Aranea Highwind/Gameplay

Aranea appears as a boss and a guest party member in Final Fantasy XV and its DLC scenario "Episode Prompto." She embodies the classic Final Fantasy class Dragoon, able to fight airborne, uses jump attacks, wears black armor and wields a lance. She is agile and powerful, and when in the party as a guest can perform link-strikes with the player character and use Techniques. Unlike the other guest characters who only join as part of the story, Aranea has a chance of appearing randomly to help the party fight daemons in Chapters 8 and 15.


 * For playable appearances outside Final Fantasy XV see Aranea Highwind.

Boss


Aranea is fought during Imperial Infiltration. She employs her signature move, Highwind, during battle to damage the party heavily. The best way to damage her is by blocking and parrying this attack.

Party member
Aranea will join the party as a guest in A Party of Three. The player cannot customize her equipment. Her primary arm is the Stoss Spear. Her accessories are Electric Actuator, A-1 Class Powershield and Inertia Controller. Her attire is Dragon Mail.

Aranea is a mid-range fighter, using her lance to create some distance between her and enemies. She will occasionally use jump attacks on enemies. Like Cor, she has higher parameters than the main party.

Her party Technique is Highwind, which has Aranea jump into the air before diving and slamming her lance into the ground, creating shockwaves around the area. The attack deals massive damage at the cost of three tech bars. She will perform link-strikes with Noctis.

Whenever she rescues someone who is Danger condition, she slaps them across the face.

After the party's first encounter with her in Chapter 7, there is a rare chance Aranea will temporarily join during battles on the open world. Her drop ship will appear near the battle and she'll jump into the fray, serving as a guest party member for the duration of combat. Once the battle is over, she says some parting words and jumps into the air, vanishing. Aranea's drop ship is red as opposed to the ships that drop enemies.

While in the party, Aranea participates in camps and photos. She can't be targeted by items (save items that target the whole party), has no chocobo, doesn't ride in the Regalia, blocks Tour quests, and the player can't fish when she is around.

Aranea as a party member glitch
There is a glitch to get Aranea stuck in the player's party after the Chapter 7 temple mission. The player must camp at Cotisse Haven north of Hammerhead, then wait until midnight and save. The game must be saved at midnight or Aranea will not appear. The player can pick up a nighttime bounty to fast-forward to night.

After midnight the drop ships will stop appearing and Iron Giants will spawn. Heading north towards the mountains and the red fence, the player can use the monster whistle to spawn an Iron Giant. If imperial ships appear instead, the player should wait until the ship flies away, then fast-travel to the car, then back to camp. If the player keeps getting imperial airships they should take out all soldiers.

As soon as the Iron Giant attacks, Aranea should arrive. The player can exit the combat radius, bring up the map, and Return to rest point. To get her in the party the player must open the camp menu before her animation starts, and she joins. If the player waits too long, the user interface will be locked. While the menu is open, the player can look around for Aranea. Once she jumps down and appears near the camp, the player can camp. In the morning, the player should reload the auto-save from the camping.

Aranea will leave the party when the game resets at certain story events or quests. During the endgame the player can remove her by repeating the final battles and reloading the new clear file. The player can also remove her by going to Pitioss Ruins secret dungeon, or by summoning a second Aranea as usual. When the battle is finished both Araneas will disappear.

Party member
Aranea joins Prompto as a guest. She doesn't have an HP bar and thus cannot be KO'd in battle, making her "unstoppable". She acts autonomously and swiftly moves through the battlefield to attack enemies. When there are no enemies, she will follow the player. She can perform the DLC episode's version of link-strikes with Prompto if the opportunity arises.

She has two Techniques: Highwind is used outdoors, while Dragoon Dive is used indoors. The player can invoke Aranea to use them with the Technique command, and her Techniques cost 2 tech bars. Aranea downing enemies can make enemies weak for Prompto to use his crackshot for critical damage.

The boss battle against Barbarus has the boss climb to the ceiling, during which time Aranea can't attack it.

If the player is doing well Aranea will praise Prompto.