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How to Use Heatwave in Final Fantasy 16

Gordon Bicker

Published: Jun 25, 2023 02:46 pm

Final Fantasy XVI has a range of abilities for you to use and each of them has its own specific advantages, one ability is Heatwave. In my personal opinion, this is one of the greatest abilities in early-game combat and it can still pack a punch at any point. This article will take you through how to unlock Heatwave in Final Fantasy XVI and the best methods for battling with it.

How to Unlock Heatwave in Final Fantasy 16

In order to use Heatwave, you will have to unlock it in the “Abilities” section of the in-game menu accessed by pressing the “Options” button — next to the touchpad. Heatwave is a Phoenix Eikon ability and is located above the “Flames of Rebirth” ability in the menu. It will cost you 120 Ability Points to unlock Heatwave, these ability points won’t take you too long to gather up through regular gameplay.

After you have unlocked Heatwave, it will not be automatically equipped for you. Instead, you will have to go to your “Gear and Eikons” menu and swap out one of your existing Phoenix abilities. For example, if you want Heatwave tied to “Triangle”, press “X” on the ability currently slotted in there and then choose Heatwave. When you are in combat, you can now hold “R2” and press Triangle to use Heatwave.

Best Ways to Use Heatwave in Final Fantasy 16

Heatwave can be used to deflect incoming projectiles so this is one of the best times to use the ability. If you see any enemy firing something toward you, quickly use your Heatwave ability to stop any potential damage you would have otherwise received from the projectiles. However, I think another extremely effective use of Heatwave is to use it when you have a group of enemies in front of you, the shockwave will slice your enemies and put them in a potentially vulnerable position for further attacks.

Phoniex Shift (used by pressing Circle with the Phoenix Eikon active) can be an excellent way to follow up for extra attacks after a Heatwave usage: it will close the gap between you and your enemies. Be sure to attack in the middle of a Phoenix Shift for a great follow-up.

Now that you know how to use Heatwave in Final Fantasy XVI, you can unlock it and start utilizing it in whatever combat encounters you wish to do so. Remember you can also upgrade it for 620 ability points at first after you unlock the ability. Eventually, you can unlock Mastery of the ability and that will let you use it in any Eikon’s ability set.

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Author

Gordon Bicker

Gordon is a contributing writer for Attack of the Fanboy, a Games Design (BA) Honours student, and a Video Game Ambassador. He has been writing at AOTF for over a year and a half, with four years of games writing experience for outlets like Green Man Gaming. When he's not busy, he'll no doubt be experiencing games, writing poetry, playing guitar, adventuring, or happily starting a new Skyrim playthrough! As an avid Final Fantasy XIV player, he also hopes that you'll gain a warm feeling from his community stories. Gordon has reported on Fallout 4 and Destiny 2, whose favorite genres include action RPGs, MMORPG's and First Person Shooters but is always experimenting with many other types of games.