The first boss you are going to come up against in FF16 is the Gigas, during the Lost in a Fog main quest, when you are facing a group of Goblins. As the first actual boss of the game, you’ll be introduced to some of the mechanics for the battle system, so this is like a tutorial boss.

How to Beat the Gigas in FF16¶

The Gigas is your introduction to a formidable foe, which basically means you need to be a little more careful with it, compared to the Goblins you’ve been fighting up until now. Basically, you will need to worry about the Will Gauge during these battles, which is the yellow bar underneath their health. As you land attacks on the enemy, the Will Gauge will gradually decrease, with your special attacks dealing more damage to it. For this particular battle, that will be the Blessing of the Phoenix attack, but this has a cooldown, so it can’t be used all the time.

Depleting the Will Gauge will be important, as at 50%, the enemy will be partially staggered. This creates a short opening in which combination attacks are easily landed. Once you fully deplete the gauge, the enemy will be fully staggered. In this state, attacks will deal increased damage, with successive attacks doing more and more, up to a maximum of 150%. The Will Gauge will gradually fill back up and once it’s full again, the enemy will return to its normal state and start attacking again.

All Gigas Attacks in Final Fantasy XVI¶

Before doing anything else, let’s take a look at all of the attacks you will likely see from the Gigas:

Overhead Slam¶

Whenever you are close to the Gigas, it will raise the club over its head, then slam it on the ground, right in front of it. There is just a tiny bit of delay before it will bring the club down, so if you’re looking for a Precision Dodge, don’t dodge when you see the club being brought over its head. This is a pretty easy attack to dodge, though, as is the majority of the boss’ attacks.

Sweeping Blow¶

The Gigas will bring its club to its side, then perform a sweeping attack with it. The strike might be a little more challenging to dodge perfectly, since you want to time your evasive maneuver to avoid getting hit. If you do dodge to the side, then do so to the left, as the club will be swung to the right and you don’t want the tail end of the attack to get you. The attack is pretty slow, though, since there is a good bit of a wind up to it.

Running Overhead Smash¶

You will only see this attack if you keep your distance from the Gigas. It will begin running at you, then perform the overhead attack above. It’s pretty easy to dodge, although there might be a tiny bit of a shockwave on the ground, so you want to be careful about that.

Big Swing¶

This is the only named attack that will come from the Gigas. It will begin by swinging its club in a circle above its head, then spin around while holding the club outwards. It will spin around a good 6-7 times and you want to stay on the defensive during this maneuver. If you dodge to the left, similar to the Sweeping Blow, then you can easily get successive Precision Dodges from this. If you try to perform counters after dodging, though, there is a greater chance you will get hit by one of the revolutions.

Strategy for the Gigas Boss in FFXVI¶

Overall, the Gigas is a pretty basic boss that is an introduction to formidable foes. Most of its attacks are telegraphed, so you know when they are coming, making them fairly easy to dodge. You will only really want to be careful about Big Swing, as you won’t be outrunning the Gigas and want to stay on the defensive during that maneuver. Since the attacks are slow, with the recovery also being slow, you can use that time in between to unleash your own strikes.

Don’t forget that you can do follow-up attacks after your Precision Dodges, with either your sword or your magic. You also have Phoenix Shift to use to close the gap, and each of these can also be followed by either of your basic attacks for some extra oomph. If you didn’t know, after your basic sword attack, you can chain your magic right after it, called a Magic Burst. You can do this up to four times, which is the length of your combo, just by alternating between the two buttons. Also, don’t forget the Blessing of the Phoenix attack, which is great against the Will Gauge, but it can also deal some great damage when the Gigas is staggered.

Pursue the Goblin Leader¶

Once you defeat the Gigas, you will pursue the Goblin leader. There will be a High Potion and regular Potion along the way, and the chase will be fairly short. Along the way, the Goblin will break a support beam, causing a roof structure to collapse, but you will be able to just climb over it. Upon reaching the small opening to climb through, you will witness another cutscene, then be thrust into the Morbol Boss Battle.