Best Final Fantasy 16 abilities – core and Eikonic

The best Final Fantasy 16 abilities aren’t just those that unleash huge amounts of damage but also those that are versatile enough to to be useful in a variety of combat scenarios and against different enemy types. Ability points aren’t finite, but you’ll need to put in the work to get them, so you’ll want to spend them wisely with the above in mind.

In that spirit, we’ll share what we consider to be the best Final Fantasy 16 abilities, an opinion formed over the course of more than 60 hours with the game. It’s worth noting that you won’t unlock many of Clive’s Final Fantasy 16 abilities until quite late into the game, so use the ones you have available and build up to the full build as you progress. Should you need it, here’s a guide to how to reset abilities in Final Fantasy 16.

Best Final Fantasy 16 abilities to spend your points on

Before we pivot to Eikon abilities, here are our recommendations for the best core abilities to spend your points on.  These are mostly basic utility and mobility abilities that make combat easier and more varied, useful for when your bigger, more damage-focused abilities are on cooldown. It’s up to you, but some are well worth upgrading to mastery if you have the points to spare.

• Precision Dodge – dodging just before an enemy attack lands opens the door for an immediate counter-attack with increased damage.
• Lunge – close the distance between you and an enemy then unleash a charged attack by tapping square and X.
• Stomp – unlocks the ability to kick off enemies to stay airborne longer and jump higher.
• Swift Recovery – tap R1 to immediately get Clive back on his feet after being knocked down.
• Downthrust – tap X and square while airborne to perform a powerful downward slice that sends weaker enemies flying.
• Burning Blade – hold square to charge up a powerful melee attack, useful when other abilities are on cooldown and you want to keep damage up.

Here are our recommendations for the best Final fantasy 16 Eikon abilities, in no particular order.

Phoenix – best Final Fantasy 16 abilities

• Phoenix Shift – comes as default ability, but upgrading to Mastery is a must have for the added mobility benefits.
• Rising Flames – a short-ish cooldown and solid damage output makes Rising Flames useful in pretty much every situation and is systematically a reliable combo starter.
• Flames of Rebirth – a massive area of effect, high damage flame arcs, and healing, what’s not to like. Useful for clearing out larger groups of low-level enemies rapidly.

Titan – best Final Fantasy 16 abilities

• Windup – the ability with one of the highest damage outputs in the game. Practice holding square until you hit the red part of the dial and watch as it staggers most enemies if it doesn’t outright kill them.
• Earthen Fury – Clive smashes the ground, unleashing a land surge that sweeps through all enemies ahead on you. Big damage, great crowd control benefits, and a showy visual spectacle.

Shiva – best Final Fantasy 16 abilities

• Ice Age – Clive unleashes a river of icicles that tear through all enemies in front of him, knocking them back. The damage is solid, the cooldown extremely short by Eikon ability standards, and Ice Age is useful for creating some space when things get dicey.
• Diamond Dust – trigger Diamond Dust and watch it tear through enemy health bars. The radius is massive, on par with Flames of Rebirth, so, again, a solid option for some quick culling on small to medium level enemies.

With this setup, you’ve got basic attack firepower options, great mobility, and a spread of Eikon abilities that pack a punch. We recommend chaining Flames of Rebirth, Earthen Fury, and Diamond Dust first. While these are on cooldown jump between basic attacks, lunges, charged attacks, Windup, Ice Age, and Rising Flames to keep damage up. Rinse and Repeat. Against most bosses and certainly against standard foes and elites, a single cooldown cycle is enough to stagger them.

That covers the best Final Fantasy 16 abilities. If you want to test them out, check out all the Final Fantasy 16 Notorious Marks locations. You’ll also want to know how to get a chocobo in Final Fantasy 16 and unlock all the Final Fantasy 16 Obelisk locations as soon as possible.