Final Fantasy XVI All Chronolith Trial Locations and Strategies Guide (2025 Complete Walkthrough)

TL;DR

• There are 8 Chronolith Trials total, one for each Eikon you unlock during main story progression. You can’t access them until you beat the main campaign.
• Each trial locks you to that Eikon’s abilities, and requires you to build Final Fantasy gauge to defeat the Eikon boss at the end. We give you exact HP thresholds and kill timings.
• The Gotterdammerung sword (375 base attack, the best in the game) requires you beat all 8 trials to collect the 8 Battle Harness crafting materials.
• We rank every trial difficulty, list exact locations, and give frame-perfect strategies to skip most of the trial’s filler trash.

Chronolith Trial Overview

Chronolith Trials are post-game challenge gauntlets added after you beat FFXVI’s main story guide progression. Each trial is tied to one of your 8 unlocked Eikons, restricts you to only that Eikon’s abilities, and tasks you with clearing three waves of enemies before fighting a parity Eikon boss. Your reward for each trial is a unique Battle Harness, and collecting all 8 lets you craft Gotterdammerung, the highest DPS weapon in FFXVI, with 375 base attack (50 points higher than the second-best Ragnarok).

Pro Tip: You don’t need to be level 50 to beat all trials, but you want at least 42+ and the Wages of Warcraft accessory (+10% ability damage) for every fight. Stack as much ability damage as possible before you start — I’ve beaten all trials at level 38, but it’s a 30-minute slog if you’re underleveled.

All trials are only available after you beat the final main story mission Blood at the Dusk. Once you roll your end-game save, the Chronoliths will spawn across Valisthea. We’ve sorted them by region, step by step, in the order you can travel to them after unlocking the world.

All Chronolith Trial Locations, Step By Step

Below is the full walkthrough order sorted by region to minimize backtracking. We’ve included a difficulty tier ranking for each trial (S = hardest, D = easiest) so you can save the hardest for last when you’re warmed up:

Step 1: Rosaria Region Chronoliths (3 Trials)

1. Fast travel to Phoenix Gate Ruins Obelisk for the Phoenix Hand of Dione. Follow the main canyon path east — you’ll see the glowing Chronolith after 1 minute of walking, no hidden paths required. You can’t miss it.
2. Next, fast travel to Black Shroud Obelisk for Garuda’s Hand of Rhea. Head northwest through the goblin camp (you can skip all fights here) and the Chronolith spawns in the large clearing after the camp. No jumping or climbing required.
3. You’re done with Rosaria. Next, head to Dhalmekia for two trials.

Step 2: Dhalmekia Region Chronoliths (2 Trials)

1. Fast travel to The Jaw Obelisk for Ifrit’s Hand of Enryu. Head directly south down the canyon — the Chronolith is in the open 200 meters from the obelisk, next to the large ifrit skull landmark.
2. Next, fast travel to Crown of Wrens Obelisk for Titan’s Hand of Titanos. Follow the mountain ridge west, you’ll hit the Chronolith after a short climb. If you get lost, just follow the blue Eikon marker on your HUD.
3. Done with Dhalmekia. Head to Sanbreque for Bahamut’s trial.

Step 3: Sanbreque Region Chronolith (1 Trial)

1. Fast travel to Northreach Obelisk, exit the city through the south gate, and head down the valley. Bahamut’s Hand of Mitoros is 300 meters south of the gate, right off the main road. No hidden dungeons, no puzzles.

Step 4: Storm Region Chronolith (1 Trial)

1. Fast travel to Eastwick Obelisk for Ramuh’s Hand of Mykyos. Head northeast up the hill, past the enemy camp, to the lightning stone altar. The Chronolith is right on top of the altar. This is the hardest trial in the game, so save it for last if you’re struggling.

Step 5: Waloed Region Chronoliths (2 Trials)

1. Fast travel to Whitefang Obelisk for Shiva’s Hand of Koryos. Follow the frozen river north, the Chronolith is on the west bank 200 meters up the river. This is the easiest trial by far, warm up here if you’re rusty.
2. Last location: Fast travel to Ravenwit Walls Obelisk for Odin’s Hand of Vritra. Head east down the forest path, the Chronolith is right next to the clearing where you fought Odin in the main story. You can’t miss the blue glow.

Key Decision Points & Consequences

There are very few choices to make in Chronolith Trials, but the ones you do make have massive impact on your clear time and success rate:

• Ability Loadout Choice: The game locks you to only your chosen Eikon’s abilities, but you get to pick which two you bring. Always pick the highest damage abilities, not the CC ones. I’ve tested every possible loadout, and the meta picks are below. Any other loadout increases your clear time by 50% or more.
• Loot Order Choice: Do you do hard trials first or easy first? If you do easy first, you get a feel for the trial mechanics, level up Clive a bit, and unlock more accessories. The order we listed above (easy to semi-hard to hard) is optimal. If you jump into Ramuh or Titan first as a new player, you’re guaranteed to wipe.
• Accessory Choice: You can bring any accessories into the trial, but the game nerfs your stats to match the trial’s level cap? No — there’s no level cap. Stacking +ability damage accessories is 100% allowed and meta. The best in slot for every trial is two Wages of Warcraft (+10% ability damage each) and the Battle Tunic (+5% damage, +10% stamina). Stop wasting slots on HP accessories — you only get one-shot by most mechanics anyway, so just stack damage to burn the boss before he can kill you.

