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So here it is, finally, the end ofFinal Fantasy 16. After traveling across the world, destroying five Mothercrystals, and cultivating a dedicated following of equality-minded people, Clive and his allies are ready to take on the biggest challenge they’ve yet to face.
RELATED:Final Fantasy 16: All Main Story Quests
After the events at Drake’s Spine, a humongous crystal hangs in the air above the Naldia Narrow - Origin. Its name provokes some interesting theories, and it is now where we will find Ultima, the architect of the misery faced by humanity at this point in history. When you begin this stage, there’s no turning back.
If you’re looking for the version of Ultima fought at Drake’s Spine, click here.
Entering Origin
This stage is one long battle against Ultima, separated into discrete phases. The first phase begins as soon as you enter Origin and finish watching the farewell cutscenes.
This phase is made up entirely of cinematic sequence prompts. In order, these are:
After successfully getting through these prompts, a few more cutscenes will play and you’ll be given control of Clive.
This is yourlast chance to leave this stage before the final fight. To do this,open the mapand choose another location to fast-travel to. Beware that if you do this, you’ll have to complete the first phase of this stage all over again, including the cinematic prompt sequence.
Walk forwards toward the room ahead, listening to the dialogue as you go.
After the cutscenes that begin in the corridor, you’ll be thrust into thefinal boss fight gauntlet.
You’re on your own from here on out -no allies and no Torgal!
How To Beat Ultima
As this isn’t your first rodeo with Ultima, you’ll be aware of how aggressive and tricky he can be to face. He does have a totally new moveset, though, which is listed in the table below.
Most of these moves will be uses consistently throughout the entire fight, so it’s not a bad idea to get used to them now, before Ultima adds any meaner tricks to his arsenal.
Description
Energy Rain
Ultima summons a bombard of ranged attacks from points in the air behind him.
These are quite easy to dodge as long as you notice Ultima using the attack. He will open the fight with this move, so be wary.
Divebomb
Ultima will disappear from view for a few moments. A circular telegraph appears on the ground at Clive’s location, and a few moments later, Ultima dives down into it and causes an explosion.
Get out of the telegraph circle when it appears.
Charging Attack
Ultima makes an aerial charging attack at you, zooming at you in a line.
This attack loses its homing as soon as it begins, so as long as there is enough distance between you and Ultima, avoiding the attack should be very easy.
Grabbing Attack
Ultima makes a lunging attack that ends in a grabbing motion. A large ball of energy will expand from Ultima’s hand when he uses this. The attack is used twice in quick succession.
The attack that you’re dodging is actually the orb that grows out of Ultima’s hand - make sure you’re dodging that and not the initial lunges.
Pummel
Ultima makes three punch attacks at you, closing the distance between you with each punch.
Dodge three times and retaliate only on the third punch. The timing should be easy to predict.
Flare
Ultima summons large fireballs around Clive that spiral towards the center of the circle they form. When they reach the center, they will explode, damaging an area the size of the initial circle of fireballs.
To avoid damage, identify a safe gap in the enclosing wall of fireballs and quickly zoom through it and out of the damage zone.
Holy
This attack has two areas that it affects - first, a circle centered on Clive’s location, and second, multiple spokes that stretch out from the circle. A second after the spokes appear, the indicated areas will burst with damage.
Get out of the circular damage zone as soon as the attack starts, but be ready to quickly adjust to get out of one of the follow-up spokes.
Rift
Ultima opens a rift on the ground shaped like a tear. After a few moments, this will erupt with energy.
As with other telegraphed attacks like this, simply get out of the damage zone before the attack triggers. Look out for shifting patches of floor, as this is something you won’t have encountered before this fight.
Driveby
Ultima will strafe around you, shooting bursts of projectiles at you as he goes.
When the boss starts circling you, get ready to dodge the projectiles. Don’t attempt to attack conventionally during this attack; Ultima is far too quick.
Ultima
Ultima starts charging up an attack, sucking you towards him as he does so. When the attack triggers, it takes the form of a very large dome that keeps expanding outwards.
When this attack begins, start dodging (or better yet, using Shiva’s Cold Snap) to get as far away from Ultima as you may. This attack’s eventual radius is huge, but not infinite.
Meteor
Ultima summons a hail of fireballs to strike the ground. When they hit, circles of fiery, damaging floor will expand from the impact zones.
As with Behemoth’s version of this attack, you’ll need to stay away from meteor impact zones and then identify a safe zone that won’t be covered in fire.
Smite
Ultima teleports to your location and fires a beam at you. He will use this twice, teleporting to the opposite side of you for the second attack.
This is a disorienting attack, so try to time your dodges to take advantage of invincibility frames and dodgethroughthe attack rather than getting away from it.
