You will fight numerous bosses throughout the story in Final Fantasy XVI, with the Morbol appearing at the end of the Stillwind dungeon. The Morbol is a feared creature in the Final Fantasy universe, due to its plethora of status ailments, although you won’t need to actually worry about that. You will find the Morbol more challenging than the Gigas boss, as it can considered the first true boss of the game.

How to Beat the Morbol in FF16¶

As mentioned above, the Morbol could be considered the first true boss of the game, so it will be a little more challenging than the Gigas, but not entirely too difficult. One of the most important things to remember is to watch out for its Bad Breath attack, where it will spew the putrid cloud of contaminants that you will want to avoid at all costs. You will pretty much fight the Morbol right after the Gigas, too, when you’ve finished chasing the Goblin leader. You will definitely want to play a little more defensively, until you get used to its attacks.

All Morbol Attacks in Final Fantasy XVI¶

The following is a list of all attacks seen from the Morbol in the Stillwind fight in Final Fantasy XVI.

Tentacle Slam¶

The Morbol will use two of its tentacles, lifting them up in the air, then slamming them on the ground right in front of its body. Dodging to either side will work here, since it’s a straight attack.

Tentacle Stab¶

Whenever you see the Morbol stick one of its tentacles into the ground, it’s going to come out of the ground, underneath your position. It’s best to just ignore trying to perfect dodge this and keep moving to avoid possibly taking damage.

Tentacle Sweep¶

The Morbol will extend four tentacles outwards, to its sides, then bring them towards the middle, trying to hit you. This attack can be a little tricky to dodge, especially to the sides, but you could always evade backwards, instead.

Bad Breath¶

One of two named moves, Bad Breath is a nightmare to any fan of the series, as it normally inflicts all kinds of status ailments. However, you can count yourself lucky in this fight, as it doesn’t really do much. You will see the maneuver at the top of the screen first, which is your cue to move to either of the Morbol’s sides, as it will spew a putrid cloud straight in front of it. Should you get hit by this, you will take some damage, and it does seem to stun you a little bit.

Putrid Cloud¶

You won’t see this until after the first Cinematic Strike. The Morbol will sit there and look like it’s doing nothing, but it’s actually gathering some “energy” to release a poison cloud that surrounds its body. You will just want to move away from the creature whenever it looks like it’s doing nothing.

Tentacle One-Two Combo¶

The Morbol will attack with one tentacle, then follow it up with the tentacle on the other side. If you dodge to one side, you want to be careful to not get hit with the tail end of the other tentacle’s attack. It’s probably just easier to dodge backwards, out of range of both attacks. Note that this move will only start occurring after the first Cinematic Strike.

Acid Spit¶

Sometimes, you will see the Morbol spit out some black goo from its mouth. It seems to be a little on the rarer side, so you might not have the boss do it at all during your fight. This goo stays on the ground and slows you down, should you step in it, but it will also hurt you while inside it, too. You just need to avoid it at all costs, until it disappears.

Wild Rage¶

This only seems to appear during the end of the battle, after the Cinematic Evasion trigger. The Morbol will start off by charging straight ahead, then turn around and charge at you again. The second charge will usually result in the Morbol doing a jumping attack at the end. As long as you stay out of its way, you should be fine, as the creature just moves in a straight line both times.

Strategy for the Morbol Boss in FFXVI¶

The fight will consist of the Morbol doing the first four moves, until you completely stagger it for the first time. Make sure you pile on the damage as much as possible, especially if you managed to get any new skills. Once it recovers, the Morbol will typically use its first chance to go into the ground, after which, it will resurface away from you and begin sucking you into its mouth. This is a scripted event, so don’t worry about having to avoid it. This event will introduce you to the Cinematic Strike, which is basically just a cutscene that requires you to hit the button whenever you see the button prompt on screen.

Successfully do this to instantly stagger the boss, which is great to continue whittling down its health. After it recovers again, the Morbol will begin adding more moves to its repertoire, the One-Two Combo and the Putrid Cloud. Other than moving away from the cloud move, since it’s an up-close one, the fight is pretty much the same as the first phase. Keep doing what you’re doing, until you stagger it again, after which, it will disappear into the ground one more time. However, this time, the Morbol will jump into the air after sucking you towards it, prompting a different kind of cinematic, the Cinematic Evasion.

Press when you see the button prompt to dodge the attack, which will stagger the Morbol. It appears that this will trigger the final phase of the battle, where the Morbol will now add Wild Rage to its arsenal. It’s best to stay out of its way during this, so you can easily avoid the charges, as well as the jumping attack at the end. It will use this quite often, so always be prepared to keep out of the way of it. At this point, the battle is just continuing your attack on it, hoping to stagger, and using any abilities as they come off cooldown.