One of the first larger dungeons you will encounter in Final Fantasy XVI is The Greatwood. This comes after finishing the main quest Hide, Hideaway. This sprawling forest is filled with monsters that want to eat Clive, and the ability to learn how to use your companion Torgal better. Despite the linear path, it can be quite easy to get turned around, and there are two different bosses to deal with. The guide below goes over how to complete the sixth main story quest, Fanning Embers, get through The Greatwood and defeat its bosses in Final Fantasy XVI.

Enemies in The Greatwood¶

Enemies in this Area
Wolves
Vampire Thorns
Aevises
Hornets
Fafnir of the North
Midnight Raven

Items in The Greatwood¶

Items in This Area
Bloody Hides
Magicked Ash
Wyrrite
Steelsilk
Potion
Dragon Talon

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Cid and Clive arriving at !The Greatwood.

How To Get Through The Greatwood¶

You will start off at the start off in a lush forest that is full of enemies and items for you to pick up. Once you are ready to move forward, follow the linear path until you run into your first set of enemies - a pack of Wolves - enemies that are relatively easy to take down. Your party will now have Cid and Torgal in it, and you are able to command Torgal during battle, use this to dish out additional attacks when needed. Torgal can also heal you in small amounts, but he shouldn’t be relied on. After the enemies have fallen, continue forward, a short cutscene will play where you see the boss of the area for the first time, a Fafnir.

Once the cutscene is over, jump down to the next area. You will encounter several plant-like enemies that spew poison gas when you get close. These are Vampire Thorns, and as long as you dodge as they raise up, you won’t get hurt by their gas. After you defeat them, continue on the narrow cliff side path, you will eventually come to a large open area that signals a boss fight where a Aevise will appear. This enemy is rather easy to dodge as it rears back before attacking. It has both ground and flying attacks, but will always be easy to hit. You can easily warp to the Aevise for a flurry of attacks and then dodge backward to avoid being hit. Once it’s defeated, you will venture further into the forest, there will be a Potion right after the fight, be sure to grab it.

It’s here that you will unlock an extremely useful ability. By pressing in on the left stick Torgal will point to the right way to go. You can use this as many times as you want from now on out. In this instance though, he’s already standing in front of the area you need to enter. You will soon encounter a group of Wolves and Vampire Thorns that have a second wave, defeat them and use Torgal to find the path forward. This will place you above a giant arena where you will fight Fafnir of the North. As far as a boss battle goes, this one’s pretty easy as Fafnir is a bit slow.

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(1 of 3) Enemies will now attack in waves in some instances.

How to Defeat Fafnir and Midnight Raven¶

The giant will stomp around, jump in the air, and roll around in an attempt to crush Clive. You can see him prepare for each of his attacks before doing them, so use this to dodge. Be careful though, as he can even death roll and swing his tail, something that may catch you off-guard during the early parts of the fight. Just keep working at his health bar, only attacking in short bursts, and then backing off when he starts to move around. He only has one named attack, [Spin Cycle](All Fafnir Attacks in Final Fantasy XVI “Spin Cycle”) where he starts to quickly roll around the arena, just keep watch on him and dodge when he gets close.

After Fafnir is slain, go through the hole in the arena and you will emerge back into the forest. After you get out of the arena you will find a Potion on the ground. Here you will encounter some flying enemies called Hornets that are easy to kill and some more Vampire Thorns. You will want to proceed forward and then start following the small river through the forest, you will end up fighting !more enemies, including another Aevis. Be sure to open the wooden crate at the end as it contains a Meteorite. At the end of the path, you will find several soldiers, and after a brief cutscene, you must fight the Midnight Raven. If you can manage to defeat both bosses without taking damage you will be awarded the Curiosity: Medal of Valour.

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(1 of 5) Fafnir is large, but slow to attack.

This battle is fairly easy although he can jump around a bit. What you need to make sure to watch out for is the cinematic strikes where you must quickly mash square in order to succeed. Doing so will knock back the Midnight Raven and help you take a chunk off from his health. Once you have defeated him, another cutscene will play and you will return to the main map. When you are ready for the next quest, Louder Than Words, head to Orabelle Downs.