The 7 BEST Eikonic Abilities in Final Fantasy 16

[@lucasm4790]

I remember when we first saw Ramuh's lightning rod and most people said it looked underwhelming, man how things have changed

[@RobK-rl6sn]

Happens a lot in video games when people see things in demos or trailers. Once the full game releases and you can stack other things on top of it it becomes pretty good. But by itself it's not that great. You see what other tools he is using to make lightning rod a good cast. But alone not so great in my opinion which is why everyone stacks other stuff on top of it. I can guarantee you if he had one spell to choose and that's all he can use. It would not be lightning rod.

[@cool2984]

Literally a 2x muitiplier for any damage you do lol. Can't believe people thought it would suck when it procs on every hit.

[@ameliakyson7295]

Something to add about diamond dust; You can use the first hit to finish an enemies stagger gauge since the bulk of the will damage is in the first hit, and then the second hit on a staggered enemy will take you to 1.3x immediately.

[@justindavis4799]

The downside to using it like that is that you’ll have less time during the stagger window to use more powerful abilities. Diamond dust freezes time when used but if the first hit causes a stagger, time will resume during the animation of the second hit instead of throughout the entire animation

[@jakemoore5077]

It goes to 1.5 immediately with screen freeze if you don't waste it this way. Then wykes, lightning rod, kamehameha

[@azrael5493]

​@@justindavis4799luckily, Void Rift exists

[@jakemoore5077]

@@azrael5493 you lose out on the second hit, and if you want to forgo another ult in the stagger than yea you can catch up with rift slip

[@azrael5493]

@@jakemoore5077 when you very efficiently use both rift slip and cold snap you can get up to three additional zaketsukens bc cold snap freeze pauses the stagger meter and the second hit in dust is significantly weaker than the first but it's still good enough to get to 1.30 so it's worth doing anyway, though if you really wanna maximize stagger you should be staggering with a lv.4 megaflare I guess

[@yashohashikoto9945]

Will o the wykes has always been my favorite, despite the 10 level difference from class S hunts, its a big help in terms of defense.

[@Artahe]

Outside of the skills you mentioned, two of my favourites are Judgement Bolt and Ignition. The latter in particular, during encounters with multiple opponents, is crazy strong and fun

[@anthonyschlott916]

Judgement bolt got me through a large part of the game. It breaks things and breaks them well.

[@qzilla5102]

Ignition was a staple during my entire playthrough

[@jaybee4288]

I use both. They’re fun and feel good and the game doesn’t require anything more.

[@natileroxs5226]

I love using gigaflare, it eats at bosses' health bars (even the final boss). paring it with setting off some megaflares or a flames of rebirth for crowd control, really can be an op build for raw damage output

[@zinogre.-1306]

i beat the game yesterday and i have used 1 ability on this list (diamond dust). so nice that there's so much viability in builds and it's really up to you on which one you like the best

[@Paeddl]

One of my favorite combinations is Garudas Ultimate in combination with Lightning Rod because you can still use other Skills to trigger the Rod while the Storm itself does DMG and also triggers the Rod

[@just_radical]

The storm might not be the most powerful ability but on trash mobs it is the most hilarious. I would literally drop it and just afk the rest of the encounter. Shame Clive doesn't have as good taunts as Dante.

[@Tohlemiach]

I hate using that one because you literally cannot see shit inside it. I tried it out once on an elite mob, and he just went to town on me because I couldn't react to anything he was doing while he was standing inside the tornado making him basically invisible lol.

[@just_radical]

@@Tohlemiach I ended up swapping it out end game for the Ramuh ones for that reason, but it was pretty good for getting extra damage ticks during a stagger. It would just last longer than the stagger phase and yeah elite mobs could get back up.

[@kelela37clch]

Appreciate the tips! Aside from continued grinding towards acquisition of the strongest weapons and armor available, I sustained a great deal of success during boss battles using Precision Dodge [augmented by the Berserker Ring], Limit Break and constant rotation of the following upgraded and/or mastered ultimate abilities: Aerial Blast & Diamond Dust (for high stagger damage) and Flames of Rebirth and Gigaflare, Judgment Bolt & Earthen Fury (for high attack damage). Upon attainment of the Odin Eikon, I eventually replaced Earthen Fury with Gungnir (to quickly fill the Zantutsuken meter)! I found Aerial Blast to be extremely effective in rounding up multiple enemies and eliminating them one by one while focusing on the larger entity… After having almost completed the game, FFXVI has been a blast to play! Looking forward to navigating FF NG+ mode - will try optimizing use of Will O' Wykes and Lightening Rod during this gameplay! All the best!

[@markalsina3171]

Will-O-The-Wykes and Rage fists is my go to combo plus adding it with lighting rod and will finish it off with the giga flare.

