Happens a lot in video games when people see things in demos or trailers. Once the full game releases and you can stack other things on top of it it becomes pretty good. But by itself it's not that great. You see what other tools he is using to make lightning rod a good cast. But alone not so great in my opinion which is why everyone stacks other stuff on top of it. I can guarantee you if he had one spell to choose and that's all he can use. It would not be lightning rod.
Something to add about diamond dust; You can use the first hit to finish an enemies stagger gauge since the bulk of the will damage is in the first hit, and then the second hit on a staggered enemy will take you to 1.3x immediately.
The downside to using it like that is that you’ll have less time during the stagger window to use more powerful abilities. Diamond dust freezes time when used but if the first hit causes a stagger, time will resume during the animation of the second hit instead of throughout the entire animation
@@jakemoore5077 when you very efficiently use both rift slip and cold snap you can get up to three additional zaketsukens bc cold snap freeze pauses the stagger meter and the second hit in dust is significantly weaker than the first but it's still good enough to get to 1.30 so it's worth doing anyway, though if you really wanna maximize stagger you should be staggering with a lv.4 megaflare I guess
Outside of the skills you mentioned, two of my favourites are Judgement Bolt and Ignition. The latter in particular, during encounters with multiple opponents, is crazy strong and fun
One of my favorite combinations is Garudas Ultimate in combination with Lightning Rod because you can still use other Skills to trigger the Rod while the Storm itself does DMG and also triggers the Rod
The storm might not be the most powerful ability but on trash mobs it is the most hilarious. I would literally drop it and just afk the rest of the encounter. Shame Clive doesn't have as good taunts as Dante.
I hate using that one because you literally cannot see shit inside it. I tried it out once on an elite mob, and he just went to town on me because I couldn't react to anything he was doing while he was standing inside the tornado making him basically invisible lol.
@@Tohlemiach I ended up swapping it out end game for the Ramuh ones for that reason, but it was pretty good for getting extra damage ticks during a stagger. It would just last longer than the stagger phase and yeah elite mobs could get back up.
I accept that it's not really optimal, but pairing Impulse with Satellite put in a *lot* of work for me in the back half of my playthrough. Very effective for maintaining distance while you learn/improve at managing an enemy's skillset and chunking away at the stagger gauge.
i beat the game yesterday and i have used 1 ability on this list (diamond dust). so nice that there's so much viability in builds and it's really up to you on which one you like the best
My final build so to speak going into the end of the game was Heatwave, Will of Wykes, Lightning Rod, Satellite, Gigaflare, Diamond Dust, with pheonix, bahamut, and garuda as feats. Easily ramped up 140k staggers as will of wykes hits lightnining rod over 200 times, diamond dust to break stagger to start at to bring the multiplier up inmediately, sattelite cause you can continue to fire magic whilst charging megaflare, gigaflare for the big dam, it was a truly brutal combo and i was all for it!
I love using gigaflare, it eats at bosses' health bars (even the final boss). paring it with setting off some megaflares or a flames of rebirth for crowd control, really can be an op build for raw damage output
I'm personally fond of Shiva's Mesmerize. It does respectable damage for something with such a short cooldown, it helps gather weak enemies for cleanup, and it's very quick and noncommittal. There's rarely a situation where I shouldn't be using it if it's on the bar.
you can also reactive impulse and have the orbs do even more stagger damage when they're level two or three (blue-orange and then pure orange). I've taken out 75% of a stagger bar in the training room with that and wicked wheel though not entirely sure why it sometimes does 75 or sometimes does up to 50. maybe if it's reactivated right when you hit 50 from wicked wheel i guess.
Sharing my current and favourite loadout here: Windup + Gigaflare Raging fist + Rook Gambit Lightning Rod + Dancing Steel My general gameplay would be fist + Rook counters to break stagger. During stagger I would opt between a single/double Zantetsuken combo, assuming I enter stagger phase with Lv5 Zantetsuken already up: Single Zantetsuken: Stagger → limit break → Lightning Rod → Zantetsuken → Dancing Steel → Windup → Gigaflare Double Zantetsuken would be same as above, but replace Gigaflare with Zantetsuken (Lv5 should be up due to Dancing Steel during the combo), you could even squeeze another skill after Windup for more damage (e.g. Rising Flame) I'm sure people have better combos but I find the above really comfy to execute 😁
I agree with the top 2, they are even so obvious that I assumed going in that they would be #1 and #2. They are just crazy useful in so many circumstances. One ability that I would have added as at least an honorable mention is Ifrit's Ignition ability. It doesn't do a ton of damage or stagger, and but it's great for gathering up minions when fighting tons of enemies, as it collects them all in front of you, which then makes them easy to wipe out entire spread out groups really fast. It's even decent against bosses if you drop a Lightning Rod and run into it while wearing Will, as you get tons of procs really really fast.
@@tehCostHD odins ult can usually fill it to 4 sometimes 5 in 1 rip , if you can catch multiple in the combos. I usually walk in wykes, Odin ult, zantezuken, unless I think a second wave might come. Then I save it for that
@@jakemoore5077 well true but then that ult has a long cooldown, works great when agaisnt bosses that you don’t stagger every 2 seconds but seems harder to use agaisnt mutliple waves of mobs
one of my favorites is upheaval, idk if it's actually that efficient dps wise but it feels amazing to slam down from super high as an aerial combo ender
Appreciate the tips! Aside from continued grinding towards acquisition of the strongest weapons and armor available, I sustained a great deal of success during boss battles using Precision Dodge [augmented by the Berserker Ring], Limit Break and constant rotation of the following upgraded and/or mastered ultimate abilities: Aerial Blast & Diamond Dust (for high stagger damage) and Flames of Rebirth and Gigaflare, Judgment Bolt & Earthen Fury (for high attack damage). Upon attainment of the Odin Eikon, I eventually replaced Earthen Fury with Gungnir (to quickly fill the Zantutsuken meter)! I found Aerial Blast to be extremely effective in rounding up multiple enemies and eliminating them one by one while focusing on the larger entity… After having almost completed the game, FFXVI has been a blast to play! Looking forward to navigating FF NG+ mode - will try optimizing use of Will O' Wykes and Lightening Rod during this gameplay! All the best!
@@inzone88yeah Rebirth is one of the best trash killers, apart from like level 5 Zen. You just go in and delete all weaker enemies immediately upon use.
Gigaflare+Lightning Rod…. Haven’t taken it off since I unlocked Bahamut. As for rift slip… I have only used it during Odin’s Chronolith Trial. I’ve tried to find videos going over how to use it effectively but have found very little to nothing. I love to save Diamond Dust to finish off a stagger bar and the second hit buffs the multiplier on the staggered enemy.
One of the things I love about this game is the versatility between play styles. Almost all of skills are useful depending on how you use them. I personally don't like Wykes or heatwave because I like to dodge/parry and I'm too close and personal to ever use heatwave. I'm more of a fan of the Titan counter and I feel like Titan never gets any love on these lists. Also very surprised Ignition didn't make this list because it's basically broken.
