Barnabas, the person who commanded Benedikta, is a boss that appears as a final hurdle to completing The Last King main quest in Final Fantasy 16. He is the Dominant of mighty Odin, King of the Waloed, and serves as the right hand of Ultima. Barnabas is the secondary antagonist of FF16.
Barnabas has a large array of mysterious abilities and dark powers that make him quite formidable on the battlefield. You will face Barnabas in Final Fantasy 16 right after slaying Aurum Giant while pursuing your journey through Reverie. This will be a long battle having multiple phases, so get ready to put those skills and abilities to the test, which you have acquired until now.
This guide covers all Barnabas’s attack patterns, strong points, and weaknesses in FF16 that you need to know for winning this important fight.
Phase 1
The first phase of this battle introduces you to the basic attacks of Barnabas that he will keep using throughout the fight. Although he will be linear in this stage as compared to the later fight phases, you should not let your guard down.
One of the boss’s annoying habits is his teleporting technique. He will continuously disorient you by changing his own positions on the battlefield and attacking from unexpected areas.
This can be confusing enough, but you have to keep yourself composed and focus mainly on understanding his attack patterns in this phase. If you familiarize yourself with Barnabas’s attacks beforehand, you will find it easy to dodge or avoid even the most special ones.
| Attack | Description |
|---|---|
| Slashing Combo | Consecutive two-slashing attack which he can also use as a short-range thrust. These attacks are swift, so remember that he follows up the first horizontal slash with the second one. |
| Riposte | By standing still, Barnabas guards against your attacks automatically. Once he blocks three arracks consecutively, get ready to counter his large circular attack. In this case, you can use the Eikonic attack or just hold off. |
| Wave of Darkness | Before using this attack, he will put a distance between you both. It’s a warning to avoid projectiles. Following this, there will be the attack of a horizontal slice – summoning a horizontal arc of darkness. |
| Gungnir | In this, he jumps in the air and throws a spear of darkness. This attack has three parts including spear impact, shockwave, and circular damage zone which is usually surrounding the spear. You need to get out of the telegraphed damage zone before it activates, and for this, time a Precision Doge and jump over the shockwave. |
| Repeating Slash | A heavy yet single telegraphed slash that creates a constant slash zone. It starts when Barnabas leans forward. To avoid damage, maintain a distance. |
| The Lord’s Measure | These are lines that hang in the air for a while and attack you. Later, this attack summons ore lines – creating a hazardous situation. |
Phase 2
After recovering from the stagger condition, Barnabas will transform into his Eikon form, Odin. It is also time for you to adopt your Ifrit form and face the boss mid-air. This initial part will be brief and will end right after you execute the cinematic QTE as guided by the game.
After falling on a lower part of the tower, you and Barnabas will return to normal human form. This will start the second phase of this battle. He gets a few new attacks in this phase covered below.
| Attack | Description |
|---|---|
| Blinding Steel | A very long line of dark energy created by Barnabas, which spans the battlefield. Once charged, the entire battlefield will get covered in dark energy. To avoid this attack, try to dash him and get behind. |
| Downward Slash | In this, he teleports in the air and then slams the sword on the ground. It further causes an explosive line attack. Try to avoid this from the side. |
When the boss loses nearly half of his health, he will be staggered for the second time. After recovering from this condition, a cutscene will play after which he transforms back to Odin. You will be prompted with a QTE so just press the prompted buttons.
This long cutscene ends with Barnabas returning to his human form while falling on the ground. This begins phase three of the fight.
Phase 3
When the last phase of the fight begins, Barnabas in FF16 will cast Gathering Darkness. This turns his health bar into a purple one. This is the Ultimate attack of Barnabas and will be a game-over for you if the boss is successful in unleashing it. You must stop the boss from replenishing this purple energy bar at all costs with consistent attacks.
Remember that if you save your powerful attacks like Gigaflare now for using them in the final game stages, you may not even reach there alive.
The problem with this boss is that he does not remain static while charging up his ultimate attack. Instead, you will face his potent strikes throughout this charging phase and will get no chance of attacking a vulnerable enemy.
Once you successfully stop the Ultimate attack from happening, the fight will be normal. Now, your merciless adversary will introduce a set of new moves to you.
| Attacks | Description |
|---|---|
| Great Divide | In this attack, Barnabas charges the sword and makes it massive. Then the vertical slice and horizontal swing come in your direction. Further, this attack will be followed by The All-Wielder. Yet, these are easy to notice and dodge. |
| The All-Wielder | Barnabas fires an explosive darkness beam in front of him with a charged-up sword. To avoid this, side and dash him. |
The remaining part of the fight will include the boss using his old tactics against you. Finally, Barnabas will come to his knees after exhausting all his attacks.
FF16 Barnabas battle rewards
You will receive the following spoils/ rewards for defeating Barnabas in Final Fantasy 16
- 1x Dark Shard
- 8,000 EXP
- 600 Ability Points
- 7,000 gil
