Ability Recommendations

Take some time and head to the “Hall of Virtue” at the Arete Stone and test out different combinations for yourself. The recommendations on this page may work for many players, but you may also find something else that works better for your play style.

Wings of Change

This setup recommendation can be applied when you first gain access to the Eikon Garuda and the ability to channel a second Eikon. You can swap between them using the button.

For starters, you should have around 1,600 Ability Points if you’ve completed everything, including side quests, up to this point. Here’s how you can spend them:

Regular Abilities

• Magic Burst to mastered (300 AP)
• Charged Magic to learned (20 AP)
• Swift Recovery to learned (10 AP)
• Burning Blade to learned (25 AP)
• Precision Dodge to mastered (500 AP)

Phoenix Abilities

• Heatwave to learned (120 AP)

Decision Points

Allocate points to Rook’s Gambit if you plan to use it. If not, allocate these points to upgrading Heatwave. Upgraded Heatwave deals an incredibly high amount of damage to enemies, whereas upgrading Rook’s Gambit will leave lots of extra AP to use on upgrading other regular abilities.

Home, Sweet Home

The previous Ability Recommendation section for “Wings of Change” provided a complete overview of where to spend your Ability Points, and this was because there were few places to allocate them during that chapter. You now have access to four channeled Eikons (Phoenix, Garuda, Ifrit, and Ramuh), and the number of choices available to you is skyrocketing.

Instead, the focus will turn to which Abilities you should add to your single-target and multi-target Eikonic Ability Sets and whether you should consider upgrading them.

Some notes regarding the configurations listed above:

• Heatwave is such a powerful ability that it belongs in both sets. You can use it to line up groups of enemies with a wave of damage or use it to counterattack larger enemies and bosses.
• Will-o’-the-Wykes can be a good addition to either of your Ability Sets, but note that to add it to the Garuda ability line, you will have to Master it; otherwise, you will end up having to replace Rising Flames or Scarlet Cyclone to get it, which is a pretty big trade-off. You would be sacrificing two of your higher damage-dealing abilities to get it. “Will-o’-the-Wykes” requires 1,600 Ability Points to master.
• Lightning Rod is an awkward but powerful Ability. It takes some time to get used to using it, but it’s worth it, both against large groups of enemies and against bosses that are staggered during your stagger combo. Use the link to the Eikon Ability page to learn more about how to use “Lightning Rod” effectively in battle.
• Thunderstorm and Rising Flames for single targets, and Pile Drive and Scarlet Cyclone for multiple targets. This should be self-explanatory, but the goal moving forward will be to maximize single-target damage when fighting a mini-boss or boss, and maximize damage to large groups at all other times. Remember to constantly switch between your Eikons using the button to use Abilities as soon as they are off cooldown. Eventually, Thunderstorm should be replaced with Judgment Bolt, which costs a lot of Ability Points but is the better of the two abilities by far.
• Extra Ability Points should be spent on your core Abilities in the center circle, with a focus on upgrading and mastering Limit Break, which you should get used to including in your Stagger rotation.

Bolts from the Blue

Just like the previous Ability Recommendation section for “Home, Sweet Home,” this recommendation section will focus on a recommended set of Abilities you can add to your single-target and multi-target Eikonic Ability Sets and whether you should consider upgrading them. You now have access to several Eikons, and you can Master your Eikonic Abilities, allowing you to assign them to different Eikons.

Most of the abilities recommended for this section of the game will carry over from the previous section because most of Titan’s abilities are mediocre. Check out the Titan Eikon section for more information about each ability, but otherwise, consider setting up your abilities as follows:

Things Fall Apart

These are a few recommendations for your single-target and multi-target Eikonic Ability Sets and whether you should consider upgrading them. You now have access to several Eikons, and you can Master your Eikonic Abilities, allowing you to assign them to different Eikons. It’s worth noting now that there is a significant amount of customization that you can do, and there are all sorts of creative ability builds that you can put together, so don’t be afraid to be creative!

Most of the abilities recommended for this section of the game will carry over from the previous section because most of Bahamut’s abilities are very situational; however, Bahamut’s Gigaflare is one of the strongest abilities in the game, especially when the enemy is staggered. It costs a lot of Ability Points if you plan to ‘Master’ it and activate it on another Eikon channel, but it’s worth including in almost all builds.

Check out the Bahamut Eikon section for more information about each ability, but otherwise, consider setting up your abilities as follows:

It’s tough to get all of the abilities fully upgraded and mastered at the beginning of this section of the game. Still, as you earn Ability Points through defeating enemies and completing quests, you can upgrade more and more of them. Remember that you can still substitute in Will-o’-the-Wykes if you’re finding it helpful. It would replace Rising Flames or Gouge in the single-target set and Scarlet Cyclone in the multi-target set.