[@eugenides04]

I accept that it's not really optimal, but pairing Impulse with Satellite put in a *lot* of work for me in the back half of my playthrough. Very effective for maintaining distance while you learn/improve at managing an enemy's skillset and chunking away at the stagger gauge.

[@jaycane6170]

This is so powerful! Its so much fun as well. Also you can use satellite when charging mega flare.

[@frizell]

Using lightning rod with Will-o'-the-Wykes is insane. Was just playing around and stumbled across that combo

[@davidtsmith33]

It is indeed.

[@fattyflip4168]

Sharing my current and favourite loadout here: Windup + Gigaflare Raging fist + Rook Gambit Lightning Rod + Dancing Steel My general gameplay would be fist + Rook counters to break stagger. During stagger I would opt between a single/double Zantetsuken combo, assuming I enter stagger phase with Lv5 Zantetsuken already up: Single Zantetsuken: Stagger → limit break → Lightning Rod → Zantetsuken → Dancing Steel → Windup → Gigaflare Double Zantetsuken would be same as above, but replace Gigaflare with Zantetsuken (Lv5 should be up due to Dancing Steel during the combo), you could even squeeze another skill after Windup for more damage (e.g. Rising Flame) I'm sure people have better combos but I find the above really comfy to execute 😁

[@Mr_Cheng]

Wykes + Lightning Rod + Ignition is also a great combo, and you get it really early on considering the likes of other abilities. Great video 👍

[@wrathava]

permafrost followed by diamond dust carried me during S hunts. It just cancels any attack, its so good, plus it melts the stagger bar.

[@Yorukin]

I'm personally fond of Shiva's Mesmerize. It does respectable damage for something with such a short cooldown, it helps gather weak enemies for cleanup, and it's very quick and noncommittal. There's rarely a situation where I shouldn't be using it if it's on the bar.

[@genshinsage]

Mesmerize and Upheavel are amazing combos

[@KahlevN]

I agree with the top 2, they are even so obvious that I assumed going in that they would be #1 and #2. They are just crazy useful in so many circumstances. One ability that I would have added as at least an honorable mention is Ifrit's Ignition ability. It doesn't do a ton of damage or stagger, and but it's great for gathering up minions when fighting tons of enemies, as it collects them all in front of you, which then makes them easy to wipe out entire spread out groups really fast. It's even decent against bosses if you drop a Lightning Rod and run into it while wearing Will, as you get tons of procs really really fast.

[@jakemoore5077]

Zantesuken mobs, no reason to do anything else imo

[@tehCostHD]

@@jakemoore5077how do you built it so fast to use agaisnt every room of mobs?

[@jakemoore5077]

@@tehCostHD odins ult can usually fill it to 4 sometimes 5 in 1 rip , if you can catch multiple in the combos. I usually walk in wykes, Odin ult, zantezuken, unless I think a second wave might come. Then I save it for that

[@tehCostHD]

@@jakemoore5077 well true but then that ult has a long cooldown, works great when agaisnt bosses that you don’t stagger every 2 seconds but seems harder to use agaisnt mutliple waves of mobs

[@jakemoore5077]

@tehCostHD nah it's really not a long cooldown it's almost half back b4 the animation ends.

[@BlazeTheBlackHusky]

My final build so to speak going into the end of the game was Heatwave, Will of Wykes, Lightning Rod, Satellite, Gigaflare, Diamond Dust, with pheonix, bahamut, and garuda as feats. Easily ramped up 140k staggers as will of wykes hits lightnining rod over 200 times, diamond dust to break stagger to start at to bring the multiplier up inmediately, sattelite cause you can continue to fire magic whilst charging megaflare, gigaflare for the big dam, it was a truly brutal combo and i was all for it!

[@kidhavii]

I never knew you could relocate lightning rod, that's nice to know.

[@RudeSaiyan]

You can relocate Rime as well. Just figured that out.

[@Gwynbleidd_117]

If you open the details on skills in the abilities menu it’ll tell you everything one can do.

[@manizard2472]

U can relocate all eikon abilities except for the shifts

[@Cryosxify]

you can also reactive impulse and have the orbs do even more stagger damage when they're level two or three (blue-orange and then pure orange). I've taken out 75% of a stagger bar in the training room with that and wicked wheel though not entirely sure why it sometimes does 75 or sometimes does up to 50. maybe if it's reactivated right when you hit 50 from wicked wheel i guess.

[@Tyrone4rmAmazon]

Any ability u master u can relocate

[@penguinvader7057]

one of my favorites is upheaval, idk if it's actually that efficient dps wise but it feels amazing to slam down from super high as an aerial combo ender

[@KazaarLotha]

I dont think you should go for all the best skills. I still use upheaval too

[@anthonyschlott916]

Also a fellow upheaval user. Its very versatile, doesn't take an extremely long time to cooldown, and works as a nice little aoe when surrounded

[@Tom-bi4ci]

Gouge is clutch for me. It’s nice to have different playstyles

[@anthonyschlott916]

@@Tom-bi4ci I feel gouge kinda falls off toward upper mid game though it still does some work

[@Tom-bi4ci]

@@anthonyschlott916 yeah i’m starting to get to that point so I’d agree

[@SaiiiiiiSaiiiii]

I saved up like 6 hours of points and got the Phoenix's Rebirth and basically one-shotted my way through annoying battles. It was beautiful.