I have a boss damage build where I save all my abilities for right before a stagger break . Megaflare dodge until at 4 stacks and right as my next dodge pops I fire it ,dive in with a square x hold. Lightning rod > will-0 > limitbreak > impulse > aerial blast > judgementbolt > hold square and x for gap close > gigaflare > impulse again (detonates all impulse orbs) while inside gigaflares animation so it doesn't affect the stagger bar because of the time slow . That combo has will o , lightning rod ,impulse ,aerial blast,and gigaflare all doing damage overtime at the same exact time and the megaflare dodge lvl 4 raining down from the sky the entire combo as well . Judgement bolt is just a massive instant damage number in-between along with the impulse detonate from using it a second time . That's 6 DoT abilities activated at once with 2 heavy hitters thrown in-between and the stagger bar is still at about 60% when the combo finishes. I've found almost nothing is surviving that especially with each of those abilities maxed out and their respective damage increase items equip with a strength tonic before the first megaflare dodge . 10|10 recommend i just out a 45 second snip of the combo if anyone is interested in how its executed.
There's so many eikonic abilities and ability combinations that it's impossible to fit in all the best ones at once. I've played the game at the same time as 3 of my friends and we all have a different setup and different playstyle, the fact that the game allows that is just insane to me. Trying out the Lightning Rod/Will-o'the-Wykes combo because of your video but I'm already missing Wicked Wheel for example. Impulse is another great ability as a setup for multiple passive hits alongside Megaflare. That said, being able to equip a 4th eikon (2 more ability slots) would solve a lot :D
Really great video, will probably stealing the set you use for NG+ Shiva - Diamond Dust, Lightning Rod Garuda - Will o' the Lykes/Wicked Wheel, Gigaflare Odin - Rift Slip, Dancing Steel
I've been stuck on aerial blast since unlocking it. Really fun to use air juggle combo's and it tracks and follows targets. Just beat Bahamut and still haven't taken it off. After watching this, may switch up a bit. Kinda wish you could preset a combo for a specific button combo between all icon's. GG's.
Will o the wykes and Lightning bolt are must skills. I already knew it once I saw the skills. It always reminds me of Vergil's light swords. I think everyone have their own skills combo. I always use Mesmerize and lightning pike as a combo to stagger enemies faster besides that those 2 skills have shorter Cooldown which you can use multiple times. I'm not actually using ultimate skills often because the Cooldown is so long. Diamond Dust and Dancing steel are the only ultimate skills I have.
I agree with you on the top 2. Will-o-the wykes and Lightning Rod. Strangely enough I had ignored these two for the longest while. When I looked at the stars rating for Will-o and saw both damage and stagger were so low I said it wouldn't be worth it. Only to realise later the damage and stagger multiplies greatly by those fire balls spinning and hitting so rapidly. Not only that but the ability lasts for quite a long time. Plus you can inject another ability while using it. Now it's on my must-have list. Same for Lightning Rod which I only decided to give it a go today. After using that too so it has become another must-have and on my top 2.
Still in the middle of the game grinding levels but I love Will-O'-The-Wykes. It helped me get easy no damage fights against Belphegor and Dozmare and also got me the no hit trophy on the War Panther by replaying that in the Hideaway stone. The vids for these fights are on my channel. Uploading the Dozmare fight in a bit. I still had to precision dodge and be careful when it wasn't active but when it was active I got go absolutely ham on the bosses. As of now I'm keeping it until the end game but when I hit the highest level of play and get confident in my precision dodging and parrying for the hardest bosses I'll probably take it out. But it also augments the damage/stagger damage on Ignition and it's fun to use it along with that ability.
Some of my fave abilities are Diamond Dust and the fists from Titan also is not talked about enough. You can stop almost any attack if timed right and do huge stagger damage, also for me Titan power is a must due to how quickly you can build limit break with mastered block/counter. For me I use Phoenix, Titan and Odin because it gives me 3 big things. Mobility, Defense and big Damage. Abilities I've been running is Rebirth and Ignition on Phoenix, Gigaflare and Raging Fist (think the name is) on Titan and the Odin dash through enemies and Diamond Dust on Odin. Hardest enemy I've had to deal with is Svarog and I only died to him once, rest though I may have died a time or 2 against was just because of mechanics, like Behemoth Meteor, thought I could kill him before it would hit the ground but nooo he has to get it through and you have to evade it pff, once I figured that was how it worked then it was over.
Surprised not to see impulse on this list. It's crowd control, it's good will damage and it's an auto-lock "set it and forget it" kind of skill. Combos well with will-o. Rime -> lightning rod -> impulse -> will-o, rinse until staggered or almost staggered, then diamond dust -> gigaflare -> zantetsuken lv.5 is a fun boss melter.
Yooo I just finished my first playthrough and I hadn’t even tried some of these! So many of these moves have super cool hidden synergy. They did an amazing job with the combat system in FF16.
Lightning rod is just so easy to build around. Any multi hit ability becomes better with it out. Obviously, wykes and gigaflare, but ignition, flames of rebirth, Ariel blast, impulse, flare breath all become monsters with lightning rod. Pair it with mesmerize and/or deadly embrace for large groups. Only drawback of lightning rod is that it does mess with your targeting since you seem to prioritize it when it’s out.
Garuda's Claw combo to knock the stagger down to half, use her Scorpion Spear to yoink them down, then spam Impulse and Phoenix wings. Works every time.
I agree with most of this list but the last two. Will o the wykes is a good early/mid game combo piece with lightning rod, but I swapped it for windup. Right now (since I don’t have Odin’s power yet) I’m using Phoenix/ifrit, shiva and bahamut as my three eikons and my skills are ignition, flames of rebirth, impulse, gigaflare, lightning rod and diamond dust. Gigaflare has been my goto finishing move when I stagger a mini boss, but once they are staggered, I’m throwing a lightning rod, using impulse, then ignition, flames of rebirth and finally got the coup de grace, gigaflare for massive damage. So far the highest damage I’ve done at this point is 92k
Diamond dust and lightning rod are definitely my 2 that stays in rotation... I usually pair Lightning rod with rime or impulse and other moves that stick around or puts out lots of hits and damage
While not that great on single target bosses, I cant get rid of Ignition for trash packs. Gathers them all up and nearly wipes them all out in a single cast.
My combo currently(Lv. 49) does about 194K damage on a stagger. Build up Zantetsuken with Dancing Steel. Put it away for later. Stagger using just basic combos. Once you hit the stagger, use: Diamond Dust Lightning Rod Gigaflare Lv. 5 Zantetsuken Judgment Bolt Windup Burning Blade I will admit, it's very, very backloaded damage. Your fights will take awhile, but the health bar gets deleted once you stagger.
