Coeurls are notorious creatures in Final Fantasy, as they are known for their status ailments and instant death attacks. The Coeurl returns in Final Fantasy XVI as a boss enemy, first fought during the Capital Punishment main story quest. While drawing a few similarities to the War Panther boss (mainly due to its looks), it has a lot more attacks to watch out for and is pretty much its own boss.
The Coeurl will be the first boss you fight during Capital Punishment.
How to Beat the Coeurl in Final Fantasy 16¶
The Coeurl is a fairly standard boss battle, and you might compare it to the Republic War Panther you fought during the Cid the Outlaw main story quest. It likely uses the same basic model, but the Coeurl is definitely a thing on its own, and it will use a lot of electrical attacks. Most of the attacks are fairly straightforward in avoiding them, although there might be one or two that can be a little challenging in escaping unscathed.
All Coeurl Attacks in Final Fantasy XVI¶
The Coeurl has two main phases, with some attacks mixed in there that only really happen once during the whole battle.
Electric Ball¶
The Coeurl will charge up some electricity with its antennae, into a ball, then shoot it straight at you. The projectile is quick enough, but not too particularly fast that dodging it is fairly easy. As is usually the case with projectiles, if you have 
Heatwave equipped, you can use that to counter and deal great stagger damage.
(1 of 2) There will be a slight charge before the Electric Ball is shot.
There will be a slight charge before the Electric Ball is shot. (left), The Electric Dash is like so many other enemies’ dash attacks. (right)
Electric Dash¶
You will notice the boss charge up for a second or so, then it will perform a quick dash right at you. Similar to the Electric Ball, it can be a little fast, but not fast enough that you won’t be able to dodge it.
Whipcrack¶
An annoying move, simply because of the long reach the Coeurl’s antennae have. It sticks both antennae above its head, charges them for a second or so, then will perform two very quick sweeping attacks with them. There will also be a quick lunge forward, to try and bite you, after the antennae attacks. The entire thing will mostly hit in front of the Coeurl, so if you can get to the sides, or even behind it, then you should be good.
You should have more than enough time to get to the sides or behind for Whipcrack.
Electric Claw Swipe¶
The Coeurl will simply swipe at you with one of its claws, which will be electrically charged. It seems to only do a single swipe towards the beginning of the fight, but might do a second with the opposite paw later on in the battle. They aren’t particularly difficult to avoid.
Electrocharge¶
After the first stagger, the Coeurl will start charging up for an attack, with a bar appearing in the upper right corner. Your goal is to deplete this bar, which you do by continually attacking it (similar to the Iron Giant). However, while you’re attacking, markers will appear on the ground, which is where lightning will strike. That means you will need to dodge them, should they appear close. If you fully deplete the bar, then the Coeurl will be stunned for a few seconds. If you don’t, then it will lead to…
Electric Burst¶
This attack is only if you leave Electrocharge alone, or don’t deplete the bar in time. The Coeurl will leap forward, discharging a pretty large amount of electricity, with the range of the discharge being pretty big. After the initial lunge, there will still be a good amount of lightning strikes around the Coeurl. While you will likely be hit with this attack, it is possible to dodge it, if you time it right. The problem is that you will likely need to keep dodging after the initial lunge, so you can keep spamming the evasion button here.
(1 of 4) You should just stay away from the Electric Posts until they disappear.
Electric Posts¶
This attack will occur after Electrocharge, and will have the Coeurl place spots on the ground, which will have electricity connecting them. It’s kind of like an electric field, but it only reaches so far. The best thing to do here is retreat from it and wait until they go away. Note that the Coeurl can still attack normally during this maneuver.
Wild Charge¶
You won’t see this until the Coeurl is pretty low on health, where it charges itself with electricity. While charged, the Coeurl will cause lightning strikes around the area, while it will continually try to lunge at you. After the third lunge, it will discharge the electricity by sending some projectiles that home in on you slightly. All of the attacks come out fast, but not that fast that you should have trouble dodging.
Strategy for the Coeurl Boss in FFXVI¶
The Coeurl is a fairly standard boss, although its speed might be a little bit of a nuisance. There will be two main phases in the battle, where you will see the first four attacks during the first phase. The most challenging attack to avoid during that is Whipcrack, since it’s quick attacks one after the other, with a lunge after the antennae strikes. However, it only hits in front of the Coeurl, so if possible, you could escape to the sides, or even the back. The battle will transition into the second phase, once the boss uses Electrocharge.
While it’s charging up for the attack, you can keep attacking it to deplete the bar that appears. Do this successfully, while dodging the lightning strikes, to temporarily stun the Coeurl. If you fail, then you have to deal with the Electric Burst move, which hits very hard, but it is avoidable. The battle in the second phase is mostly the same, except for the Electric Posts maneuver. It’s best to just avoid these and wait until they disappear, before you go back on the offensive.
(1 of 3) Be mindful of the lightning strikes during Electrocharge.
Keep fighting and once you’ve whittled its health down to maybe 25% or so, it will use its final new move, Wild Charge. This will only be used once and it’s more of a combination of moves, rather than a singular one. The Coeurl charges itself with electricity, then will have random lightning strikes while trying to lunge at you. After the third lunge, it will discharge the electricity into some slow-moving projectiles, which will home in on you a little bit. If you can survive this, then you should have an easy time finishing off the beast for good.
After defeating the Coeurl, you will witness some scenes, then move onto another big battle, before confronting Hugo Kupka, for your one-on-one fight.
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