Hunts
- Pick them up at diners. Talk to tipsters in restaurants to accept hunts — bounties on a specific monster in a set area (and sometimes time of day).
- Star-ranked. Each hunt has a difficulty rating; clearing them raises your Hunter rank, which unlocks tougher, better-paying hunts.
- The reliable income. Hunts pay gil, AP and EXP, and drop rare ingredients and materials for Cid's weapon upgrades and Ignis's best meals. They're the backbone of mid-game progression.
- Daemons come at night. Many hunt targets (and the toughest roaming enemies) only appear after dark — powerful, but the night is where the XP and rare drops live.
The campaign's big fights
The main-story bosses are mostly spectacle set-pieces — read the telegraph, phase the big hits, and use Ignis's Enhancement on the right element. The named fights spoil the plot, so they live behind the toggle.
⚠ Spoiler — major story bosses & the late chapters
The Astral trials — the bound fights to earn Titan, Ramuh and Leviathan are scripted spectacles; follow the prompts and survive the barrages.
Chapter 13 strips Noctis of his weapons for a stretch and leans on the Ring of the Lucii — the Royal Edition reworked this chapter to be far less punishing, with Armiger access restored. Lean on the ring's Death/Holy.
The finale is a multi-phase duel that's more emotional beat than mechanical wall — come with potions and a strong main weapon and it resolves cleanly.
After the credits you're returned to the open world to mop up everything below.
Secret & menace dungeons
The toughest content sits underground. Several normal dungeons hide a sealed door to a menace dungeon, and a few standalone ruins are challenges all their own.
| Dungeon | What it is |
|---|---|
| Costlemark Tower | A puzzle-box dungeon of shifting paths and Red Giants; hides a menace-dungeon door. Bring patience and AoE. |
| Steyliff Grove | Originally a timed expedition; a long descent with strong daemons and good loot. |
| The Menace dungeons (8) | Post-game extensions beneath existing dungeons — escalating enemy levels and unique bosses, ending in very high-level fights and top gear/accessories. |
| Pitioss Ruins | A pure platforming gauntlet — almost no combat, fiendish navigation, reached by the flying Regalia. Rewards include the auto-evade Black Hood and unique gear. A patience test, not a damage test. |
The Adamantoise
The mountain-sized turtle is XV's signature mega-hunt — an enormous health pool that turns into a marathon. Two ways to handle it:
- Ring of the Lucii — Death. Channelling Death drains its HP and ignores its defense, cutting the fight dramatically. The classic method.
- Buff and grind. A max-HP/strength meal, a strong weapon and patience also gets there — just expect a long fight. Hit the head/eyes when it lowers them.
Royal / Windows Edition extras
- Explore Insomnia. The Royal Edition expands the final approach into the Crown City as a free-roam area with new bosses — including Cerberus and the superboss Omega.
- Armiger Unleashed. The free-form Armiger combo (see Combat) and a reworked, more playable Chapter 13.
- The Royal Vessel & Regalia Type-D/F. Free-roam the boat, take the car off-road (Type-D), and eventually fly it (Type-F) to reach Pitioss and far corners.
- More Royal Arms content and quality-of-life additions folded into the base experience.
The DLC episodes
XV's add-ons each spotlight a character with their own gameplay twist:
| Episode | Adds |
|---|---|
| Episode Gladiolus | Play Gladio in a combo-focused side story with a stamina/valor mechanic. |
| Episode Prompto | A gunplay-and-snowmobile chapter from Prompto's perspective. |
| Episode Ignis | Ignis's tale — a tight action moveset and an alternate-ending "what if." |
| Episode Ardyn | Play the antagonist in the back-story finale to the DLC arc. |
| Comrades | The online multiplayer expansion — create an avatar and take co-op hunts. |
Sources & further reading
This guide distills the fundamentals in our own words; for exhaustive numbers — every hunt location, weapon stat, recipe and Ascension cost — lean on:
- Final Fantasy Wiki — FF XV — the deep reference for weapons, Royal Arms, hunts, dungeons and recipes.
- GameFAQs — dungeon maps, leveling routes and trophy/Platinum walkthroughs.