Why can't I heal in Final Fantasy 16?

If you're wondering why you can't heal from certain wounds in Final Fantasy 16, there's a reason for that, and it's not a glitch. FF16's healing system isn't perfectly explained and if you don't realise the nuances you might be a little confused, but once we go through it below you'll realise what the limitations are on healing powers like Torgal's Cure and Flames of Rebirth. Let's explain the healing system in Final Fantasy 16, and how to heal yourself when it seems like you can't.

Final Fantasy 16 healing explained

To heal in Final Fantasy 16 can be done in several ways, but there's specific limitations. Here's how it works:

• When a player takes damage in Final Fantasy 16, they lose health as normal, but there's a grey section of their health bar where that lost health was.
• That grey bar doesn't count towards current health, and will vanish if the player takes further damage or waits too long.
• If the player tries to heal using Torgal's Cure, the Flames of Rebirth, or similar Eikon powers, only the grey section gets recovered. This limits your ability to recover health, and means you can't heal above a certain point with these powers. If there's no grey line, you can't heal with these methods.
• To heal above the grey line, players have to use Potions, which are a limited resource that Clive can only carry a certain amount of at one time.

Now you know how the system works, here's how you can get the most out of it.

How to heal in Final Fantasy 16

For early players getting used to Final Fantasy 16, there are several ways in which players can heal, each one of which has their uses and limitations. Here's how you can heal:

• Levelling up
  • A simple one, levelling up from XP gain after a fight completely restores Clive's health to maximum. If you're close to ending a fight and close to levelling up, don't use any limited resources.
• Potions and consumables
  • Potions can be found in the wild or bought cheaply from merchants, but you can only carry so many at once. They can be equipped to the quick-select bar from the items menu. If you're carrying the maximum and find another, Clive automatically uses it.
• Torgal's Cure
  • Your dog Torgal has a "Cure" power that can only be used in combat. It grants a passive health regeneration of 5HP per second, but can only restore the grey section of Clive's health bar, and the regeneration doesn't last for more than a few seconds. However, it can be used infinitely - you just need to make sure you're standing close enough to Torgal for the spell's radius to reach you.
• Flames of Rebirth
  • This Eikon power is in the Phoenix branch, and is one of the most expensive powers to buy in the early game. However, it's very powerful in combat, incinerating all enemies nearby for high damage, and fully restores any grey section of Clive's health bar. Just use it at the right moment, as it has an incredibly long cooldown.

Once you're further into the game, why not check out our list of the Final Fantasy 16 best Eikon builds to see what you do with all the monsters you acquire?

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