FF16 Odin Trial Guide. Strategy, Location, etc.
Looking for help beating the Odin trial (Hand of Enceladus Chronolith)? Hopefully our strategy, tips, tricks, (and potential cheese) help you get throught the Trial by Darkness!
A lot of people dislike this one, haha. I initially hated it, but grew an appreciation of Odin after this trial. It's certainly unique, and a "different way to play".
Odin Trial Location
Odin's Trial is unlocked at the Hand of Enceladus Chronolith. The nearest waypoint is Vidargraes at Waloed. From there, travel quite a bit south, and a little east to that orphanage area (Badbach Conservatory). From here, go Southeast into a wider field - in the middle north of this field is where you'll find the Chronolith.
See: FF16 All Trial / Chronolith Locations
Odin Trial Strategy Stage by Stage tips
Note that while I wrote this for the Final Trial of Darkness ("Hard mode"), this advice will definitely apply to the normal Chronolith (Hand of Enceladus) as well.
Odin Trial - best general tips
- Land a fully charged (L5) Zantetsuken. (+15s)
- Parry an enemy's attack while wielding Odin's Blade, causing a Steel Counter (+5s).
First of all, Heavens Cloud is "button mashing" and not timing. It only extends if you actually hit a target.
Now, for these "spammable bonuses"... Don't even think of abusing the parry one. L5 Zantetsuken, fine, it's a free 15s for something you WANT to be doing so its actually quite good. You'll probably gain 60 seconds+ with this only!
Odin Trial Stage 1
Skills:
- Gungnir: Strike an enemy with a FULL Gungnir (+12s)
- Heaven's Cloud: Get the full 6 hits off that hit (+12s)
Full Gungnir, spam the button and hit an enemy in full to get the bonus. This is very worth it as it's a "time gain", use it on stragglers.
Full Cloud, spam the button and get 6 hits. You will probably always get this without "trying". Amazing time bonus for no effort.
Stage 1-1
Enemies: Trash mobs.
Heaven's Cloud straight up, then line them up into a massive Gungnir. Build up to Z5 and slam it.
Alternatively, if you missed something, just do the usual lunge magic burst stomp time-gaining rotation.
Stage 1-2
Enemies: Trash mobs.
You have two choices here. First one is do time-gaining rotation here while saving Z5 for the next stage. I think this is the best course of action as having Z5 for the next stage is paramount.
Second option, is the same process as above. Cloud Gungnir Z5. I don't recommend this.
Stage 1-3
Enemies: Minotaur miniboss.
Z5 ASAP, and then kill him normally. Save limit break if you can. Gungnir SUCKS here so just Heaven's Cloud whenever you can. Ultimately this stage is very easy, and you should always S it.
Odin Trial Stage 2
Skills:
- Rift Slip: Hit an enemy after a "recovery / animation" cancel three times. (+8s)
- Heaven's Cloud: Get the full 6 hits off that hit (+12s)
The Rift Slip one is a little weird. The easiest way to trigger it is 4x normal combo, Slip, then attack. It seems to work with other things, but not all cancels seem to trigger the bonus. Meh.
Good old Cloud bonus, same as the previous stage.
Stage 2-1
Enemies: Coeurl MIniboss and 2 flyers
Heavens Cloud as long as its up. SPAM your Rift Slip to get the bonus. Save up a Z5 for this Coeurl, then finish him off with either regular hits, or a smaller Zantetsuken like 2 or 3. This stage annoys me as I feel this is the cornerstone of where I'll do well or not.
Stage 2-2
Enemies: Trash mobs
I prefer to NOT ZANTETSUKEN HERE, and instead build up a Z5 for the next stage. Gain time here via Rift Combo, Stomps, and all of your bonuses. Try to just gain a huge amount of time here.
Stage 2-3
Enemies: Dragoon Miniboss and some trash
Immediately smash him with Z5, and finish him off with Limit Break. Not having Z5 up here asap feels like a time loss, as it can be tedious to maximize value against dragoon (jump). Done properly he should barely do anything and just roll over and die.
Odin Trial Stage 3
Skills:
- Rift Slip: Hit an enemy after a "recovery / animation" cancel three times. (+8s)
- Dancing Steel: Land all hits on a single enemy (+15s)
Rift Slip bonus same as the previous stage.
Dancing Steels time bonus says "single enemy", but I think the tooltip is bugged. I seem to get it even if it hits many. If you think this is incorrect, you can force Dancing Steel to lock onto one guy with L1.
RIFT SLIP CAN HELP YOU SETUP DANCING STEEL. Animation Cancel with Rift Slip into Dancing Steel helps with the long vulnerable "setup" time.
Stage 3-1
Enemies: Fallen Miniboss and some trash.
This one can be rough... My ideal strat here is Combo into Rift Slip (hopefully he doesn't do projectiles asap, or dodge them). Wthe the time slow, setup Dancing Steel. Zantetsuken 5 right after. After this, feel free to do whatever to kill him, but try to save LB. Landing a second Dancing Steel here means you don't have to stress so much charging Zantetsuken in the next stage.
Stage 3-2
Enemies: Flying chumps, and 2x Chocobo.
DO NOT ZANTETSUKEN HERE YOU NEED, AND I MEAN IT YOU NEED A LEVEL 5 ZANTETSUKEN FOR THE NEXT STAGE. This stage is actually low key annoying. If you can land Dancing Steel, great! Means you can use your regular weapon more to kill 'em.
Stage 3-3
Enemies: Double Miniboss, “Fatty Axe” + Aevis.
Zantetsuken 5, and they should be at the cusp of death right after. Try to save limit break for the boss. If you didn't setup for this, you're gonne be sorry.
Final Stage - Boss
Skills:
- Skill: Gungnir (No Bonus)
- Skill: Dancing Steel (No Bonus)
Boss: Chimera
Build up and spend Zantetsuken 5's. Only attempt to Dancing Steel after firebreath. Gungnir, feel free to use it (IMO, not that useful), just make sure to cancel it if you need to dodge.
Here's the cycle that seems to work best. Build up Zantetsuken 5, use it asap. Build up Zantetsuken 5, and use it as your stagger finisher - then finally kill him off.
Summary and Closing
Odins trial sucked at the beginning. As I played more of it I had an extreme amount of fun. What was first the most difficult to beat in my mind, became such an easy S for me at the end. It's difficult to know just how practical Odin is in the real world, but this trial gave me insights on how best to use it. I wish Rift Slip was available always.
- Check out all our other FF16 Trials Guides.
- See all Chronolith / Trials Locations in FF16.