The first real boss ofFinal Fantasy XVI: The Rising Tidetakes a surprising amount of time to reach. By then, I had become complacent and felt I was nigh-untouchable with my endgame build. Then, the Timekeeper appeared and thoroughly humbled me. Here’s the ice knight’s bag of tricks and how to beat it down.
General attacks
Hailstorm
The Timekeeper will conjure a large staff, raising it in the air to channel ice circles on the ground. There will be a series of large circles that detonate first and a second, smaller, set that detonates afterward. The Timekeeper will then strike the ground with its staff, creating more explosive ice rings before charging with its greatsword.
The Timekeeper second phase attacks
After taking off about a third of its health bar, a cinematic will play where the Timekeeper and Clive clash swords. The Rime Knight then channels the powers of its mistress, sporting some new accessories just in time for Fashion Week.
General Attacks
Flash Freeze
The Timekeeper will launch this attack with no notice, freezing Clive and the party in place before jumping away. There are a few attacks that the Timekeeper may follow up with:
Glacier Strike
The Timekeeper will leap away and summon its hammer. It will then jump up and bring the hammer crashing down, creating a large AoE that freezes the ground. Jumping up again, it will cast Glacier Strike proper which is another hammer attack that shatters the ice coating the ground. This attack can easily delete half of your health if caught by it.
Frozen in Time
The Timekeeper will begin channeling its energy before coating the arena in frost and jumping into the air. This sets up its next attack.
Frozen Arsenal
The gloves are off as the Timekeeper begins using even larger versions of its already oversized armory. If it’s not bigger like the chakram, then there’s more of it, like the line of tridents that fire off beams of icy death.
Immortal Order
Clearly tired of Clive at this point, the Timekeeper will freeze him in place and summon a sphere of swords pointed at the moody hero. Only a Precision Dodge will be sufficient to escape this attack, so have your finger hovering over R1 the moment Clive enters the Thunderdome.
The Timekeeper third phase attacks
With about a fifth of its health bar remaining, the Timekeeper takes off the kid gloves and summons a giant dome of frozen energy in the center of the arena and several similar columns around it. Getting caught in either will slow Clive down to a crawl and make him extremely vulnerable.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Timekeeper is full-on flying now. It’s not even a slow hover as the knight is darting around like Superman with a purpose.
Final Oath
Every devastating weapon in the Timekeeper’s arsenal appears and floats around it like moons orbiting Saturn. Clive will now need to contend with dozens of chakrams, spinning hammer attacks, and dual-wielded swords while the Timekeeper zips around the arena.
Oathkeeper
The Timekeeper summons a sword that makes theBuster Swordseem like a toothpick in comparison before slamming it into the ground. This does freeze the knight in place for a few moments, so take the opportunity to get some hits in.
Sure, the Timekeeper used this attack during the last phase, but this time, it’s a ring of oversized icy Swords of Damascus that come crashing down and great ice AoE impacts.