[@inzone88]

Haha just wait for final fantasy mode.

[@ShikiRyougi05]

That's just straight up cap. Rebirth does very bad damage

[@inzone88]

@@ShikiRyougi05 you have to upgrade it during normal play through for it to be good

[@pleasedontkillme1185]

​@@inzone88yeah Rebirth is one of the best trash killers, apart from like level 5 Zen. You just go in and delete all weaker enemies immediately upon use.

[@inzone88]

@@pleasedontkillme1185 unfortunately its not nearly as effective in ff mode haha. Level 5 zan still is.

[@Joey.Zevnik]

Really great video, will probably stealing the set you use for NG+ Shiva - Diamond Dust, Lightning Rod Garuda - Will o' the Lykes/Wicked Wheel, Gigaflare Odin - Rift Slip, Dancing Steel

[@WarrenValion]

I love Flames of Rebirth so much. Coolest animation tied with great AoE

[@TheLilcr8zy]

It was pretty cool for the beginning of the game until I upgraded it and that second animation where he yells just put it over the top for me❤

[@jacobkern2060]

I'd like to give an honorable mention to Judgement Bolt for being as much of a boss nuke as it is

[@XxkrazymagexX]

I have a boss damage build where I save all my abilities for right before a stagger break . Megaflare dodge until at 4 stacks and right as my next dodge pops I fire it ,dive in with a square x hold. Lightning rod > will-0 > limitbreak > impulse > aerial blast > judgementbolt > hold square and x for gap close > gigaflare > impulse again (detonates all impulse orbs) while inside gigaflares animation so it doesn't affect the stagger bar because of the time slow . That combo has will o , lightning rod ,impulse ,aerial blast,and gigaflare all doing damage overtime at the same exact time and the megaflare dodge lvl 4 raining down from the sky the entire combo as well . Judgement bolt is just a massive instant damage number in-between along with the impulse detonate from using it a second time . That's 6 DoT abilities activated at once with 2 heavy hitters thrown in-between and the stagger bar is still at about 60% when the combo finishes. I've found almost nothing is surviving that especially with each of those abilities maxed out and their respective damage increase items equip with a strength tonic before the first megaflare dodge . 10|10 recommend i just out a 45 second snip of the combo if anyone is interested in how its executed.

[@MichelRosabal-cu9el]

Also lighting rod you can set it up then use charge magic attacks and do crazy damage from far also 🔥

[@ryuuzaakii1656]

Wait what about Will O' The Wykes + Ignition + Lightning Rod? Maybe even through Impulse in there.

[@SquallHC]

There's so many eikonic abilities and ability combinations that it's impossible to fit in all the best ones at once. I've played the game at the same time as 3 of my friends and we all have a different setup and different playstyle, the fact that the game allows that is just insane to me. Trying out the Lightning Rod/Will-o'the-Wykes combo because of your video but I'm already missing Wicked Wheel for example. Impulse is another great ability as a setup for multiple passive hits alongside Megaflare. That said, being able to equip a 4th eikon (2 more ability slots) would solve a lot :D

[@nwickstead]

Key for timeslow mechanics, limit breaks still goes down, but cooldowns still progress at same rate

[@YounBryan]

Im so happy how you give wicked wheel the love it deserves

[@OfficialLaysho]

Raging rush is underrated can straight up destroy 1 plate of armor with one parry plus it stops time

[@TokidoTaro]

damn, I havent used any of the top 3 in my whole playthrough. I did read the Ifrit one and thought, that it sounds busted, but that was at a point where I was just too comfortable with the setup I had going for myself to change stuff around.

[@mistersquareenix]

Surprised not to see impulse on this list. It's crowd control, it's good will damage and it's an auto-lock "set it and forget it" kind of skill. Combos well with will-o. Rime -> lightning rod -> impulse -> will-o, rinse until staggered or almost staggered, then diamond dust -> gigaflare -> zantetsuken lv.5 is a fun boss melter.

[@ArchetypeoftheHero]

Still in the middle of the game grinding levels but I love Will-O'-The-Wykes. It helped me get easy no damage fights against Belphegor and Dozmare and also got me the no hit trophy on the War Panther by replaying that in the Hideaway stone. The vids for these fights are on my channel. Uploading the Dozmare fight in a bit. I still had to precision dodge and be careful when it wasn't active but when it was active I got go absolutely ham on the bosses. As of now I'm keeping it until the end game but when I hit the highest level of play and get confident in my precision dodging and parrying for the hardest bosses I'll probably take it out. But it also augments the damage/stagger damage on Ignition and it's fun to use it along with that ability.

