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Final Fantasy XVI

Man in Black: Location and How to Beat Holy Trumpitour in FF16

By
Matt Chard

The Man in Black becomes available at the end of the Cloak and Dagger main scenario quest in Final Fantasy 16. This B-Rank Notorious Mark can be difficult to find due to it being hidden in an area accessed through a secret passage. Read below to find out the Man in Black’s exact location, and how to defeat it with out in-depth hunt strategies.

The Holy Trumpitour Hunt can be acquired at the end of the Cloak and Dagger main scenario quest.

Where to Find the Man in Black Notorious Mark

Location Level Bounty
Lostwing - Cellar Passage, Sanbreque 36 13,230 Gil, 20 Renown

The Man in Black, aka Holy Trumpitour can be found in the cellar passage area, south of "Lostwing" iconLostwing. Open your map, and go into the Sanbreque region map to find the Lostwing obelisk. Hover over and click on it to teleport there. From the obelisk, head east a little through the town until you reach a small open area, next to "The Hanged Man" iconThe Hanged Man tavern. Here, there’ll be two areas in front of you, both of which involve going through an archway, under the bridge.

Head through the darker left archway and you’ll eventually reach a closed door. Open the door and follow the stairs down to another door. Proceed through the door into a cramped room and exit it via the door at the end that leads to some more stairs. Climb the stairs and follow the eerie damp tunnel until you see light at the end of it.

Now you should be in a wooded area; if not, you took a wrong turn. Proceed through the narrow trail, and eventually, you’ll end up in an open area. At the back of the area, you’ll spot a heavy man wearing black who appears to be holding a mortar. Yes, a mortar! Walk up to him to initiate the battle.

(1 of 4) The Man in Black can be found in a small area accessed through the cellar passage in !Lostwing.

Holy Trumpitour’s Abilities and Attacks

Below you’ll find all the attacks that Holy Trumpitour has in its arsenal:

Attack Description Counter
Mortar Combo Holy Trumpitour will perform two lunging sweeping attacks with his mortar before jumping up and slamming down with an overhead smash. You can dodge all three of these attacks; time the dodge just as the mortar swings towards you. For the overhead smash, you need to dodge as he is about to land. The safer method to avoid the attack is to keep your distance from him.
Explosive Shells Holy Trumpitour will fire four shells from his mortar at range that explode on impact. This is a simple projectile attack where you need to dodge when the projectile is about to reach you. If you have the Berserker’s Ring equipped, you’ll only need to dodge two of them. These can also be sidestepped.
Explosive Retreat Holy Trumpitour will slowly walk towards you, and face the mortar at the ground before shooting at the floor, creating a small explosion and causing him to leap back from the force. This is more of an evasive maneuver than an attack, although it will still damage you if you’re hit by it. When he starts walking towards you, back up to avoid the explosion. This will normally be followed up with the Explosive Shells attack.
Flamethrower Holy Trumpitour will slowly walk towards you while spraying flames from the tip of his mortar. Dodge through the flame towards him then run away and wait for it to finish. Another nice tip is to place a Lightning Rod in front of him, and the flames will trigger Lightning Rod draining his Will-Gauge. If the gauge drops to half, he will stop.
Recoil Holy Trumpitour will flip his mortar around before jumping and slamming it to the ground, creating a stalagmite out of the ground. This is a three-part attack. Either dodge as the butt of the mortar is about to hit the ground/you or run away from him to avoid it entirely.
Rocketeer This is a charge attack with a twist! Holy Trumpitour will grab the side of his mortar riding it across the arena three times like a rocket. These will all be aimed at you, obviously. As with all charge attacks, wait for it to get close, and dodge through it. If you’re quick enough, you can sidestep and attack him to make it stop.
Fragmentation Holy Trumpitour will aim his mortar downwards into the ground which will unleash multiple explosions of stalagmite across the arena. The explosions are indicated by a cracked orange circle (like the ground is about to erupt). This is a simple runaway/dodge-type attack. It will last for a while, so focus on staying off the indicators, and dodge if one explodes beneath you.

(1 of 6) Holy Trumpitour’s Mortar combo has him perform two lunging sweep attack before jumping and slamming down with an overhead smash.

Recommended Abilities for Holy Trumpitour

Here we will list our recommended ability set up to do this fight effectively:

Eikon Ability Damage Type
"Bahamut" iconBahamut "Gigaflare" iconGigaflare Damage (5 Stars)
"Bahamut" iconBahamut "Impulse" iconImpulse Will (3 Stars)
"Garuda" iconGaruda "Gouge" iconGouge Will (4 Stars)
"Garuda" iconGaruda "Lightning Rod" iconLightning Rod Damage (2 Stars), Will (3 Stars) - Master this and place it as the second Garuda ability.
"Titan" iconTitan "Windup" iconWindup Damage (4 Stars)
"Titan" iconTitan "Will-o'-the-Wykes" iconWill-o’-the-Wykes Will (2 Stars) - Master this and place it as the second Titan ability.

