Final Fantasy 16 early-game beginner combat tips
This Final Fantasy 16 combat tips guide shares beginner and advanced gameplay tips that you can use to become adept in combat and easily defeat any foe that comes your way.
If you are having difficulty fighting bosses and elite mobs in Final Fantasy 16, knowing more about Final Fantasy 16's combat will help you overcome that. So, keep reading our Final Fantasy 16 combat tips guide as we talk about the different combat mechanics available and how you can use them to tackle the game's content easily.
- Here's a guide on how to craft the Stormcry weapon in Final Fantasy 16.
Final Fantasy 16 combat tips
Here are some basic and more advanced combat tips in Final Fantasy 16 that will help you tackle the game's content fast:
Mix magic with normal attacks
While playing Final Fantasy 16, many players rely more on Eikonic abilities and melee attacks from Clive's massive sword and forget about using the decent range of magic attacks available.
We recommend mixing magic attacks with regular melee attacks to deal with foes more quickly and ensure your combo is not broken.
One of the most basic use is for triggering Magic Bursts (Square + Square + Square + Square + Triangle), which you can do by using your basic four-hit combo attack from your sword and then using magic by pressing the triangle button on the DualSense controller.
Use hold attacks at the start or end of a combo
Hold attacks like the "Burning Blade" are best used at the start or end of the combo. During our playthrough, we often used the hold attack between combos, thinking we were dealing more damage.
On the contrary, it broke our combo, making the combat more sluggish, and we lost a lot of potential damage that we could have gotten with the correct execution of the hold attack.
However, that doesn't mean you cannot use hold attacks between combos. Just time them correctly, and they won't break your attack rhythm.
Tips: Whenever Clive is in attack animation, hold the square button to use hold attacks more efficiently. Remember, waiting for your normal attack to end to start pressing the square button for hold attacks is not optimal.
Stagger enemies to deal more damage
Staggering enemies should be your priority in any battle in Final Fantasy 16. As staggered enemies take more damage, you can unleash combo attacks without worrying about them evading or attacking you.
Use Precision Dodge
Precision Dodge not only lets you evade enemy attacks, but if you press the Triangle or Square buttons at the correct time, you can even perform a counter-attack which you can chain with other attacks to form a combo.
Make use of Timely Rings
The Timely Rings in Final Fantasy 16 are a blessing to players who easily get overwhelmed with game controls and mechanics. You can equip them to automatically perform combos, Precision Dodge, auto-use potions, etc.
Here are all Timely Rings in Final Fantasy 16 that you can equip and use via the Gears & Eikons menu:
- The Ring of Timely Strikes
- The Ring of Timely Evasion
- The Ring of Timely Focus
- The Ring of Timely Healing
- The Ring of Timely Assistance
Since you can equip only three rings at a time, we recommend using the Ring of Timely Evasion and Ring of Timely Assistance, along with a ring that boosts ATK DMG, like the Badge of Might.
Use Torgal more often in combat
Your hound Torgal is a great battle companion whom you can use as support for healing yourself, inflicting additional damage to enemies, or launching them in the air to unleash a mid-air combo.
Use Eikonic abilities and feats
Eikonic abilities and feats offer the strongest offensive and defensive skills, which you should use wisely in the game. We recommend using the offensive Eikonic abilities after staggering enemies or timing them correctly to stagger enemies fast while ensuring they are ready to use when the enemy is staggered.
Limit Break has no limits
The Limit Break ability is back in Final Fantasy 16, and you can use it to enter a Semi-Prime state to deal massive damage to enemies while healing yourself for a limited period of time.
The best time to use Limit Break in the game is when an enemy is staggered. To ensure you fully benefit from the ATK buff you get for a short time. Though, if the need arises, you can also use Limit Break to heal Clive if you run out of potions.
Note: You can end Limit Break whenever you want by pressing the L3 + R3 button.
That concludes our guide on Final Fantasy 16 combat tips. For more on Final Fantasy 16, keep reading GGRecon.
About The Author
Hritwik Raj
Hritwik has been writing about video games, manga, and anime for more than 8 years. Some of his favourite games include The Last of Us Part II, Fallout 76, Apex Legends, Genshin Impact, and the Souls series.