There’s no shortage of things to love in Final Fantasy 16, and though the game obviously deserves plenty of love for its story, setting, and worldbuilding, the one aspect of the experience that perhaps deserves the highest of all praise is the combat. Switching to a completely real-time action-based combat system with no party control whatsoever was a bold move for a Final Fantasy game, but it pays off in spades, delivering what’s effectively a bombastic character action experience with a treasure trove of moves, abilities, combos, and what have you. In this feature, we’re going to go over what we feel are some of the best abilities Clive gets access to throughout his journey in Final Fantasy 16.
FLAMES OF REBIRTH
Phoenix, the Eikon that you start the game with, will likely remain a constant in your arsenal of moves throughout the experience, because of how effective and well-rounded its abilities are. One of the best of the lot is Flames of Rebirth, which deals massive area-of-effect damage in a fiery explosion that can take out the majority of enemies on the field in one hit, while doing a significant amount of damage to even the tougher foes, like bosses and minibosses. On top of that, it also replenishes Clive’s health. It may have a long cooldown, but it’s an excellent trick to have in your backpocket for some of the game’s tougher fights.
GOUGE
On the other end of the spectrum, we have something like Gouge, one of Garuda’s abilities. If you’re trying to make a damage-focused build, Gouge might not be the best ability to have in your moveset, seeing as it doesn’t do too much damage with each of its hits, even though it does dole out a lot of those smaller hits in quick succession. It does have plenty of advantages though. If you use it right, you can attack multiple enemies at once, and any foe you attack effectively gets stunlocked as long as the move is in effect, before ultimately being thrown to the ground. Gouge also chips away at the stagger meter significantly with every hit, which makes it particularly useful.
WICKED WHEEL
Given Final Fantasy 16’s character action leanings, it’s no surprise that it emphasizes aerial combat and air combos as much as it does- and boy is it good at doing that. If you do enjoy aerial combat, Garuda’s moveset is going to appeal to you massively, especially abilities like Wicked Wheel. Though it doesn’t do too much damage, it does chip away at the stagger meter a fair bit, and also launches enemies into the air, and you along with them. Wicked Wheel is especially useful when used in combination with other Gardua abilities- after launching foes, string it together with the likes of Gouge, Deadly Embrace, or Downthrust for satisfying air combos.
LIGHTNING ROD
Coming to Ramuh’s moveset, for those who love electrifying their foes, Lightning Rod is a move that’s sure to prove useful. It sees Clive summon a ball of electricity that discharges damage-dealing sparks every time it gets hit, whether that’s by you or by foes (though the latter deals more damage). Lightning Rod can be a bit tricky to use in terms of being properly positioned, but if you can unleash it right in the middle of a crowd, or right next to a bigger foe, it can be an extremely useful ability.
JUDGMENT BOLT
Ramuh’s ultimate ability, and probably one of the best in the game, though maybe not for fights where you’re fighting multiple foes. If it’s a single, stronger enemy you’re focused on, Judgment Bolt allows you to smite your target with multiple bolts of lightning in quick succession. It deals a good amount of damage, it depletes the stagger meter quite a bit, and you’re also effectively untouchable while the move is being used. Like all ultimate abilities, it has a long cooldown though, so there’s that.
EARTHEN FURY
Titan’s ability, Earthen Fury, is one of the most devastating attacks you can unleash on enemies in the game. From a pure visuals perspective, watching the earth be ripped up and torn into fissures never really gets old. From a mechanics point of view, meanwhile, Earthen Fury doles out large amounts of damage, especially to smaller foes, who essentially get all but wiped out in an instant, and it also has a large area of effect, so positioning isn’t as tricky as it can be for some other moves. It also does a good amount of stagger damage, which is also useful.
GIGAFLARE
In terms of pure damage output, you likely won’t find too many other moves in Final Fantasy 16 that can match the devastating power of Gigaflare. Using Bahamut’s ultimate ability, Clive summons and shoots out a massive jet of light magic, which you can control and direct onto enemies however you want. Gigaflare eats away at enemies’ health massively (most smaller foes get vaporized in an instant), and it’s especially deadly with its damage multipliers when used on a staggered enemy.
ARM OF DARKNESS
We haven’t mentioned any of the Eikons’ core abilities here, but Odin’s Arm of Darkness has to be the exception to that rule. It genuinely is one of the best and most useful abilities in the game. Replacing Clive’s sword with Odin’s weapon, not only does it change your basic attacks and combos, it also comes with a whole damage-multiplying mechanic, where each attack gradually fills up the Zantetsuken bar. The bar can be built up over multiple levels, and becomes more powerful with each upgrade. At the highest levels, it can kill a great many enemies in one hit.
IGNITION
One of Ifrit’s abilities, and though not a damage-dealing monster, it’s still an incredibly effective attack (though to be fair, even the amount of damage it deals out isn’t negligible by any means). Ignition sees Clive leaping into the air and screwdiving into enemies with repeated attacks over the course of a short window. Along with dealing damage, it also allows you to carry enemies with you and change the direction of your movement- which can be particularly effective for air combat, or when you’re trying to manipulate a foe into a corner. Ignition can also be used to catch multiple smaller foes at once, while dealing damage to all of them, so it’s especially useful for crowd control.
DIAMOND DUST
Burning enemies to a crisp and electrifying them is all well and good, but what if you wish to freeze them to death? Well, Sheeva’s ultimate ability, Diamond Dust, is probably one of the best moves you’ll find for that. Summoning massive chunks of ice from above and ramming them into enemies, Diamond Dust has a wide area of effect, does a good amount of damage, and eats up a healthy chunk of enemies’ staggger meter. Maybe not the most deadly move in the game in terms of pure damage, but certainly one of the most useful and well-rounded ones, especially in hairy situations.