By the time you reach Final Fantasy XVIafter a minimum of 35 hours, protagonist Clive Rosfield can call upon the power of eight different magical beings called Eikons, each the guardian of a specific element. Phoenix fire offers several different ways to scorch enemies, and Shiva’s ice can freeze them solidly. But if you want to be ready for what awaits you in the endgame, you’ll need to prepare with a very specific build. In fact, it’s such a good build that you can take it in pretty much any encounter, whether it’s a high-level hunt or a side quest.

Some Eikon abilities are great for crowd control. Others are great for single target damage. Therefore, the best abilities for a given battle depend on what you will encounter. Without spoiling too much, the final gauntlet of battles is against a single target that’s roughly Clive’s size. It is therefore similar to the fights against Lord Commander Sleipnir of the Kingdom of Waloed or the battle against Odin’s Dominant, Barnabus Tharmr. As such, the best kit is going to focus on counter attacks and single target damage.

With all that in mind, here are the Eikons you’ll want to channel:

If you’ve upgraded all of the best Eikonic abilities enough, you’ll be able to equip them regardless of which three Eikons you channel (or equip). The only reason you would channel any Eikon is to take advantage of his Eikonic Feat, the innate feature like Phoenix Shift teleportation.

Channeling Titan is a must, especially against single enemy fights so you can take advantage of the innate Eikonic Feat Titanic block. Tapping the circle at the right time triggers a precision block that launches a three-hit counterattack that fills up Clive’s Limit Break gauge at an accelerated rate and deals a solid amount of damage.

Learn more: Final Fantasy XVI: 8 useful settings to adjust for the best experience

With Arm of Darkness, the circle button allows Clive to wield Odin’s sword. All attacks charge the Zantetsuken gauge to be an ultimate attack that slows down time and deals a lot of damage.

These are the Eikonic abilities you want:

PulseAir BlastRising FlamesRanging FistsGigaflareDancing Steel

Screenshot: Square Enix

Bahamut’s Pulse has great DPS bonus potential as it sends out multiple spheres that track targets and deal continuous damage, and it has a very reasonable cooldown. Whether you’re going up against a crowd of enemies or a boss, it’s a solid choice. Garuda’s airburst summons a tornado that deals a massive amount of Willpower damage, so it will stun enemies faster than anything else and stalk enemies…just like Impulse!

Phoenix’s Rising Flames is a must-have for any build at any stage of the game. Although its damage is lacking compared to most other abilities, it has one of the shortest cooldowns of any attack and is easy to land. Spam it as often as possible between regular attacks. Titan’s Raging Fists is a good game to pair with Rising Flames as it has a modest cooldown that is reduced by 50% if you execute a well-timed block against enemy attacks. In theory, if you time your blocks well, you should be able to spam both of these attacks. And that gives you a counterattack option on two of your three Eikon channels.

Odin’s Dancing Steel is an excellent ability that summons twin blades for a flurry of attacks that charge the Zantetsuken Gauge. So you’ll want to channel Odin so you can capitalize on access to Zantetsuken, part of his Eikonic feat which deals a huge amount of damage with two powerful slashes. Gigaflare is by far the absolute best Eikonic ability. Not only does it get top marks in raw damage, but it also has a slowing effect while Clive summons wings of Bahamut and blasts enemies in a straight line with a massive beam of energy.

Final Fantasy Gear You’ll Need Bahamut’s Mercy – Reduces Gigaflare cooldown by 6.0 seconds. Genji Gloves – Increases damage dealt to enemies by 5%. Berserker Ring – Temporarily increases attack skill with each precision dodge.

Gigaflare’s big downside is its long cooldown, so equipping Bahamut’s Mercy mitigates that significantly. It’s a reward for completing the “A Tail to Tell” quest, in which you find a flower for Harpocrates to give to Dion at the very end of the game.

Increasing all damage by 5% with the Genji Gloves is also better than pretty much any other damage increasing accessory. (Most of them increase the damage of a single ability by 10%.) This one is a reward for reaching 2365 Renown at Boss’s Whisper, so if you miss out, complete more side quests and hunts until so that you can earn it from the NPC Désirée in the mess.

Learn more: 15 critical tips to know before playing Final Fantasy 16

The Berserker ring is also a great choice, as it improves attack skill with each successful precision dodge, something you’ll want to do constantly anyway. This is the first Patron’s Whisper reward at 85 fame. If there’s one item you can swap for something else, it’s this one.