You should look into rift slip/cold snap if you really want to optimize your stagger combo. My stagger combo at level 50 right now does around 380k damage. Have zantetsuken lvl5 ready Get enemy 1 hit away from stagger Megaflare level 4 Lightning rod Diamond dust Rift slip/cold snap Limit break + lvl5 zantetsuken Rift slip/cold snap Dancing steel Rift slip/cold snap Flames of rebirth Rift slip/cold snap Limit break + gigaflare Rift slip/cold snap Lvl5 zantetsuken Rift slip/cold snap Lightning rod + dancing steel Rift slip/cold snap Limit break + lvl5 zantetsuken Rift slip/cold snap Diamond dust Rift slip/cold snap And then you just do any normal combo to the enemy for the next 3ish seconds. Rift slip/cold snap freezes the stagger meter for a while which lets you do extremely long stagger combos. I'm able to fit two diamond dusts in one stagger window which is pretty insane
i use gouge over wicked wheel personally. shiva ultimate to drop will to half>garuda pull to knock them down>gouge. otherwise i use basically all these except heatwave in my build. with lightning rod and dancign steel CDR acc
My mid build was ifrits will o' the wykes + lightnight rod then go ham with Gouge and wicked wheel. If you have titan, use raging fist along with Gouge ONLY if their stagger bar is about to be full again. That will send them back to stagger status again. If I can have Rammuh's judgement bolt, I'd remove the wicked Wheel.
Rift Slip's really good, my favorite ability after testing it, remove the delay after using an ultimate, cancel the knockback/backstep from lightning rod, time it right during the will o the wykes so that you can still have the buff and move again, use garuda's deadly embrace then rift slip to freeze/slow time, there's so many ways to use it/a lot of potential especially with the really quick cooldown, other abilities' cooldowns also tick while under the freeze/slow time so it also helps in preparing other moves.
@@LongHoang88884 though dashing out has a long pause after dashing and it does not have a freeze time/slow time like when you parry use an ultimate or rift slip which makes it way better than what you suggest.
Fellow Wicked Wheel lover here. :P I used it in my bread n butter rotation: Always tried to use counter skills to get the boss to 50% will, then Deadly Embrace, Lunge, Wicked Wheel, Aerial + Downthrust with Magic Bursts and Torgal inbetween and many enemies were close to being staggered already.
I used it heavily for stagger multiplier because it doesn't care if you actually use magic, only that the button is pressed. So I'm basically mashing square and triangle during a Limit Break combo then using the bigger damage moves. The whole way it works just reminds me heavily of CBU3s work on ffxiv and the idea of the 2m burst window.
I personally have Dancing Steel and Heaven's Cloud under Odin for my general duelling (for constant Zantetsuken's mid-fight), Windup and Judgement Bolt under Phoenix (Windup for half staggers for a chunk of damage, and Judgement Bolt to finish Stagger Gauge combos) and Gigaflare and Impulse under Bahamut for getting to a x1.5 combo for Stagger quickly - especially cancelling Impulse's cast with Limit Break straight into Gigaflare). I wasn't really enamoured with any of Shiva's abilities so I didn't use them all that much but with your explanation for Diamond Dust...I think I can swap Bahamut off being a Stagger-combo stance and actually free up a slot.
Ah no wonder after cruising thru the entire game post Ifrit I started dying again in the Odin and Ultima fights, I dropped Will of the Wykes from my rotation b/c I was kind of bored of my kit and wanted to try new skills. Oops.
My favorite is really just a combo: the wicked dunk. Wicked Wheel into Upheaval does a lot of raw and will damage because upheaval does more damage the higher in the air you are
damn, I havent used any of the top 3 in my whole playthrough. I did read the Ifrit one and thought, that it sounds busted, but that was at a point where I was just too comfortable with the setup I had going for myself to change stuff around.
Meh. It’s strong but it barely does more damage then giga flair while lacking really any synergy with other skills due to how it’s cast. It also has no aoe use so you can’t really use it at all against mobs. It’s stagger strength isn’t really a factor either since wicked wheel and diamond dust will handle all your stagger needs.
@@SH1NK1R01 i always have used it as a staggered ender, because it stops time you can sneak it in the last second of stagger especially with LB activated. I'm sure there are more optimal set ups though.
Raging fists is my favorite counter and was also left out. But he includes a lot of other good counters so I guess that makes sense. Judgment bolt is basically just worse than gigaflare and Diamond dust.
Wow a RUclips list that actually got it right. It was annoying hearing people say with such confidence that wykes is awful, lightning rod is mid, satellite is amazing, gouge is good but impulse is trash etc. Saw this list and knew you understood the game. Will definitely be subbed at least until ff16 is fully explored :)
I wouldn't say "strongest" but one of my favorite skill combo's in the game for random enemies is Mesmerize into Upheaval. Absolutely obloterates groups of basic enemies. One of the later sidequests wiped out an entire wave of enemies in 2 attacks.
Yeah those are good for mobs for sure. I wish there was a way in the game to quickly swap loadouts without having to replace each skill one by one. I would have a loadout for mobs, and a loadout for elites and bosses….
The bread and butter is lightning rod being procced by Rime and Will o the Wykes and after they are at 1.5 I use gigaflare and then build zantetsuken by hitting rod with Odins sword
I just finished first playthrough last night. I had flames of rebirth on my bar the whole game. The ability to just immediately delete any trash mobs from a fight was just too good to give up. Also Ramuh's Judgement Bolt was just a fat stack of damage on a pretty short cooldown.
I have almost the same build as you as soon as I felled odin! (Minus Gigaflare because it was too expensive to add, and lightning rod because it made killing the bosses too easy with how much it does with so little effort) Shout outs again to Wicked Wheel for being the best launcher in the game among the skills!
Will-o-wykes is a no brainer. But I've learned some new stuff from this vid. I've been mostly avoiding help videos but now i'm close to end, just wanna see other ideas. I had a feeling rift slip was good, I just didn't have a chance to test it out. Might have to re-do my kit. Do you have a torgal video?
I'm actually worried going into NG+ that the balance of the game will start to get skewed, because so far I've really enjoyed being able to use whatever skills I'm in the mood for because the game has been completely doable with any set up. One of the things I love about any videogame is being able to swap your loadout to any number of things and still be viable for combat, like I just like the variety of things to do. So I hope NG+ isn't SO punishing that I feel shoehorned into one optimal build.
My one big gripe about FF16 is the shortage of usable abilities. Only 2 abilities across 3 Eikons isn't enough. My setup is Raging Fists and Heatwave (so i can counter anything), Gungnir and Dancing Steel, for damage, stagger, and building Zantetsuken, and then Impulse to open fights and Gigaflare because duh. There's no room for stuff like Lightning Rod + Wykes or Wicked Wheel and Rooks Gambit
@pedroportela6476 It's good for pulling enemies in and building Zantetsuken, but I was considering dropping Impulse for Lightning Rod, even though I just found out you can explode Impulse by pressing the button again while it's happening
Well the damage of the lightning rod bolts isn’t based on the strength of the hit so it really wouldn’t matter if it gets used up early. It deals the same max damage regardless.
