Although Agni itself isn’t a particularly memorable battle in Final Fantasy 16, its drops are. Agni drops the coveted Stone Tongue which is needed for the Ouroboros Belt which is arguably the best belt in the game excluding New Game Plus. Read below to find out the exact location of Agni, and how to defeat it.
Where to Find the Notorious Mark, Agni¶
Location | Level | Bounty |
---|---|---|
South, Halfcombe | 40 | 15,500 Gil, 35 Renown |
The Agni hunt can only be accessed during or after the Brotherhood main scenario quest near the end of the game. Once you’ve reached that point, teleport to Eistla, Waloed and leave via the eastern exit. Follow the path south, past Halfcombe until you reach a large circular area where you’ll find some Fallen ruins. The area is between Halfcombe and The Edge of Infinity. As you approach the ruins, you’ll get a short scene where Agni will spin out of one of the orifices.
Agni Attacks¶
Below you’ll find all the attacks that Agni has in its arsenal:
Attack | Description | Counter |
---|---|---|
Collider | Agni will leap into the air before turning into a ball that will spin toward you. After a couple of spins, it will leap and belly-flop onto you. | For the spinning part, wait for Agni to get close, and dodge into them as it reaches you. The belly-flop is a bit more difficult to avoid, but wait just before it’s about to land then hit dodge. |
Hand Smash | Agni will smash its hand on the ground in front of itself before repeating it with the other hand. A Head lunge can follow this attack. | Wait for the first hand to hit the ground then use dodge on the same side as the first hand to ignore the follow-up. |
Head lunge | Agni will briefly get on its hind legs before lunging forward while attempting to headbutt you. | They will miss this attack more than they hit you with it providing you’re not standing still in front of it. |
Rolling Side Slam | Agni will lean on one of each front and hind leg before slamming down. This is followed by a roll to the side. | Make sure you’re not on the side of Agni when this attack is in motion. If you are, dodge to the opposite side to avoid both the slam and roll. |
Spinning Bounce | Agni will leap into the air and curl itself up into a ball before bouncing around the arena toward you. | Either dodge, every time it’s about to hit the floor from the bounce, or alternatively get far away from them, and throw Charged Magic at them until they’re done. |
Tail Slap | Agni will swing its tail side to side. | This won’t happen often, but if you’re caught behind Agni, it can use this attack. Get to its face to avoid the attack, and get a few seconds of uninterrupted attacks. |
Firewater | Agni will root to the spot while spraying a beam of fire side to side. | You can dodge through the beam for Precision Dodges, or take advantage of them being locked in animation, and pummel them from their sides/back. |
Recommended Abilities for Agni¶
Here we will list our recommended ability set up to do this effectively:
Eikon | Ability | Damage Type |
---|---|---|
Bahamut | Gigaflare | Damage (5 Stars) |
Bahamut | Will-o’-the-Wykes | Will (2 Stars) - Master this and place it as the second Bahamut ability. |
Shiva | Diamond Dust | Will (5 Stars) |
Shiva | Lightning Rod | Damage (2 Stars), Will (3 Stars) - Master this and place it as the second Shiva ability. |
Odin | Dancing Steel | Damage (1 Star) Will (2 Stars) |
Odin | Rift Slip | No damage – Use to recover immediately from any ability or action. |
The reason behind the chosen abilities is as follows. Odin’s Zantetsuken when used at level 5 is powerful, to say the least, and can be used quite frequently especially when combined with Dancing Steel which can give you 3–4 levels of Zantetsuken in one attack. Rift Slip allows you to immediately cancel an action should you need to while also allowing you to slow down time briefly when followed up after a combo to give you more time to get Dancing Steel off as it takes a while to execute.
Shiva’s Cold Snap can Permafrost enemies whenever you perform a successful Precision Dodge which makes her invaluable to have while also having access to the powerful Diamond Dust attack which is the strongest Will-Damage attack in the game. Then we take Lightning Rod from Ramuh to place in front of Agni when it is staggered to amplify any multiple-hit attacks we do.
