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The best skills in Final Fantasy 16

Jesse Lennox
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It was made clear from the start that Final Fantasy 16 would feature a much more action-oriented battle system than any other entry in the series. While not quite on the level of a Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, the battle system is fast-paced, deep, and allows for tons of experimentation and expression through the various mechanics and skills. While many of the typical JRPG systems have to take a back seat for this new focus, leveling up and learning new skills certainly has not, but instead has changed shape. You will still earn Ability points by leveling up but now spend them as you wish on the various abilities in your menu. There are standard abilities, as well as some tied to your Eikons, and each can be upgraded multiple times to make them more effective. No matter how much you do, you won’t be able to master them all in a single playthrough, so here are the best skills to invest in Final Fantasy 16.

Lunge

A decription and vido showing the lunge skill.
Square Enix

If you’re familiar with the Stinger move in other character-action games, Lunge will instantly be familiar. This move, performed by hitting X and Square at the same time, will cause Clive to lunge forward with his sword toward your target enemy. This is a great way to initiate a battle, or move between targets quickly and while dealing damage. To make it even better, if you interrupt an enemy in the process of attacking you with a Lunge, you can also parry them.

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Lunge costs 25 AP to unlock, and 200 to master.

Charged Magic

Magic works quite differently in Final Fantasy 16 than in basically any other JRPG. Instead of having a magic bar or points you spend to cast spells, Clive can toss out magic basically for free. The downside is that these little pelts don’t do much damage. If you unlock Charged Magic you can — you guessed it — charge your magic to deal far more damage. By holding Triangle Clive will power up his spell before unleashing it, potentially breaking guard.

Charged Magic costs 20 AP to unlock and 250 to master, which reduces the charge time.

Precision Dodge

Dodging isn’t a random chance tied to stats anymore, and instead done by pure skill and timing. You start off with the ability to do Precision Dodges by tapping R1 just before an attack hits Clive to temporarily slow down time and give you an opportunity for either a Precision Counter or Precision Counter Shot depending on whether you hit the attack or magic button. By mastering this skill you make the timing window on activating a Precision Dodge much larger, allowing you to more easily take advantage of them.

Mastering Precision Dodge costs 500 AP.

Swift Recovery

A description and video showing the swift recovery skill
Square Enix

Getting knocked down and waiting those agonizing moments for Clive to get back to his feet is the worst. Thankfully the Swift Recovery skill is cheap and available from the start. Once unlocked, a well-timed press of R1 upon getting knocked off your feet will let you instantly recover and get back into the fight. It’s so simple and cheap, plus makes the combat more fun, there’s no reason not to get it right away.

Swift Recovery costs 10 AP.

Heatwave

Heatwave is a Phoenix ability that you will automatically get as part of the story. This particular skill conjures up a wall of flames that destroys any incoming projectiles and then sends out shockwaves based on the number of projectiles blocked. The more you block, the shorter the cooldown as well. This makes it a great defensive and offensive tool.

You can unlock Heatwave for 120 AP, upgrade it for 620, and master it for 1,000 which allows you to use it with any Eikon equipped.

Judgment Bolt

Yes, this skill is as powerful as the name suggests. A Ramuh skill, you will need to play a bit further on to gain access to it. Once you do, prioritize getting Judgment Bolt. This skill calls down a bolt of lightning to a single target, although there is a small splash damage zone, for massive damage and decent stagger.

You will need to save up quite a bit for this skill. Unlocking Judgment Bolt costs 2,300 AP, another 3,140 to upgrade, and 5,500 to master.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
The best weapons in Starfield
A screenshot of a pilot in a spaceship in Starfield.

One of the most exciting parts of diving into a brand new sci-fi universe like Starfield is discovering all the new futuristic technologies. There are of course spaceships and jetpacks, but what you'll be using most often will be the suite of weaponry. We haven't gone completely beyond the use of traditional guns as we recognize them, but that doesn't mean there aren't more exotic and exciting weapons to find. All weapons fit into a few major categories, but there are many unique variants that have far better stats or special traits that put them above the rest. Here is a quick list of some of the best weapons in Starfield.
Best weapons in Starfield