@@SH1NK1R01 @SapphireDragon357 it's not about the damage, it's about getting double the zantetsuken gauge on a boss, because rod doubles the ammount of targets hitting rod with dancing steel is the best way of getting 2 lvl 5 zantetsuken casts inside a stagger window on a single target without having the +1 talisman from the end of ng+
Best part of the combat in this game is hands down the insane amount of synergy opportunities with pretty much everything. I'm sure there's a minmax "best" setup, but through my regular playthrough it felt great to just be able to constantly evolve your kit to taste. Never really felt like you needed to replace it either if you didn't like something, just refine.
Will o the wykes + Ignition pretty much makes me an unstoppable trash mob clearing machine. It's not good in boss fights but it's terrifyingly strong in random encounters.
Damn and here I was thinking diamond dust was actually underrated. Ignition is great and judgement bolt is also great as a finisher. Doing the time trials really helps you appreciate the pros of each skill, except ifrit because fak ifrit
Ok interesting. I'm only at Ramuh as 3rd Eikon and when I tried willow wisp, I wasn't that impressed. And whilw reading the lightning rod description I was like meh. Definitely gonna try those out now. My stagger combo now is getting to half stagger, Garuda pull, gaol, whirl and then get enemy staggered. Then all the rest of my abilities. Love the Tornado atm in crowd control and blasting everything with lighting in the tornado.
I feel like i have to many moves and not enough places to put them. I wish the ultimate skills could be used differently than putting them in your normal moves.
How about Impulse? Yes it doesn't give you an Aerial launch but it eats the Stagger Meter and you don't even do anything it just sits on the mob, and can completely stun up to 4 normal mobs, its the only thing i really use outside of my stagger windows other than Lightning Rod but I am level 46 and can do 265k in my stagger windows, Ultima doesn't stand a chance against my stagger combo :)
I already figured Will of the Wykes and Lightning Rod would be up there I been hesitant to get rid of certain skill just love em to much and Will guages tend to drop before I can blink
Holy shit that number 1 combos, I already finished the game but NEVER used lightning rod lol, I thought Diamond Dust would be the best but guess I was wrong
ive yet to really try out other skills besides the ones the game gives you by default. I'll have to try some of these. I agree with Wicked Wheel tho, its super clutch.
Personally have loved using Impulse and Ignition. Though I didn't think the big ultimate skills slapped cheeks so hard. Might have to respect some of my skills
The ultimates really start to shine in NG+/Final Fantasy mode (especially Dancing Steel+Lvl5 Zantetsuken.) In your first playthrough, there's really no point (other than they look awesome) in suffering their giant cooldowns when you can clear an entire room of enemies with Ignition, but holy crap do the ultimates super speed up your progression in the higher difficulty mode
@@jesuisradmusic I was having a bit of a hard time figuring out what move I wanted to use against a boss once you get their bar half way down and they crumple for a second, now I just through a lvl 5 Zan in their face and build it up again with arm of darkness during the stagger. It's my favorite shit in the game as it ozes Vergil vibes
Gouge and wicked wheel IMO are about trade offs. If you don't want to worry about potentially wiffing a hit on smaller enemies then take gouge, if you don't want to worry about overcommitting to animation lock then wicked wheel. Usually the animation lock punishes me more so wicked wheel it is.
I remember when we first saw Ramuh's lightning rod and most people said it looked underwhelming, man how things have changed
Happens a lot in video games when people see things in demos or trailers. Once the full game releases and you can stack other things on top of it it becomes pretty good. But by itself it's not that great. You see what other tools he is using to make lightning rod a good cast. But alone not so great in my opinion which is why everyone stacks other stuff on top of it. I can guarantee you if he had one spell to choose and that's all he can use. It would not be lightning rod.
Literally a 2x muitiplier for any damage you do lol. Can't believe people thought it would suck when it procs on every hit.
Something to add about diamond dust; You can use the first hit to finish an enemies stagger gauge since the bulk of the will damage is in the first hit, and then the second hit on a staggered enemy will take you to 1.3x immediately.
The downside to using it like that is that you’ll have less time during the stagger window to use more powerful abilities. Diamond dust freezes time when used but if the first hit causes a stagger, time will resume during the animation of the second hit instead of throughout the entire animation
It goes to 1.5 immediately with screen freeze if you don't waste it this way. Then wykes, lightning rod, kamehameha
@@justindavis4799luckily, Void Rift exists
@@azrael5493 you lose out on the second hit, and if you want to forgo another ult in the stagger than yea you can catch up with rift slip
@@jakemoore5077 when you very efficiently use both rift slip and cold snap you can get up to three additional zaketsukens bc cold snap freeze pauses the stagger meter and the second hit in dust is significantly weaker than the first but it's still good enough to get to 1.30 so it's worth doing anyway, though if you really wanna maximize stagger you should be staggering with a lv.4 megaflare I guess
Outside of the skills you mentioned, two of my favourites are Judgement Bolt and Ignition. The latter in particular, during encounters with multiple opponents, is crazy strong and fun
Judgement bolt got me through a large part of the game. It breaks things and breaks them well.
Ignition was a staple during my entire playthrough
I use both. They’re fun and feel good and the game doesn’t require anything more.
Will o the wykes has always been my favorite, despite the 10 level difference from class S hunts, its a big help in terms of defense.
Using lightning rod with Will-o'-the-Wykes is insane. Was just playing around and stumbled across that combo
It is indeed.
One of my favorite combinations is Garudas Ultimate in combination with Lightning Rod because you can still use other Skills to trigger the Rod while the Storm itself does DMG and also triggers the Rod
The storm might not be the most powerful ability but on trash mobs it is the most hilarious.
I would literally drop it and just afk the rest of the encounter. Shame Clive doesn't have as good taunts as Dante.
I hate using that one because you literally cannot see shit inside it. I tried it out once on an elite mob, and he just went to town on me because I couldn't react to anything he was doing while he was standing inside the tornado making him basically invisible lol.
@@Tohlemiach I ended up swapping it out end game for the Ramuh ones for that reason, but it was pretty good for getting extra damage ticks during a stagger. It would just last longer than the stagger phase and yeah elite mobs could get back up.
I accept that it's not really optimal, but pairing Impulse with Satellite put in a *lot* of work for me in the back half of my playthrough. Very effective for maintaining distance while you learn/improve at managing an enemy's skillset and chunking away at the stagger gauge.
This is so powerful! Its so much fun as well. Also you can use satellite when charging mega flare.
i beat the game yesterday and i have used 1 ability on this list (diamond dust). so nice that there's so much viability in builds and it's really up to you on which one you like the best
My final build so to speak going into the end of the game was Heatwave, Will of Wykes, Lightning Rod, Satellite, Gigaflare, Diamond Dust, with pheonix, bahamut, and garuda as feats. Easily ramped up 140k staggers as will of wykes hits lightnining rod over 200 times, diamond dust to break stagger to start at to bring the multiplier up inmediately, sattelite cause you can continue to fire magic whilst charging megaflare, gigaflare for the big dam, it was a truly brutal combo and i was all for it!
