As you arrive at 
The Greatwood, during The Fanning Embers main story quest, it is good to know that you are going to be fighting two bosses here. It’s even better to know how to beat them both quickly, and that is where we come in. 
Fafnir of the North is first up and you first see the large beast early on in the dungeon, but won’t be fighting it until a little later.
Fafnir is the first boss you will face in The Greatwood.
How To Beat Fafnir in Final Fantasy 16¶
Fafnir are pretty large creature and because of that, they have a larger hitbox on some of their attacks. You will want to be extremely careful with the timing of the one attack, where they lunge forward with the head, as the actually part that hits you is a bit delayed. Fafnir also have a few moves that are used in positional areas, so you will want to be wary of those, too.
All Fafnir Attacks in Final Fantasy XVI¶
Let’s take a look at all of the attacks you will see from Fafnir in Final Fantasy XVI.
Head Bash¶
This might be the most dangerous move in Fafnir of the North’s arsenal, as it will rear back, then lunge forward. It will then use its head as the attack, but the move doesn’t come out right away, as there is a tiny bit of delay. You will need to time the dodge on this attack, as that delay can make you get hit quite often. Never good.
(1 of 2) The head bash attack is the most difficult one to avoid, due to the weird movement.
The head bash attack is the most difficult one to avoid, due to the weird movement. (left), If you’re behind Fafnir and see the tail go up, it will do the tail swipe attack. (right)
Tail Swipe¶
If you’re behind Fafnir, there is a high chance it will try to attack you with its tail. You will know it’s about to do the tail swipes, as it will raise its tail for a brief second before performing the maneuver. Since it will do two swipes back-to-back, you may need to dodge twice to avoid damage.
Rolling Stomp¶
While on Fafnir’s side, it will lift up its body and legs on that side, then stomp the ground. However, it’s not finished with just the stomp, as it will roll its entire body over one time, before landing back on its feet. Naturally, you want to avoid all of this, so a 
Precision Dodge works wonders here.
Leg Stomp¶
You will see Fafnir rear its one leg up into the air, then stomp the ground with it. There’s really not much else to say about this attack, as it’s one of its least threatening ones.
(1 of 2) This animation will signify the rolling over attack is happening.
This animation will signify the rolling over attack is happening. (left), Fafnir can curl up into a ball to try and smash you. (right)
Jumping Ball Smash¶
Fafnir will jump into the air, rolling up into a ball, then try to smash you. Considering this is the only normal move where Fafnir will get airborne, so it’s pretty easy to know when it’s coming, making it pretty easy to avoid.
Spin Cycle¶
The only named move coming from Fafnir, you won’t see this until you get its health to around 50% or so. Fafnir will roll up into a ball and spin straight at you, before going around the walls of the arena. After it does a lap or so around the walls, it will return to the arena and come straight at you again. Once it does a straight shot, Fafnir turns around, uncurls and performs a belly flop. Since you can’t really do anything to the beast while it’s rolling, you can just concentrate on avoiding the attack.
Strategy for the Fafnir Boss in FFXVI¶
Fafnir can be a challenging boss, depending on how good you are at picking up attacks and dodging them. Most of its attacks are pretty simple to dodge, since there is enough of a tell that they’re coming. The only problematic one is the Head Bash one, since the slight delay makes it a little difficult to time your dodge correctly. 
Heatwave is probably not the best ability to use in this battle, since Fafnir doesn’t have any projectiles at all to counter. That means you should probably use 
Scarlet Cyclone over it.
(1 of 2) There’s really nothing you can do about the Spin Cycle attack.
There’s really nothing you can do about the Spin Cycle attack. (left), The final bit of Spin Cycle can do some big damage to Clive. (right)
You could definitely position yourself in specific spots during the battle, baiting out some of the attacks, like the roll attack or the tail swipes, as examples. These attacks are pretty easy to dodge, plus they’re about the only attacks you’ll see when positioned on those sides. This will also let you avoid the Head Bash attack, which is definitely its most annoying move. Once you get to the point it starts using Spin Cycle, just sit back and play defensively to avoid that attack, then follow up with some strikes of your own.
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