[@pleasedontkillme1185]

Some of my fave abilities are Diamond Dust and the fists from Titan also is not talked about enough. You can stop almost any attack if timed right and do huge stagger damage, also for me Titan power is a must due to how quickly you can build limit break with mastered block/counter. For me I use Phoenix, Titan and Odin because it gives me 3 big things. Mobility, Defense and big Damage. Abilities I've been running is Rebirth and Ignition on Phoenix, Gigaflare and Raging Fist (think the name is) on Titan and the Odin dash through enemies and Diamond Dust on Odin. Hardest enemy I've had to deal with is Svarog and I only died to him once, rest though I may have died a time or 2 against was just because of mechanics, like Behemoth Meteor, thought I could kill him before it would hit the ground but nooo he has to get it through and you have to evade it pff, once I figured that was how it worked then it was over.

[@Ambivalentrook5]

I've been stuck on aerial blast since unlocking it. Really fun to use air juggle combo's and it tracks and follows targets. Just beat Bahamut and still haven't taken it off. After watching this, may switch up a bit. Kinda wish you could preset a combo for a specific button combo between all icon's. GG's.

[@franklinturtleton6525]

Okay so I wasn't able to get this game until it released on PC and I realize this is a year old, but Impulse (Bahamut homing orbs) absolutely SHREDS the stagger bar if you explode while it's golden. With a will damage increase you can take the first bar off on a single use, use garuda to yank them down, then use dancing steel which lasts long enough for the CD to come back to take off the 2nd bar. Then when the stagger bar is about to fill back up you'll have it up again to do another garuda yank (Dancing Steel won't come back up in this time frame, unfortunately, unless you have 2 other time slow/stop abilities like Gigaflare). Just make sure not to shoot them while an enemy is about to teleport because they will not track onto them after they've teleported unless they've hit them once first.

[@MahoganyBlack]

You’re the first and only person on KZbin I’ve heard who pronounces Zantetsuken the natural way. Thank you! 😭👏😂

[@davidtsmith33]

I agree with you on the top 2. Will-o-the wykes and Lightning Rod. Strangely enough I had ignored these two for the longest while. When I looked at the stars rating for Will-o and saw both damage and stagger were so low I said it wouldn't be worth it. Only to realise later the damage and stagger multiplies greatly by those fire balls spinning and hitting so rapidly. Not only that but the ability lasts for quite a long time. Plus you can inject another ability while using it. Now it's on my must-have list. Same for Lightning Rod which I only decided to give it a go today. After using that too so it has become another must-have and on my top 2.

[@Etrieh]

Im so surprised judgement bolt is not there...its so strong

[@RudeSaiyan]

Especially upgraded

[@MichelRosabal-cu9el]

It literally takes out half stagger bar it’s really strong

[@SH1NK1R01]

Meh. It’s strong but it barely does more damage then giga flair while lacking really any synergy with other skills due to how it’s cast. It also has no aoe use so you can’t really use it at all against mobs. It’s stagger strength isn’t really a factor either since wicked wheel and diamond dust will handle all your stagger needs.

[@RudeSaiyan]

@@SH1NK1R01 i always have used it as a staggered ender, because it stops time you can sneak it in the last second of stagger especially with LB activated. I'm sure there are more optimal set ups though.

[@IceBloo]

Raging fists is my favorite counter and was also left out. But he includes a lot of other good counters so I guess that makes sense. Judgment bolt is basically just worse than gigaflare and Diamond dust.

[@BryGuyJohn]

Yooo I just finished my first playthrough and I hadn’t even tried some of these! So many of these moves have super cool hidden synergy. They did an amazing job with the combat system in FF16.

[@MrTmm97]

Gigaflare+Lightning Rod…. Haven’t taken it off since I unlocked Bahamut. As for rift slip… I have only used it during Odin’s Chronolith Trial. I’ve tried to find videos going over how to use it effectively but have found very little to nothing. I love to save Diamond Dust to finish off a stagger bar and the second hit buffs the multiplier on the staggered enemy.

[@someguy233]

Wow a KZbin list that actually got it right. It was annoying hearing people say with such confidence that wykes is awful, lightning rod is mid, satellite is amazing, gouge is good but impulse is trash etc. Saw this list and knew you understood the game. Will definitely be subbed at least until ff16 is fully explored :)

[@itsSmiv]

Wykes isn't awful but it definitely isn't one of the best in the game at all. If you can dodge attacks then wykes is just wasting an ability slot

[@chaoschris8194]

I really like Satellite. It can destroy stagger gauges at range and does a ton of damage.

[@RMidcat]

I used it heavily for stagger multiplier because it doesn't care if you actually use magic, only that the button is pressed. So I'm basically mashing square and triangle during a Limit Break combo then using the bigger damage moves. The whole way it works just reminds me heavily of CBU3s work on ffxiv and the idea of the 2m burst window.