Magshear
Rifles are among the most common weapons in Starfield, and also the most reliable. They're good at most ranges, tend to have a good rate of fire, and can be tweaked with plenty of mods. The Megshear rifle in particular is one of the most powerful of its class we've encountered. It uses .50 MI ammo, meaning it's going to pack a heavy punch of 12 damage per shot, which is quite high when you consider it has a fire rate of 300. It has a standard range of 40, which is typical, but has five mod slots you can use to tune it to your liking.
Razorback
Let's face it, plenty of you are going to be role-playing a Han Solo-style bounty hunter in Starfield. As such, you will want to be backing the best pistol possible. Pistols may not be viable in most shooters, but there are plenty that can not only hold their own here but even be some of the best weapons in the game. The Razorback, for example, hits like a truck at 61 base damage. This is a revolver-style gun, though, so you have to deal with a very low fire rate of 12 and only six shots per mag, but with eight mod slots, you can turn this hand cannon into just about anything you want.
N67 Smartgun
We all know that scene in Aliens where the Marines pull out the huge smartguns and unload on the xenomorphs swarming them, right? The N67 Smartgun looks more like a traditional chaingun than that but is functionally just as effective. Each round does 11 damage, but when you're spitting bullets out at a fire rate of 350, that adds up very quickly. Each mag holds 300 bullets, with a decent range of 40, but you're trading off accuracy which is just below half at 49.3% so you want to be close. This is a unique gun, meaning it comes with Shattering, which makes it super effective against armor, plus has two mods already installed: a Compensator and Armor-Piercing Rounds.
Technophile's Pacifier
There's not much to say about shotguns in Starfield that you don't already know. Still, if you want to get the most bang for your buckshot, go with the Technophile's Pacifier. Each blast kicks out 93 damage at a decent fire rate of 20. The range, as you would expect, is only 17, but you can up it some thanks to six available mod slots. It is also pretty accurate off the bat at 55.9% and holds seven shells before reloading.
Assassin's Beowulf
Back to rifles, but this time we're looking at more of a sniper-style gun. The Assassin's Beowulf is perfect for scoping out an outpost and picking off targets from the shadows. It deals 44 damage with great range and accuracy. It comes with eight mod slots open, so you will need to tinker with it to add on a scope, long barrel, suppressor, and whatever else you like, but it can easily become your most trusty sniper.
Brawler's Equinox
We weren't going to leave out any of the laser weapons on a list like this, and if you're going to go full sci-fi, grab yourself a Brawler's Equinox. Obviously, this will deal energy damage as opposed to physical, which doesn't really mean much except that you won't get flung around when shooting this weapon in zero-G. This is a rare version of the regular Equinox rifle, with the perk of dealing twice as much melee damage as normal, which may or may not come in handy for you. Regardless, it is basically the laser equivalent of the Magshear in that it is a perfect all-around weapon to keep on your quick-select.
Ember
One of the coolest pistols in the Settled Systems has to be the Ember. Sticking to laser weapons, this one actually has the special effect of shooting ignition beams that can ignite enemies. In terms of raw stats, you're looking at 12 energy damage at a good 25 firing rate, but a low base range of 24. Still, you have seven mod slots to work with, which is well worth it to take advantage of those awesome ignition beams.
Poison Barrow Knife
Just because we have all kinds of new guns and lasers doesn't mean a classic knife isn't worth keeping handy for when things get tough or your ammo runs dry. Rather than pick something like an axe, we opt for knives, specifically the Poison Barrow Knife. This is a very rare drop, but absolutely worth hunting down. It will only do 22 damage per hit, but you can probably guess by the name that it has a bit more going on. First is that this deals an extra 30% damage to aliens, which isn't all that useful, but the second perk will give each hit a random chance to inflict poison on an enemy. Poison, if you're unaware, will slowly drain a target's health, but also slow their movement speed.

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The best OS Tuning upgrades in Armored Core 6
A mech carrying things overlooks a destroyed world in Armored Core 6's reveal trailer.

As much as you're a pilot in Armored Core 6, you're just as much a mechanic. Almost every mission will have you back in the garage swapping out parts, buying new ones, replacing weapons, and customizing your mech for the task at hand. This is quite different from typical FromSoftware games due to the fact that you can't actually improve any weapon or mech part, but that doesn't mean the only way to get better is to buy new parts. OS Tuning upgrades play a major part in your build by giving you a wide range of advantages at the cost of OS Tuning chips you earn from the Arena. These come in passive and active types, and you can unlock and keep all the passives active at once, but will need to pick and choose between active ones. Here are the most powerful OS upgrades you should spend your chips on in Armored Core 6.
Best OS upgrades