I love using gigaflare, it eats at bosses' health bars (even the final boss). paring it with setting off some megaflares or a flames of rebirth for crowd control, really can be an op build for raw damage output
Wykes + Lightning Rod + Ignition is also a great combo, and you get it really early on considering the likes of other abilities. Great video 👍
I'm personally fond of Shiva's Mesmerize. It does respectable damage for something with such a short cooldown, it helps gather weak enemies for cleanup, and it's very quick and noncommittal. There's rarely a situation where I shouldn't be using it if it's on the bar.
Mesmerize and Upheavel are amazing combos
I never knew you could relocate lightning rod, that's nice to know.
You can relocate Rime as well. Just figured that out.
If you open the details on skills in the abilities menu it’ll tell you everything one can do.
U can relocate all eikon abilities except for the shifts
you can also reactive impulse and have the orbs do even more stagger damage when they're level two or three (blue-orange and then pure orange). I've taken out 75% of a stagger bar in the training room with that and wicked wheel though not entirely sure why it sometimes does 75 or sometimes does up to 50. maybe if it's reactivated right when you hit 50 from wicked wheel i guess.
Any ability u master u can relocate
Will-O-The-Wykes and Rage fists is my go to combo plus adding it with lighting rod and will finish it off with the giga flare.
Sharing my current and favourite loadout here:
Windup + Gigaflare
Raging fist + Rook Gambit
Lightning Rod + Dancing Steel
My general gameplay would be fist + Rook counters to break stagger.
During stagger I would opt between a single/double Zantetsuken combo, assuming I enter stagger phase with Lv5 Zantetsuken already up:
Single Zantetsuken: Stagger → limit break → Lightning Rod → Zantetsuken → Dancing Steel → Windup → Gigaflare
Double Zantetsuken would be same as above, but replace Gigaflare with Zantetsuken (Lv5 should be up due to Dancing Steel during the combo), you could even squeeze another skill after Windup for more damage (e.g. Rising Flame)
I'm sure people have better combos but I find the above really comfy to execute 😁
I agree with the top 2, they are even so obvious that I assumed going in that they would be #1 and #2. They are just crazy useful in so many circumstances.
One ability that I would have added as at least an honorable mention is Ifrit's Ignition ability. It doesn't do a ton of damage or stagger, and but it's great for gathering up minions when fighting tons of enemies, as it collects them all in front of you, which then makes them easy to wipe out entire spread out groups really fast. It's even decent against bosses if you drop a Lightning Rod and run into it while wearing Will, as you get tons of procs really really fast.
Zantesuken mobs, no reason to do anything else imo
@@jakemoore5077how do you built it so fast to use agaisnt every room of mobs?
@@tehCostHD odins ult can usually fill it to 4 sometimes 5 in 1 rip , if you can catch multiple in the combos. I usually walk in wykes, Odin ult, zantezuken, unless I think a second wave might come. Then I save it for that
@@jakemoore5077 well true but then that ult has a long cooldown, works great when agaisnt bosses that you don’t stagger every 2 seconds but seems harder to use agaisnt mutliple waves of mobs
@tehCostHD nah it's really not a long cooldown it's almost half back b4 the animation ends.
one of my favorites is upheaval, idk if it's actually that efficient dps wise but it feels amazing to slam down from super high as an aerial combo ender
I dont think you should go for all the best skills. I still use upheaval too
Also a fellow upheaval user. Its very versatile, doesn't take an extremely long time to cooldown, and works as a nice little aoe when surrounded
Gouge is clutch for me. It’s nice to have different playstyles
@@Tom-bi4ci I feel gouge kinda falls off toward upper mid game though it still does some work
@@anthonyschlott916 yeah i’m starting to get to that point so I’d agree
permafrost followed by diamond dust carried me during S hunts. It just cancels any attack, its so good, plus it melts the stagger bar.
Appreciate the tips! Aside from continued grinding towards acquisition of the strongest weapons and armor available, I sustained a great deal of success during boss battles using Precision Dodge [augmented by the Berserker Ring], Limit Break and constant rotation of the following upgraded and/or mastered ultimate abilities: Aerial Blast & Diamond Dust (for high stagger damage) and Flames of Rebirth and Gigaflare, Judgment Bolt & Earthen Fury (for high attack damage). Upon attainment of the Odin Eikon, I eventually replaced Earthen Fury with Gungnir (to quickly fill the Zantutsuken meter)! I found Aerial Blast to be extremely effective in rounding up multiple enemies and eliminating them one by one while focusing on the larger entity… After having almost completed the game, FFXVI has been a blast to play! Looking forward to navigating FF NG+ mode - will try optimizing use of Will O' Wykes and Lightening Rod during this gameplay! All the best!
I saved up like 6 hours of points and got the Phoenix's Rebirth and basically one-shotted my way through annoying battles. It was beautiful.
Haha just wait for final fantasy mode.
That's just straight up cap. Rebirth does very bad damage
@@ShikiRyougi05 you have to upgrade it during normal play through for it to be good
@@inzone88yeah Rebirth is one of the best trash killers, apart from like level 5 Zen.
You just go in and delete all weaker enemies immediately upon use.
@@pleasedontkillme1185 unfortunately its not nearly as effective in ff mode haha. Level 5 zan still is.
Gigaflare+Lightning Rod…. Haven’t taken it off since I unlocked Bahamut.
As for rift slip… I have only used it during Odin’s Chronolith Trial. I’ve tried to find videos going over how to use it effectively but have found very little to nothing.
I love to save Diamond Dust to finish off a stagger bar and the second hit buffs the multiplier on the staggered enemy.
One of the things I love about this game is the versatility between play styles. Almost all of skills are useful depending on how you use them. I personally don't like Wykes or heatwave because I like to dodge/parry and I'm too close and personal to ever use heatwave. I'm more of a fan of the Titan counter and I feel like Titan never gets any love on these lists. Also very surprised Ignition didn't make this list because it's basically broken.
Wait what about Will O' The Wykes + Ignition + Lightning Rod? Maybe even through Impulse in there.
I love Flames of Rebirth so much.
Coolest animation tied with great AoE
It was pretty cool for the beginning of the game until I upgraded it and that second animation where he yells just put it over the top for me❤
I have a boss damage build where I save all my abilities for right before a stagger break . Megaflare dodge until at 4 stacks and right as my next dodge pops I fire it ,dive in with a square x hold.
Lightning rod > will-0 > limitbreak > impulse > aerial blast > judgementbolt > hold square and x for gap close > gigaflare > impulse again (detonates all impulse orbs) while inside gigaflares animation so it doesn't affect the stagger bar because of the time slow .
That combo has will o , lightning rod ,impulse ,aerial blast,and gigaflare all doing damage overtime at the same exact time and the megaflare dodge lvl 4 raining down from the sky the entire combo as well . Judgement bolt is just a massive instant damage number in-between along with the impulse detonate from using it a second time . That's 6 DoT abilities activated at once with 2 heavy hitters thrown in-between and the stagger bar is still at about 60% when the combo finishes. I've found almost nothing is surviving that especially with each of those abilities maxed out and their respective damage increase items equip with a strength tonic before the first megaflare dodge . 10|10 recommend i just out a 45 second snip of the combo if anyone is interested in how its executed.
