How to get a chocobo mount in Final Fantasy 16
Have a kweh-ker time traversing Valisthea.
You can still get a chocobo mount in Final Fantasy 16 despite its darker and more mature story.
Riding a chocobo will make traversing the large open field maps considerably quicker once Final Fantasy 16 opens up later in the story. And, while you’ll have fun with the real-time combat, sometimes you just really want to easily dash past them to focus on reaching a side quest marker or a hunt target.
So how do you ride a chocobo? It’s not something that can be done early on in the game (in fact, you might be shocked to find you’ll be able to fight wild chocobo before that), but you won’t just be riding any chocobo. Instead it will be Clive’s white chocobo Ambrosia, who you’ll recall seeing in the prologue.
This guide will explain how to reunite Ambrosia with and unlock the ability to ride a chocobo mount in Final Fantasy 16.
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How to unlock a chocobo mount in Final Fantasy 16
To unlock the chocobo mount in Final Fantasy 16 you will first need to have played until the time-skip in the story where you will have a main scenario quest called 'The Gathering Storm', which takes you to Martha’s Rest.
Fortunately this is also where you’ll find a new side quest called 'The White-Winged Wonder'. The quest-giver is Rowan, Traveling Trader, who you may recognise from an earlier quest called 'What a Bird Wants'. He can be found south-east of the village by the bridge next to a chocobo.
You’ll also notice the green icon above his head has a plus symbol instead of the usual exclamation mark. You’ll want to pay attention to these quests going forward, because they indicate completing these quests will unlock a new feature or upgrade.
Speak to Rowan and he’ll tell you about sightings of a mysterious chocobo under the name of Whiteheart that’s been protecting other wild chocobos from bandits. Accept this quest and you’ll basically be investigating this sighting for yourself.
Leave Martha’s Rest and follow the quest marker south, as you pick up signs, first of a white feather and then bodies of bandits from the aftermath of a skirmish presumably with this feathered vigilante.
Eventually, the quest marker will take you to south-west of the map, near a location called Crooked Nash’s Pier. Here you’ll find a flock of chocobo, led by a white chocobo, cornered by a group of poachers.
After a cutscene, step in and take care of the poachers. There’s a lot of them but, with your Eikon abilities, you can make quick work of them. Another wave of enemies will appear once they’re taken care of - a pack of harrier hounds and a huge axe-wielding huntsman.
The huntsman is a bit tougher as he also has a will gauge, but this isn’t something that should phase you at this point. Just watch out for his big axe swings and use Garuda’s Rook’s Gambit to counter and stagger him.
Once the fight is over, Clive will approach the white chocobo before noticing an injury on its left eye that confirms it really is your former chocobo Ambrosia. What a touching reunion!
Rowan shortly shows up afterwards and makes a bespoke tack that will let you ride Ambrosia once again. In addition, you’ll receive 250 XP, 20 renown points, and 60 sharp fang materials. You can now also view Ambrosia’s Tack as a collectible back in Clive’s Chambers at the Hideaway.
How to ride chocobos in Final Fantasy 16
Now that you’ve unlocked chocobo mounts in Final Fantasy 16, here’s how you can use them during your journey in Valisthea.
While Ambrosia is reunited with Clive, she actually remains in the wild with her flock. The good news is this means you can summon her by holding R3 wherever you are in an open field area and she will magically appear nearby, while you press X next to her to mount. Because she’s travelling with her flock, this conveniently also means any party members accompanying you will also have a chocobo to ride.
You can dismount by holding R3, which will usually result in Ambrosia immediately disappearing so you’ll have to hold R3 to re-summon her. There are also points when Clive will automatically dismount either because it’s a story quest, you’ve encountered a target monster for a hunt, or you’ve reached a location where he’ll say he can just walk from there. You also can’t summon Ambrosia while in a village area such as Martha’s Rest or Lostwing.
While riding Ambrosia, you can hold R2 to speed up traversal by galloping, or use L2 to rein in and slow down. The main benefit of using a chocobo mount, however, is to traverse the open fields at a quicker pace, which also means you can avoid a lot of combat. Be sure to gallop past enemies though as some can catch up to you and knock Clive off his mount!
Although the prompts are not shown on screen, you can press X to jump while riding Ambrosia and you can even attack enemies with Square, although the damage really doesn’t do much unless you’re encountering very low-level enemies. Again, it reinforces that mounts are primarily for quick traversal.
Enjoy riding your chocobo in Valisthea!