough time of it, I’ll skip any troublesome trophies and just head to the goal.
Any Way the Wind Blows (:20)
Max Reward: 7500 MGP Skill: Low Luck: High
This is a very low effort GATE that can yield a surprisingly large amount of MGP. You move your character on the arena to pick a spot to stand, and then Typhon appears and blasts a section of the platform, knocking people back.
If you get hit by Typhon’s attack you’re out (even if the blast doesn’t knock you off the arena). Successful completion means lasting all five rounds. Make sure you arrive on time to start.
You can move your character in between rounds for a couple seconds, but you’re locked in place once he begins the attack, and you don’t know which pattern of attack he’s about to do. Most of the time I just pick one spot to stand and watch the whole game play out.
/u/mcstronghuge on the ffxiv subreddit did research on this GATE years ago and made some fantastic visuals that I find still hold up today as guidelines for the best spots to pick.
There are five patterns of AoE blasts he can do, and of those, two of them have safe spots. The other three can theoretically hit you anywhere you stand, but there are some areas that are more likely to be part of the affected area, so you really just want to avoid those extra vulnerable spots.
Personally, I think this spot shown above on the North side of the arena is the best place to stand. It’s not a very big space so it takes a little familiarity to find it. I try to find the North cactuar, move one cactuar clockwise, and stand near its…mouth I guess? Just on the line of the cactuar.
It avoids two of the patterns completely, is not in an extra vulnerable spot, and one pattern (the line AoE) will only push you across the platform, not off it. That will still count as you failing the GATE, but at least you get to keep hanging out on the platform!
The remaining two patterns can still knock you off if you’re unlucky, but I think standing here (and there are a few other spots) gives you the best chance of winning.
The Slice is Right (:20, :40)
Max Reward: 5000 MGP (+ Bonuses) Skill: High Luck: Medium
This GATE came out in patch 5.1 and it’s an exciting one. It’s a fast reflex-testing game held in Event Square on the same stage as Any Way the Wind Blows, but in this one you have much more agency. A sharp eye and quick pattern recognition are key to winning this event. There are three rounds (plus two bonus rounds), and you have to be there on time to start with everybody else.
Making it to the end of the GATE without getting knocked off the platform gives you a base 5000 MGP, but there are rounds where you can earn bonuses so you might end up with a lot more.
Right off the bat I have to say you will be moving around a lot, so remember that you can walk off the edge of the arena! I’ve done this several times by accident. You need to be aware of how close to the edge you are on top of avoiding the mechanics of the event.
Something I personally like to do is toggle the UI display off. The default keybind for this is Scroll Lock. This just declutters the arena and makes it easier to focus on the poles, especially if you’ve got other players running all around. Be sure to toggle the UI back on for the first bonus round if you intend to go for a pile of coins.
Round 1
Watch the bamboo poles closely when Yojimbo strikes them, as there are three types of cut. They will either be split cleanly in half top to bottom, cut with a low diagonal slice, or cut with a number of rapid attacks all over. In this first round you’re dealing with one or two poles at a time.
In the first case, the bamboo will break apart slightly, then fall to either side and knock anyone off in a straight line. With the second cut the pole will move a bit in the direction it will fall, and then topple over. In the third pattern a (surprisingly large) circular AoE will hit anyone in the vicinity of the pole, and you’ve got to be quite far away to avoid all the falling pieces.
Clearing this round earns you 1000 MGP.
Bonus Round
This is the first bonus round. You can stand off to one side and just move on to the next round, but you won’t earn anything extra. Or, you can attempt to grab the piles of coin for 1000 MGP each. Yojimbo’s dog will be summoned in the arena and will jump to the piles one by one, knocking away any players in a small circle around the coins. I will say that the interaction bar ‘cast time’ is a little longer than you might expect, so don’t move before you’ve picked up the coins, or you’ll cancel your interaction early.
There are two strategies I like for this bonus round. There’s a risky one, and a safe one (and I guess a third super safe one if you just don’t attempt to grab any gold).
First, the safe strategy. Position between two nearby gold piles and wait for the dog to turn and face his intended target. Simply move to and pick up the gold pile that he’s not looking at, and then move away to a safe spot with no gold around. It’s a very consistent way to get 1000 bonus MGP every time.
The important thing is to make sure that you actually move to the pile you’re picking up. If you just click on the pile your character will kneel down where they are and pick up the coins. If the dog turned to target the other pile you were standing near, you don’t want to get clipped because you were too close. Better to move a tiny bit first so that you’re only in range of a single pile.
