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After learning of Cid’s true intentions and plans, he decides that right now is the best time to finally set them in motion. This takes you to one ofFinal Fantasy 16’s most exciting stages, set within the mines underneath Drake’s Head, one of Valisthea’s grand Mothercrystals. This will be a long and arduous battle, so make sure you’re prepared.
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It’s also important to make sure you’ve tied up any loose ends, i.e. side quests - this stage is a Point of No Return, meaning that the world will change irreparably. Just be aware of that before you head in.
Entering The Mines
You’re backed up by bothCid and Jillfor this stage, which should be a great help during the hectic battles you’re about to face.
Follow Cidfor now, entering the building ahead of you. When you spy a ladder to the left, however,drop down to the ground floorto find a wooden chest that contains800 gil. Climb back up the ladder and resume following Cid. He’ll lead you to a large room that you must drop into, filled with enemy soldiers.
Defeat the soldiers, making sure to begin with theImperial Astrologers, lest they annoy you with their spells. After defeating them, press on,following Cid and breaking through the cracked wooden wallon the way. Eventually, Cid will lead you to a large tunnel with enemies to fight - you can expect to be fighting almost constantly from here on out.
Drop down into the room and fight the enemies here. Beware theImperial War Wyrms, who fly and can spit ranged fireballs at you. After dealing with these enemies, you’ll be confronted by a new elite enemy to deal with - theImperial Cannonier.
How To Beat The Imperial Cannonier
For someone with such a large weapon, the Imperial Cannonier is quite sprightly, being able to move around far quicker than you’d expect. For this reason,don’t rely on keeping your distanceand being able to simply avoid the Cannonier’s ranged attacks - he can and will close the gap to bash you in with the cannon.
Halfway through the fight, the Imperial Cannonier will goAkashic- this is an in-game term that denotes an enemy so filled with aether that it has lost its senses. The fight becomes more difficult at this point, with the Cannonier getting more attacks and hitting harder to boot.
Specific attacks to be wary of are the Imperial Cannonier’sflamethrower, which he’ll use to put pressure on you by walking toward you constantly, and whenever heuses his cannon to propel himself backward.
When he puts distance between you, you can be sure he’s going to use one of his long-range attacks, likeBlack Powder. Avoid the telegraphed explosions on the ground in this case.
For winning, you’ll getThe Favor of the Inferno (Ignition), which increases the damage dealt by Ignition. If you use Ignition as the decent Stagger builder that it is, this is a nice boost to give it.
The Glass Mines
After the fight, open the gate in front of you and pull the lever to activate the elevator to the lower levels. Head forward, opening the chest to the right to acquire aMeteorite, and follow the rails until you meet someAkashic Miners. These are weak enemies, and putting them down is a moral act, so do so.
Break down the next wooden barrier, and head further into the mine. Leap over the wooden bridge up ahead, view the cutscene, and press on. In the next room, you’ll find some more Akashic enemies - be wary of the Akashic Captains who will use Warcry, giving themselves a large attack boost. Kill them before they can get any hits in on you.
There’s a chest in this room containing somegil and seven Sharp Fangs; grab these before continuing on through the low hole ahead. There’s another chest in the next section that containsten Wyrritenear a gate that doesn’t open. When you try to return from the gate, you’ll be attacked by more Akashic, including anAkashic War Wyvern. Pull the nearbyleverto proceed after defeating the enemies.
The next fight includes anAkashic Champion, a big hammer wielder. Be careful of hisDivine Hammerattack, which will deal a ton of damage and likely stun you if you get caught in it. Don’t bother trying to eliminate the smaller enemies yourself; Jill and Cid will take care of them.
Keep following the path ahead until you reach a metal grate. Before interacting with the grate, open the nearby chest for aCoral Sword, which may be your best weapon at this point. Equip it if so, and then deal with the grate alongside Cid.Proceed down this pathuntil you hit a cutscene.
The Path Of The Goddess
This is a simple area - you’lldescend some stairsuntil you reach the bridge to the Mothercrystal, fighting some groups of enemies as you go. The first large platform encounter will pit you againstWraiths, which are easily dispatched.
The second will addSpectersinto the mix, and they should be taken out first, lest they use Cure and heal all the Wraiths’ wounds. After defeating the first wave, aLichwill spawn, so be careful.
Eventually, you’ll reach the massive bridge that leads to the Mothercrystal. Walk ahead, and you’ll begin a boss battle against theAkashic Dragon.
How To Beat The Akashic Dragon
For a complete guide to beating the Akashic Dragon, click here.
After beating the Akashic Dragon, all that’s left to do is head forward, open the gate, and proceed to the Inner Sanctum. Pick up the shining items as you go torefill your Potion and High Potion stocks, and get thechestto the left of the staircase up to the crystal to get some crafting materials.
When you reach the crystal, you’ll be bombarded with cutscenes, followed by yet another boss.
How To Beat Typhon
Approach the impaled beast at the back of this new area, and you’ll begin a sequence of combat encounters. You’ll first be up againstRevenants, which are just like Wraiths but have ranged attacks added to their arsenal.
After defeating the Revenants, you’ll be up againstSpecters, but now,Typhon starts attacking. He’ll summon circles that will eventually fill with smaller, expanding circles. When the two circles overlap, they’ll explode, causing damage if you’re caught in them.Get out of any circles that appear.
After defeating the Specters, the third and final enemy horde appears - ahuge group of Revenants. As you’re dealing with these, Typhon will start shooting you with laser attacks. These, like the circles, will explode after a short while.Get out of the lines of lightthat he summons to avoid the attack.
After beating these Revenants, you’ll finally get toface Typhon properly, following a Cinematic Evasion.
For a complete guide to this boss fight, click here.
One of the rewards you get for beating Typhon isThe Breath of Fire (Flames of Rebirth)- this will reduce the cooldown for Flames of Rebirth by a whopping 12 seconds. As this is one of the best abilities in the game, this is a very high-value accessory.
