Final Fantasy 16: How to Defeat Hugo

Hugo is a boss that players will encounter in Final Fantasy 16 during the main quest “Capital Punishment”, immediately after defeating Coeurl. He is the second of the two bosses that will have to be defeated in this mission. As usual, we advise you to adopt an efficient strategy to be successful in this battle and to be able to continue with the story. In this article, we have decided to combine in one place all the useful tips and strategies to follow in order to defeat Hugo.

Location, rewards, and abilities

As we already mentioned at the beginning of this article, Hugo is a boss who is faced with the main quest “Capital Punishment”, which takes place in the Rosalith area in the Grand Duchy of Rosalia region. Players who manage to defeat this powerful boss will get rewards that will be very useful to continue in the game. Among these rewards, we have 1200 XP, 470 AP, and 4000 Gil, as well as items such as Meteorite, Steelsilk, and Earth Shard.

However, this boss must not be taken lightly, as he is able to put even the most experienced players in difficulty. For this reason, our advice is to adopt a strategy suitable for this type of clash. Furthermore, we remind you, as usual, that Hugo also has an arsenal of special skills at his disposal that he can use in combat to put his opponents in difficulty. Among these skills are Sledgehammer, Geocrush, Weight of Land, Landslide, Stripmine, Titanic Counter, Tumult, Torment, Earthen Fury, and Upheaval.

How to defeat Hugo

The fight with Hugo is divided into two different phases. As for the first phase, Hugo will make use of basic attacks to hit you, so all you have to do to avoid them is learn his pattern and time it right to dodge and counterattack. You can also try to parry if you are in the right condition to do so. After that, you will have a short amount of time to land your attacks and deal damage to Hugo. Since Hugo is a difficult boss to deal with, if you have problems, you can consider equipping the Ring of Timely Focus or Ring of Timely Evasion which will help you during the battle.

Once you’ve dealt enough damage to him, there will be a shortcut scene where his head will break and Hugo will attack you from above. Pay close attention to this moment as you will need to successfully complete a Quick Time Event (QTE) to dodge his blow. This is where the second phase of the fight will begin which will be much more complex and dangerous than the first, as Hugo will start using his entire arsenal of special abilities.

One piece of advice we want to give you to get through this phase in the best possible way and with the least amount of damage suffered is to take advantage of the moments in which Hugo will be staggered for a short period of time to be able to unleash all your best attacks and inflict greater damage. Furthermore, we advise you to activate the Limit Break which will allow Clive to increase the damage he can inflict, both in terms of basic attacks and skills.

Hugo’s abilities

As already anticipated, the second phase of the battle will take place below the building and the first thing Hugo will do is disappear and then he will appear from under the ground to attack you. This is an ability that Hugo will often use during this second phase, so we invite you to pay attention to the circular flames that will be created on the battlefield because they really mean that the boss is ready to launch this type of attack against you. The best strategy to use here is to use Phoenix Shift to dodge since a normal dodge is not effective against this ability.

Another skill that deserves to be mentioned is Earthen Fury which is nothing more than a more powerful version of the previous one, as the radius of the flames will be almost as large as the entire arena in which the battle is taking place. As soon as you see that Hugo is about to launch this ability, be ready to dodge and jump the three waves of fire that he will launch in your direction, so as not to be hit and not have to take damage.

Finally, we also want to say a few words about the Stripmine ability that will allow Hugo to heat the ground in front of him until it goes up in flames. To understand which area will be affected by this ability, all you have to do is look at the cone-shaped fire that will form on the ground. This indicates the exact spot where the ability will be cast. As soon as you see this shape, we advise you to trick him into being able to hit him from this position, taking advantage of the fact that he will have to wait some time before charging.