FF16 Shiva Trial Guide. Strategy, Location, etc.

Looking for help beating the Shiva trial (Hand of Rhea Chronolith)? Hopefully our strategy, tips, tricks, (and potential cheese) help you get throught the Trial by Ice!

This one didn't resonate with me so much. It's easy enough to complete, but I personally found it tedious to go for an S. Mesmerize and Ice Age are decent skills. Rime is great "sometimes". Diamond Dust is amazing.

Shiva Trial Location

Shiva's Trial is unlocked at the Hand of Rhea Chronolith. The nearest waypoint is Eistla at Waloed. Head to the western half of The Angry Gap. South of here is a small path that leads to the Chronolith.

See: FF16 All Trial / Chronolith Locations

Shiva Trial Strategy Stage by Stage tips

Note that while I wrote this for the Final Trial of Ice ("Hard mode"), this advice will definitely apply to the normal Chronolith (Hand of Rhea) as well.

Shiva Trial - best general tips

Every stage has these possible bonuses:

• Snap Shatter: Slay an enemy frozen with Cold Snap (+8s)
• Permafrost: Evade an enemy with Cold Snap, inflicting Permafrost. (+8s)

Killing frozen enemies gives a hefty time bonus, so try to "force" this as much as you can. "Precision Dodge" with Shiva's CIRCLE ability also gives a time bonus, but it's not as easy or consistent to get.

Shiva Trial Stage 1

Skills:

• Rime. (+Xs) Hit three enemies with a single Rime. (+12s)
• Mesmerize. (+Xs) Hit two enemies with a single Mesmerize. (+12s)

The Mesmerize bonus is very easy to get, so aim for it always. The Rime one, not so much. If you can get it easily, go for it, but don't force it.

Stage 1-1

Enemies: Trash mobs.

Rime as many as you can, then Mesmerize enemies INTO it. Try getting both of the time bonuses. Enemies not within Rime, you beat up first. Then kill the guys stuck in Rime. Try not to use a second Mesmerize here.

Stage 1-2

Enemies: Trash mobs.

Same process, Rime into Mesmerize pulling. Problems with Flyers? Use Charged Magic (hold triangle) to knock 'em down.

Stage 1-3

Enemies: Slime Miniboss.

Rime strangely sucks here but still open with RIme and hope for the best anyway. Use Mesmerize whenever you can (At the very most you’ll get 2 uses, most of the time 1). Stagger is the best time to use Rime if it's up.

Shiva Trial Stage 2

Skills:

• Ice Age. Hit an enemy with a fully charged Ice Age. (+12s)
• Mesmerize. (+Xs) Hit two enemies with a single Mesmerize. (+12s)

There's no excuse - always hit the perfect Ice Age for a time bonus. As for Mesmerize, its' easy enough to try for it whenever possible.

Stage 2-1

Enemies: Adamantoise Miniboss and trash mobs.

The goblins will just die from collateral damage, haha. Focus on the Adamantoise and use your skills liberally.

Stage 2-2

Enemies: 3x Bombs and 2x Chocobo.

Nothing special here. Use your skills as often as you can to get time bonus.

Stage 2-3

Enemies: "Fatty Axe" Miniboss and trash mobs.

The trash will die from your skills either way. Try to save a Mesmerize for partial stagger, and Ice Age during stagger.

Shiva Trial Stage 3

Skills:

• Ice Age. Hit an enemy with a fully charged Ice Age. (+12s)
• Diamond Dust: Hit two enemies with Diamond Dust. (+15s)

You'll always get the Ice Age one, so that's a lot of bonus time. Diamond Dust, well, you'll get the time bonus there without trying haha. REMEMBER THAT DIAMOND DUST DOES NOT HAVE INFINITE RANGE.

Stage 3-1

Enemies: Aevis miniboss and 2x “Shaman”

Lunge and go near then slam Diamond Dust. KILL THE TRASH AFTER before focusing on the Aevis. It is very difficult to fight this mob type with the irregular targeting when other enemies are present.

Stage 3-2

Enemies: Trash mobs.

DO NOT USE DIAMOND DUST HERE. Use Ice Age, and do the usual stomping for time gain. If you can get a nice freeze kill or dodge, great.

Stage 3-3

Enemies: Double miniboss, Lich + Bighorn.

Diamond Dust will immediately stagger the Lich. Open LB and smash him up then Ice Age. Honestly, this is just a slugfest. You need LB to ignore the Bighorn while you kill the Lich. Once he's down, then 1v1 with Bighorn is not a problem. You'll take a lot of damage here usually.

Final Stage - Boss

Skills:

• Rime
• Diamond Dust

Boss: "Ultima type".

Diamond Dust has very weird timing here. You have at most 2 uses if you use it ASAP. If you try to get more value (50% stagger) you may as well use it at stagger. So that leaves 2 main strategies for Diamond Dust - USE ASAP, hoping for 2 uses. OR USE IT ON STAGGER.

Rime is pretty horrible here. Just hope for the best when you use it. Try to aim it on stagger. Aside from that, this guy is a little trickier than most of the trial minibosses, so take care.

Summary and Closing

Shiva's Trial is very easy to clear, but very difficult to S. Again, this is just my personal experience. The abusable repeat time bonuses are largely out of your control... I'll try some other things I suppose?

• Check out all our other FF16 Trials Guides.
• See all Chronolith / Trials Locations in FF16.