Final Fantasy XVI – Which Eikons are Best? A Breakdown of Each Element’s Strengths

Final Fantasy XVI is the first full-on action-RPG in the long-running series, with the core of the game’s combat being the Eikons — elementally-themed sets of spells, which you can switch between on the fly. But which of these Eikons are the most powerful? Which are best to use in specific situations? What combinations of Eikons create the best synergies? Here’s a breakdown of the each of Final Fantasy XVI’s Eikons, including their strength and weakness, and, just for fun, a star rating (out of five). Time to see which Eikon is most iconic!

First, a decscription of how Eikons work in Final Fantasy XVI. Eventually, you gain the ability to switch between three Eikons on the fly during battle. Each of them has one Eikonic Feat, a move you’re free to use repeatedly, and then you can assign two Eikonic Abilities, which are on a cooldown timer.

Ifrit/Phoenix (Fire)

Ifrit and Phoenix both fall under the Fire banner. Some of Ifrit’s abilities, like Limit Break, don’t take up an ability slot, but others do. Overall, the Fire Eikons are a nice well-rounded option, with Phoenix Shift being great for closing the distance with enemies. You also get a good ranged attack in Heatwave, launcher in Rising Flame, and powerful screen-clearing/healing attack in Flames of Rebirth.

• Rating – Phoenix is the first Eikon you gain access to in the game, and I suspect a lot of folks will continue to use it as its dependable and its abilities are easy to weave into combos. That said, there are more exciting and powerful Eikons. 3 out of 5.

Garuda (Wind)

Garuda almost feels required given how versatile its Eikonic Feat Deadly Embrace is. Deadly Embrace allows you grapple onto smaller enemies and pull them in for combos, yank flying enemies out of the sky, and topple bosses once you’ve reduced their Will Gauge by half. Garuda is also great for racking up combos and whittling down a boss’ Will Gauge with multi-hit abilities like Gouge and Wicked Wheel.

• Rating – Deadly Embrace is essential and the Garuda’s other abilities deal heavy damage and are great for combos. This is maybe my favorite Eikon. 5 out of 5.

Ramuh (Lightning)

Ramuh is basically for folks who like to play keepaway. Abilities like Blind Justice, Thunderstorm, and Judgment Bolt can deal heavy damage from afar, while abilities like Pile Drive are good for keeping enemies off your back.

• Rating – Good if you like playing the ranged game, but not that useful if you don’t. Ramuh’s Eikonic Feat Blind Justice is a bit finicky and a lot of what you can do with Ramuh is improved by on by other Eikons unlocked later in the game. 3 out of 5.

Titan (Earth)

Titan isn’t exactly subtle. It’s all about dealing out heavy bone-crunching damage. You can use Titan’s Block to get up close, then punish enemies with the Raging Fists or Windup ability.

• Rating – Simple yet effective. If you want something that can deal heavy damage to bosses without many downsides, Titan is a solid if unflashy option. 4 out of 5.

Bahamut (Light)

Bahamut is all about crowd control, and at that, this Eikon is incredibly successful. Bahamut’s Eikon Feat is Wings of Light, which allows you to unleash a very powerful barrage of magic bolts on every enemy on the screen so long as you can avoid being hit for a few seconds. Combine this with abilities like Flare Breath or Giga Flare and even the biggest enemy mobs become trivial. While Bahamut isn’t quite as useful against bosses, Impulse is an excellent ability that allows you to passively inflict heavy damage on enemies.

• Rating – The best Eikon by far when it comes to taking on regular mobs of enemies and not bad against bosses either. Bahamut is highly recommended. 5 out of 5.

Shiva (Ice)

Shiva is a somewhat hard Eikon to pin down, although its main strength seems to be movement and positioning. Shiva’s Eikonic Feat Cold Snap is a bit like a more versatile Phoenix Shift, allowing you to move in all directions. The ability Mesmerize can be used to draw enemies in and Ice Age can be used to knock them away again.

• Rating – Shiva mostly does things other Eikons do, just not quite as well. A lot of Shiva’s abilities are also rather weak in terms of how much damage they deal. Never found much use for this one. 2 out of 5.

Odin (Darkness)

Odin is perhaps the most unique of the Eikons. Odin is all about filling up your “Zantetsuken” meter, which is done by switching to a special sword using your Eikonic Feat or by unleashing abilities. Fill up the meter and you can unleash the Zantetsuken itself, a very powerful screen-clearing attack.

• Rating – Odin can be very powerful if you master building up your Zantetsuken meter, but it doesn’t play that well with the other Eikons. Those who get good at Odin will likely largely stick to using Odin, which simplifies things in some ways, but is at odds with FF16’s usual Eikon-switching approach. I haven’t managed to master Odin yet, but I see the Eikon’s potential. 4 out of 5.

So, we’ve run down each Eikon individually, but what are some good three-Eikon combinations? Here’s a few I found useful…

• Ifrit/Phoenix, Garuda, and Titan – A nice simple trio. Phoenix and Garuda bring the combos and the ability to topple bosses, and Titan brings the power.
• Garuda, Ramuh, and Bahamut – A trio for those who want to stick, move, and wipe out large swaths of enemies quickly. A great trio for taking out large mobs.
• Titan, Bahamut, and Odin – An all-power trio for dealing big damage to bosses.

It should also be mentioned that if level up an Eikonic Ability to the point it’s “mastered,” you can assign it to any Eikon. So, for instance, you can equip Garuda’s Gouge to Phoenix. In other words, you can really start mixing things up once you level up enough.

Final Fantasy XVI is out now on PS5. You can check out Wccftech’s other Final Fantasy XVI guides here. Specifically, here are 5 Eikonic Abilities you need to unlock and/or upgrade.