The reason behind the chosen abilities is as follows. Bahamut for Gigaflare which is one of the most powerful attacks in the game. This is fantastic to use at any time, but especially at the end of a stagger phase when combined with Lightning Rod. We also take Impulse to deal Will damage from range. Wait for all the projectiles to turn orange, and hit execute to deal major Will damage. Finally,"Wings of Light" iconWings of Light can also be really strong, especially when you get to level 5 Megaflare and use it just before the stagger phase.

Garuda is mainly brought along for the "Deadly Embrace" iconDeadly Embrace feat which can be useful at half Will-Gauge to pull Holy Trumpitour to the ground. Follow this up with a Lightning Rod, and Gouge, and the rest of the gauge should get depleted, opening up a stagger phase.

With Titan, it gives you some counter opportunities with "Titanic Block" iconTitanic Block should you need it, and Windup is one of the highest damage attacks in the game. Finally, add Will-o’-the-Wykes to Titan which gives you invulnerability for four attacks when upgraded.

Recommended Items and Equipment for Holy Trumpitour

Gear

For your Weapon, Belt, and Vambraces, you should have the following:

Weapon Belt Vambraces
Brightburn "Drakeslayer's Belt" iconDrakeslayer’s Belt "Drakeslayer's Bracelets" iconDrakeslayer’s Bracelets

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
Adamantite Gauntlets "Berserker Ring" iconBerserker Ring (Increase attack proficiency with each Precision Dodge.) "The Grace of the Inferno (Will-o'-the-Wykes)" iconThe Grace of the Inferno (Will-o’-the-Wykes) (Will-o’-the-Wykes duration increased by 5 seconds)

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" iconPotion "High Potion" iconHigh Potion "Stoneskin Tonic" iconStoneskin Tonic

Holy Trumpitour is difficult for a B-Rank, so we recommend taking the "Stoneskin Tonic" iconStoneskin Tonic to help negate some of the damage you’ll receive. If you’re proficient with dodging, you can opt for a "Strength Tonic" iconStrength Tonic.

Holy Trumpitour Hunt Strategy

The Man in Black is difficult for a B-Rank. Most of them so far are simply a turn up, and defeat them kind of deal, but this time is different with Holy Trumpitour. He is deceptively quick for a large man, and his mortar packs a lot of power. One thing you’ll notice from the start is that he always seems to be doing something which leaves no moment of respite.

Also, unlike other hunts, most of his attacks will deal a lot of damage should you get hit by one. The Mortar Combo, and Recoil attacks will most likely cause you the most problems due to their multi-hit nature where, if one of the attacks hit you, it’s extremely difficult to recover from, which results in you getting hit by the follow-ups. Even Explosive Shells, a simple projectile-based attack can cause significant damage should you get hit by it because when one hits, the other three will hit as well, and this can cut your health in half.

(1 of 2) Holy Trumpitour will place his mortar into the ground.

Holy Trumpitour will place his mortar into the ground. (left), This will unleash numerous explosions across the arena which stalagmites will appear from. Keep mobile to avoid the attack. (right)

Then you have Rocketeer, which is a charge attack, but unlike the other hunts charge attacks, this happens three times in quick succession, although it will stop if it hits you, or you hit him. The least dangerous attacks are Explosive Retreat, and surprisingly his signature attack, Fragmentation. The former is more of an evasive maneuver while the latter places mini explosions across the arena. Although a lot is going on, it’s relatively easy to evade by avoiding the markers indicating the explosions across the floor.

The best way to handle the Holy Trumpitour is with counters through dodging, more specifically, precision dodges with the Berserker’s Ring equipped. Every perfect dodge will give you ample time to get a few decent combos in. Alternatively, and arguably easier to perform is to use Will-o’-the-Wykes to absorb the attacks while you take down its Will-Gauge with a combination of Impulse, Lightning Rod, Gouge, and Deadly Embrace.

Once Holy Trumpitour is staggered, use the following abilities in this order for massive damage. Place a Lightning Rod next to the Man in Black, then use Gouge to raise the damage multiplier to x1.50. Follow this up with a Gigaflare, and finish it with a Windup. This should be all done under "Limit Break" iconLimit Break and a Strength Tonic if you opted for them. If you have any time left on the stagger gauge after all of that, do a combo or two.

A couple of the above stagger phase combos will be enough to take down Holy Trumpitour. Once you’ve defeated him, you’ll be rewarded with 2,530 XP, 75 AP, 13,230 Gil, and 20 Renown. On top of that, you’ll obtain the invaluable "Scarletite" iconScarletite as well as a "Meteorite" iconMeteorite from the spoils.

Want to Know How to Craft the Excalibur in FF16?

Read the pages below to find out how to craft the "Excalibur" iconExcalibur:

More Final Fantasy 16 Hunts

For information on some of the other "Notorious Marks" iconNotorious Marks you can take on in Final Fantasy XVI, check out these pages below:

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Square Enix
  • Platforms,
    PS5
  • Genre
    Action RPG
  • Guide Release
    21 June 2023
  • Last Updated
    2 August 2023
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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This is the tale of Clive Rosfield, a warrior granted the title “First Shield of Rosaria” and sworn to protect his younger brother Joshua, the dominant of the Phoenix. This guide for Final Fantasy XVI contains the following:

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