13. Dancing Steel – Odin
Description: Summon a second blade and unleash a flurry of attacks. Each hit landed significantly fills the Zantetsuken gauge.
Stats:
- Damage: 1 star
- Stun: 2 Stars
Why Dancing Steel is one of the best abilities in the game:
Dancing Steel is the ultimate of Odin; it features a multi-hit flurry of attacks that deal damage, but the real use of Dancing Steel is to quickly build up the Zantetsuken Gauge so that you can use Arm of Darkness and unleash the super attack.
Dancing Steel has a relatively short cooldown for an ultimate; sitting at around 45 seconds, you can easily use it a few times in a longer battle, allowing you to unleash a double Zantetsuken during a single stagger or stun!
For those Final Fantasy VII fans, Dancing Steel is kind of like Cloud’s Omnistrike, so if Limit Break was your fancy, this is kind of like Clive’s version of it!
12. Cold Snap – Shiva
Description: Slide effortlessly across the ground in any direction. Attacking with □ while sliding can temporarily freeze enemies.
Stats:
- Damage: N/A
- Stun: N/A
Why Cold Snap is one of the best abilities in the game:
Cold Snap transforms how you can dodge in Final Fantasy XVI; if you manage to execute a precision dodge, you also cast permafrost. Permafrost is a great CC move that freezes all enemies, allowing you to unleash havoc on them while they are powerless to resist.
Attacks from Cold Snap or enemies near the second-stage dash from Cold Snap can freeze nearby enemies. This is really helpful for getting out of sticky situations, especially on harder difficulties when enemies are more aggressive.
Overall, Cold Snap gives Clive extra mobility and the ability to dodge, making it easier to get out of tough situations while also providing a chance to unleash CC, making it one of the best Eikon moves to play with!
11. Ignition - Ifrit
Description: Attack while charging, inflicting multiple hits, and forcing the enemy back. Can be used in midair.
Stats:
- Damage: 3 stars
- Stun: 2 stars
Why Ignition is one of the best abilities in the game:
Ignition is a strong crowd-control ability that pulls and drags enemies with you; it’s great for grouping enemies together to unleash an area-of-effect attack like Piledriver or Scarlet Cyclone.
Ignition lands a lot of hits, making it easy to build the multiplier on staggered enemies, making this a great move.
This ability literally turns you into a bulldozer where you can just group up all enemies; you really feel strong with this ability, plus the cooldown is super short at 22 seconds, which is lower than most abilities!
10. Wings of Light – Bahamut
Description: Begin casting Megaflare. Press ○ to execute. The length of the casting determines the potency of the spell.
Stats:
- Damage: 4 stars
- Stun: 2 stars
Why Wings of Light is one of the best abilities in the game:
The Wings of Light are both one of the strongest and worst abilities in the game. On paper, it’s a very strong spell, especially if you master it, allowing you to get to higher levels of Megaflare and increasing the effectiveness of the skill. The downside to this ability is that it halts momentum, as you cannot do anything except dodge while in Wings of Light mode. It does a ton of damage, especially if the monster you are fighting has a large body (like a behemoth or something). It’s truly a love-hate relationship!
Wings of Light gives you additional dodge frames so it’s easier to execute a precision dodge, so if you need a bit more help with dodge, this is the mode to go with, especially if you’re under assault from a boss mob and need to go on the defensive.
Megaflare is an iconic bahamut attack; it’s unfortunate that it’s locked behind a mechanic that isn’t ideal to use, but at the same time, it’s also great to have such a strong ability readily available as long as you dodge and stay in this mode—a truly conflicting experience.
9. Lightning Rod – Ramuh
Description: Create a ball of lightning that, upon being struck, chains lightning to other nearby enemies.
Stats:
- Damage: 2 stars
- Stun: 3 stars
Why Lightning Rod is one of the best abilities in the game:
Lightning Rod is kind of a proxy or combo spell; by itself, it’s decent but nothing amazing.
When combo’d properly, it becomes one of the best spells in the game. There are a few combo options, ranging from Will o’ the Wykes, Gouge, Raging Fist, Flare Breath, and so on—basically any attack that lands multiple hits in a short amount of time—that effectively turn this little rod into an area of effect death zone.
The synergy with other spells makes this one of the most interesting spells in the game and deserves a mention!
8. Aerial Blast – Garuda
Description: Summon a tornado that slowly hunts down nearby enemies and, upon ensnaring them, inflicts multiple hits.
Stats:
- Damage: 2 stars
- Stun: 5 stars
Why Aerial Blast is one of the best abilities in the game:
Aerial blast is one of the biggest crowd control abilities you unlock in Final Fantasy XVI; it’s a strong multi-hit tornado that deals a huge amount of stun damage in a large area, making staggering elite mobs and bosses easy!
One of the downsides to Aerial Blast is that it summons a freaking tornado, so visibility becomes low and it’s difficult to dodge enemy attacks because you can’t really see them coming. This is one of the downsides to aerial blast, but it’s definitely an extremely powerful ability.
You really feel like a master of the elements with Aerial Blast; there are very few games that put the power of nature in your hands like Final Fantasy XVI does. Imagine equipping Diamond Dust, Aerial Blast, Judgement Bolt, Flames of Rebirth, and Earthen Fury; you’ll have an elemental storm at your finger tips!
7. Wind-up – Titan
Description: Punch forward. Hold the button to wind up the attack, further increasing its potency.
Stats:
- Damage: 4 stars
- Stun: 2 stars
Why Wind-Up is one of the best abilities in the game:
Wind-up, as it may sound, is a wound-up high-power punch. It’s great for dealing raw damage as well as dishing out damage during the combo.
