TREANTS

Treants are, as their names would suggest, "tree giants". Four-armed and tough, treants are territorial creatures that will viciously guard their forest homes--but the deference paid them by locals has less to do with anything spiritual, and more with their tendency to indiscriminate destruction of enemy and habitat alike when provoked. (1)

Treants are native to the Black Shroud, but can be found in Dravania and Abalathia's Spine as well, where they are known as "melia".

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 278

Known species/types of treants:

- Alpha dryad
- Diseased treant
- Rotting sentinel
- Starlight treant
- Sylphlands Sentinel
- Treant sapling
- Verdant treant

- Gnarled Melia
- Gnarled Treant
- Ancient Oak
- Balaros
- Great Oak
- Royal Oak
- Wulgaru

- Old-Growth Treant
- Treant
- Angered Elm
- Dryad
- Melia
- Melia Matron
- Withered Melia

ALPHA DRYAD

As hunters of treasure in the Black Shroud can tell you, trapped chests can summon not only angry beastkin and scalekin, but also seedkin. Even alpha dryads, reclusive in the extreme, can be drawn by the sweet scent to attack those who would plunder forgotten troves, and oft call other seedkin to their aid when they meet with resistance.

Habitat:

Alpha dryads can be summoned by treasure chests marked on peisteskin maps, to chests in the Black Shroud.

Combat Rating: 50

DISEASED TREANT

Treants are plants, the same as any other ambulatory leafy creature; and thus, they are subject to the same disease and blight as others--and can transmit those diseases, as well. (2) Mostly sighted around the Bramble Patch of the East Shroud of late, these treants must be culled before they infect the rest of the flora; to that end, young archers, conjurers, and marauders are sent forth to hunt them, and occasional culls are declared for any willing to take part. (2)(3)

(2) FATE: Protecting the Patch
(3) Hunting Log: Conjurer, Archer, Marauder

Habitat: East Shroud, the Bramble Patch

Combat Rating: 17 (FATE), 21, 25 (quest only)

old-growth treant

Like normal trees, even treants have an end to their lives. The older they are, the more rotted and pungent they become--and the sooner their lives may be ended by the stewards of the forest. Skilled archers, gladiators, and thaumaturges in particular are oft sent to cull the ancient creatures; though anyone can take up a hunt bill for them from the Grand Companies. (4)(5)

Sylphs have a recipe for stinkbombs that require the rotten acorns of old-growth treants. Sometimes, adventurers will be asked to collect a few for "tricks". (6)

(4) Hunting logs: Archer, Gladiator, Thaumaturge
(5) Hunt mark: Old-Growth Treant
(6) Quest: Malodorous Mischief

Habitat:
East Shroud, Larkscall

Combat Rating: 41

ROTTING SENTINEL

On occasion, treants must be culled just like any other creature, though some are more targets of opportunity than actively to be hunted. So is it with the "rotting sentinel"; bonus bounties are paid to those adventurers who destroy a rotting treant while performing a levequest. (4)

(4) Levequest: River Raid

Habitat:
Central Shroud, the Bannock (levequest only)

Combat Rating: 5 to 9

STARLIGHT TREANT

"Starlight Treants" are not strictly a type of treant--only a phenomenon of behavior that was exhibited by some treants during the Starlight Celebration a few years ago. It is unknown whether this behavior is typical of all treants, or just these in particular. (5)

During the celebration, treants made off with a number of holiday decorations, and adorned themselves therewith. The holiday helpers used Starbursts to stun the treants and peacefully take back the decor, after which the treants ceased this behavior altogether. (6)

(5) Quest: Starlight Stakeout
(6) FATE: Bad Luck Comes in Trees

Habitat: Central Shroud, Bentbranch (During Starlight 2017 only)

Combat Rating: 8

SYLPHLANDS SENTINEL

Called simply "ancient ones" by the sylphs of the East Shroud, Sylphlands sentinels are supposedly gentle protectors of the forest since before the Wandering Races stepped foot in the Twelveswood. (7)

But that gentleness exists now for none but the Touched, the sylphs enslaved to the will of the primal Ramuh; the Touched fill the Sylphlands with poisonous reek, and the sentinels have fallen victim to it. The outcast Sylphs of Little Hope know the means to cleanse the ancients' acorns, but not the trees themselves. (7)

(7) Quest: Sympathy for the Sentinel

Obviously, though, these creatures carried on hostile for much longer against the Wandering Races. Indeed, the first volume of the Book of Skyfall (an epic of the Zodiac Braves) reflects that they slew Sylphlands Sentinels to imbue their legendary weapons with the power of the creatures' souls. (8)(9)

Skilled lancers are oft sent to slay a sentinel or two, and they are frequently marked as targets for hunt bills. (10)(11)

(8) Item: Book of Skyfall I
(9) Quest: Trials of the Braves
(10) Hunting Log: Lancer
(11) Hunt bill: Sylphlands Sentinel

Habitats:
- East Shroud, the Hanging Barbs
- East Shroud, the Seedbeds

Combat Rating: 48

Special Note:

Not without cause are these beings set to defend the Sylphs' forest. Their cast acorns can put one to sleep; their branches strike with great force, and their leaves can form a whirlwind around them, slicing painfully. (12)

(12) Ability set: Acorn Bomb, Canopy, Arboreal Storm

TREANT SAPLING

Treant saplings can be found throughout the North, Central, and East Shroud. Young versions of other treant types, saplings are typically fairly passive and agreeable, only defending themselves when attacked.

Of course, it is easier to manage an overgrown population by culling young and less-dangerous members; thus, archers and lancers are often called upon to do so. Blue mages frequently learn the "Acorn Bomb" ability from young specimens as well. (13)

(13) Hunting Logs: Archer, Lancer

Habitats:
- Central Shroud: Jadeite Thick
- Central Shroud: Greentear
- East Shroud: The Honey Yard
- North Shroud: Peacegarden
- North Shroud: Treespeak

Combat Rating: 12 to 17

VERDANT TREANT

Revival root is a powerful reagent in healing compounds; and there is no better source for it than the treants of Snakemolt. The older the treant, the more potent the root.​

Recently, revival root was used in an experimental treatment for the tonberry plague, meaning that there may be more call for it. (14)

(14) Quest: True Beauty

Habitats:
- South Shroud, Snakemolt (quest only)

Combat Rating: 80

wulgaru

Wulgaru is not a singular specimen, according to reports; indeed, it may be an entire kind of animate tree to itself. Natheless, its shared shape and defensive behavior with treants still places it firmly in that genera.

What sets the Wulgaru apart from its nearest kin is its insatiable thirst for human blood. During the day, most Wulgaru are dormant, appearing to be no more than trees; but on occasion, a person left tied to a tree will be found dead to its draining tendrils, accidentally and gruesomely proving the seedkin's identity.

Needless to say, any such creature is to be slain at once. (15) They are readily drawn out by the sound of their "quarry"--strangely, levequests authorized by the Adders--and thus it is one may make predator into prey. (16)

(15) Hunter-scholar: Wulgaru
(16) Spawn conditions

Habitat: East Shroud, various
(Link goes to FFXIVHunt.com)

Combat Rating: 50, S rank

Special note:
Anyone seeking to slay a Wulgaru should bring assistance. Their cast acorns can put one to sleep; their branches strike with great force, and their leaves can form a whirlwind around them, slicing painfully. (12)

(12) Ability set: Acorn Bomb, Canopy, Arboreal Storm