I'd like to give an honorable mention to Judgement Bolt for being as much of a boss nuke as it is
There's so many eikonic abilities and ability combinations that it's impossible to fit in all the best ones at once. I've played the game at the same time as 3 of my friends and we all have a different setup and different playstyle, the fact that the game allows that is just insane to me. Trying out the Lightning Rod/Will-o'the-Wykes combo because of your video but I'm already missing Wicked Wheel for example. Impulse is another great ability as a setup for multiple passive hits alongside Megaflare. That said, being able to equip a 4th eikon (2 more ability slots) would solve a lot :D
Really great video, will probably stealing the set you use for NG+
Shiva - Diamond Dust, Lightning Rod
Garuda - Will o' the Lykes/Wicked Wheel, Gigaflare
Odin - Rift Slip, Dancing Steel
You’re the first and only person on RUclips I’ve heard who pronounces Zantetsuken the natural way. Thank you!
😭👏😂
Key for timeslow mechanics, limit breaks still goes down, but cooldowns still progress at same rate
I've been stuck on aerial blast since unlocking it. Really fun to use air juggle combo's and it tracks and follows targets. Just beat Bahamut and still haven't taken it off. After watching this, may switch up a bit. Kinda wish you could preset a combo for a specific button combo between all icon's. GG's.
Will o the wykes and Lightning bolt are must skills.
I already knew it once I saw the skills. It always reminds me of Vergil's light swords.
I think everyone have their own skills combo.
I always use Mesmerize and lightning pike as a combo to stagger enemies faster besides that those 2 skills have shorter Cooldown which you can use multiple times. I'm not actually using ultimate skills often because the Cooldown is so long. Diamond Dust and Dancing steel are the only ultimate skills I have.
Raging rush is underrated can straight up destroy 1 plate of armor with one parry plus it stops time
Also lighting rod you can set it up then use charge magic attacks and do crazy damage from far also 🔥
I agree with you on the top 2. Will-o-the wykes and Lightning Rod. Strangely enough I had ignored these two for the longest while. When I looked at the stars rating for Will-o and saw both damage and stagger were so low I said it wouldn't be worth it. Only to realise later the damage and stagger multiplies greatly by those fire balls spinning and hitting so rapidly. Not only that but the ability lasts for quite a long time. Plus you can inject another ability while using it. Now it's on my must-have list. Same for Lightning Rod which I only decided to give it a go today. After using that too so it has become another must-have and on my top 2.
Still in the middle of the game grinding levels but I love Will-O'-The-Wykes. It helped me get easy no damage fights against Belphegor and Dozmare and also got me the no hit trophy on the War Panther by replaying that in the Hideaway stone. The vids for these fights are on my channel. Uploading the Dozmare fight in a bit.
I still had to precision dodge and be careful when it wasn't active but when it was active I got go absolutely ham on the bosses. As of now I'm keeping it until the end game but when I hit the highest level of play and get confident in my precision dodging and parrying for the hardest bosses I'll probably take it out. But it also augments the damage/stagger damage on Ignition and it's fun to use it along with that ability.
Some of my fave abilities are Diamond Dust and the fists from Titan also is not talked about enough.
You can stop almost any attack if timed right and do huge stagger damage, also for me Titan power is a must due to how quickly you can build limit break with mastered block/counter.
For me I use Phoenix, Titan and Odin because it gives me 3 big things.
Mobility, Defense and big Damage.
Abilities I've been running is Rebirth and Ignition on Phoenix, Gigaflare and Raging Fist (think the name is) on Titan and the Odin dash through enemies and Diamond Dust on Odin.
Hardest enemy I've had to deal with is Svarog and I only died to him once, rest though I may have died a time or 2 against was just because of mechanics, like Behemoth Meteor, thought I could kill him before it would hit the ground but nooo he has to get it through and you have to evade it pff, once I figured that was how it worked then it was over.
Im so happy how you give wicked wheel the love it deserves
I’m surprised I haven’t seen more people talk about impulse. I can easily get half a bar of stagger with that ability and it recharges super fast
It's really good, and it also triggers lightning rod. Impulse is a better Heatwave, does the same will damage as a Heatwave Counter.
Surprised not to see impulse on this list. It's crowd control, it's good will damage and it's an auto-lock "set it and forget it" kind of skill. Combos well with will-o. Rime -> lightning rod -> impulse -> will-o, rinse until staggered or almost staggered, then diamond dust -> gigaflare -> zantetsuken lv.5 is a fun boss melter.
Yooo I just finished my first playthrough and I hadn’t even tried some of these! So many of these moves have super cool hidden synergy. They did an amazing job with the combat system in FF16.
i only use like 2 of these abilites from this list and still have no problem beating S rank hunts
This game is so good
Lightning rod is just so easy to build around. Any multi hit ability becomes better with it out. Obviously, wykes and gigaflare, but ignition, flames of rebirth, Ariel blast, impulse, flare breath all become monsters with lightning rod. Pair it with mesmerize and/or deadly embrace for large groups. Only drawback of lightning rod is that it does mess with your targeting since you seem to prioritize it when it’s out.
Garuda's Claw combo to knock the stagger down to half, use her Scorpion Spear to yoink them down, then spam Impulse and Phoenix wings. Works every time.
I agree with most of this list but the last two. Will o the wykes is a good early/mid game combo piece with lightning rod, but I swapped it for windup. Right now (since I don’t have Odin’s power yet) I’m using Phoenix/ifrit, shiva and bahamut as my three eikons and my skills are ignition, flames of rebirth, impulse, gigaflare, lightning rod and diamond dust. Gigaflare has been my goto finishing move when I stagger a mini boss, but once they are staggered, I’m throwing a lightning rod, using impulse, then ignition, flames of rebirth and finally got the coup de grace, gigaflare for massive damage. So far the highest damage I’ve done at this point is 92k
Diamond dust and lightning rod are definitely my 2 that stays in rotation... I usually pair Lightning rod with rime or impulse and other moves that stick around or puts out lots of hits and damage
I like ignition, with the lightening rod, with the will o wisp one. Its fun.
Ignition is really good at getting rid of huge crowds
While not that great on single target bosses, I cant get rid of Ignition for trash packs. Gathers them all up and nearly wipes them all out in a single cast.
My combo currently(Lv. 49) does about 194K damage on a stagger.
Build up Zantetsuken with Dancing Steel. Put it away for later.
Stagger using just basic combos. Once you hit the stagger, use:
Diamond Dust
Lightning Rod
Gigaflare
Lv. 5 Zantetsuken
Judgment Bolt
Windup
Burning Blade
I will admit, it's very, very backloaded damage. Your fights will take awhile, but the health bar gets deleted once you stagger.
