Balouve Mines | Optional dungeons Final Fantasy XV Guide

Balouve Mines is one of the first difficult dungeons in the game. You will need to travel between different floors instead of a single, narrow passage like in Myrlwood Forest or Malmalam Thicket. However, you will encounter only two types of enemies here, one of them being the boss of the dungeon. The recommended level to visit this location is 50. There's a Royal Tomb hidden in Balouve Mines, with the Bow of the Clever weapon inside of it.

• Location
• Enemies
• Walkthrough

Location

The entrance to Balouve Mines.

The entrance to Balouve Mines can be found in the southern part of the map, to the south of Hammerhead. Once you're near the location, you have to look for a gap in the fence, go through it and head along the path to reach the entrance to the mine. The exact location of the entrance can be seen on the above screenshot.

Enemies

Inside you will find only two types of enemies and most of the time you will be fighting against Goblins. Those foes are extremely weak in combat, although they can steal an item from the player. Both of the enemies you find here are vulnerable to Light-imbued weapons, as well as those from the Daggers group.

Walkthrough

A passage with the fire deposit next to it.

Once you reach the entrance, get inside the mine, approach the elevator located near the entrance and use it to get to the lower floor. Leave the elevator on the first floor you reach (B1F) and head along the path, eliminating irritating Goblins along the way. Reach the end of the path, turn left and run into a narrow passage - there's a fire deposit inside of the passage, making it really hard to miss. Use it to reach the lower floor.

After getting pushed to the lower floor by the boss you will be fighting a large group of Goblins.

Head along the narrow tunnel until you reach a fork. The route to the right leads to the elevator - instead, turn left and eliminate Goblins along the way. You should soon reach a bridge going through a rather large room. At the end of the said bridge there will be Aramusha, the boss of the dungeon. You won't be facing the demon now - the enemy will push you off the bridge to the lower level, where you will face a large group of Goblins.

The ladder (blue circle) leading to the lower floor.

Once the encounter is over, open the doors located to the west of your current position, run on top of the metal platform and use the nearby ladder to get to the lower floor. Continue marching until you reach a fork - turn left and continue through the tunnel. Once you reach the open space, you will encounter the enemy you've met before, Aramusha.

You will be fighting the boss in this room.

The enemy has significantly higher level than the Goblins you've met up to this point, although the demon is not that strong. Aramusha is extremely fast and can deal immense damage, but his attacks can easily be blocked. Blocking and counterattacking is the best method to use against this foe, as those will allow you to stay unharmed and deal significant damage to the foe at the same time.

There's a high chance that Ramuh will come to your aid.

The only thing you must be extremely careful about is the special attack of the boss. Once a purple circle appears around Aramusha, you must get away as quickly as possible - doing blade-warp or by simply rolling away. After a short while the enemy will perform a powerful slash, immediately killing (Instant Death) everyone it reaches. The attack cannot be parried or phased through; the only solution is to get out of its range. Additionally, there's a high chance that Ramuh will come to your aid during the encounter. Once white particles start appearing on the screen and the music changes, press and hold the button shown on the screen (R2/RT - PS4/XOne) to summon the Astral and deal huge amount of damage.

This narrow passage leads to the Royal Tomb.

Once the encounter is over, use the nearby metal stairs to go up. Use them to reach all the way up to the top, ignore the ladder going upwards and turn left. There's a narrow passage located right in front of you, between rocks. On the other side of the said passage you will find the Royal Tomb with the Bow of the Clever hidden inside. Additionally, the second branch of the route located there leads to a high-level dungeon - more on that can be found in "A Menace Sleeps in Balouve" chapter. You can now leave this area.