The Final Fantasy 16 Wind Shard explained

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You get the Wind Shard for defeating Benedikta and the Eikon Garuda in FF16 - but what do you use it for?

Final Fantasy 16 wind shard
(Image credit: Square Enix)

The Wind Shard in Final Fantasy 16 has only one use - to create a new sword that Clive can be even more deadly with than before. You'll get this mysterious item, used for crafting and forging, as a reward for defeating the villainous Benedikta and her Eikon Garuda, but once you have it, where do you go from there? We'll explain the uses of the Wind Shard in FF16 below, and how you can use it to create the special Stormcry weapon.

How to use the Wind Shard in Final Fantasy 16

Final Fantasy 16 wind shard

(Image credit: Square Enix)

Once you have the Wind Shard in Final Fantasy 16, you need to head back to the Hideaway and to the Black Hammer Forge run by Blackthorne. There, the Wind Shard can be used to craft the Stormcry Sword, a powerful early-game blade in FFXVI that has both 135 attack and stagger.

Once you have the Stormcry, be sure not to sell it! You'll find more powerful weapons throughout FFXVI, but each time you defeat an Eikon you'll receive a new kind of Shard that you can then use to upgrade Stormcry into a new kind of sword with better stats, and upgrade that one in a straight line of progression. Admittedly, it won't result in the best sword in the game (though if you do want to find Final Fantasy 16's best weapon we've got a page on that), but it can serve nicely until you reach that point much later on. It'll also be very useful if you're ready to start going after all the different Final Fantasy 16 hunt board locations, which will definitely test your combat power.

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Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.