Final Fantasy 16: Ultima Boss Guide

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How to Beat the Ultima Boss Fight
Ultima Phase 1
Ultima Phase 2
Ultima Phase 3

Ultima is the central antagonist of Final Fantasy 16 and by the time that players first encounter him in the Streets of Madness main quest, they’ll be in one of the final chapters of the game. Since Ultima is the penultimate boss, players should expect a difficult fight that will test everything they’ve learned throughout all of Final Fantasy 16.

Luckily, Ultima is taken out the same as the rest of the bosses in the game: by dodging its attacks and launching counterattacks of your own. With a boss as powerful as Ultima, however, that’s much easier said than done.

Here’s everything you need to know about how to beat the Ultima boss fight in Final Fantasy 16.

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How to Beat the Ultima Boss Fight

When compared to some of Final Fantasy 16‘s other bosses, Ultima doesn’t actually have that many moves at his disposal. While he may only have a handful of attacks, the attacks are tough to dodge and can completely drain your health, especially in the second and third phases of the fight when he starts using multiple attacks at the same time.

Ultima Phase 1

The first phase of the Ultima boss fight is relatively simple: dodge his attacks and get your own counterattacks in. While it may be simple, something that players should do during the first phase is focus on learning the dodge timing for all of Ultima’s attacks. He’ll be using these for the entire fight and combining them with other moves so you’ll want to pay attention to how best to avoid taking damage since, when combined, Ultima will be able to kill you in just a few seconds later on in the fight.

Neutron Flare: Ultima will usually start the fight with Neutron Flare, an attack that’s very difficult to dodge completely. When the attack first starts, Ultima will shoot lasers fanned out in front of him. Dodge them by standing between the lasers until they move. After a few seconds, he’ll arc the lasers so that they’re fanned out behind him. To avoid them, just make sure that you’re not directly behind him. After that, he’ll swing the lasers in front of him very quickly, cutting the entire arena. This final section is very difficult to dodge because the beams move so fast. Try your best to dodge through them or use any number of Clive’s Eikon abilities to fly over them. If you’re dodging them, you’ll need to mash the dodge button after successfully dodging the first beam to stay out of harm’s way. Another method that’s relatively reliable for avoiding damage on this attack (if you can get the timing of it right) is to jump over the final sweep and then extend the time you’re in the air by doing a quick dodge.

Graviga: Graviga is a projectile move where Ultima will shoot a large energy ball from his hand that slowly follows you. It’s pretty easy to dodge through it and avoid the ball, but keep an eye on Ultima when you’re running from the attack since he’ll continue attacking. Make sure to get far away from the ball when it flashes with red electricity since it’ll explode in a relatively large AoE blast soon after.

Spear Throw and Sword Swipe: When at medium to long range, Ultima will use one of two regular melee attacks on you: Spear Throw or Sword Swipe. Both attacks are pretty self-explanatory. In Spear Throw, Ultima will throw a weapon at you, but remain where he is on the field. When he uses Sword Swipe, he’ll lunge at you and attack you once with his sword. Both attacks are easy to dodge, but be careful to time them right: the attack usually comes about half a second after you think it should.

Various Melee Attacks: When at close range, Ultima will use his sword to take various swings at you. Because of how large the swings are, they’re usually pretty easy to see coming so dodge through them and put the pressure on.

Mark of the Storm: Mark of the Storm targets Clive with a bolt of lightning. Spam the dodge button until you successfully outrun the lightning and you’ll be fine. Keep an eye on Ultima as you do, he’ll continue to attack you while you try to avoid the storm.

Ultima Phase 2

Once you’ve taken out the first quarter of Ultima’s health, you’ll see a quick scene where Ultima starts glowing with even more magic and the second phase of the fight will begin. Like many other bosses in the game, Ultima will keep a lot of its same moves from the first phase of the fight, but add additional attacks to them to try and throw you off and deal more damage.

In this phase of the fight, Ultima will start to use several of his attacks at the same time, making them much more challenging to avoid. Sometimes the combinations aren’t too difficult to dodge such as Event Horizon and Graviga, but other times he’ll combo three things at once. Make sure you’re using your potions as needed, Limit Break to regain bits of health while on the offensive, and Torgal to heal up and smaller wounds you may have gotten.

Ultima won’t add a ton of new attacks to his pool during this phase of the fight, since the focus is on the multiple attacks he’ll be using at once. That said, you’ll still need to watch out for these two moves:

Event Horizon: This attack creates a giant rift that constantly pulls you toward it. If you touch it, you’ll take massive damage. On its own, it’s not a particularly difficult attack to avoid, however, Ultima usually pairs it with other attacks like Neutron Flare, making the attack much more challenging to avoid completely. To dodge both attacks, you’ll simply need to be mindful of where each attack is coming from and dodge through them both.

Ricochet: This is another projectile move that has Ultima shoot a fast-moving ball of energy at you. It can be a bit tricky to avoid, however, since it’ll change directions without warning very quickly. On its own, it’s not too scary of a move, however, when paired with things like Neutron Flare or Event Horizon, it can add another level of complications to dodging some already difficult moves to avoid.

Ultima Phase 3

After reducing Ultima’s health by half, you’ll see a cutscene where he begins to use fire magic. This starts the third phase of the fight. As usual, he’ll keep many of his same attacks but will also add a few new moves to his repertoire.

Deliverance: This is a long, giant flaming sword combo that can send you straight to a game over screen if you’re caught by enough of the attacks. You can avoid the attacks by simply dodging through them, however, there are a lot of attacks in the combo, so you’ll need to bring your A-game when it comes to dodging. If you get hit by one or two of the swings, you’ll be alright, but make sure to not get hit by the uppercut swing that happens at the end of the combo, otherwise, you’ll be hit into the air and then smashed down to the ground. If you avoid the uppercut, get out from underneath Ultima since when he lands, he’ll cast a fiery explosion to end the attack.

Frostbolt: When Ultima uses Frostbolt, several AoE markers will appear on the floor of the arena. Stay out of their blast radius and you’ll be able to completely avoid taking damage or just dodge through the magic blasts when they come. Be warned: Ultima will start attacking you again as soon as the blasts start going off, so you’ll need to be ready to dodge.

Eternal Darkness: This is a beam attack where Ultima shoots giant beams of energy at you that cover the entire arena. Mash the dodge button to avoid the beams and you’ll be able to avoid the lasers. This attack can get a little visually hectic by covering the entire screen with light, but as long as you keep dodging, you should hopefully come out on the other side.