Final Fantasy 16 Typhon boss strategy
A summoned demon reborn.
Typhon is an Eikon, whose name will be familiar as both a summon and boss in past Final Fantasy games, but takes on a significantly different form in Final Fantasy 16.
Gone is the cartoonish pink monster and, instead, we have something a bit more humanoid and nightmarish appearing from the literal void. He still doesn't have legs though, and floats in the air.
As with Garuda, this is another Final Fantasy 16 battle that consists of multiple phases as well as another Eikon vs Eikon clash, though you'll also awaken to new powers too, so don't expect this fight to play out the same.
Below you'll learn how to defeat Typhon in Final Fantasy 16, along with how to prepare for this formidable Eikon as you embark on a very important shift in the story.
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How to prepare for Typhon
The fight against Typhon occurs at the end of the level Drake's Head during the main scenario quest 'The Crystals' Curse' in Final Fantasy 16, so you will need to have already ensured you've equipped and forged the latest gear at the Hideaway since you can't back out in the middle of the level without restarting. You will, however, find a few potions you can pick up nearby before entering the next area where the boss awaits.
Though it's worth spending the ability points from the previous fights before you get to this boss, it's not going to be as important since, for the majority of this battle, you will be controlling Ifrit, so Clive's own skills aren't going to matter after the first phase.
While you start the level with party members, you'll be facing this battle alone (sorry, Torgal sits this one out too) although it's the Eikon Ramuh who will get things started. There will be a major cutscene as these two Eikons clash before Clive finds himself warped into another plane where he will have to face Typhon head on himself.
How to defeat Typhon in Final Fantasy 16
Before you face Typhon in Final Fantasy 16, he's actually wounded from his scrap with Ramuh, with a huge staff pierced through his chest. During this phase, you'll just be fending off waves of akashic enemies, beginning with revenants, followed by specters and then wraiths. These mobs are easy enough for Clive to take out with his usual swordplay and Eikon abilities, though you'll have to watch out for other attacks in the arena such as AOE (area of effect) blasts and lasers.
As each wave passes, it buys more time for Typhon to pull the staff out of his chest. Once you've taken care of the wraiths, a cutscene plays with a QTE (quick time event) prompting you to press R1 for a cinematic evasion. Things are about to step up and, at the end of this cutscene, you'll be back in control of Ifrit and now this battle is ready to get underway.
Ifrit has an improved and faster moveset this time compared to the fight against Garuda. Where that one played out like a kaiju/wrestling match, this time your movesets feel more similar to Clive's though on a more Eikonic level.
For instance, you can use R1 to dodge (and precision dodge), charge up your fireball attacks like Clive's magic burst, and, instead of lunging, you'll be able to just sprint by holding Circle, while using the left stick to freely move in any direction. You'll find more abilities listed under Eikonic Abilities in the main menu, though we definitely recommend pressing Square and X together to execute Heat Rush - essentially the Eikonic equivalent of a Shoryuken (he's basically Ken, much as it pains us to admit).
If you were previously short on potions, Ifrit can fortunately heal himself with something similar called Firelight, which is also mapped to the d-pad much like your consumables and you'll be able to use this six times.
With all that out of the way, let's get onto the fight itself. Ifrit has the advantage of being able to get in fast, while Typhon is quite slow. One of his attacks has him raising his arm in the air and slamming it down in front of him. He also swipes with his arms, either as a one-two combo or using both arms at the same time, and another where he lunges forward arm-first as a charge attack.
In all of the above cases, these attacks require him to wind up his arms with a very telegraphed charging animation which makes it easy to time precision dodges to counter, while he takes a few seconds to recover from his arm slam, allowing you to get in for some free hits. You can quickly deal a lot of damage, though it's the will gauge that will go down faster, so naturally you want to stagger him to deal even more damage.
Typhon is a bit more of a threat from range. He can warp away from you and then start charging up an ability called Unending Clamor, which surrounds you in a huge purple circle that's being charged up for an AOE attack. Just immediately sprint out of the blast radius when this happens and you may even be able to close the distance on Typhon to land some hits before he finishes this move.