Finally, we take Bahamut mainly for Gigaflare which is one of the most powerful attacks in the game. This is fantastic at any time, but especially at the end of a stagger phase when combined with Lightning Rod. You could switch out Bahamut with Titan for added defense with Titanic Block, but Bahamut’s Wings of Light can be really strong, especially when you get to level 5 Megaflare just before the stagger phase.
Recommended Items and Equipment for Agni¶
Gear¶
For your Weapon, Belt, and Vambraces, you should have the following:
Weapon | Belt | Vambraces |
---|---|---|
Ragnarok | Regal Sash | Regal Armguards |
If you don’t have what’s listed above, use the highest Attack for the Weapon, and the highest Defense and Health for the Belt and Vambraces.
Accessories¶
For your Accessories, this is more subjective, so here is what we used:
Accessory 1 | Accessory 2 | Accessory 3 |
---|---|---|
The Will of Ice (Diamond Dust) (Increases Diamond Dust damage by 10%) | Berserker Ring (Increase attack proficiency with each Precision Dodge.) | The Grace of the Inferno (Will-o’-the-Wykes) (Will-o’-the-Wykes duration increased by 5 seconds) |
The Will of Ice (Diamond Dust) is a reward for completing the Shiva Chronolith Trial.
Items¶
Finally, we have items. This is more of a preference thing, but we chose the following items:
Shortcut 1 | Shortcut 2 | Shortcut 3 |
---|---|---|
Potion | High Potion | Strength Tonic |
Agni isn’t a tough fight, and the quicker you can deplete its health, the quicker you can forget this hunt existed. That’s why we selected the Strength Tonic for the +30% damage increase. You could also add the Lionheart Tonic for quicker Limit Breaks over the High Potion.
Agni Boss Strategy¶
This fight is almost a carbon copy of the Fafnir of the North battle back in the Fanning Embers main scenario quest. It was easy back then, and nothing changes much for this fight other than a couple of attacks. The only attacks you may have trouble with is the ending part of the Collider attack (belly-flop), or the Spinning Bounce attack as the rest of its attacks are slow and telegraphed.
With the Collider attack, run towards Agni, and dodge through them, repeating this for its follow-up spins. When it leaps into the air to perform the belly-flop, run away from it. The dodge timing can be difficult for this attack and isn’t worth the trouble of trying to get a Precision Dodge. For Spinning Bounce, just get away from Agni while pummeling them with Charged Magic until it finishes its attack. Dodging the bounces is relatively easy providing the camera doesn’t mess up on you, but the camera does, especially if you’re near a wall, or locked on, so we recommend running from the attack.
You can punish Agni quite a bit in this battle especially when it uses its Firewater attack as it’ll root them in place. Simply get to its sides or back, and attack away. You can do the same for its Tail Slap attack too, but it won’t use this too often.
Agni has a fairly robust health pool, but its Will-Gauge is weak to make up for it. Place a Lightning Rod next to Agni, then use Diamond Dust to obliterate its Will-Gauge, and follow it up with a Dancing Steel which will not only raise Zantetsuken to level 4, but it should stagger them. During the stagger phase, use Limit Break, and a Strength Tonic, place a Lightning Rod if it’s up, then use **Gigaflare **before finishing it off with a level 5 Zantetsuken. If you have any time left, use one of your abilities such as Diamond Dust, Dancing Steel, or a combo. If you can get Megaflare up to level 5 before you stagger it, this will dramatically increase your damage, but it’s not required.
As the battle progresses, Agni’s attacks will come a little quicker, and they will become more erratic, but it’s nothing to make you worry. Once you’ve defeated Agni, you’ll be rewarded 8,000 XP, 100 AP, 15,500 Gil, and 35 Renown. On top of that, you’ll get the Stone Tongue material from the spoils which is used for the Ouroboros Belt, one of the best belts in the game.
More Final Fantasy 16 Hunts¶
For information on some of the other Notorious Marks you can take on in Final Fantasy XVI, check out these pages below:
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