[@AdamHallDeathPunch]

One of the things I love about this game is the versatility between play styles. Almost all of skills are useful depending on how you use them. I personally don't like Wykes or heatwave because I like to dodge/parry and I'm too close and personal to ever use heatwave. I'm more of a fan of the Titan counter and I feel like Titan never gets any love on these lists. Also very surprised Ignition didn't make this list because it's basically broken.

[@gjet35]

I personally have Dancing Steel and Heaven's Cloud under Odin for my general duelling (for constant Zantetsuken's mid-fight), Windup and Judgement Bolt under Phoenix (Windup for half staggers for a chunk of damage, and Judgement Bolt to finish Stagger Gauge combos) and Gigaflare and Impulse under Bahamut for getting to a x1.5 combo for Stagger quickly - especially cancelling Impulse's cast with Limit Break straight into Gigaflare). I wasn't really enamoured with any of Shiva's abilities so I didn't use them all that much but with your explanation for Diamond Dust...I think I can swap Bahamut off being a Stagger-combo stance and actually free up a slot.

[@gjdalupang4219]

Rift Slip's really good, my favorite ability after testing it, remove the delay after using an ultimate, cancel the knockback/backstep from lightning rod, time it right during the will o the wykes so that you can still have the buff and move again, use garuda's deadly embrace then rift slip to freeze/slow time, there's so many ways to use it/a lot of potential especially with the really quick cooldown, other abilities' cooldowns also tick while under the freeze/slow time so it also helps in preparing other moves.

[@LongHoang88884]

U can also just dash out of any animation except ultimate skills.

[@gjdalupang4219]

@@LongHoang88884 though dashing out has a long pause after dashing and it does not have a freeze time/slow time like when you parry use an ultimate or rift slip which makes it way better than what you suggest.

[@krownedprince]

Diamond dust and lightning rod are definitely my 2 that stays in rotation... I usually pair Lightning rod with rime or impulse and other moves that stick around or puts out lots of hits and damage

[@Nutrafin-3D]

While not that great on single target bosses, I cant get rid of Ignition for trash packs. Gathers them all up and nearly wipes them all out in a single cast.

[@Eyes-Scream0213]

Will o the wykes and Lightning bolt are must skills. I already knew it once I saw the skills. It always reminds me of Vergil's light swords. I think everyone have their own skills combo. I always use Mesmerize and lightning pike as a combo to stagger enemies faster besides that those 2 skills have shorter Cooldown which you can use multiple times. I'm not actually using ultimate skills often because the Cooldown is so long. Diamond Dust and Dancing steel are the only ultimate skills I have.

[@irisgrimoire7312]

I have almost the same build as you as soon as I felled odin! (Minus Gigaflare because it was too expensive to add, and lightning rod because it made killing the bosses too easy with how much it does with so little effort) Shout outs again to Wicked Wheel for being the best launcher in the game among the skills!

[@ragna6410]

Bahamut,Odin,Shiva are my Eikons. I love to use these abilities.

[@Xenamos]

Becaus they are the 3 best Eikonic feats by far for absolutely melting a mob

[@Dracobyte]

Thank you for the guides and the videos!!!

[@NEETmoreAnime]

Fellow Wicked Wheel lover here. :P I used it in my bread n butter rotation: Always tried to use counter skills to get the boss to 50% will, then Deadly Embrace, Lunge, Wicked Wheel, Aerial + Downthrust with Magic Bursts and Torgal inbetween and many enemies were close to being staggered already.

[@distantworlds3308]

I like ignition, with the lightening rod, with the will o wisp one. Its fun.

[@Temperance_XVII]

Ignition is really good at getting rid of huge crowds

[@Blade12113]

I wouldn't say "strongest" but one of my favorite skill combo's in the game for random enemies is Mesmerize into Upheaval. Absolutely obloterates groups of basic enemies. One of the later sidequests wiped out an entire wave of enemies in 2 attacks.

[@tehCostHD]

Yeah those are good for mobs for sure. I wish there was a way in the game to quickly swap loadouts without having to replace each skill one by one. I would have a loadout for mobs, and a loadout for elites and bosses….

[@genshinsage]

@@tehCostHD Yes I agree. That would be great additions

[@viviblackmage2326]

I love Garuda’s counter ability. It was the first skill I got the hang of, and I keep it on.

[@HSExsiccator]

I agree. If you are not confident on your enemy's attack timing, this skill makes you invulnerable for almost the whole animation.

[@viviblackmage2326]

@@HSExsiccator really helps with stagger. Also you can do it in the air, and combo it into something else.

[@zomgpeoplestolemname]

I feel I get too much mileage out of impule to replace it for anything else as my will breaker.

