Ascension Grid

Noctis and his buddies’ combat capability can be improved through spending ability points (AP) on the Ascension grid located under “Ascension” menu. The grid comprises of interconnected ability nodes which are further separated into 7 categories including Stats, Combat, Techniques, Teamwork, Magic, Recovery, and Exploration.

When the ability node is unlocked, it becomes instantly active giving the permanent ability to the characters right away. Each ability requires a different amount of ability points. Mostly, an early ability requires a few amounts of AP and it needs a lot more once the grid moves further.

Players have a full freedom to unlock any ability nodes they wish. They can fully focus on a combat grid and improve Noctis combat ability alone. Or they can work on improving characters’ base stats, magic, or even spending points on an exploration grid for an additional way to gain AP from certain activities such as fishing.

Each build has its own pros and cons. Before investing in any ability, it is better to make sure that it is suitable for your play style. Although there are so many ways to get AP, a player is always in need of it.

Five Ways to Gain AP

AP can be acquired in mainly five ways: completing quests, leveling up, having the right answer in an interactive conversation, finishing an enemy with a specific attack, and successfully completing certain objectives in battles.

Completing quests and leveling up are quite straightforward. As soon as you finish certain quests, mostly the main quests, or leveling up while resting, a certain amount of AP is rewarded. They are the two steadiest ways to obtain ability points.

The interactive conversation is quite optional. Regularly, a player is required to select a specific dialogue answer. Choosing the right one rewards with AP or EXP. However, without a guide, there’s no way to know what the reward behind each answer is.

Finishing enemies with specific moves, including blindside attack, counter, and warp-striking give an additional ability point as a bonus. This method is the fastest way to get AP in FFXV so far. However, a player needs to know when to precisely finishing an enemy with one of these moves. A recommended strategy is to always look at the overall situation and swiftly execute the move before Noctis’ friends kill it, rather than focusing on a single enemy.

In some battles, especially in an early game, there are special missions that normally comes in a form of successfully execute this move x times. Completing them provide additional APs