How to beat Shiva’s Dominant in Final Fantasy 16

A battle between fire and ice.

Shiva Dominant in Final Fantasy 16
Screenshot by Dot Esports

Shiva’s Dominant (or Shiva Dominant, or just Shiva) is a boss battle in Final Fantasy 16 (FF16). You, as Clive, encounter Shiva’s Dominant in the Nysa Defile desert during the Chance Encounter quest. It’s the longest and most challenging fight in the game so far.

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At this point in the game, Clive is still a member of an Imperial unit known as The Bastards, so you’re accompanied by Tiamat and another branded soldier for this battle. You’re still outnumbered, though, as Shiva’s Dominant is guarded by a squad of Ironblood soldiers.

How to defeat Shiva Dominant in Final Fantasy 16

First of all, you should find a Stoneskin Tonic and a Strength Tonic on the path leading to the Shiva boss fight, so I’d recommend taking both of those when the battle starts. Don’t worry about the Ironbloods, your Imperial allies will quickly take care of them. Instead, focus on Shiva’s Dominant and, in particular, on evading her attacks.

Clive side-stepping Shiva's charge in Final Fantasy 16
If you continually run sideways, she’s unlikely to hit you. Screenshot by Dot Esports

In general, I found it best to keep my distance, hitting her with magic attacks until she charged at me, then using combos and Eikon abilities while she recovered from her charge. This way both her charge attack and her projectile attacks are much easier to avoid. You don’t even need to evade, you can just side-step them.

Related: All voice actors for Final Fantasy 16: Full cast list

Clive evading Shiva's area-of-effect attack in Final Fantasy 16
A perfectly executed dodge in action. Screenshot by Dot Esports

When you do take the opportunity to attack her at close quarters, look out for ice spreading across the ground around her. This means that she’s about to unleash a powerful area-of-effect (AoE) attack that you should quickly evade away from.

Whenever you manage to stagger her, hit her with Eikon abilities if you can, and with lots of combos. It’s worth noting that mid-air combos do a little more damage than those delivered with your feet on the ground, so try to jump before bashing the attack button.

Clive using Scarlet Cyclone on Shiva in Final Fantasy 16
Scarlet Cyclone is best against multiple enemies, but still worth using here. Screenshot by Dot Esports

Once she’s down to below 50% health, Shiva’s Dominant gets some more powerful attacks. First, there’s Blizzaga which plunges numerous columns of ice onto the battlefield. You get plenty of warning as to where they’re going to hit though, so evade out of the way. You can keep hitting her with magic attacks while she casts this.

Clive evading Blizzaga in Final Fantasy 16
That was a close one. Screenshot by Dot Esports

You’ll also now notice icy spots all over the place from now on, and you should avoid those, as ice magic will inevitably rain down onto them. Shiva’s Dominant also gets two new long area-of-effect attacks, but you get plenty of warning for these, so it’s usually easy to side-step or evade. Just remember that the more powerful of the two has two waves, and can actually steer and home in on you a bit.

Clive avoiding a homing ice attack in Final Fantasy 16
Fortunately, you can move faster than the ice can steer. Screenshot by Dot Esports

Once you defeat Shiva’s Dominant, Clive will realize he’s seen her somewhere before, and both Benedikta and Cid will show up.

Author
Image of Gavin Mackenzie
Gavin Mackenzie
Gavin Mackenzie has been playing video games since the early 80s, and writing about them professionally since the late 90s. Having been a writer and editor on various British magazines including PLAY, GamesTM, and X360, he's now a freelance guides specialist at Dot Esports.