The White Dragon being the first of many bosses fought during the Fire in the Sky main quest, in Final Fantasy XVI. This can be quite the challenging battle, too, as the White Dragon has plenty of attacks in its arsenal. So, don’t go thinking it will be a simple battle, since you will need to be on your toes at all times.

How to Beat the White Dragon in FF16¶

The White Dragon can prove to be a difficult fight, since there’s a lot of attacks to deal with, and some of those moves can prove difficult to dodge. Playing defensively might be a good idea to get the timing down on things. When you do go on the offensive, it’s probably for the best to avoid using the lock-on system, since the White Dragon is especially large and that can mess with your ability to land strikes. You have a bigger variety of abilities at this point, so you should also experiment to find out what works for you.

All White Dragon Attacks in Final Fantasy XVI¶

The White Dragon has plenty of attacks in its arsenal, with a whopping eight it uses before you stagger it for the first time. Outside of that initial onslaught, it doesn’t have too many extras that it uses in its regular rotation.

Ice Shots¶

The White Dragon will fire some ice projectiles that hit the ground, then will have ice shards sprout from where they landed. It doesn’t really target you with the projectiles, as it more aims them at the ground. However, you need to avoid the icy spots on the ground, since the little ice “explosion” is probably more meant to trick you.

Spread Shot¶

The White Dragon will fire five shots of magic from each of its wings, that will fly for a few seconds and converge on your position. To avoid these, you might be best to either dodge forwards or backwards, although if you time it correctly, you could always evade to the sides.

Dragon Charge¶

If you’re far enough away from the boss, it will fly up into the air a little bit, do a twirl, then perform a spinning charge right at you. Note that there will be small ice crystals to the sides of the dragon while it charges you. You will likely want a Precision Dodge here, since the dragon is a large creature, or use Titanic Block to guard against it.

Wing Spin¶

The White Dragon will raise its right wing (left from your perspective), then do a horizontal spin maneuver, creating a bunch of ice crystals. The attack covers a wide area, so you’re going to probably want to dodge away from the dragon here.

Head Sweep¶

If you’re up close to the dragon, then it will sweep its head along the ground in an attempt to hurt you. Note that it will do it from right to left first, then there will be a small delay before it does the same thing in the opposite direction. Since the dragon is quite large, you might need to time it for a Precision Dodge or block.

Wing Smash¶

The White Dragon will lift up its left wing (right from your perspective), and bring it to the ground, forming some ice crystals at the impact site. This should be pretty easy to avoid, since you will want to go left or right.

Ground Smash¶

The White Dragon will rear back, onto its hind legs, with its front feet glowing briefly, before coming back down and smashing the ground in front of it. When it crashes into the ground, a wall of ice crystals will form. This attack can hurt quite a bit, so you want to make sure to back away whenever you see it standing on its hind legs.

Heavenly Host¶

The White Dragon will form five large orbs in front of it, which move slowly towards you, while slightly homing in as well. These are mostly a distraction, as the boss will do other moves while the orbs are coming towards you. You could potentially use Heatwave on them to get a counter, and really help with stagger damage. Note that later phases of the battle will have more orbs.

Emanation¶

This attack will appear after you stagger it for the first time, where the White Dragon will form some ice crystals. These crystals will then fire lasers in most directions, with one laser per crystal. After the lasers stop, some of the crystals will converge onto your location, form a big circle under your feet and cause ice to spring up from the ground. Don’t worry about the dragon here and just concentrate on dodging the lasers, then the ice at the end.

Ice Breath¶

Happening after the first stagger, the White Dragon will breath some ice right in front of him, creating a large circle. Once the circle is finished forming, ice will come out of the ground. As soon as you see the dragon starting to make the circle, move away from it and get out of range.

Ground Lasers¶

In the second phase, after the first stagger, the White Dragon will release a wisp-like thing that will go to the ground, forming an asterisk-like shape. After a second or two, there will be a burst of energy from the center, which will spread along the lines. Since there is a moment before the energy appears, you can easily just move away from it.

Dragon Dance¶

This will occur once you get the boss’ health down to a certain amount, around 25%. It will be a series of attacks that happen at once, like a lot of bosses’ Ultimate move. The attack will start with an Emanation-like move, with ice crystals appear to fire some lasers. At the same time, the large orbs will also show up (Heavenly Host) and slowly move towards you. While you’re trying to dodge everything, it will continue the assault by using the Spread Shot attack. After this, it will go on with the Ground Lasers, although it will be a huge pattern this time.

When the lasers have been dispatched, the White Dragon will have one final attack in the sequence, which is to do the Dragon Charge attack. This one seems to be a little different, as the ice trail might be a little bigger. Just concentrate on trying to dodge everything, especially the first set of attacks. When the lasers come, you can try to find a gap to avoid those.

Holy Twinning¶

You won’t see this attack until the very last stages of the battle. It seems to be a combination of Emanation and the basic Ice Shots, with lasers intersecting with one another, while the White Dragon shoots the ice projectiles at you. Concentrate on the lasers, since the ice crystals sent your way don’t really target you.

Strategy for the White Dragon Boss in FFXVI¶

The White Dragon can be a challenging boss, as it has a lot of different moves and there are some in there that can be a pain. If you recall the Infernal Eikon boss, then you remember that its size didn’t help with staying locked on during it. This is because the lock-on focuses on the head and that situation is similar here. While the head seems to be a weak point for the White Dragon, it’s not going to make or break the battle for you. So, don’t lock onto the dragon here and to make your life a little easier.

When the battle begins, you will have to contend with a all eight different moves in the first phase. Concentrate on dodging to your best ability at first, so you can get used to its attacks. Spread Shot is an annoying move that it will use quite often, which will require you to get the timing down for not getting hit. Likewise, the Wing Spin and Ground Smash are other attacks that will require you to likely perform a Precision Dodge. Note that you can use Phoenix Shift to get up to the head, and using Deadly Embrace will also get you airborne.

Once you stagger the dragon for the first time, it will use Emanation. This attack will have some ice crystals shooting out lasers and considering how busy it gets, you’re best on dodging here and not worrying about damaging the boss. After the lasers are done, you will want to pay attention, as the crystals will converge on your location and try to hit you with ice out of the ground. The White Dragon will also add two new moves after this, which are Ice Breath and Ground Lasers. The former is a close-up attack, so if you see the circle underneath your feet when you’re on the offense.

After the second stagger, the White Dragon will use Dragon Dance, which is a mishmash of other abilities you’ve already likely seen. First, you will have ice crystals firing lasers, while the large orbs from Heavenly Host will also appear. It will also do the Spread Shot at the same time as all this is going on, then follow it all up with the Ground Lasers. Once those are over, the dragon will do its charge attack as the final piece for this maneuver. Naturally, don’t worry about attacking and just concentrate on avoiding all of the stuff sent your way. The one new attack after this, Holy Twinning just seems to be another amalgamation of other moves.

Upon defeating the White Dragon, you’re not quite done with Fire in the Sky yet, as there’s plenty left to get stuck into.