The strategy to bring it all together in FF16

Always start with Aerial Blast then Impulse. This will deal a solid amount of Willpower damage that will cause the enemy to stagger. And, if necessary, use Titanic Block against any attack that comes your way.

Then it’s time to switch to Phoenix to use Rising Flames and go for a Raging Fists block. But as soon as that’s done, go straight to Odin and unleash Dancing Steel. This will recharge Zantetsuken a lot. If you were successful in staggering the enemy, now is the time to start blasting with Gigaflare. Otherwise, you might as well use Odin’s Arm of Darkness for a while, focusing on the Flash of Steel precision dodge counterattack and Steel Counter parry. (That’s where that Berserker Ring will come in handy.) Pop Zantetsuken as soon as it’s ready. And keep going through your abilities in this way.

You’d be hard pressed to find a more effective combat flow than this to handle just about anything Final Fantasy XVI can throw at you.

Image: Marvel/Second Dinner/Kotaku

If you, like me John Walker, are still working your way through the lower echelons of marvel snap, there’s a good chance there are some cards that you cling to because they worked so well for you. However, now you start losing more often, wondering what went wrong. The answer is: kill your darlings.

With the help of my colleague Zack Zwiezen, who’s been playing the game for a while now, we’ve put together a list of cards you might want to remove from your decks.

Now, let’s be clear: none of us are saying that these cards are totally useless, or that keeping them in your deck is always a bad idea. It’s just that they were the ones that felt so good in the beginning that you may not have been able to bring yourself to recognize their weaknesses and prevent you from experimenting with more interesting combinations. Be bold, be brave and let those babies go.

And remember you can always add them back later if you experiment too much and end up with a stinky deck! Anyway, let’s start cutting some cards!

Mercury

Image: Marvel/Second Dinner/Kotaku

As Kotaku has already gone down, Quicksilver was developer Second Dinner’s brilliant solution to completely removing the concept of mulligans from their deck-building card game. Guaranteeing a 1-cost card in your hand at the start of each game ensures that you can always play the first turn, every time, and immediately add 2 powers to the board. Which, at first, seemed vital. Except the more you play, the more you realize that being able to play in the first round isn’t that important.

Chances are you won’t place anything game-changing this first round. And indeed, by not playing in the first turn, you push back other 1-cost cards like Elektra. You can even obnoxiously choose not to play a cost 1 you might have in your hand on turn 1, just so you can play two more tactically on turn 2. Again, for example, Elektra!

And, as we’ll see below, decks that go for as many one-cost cards as possible will get weaker and weaker as you climb through the ranks, which means Quicksilver’s lack of extra abilities will make it weaker and weaker. quickly makes it more of a burden than a boon.

Uatu

Image: Marvel/Second Dinner/Kotaku

When you first come across Uatu, it feels like a secret hack, a map giving you a special insight that’s inaccessible to anyone who hasn’t found it yet. Its ability to show you the properties of unrevealed locations feels like something that lets you plan ahead and make psychic moves your opponent can’t predict. And, to some degree, on some level, it sort of does.

Except it won’t happen often enough to warrant Uatu taking up valuable space in your 12-card deck. The problem is how many conditions have to be right for it to actually be useful. Obviously enough, you need the chance to draw it early enough to work. Unless you get it on the first or second turn, Uatu’s ability is pretty useless. Second, you need to play a game with places where prior knowledge is actually useful.

So many places have properties where prescience is of very little value. Finding out that when he reveals you’ll get a random card added to your hand, a random card drawn from your hand, or a 12 power card added to both sides…it’s very rare that this is vital information for you . Yes, there are absolutely circumstances where it’s great, where knowing that every card will get 5+ power when played there means you can charge in and dominate where your opponent might not. But does it happen frequently enough for Uatu to remain a vital card? Really, no.

Pontoon

Image: Marvel/Second Dinner/Kotaku

This one is tough. But listen: there are better and more interesting ways to a great finish. Hulk’s been here all along to give you the satisfaction of playing a ridiculous 12-power card on those Group 1 robots. But it’s baby food, and you’re ready for solid food.

Of course, you don’t have anything else in your deck that offers so much power. It’s simple logic. But the Hulk’s simplicity is the problem. Using all your energy in Round 6 on a card that does nothing but add a bunch of power means you miss out on big, much more fun finishes. Never mind that Shang-Chi, available from Collector Level 222, can wipe it out with his “Destroy all enemy cards there that have 9 or more power”.

