Fire a massive beam of overcharged light that burns any enemy it hits.
Description
Gigaflare is Bahamut's most powerful Eikonic Ability in Final Fantasy XVI, which the player can assign to Clive's loadout. Clive will fire a massive beam of light that deals damage multiple times to all targets caught in its area of effect. The player can direct the beam with and
to attract more enemies. It has a fast cooldown for an "ultimate move". Gigaflare is one of the strongest Eikonic Abilities at Clive's disposal.
Gigaflare is also used by Bahamut during his eikonic encounter with Ifrit, launching a beam of light that requires precise dodging to avoid taking heavy damage.
Obtained[]
Clive gains access to Bahamut's powers as part of the story, during "Fire in the Sky", usable in his loadout after the events in Twinside. Gigaflare can then be learned for 2730 AP, and assigned to Clive's light loadout in the Gear & Eikons menu.
Mechanics[]
Clive can use Gigaflare in battle whenever it is equipped to his current loadout. Gigaflare has Clive fire a beam of light that the player can aim with and
. All enemies caught within the beam's area of effect are damaged continuously for the duration of the attack, as Gigaflare persists for a good while. During Gigaflare's animation, time slows down for everyone but Clive, meaning he can fire uninterrupted yet his abilities' cooldowns (including for Gigaflare itself) keep recovering at the usual pace.
Gigaflare activates the eponymous battle technique when the player strikes an enemy multiple times with a single Gigaflare.
After being used, the ability has a 60-second cooldown before being able to be used again, which is fast for an "ultimate". Upgrading/mastering the ability has no effect on its cooldown. The cooldown begins from when Clive initiates the ability, not when its animation ends, meaning that the "effective" cooldown is even shorter than 60 seconds.
Completing Bahamut's chronolith trial earns The Favor of Light (Gigaflare) accessory, which increases Gigaflare's damage by 5%.
AP cost | Effect |
---|---|
2730 (Base) | Able to equip Gigaflare to Clive's light loadout. |
3250 (Upgrade) | Increases the number of hits from the beam. |
6000 (Master) | Able to equip Gigaflare to any loadout. |
Use[]
Gigaflare is a good Eikonic "ultimate" Ability for its strong power, synergy with Bahamut's other moves, and comparatively fast cooldown. Though expensive, it is worth upgrading to add even more damage to the power of the beam if the player is using it in their loadout.
Gigaflare is a generally good ability to use, and it works well with Satellite: when Clive has Satellite active, the player can tap the magic execute button repeatedly during Gigaflare's animation to have the satellites shoot lasers to Clive's targets, supplementing damage as well as adding more will damage. Likewise, deploying Impulse before using Gigaflare allows the player to detonate the bombs in the middle of the latter's animation, if optimal. The player can further enhance the setup by deploying a Lightning Rod from Ramuh in front of Clive's target, and then hitting both the enemy and the rod with Gigaflare's beam.
Gigaflare is good fired into a group of enemies, as well as against a larger formidable one. It is good against bosses who are staggered, best initiated nearer to the end of stagger after the player has built the damage multiplier (e.g. by using Gouge first). Gigaflare is good for building Clive's Limit Break with its sheer power and ease of use.
Gigaflare's one downside could be considered to be that using it in every encounter, or whenever a formidable foe staggers, might feel boring. Adding Satellites to the attack, however, allows the player to still engage during Gigaflare's animation beyond just directing the beam.
During the chronolith trial with the Bahamut's abilities, activating Collateral Gigaflare by striking two enemies with a single Gigaflare earns a 15-second time bonus.

Bahamut using Gigaflare.
Gigaflare is also an enemy ability used by Bahamut in the eikonic encounter against him as Ifrit.
Etymology[]
Gigaflare is a recurring ability associated with Bahamut in the Final Fantasy series, named as such for being stronger than Bahamut's signature ability, Megaflare.
Giga is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of a (short-form) billion (109 or 1,000,000,000). It has the symbol G.
flare is a pyrotechnical phenomenon that produces intense amounts of heat and energy that does not result in an explosion (an immediate release of energy).
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