Divine Swords
Ultima conjures large circles around his location. After a few moments, huge swords will burst up through them.
This attack is very quick, so when you see multiple circles appear around the boss, move away from him immediately.
This battle is basically a test of everything you’ve learned so far in FF16. You’ll need to learn Ultima’s attacks, find the best openings, and survive.
Ultima is open to attacks after using his strongest attacks, like Holy and Flare. Make sure you use abilities that either require charging, may miss easily, or get interrupted during these windows of opportunity.
After dealing enough damage, Ultima will push you away and begin a cutscene. This will change the look of the battlefield and signify the beginning of a second phase. When he enters this phase, he’ll start using the attacks from Rift and below in the table above.
Overall, the fight doesn’t change too much, and you should be able to keep up the assault as long as you don’t underestimate his attacks. This is a very long battle, and you don’t want to run out of healing items.
Use your Limit Break for healing purposes when possible- this will let you save your potions for emergencies in the final stage of the fight, which is much more hectic and difficult.
After depleting his health, you’ll enter the second actual phase of the fight.
How To Beat Ultima Risen
This phase begins with a cutscene in which you’ll need to complete aCinematic Clashprompt. This will let Clive assume the form ofIfrit Risen.
This battle is fought on aninvisible plane, much like the fight against Bahamut was. As such, you’ll have to get used to a whole host of new moves, as listed below.
Claw Combo
Ultima makes three slashing attacks at you, closing the distance between you with each slash.
Dodge three times and retaliate only on the third slash. The timing should be easy to predict.
Charge
Ultima makes a charging attack at you, zooming at you in a line.
Spinning Saw
Ultima charges at you with a vertical spinning attack. This is followed up by two physical attacks, even if the first part misses entirely.
While the first part of this attack is easy to spot and therefore dodge, the two attacks that come next are very quick and require precise timing to dodge.
Flare Burst
Ultima will summon a large ball of fire that he sends at you, followed by a barrage of homing missiles. He can also perform these attacks in reverse order.
You can easily avoid the large flare ball by using Wildfire and getting out of its range, and the missiles are easily dodged through thanks to their relatively slow speed.
Ring of Light
Ultima summons a large amount of energy orbs that will spin out in a spiral away from him.
Using Wildfire to get away from Ultima is the best way to avoid this attack. Use Lightspeed to close the gap afterward.
Antistrophe
After charging up this beam attack for a few moments,Ultima will teleport behind you to fire it at you. Multiple beams are shot in succession.
You need to react to the teleport to avoid this attack - dodge as soon as the camera swings around.
Aureola
Ultima summons multiple circular attacks that emit from his location. They will expand until they hit you.
You’ll have to dodge through this attack - this can be tricky as depth perception is made difficult by the battlefield.
Stellar Xyston
Ultima summons two massive beams of light from either hand, and then swings them in a circle.
As with the previous attack, you’ll have to dodge through the beams as they swing toward you. You’ll have to dodge twice, so be ready for the second attack.
This is a disorienting attack, so try to time your dodges to take advantage of invincibility frames and dodgingthroughthe attack rather than getting away from it.
The Rapture
A ball of energy starts growing from Ultima’s location, growing massive by the end of the attack.
Use Wildfire to get away from Ultima as fast as you possibly can. After the attack ends, use Lightspeed to zoom back in.
Pulsar
This attack is basically an upgraded version of Stellar Xyston, but with far more beams of light and a seemingly random direction of movement.
You’ll have to stay alert during this attack, judging when to dodge by the circle of beams' erratic movements.
Dimachairos
This attack is a very large beam attack that, after a few moments, is split into two.
Even if you’re very far from the initial beam, beware of the beam splitting and catching you.
To begin with, this battle isn’t too difficult. Try tostay on the offensive- the longer the fight drags on, the more opportunities Ultima Risen has to catch you unawares with his stronger, trickier attacks. Use Brimstone and Spitflare liberally - don’t try to save them for Staggers.
As always,use your Firelights sparingly- you only have six, and Ifrit Risen doesn’t have any other way to heal, unlike Clive in his regular form.
Eventually, Ultima will startcharging up his ultimate attack, and his health bar will be replaced by the purple one that you’ll be used to by now. On higher difficulties, this phase has an incredibly tight window, made especially worse by the fact that Ultima will attack with brutal abilities all the while.
Ultima Risen will useAureola, Stellar Xyston, and a new attack in which he summons damaging orbsthat are signaled by pulsating circles on the surface of the bubble around him. When these are fired in succession around the bubble, verify you’re dodging through the attack to avoid it.
