Before Clive and friends can take on Leviathan in Final Fantasy 16: The Rising Tide, they must first free the Eikon’s Dominant from its time-frozen prison. To do so, they must overcome a powerful foe appropriately named the Timekeeper. This knight of generations past can be quite overwhelming if you aren’t prepared, so allow us to help! This guide will show players how to beat the Timekeeper boss fight in Final Fantasy 16: The Rising Tide.
How to Beat the Timekeeper Boss
What To Equip:
- The Timekeeper boss utilizes a variety of moves that range in speed and type. As the fight progresses, it will also gain massive AoE moves that will require you to have abilities with high mobility to escape. Choosing Eikons like Leviathan and/or Shiva could be helpful in this fight because they both provide improved dodging abilities.
- You will want to use Shiva’s Cold Step and the double dodge from Leviathan’s Serpent’s Cry. In addition to these Eikon abilities being used to dodge, Cold Step can freeze the boss with a Precision Dodge while Serpent’s Cry will allow you to fire strong projectiles when you are at a distance. I also suggest using Garuda’s Gauge and Aerial Blast or Shiva’s Diamond Dust to cut through the Timekeeper’s stagger bar.
- The rest of your ability slots should be taken up by your most damage-dealing moves for when the boss becomes staggered. Some of the most powerful moves we suggest are Bahamut’s Gigaflare, Odin’s Zantetsuken, Ramuh’s Judgment Bolt, and Leviathan’s Tsunami.
Battle Tips Phase 1:
- Timekeeper’s basic attack combo is a sequence of 3 attacks that can change between three different weapons. The Sword attack is a quick-moving swipe that requires players to quickly react to it, the Hammer is a slow-moving slam that does massive damage, and the staff attack sees the boss leap into the air and strike the ground, creating small rings around where he lands that explode with ice after a few seconds.
- This combo in its first phase can either stay the same weapon for all of the attacks or can change between all of these weapons in the middle of the combo, so keep your eye out for which weapon is currently summoned and dodge them accordingly. Using Cold Step against any of these attacks can trigger Permafrost and give you a big opening to do damage. The dodge of Serpent’s Cry can also get you out of the AoE explosions of the staff if you are in a bad spot.
- This combo in its first phase can either stay the same weapon for all of the attacks or can
change between all of these weapons in the middle of the combo, so keep your eye out for which weapon is currently summoned and dodge them accordingly. Using Cold Step against any of these attacks can trigger Permafrost and give you a big opening to do damage. The dodge of
Serpent’s Cry can also get you out of the AoE explosions of the staff if you are in a bad spot.
The Hailstorm Ability functions similarly to the staff attack in his regular combo. Instead of it
surrounding him, he will slam the staff into the ground and create several rings all around the
battle arena that will explode with ice.
Battle Tips Phase 2:
- After staggering Timekeeper for the first time, a cutscene will play and the boss will enter its
second phase. This phase makes all of their basic combos stronger with added effects. There are
also new weapons that the boss adds to his basic combo attack as well as several new special
abilities at the Timekeeper’s disposal. - Timekeeper is much faster in Phase 2 and he gains a projectile basic attack like throwing out two discs that will lightly track you as they travel toward Clive. He also gets a new spear
attack that will see him thrust forward twice with it. The first time is a normal lunge while the
second is a charged attack that also shoots a beam out from the tip of the spear. There is also
an attack where the spear is thrown into the ground from the air, exploding into ice. - In this second phase, Timekeeper also gains the ability Flash Freeze, which will activate when you attempt to attack the boss it is recovering from certain moves. This will freeze you and your party in place and allow Timekeeper to start up a free attack. You will unfreeze right before the attack lands, so be ready to dodge once you regain control.
- Glacier Strike is a move that sees the Timekeeper slam his hammer into the ground 3 times. The first two times create a ring around the location he is hitting, with each hit increasing the size of the circle. If you are in the circle, Clive will slightly stumble. The third and final hit will see the entire ring explode into a large tower of ice.
Battle Tips Phase 3:
- When Timekeeper starts Phase 3, it will use Frozen in Time. This ability will freeze the entire arena and will unleash the Frozen Arsenal ability. This will see Timekeeper use all of their special abilities back-to-back including several lasers that will fill a large part of the arena.
- After unleashing all of his moves, Timekeeper will once again freeze the entire arena and will use Immortal Order. This move will surround Clive with many icy blades that collapse on him and kill him. You will need to dodge immediately after the freeze ends and right as the blades collapse in on Clive to survive this attack.
- Timekeeper’s basic combo will also start to incorporate the discs and spear into their combo, so be prepared for those along with the original 3 weapons from the first phase. When low on health, Timekeeper will use Final Oath, which will give every single weapon in his arsenal new moves and will extend his combo attack. Just avoid his combos until you can stagger him one more time. With your powerful Eikon abilities, this should be enough to fully defeat the boss.
