Final Fantasy XIV showed off gameplay for Beastmaster, the game’s upcoming limited job, during a Live Letter on April 17, 2026. The livestream included a live hands-on play-through by director Naoki Yoshida and gave the clearest look yet at how the job will work when the patch 7.5 series begins later this month.
The demo put the job’s capture loop at the center of the presentation. Beastmaster capturing has three official steps — Gauge, Weaken and Catch — and a successful capture records the creature in the Master's Bestiary. Up to three beasts can be assigned to a battlehorn, but only one can be summoned at a time in combat, with swaps allowed mid-fight. In a city-state, beasts can be summoned with no cooldowns at all, turning the job into something closer to a roaming collection system than a standard rotation.
The livestream also showed how the job links player and beast actions. Each beast unlocked brings skills usable by both sides. Tempered Release makes the beast perform a skill, while Nature's Gift lets the player execute one. Both the player and the beast build toward a gauge that unlocks instinctual skills once it passes 100, and those skills can open special combo versions when used in the right order for peak damage. The full Beastmaster demo was available in the Live Letter VOD, after the earlier Live Letter had only shown the basics.
That matters because Beastmaster is one of the more unusual jobs in Final Fantasy XIV, and Square Enix is still revealing how much of it will be playable in the wild. The earlier presentation had already pointed to a solo instance for training and leveling beasts, but the latest livestream did not show that portion in full. A separate stream will be needed to see that instance properly, leaving one of the job’s most important progression tools for later.
The April 17 show was not limited to Beastmaster. The final Alliance Raid’s first boss shown in the livestream was Final Fantasy 11’s Shantotto, a crossover name that will be familiar to long-time series players. The stream also said chocobos will react when players use /pet or /poke on them, dungeon gear will be stowable in the Armorie, and more items will be usable in housing. Occult Crescent and Cosmic Exploration will also get further expansions.
The timing now gives players a clear runway. The first part of the patch series releases on April 28, 2026, and the second part is expected in September 2026. That second release is also the final major patch of the expansion, which makes the Beastmaster reveal part of the last big stretch of content the game will add before moving on.
For players waiting to test the job, the answer is simple: the mechanics are real, the capture system is detailed, and the first release date is set. What remains unfinished is the solo training showcase, which is still waiting for its own stage.