Eikonic Abilities are the highlights of combat; powerful attacks that deal massive amounts of damage and/or stagger. As the cornerstone of your offense (and in some cases, defense) you’re incentivized to use them any time they’re no longer on cooldown. These Eikonic Abiltiies don’t come free, however, as you need to spend Ability Points to unlock, upgrade, and master Eikonic Abilities to get the most out of them - or use them at all, in some cases! This page will discuss how to earn Ability Points, how to use Ability Points to purchase, upgrade and master Eikonic Abilities, and how to refund spent Ability Points in Final Fantasy XVI.
(1 of 3) Unlocking, upgrading and mastering abiltiies costs Ability Points (AP), which is earned by defeating enemies.
How to Acquire and Upgrade New Abilities in FF16¶
You defeat enemies and you’ll earn a variety of rewards, most relevant for this discussion being Ability Points (AP). AP can be spent to unlock new abilities or upgrade and master unlocked abilities. In addition to the core ability tree Clive has access to, he’ll also gain new trees as he acquires the powers of new 
Eikons.
Initially starting with the Phoenix Eikon, these Eikonic ability trees typically consist of one Eikonic Feat (
Phoenix Shift, 
Deadly Embrace, 
Titanic Block, etc.) and four Eikonic Abilities. Eikonic Feats are always accessible as long as the Eikon itself is equipped, and unlike Eikonic Abilities they cannot be swapped between Eikons, as and are unique to each Eikon in question. You use an equipped Eikon’s Eikonic Feat by pressing the 
button. In addition, each acquired Eikon has two “core” Eikonic Abilities that come unlocked (but not upgraded or mastered) by default. The remaining two (including that Eikon’s ultimate ability) must be purchased with Ability Points before they can be used, and most of these abilities have one upgrade tier and a mastery tier that must also be purchased. In addition to the equipped Eikon’s Eikonic Feat, you can choose to equip two !Eikonic Abilities for each Eikon you have equipped. You’ll start out with one equippable Eikon, but as you advance the story and acquire new Eikons you’ll be able to equip a second and finally a third Eikon, giving you six Eikonic Abilities you can equip in total. Initially only Eikonic Abilities native to each Eikon can be equipped - you can only equip 
Rising Flames and 
Heatwave on the Phoenix Eikon, for example - but once an ability is mastered you’ll be able to equip it on any Eikon, giving you must greater tactical flexibility.
Buying new abilities isn’t usually too expensive, AP-wise, but upgrading and mastering them is another matter entirely, especially the ultimate ability for each Eikon. 
Flames of Rebirth, for example, costs a hefty 1,695 AP, but upgrading it will set you back 2,390 AP and mastering it costs a whopping 4,250 AP. As you can see, dipping your toes in will set you back some AP, but mastering abilities is where things really get pricey.
How to Refund Ability Points in Final Fantasy 16¶
Fortunately, you can refund spent Ability Points at any time. To do this, just select a purchased ability and hold the 
button. Alternatively you can hold the 
button to reset all your spent Ability Points. Aside from not being able to manipulate Abilities in combat, there are no limitations or costs associated with refunding your spent Ability Points. This being the case, you might as well try out abilities, since there’s no cost attached to experimenting. You’ll want to get in the habit of respeccing every time you acquire a new Eikon so you can see what its abilities do and reinvest in the more potent abilities offered by these late-game Eikons.
If you can’t be bothered to wait to see what abilities various Eikons offer, check out the following pages which discuss the best abilities for each Eikon:
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