For those who enjoy strong attacks that can interrupt enemies, this is it!
There’s always something interesting about charging up attacks that feels extra satisfying to land (like 2H power weapons or something)—this skill scratches that itch!
6. Heaven’s Cloud – Odin
Description: Surge forward to strike an enemy. Can be executed multiple times in succession if the previous hit lands. Each hit landed fills the Zantetsuken gauge.
Stats:
- Damage: 1 star
- Stun: 2 stars
Why Heaven’s Cloud is one of the best abilities in the game:
Heaven’s Cloud is best for zipping around the battlefield, allowing you to attack through enemies, dealing both damage and evading enemies.
As with other Odin abilities, Heaven’s Cloud adds to the Zantetsuken gauge, which is the central ability in Odin’s ability set.
Heaven’s Cloud allows for a quick and speedy attack that is quick to execute mid-combo, allowing for a seamless combo chain experience.
The ability itself looks amazing and cool, though the damage it deals leaves a bit more to be desired.
5. Arm of Darkness – Odin
Description: Replace Clive’s current weapon with Odin’s blade. Landing abilities with the Arm of Darkness fill the Zantetsuken gauge. Hold □ to execute Zantetsuken.
Stats:
- Damage: 5 stars
- Stun: 1 Star
Why Arm of Darkness is one of the best abilities in the game:
By itself, Arm of Darkness summons Odin’s dark blade, which features fast, rapid attacks and helps build the Zantetsuken gauge, which if used at Level 5 (unlocked with mastery) can wipe out all weaker enemies and dish out enormous amounts of damage.
Arm of Darkness unlocks a stronger, faster counter and dodge attack. The faster attack chain helps trigger counters and get out of attacks quicker, making the pacing different from Clive’s normal attack chain.
Zantetsuken is typically one of the strongest attacks in Final Fantasy and is in every game with Odin, so it’s great to be able to unleash it like a regular combo attack.
4. Raging Fists – Titan
Description: Step forward and deliver a blinding flurry of high-speed punches. Blocking an enemy attack with a step forward increases the potency of the following punches.
Stats:
- Damage: 3 stars
- Stun: 3 stars
Why Raging Fists is one of the best abilities in the game:
Raging Fist is a strong attack featuring a bonus effect where you can get a precision block if you time the ability correctly. The precision block is longer than the Titanic block timer, which makes it a better way to avoid an enemy attack while still having the ability to dish out a lot of punishment.
The Raging Fist is great for boosting the attack combo multiplier as well as dishing out a ton of damage during a stagger; the first few hits hit the hardest, so it’s a nice skill to start with and cancel out of if you are just after damage.
The fist animation is reminiscent of older anime or cartoons where you have a bunch of shadow fists punching, which is really cool (in my opinion) and makes it one of the more interesting abilities in the game.
3. Diamond Dust – Shiva
Description: Freeze nearby enemies, then unleash a powerful blast of ice in all directions, launching back any lighter enemies that are struck.
Stats:
- Damage: 3 stars
- Stun: 5 stars
Why Diamond Dust is one of the best abilities in the game:
Diamond Dust is the ultimate ability from the Eikon Shiva; it features great crowd control in a huge area as the ability freezes all enemies for a short time while dealing significant amounts of damage and huge stun damage, which can leave enemies and bosses open to stagger, allowing you to dish out a ton of punishment. Diamond Dust has such a strong stun effect that it can almost wipe out half the stagger bar in one cast, which makes stunning a boss that much easier!
Diamond Dust has a shorter cooldown compared to other ultimates at about 75 seconds, which makes it a strong option to consider as you can unleash the ability multiple times in a single boss fight.
Diamond Dust has an amazing animation thanks to the detail on the icicles in Final Fantasy XVI. It gives you the feeling of having complete control over the elements as well as time, as the ability literally freezes everything in its vicinity.
2. Titanic Block – Titan
Description: Block enemy attacks. When a guard is timed perfectly, it can be used to launch up to three counterattacks.
Stats:
- Damage: N/A
- Stun: N/A
Why Titanic Block is one of the best abilities in the game:
The Titanic Block is the basic ability that comes with the Eikon, so it might seem strange for it to be considered one of the best abilities in the game. However, Titanic Block lets you block virtually every single attack in the game, and you take zero damage for doing so if you can master perfect guard, making Clive virtually invincible (albeit with skillful mastery of precision blocking).
Titanic Block, when upgraded, gives an additional Limit Break gauge on successful counterattacks. Limit Break is an awesome power-up that lets you deal damage faster, get additional hits on top of your regular attack chain, and regenerate health, so it’s in your best interest to have it activated and charged up as much as possible!
Titanic Block changes how the game fundamentally plays, from a dodge/counter attack-centric build to becoming a titan, an indestructible shield that no longer needs to dodge; you can guard all attacks and dish out payback!
1. Gigaflare - Bahamut
Description: Fire a massive beam of overcharged light that burns any enemy it hits.
Stats:
- Damage: 5 stars
- Stun: 2 stars
Why Gigaflare is one of the best abilities in the game:
Gigaflare is Bahamut’s ultimate ability, and while the rest of Bahamut’s kit is very situational in terms of how good or effective it is, the Gigaflare is probably the most damaging ability in the game! It’s a straight-forward mega-beam cannon that does a huge amount of damage!
This ability is best used at the end of the stagger period (when the multiplier is 1.50x) to maximize its effectiveness. Featuring a 60-second cooldown, it’s usable multiple times per battle (about the time needed for a stagger), making this a strong staple ability for dishing out damage when needed.
The ability also looks amazing—like a Kamehameha wave from the Dragon Ball franchise!