Across the Narrow

You can now significantly customize Clive’s moveset since you have access to seven different Eikons and 26 different abilities (and this excludes Eikonic feats!). This also marks the first time that you may want to revisit the attacks that you’ve been using throughout most of the game. Shiva’s Eikonic Feat is very powerful, but using it means moving away from what may have been some of your most commonly used attacks, like Phoenix Shift. Check out the “Helpful Hint” section below:

This means that you’ll need to rethink your entire Eikonic Ability Set. However, as you’re now gaining access to some of the strongest abilities in the game, there will tend to be quite a bit of overlap between your single-target and multi-target sets, as noted below.

Some abilities are better for single-target fights, like Gigaflare, but it can be helpful to keep that ability in your multi-target set for battles. Many of the fights from this point forward will start with waves of enemies, but they typically conclude with a ‘heavy hitter’ at the end.

Diamond Dust is another very powerful ability that you have access to through Shiva’s Essence. This attack is amazing for clearing out groups of enemies, but it’s also one of the strongest attacks you have for depleting an enemy’s “Will Gauge.” As a reminder, abilities that deplete the stagger meter quickly have a higher star rating next to the stagger icon .

You’ll notice that the recommendations below have significant overlap, to the point where it becomes questionable as to whether it’s worth constantly switching back and forth between Eikonic Ability Sets. Feel free to customize these recommendations to match your play style and decide for yourself whether you want to have more than one build for different types of enemies. The walkthrough section will continue to provide recommendations on whether you should be utilizing a single-target or multi-target Eikonic Ability Set.

Don’t forget to invest your remaining points that you have or that you will earn into other useful abilities, such as Limit Break.

Brotherhood

You now have access to all of the available Eikons that are available during the regular section of the game, and excluding those that become available in the Echoes of the Fallen and The Rising Tide DLC content.

Odin has some of the strongest attacks in the game. His most powerful attack, “Zantetsuken,” is an ability that you gain access to by fully charging Odin’s Arm of Darkness, which is his Eikonic Feat button ability. The process for using Odin’s attacks is to activate Odin’s weapon using Arm of Darkness, attack and defend enemies with it to charge it up, and then unleash a fully charged Zantetsuken by holding the button (while Odin’s weapon is active).

Remember that attacks with Odin’s weapon are pretty weak on their own. Their only purpose is really just to charge the Zantetsuken gauge. Speaking of which, what are the methods you can use to charge up the Zantetsuken gauge? These methods are pulled from the Ability screen but are listed below for convenience:

• Regular attacks with the button.
• Press following a Precision Dodge to unleash a “Flash of Steel.”
• Press following a parry to execute a “Steel Counter.”
• Lunge becomes “Dark Lunge,” and the attack animation changes (it can hit multiple enemies)
• Downthrust becomes “Dark Downthrust,” and the attack animation changes

As you’ve no doubt noticed, Clive’s entire attack pattern changes while he’s armed with Odin’s sword using Arm of Darkness. You’ll have to get used to this new attack pattern so you can learn to quickly and efficiently charge the Zantetsuken gauge. However, the most efficient means of charging the meter is through Odin’s Eikonic Abilities as outlined below:

With all of that said, we now need to find a way to work Arm of Darkness and, ideally, an upgraded (but not mastered) Dancing Steel into our Eikonic Ability Sets. There may have been Ability Points deficits before, but at this point, it is highly likely that we won’t have enough points to activate all of the abilities that we want in our ideal setup.

For now, we’ll have to decide which abilities NOT to activate, and it may have to include critical center circle abilities like Limit Break, Stomp, Swift Recovery, Burning Blade, etc.

* These are the abilities that you should consider substituting out if you want to include more multi-target abilities in a separate set; however, even if you don’t have a multi-target set, you can use Diamond Dust, Zantetsuken, Lightning Rod, and Heatwave to hit multiple targets. Here are some abilities to consider swapping in for a multi-target set:

• Pile Drive
• Mesmerize
• Scarlet Cyclone
• Ice Age

As you continue to earn Ability Points through Optional Quests and defeating enemies, don’t forget to go back into the “Abilities” tab and continue upgrading and leveling up any of the remaining abilities that you couldn’t afford to right now.

DLC

This section of the guide does not include any updates as it relates to the additional Eikons that you receive in the Echoes of the Fallen and The Rising Tide DLC content. At this point in the game, the level of customization that you’ll have is nearly infinite, though several of Leviathan’s and Ultima’s abilities are incredibly strong.