He'll also sometimes fire off waves of blue projectiles at you or may swing his arm along the ground, which sends a wave attack from the ground towards you. These can be dodged, though from the range you'll be at, it will be better to counter with your own fireballs rather than a melee attack.
When Typhon's health is almost down, he brings out some more ranged-based attacks. One has him using both arms to send out bursts of blue projectiles in bullet-hell fashion. Another has lasers shooting out from his hands, which start out at the side before he swings them forward. If those lasers don't catch you, then an explosion from the ground where the lasers hit seconds later will unless you dodge and get out of there.
You'll actually have to keep pummeling Typhon, even when his health is down to zero, until you partially stagger him. A cutscene then plays out, and of course, the fight is far from over. You now have to face Typhon the Transgressor.
How to defeat Typhon the Transgressor
With an extra pair of arms, and a new hair colour, Typhon the Transgressor is basically a souped up version of itself, with some similar melee attacks that are still telegraphed in the same fashion. Though this time, when he brings his arms down for a forward slam, this usually follows with a charge attack where those arms then swing back out to catch you, so be sure to dodge this or use swift recovery to get back up quickly.
It's again the ranged attacks that pose more of a threat, not least because you want to try and close the distance at the same time as you evade these attacks. He still has his Unending Clamor, but this can now cover more ground as sometimes it's multiple overlapping AOE attacks. Depending on his position, he may even drop these in his own vicinity. In any case, you'll need to spring out of the blast radius the moment it starts charging up if you want to avoid taking huge damage.
A new attack has him pointing a laser at you from his finger that charges up before firing off a laser blast. If you can get right up close to him, so you're beneath him, then you'll be out of his finger's firing range. The shower of projectiles he fires off also changes somewhat, so, instead of firing out as a spread, they will start to home in on you and you need to dodge these.
More deadly is Demon Wall, which sees Typhon warping back to a greater distance before sending a wall towards you. As it charges towards you, there will be a single gap you can position yourself into to evade it. Sprinting from side to side comes in useful here so you can align yourself in front of the gap in time. Since he'll summon a few walls at you, suffice to say you won't have the luxury of trying to close the distance, so just focus on not getting hit.
One other move to watch out for is Catacecaumene. Here lasers will shoot from his four arms into the ground, which, in turn, have pillars of lasers shooting out randomly from the ground. Just to further confuse you, he'll also pull off Unending Clamor in the middle of this. In our experience, you're actually less likely to get hit by the former than you will the latter because of the wide AOE, but don't get distracted and just sprint away from there before it makes an impact.
It's really all about evading these big attacks then closing in for a flurry of Ifrit's attacks while also taking advantage of stagger when you can. If you do get caught in some big damage, don't forget to make use of the Firelight to heal yourself.
When Typhon is down to about 10 percent of his health, it's plain sailing as we're back to QTEs.
He'll come in for a surprise attack, which follows with a prompt to press R1 for a cinematic evasion. Next you'll have to mash Square for a cinematic clash, before Ifrit readies his Hellfire move, which this time is a massive ball of fire formed in the air. You can't use it right away, as there's another prompt to press R1 for a cinematic evasion, then a final mash of Square for a cinematic clash before you can finally unleash Hellfire and finish the fight.
Typhon rewards
Defeating Typhon in Final Fantasy 16 will earn you 870 XP, 200 ability points, and 3,500 Gil. In terms of spoils, you'll receive a special accessory called The Breath of Fire, which when equipped reduces the Flames of Rebirth Eikon ability cooldown time by 12 seconds, as well as 25 sharp fang, 20 steelsilk and 70 magicked ash crafting materials.
That's not all. There's also a major cutscene right after this fight, and, while you'll want to see it for yourself, this is when Clive will also unlock the power of Ramuh - your third Eikon in the game. Get ready as the story and timeline in Final Fantasy 16 is about to change drastically. In many ways, the game has only just properly begun!