For the best results,use Brimstone and Spitflare as soon as they’re charged in this phase. You need to deal as much damage as possible in a short amount of time, and they are perfect for the job. Otherwise, just keep up the usual physical combos and finishers.
After successfully halting his ultimate attack, Ultima will start using the final two abilities in the table above:Pulsar and Dimachairos. Other than that, the fight plays out in the same way as the first half, so just keep up your dodges, use Firelights only when you’re very low on health, and keep the aggression up.
Once you deplete his health, you’ll enter thethird and final phase of the fight.
How To Beat Ultimalius
Ultimalius is the final form of Ultima that you’ll fight in this game. He actually hasthree phases to work through, though!
These phases are tied to the Eikons in the game, limiting the abilities the boss can use - thoughhe can use any non-named ability from the Ultima fight at any time, and some of these, such as Rift, are upgraded to cover more area.
Ramuh/Garuda/Titan Phase
Fulmen and Fulgur
Ultima creates multiple very large areas of electricity across the battlefield. These will persist for a while before exploding with lightning, and Ultima will attack you during this attack to make things more dangerous.
Cataclysm
This attack takes the form of three concentric rings of damage zones that expand outwards with each part of the attack.
To avoid this, first dodge away from the attack, and then dodge back in after the central attacks are over. This will let you avoid the outer rings completely and let you get some easy damage in.
Divine Embrace
Ultima will grab you with Garuda’s hand. This will be followed immediately by another attack, so dodge immediately after being given control.
It is possible to avoid this attack by dodging as soon as the ability’s nameplate appears, but it’s difficult. It doesn’t deal damage, though, so don’t worry too much.
Euroclydon
Ultima summons a ton of Garuda talons to strike at the ground in a line in front of him. After this, he will divebomb at your location.
Dodge to the side to avoid the approaching Garuda talons, and then get ready to dodge the followup.
Bahamut/Shiva/Odin Phase
Exaflare
Ultima fires a beam of light at the ground in a sweeping motion, leaving behind light energy on the ground. After a few moments, the touched ground will explode. This attack is used twice, once in one direction, and then again in the other.
This attack lasts a while, so keep up the dodging.
Severance
This is identical to Barnabas’s Lord’s Measure, creating lines across the battlefield that pulse with darkness.
This attack triggers quicker than you’re used to, so find a safe location quickly.
Phoenix Phase
Ashes to Ashes
Ultima summons a barrage of fire spells that track you really well. After a moment, he will then make a divebomb attack at your location.
This attack is very similar to Euroclydon, so treat it the same way.
Empyrosis
Ultima disappears into the air and, after a few moments, comes crashing down to the battlefield again. This creates a shockwave that covers the entire battlefield.
Hop over the shockwave’s outer edge to avoid damage.
Flames of Creation
Ultima summons a gigantic flare ball that homes in on your location. When it hits the ground, it will create a very large explosion after a few seconds.
To avoid the initial hit, you’ll need to make a Precision Dodge away from the flare ball. After that, move out of the indicated damage zone for the explosion.
At first, the only named attacks that Ultimalius can use will bethose listed under the first section of the table above, belonging toRamuh, Garuda, and Titan. The most dangerous attack here isEuroclydon, as it has a very erratic pattern and it’s easy to get caught by one talon, leading to a knock-on effect of getting struck by the final part of the attack.
Once you deal enough damage to Ultimalius, a cutscene will begin in which you’ll need to passthree Cinematic Clash promptsin a row. After this, Ultimalius progresses to the next section of the table, using onlyShiva, Odin, and Bahamut-themed attacks.
This is a good time to useMight Potions, as you’ll want to push Ultimalius out of this chaotic phase as soon as possible.
Exaflareis easily abused - just dash right at Ultimalius when this attack starts up and get behind him. He cannot turn around during the attack, so it’s the best time to unload your best moves on him without a worry.
Again, damaging Ultimalius enough will trigger a cutscene in which you must passthree more Cinematic Clashes, progressing Ultimalius to the third part of the table. In addition to thePhoenix-themed moves he now has access to, Ultimalius will also be able to use all the named abilities from the first fight of the stage, such asFlare and Holy.
At this point, you’ll need to put everything you’ve learned into action. Remember thatthe best time to strike at the boss is when he’s tired after using a big attack, and make dodging and avoiding damage your top priority.
Ultimalius is at his most aggressive here. Consider usingStoneskin Potionsto boost your defense, especially if you’re low on healing items, and remember that you can use yourLimit Breakto heal in a pinch.
A final cutscene will trigger when the boss isvery low on health. Pass theCinematic Clashprompt, and the battle is pretty much over. Deplete the rest of the pathetic creature’s health bar, and then pass thefinal Cinematic Clashto wipe Ultimalius out and beat the game.
