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Final Fantasy 16 carries on many trends from previous games despite all the new ideas introduced. One of these continued trends is the gaining and use of AP or Ability Points. Ability points are used in your skill tree to unlock and further level up different skills for Clive to use in battle.
While you can purchase an ability using your AP, this choice is not final. Final Fantasy 16 allows you to respec your points easily whenever you'd like. This easy process makes experimentation key in finding your best build for Clive.
Updated on by Joshua Leeds July 3rd, 2023: Upgrading and mastering your abilities is very important to creating your late-game build. Through mastering abilities, players will be able to use any ability with any Eikon they want and won't be limited to only three sets of abilities at a time. As you progress through the game, more Eikon Skill trees will become available, with all having similar formats players should familiarize themselves with.
How To Get And Use AP
AP is earned each time you complete a battle or level up. Simply by playing the game, you'll quickly see your AP piling up, with the ability to earn more by scoring highly in battles. Additional AP is one of the rewards players can get by chaining longer combos or taking advantage of staggered enemies to get a better battle rating.
After obtaining AP, go to the skill tree in your main menu when not in combat. Here you'll have different wheels of skills, with the additional wheels being added when unlocking additional Eikons. To unlock or upgrade a skill you already have, you'll need to spend the right amount of AP. Your total AP is found in the top left of the screen, and the cost of unlocking or upgrading a skill is found in its circle. For those who simply want the best build right away, you're able to have the game unlock the best skills possible with your current AP by holding down L3 and confirming the purchases.
Respecing And Locking Skills
By holding down the touchpad in the skill menu, players are able to respec all of their purchased skills at any time. You'll be given a full refund for all of your skills, making it worthwhile to respec and try different builds as often as players would like. When hovering over a skill, players can also refund individual skills instead of starting from scratch after each bad purchase they make.
For those looking to respec their entire skill tree, you can lock as many skills as you'd like. This will keep them from being refunded until they are unlocked, both done by pressing R3. Locking abilities is a simple time saver when refunding your entire skill tree and is just another reason for players to mess with their skill tree as often as possible to try every skill combination out there.
Upgrading And Mastering Abilities
After an ability has been unlocked, you can first upgrade it, then further master it. Both of these upgrades will require a decent amount of AP, depending on how powerful the base ability is. Upgrading an ability the first time will simply increase the damage or stagger rate while also additional range, but this will vary from skill to skill. In general, these upgrades will make your abilities more efficient.
Further mastering a skill also makes it more effective, also allowing you to equip that ability under any Eikon. Mastering your favorite abilities can allow players a great amount of freedom when choosing their three Eikon layout while also using abilities to their full potential.
Eikon Skill Tree Format
As you progress through the game, Clive will unlock the power of other Eikons. Each time this happens, you'll unlock a new skill tree related to that Eikon, along with the ability to channel that Eikon's essence in battle. At the top of each Eikon's skill tree will be their unique ability that binds to the "O" button. These abilities can only be used when you are channeling their specific Eikon.
The middle three abilities can be unlocked and used in any combination. These are your more simple abilities that bind to square and triangle when holding down R2. At the bottom of each Eikon's circle is their ultimate ability, which is much more powerful and has a very long cooldown between uses. The four abilities in the middle and bottom of an Eikon's circle can be mastered and used under another Eikon.