Final Fantasy is a chronicled franchise known for epic tales, intriguing characters, and memorable battles mixed with top-tier visuals and compositions.Final Fantasy 16continues this trend but varies the style of combat by introducing the series’ first full-action RPG. Battles move quickly, and protagonist Clive needs to react efficiently to avoid succumbing to harmful enemy combos while attempting to counter with staggering damage.
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Bosses, of course, endure prolonged fights with Clive and the Eikon of fire, requiring skill and prowess with precision dodging and countering to emerge victorious. Yet bosses are not the only enemies Clive may struggle to overcome, as the world ofValistheais filled with deadly creatures.
10Adamantoises
While not the most difficult enemy to fell, the Adamantoise deserves a spot on this list due to its small weak zone and ability to disrupt Clive’s attacks. Clive cannot strike the Adamantoise anywhere but its exposed head and neck, which it can and will tuck into its shell before spinning into an attack that Clive will need to dodge once or twice.
If Clive swings at the side or rear of the massive turtles, he will hit an unbreakable shell that will disrupt his attack and will require about a second to recover from. Any enemy that forces Clive to fight from directly in front of it gains an advantage, but withprecision dodging and counteringmixed with a strong supply ofEikonic abilities, Clive should dispatch these quickly enough.
While the first dragon Aevis Clive and Cid chance upon is situated like a boss battle, the creature becomes a regular enemy that roams various zones. What makes the Aevis a particularly troublesome foe is its ability to stun Clive before swooping in for an aerial attack. It will also spew fire at Clive, and it has a 360-degree tail swipe to clear away attackers from any angle. These beasties also boast a good amount of health and astagger bar, meaning Clive will need to make conscious efforts to defeat them.
8Fallen Guardian
The Fallen guards relics of ancient history and have the appearance of a long-lost technology. The Fallen Guardian wields dual beam sabers and attacks Clive with a swinging attack, a thrusting attack, and a dual blade attack while also occasionally charging a spinning blade attack.
The Fallen Guardian is effective at any range, as it can also shoot smaller lasers and larger, aero-esque balls. Clive also will find attacking from the rear difficult against the Fallen Guardians, as they can easily swing their dual sabers in a scissor-type attack behind them without moving too much, making it sometimes difficult to identify the incoming attack.
7Gigas / Giant Goblin
The Gigas enemy, a kinsman to the tiny goblins, packs a wallop with its massive hammer. It takes hefty swings, once in each direction, so Clive’s best bet is to precision dodge each attack. He may be able to dodge into a counter after the first attack but be prepared to immediately dodge again, as the return swing from the Gigas will catapult Clive.
The most worrisome attack from the Gigas is its spin attack, where it twirls itself around with its hammer for an extended period of time. If Clive is caught up in the middle of this attack, he is stuck until the assault is over, and that can kill Clive on Final Fantasy difficulty in New Game Plus. While Gigas is the first boss in the game and one that Clive fights in his flashback, other giant goblins roam Valisthea with their massive hammers.
6Imperial Cannoneer
Another enemy that is introduced as a boss, the imperial cannoneer, is a brute. He wields a cannon the size of an ox that he uses to rocket himself around the terrain. It doubles as a flamethrower with a moderate range that can eat through Clive’s health bar. Every attack that the cannoneer throws, in fact, can burn through Clive’s health.
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This is an enemy that needs to be dodged or avoided to emerge victorious. Retreat from the flames, and analyze the time it takes him to swing his cannon when in melee range. Otherwise, the battle will be over before it begins. Be wary of its terrifying Akashic counterpart.
These infamous Final Fantasy creatures have a reputation for wreaking havoc on any given party. The enormous felines still wreak havoc when Clive runs afoul of them, but their means have certainly changed. Gone are the days of petrification, replaced with damage that matches the size of thecoeurl’spaws. Whipcrack sends electrified whiskers toward Clive in a two-pronged attack (one wild swing from each tendril) that spans a large distance. If Clive is not careful, he can get caught up in a life-ending combination of electricity and claws. While the first Coeurl Clive meets is in the form of a boss battle in Rosaria, he routinely crosses their paths after (and even more so in New Game Plus).
4Dragoon Army
While Clive, Jill, and Torgal prepare to navigate the Empire of Sanbreque, Dion is plotting his coup. Unfortunately for Clive and his party, they become entangled in the civil war, crossing paths with Dion’s elite dragoon units. Players will already be familiar with the boss dragoons and their immense power and agility.
Here, the units are not on the same tier as the dragoon leaders, but they pack a punch, attack in groups, and utilize the immortalized Jump attack. If Clive is not paying attention, he will suffer for it and can be easily overwhelmed by numbers, especially when they begin to become Akashic.
What would a Final Fantasy game be without its Flans? While not explicitly called a flan in the game (outside of theFlan Princehunt mark), the gelatinous creatures still fight like such. Often named after a decadent dessert (like a red mousse, for example), the flans have high resistance to physical attacks.
The easiest way to dispose of these blobs is to mix in magical attacks with precision dodges and counters to drain their health and stagger bar. The flans can deal both heavy magical and physical damage, so Clive will need to time his dodges away from the flan while it sprouts its arms for a close-range attack and inward during their spells (each flan enemy has a stronger affinity toward its base element, and will use that to cast their spells).
2Undertaker
Another enemy that began as a boss, the Undertaker, features brutal attacks that can and will annihilate Clive. These massive fiends from Ultima’s army dole out solid physical damage, but the big attack to be wary of is the Spirits Within attack (also a nice nod to the often frowned upon Squaresoft film).
The blast charges and expels a massive laser from the Undertaker’s chest, and he drags it across the battlefield in Clive’s direction. This attack can and will kill Clive if he is caught up in the initial wave of the blast, but running up and behind the Undertaker when he prepares to fire will allow Clive to stay free of damage while dishing out an assault from behind.
1Orcish Warlord
The Orcish warlords are an enemy that combines some of the deadliest attacks from the other giant enemies into their own arsenal. He swings a massive staff in a delayed swing that deals chunks of damage, but he also can blast magical orbs from the staff if Clive puts distance between himself and the creature.
As it weakens, the orcish warlord will send a series of AoE attacks that blast up from the ground, which will hold Clive in place while inflicting static damage and leaving him vulnerable to additional attacks. These are relatively easy to dodge but remain focused enough to not dodge away from the warlord’s other attacks right into these. The warlord solidifies itself on the top of this list thanks to its nonchalant power and ability to fell Clive with seemingly little effort.
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