It won't take long for Final Fantasy 16 players to fall in love with Torgal, Clive's adorable pup seen at the very beginning of the game. Though Torgal's cuteness simply cannot be denied, his ferocity in the later parts of the game is also worth noting. After Final Fantasy 16's time skip, an older Clive is accompanied on his journey by a now fully grown Torgal. He maintains a lot of what made him cute, but his greater size allows him to help the player in combat in numerous useful ways. Understanding how to use Torgal in combat can really help players excel during some of the game's tougher fights.
Final Fantasy 16 players that haven't made it to the time skip yet will need to continue on in the story before they are able to use Torgal in combat. After this point, the hound is surprisingly helpful in the gameplay, and even saves Clive's life several times in cutscenes and other scripted events.
Final Fantasy 16: Controlling Torgal
Torgal in Final Fantasy 16 cannot be directly controlled by the player. Instead, Clive is able to give Torgal commands by using the directional pad. Normally, the D-Pad is linked to items like Potions and Tonics, but if players press left on the D-Pad it will switch to three different Torgal commands instead. These commands are Sic, Heal, and Ravage, each of which has a unique effect that players can use at any point in battle simply by pressing the corresponding button. All three of these commands can only be used in combat.
Final Fantasy 16: Torgal's Sic
Sic is a single target attack that does moderate damage to an opponent. By default, Torgal will target whoever Clive is locked onto, but Sic will still pick a target if the player is not locked on. This move is fairly quick, and is particularly useful when trying to stack up damage against a staggered foe. Performing a Sic right after a Precision Dodge or after finishing a combo will actually result in a Precision Sic, and using Sic on an enemy knocked prone will result in Punishing Sic.
Final Fantasy 16: Torgal's Heal
Even if players deign not to use Sic or Ravage and instead rely entirely on Clive for damage, it's important to learn how Torgal's Heal works, especially when playing Final Fantasy 16 on Action-Focused Mode. Whenever Clive takes damage, a portion of his health bar will turn grey rather than disappearing completely. This represents health that can be healed by Torgal. Using Heal will cause Torgal to howl, letting out an AoE that will give passive regeneration to allies in range. This regeneration can only heal the greyed out part of Clive's health bar, though.
Final Fantasy 16: Torgal's Ravage
Ravage is very similar to Sic in that it mainly causes damage, but this attack hits enemies in a group. Although slower than Sic, Ravage also has the benefit of knocking down smaller enemies, leaving them open to powerful Punish attacks or keeping them out of the fight for a short while. This is a great chance for Clive to back up and heal. Just like Sic, Ravage can also be performed after a Precision Dodge or at the end of a combo.
Final Fantasy 16 releases on June 21st for PS5.