Summon a winter storm that freezes enemies in place within a radius before dealing massive ice damage and knocking them back.
Description
Diamond Dust is Shiva's ultimate Eikonic Ability in Final Fantasy XVI, which the player can assign to Clive's loadout. Clive surrounds his enemies within a blizzard, unleashing waves of ice throughout the battlefield, dealing massive damage and drastically decreasing the target's stagger gauge or instantly maximizing the stagger multiplier when used on an already-staggered foe. The number of hits can further be increased by upgrading the ability. Diamond Dust is perhaps the best staggering ability at Clive's disposal.
Diamond is also used by Shiva during Clive's encounter with the Liquid Flame at Drake's Breath.
Diamond Dust is a recurring ability in the Final Fantasy series as Shiva's signature ability.
Obtained[]
Clive gains access to Shiva's powers as part of the story, during "Through the Maelstrom", usable in his loadout after the events in Naldia Narrow. Diamond Dust can then be learned by spending 1940 AP in the Abilities menu.
Mechanics[]
Clive can use Diamond Dust in battle whenever it is equipped to his current loadout. He can have two Eikonic Abilities alongside his Eikonic Feat, which for the ice loadout is Cold Snap.
Clive uses Diamond Dust.
Diamond Dust has Clive shroud the battlefield in a wintry storm, coating the floor and all enemies within his vicinity in ice that spreads out from him at its center. As the ice shatters it deals damage and strong will damage to all enemies within its large radius, knocking all small enemies back.
When used on an already staggered foe, Diamond Dust will maximize the damage multiplier to 1.5x.
After being upgraded, Diamond Dust will deliver two blasts of ice instead of one, and each blast delivers even more hits, increasing damage and will damage done even further.
Diamond Dust's power is affected by Clive's position, as each part of the circle of ice inflicts different amount of hits and damage.
Like all "ultimate" Eikonic Abilities, using Diamond Dust freezes time for everyone else while allowing Clive to cast the spell uninterrupted, also letting Clive's other abilities to keep cooling down at normal pace. When used on an already-staggered foe, the animation does not eat into the stagger duration due to the "everyone is frozen but Clive" effect.
Diamond Dust activates the battle technique, Collateral Diamond, when damaging multiple enemies with one use of Diamond Dust.
After being used, the ability has a 75-second cooldown before being able to be used again. Upgrading/mastering the ability has no effect on its cooldown.
Completing Shiva's chronolith trial earns The Will of Ice (Diamond Dust) accessory, which increases Diamond Dust's will damage by 10%.
| AP cost | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1940 (base) | Able to equip Diamond Dust to Clive's ice loadout. |
| 2575 (Upgrade) | Increases number of ice blasts to two, and increases hits for each blast. |
| 4500 (Master) | Able to equip Diamond Dust to any loadout. |
Use[]
Diamond Dust is worth upgrading to increase the number of hits it delivers. It is excellent for staggering formidable foes and bosses as well as for instantly maximizing the stagger multiplier when used on foes that are already staggered. Diamond Dust is worth having in the player's loadout at all times after Clive gains access to Shiva, especially against notorious marks and bosses.
Using Diamond Dust on a not-yet-staggered foe roughly halves their stagger gauge if the player is the perfect distance from the target when using it. This has some synergy with Clive's wind loadout, as Deadly Embrace can be used to induce a "mini stagger" at half stagger point. The player could first use Diamond Dust, giving an opening for the mini stagger next, or follow up the mini stagger with Diamond Dust, bringing forth the full stagger in record speed. If Diamond Dust is used in conjunction with Ramuh's Lightning Rod, it will do even more damage as well as will damage (but as the maximum stagger multiplier is 1.5x, Diamond Dust already reaches it without Lightning Rod). Other highly staggering moves that the player may want to try with Diamond Dust are Garuda's Gouge and Bahamut's Impulse, which has a delayed effect.
Against enemies that lack stagger bars, Diamond Dust is good for clearing crowds of small foes.
Diamond Dust's effect is determined by Clive's position, as each part of the ice circle inflicts different amounts of hits and damage. Being right next to the enemy will deliver fewer hits than being slightly further away when casting Diamond Dust, but being at the edge of the ability's effective range delivers the weakest result. The player can try to find the "sweet spot" with trial and error, but as a guideline the backstep from using Lightning Rod or Impulse is the perfect distance from the enemy to ensure the maximum amount of hits from Diamond Dust.
Diamond Dust has a short cooldown for an ultimate ability, but it still takes much longer to recharge than Shiva's other abilities.
During the chronolith trial with the Shiva's abilities, triggering Collateral Diamond by hitting multiple enemies with a single casting of Diamond Dust earns a 15-second time bonus.
Shiva's Diamond Dust.
Shiva uses Diamond Dust in a cinematic action during the boss battle against Liquid Flame.
Etymology[]
Diamond dust refers to a meteorological phenomenon which occurs at below 0 °C temperatures. When ground temperature is colder than air temperature, the result is a ground-level cloud composed of ice crystals, somewhat similar to fog.