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Final Fantasy XVI’s more action-focused combat is exhilarating and filled with player agency. The game provides a litany of tools to use and it’s up to players to decide how to best use them. This is completely true of the game’s Eikonic Abilities, the visually impressive and powerful moves Clive acquires throughout his journey.
Final Fantasy XVI features Eikons, this game’s take on the classic summons, and at various intervals Clive will gain the powers of eight of them. These dazzling and powerful moves not only increase combo potential, but also deal extra damage and severely chip away at an enemy’s stagger bar. Clive can have up to three Eikons equipped at a single time that he can toggle between by tapping L2. Each Eikon can then be equipped two Eikonic Abilities.
Each Eikon comes with:
Success in Final Fantasy XVI requires experimentation to find the right combination of Eikons and abilities to maximize combos and damage.
Eikonic Feats
These Circle-mapped moves are extremely important in Final Fantasy XVI’s combat. These moves perform several functions, including closing the distance on enemies, playing keepaway, countering and dealing damage to multiple enemies.
All these feats are exclusive to their respective Eikon. Of them all, Garuda’s is the most useful. Not only is it great and singling out weaker enemies, but its use in fights with Will Guage enemies and bosses leaves them open for free hits. The other feats are a matter of taste and playstyle. Titan’s singular focus on strength makes him great at pulverizing enemies, meanwhile Bahamut is great at clearing out mobs of weaker enemies.
Our recommendation is to mix-and-match your playstyle, but to keep Garuda on hand for free openings.
Maximizing Stagger
Staggering has become a common staple of the Final Fantasy franchise since it was introduced in XIII. When staggered, an enemy becomes completely vulnerable and damage multipliers are applied. In Final Fantasy XVI, bosses and larger enemies with Will Gauges (a yellow bar underneath their health) can be staggered by repeatedly attacking them.
While it may be tempting to save your Eikonic Abilities for when enemies are staggered to deal extra damage, we don’t suggest it. Eikonic Abilities are excellent and quick ways to chip away at the Will Guage. For this, we highly recommend focusing on abilities capable of extending combos by repeatedly tapping the attack button. These are:
As previously stated, Garuda’s Eikonic Feat also opens additional opportunities to attack enemies. Simply use it when an enemy’s Will Guage hits the halfway point to open them up for a free attack. Combining this with Gouge is a surefire way to decimate the remainder of the Will Guage and stagger your enemy.
Earning Ability Points
Ability Points are required to unlock additional basic abilities for Clive, the third Eikonic Abilities, Ultimates, and for mastery. While Ability Points are regularly handed out by advancing the story and leveling up, the high cost of mastering all the abilities means the normal amount provided through story means won’t be enough.
This is remedied by Renown, a currency collected by completing main and side activities that can then be traded in at the Hideaway for rewards, which include Ability Points. You’ll start earning Renown after completing “The Crystals’ Curse” main mission. You’ll then be able to cash it in at ‘The Patron’s Whisper’ shop in The Hideaway.
Even then, you’re unlikely to gain enough Ability Points to buy and upgrade every single ability. Final Fantasy XVI entrusts you with creating a playstyle that works best for you, and Eikonic Abilities earned later in the game might work better for your chosen playstyle. Thankfully, you can reset abilities to regain Ability Points. In the Abilities tab, hover over a previously purchased ability and hold Square to reset and gain back the spent Ability Points.
Mastering Eikonic Abilities
Let’s say you love Titan’s Raging Fists Eikonic Ability, but aren’t a fan of his counter-based Eikonic Feat? Instead, you’d rather pair his mighty power with Bahamut’s crowd control Eikonic Feat. You can do just that in Final Fantasy XVI. While you can’t take Eikonic Feats between Eikons, you can mix-and-match Eikonic Abilities.
Once you’ve leveled up an ability fully it’s considered mastered. From there, you can assign any mastered ability to any Eikon, providing maximum freedom to build out the Clive you want.
