The Knight of the Blinding Dawn is one of the bosses you will face during the Flight of a Fledging main quest, and the level of challenge is noticeably starting to ramp up, so let’s make sure you are as prepared as possible for what is to come. This boss is a Dragoon, so be sure to expect the dragoon things, like Jump (fans of the series will know what to expect from the boss).

How to Defeat the Dragoon (Knight of the Blinding Dawn) in FF16¶

While the Morbol was the first proper boss of the game, the Knight of the Blinding Dawn is definitely a little more challenging, since he has some attacks that have follow ups, which don’t look like they should. Because of this, it’s going to be a good idea to play a little defensively at first, since you want to keep an eye out for his moveset. The fight will begin with a Cinematic Evasion, so make sure you pay attention and get read to press the button when it presents itself.

All Knight of the Blinding Dawn Attacks in Final Fantasy XVI¶

The following list is all of the attacks you will see from the Dragoon/Knight of the Blinding Dawn.

Lance Thrust¶

The Knight will jump back, then lunge forward to try and stab you with his lance. This attack does come out rather quickly, but the little jump at the beginning is a good indicator that it’s coming, so you should have more than enough time to dodge it.

Spin Shockwave¶

This is probably the most annoying move, as the Knight will do a flourish with his lance, then spin around and create sort of a shockwave around his body. Note that he will do the spin/shockwave twice in quick succession. The only reason this attack is annoying is because it can be somewhat easy to get hit by it, since it covers a fairly good area. Try to time your dodge on the first spin attack and you should be able to avoid both.

Jump and Spin Combo¶

The Knight will jump straight into the air to try and strike you, then follow it up with another jump, where he’ll spin straight into the air for another attack. It is possible to be hit by the second attack, since there is a little delay after the initial one, so be prepared to not go ham on hitting the boss before the follow up attack.

Dragoon Jump¶

This is one of the two named attacks you will see in this battle. Jump will just have the Knight hop straight up into the sky, then come crashing down a few seconds later. Thankfully, there will be a blue marker on the ground where he’ll land, and it doesn’t move at all once it’s marked, so this is extremely easy to dodge. You should almost never get hit by this attack.

Double Jump¶

Similar to the previous attack, but the Knight will now do two Jumps in a row. You won’t see this until after the Cinematic Attack cutscene. As before, both jumps will be telegraphed by the blue marker, so they are extremely easy to avoid. Note that you want to dodge far enough away to also not get hit by the little shockwave each jump produces.

Sweep Combo¶

You won’t see this attack until after the Cinematic Attack cutscene. The Knight will perform a three-hit combo, which begins with a sweeping strike with the lance. After that will be a stabbing attack, then the Knight will jump into the air, charge up his lance with some magic and throw it to the ground. As long as you recognize that it’s a combo, then you can time your dodges to avoid each attack. The third attack is definitely the easiest to dodge, though.

Strategy for the Knight of the Blinding Dawn Boss in FFXVI¶

As mentioned above, the fight will begin with the Knight attacking you out of the blue, triggering a Cinematic Evasion, so make sure you pay attention and hit the button when it appears on your screen. The first phase of the battle isn’t too bad, with the only annoying attacks being the two combos. There’s enough of a delay on the spin combo, where you might think you’ve dodged the entire attack, only to get struck by the second hit. Thus, it’s important to play a little defensively at first, so you can get used to the Knight’s moves.

You should almost never get hit by Jump (and the Double Jump in the second phase), since it’s telegraphed so much. Once you get the boss’ health down to a little more than the halfway point, he will jump onto a nearby building and trigger a cutscene, which will result in a Cinematic Attack. Successfully pull this off and you will stagger him during this bit, giving you ample time to get some good damage on him. It is after this that the second phase will begin, where he’ll change to Double Jump, and also add the last attack from the above list. Overall, it’s not too difficult of a battle, as long as you realize most of his normal attack strings are combos.