The Final Fantasy XIV Poster Guide: Every Expansion's Key Art, and How to Hang It

Final Fantasy XIV has an odd advantage over most games when it comes to wall art. Its expansion key art was never meant to be a box you glance at on a shelf. Each piece had to carry an entire era of the game at once — the mood, the cast, the place you were about to spend the next two years of your life in. That is very close to the brief you give a poster.

Which is why FFXIV art tends to hang better than most gaming art. It is composed. It has a clear focal point, a colour story that holds together, and enough negative space to breathe once it is on a wall instead of a storefront.

This guide runs through the art from each expansion, what each one actually does in a room, and how to hang the result so it reads as deliberate rather than dorm-room.

A Realm Reborn: start with the cities, not the cover

A Realm Reborn is the hardest era to put on a wall, because what people remember is not one image — it is places. Ten years of standing in the same three cities waiting for a queue to pop.

That makes the city triptychs the better buy here. The Limsa Lominsa set of three gives you sea-light and rigging; Gridania is all canopy green and filtered sun; Ul'dah brings the warm sandstone that most gaming rooms are badly short of.

Three-panel sets solve a problem single posters do not: they fill horizontal space above a desk or sofa without you having to hunt for pieces that happen to match. The set is already a set.

If you want one image that says this is the story I played, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn key art is the ensemble piece for that era.

Heavensward: the one that anchors a room

Heavensward is the expansion most people name first, and its art earns it. Cold blues, gothic verticals, dragons — it is high-contrast work that survives being scaled up, which is not true of every piece here.

The Heavensward key art is the natural anchor for a wall: pick your largest size for this one and build the smaller pieces around it. The Ishgard set of three extends the same palette horizontally if you want the whole wall in that register.

Two quieter options for people who want something less obvious: the Haurchefant Greystone portrait, which needs no explanation to anyone who played it, and the job roster art, which is the closest thing FFXIV has to a chart print — dense, readable up close, rewarding to stand in front of.

Stormblood: the warmest palette in the game

Stormblood is underrated as decor precisely because it is underrated as an expansion. The reds and golds do something no other era's art does — they warm a room instead of cooling it, which matters if your setup is already lit by three blue monitors.

There are four takes to choose between: the main key art, the alternative key art, the box art, and an exclusive print. If you cannot decide, the alternative art is usually the one that works better as decor — key art is built to sell a game, alternates tend to be built to look good.

The Kugane set of three is the standout of the city sets. It is the only one that reads as travel photography rather than game art, which means it can hang somewhere that is not your gaming room without anyone asking about it.

Shadowbringers: the crowd favourite, for good reason

The Shadowbringers key art is consistently the most-bought FFXIV piece we sell, and it is not a close race. Deep blues against that specific washed-out sky, one unmistakable silhouette — it is the rare piece that works framed in a living room as easily as pinned above a desk.

If you want that era without the obvious pick: Y'shtola's key art is the character piece, the Il Mheg set of three brings pastel and fae strangeness that breaks up an otherwise dark wall, and the Crystarium set of three gives you the city itself.

Il Mheg is the sleeper here. Most gaming walls collapse into one long stretch of dark blue and black. One pastel piece in the middle of that does more work than a third dark poster ever will.

Endwalker: the ending piece

Endwalker is the payoff for a decade of buildup, and its art knows it — quieter and more restrained than the expansions either side of it. Whatever you hang from this era deserves its own wall, or the centre position with real space on both sides. Do not crowd it into a grid.

Endwalker prints are not in the range yet. If you want that same restraint today, the Shadowbringers key art is the closest in feel, and the collection is worth checking now and then.

What size to actually buy

This is where most people get it wrong, and it is the easiest thing to fix. Sizes run from 8x10 up to 32x48 inches, in poster, canvas, and framed canvas.

• 8x10 and 11x17 — supporting pieces only. On their own on a big wall they look like an afterthought.
• 12x18 and 16x24 — the workhorses. Right for a grid of three to five pieces, or a single print above a desk.
• 18x24 and 24x36 — the anchor sizes. Every wall wants one piece at this scale to organise everything else.
• 30x40 and 32x48 — statement scale. Beautiful, but they need a wall with nothing competing on it.

The rule that saves people the most regret: your art should span roughly two-thirds the width of whatever furniture sits below it. A 12x18 above a six-foot desk will always look lost, no matter how good the image is.

Spacing, height, and the part everyone skips

Three numbers cover almost every situation.

• Hang the centre of the piece at about 57 to 60 inches from the floor. That is standard gallery eye level. If you are hanging above a desk you will sit at, drop it lower — hang for the eye height you will actually have.
• Leave 2 to 3 inches between frames. Tighter than that reads as clutter; wider and the group stops reading as one piece. Keep the gap identical throughout, and pick the smaller end of that range for smaller prints.
• Leave 6 to 10 inches between the bottom of the art and the furniture below it. Any more and the art floats free of the desk; any less and it looks like it is resting on it.

One more thing worth the twenty minutes: cut paper rectangles the size of each print and tape them to the wall first. Live with the layout for a day. It is much cheaper than a wall of holes.

Poster, canvas, or framed canvas

Paper posters are the right call when you expect to change things — they are the cheapest way to try a layout, and they suit dense, detailed art like the job roster where you want to get close.

Stretched canvas suits the big atmospheric pieces. The texture takes the edge off large flat areas of colour, which is exactly what Shadowbringers and Heavensward are full of, and it needs no frame or glass.

Framed canvas is for the anchor piece, or for a room where everything else is already finished. It is the most expensive option, so spend it on the one image you are most certain about.

Where to start

If you are building a wall from nothing, the reliable formula is one anchor at 18x24 or 24x36, two supporting pieces at 12x18, and one three-panel set to fill horizontal space. Pick the anchor from the expansion you actually loved — not the one that reviewed best.

The full range is in the Final Fantasy XIV poster collection, and Buy 2 Get 1 Free applies across the store, so a three-piece wall costs the price of two.

Not ready to put holes in anything? There are eight free phone and desktop wallpapers drawn from these same designs — no cost, no strings.