If you hated fighting the ninja-like enemies in the game, then you’ll be delighted to learn that The Nine of Knives is another one of those, in the form of a Notorious Mark. He isn’t a particularly memorable hunt, either, since he doesn’t drop anything worthwhile and isn’t the most exciting battle. However, he still needs defeating, so read on to find out where to find The Nine of Knives and how to defeat him.

Where to Find the Notorious Mark, The Nine of Knives¶

Before you can even think about going after The Nine of Knives, you will need to progress the main story until you reach the Out of the Shadow Main Quest. Once you have gotten that far, head to The Hideaway and to the Hunt Board, where you should see four new Marks, one of which is The Nine of Knives.

If you look at the bounty for this hunt, then you will see that it’s located at The Jaw, in Dhalmekia. This is one of the easiest hunts to find, actually, since he’s found pretty much in the open, right by one of the Obelisks. Fast travel to The Jaw Obelisk, then just follow the main path north, and you will run into The Nine of Knives right there, on the road pretty much.

All The Nine of Knives’ Attacks¶

Below, you’ll find all of the attacks that The !Nine of Knives has in its arsenal.

Recommended Abilities for The Nine of Knives¶

Here, we will list our recommended ability setup to complete this hunt successfully.

There’s no reason to use Heatwave in this battle, as the hunt doesn’t have a projectile, which means you can substitute it for something that does more damage, like Rising Flames. Gouge and Wicked Wheel are always good abilities for dealing stagger damage, so they are almost always equipped. If you can coax the enemy to strike the Lightning Rod, then they will deal more damage to themselves than you could. Raging Fists is great for the parry/counter, with it dealing great stagger damage, too.

Recommended Items and Equipment for The Nine of Knives¶

Gear¶

These are what we used for this hunt, but should you not have them, just use whatever you have that’s the strongest. If you wait a little bit, though, and finish the Blacksmith’s Blues II side quest, then you could potentially have access to Excalibur.

Accessories¶

This is what we used for this battle, although you can use whatever you want. If you have trouble with the action-based fights in the game, you could use the Timely accessories to help with dodging or issuing commands to Torgal.

Items¶

These are the items we had on the shortcuts for this battle. Potions and High Potions are always great, in case you need healing, and the Stoneskin Tonic is useful for increasing your defense, especially should you get hit by the combo attacks.

The Nine of Knives Boss Strategy in Final Fantasy XVI¶

The Nine of Knives moves around quite a bit, due to being one of those ninja-type enemies. Despite that, though, you will want to be careful not to get too complacent, since he does have a few moves that can deal major damage. By far, the most annoying move in his arsenal is the Spinning Slash, as there is a bit of an arc to it, so the hitbox can be a bit deceptive. Using Titanic Block here is a great counter to it, especially if you time it for a Precision Block. This will allow you to do the Titanic Counters and get some free damage/stagger in, too.

Knives’ other melee attacks aren’t as bad, although you should watch out for the Ninja Combo, since it’s a series of attacks in a row and just not a one-off, like the others. Smokescreen is really not much more than a front to use another move, but note that the little explosion that happens can hurt you, so you can’t just sit still and will need to dodge out of the way. Poison Mist also isn’t too bad, as you have ample time to get away from it, unless you get a little greedy and continue attacking after you see its name pop up on the screen. Also, don’t worry about poison, as the attack just knocks you down for a few seconds, should it connect.

After you stagger him for the first time, he will add a new attack to his arsenal, Undermine. Despite the potential to be an annoying move, it’s actually one of the easier ones to avoid. Undermine will start with the mark burrowing underground, where you should see the little bit of a trail while he’s under there and moving. Once a few seconds have passed, Knives will burst out of the ground with an attack. The only consolation is that he doesn’t seem to move too far, and it’s more likely he just targets the closest thing to him, which will probably be Torgal.

Despite being an A Rank Notorious Hunt, The Nine of Knives is a fairly easy foe. The only caveat is that he is quick and some of his attacks can be tricky, until you learn how to counter them. For defeating The Nine of Knives, you will receive 5,000 XP, 90 AP, 10,500 Gil, and 30 Renown. Additionally, he will drop 25 Wyrrite and 2 Meteorite.

More Final Fantasy 16 Hunts¶

For tips on how to beat some of the other Notorious Marks you can take on in Final Fantasy XVI, check out these pages below:

• C Rank Hunts
• B Rank Hunts
• A Rank Hunts
• S Rank Hunts