All Eikons and the best Eikon Abilities in Final Fantasy 16

We break down all the Eikons in Final Fantasy 16, and the best Eikon abilities

Author:
Paolo Sirio
Publish date:
Jun 23, 2023 12:14 PM EDT

We break down all the Eikons in Final Fantasy 16, and the best Eikon abilities

Final Fantasy 16 features a rich cast of Eikons and many skills to choose from. There are six abilities slots overall, two per Eikon. There’s a huge potential in terms of Eikons, skills, and combinations of the two, but having only six slots to play with limits your ability to exploit the system.

Either way, you’ll be required to make tough decisions, and we’re here to help. In our guide below, we break down all the Eikons in Final Fantasy 16, their abilities, and the best abilities you should always have with you throughout the game.

Things we wish we knew about Eikons and skills - Final Fantasy 16

Make sure you always upgrade your Eikons’ AOE attack at least once, where available, as this is often the strongest ability at your disposal, acting almost as a “skip fight” button when up against ordinary enemies. With the right enhancement (do it twice to “master” the skill, which allows you to equip it on e any Eikon after you’ve upgraded the power), you can easily take out all the enemies on the battlefield in a single shot.

Eikons and abilities list - Final Fantasy 16

Phoenix

The Phoenix is one of the most versatile and easy to use Eikons in the game. It has powerful abilities both up close and from a distance. Flame of Rebirth can take out virtually all enemies on the battlefield in a single shot. All things considered, the most well-rounded Eikon in Final Fantasy 16.

Phoenix Shift
Scarlet Cyclone
Flames of Rebirth
Rising Flames
Heatwave

Garuda

Garuda is the second Eikon you unlock in the game, and after dropping it for a while, we found ourselves picking her up again for one simple reason: her Deadly Embrace ability allows you to stun all of your enemies, boss included, when their Stagger bar is halfway up, granting you several free hits. Not only that, but Gouge does strong stagger damage, and Wicked Wheel can set groups of enemies up for aerial combos. Rook’s Gambit is a more advanced skill, since a more powerful variant of it comes into play if you time the initial jump back to dodge an incoming attack.

Deadly Embrace
Wicked Wheel
Aerial Blast
Gouge
Rook’s Gambit

Ramuh

Ramuh is particularly strong in combat from a distance, both on single and multiple targets. His basic move, Blind Justice, even allows you to unlock a crosshair and hit multiple opponents at the same time, or focus your attack on a single target for more damage. However, his most powerful ability is Lightning Rod, which creates a ball of lightning wherever you place it. When hit, it chains lightning between any enemies in an area around it, and you can even bait them into attacking it themselves. Used at the start of a Stagger, it allows you to do huge damage.

Blind Justice
Thunderstorm
Judgment Bolt
Pile Drive
Lightning Rod

Titan

Titan is your best choice if you like melee combat. His Windup and Earthen Fury abilities are excellent, and it introduces a shield to negate your opponents’ attack - you won’t be able to parry any other way in the game. Time a parry right, and you can follow up with a flurry from earthen fists, hammering your opponent and taking chunks out of their Stagger gauge. However, some of his abilities require timing a meter, and the power of your attack will depend on that.

Titanic Block
Upheaval
Earthen Fury
Windup
Raging Fists

Bahamut

Bahamut is a bit of a glass cannon – incredibly powerful, but also vulnerable when you’re using his best abilities. His Circle ability allows you to rain down plasma across the battlefield, but it requires a long charge-up phase where you can only move and dodge. Successful perfect dodges charge it up even faster, but getting hit will knock you out of it. Gigaflare is great for doing big damage on staggered foes.

Wings of Light
Flare Breath
Gigaflare
Impulse
Satellite

Shiva

Shiva is a good alternative, although you get to meet this Eikon rather late in the game. Shiva’s Cold Snap allows you to glide around the map, giving you that little bit of sprint and the ability to actively dodge attacks – tap it twice, and you can dodge toward an enemy and freeze them in place for a few seconds. Diamond Dust, especially when upgraded, is an excellent AOE attack, almost on par with Flame of Rebirth, but it’s better suited to dealing Stagger damage and is capable of taking over 50% of their gauge down on its own.

Cold Snap
Mesmerize
Diamond Dust
Ice Age
Rime

Odin

Odin is the final Eikon you unlock in the game and, regrettably, he’s also the weakest if you don’t use him correctly. His abilities are all built around building up Zantetsuken which, once fully charged, deals massive, screen-filling damage. But on their own, the abilities don’t do all that much damage. However, you can do some really cool samurai-style dodge-slashes when you weild his blade in combat.

Arm of Darkness
Heaven’s Cloud
Dancing Steel
Gungnir
Rift Slip

Best Abilities - Final Fantasy 16

Eikon Abilities Final Fantasy 16 — The best Eikon Abilities in Final Fantasy 16.
Square Enix

Time now for some tips. Our ideal lineup involves this trio, composed after careful consideration and more than 60 hours of gameplay:

Phoenix
Garuda
Titan

These are the best moves we picked up:

Rising Flames (Phoenix)
Flames of Rebirth (Phoenix)
Windup (Titan)
Upheaval (Titan)
Gouge (Garuda)
Aerial Blast (Garuda)

This build is basically flawless, but you might want to take out Aerial Blast because it makes it impossible to see what’s happening. Master Diamond Dust and replace it with that if you want big stagger damage while being able to see your enemy. You can also swap Phoenix or Garuda for Odin, and move in Dancing Steel to charge your Zantesuken for when you get the stagger.