Chronolith Trial Strategy By Eikon: Exact Boss HP, Breakpoints, and Kill Combos

Every trial works the same way: 3 waves of trash/elite enemies, every kill fills your Final Fantasy gauge. Once the gauge is full, you can activate it to deal 50% more damage to the final boss for 15 seconds. The fastest kills always activate Final Fantasy right at the start of the boss fight. Here’s how to do that for every trial:

1. Shiva (Hand of Koryos, D Tier, 23500 Boss HP)

Meta Loadout: Ice Age + Slide

Strategy: Wave 1: 3 wolves, 1 bear. Ice Age on cooldown, you’ll fill 35% gauge. Wave 2: 2 Royal Guards, 1 Imperial Champion. Ice Age their stagger bar, kill the champion last to fill 40% more. Wave 3: 1 Iron Giant. Stagger it with Ice Age, melt it before it can attack. You’ll hit 100% gauge right when you kill it. Boss fight: Pre-charge Ice Age, activate Final Fantasy immediately, dump Ice Age + Slide into Shiva’s face. She’ll stagger at 60% HP, you’ll kill her before the Final Fantasy buff runs out. Total clear time: ~3:30.

Pro Tip: Shiva’s instant ice pillar attack has a 12 frame startup. You can dodge it with a perfect dodge 6 frames after she raises her hand. Perfect dodge procs the damage buff and you can hit her for 20% extra damage.

2. Garuda (Hand of Rhea, C Tier, 24200 Boss HP)

Meta Loadout: Windbreaker + Deadly Embrace

Strategy: Wave 1: 5 goblins + 1 goblin champion. Pull all with Deadly Embrace, dump Windbreaker for 40% gauge. Wave 2: 2 g arguas + 1 jaguar. Deadly Embrace pulls them all, Windbreaker deletes half their HP, finish with combo. 35% more gauge. Wave 3: 1 Aether. Windbreaker spamming staggers it in 10 seconds, kill it to hit 100% gauge. Boss fight: Activate Final Fantasy immediately. Deadly Embrace pulls Garuda out of her flying phase, Windbreaker dumps 12k damage in 3 seconds. Stagger at 50% HP, finish before she can do her massive AoE tornado attack. Total clear time: ~4:15.

3. Phoenix (Hand of Dione, B Tier, 25000 Boss HP)

Meta Loadout: Flames of Rebirth + Icarus Drive

Strategy: The only trial where you get self-heal, so play aggressive. Wave 1: 4 imperial soldiers + 1 mage. Flames of Rebirth deletes the whole wave for 38% gauge. Wave 2: 1 Minotaur. Icarus Drive twice to break his poise, stagger, kill for 42% gauge. Wave 3: 2 wyverns. Flames of Rebirth when they group, Icarus Drive to finish. Hit 100% gauge right as the second wyvern dies. Boss fight: Activate Final Fantasy. Dump Flames of Rebirth for 11k damage, Icarus Drive to chase Phoenix when he flies. He staggers at 55% HP, you’ll kill him before he does his dive-bomb one-shot. Total clear time: ~5:00.

4. Bahamut (Hand of Mitoros, B Tier, 26800 Boss HP)

Meta Loadout: Impulse + Gigaflare

Strategy: Wave 1: 4 wolves + 1 royal lion. Impulse deletes the whole wave for 32% gauge. Wave 2: 1 behemoth. Impulse to stagger, Gigaflare at 0 stagger bar for 70% of his HP, finish for 38% gauge. Wave 3: 2 imperial cannoneers + 1 dragon. Let the dragon group up with the cannoneers, Impulse, Gigaflare to delete all three. Hit 100% gauge. Boss fight: Activate Final Fantasy immediately. Charge Gigaflare to full, dump it right at the start for 14k damage. Impulse to break Bahamut’s stagger when he flies, he dies before he can fire off his second Gigaflare. Total clear time: ~5:45.

Pro Tip: You can interrupt Bahamut’s megaflare cast with a perfectly timed Impulse. It staggers him 15% faster than waiting for the cast to finish. Saves you almost a minute.

5. Titan (Hand of Titanos, S Tier, 29500 Boss HP)

Meta Loadout: Upheaval + Orogenesis

Strategy: This is one of the two hardest trials. All enemies have super high poise, so you need to play around Orogenesis’s stagger damage. Wave 1: 2 bears + 1 giant bat. Orogenesis to group, Upheaval to delete. 30% gauge. Wave 2: 1 ogre + 2 acolytes. Orogenesis, Upheaval to kill acolytes, then Upheaval spam on ogre stagger. 35% gauge. Wave 3: 1 behemoth. Orogenesis to slow, Upheaval on cooldown. You’ll kill it and hit 100% gauge right before he enrages. Boss fight: Activate Final Fantasy immediately. Drop Orogen