[@samb123078]

Lightning rod is just so easy to build around. Any multi hit ability becomes better with it out. Obviously, wykes and gigaflare, but ignition, flames of rebirth, Ariel blast, impulse, flare breath all become monsters with lightning rod. Pair it with mesmerize and/or deadly embrace for large groups. Only drawback of lightning rod is that it does mess with your targeting since you seem to prioritize it when it’s out.

[@btllofaro]

I’m surprised I haven’t seen more people talk about impulse. I can easily get half a bar of stagger with that ability and it recharges super fast

[@DemonLordSparda]

It's really good, and it also triggers lightning rod. Impulse is a better Heatwave, does the same will damage as a Heatwave Counter.

[@kyrios-gn]

My mid build was ifrits will o' the wykes + lightnight rod then go ham with Gouge and wicked wheel. If you have titan, use raging fist along with Gouge ONLY if their stagger bar is about to be full again. That will send them back to stagger status again. If I can have Rammuh's judgement bolt, I'd remove the wicked Wheel.

[@zachariahjonahmaldonado5897]

Garuda's Claw combo to knock the stagger down to half, use her Scorpion Spear to yoink them down, then spam Impulse and Phoenix wings. Works every time.

[@Saske2518]

My favorite is really just a combo: the wicked dunk. Wicked Wheel into Upheaval does a lot of raw and will damage because upheaval does more damage the higher in the air you are

[@TheoBeantjb]

Just wanted to drop in as a fellow wicked wheel enjoyer and express that it is in fact a great skill even though it might not be the best

[@YasuBlackstone]

Lightning rod and gungnir is def my fav combo

[@just_radical]

Ah no wonder after cruising thru the entire game post Ifrit I started dying again in the Odin and Ultima fights, I dropped Will of the Wykes from my rotation b/c I was kind of bored of my kit and wanted to try new skills. Oops.

[@W4r10ckm4n]

My combo currently(Lv. 49) does about 194K damage on a stagger. Build up Zantetsuken with Dancing Steel. Put it away for later. Stagger using just basic combos. Once you hit the stagger, use: Diamond Dust Lightning Rod Gigaflare Lv. 5 Zantetsuken Judgment Bolt Windup Burning Blade I will admit, it's very, very backloaded damage. Your fights will take awhile, but the health bar gets deleted once you stagger.

[@itsSmiv]

You should look into rift slip/cold snap if you really want to optimize your stagger combo. My stagger combo at level 50 right now does around 380k damage. Have zantetsuken lvl5 ready Get enemy 1 hit away from stagger Megaflare level 4 Lightning rod Diamond dust Rift slip/cold snap Limit break + lvl5 zantetsuken Rift slip/cold snap Dancing steel Rift slip/cold snap Flames of rebirth Rift slip/cold snap Limit break + gigaflare Rift slip/cold snap Lvl5 zantetsuken Rift slip/cold snap Lightning rod + dancing steel Rift slip/cold snap Limit break + lvl5 zantetsuken Rift slip/cold snap Diamond dust Rift slip/cold snap And then you just do any normal combo to the enemy for the next 3ish seconds. Rift slip/cold snap freezes the stagger meter for a while which lets you do extremely long stagger combos. I'm able to fit two diamond dusts in one stagger window which is pretty insane

[@kroganlauncher]

Damn and here I was thinking diamond dust was actually underrated. Ignition is great and judgement bolt is also great as a finisher. Doing the time trials really helps you appreciate the pros of each skill, except ifrit because fak ifrit

[@shinkamui]

my only gripe with will o' the wykes is that it kills the rod too fast and sometimes dancing steel can't even get to it lol. Suffering from success

[@SapphireDragon357]

Either way you get 30 hits of lightning rod from it. Doesn't really matter when or what procs it.

[@SH1NK1R01]

Well the damage of the lightning rod bolts isn’t based on the strength of the hit so it really wouldn’t matter if it gets used up early. It deals the same max damage regardless.

[@shinkamui]

@@SH1NK1R01 @SapphireDragon357 it's not about the damage, it's about getting double the zantetsuken gauge on a boss, because rod doubles the ammount of targets hitting rod with dancing steel is the best way of getting 2 lvl 5 zantetsuken casts inside a stagger window on a single target without having the +1 talisman from the end of ng+

[@nickyukvn]

⁠@@shinkamuiHow da hell u get 2 level 5 Zantetsuken under 1 stagger window? Damn rod only gives u 1, and it has long CD along with dancing steel CD?

[@shinkamui]

@@nickyukvn ya go into the stagger with a lvl 5 zantetsuken prepped, and use rod + dancing steel for the 2nd one

[@Tohlemiach]

I'm actually worried going into NG+ that the balance of the game will start to get skewed, because so far I've really enjoyed being able to use whatever skills I'm in the mood for because the game has been completely doable with any set up. One of the things I love about any videogame is being able to swap your loadout to any number of things and still be viable for combat, like I just like the variety of things to do. So I hope NG+ isn't SO punishing that I feel shoehorned into one optimal build.

