What does mastering abilities do in Final Fantasy 16?

It isn’t always clear what upgrading your abilities does in Final Fantasy 16. You might upgrade your abilities to the max, and not notice any changes. No one wants to spend thousands of ability points to upgrade an ability without knowing what will change, so let us help you find out if it’s worth it. Read on to find out how to find out an ability’s upgrades and what happens when you master an ability.

Mastering abilities in FF16

Mastering abilities in Final Fantasy 16 can lead to many different outcomes depending on what you’re upgrading. To see what mastering an ability will change, head to the abilities menu and hover over any ability. Then, press triangle to see the ability’s details, upgrades, mastery, and battle techniques.

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Not every ability’s mastery is the same, but they will tend to follow the same pattern. If the ability is an Eikon’s ability such as Phoenix’s Rising Flames, you can assign the mastered ability to any Eikon. For example, if you’re using Phoenix and Garuda and you’ve mastered Phoenix’s Rising Flames, you can swap out one of Garuda’s abilities for Rising Flames.

Image: Square Enix Creative/Square Enix via Polygon

Eikonic Feats, such as Phoenix’s Phoenix Shift, don’t follow the same route that abilities do. You can’t apply them to any Eikon, but the ability itself will be upgraded. For example, mastering Phoenix Shift will increase the distance you can travel. Every other ability that doesn’t go into an Eikon’s ability slot, will also have a unique upgrade. Magic Burst’s mastery extends the trigger window; Charged Magic’s mastery reduces the charge time; Stomp’s mastery increases the maximum kicks to two, and so on.

Ultimately, if you’re wondering if mastering an ability is worth it for you, check out the ability’s details first. You can also refund your ability points at no extra cost, so test out every ability! If you don’t like the mastered ability, you can always get all of your ability points back for free and spend it elsewhere.