The second strategy is risky, but you have a better chance of picking up two piles of gold coins for a 2000 MGP bonus. Position near one of the piles at the start, with another one close by, but make sure you’re not in range to get hit by the second one. Spam click the first pile so you start collecting it as soon as you’re allowed.
The dog will turn to face his target while you’re collecting, so you have to watch in case he looks your way. If he does, you need to cancel by moving away immediately in the direction of the second pile. Whether he jumps on your first pile or not, you should try for the second one if it’s still there. Again, you need to watch the dog closely and be ready to back off if he targets that mound of coins next.
Obviously this strategy makes you take two risks at getting knocked out of the game if you’re not fast enough. Even if you do have quick reflexes, there’s still a chance (about 8.3%) the dog could target your two piles as his first two. In this case you’re probably getting no bonus at all this round.
Personally I favour the first strategy for the consistent bonus, and next to no risk of being taken out of the game. Once you’ve grabbed the goods, move to a space away from any of the pile locations to proceed safely to the next round.
Round 2
Another bamboo round. There will be two or three bamboo poles here, so I like to stand between two of them while on the opposite side of the arena as the third pole. This makes it easy to avoid the circular cuts, so you just have to keep an eye on the poles cut with a single slice and adjust accordingly. Passing this round earns you another 2000 MGP.
This is all about recognizing patterns and paying attention to multiple things at once. It takes some practice, but you very often only have to move a little bit, and you have a few seconds to do so once you see the cuts.
Bonus Round
This is a shell game style bonus round with three giant baskets. One basket contains coins that DOUBLE your MGP earned so far, one contains the dog who knocks you out, and the last basket is empty.
I originally thought the baskets moved so extremely fast that you had no choice but to guess. This was because of a very tight, very fast spin the baskets do right at the end. However, some people have said that if you simply take note of where the baskets were just before the tight spin, that actually matches their final positions.
After many rounds, I’ve observed that the animation never changes. If you follow the basket with the gold coins, it will always return to its starting position just before the rapid middle spin. Obviously, its final position is not always its starting position, so I’m afraid this method doesn’t work.
It seems that this bonus round is entirely random.
I have seen people stand on the white line dividing the three sections, but would need to test that further to see if it can prevent you from being knocked off. This is difficult on larger characters anyway because it’s hard to estimate the exact point on the floor your character is considered to be standing on.
Round 3
This is the final round, and spawns sets of three, then four bamboo poles. It’s definitely a challenge, and there are a couple strategies you can try.
If you don’t think you can process four bamboo patterns at once, then I recommend trying the same strategy in round 3 and staying near the edge, in between two poles. Just focus on these two and hope you get lucky that the two in the back don’t hit you with a line AoE.
If you want to really have the best chance, stand closer to one of the two poles and angle the camera so you’ll be able to see all four at once. First, check the pole you’re standing next to, then check the adjacent poles.
If your first pole is point-blank (rapid slices) you need to run immediately to one of the two adjacent poles, because the AoE is pretty big. You’ll need to run towards a pole that is also not point-blank in order to survive, and then quickly position to avoid this second pole’s line AoE.
If the first pole is not point blank, find a safe spot near its base, and scan for other poles that are falling in a line. It will be hard to judge from far away, but do your best to estimate where they will land on your side of the platform.
Completing this round earns you an additional 2000 MGP.
GATE Achievement Titles
There are a few titles to be earned here in the Gold Saucer, just by competing in and winning GATEs. Some GATEs don’t have achievements, and some have achievements but no title reward. I’m just going to list the titles you can unlock through GATEs.
Title: Keymaster…
Successfully complete 100 GATEs for the “Enemy at the GATE III” achievement.
Title: …The Fungah
Successfully complete the GATE “Any Way the Wind Blows” 10 times for the “WTFungah III” achievement.
Title: Kindred Sword…
Successfully complete the GATE “The Slice Is Right” 10 times for the “Right on the Money III” achievement.
Conclusion
Hopefully this answered any questions you had about the GATEs at the Gold Saucer. These are my favourite way of collecting MGP, especially the newest one, The Slice is Right. If you’re looking for other tips on how to earn MGP check out Basically Average for an overview of high MGP rewarding activities.
Which of these is your favourite GATE to participate in? Do you have any tips or strategies that weren’t covered in this guide? Let us know in the comments.