FF16 The Rising Tide: Best Build After 120+ Hours
With over 120+ hours and the Platinum Trophy, here is my overall best build to use for Clive in the Rising Tide expansion.
The Rising Tide DLC in FF16 has finally been released, and with it comes the brand-new Eikon powers to experiment and use in your builds. Today, I am discussing the best build guide for the Rising Tide DLC in FF16, which contains the necessary abilities and accessories to use and the exact method to properly utilize it in the game’s fast-paced combat.
- My best build in FF16 for the Rising Tide DLC is built for the Final Fantasy Mode, relying on abilities that can shred the target’s HP.
- A disadvantage is that the build is not casual-friendly, so you must practice mechanics such as Cold Snap’s evasion.
- Ability execution must be near-perfect so you can easily charge Zantetsuken Level 5 and stagger your targets simultaneously.
- If the build becomes repetitive, you can tweak it with alternative options, but only to a certain extent.
- Author’s Note: Not only do I have over 120+ hours on FF16 along with the Platinum Trophy, but I have also extensively covered important base game guides such as the Best Eikon Abilities, Ability Points, and the base game’s Eikonic Build. So you can rely on my expertise for this build guide for The Rising Tide DLC.
Build Summary
Below is a summary of all the elements needed to create my personal favorite build to use in Final Fantasy 16’s The Rising Tide DLC:
| CATEGORY | BUILD COMPONENT |
|---|---|
| BEST FOR | Final Fantasy Mode difficulty and DLCs |
| MAIN EIKONS | Shiva, Garuda (or) Leviathan, Odin |
| ABILITIES | Cold Snap, Lightning Rod, Dancing Steel, Deadly Embrace, Impulse, Gigaflare, Arm of Darkness, Diamond Dust, Judgment Bolt |
| GEAR | Assailment Bit, Genji Gloves +1, Escapement Bit |
Best Abilities
I’ll get to how these abilities need to be rotated in the playstyle section below, but for now, here are the following abilities required for the build:
| ABILITY | RATING | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Snap | N/A | Slide Effortlessly across the ground in any direction. Attacking with L2 while sliding can temporarily freeze enemies. |
| Lightning Rod | Attack: 2 Stars Stagger: 3 Stars | Create a ball of lightning that, upon being struck, chains lightning to other nearby enemies. |
| Dancing Steel | Attack: 1 Stars Stagger: 2 Stars | Summon a second blade and unleash a flurry of attacks. Each hit landed significantly fills the Zantetsuken gauge. |
| Deadly Embrace | N/A | Send a grappling claw out to grab an enemy and pull it toward Clive. Grappling heavier enemies will launch Clive into the air. |
| Impulse | Attack: 2 Stars Stagger: 3 Stars | Summon multiple spheres of light that, upon striking an enemy, deal it continuous damage, binding it to the spot. |
| Gigaflare | Attack: 5 Stars Stagger: 2 Stars | Fire a massive beam of overcharged light that burns any enemy it hits. |
| Arm of Darkness | Attack: 5 Stars Stagger: 1 Stars | Replace Clive’s current weapon with Odin’s blade. Landing abilities with the Arm of Darkness fills the Zantetsuken gauge. Hold R1 to execute Zantetsuken. |
| Diamond Dust | Attack: 3 Stars Stagger: 5 Stars | Summon a winter storm that freezes enemies in place within a radius before dealing massive ice damage and knocking them back. |
| Judgment Bolt | Attack: 4 Stars Stagger: 3 Stars | Summon from the heavens a mighty levinbolt that deals massive damage to a single target. |
Best Gear
For the armor, I think at this point, all FF16 players should know it hardly matters due to the action gameplay, so just put on whatever is the highest or suits your preference in both Defense and HP stats.
However, for the accessories, I recommend the following mentioned below:
| ACCESSORY | HOW TO GET | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| Assailment Bit | Chest from Echoes of the Fallen DLC quest. | Increases rate at which damage multiplier rises while enemies are staggered, as well as increases maximum multiplier to 200%. |
| Genji Gloves +1 | Patron's Whisper reward for attaining 2365 Renown. | Increases damage dealt to enemies by 10%. |
| Escapement Bit | Chest from Echoes of the Fallen DLC quest. | Reduces ability cooldown time and restores a small amount of the HP regain gauge following a precision dodge. |
Recommended Playstyle And Ability Rotation
This build fully takes advantage of Odin’s Zantetsuken Level 5 to delete trash mobs’ HP or demolish even the hardest bosses in Final Fantasy Mode difficulty. But before that, you’ll need to charge it up carefully using Dancing Steel and Lightning Rod. Furthermore, I went with Diamond Dust to boost the stagger multiplier to roughly 1.50%. Lastly, you can unleash a Gigaflare if needed to boost your DPS and multiplier even further.
For the exact rotation/cycling of the Eikon abilities, follow the brief steps below:
- Cold Snap: A perfect dodge can freeze enemies, so practice it on whichever move you think is the easiest to read for you from the enemy.
- Lightning Rod: Apply immediately on the target when frozen to help with Dancing Steel and Zantetsuken Level 5 charge-up.
- Dancing Steel: If done correctly, as shown above, Dancing Steel will connect with both the frozen target and the Rod to easily charge straight to Level 5 Zantetsuken.
Judgment Bolt is great for applying stagger damage. (Image by eXputer) - Impulse & Judgment Bolt: Continue trying to stagger the target by using these abilities, plus Garuda’s Deadly Embrace pull at 50% stagger.
Gigaflare is the cherry on top during the Stagger/DPS phases. (Image by eXputer) - DPS: Unleash Diamond Dust on Stagger, use Zantetsuken Level 5, Gigaflare, and, if possible, rinse and repeat steps 2 and 3 to charge up Zantetsuken again to max right before stagger ends.
Alternative Additions To The Build
If you manage to unlock Leviathan early on in the DLC or just want to spice up the build, below are options that I considered as alternative inclusions to this build:
- Aerial Blast: Great alternative choice to Judgment Bolt, but I found the latter to be better because AB’s tornadoes can slightly disoriented my view.
- Tsunami: Leviathan’s Tsunami ability is extremely fun to use instead of Gigaflare and boasts great damage that is optimal against trash mobs and bosses.
- Berserker Ring: An accessory that can be replaced for Genji Gloves to give your attacks the Limit Break effect on evasions.
My Experience And Thoughts On The Build
With the build I’ve briefly described, you should face little to no problem in getting through the Final Fantasy mode playthrough. I’ve personally been using it with minor modifications using the alternative choices above through The Rising Tide DLC of FF16. Regardless of which, I know the build may require some practice to use efficiently, but as long as you get your rotations down, most encounters will be a cakewalk.
This concludes my guide to the best build in FF16’s The Rising Tide expansion. If you have any questions or queries related to the guide, please let me know in the comments below. For more, be sure to check out Moiz Banoori’s base game Review of Final Fantasy 16 and my guide on all the Chronolith Locations.
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