But there are so many cards that do more interesting things in the final turn. Like Odin, who adds 8 power, but also rerolls all other cards’ On Reveal abilities in the slot. This means you can see White Tiger place another 7 power card on another slot, bringing its total contribution to 15, while retriggering Gamora’s additional +5 power if the opponent plays a card there. That puts Gamora at a total of 17, even without factoring in a possible third card in the slot, just playing Odin increased our power by 20. Take that, Hulk.

America Chávez

Image: Marvel/Second Dinner/Kotaku

When you first receive this card, you might be excited. America is a 6 cost/9 power card that always spawns on turn six, which is usually the last turn in most Marvel Snap games. And yes, it’s nice to know that a powerful 9 power card is definitely going to appear at the end of your match. But that also means it doesn’t lay around in your hand, which means it can’t be buffed or randomly thrown into the field early on.

And while adding the power of 9 at the end of a match can be helpful, you’ll quickly come across games as you rank up where the power of 9 just isn’t enough to reclaim an area or lock down. Something. Worse, America has no special abilities beyond showing up on turn 6. So, like Quicksilver, they show up and don’t really do anything. And unlike Hulk who is very strong, America is only kind of strong. In a specific deck built around the buff, it might work, but there are better 6 and even 5 cost cards to trade instead.

Domino

Image: Marvel/Second Dinner/Kotaku

Let’s just throw that in here too, while we’re talking about America Chavez and Quicksilver. Like those cards, Domino has a unique ability that means it’s guaranteed to end up in your hand on turn two. And as a 2-cost/3-power, she looks useful as a first-round follow-up to Quicksilver. And right from the start, you can definitely win with Domino. But eventually, you will have to overcome these cards.

It’s hard, I know, but while giving them up means you’re giving up the consistency of always knowing what’s coming on turns one, two, and six, you’re also giving up three slots in your little 12-card deck at characters with no other purpose. They don’t buff, boost, move, kill, destroy, or do anything useful like that. Again, in some decks, these cards can be useful. But there are so many better cards you could use instead of Domino, Quicksilver, and America. Say goodbye to consistency and hello to chaos. It’s the Marvel Snap way.

Mantis

Image: Marvel/Second Dinner/Kotaku

Mantis, like other Guardians of the Galaxy related characters, has a reveal ability that appears when your opponent plays a card there on the same turn it is played. But unlike Gamora, Star-Lord, or Rocket, Mantis doesn’t receive a power boost, instead drawing a card from the opposing player’s deck. It’s fun and chaotic, which we support! Snap is more fun when things are unpredictable and wild. But that becomes much less useful in most situations pretty quickly.

The number of times people play Mantis, get a card, and then never use that card because it doesn’t sync with their deck’s synergy is high. And that’s if your opponent plays a card this turn and you guess the correct location. If you don’t, then Mantis is a shitty 1 cost / 2 power paperweight just waiting to be killed by Elektra or worse, left there with no way for you to remove it, taking up valuable possessions real estate. So, yeah, drop Mantis. And if you yell “Well, she’s part of my Zoo Deck!” Right now, here’s some more bad news…

zoo decks

Image: Marvel/Second Dinner/Kotaku

The “Zoo Deck” was certainly one of Snap’s most popular early meta decks, but in the face of the more common addition of Killmonger to players’ decks, it’s now proving to be a liability.

A Zoo Deck is a community-given name for decks that collect many low-cost cards, especially 1-cost cards, which often feature animal artwork. (Not often enough to warrant the name, but that’s the name they have anyway.) Defenders celebrate that they allow you to play multiple cards on later turns, surprising players who rely on heavy 5 and 6 cost cards, like some sort of cheeky rogue scampering between the angry giant’s legs. Except, because of Killmonger, they’re pretty much useless.

Killmonger seems like an amazing OP card, although it can only be picked up by players who have reached collectible level 462. At only 3 costs, with 3 powers, it’s a card that can be played from the turn 3, and devastatingly knocks out every 1-cost card from the board. Yours and theirs. And the pool people 2 report seeing him shows up a lot. The effects are brutal. Oh, and Zoo Decks can also be beaten hard by a Scorpion, which reduces the attack power of all cards in your hand by one point, which can easily cost you a close match when most cards cost 1 are weak. So yes, Zoo Decks are fun… but it’s not worth it later.