[@btllofaro]

It wont. Plus you have the option of staying at the same difficulty, or choosing the new NG difficulty “final fantasy”.

[@Tohlemiach]

@@btllofaro I want to do FF mode cuz regular mode was too easy.

[@tehCostHD]

@@Tohlemiachdon’t worry, you can complete any encounter in the game with any loadout. Use whatever you think is fun

[@emmanuelguerrero3071]

Haha and here i am worried if id ever want to boot the game up again hearing how easy it is to play this game.

[@notimeleft1]

I agree with most of this list but the last two. Will o the wykes is a good early/mid game combo piece with lightning rod, but I swapped it for windup. Right now (since I don’t have Odin’s power yet) I’m using Phoenix/ifrit, shiva and bahamut as my three eikons and my skills are ignition, flames of rebirth, impulse, gigaflare, lightning rod and diamond dust. Gigaflare has been my goto finishing move when I stagger a mini boss, but once they are staggered, I’m throwing a lightning rod, using impulse, then ignition, flames of rebirth and finally got the coup de grace, gigaflare for massive damage. So far the highest damage I’ve done at this point is 92k

[@D01287410]

Personally have loved using Impulse and Ignition. Though I didn't think the big ultimate skills slapped cheeks so hard. Might have to respect some of my skills

[@jesuisradmusic]

The ultimates really start to shine in NG+/Final Fantasy mode (especially Dancing Steel+Lvl5 Zantetsuken.) In your first playthrough, there's really no point (other than they look awesome) in suffering their giant cooldowns when you can clear an entire room of enemies with Ignition, but holy crap do the ultimates super speed up your progression in the higher difficulty mode

[@D01287410]

@@jesuisradmusic I was having a bit of a hard time figuring out what move I wanted to use against a boss once you get their bar half way down and they crumple for a second, now I just through a lvl 5 Zan in their face and build it up again with arm of darkness during the stagger. It's my favorite shit in the game as it ozes Vergil vibes

[@P.vieRa_YT]

Love this game, good video sir 😊

[@ChrisDeebo]

I already figured Will of the Wykes and Lightning Rod would be up there I been hesitant to get rid of certain skill just love em to much and Will guages tend to drop before I can blink

[@smokeldogg]

Gouge is a great stagger bar reducer if you keep hitting the attack button while it’s running.

[@uber_trance]

ive yet to really try out other skills besides the ones the game gives you by default. I'll have to try some of these. I agree with Wicked Wheel tho, its super clutch.

[@Kurzwife]

i only use like 2 of these abilites from this list and still have no problem beating S rank hunts This game is so good

[@Scerttle]

Gouge and wicked wheel IMO are about trade offs. If you don't want to worry about potentially wiffing a hit on smaller enemies then take gouge, if you don't want to worry about overcommitting to animation lock then wicked wheel. Usually the animation lock punishes me more so wicked wheel it is.

[@LongHoang88884]

U can just dash out any long animations .

[@Scerttle]

@@LongHoang88884 lol yea I found this out since, thanks for the tip though!

[@II_0123]

What do you think is the most fun play style (loadout) ?

[@kevingraham4736]

i use gouge over wicked wheel personally. shiva ultimate to drop will to half>garuda pull to knock them down>gouge. otherwise i use basically all these except heatwave in my build. with lightning rod and dancign steel CDR acc

[@kainakrit9311]

Will o the wykes + Ignition pretty much makes me an unstoppable trash mob clearing machine. It's not good in boss fights but it's terrifyingly strong in random encounters.

[@TestSubject06]

I just finished first playthrough last night. I had flames of rebirth on my bar the whole game. The ability to just immediately delete any trash mobs from a fight was just too good to give up. Also Ramuh's Judgement Bolt was just a fat stack of damage on a pretty short cooldown.

[@dullededge1395]

i would argue that will of wykes is kinda a noob trap it's good but if your good at the game to dodge realible then your kinda wasteing an ability slot on chip damage. sure it's good with lighting rod but you would much rather use that with gigaflare. it's not bad being able to be wrackless for a 4 hits is nice for makeing aggressive plays but i think the oppertunity cost puts it in a solid b tier for me

[@YUXKE]

I honestly simply take wykes just for guaranteeing dancing Steel goes off to wipe the field with Zantetsuken quickly. Since you gotta be up close in a mob for that and it has lengthy wind up window, wykes just guarantees it goes off smoothly at the start without wasting time. That said, I think for boss fights though, it’s fine to swap out for another utility.

