Final Fantasy 16 hunt battles explained

Clive looking weary in Final Fantasy 16.

Clive looking weary in Final Fantasy 16.

Final Fantasy 16 offers plenty of challenges besides the main story, with side quests, New Game +, and hardcore difficulties to test your skills in combat. Some of the most unique side content is hunt battles in Final Fantasy 16.

While Final Fantasy 16 isn't technically an open-world title, it does have big hubs for players to immerse themselves in and explore, battling random enemies, levelling up, and doing side quests, including hunt battles. This is everything you need to know about hunt battles in Final Fantasy 16!

The Atlas boss enemy in Final Fantasy 16.
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Credit: Square Enix
Hunt battles have difficulty ratings

What are hunt battles in Final Fantasy 16?

Hunt battles involve monsters, called Notorious Marks, of different difficulties you can encounter exploring Final Fantasy 16's several open-ended areas.

After you travel to your hideaway, you can get information on these beasts by accessing the Hunt Board. Of course, you can also run into them randomly if you get lost exploring the land of Valisthea.

Via the Hunt Board, you can get a known location for a Notorious Mark, as well as a rank. The better the rank, the harder the fight; however, so will the rewards you'll reap for defeating the beast.

You can take on any boss at any given moment, with the highest difficulty tier being S-ranked Notorious Marks. These are extremely difficult, so you should stock up on healing items and other necessary accessories to face them head-on.

Defeating a Notorious Mark will hand out amazing rewards that include currency for Clive to buy all sorts of equipment, as well as a decent chunk of XP to level up his Eikonic Feats and abilities, so they're worth doing if you get the chance.

Are hunt battles hard in Final Fantasy 16?

Even if you're under-levelled for a given hunt battle, don't be afraid to try it out, as Final Fantasy 16 is designed to give you the opportunity to overcome boss fights while at a disadvantage. It's up to you to figure out a good combination of Eikonic Feats and abilities to counter the Notorious Mark's moves.

You can also rely on Clive's party members to help out in battle, the most important being Torgal. Clive's trusty hound comes with different commands to aid you in combat, including the ability to heal Clive without using potions or other healing items.

The amount of hunt battles that will be available in Final Fantasy 16 is yet unknown, but rest assured we'll have plenty of guides to help you beat them soon. With that said, we recommend you check out other Final Fantasy 16 content we have prepared for you, including the best weapons and abilities in the game.