You should look into rift slip/cold snap if you really want to optimize your stagger combo. My stagger combo at level 50 right now does around 380k damage.
Have zantetsuken lvl5 ready
Get enemy 1 hit away from stagger
Megaflare level 4
Lightning rod
Diamond dust
Rift slip/cold snap
Limit break + lvl5 zantetsuken
Rift slip/cold snap
Dancing steel
Rift slip/cold snap
Flames of rebirth
Rift slip/cold snap
Limit break + gigaflare
Rift slip/cold snap
Lvl5 zantetsuken
Rift slip/cold snap
Lightning rod + dancing steel
Rift slip/cold snap
Limit break + lvl5 zantetsuken
Rift slip/cold snap
Diamond dust
Rift slip/cold snap
And then you just do any normal combo to the enemy for the next 3ish seconds.
Rift slip/cold snap freezes the stagger meter for a while which lets you do extremely long stagger combos. I'm able to fit two diamond dusts in one stagger window which is pretty insane
i use gouge over wicked wheel personally. shiva ultimate to drop will to half>garuda pull to knock them down>gouge. otherwise i use basically all these except heatwave in my build. with lightning rod and dancign steel CDR acc
My mid build was ifrits will o' the wykes + lightnight rod then go ham with Gouge and wicked wheel.
If you have titan, use raging fist along with Gouge ONLY if their stagger bar is about to be full again. That will send them back to stagger status again.
If I can have Rammuh's judgement bolt, I'd remove the wicked Wheel.
Rift Slip's really good, my favorite ability after testing it, remove the delay after using an ultimate, cancel the knockback/backstep from lightning rod, time it right during the will o the wykes so that you can still have the buff and move again, use garuda's deadly embrace then rift slip to freeze/slow time, there's so many ways to use it/a lot of potential especially with the really quick cooldown, other abilities' cooldowns also tick while under the freeze/slow time so it also helps in preparing other moves.
U can also just dash out of any animation except ultimate skills.
@@LongHoang88884 though dashing out has a long pause after dashing and it does not have a freeze time/slow time like when you parry use an ultimate or rift slip which makes it way better than what you suggest.
Fellow Wicked Wheel lover here. :P I used it in my bread n butter rotation: Always tried to use counter skills to get the boss to 50% will, then Deadly Embrace, Lunge, Wicked Wheel, Aerial + Downthrust with Magic Bursts and Torgal inbetween and many enemies were close to being staggered already.
I really like Satellite. It can destroy stagger gauges at range and does a ton of damage.
I used it heavily for stagger multiplier because it doesn't care if you actually use magic, only that the button is pressed. So I'm basically mashing square and triangle during a Limit Break combo then using the bigger damage moves. The whole way it works just reminds me heavily of CBU3s work on ffxiv and the idea of the 2m burst window.
I personally have Dancing Steel and Heaven's Cloud under Odin for my general duelling (for constant Zantetsuken's mid-fight), Windup and Judgement Bolt under Phoenix (Windup for half staggers for a chunk of damage, and Judgement Bolt to finish Stagger Gauge combos) and Gigaflare and Impulse under Bahamut for getting to a x1.5 combo for Stagger quickly - especially cancelling Impulse's cast with Limit Break straight into Gigaflare).
I wasn't really enamoured with any of Shiva's abilities so I didn't use them all that much but with your explanation for Diamond Dust...I think I can swap Bahamut off being a Stagger-combo stance and actually free up a slot.
Ah no wonder after cruising thru the entire game post Ifrit I started dying again in the Odin and Ultima fights, I dropped Will of the Wykes from my rotation b/c I was kind of bored of my kit and wanted to try new skills. Oops.
Gouge is a great stagger bar reducer if you keep hitting the attack button while it’s running.
I feel I get too much mileage out of impule to replace it for anything else as my will breaker.
My favorite is really just a combo: the wicked dunk. Wicked Wheel into Upheaval does a lot of raw and will damage because upheaval does more damage the higher in the air you are
Thank you for the guides and the videos!!!
damn, I havent used any of the top 3 in my whole playthrough. I did read the Ifrit one and thought, that it sounds busted, but that was at a point where I was just too comfortable with the setup I had going for myself to change stuff around.
Im so surprised judgement bolt is not there...its so strong
Especially upgraded
It literally takes out half stagger bar it’s really strong
Meh. It’s strong but it barely does more damage then giga flair while lacking really any synergy with other skills due to how it’s cast. It also has no aoe use so you can’t really use it at all against mobs. It’s stagger strength isn’t really a factor either since wicked wheel and diamond dust will handle all your stagger needs.
@@SH1NK1R01 i always have used it as a staggered ender, because it stops time you can sneak it in the last second of stagger especially with LB activated. I'm sure there are more optimal set ups though.
Raging fists is my favorite counter and was also left out. But he includes a lot of other good counters so I guess that makes sense. Judgment bolt is basically just worse than gigaflare and Diamond dust.
Wow a RUclips list that actually got it right. It was annoying hearing people say with such confidence that wykes is awful, lightning rod is mid, satellite is amazing, gouge is good but impulse is trash etc.
Saw this list and knew you understood the game. Will definitely be subbed at least until ff16 is fully explored :)
Wykes isn't awful but it definitely isn't one of the best in the game at all. If you can dodge attacks then wykes is just wasting an ability slot
I'm glad to know wicked wheel isnt just my favorite skill
I love Garuda’s counter ability. It was the first skill I got the hang of, and I keep it on.
I agree. If you are not confident on your enemy's attack timing, this skill makes you invulnerable for almost the whole animation.
@@HSExsiccator really helps with stagger. Also you can do it in the air, and combo it into something else.
Lightning rod and gungnir is def my fav combo
Bahamut,Odin,Shiva are my Eikons. I love to use these abilities.
Becaus they are the 3 best Eikonic feats by far for absolutely melting a mob
When enemy gets staggered, try: lightning rod + impulse + rime into zantetsuken, then dancing steel. so satisfying
I wouldn't say "strongest" but one of my favorite skill combo's in the game for random enemies is Mesmerize into Upheaval. Absolutely obloterates groups of basic enemies. One of the later sidequests wiped out an entire wave of enemies in 2 attacks.
Yeah those are good for mobs for sure. I wish there was a way in the game to quickly swap loadouts without having to replace each skill one by one. I would have a loadout for mobs, and a loadout for elites and bosses….
@@tehCostHD Yes I agree. That would be great additions
my favourite skills are windup punch, and piledriver
Kept lightning rod equipped from the moment i got it XD, it's so good
The bread and butter is lightning rod being procced by Rime and Will o the Wykes and after they are at 1.5 I use gigaflare and then build zantetsuken by hitting rod with Odins sword
I've been using lightning rod religiously since the second I could and I never knew you could move it 😅😅
I just finished first playthrough last night. I had flames of rebirth on my bar the whole game. The ability to just immediately delete any trash mobs from a fight was just too good to give up. Also Ramuh's Judgement Bolt was just a fat stack of damage on a pretty short cooldown.