[@itsSmiv]

​@@YUXKEthat's even more of a waste of a slot then; you can guarentee dancing steel hitting by just popping limit break beforehand. You can't get staggered in limit form

[@YUXKE]

@@itsSmivwell yeah, but then again do you really wanna burn LB just for that instead of for burst windows on mobs with stagger gauges? Especially since dancing steel still does little damage and consumes a lot of the LB window while active. I will say though prior to recently getting 100% platinum trophy I did wind up abandoning wykes altogether eventually. I still stand by it making dancing steel go off consistently at the very start of a large pack is really useful. Problem became that it was so useful it made mob fights too rinse repeat uninteresting. Whenever I still felt like opening with immediate Dancing Steel I wound up weaving in torgal attacks instead to interrupt mobs in front of me during the wind up.

[@itsSmiv]

@@YUXKE you can cancel the LB the moment dancing steel starts, and dancing steel will build back more LB than was used. It uses pretty much nothing. Waaaaay better than spending an entire ability slot for it.

[@YUXKE]

@@itsSmivwhen you cancel you consume a stack though, it won’t pause the gauge where you stop it. As mentioned I’ve also moved away from the skill, but I’ll agree to disagree that it’s a wasted slot altogether -- except for boss / hunt fights, it’s definitely a wasted slot in those scenarios especially if Lightning rod is not also taken for multi triggers.

[@belld.s5276]

Will-o-wykes is a no brainer. But I've learned some new stuff from this vid. I've been mostly avoiding help videos but now i'm close to end, just wanna see other ideas. I had a feeling rift slip was good, I just didn't have a chance to test it out. Might have to re-do my kit. Do you have a torgal video?

[@scubasteve5326]

I've been using lightning rod religiously since the second I could and I never knew you could move it 😅😅

[@JiggsHD]

Ignition is hard for me to take off but this set up is crazy

[@Helba00]

When enemy gets staggered, try: lightning rod + impulse + rime into zantetsuken, then dancing steel. so satisfying

[@alwaysbynngaming]

Lighting rod and aerial blast for lots of fast stagger is what I've been using...just got bahamut so still have some to go!

[@shuichichirocks33]

The bread and butter is lightning rod being procced by Rime and Will o the Wykes and after they are at 1.5 I use gigaflare and then build zantetsuken by hitting rod with Odins sword

[@99snake99]

If I may ask, are there recommended eikons and skills when using the ring of timely skills? This is my first action game and my progress with learning combos and such is slow going. Any help is appreciated.

[@ichigozangetsugrimmjozgqp9439]

I could not get behind titans abilities so I’m excited to get the remaining three

[@Blazingbeard]

Ok interesting. I'm only at Ramuh as 3rd Eikon and when I tried willow wisp, I wasn't that impressed. And whilw reading the lightning rod description I was like meh. Definitely gonna try those out now. My stagger combo now is getting to half stagger, Garuda pull, gaol, whirl and then get enemy staggered. Then all the rest of my abilities. Love the Tornado atm in crowd control and blasting everything with lighting in the tornado.

[@DanBurtonCodes]

Adding to the praise of diamond dust, it can generate a ton of LB gauge.

[@mrsundaymorning]

I prefer taking ignition than wykes as it can help to clear trash mobs and group them up. Lightning rod can combo with bahamut gigaflare. You don't need another extra skill to proc it

[@DrierHyperion21]

I like gigaflare with lightning rod throw in an impulse and it's insane!

[@chubacca8450]

Great content, love your ffxiv content and trust your take on 16.

[@chazclark86]

Raging fists is my fav counter, especially when you get that block off 😜 taunt + raging fists is immense

[@St4rTr3v1Ut10n]

My one big gripe about FF16 is the shortage of usable abilities. Only 2 abilities across 3 Eikons isn't enough. My setup is Raging Fists and Heatwave (so i can counter anything), Gungnir and Dancing Steel, for damage, stagger, and building Zantetsuken, and then Impulse to open fights and Gigaflare because duh. There's no room for stuff like Lightning Rod + Wykes or Wicked Wheel and Rooks Gambit

[@itsSmiv]

Drop gungnir, it doesn't do good damage at all and you're locked into a long animation. It's a pretty bad skill

[@pedroportela6476]

Yeah, no, you're way better off dropping Gungnir and replacing it with Lightning Rod.

[@St4rTr3v1Ut10n]

@pedroportela6476 It's good for pulling enemies in and building Zantetsuken, but I was considering dropping Impulse for Lightning Rod, even though I just found out you can explode Impulse by pressing the button again while it's happening

[@amogus_imposter8]

my favourite skills are windup punch, and piledriver

[@Wenti_Tempest]

I'm glad to know wicked wheel isnt just my favorite skill

[@jasonfulkrod9375]

Have you tried mixing lightning rod with Shiva similar aoe attack? Something I think I'm gonna try those 2 with will of the wikes

[@karnism]

shiva core ability is the most broken shit in the game, it's not even close the fact that you can freeze everything in the screen for almost 10s without any cooldown on the ability is just...

[@DawnAfternoon]

Ikr, it even works on bosses

[@Cryosxify]

just gotta get good with the precision dodge