Quick Turn
Do yourself a massive favor and significantly improve your quality of life in Armored Core 6 by unlocking Quick Turn. This maneuver lets you snap your mech to either side, or completely flip around, without having to manually rotate around slowly. The only slight trouble is that it is awkward to pull off since the input is using your left analog stick to point in whichever direction you want to turn and you need to press the boost button, which can occasionally send you blasting off when you didn't intend to.
Repair Kits
If you're a FromSoft fan, Repair Kits are your Estus Flasks in Armored Core 6. Unlike the Estus, however, you can never get more than three of them at a time. The only upgrade you can apply to them is with this OS one that buffs how many Armored Points (AP) each one restores by 500 for each level you upgrade it. Once you get tankier mechs, upgrading your kits to max will be almost mandatory to make them at all useful, unless you're so good you just never need to heal.
Assault Armor
Do you find yourself getting swarmed and annoyed at how hard it is to get those little pests off of you? Assault Armor is your "get off me" move that creates a small blast surrounding your mech that deals damage and stagger on anything that's too close for comfort. You don't hurt yourself using it, and each upgrade you invest in lets you use it more times per mission.
Explosive Weapons
Missiles, grenades, and anything that goes boom is probably a key part of your arsenal already. These are already the weapons with the highest damage potential in the game, so why not make them even more powerful? The Explosive Weapons upgrade isn't going to make your weapons too overpowered, with each upgrade only giving you a 3% damage increase, but that can add up fast once you get to the max rank.
Direct Hit Modifier
Similar to Sekiro, staggering enemies in Armored Core 6 is a major mechanic for the flow of combat that lets you get in a lot of damage quickly and without danger. You need to make the most of these opportunities whenever you create them, especially on bosses, so Direct Hit Modifier is an easy upgrade to recommend as it will increase the damage you do to a staggered enemy by 5% per upgrade.

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The best weapons in Armored Core 6
A boss fight in Armored Core 6.

Time to load up for your next mission, merc. Your mech is your real character in Armored Core 6, and the different components you attach to it can completely change how it functions. There are different legs, cores, and all types of ways to change up your mech, but the most immediate and important has to be your weapon loadout. These can range from melee weapons and shotguns to massive missile launchers and Gatling guns. Since your mech can hold weapons in both hands and on each shoulder, there's a lot of room to experiment and give yourself options. Still, weapons aren't cheap and credits aren't always easy to come by as a gun for hire, so here are the best weapons in Armored Core 6 to invest in first.
Best Armored Core 6 weapons

Vvvc-774LS Laser Slicer
Let's begin with a melee weapon, which is far more useful in a game with rifles and lasers than you might expect. This is great for cleaving through mobs of smaller enemies thanks to its wide attack range and the fact that each swing counts as two hits. With an attack power of 1,615, that's a lot of damage coming out very fast -- and that's not even considering the ability to charge it up while advancing. It is on the heavier side for its class, and takes a while to "reload," but is a perfect way to get some breathing room if you get swarmed.
VP-60LCS Laser Cannon
If you need an early shoulder-mounted laser weapon, the VP-60LCS is a great one you can pick up in Chapter 1. They do decent damage, but the real usefulness comes in their staggering ability. Their rate of fire is essentially as fast as you can pull the trigger, and without a need to reload, you can rely on them whenever you need to so long as you don't overheat.
DF-GA-08-HU-BEN Gatling Gun
Sometimes we just want to hold down the trigger and make our problems go away. That's what Gatling guns are for, and this one ranks among the best. Each round will obviously do little damage, but with 1,300 rounds to chew through, not much can hold out against its sustained fire. Having one or two of these in your hands to follow up after stunning enemies with a laser weapon results in the perfect combo.
Songbirds Grenade Cannon
You won't have access to heavy explosives like the Songbirds until around midway into the game, but it is a must-buy as soon as you can. As you would expect, these explosives deal a ton of impact damage that has a decent area of effect if you're firing near a group. As a cherry on top, the grenades also inflict a high amount of stagger, so they're quite useful against bosses as well.
BML-G1/P07VTC-12 Vertical Missile Launcher
We couldn't close out a list of best weapons without a missile launcher, could we? For your money, this model is king. This shoulder-mounted weapon of mass destruction houses 12 missiles in its case that are ready to track your targets down, even behind cover and around obstacles. Just lock on to up to a dozen targets and let the missiles do the work from there.

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