Just wanted to drop in as a fellow wicked wheel enjoyer and express that it is in fact a great skill even though it might not be the best
Raging fists is my fav counter, especially when you get that block off 😜 taunt + raging fists is immense
I have almost the same build as you as soon as I felled odin! (Minus Gigaflare because it was too expensive to add, and lightning rod because it made killing the bosses too easy with how much it does with so little effort)
Shout outs again to Wicked Wheel for being the best launcher in the game among the skills!
Will-o-wykes is a no brainer. But I've learned some new stuff from this vid. I've been mostly avoiding help videos but now i'm close to end, just wanna see other ideas. I had a feeling rift slip was good, I just didn't have a chance to test it out. Might have to re-do my kit. Do you have a torgal video?
Yeah as soon as I equipped Will I knew exactly what it was. It’s Gucci belt from DMC.
I'm actually worried going into NG+ that the balance of the game will start to get skewed, because so far I've really enjoyed being able to use whatever skills I'm in the mood for because the game has been completely doable with any set up. One of the things I love about any videogame is being able to swap your loadout to any number of things and still be viable for combat, like I just like the variety of things to do. So I hope NG+ isn't SO punishing that I feel shoehorned into one optimal build.
It wont. Plus you have the option of staying at the same difficulty, or choosing the new NG difficulty “final fantasy”.
@@btllofaro I want to do FF mode cuz regular mode was too easy.
@@Tohlemiachdon’t worry, you can complete any encounter in the game with any loadout. Use whatever you think is fun
Haha and here i am worried if id ever want to boot the game up again hearing how easy it is to play this game.
My one big gripe about FF16 is the shortage of usable abilities. Only 2 abilities across 3 Eikons isn't enough. My setup is Raging Fists and Heatwave (so i can counter anything), Gungnir and Dancing Steel, for damage, stagger, and building Zantetsuken, and then Impulse to open fights and Gigaflare because duh. There's no room for stuff like Lightning Rod + Wykes or Wicked Wheel and Rooks Gambit
Drop gungnir, it doesn't do good damage at all and you're locked into a long animation. It's a pretty bad skill
Yeah, no, you're way better off dropping Gungnir and replacing it with Lightning Rod.
@pedroportela6476 It's good for pulling enemies in and building Zantetsuken, but I was considering dropping Impulse for Lightning Rod, even though I just found out you can explode Impulse by pressing the button again while it's happening
I like gigaflare with lightning rod throw in an impulse and it's insane!
my only gripe with will o' the wykes is that it kills the rod too fast and sometimes dancing steel can't even get to it lol. Suffering from success
Either way you get 30 hits of lightning rod from it. Doesn't really matter when or what procs it.
Well the damage of the lightning rod bolts isn’t based on the strength of the hit so it really wouldn’t matter if it gets used up early. It deals the same max damage regardless.
@@SH1NK1R01 @SapphireDragon357 it's not about the damage, it's about getting double the zantetsuken gauge on a boss, because rod doubles the ammount of targets
hitting rod with dancing steel is the best way of getting 2 lvl 5 zantetsuken casts inside a stagger window on a single target without having the +1 talisman from the end of ng+
@@shinkamuiHow da hell u get 2 level 5 Zantetsuken under 1 stagger window? Damn rod only gives u 1, and it has long CD along with dancing steel CD?
@@nickyukvn ya go into the stagger with a lvl 5 zantetsuken prepped, and use rod + dancing steel for the 2nd one
Best part of the combat in this game is hands down the insane amount of synergy opportunities with pretty much everything. I'm sure there's a minmax "best" setup, but through my regular playthrough it felt great to just be able to constantly evolve your kit to taste. Never really felt like you needed to replace it either if you didn't like something, just refine.
Will o the wykes + Ignition pretty much makes me an unstoppable trash mob clearing machine. It's not good in boss fights but it's terrifyingly strong in random encounters.
Adding to the praise of diamond dust, it can generate a ton of LB gauge.
Damn and here I was thinking diamond dust was actually underrated. Ignition is great and judgement bolt is also great as a finisher.
Doing the time trials really helps you appreciate the pros of each skill, except ifrit because fak ifrit
Ok interesting. I'm only at Ramuh as 3rd Eikon and when I tried willow wisp, I wasn't that impressed. And whilw reading the lightning rod description I was like meh. Definitely gonna try those out now.
My stagger combo now is getting to half stagger, Garuda pull, gaol, whirl and then get enemy staggered. Then all the rest of my abilities.
Love the Tornado atm in crowd control and blasting everything with lighting in the tornado.
Omg smart putting a lightning ball down then using Odin dance of death wow thanks
I feel like i have to many moves and not enough places to put them. I wish the ultimate skills could be used differently than putting them in your normal moves.
Love this game, good video sir 😊
Properly timed rift slip mitigates dancing steels big charge up. 2 skills i reset my points to master immediately giga flare/rift slip
How about Impulse? Yes it doesn't give you an Aerial launch but it eats the Stagger Meter and you don't even do anything it just sits on the mob, and can completely stun up to 4 normal mobs, its the only thing i really use outside of my stagger windows other than Lightning Rod but I am level 46 and can do 265k in my stagger windows, Ultima doesn't stand a chance against my stagger combo :)
I already figured Will of the Wykes and Lightning Rod would be up there I been hesitant to get rid of certain skill just love em to much and Will guages tend to drop before I can blink
I could not get behind titans abilities so I’m excited to get the remaining three
Holy shit that number 1 combos, I already finished the game but NEVER used lightning rod lol, I thought Diamond Dust would be the best but guess I was wrong
ive yet to really try out other skills besides the ones the game gives you by default. I'll have to try some of these. I agree with Wicked Wheel tho, its super clutch.
Shoutout to Flames of Rebirth for looking so damn cool, even though it's not great.
Personally have loved using Impulse and Ignition. Though I didn't think the big ultimate skills slapped cheeks so hard. Might have to respect some of my skills
The ultimates really start to shine in NG+/Final Fantasy mode (especially Dancing Steel+Lvl5 Zantetsuken.) In your first playthrough, there's really no point (other than they look awesome) in suffering their giant cooldowns when you can clear an entire room of enemies with Ignition, but holy crap do the ultimates super speed up your progression in the higher difficulty mode
@@jesuisradmusic I was having a bit of a hard time figuring out what move I wanted to use against a boss once you get their bar half way down and they crumple for a second, now I just through a lvl 5 Zan in their face and build it up again with arm of darkness during the stagger. It's my favorite shit in the game as it ozes Vergil vibes
Gouge and wicked wheel IMO are about trade offs. If you don't want to worry about potentially wiffing a hit on smaller enemies then take gouge, if you don't want to worry about overcommitting to animation lock then wicked wheel. Usually the animation lock punishes me more so wicked wheel it is.
U can just dash out any long animations .
@@LongHoang88884 lol yea I found this out since, thanks for the tip though!
Ignition is hard for me to take off but this set up is crazy