The 7 Most Powerful Bosses In Final Fantasy 7 Remake (& The 7 Weakest)
The original Final Fantasy VII wasn’t a hard RPG by any stretch of the imagination. Thanks to the limitless power of Materia, it was all too easy to build an overpowered party– something made even easier by how easy it is to overlevel in FFVII. Which makes it all the more surprising that Final Fantasy VII Remake has one of the most demanding difficulty curves in the franchise.
Harder than anyone was expecting, Final Fantasy VII Remake is at its best during the RPG’s many nail biting boss fights. Most bosses end up offering a decent challenge this time around, but there are a few encounters more reminiscent of the much easier Final Fantasy VII (1997.)
Updated April 3, 2021, by Thomas Bowen: With the PS5 release of Final Fantasy VII Remake just mere months away, many series fans are excited about playing the game for the very first time. For others, Intergrade will provide a chance to replay the game once more with breathtaking next-gen visuals as well as a few bonus DLC chapters. Those who played the game on PS4 should already have a pretty good idea of what's in store, but anybody who's coming straight from the original game may be surprised by just how different many of the remake's bosses really are. Some are much easier, but there are a handful that are infinitely harder than they once were in the 1997 PS1 classic.
14 Strongest: Reno & Rude
Reno’s church encounter is already one of the tougher ones in Final Fantasy VII Remake, but fighting Reno alongside Rude on the top of the plate really makes that fight seem like a cakewalk. Together, these two put up a serious challenge. Rude will actually go easy on Tifa, but that doesn’t stop him from targeting Cloud and Barret.
As for Reno, he has a nasty pyramid technique which can lock party members. Fail to keep an eye on the whole party and players can soon find themselves going solo against Reno and Rude– basically certain death. It’s a tense fight at a tense point in the game with just the right level of challenge to convey said tension.
13 Weakest: Rufus
Fought near the end of Chapter 17, Rufus makes for a nice entryway into the grand finale. That said, he isn’t difficult by any stretch of the imagination. To be fair, he wasn’t hard in the original game either (and he’s actually a bit tougher this time around,) but it’s incredibly easy to just put Rufus in his place.
By countering at the right time, Cloud can create an opening where Rufus can be punished. Simply repeat this and Rufus will go down pretty quickly. Even with his multiple phases, the fight itself has little variety – meaning that players who figure out how to counter Rufus (just use Braver) have basically won then and there.
12 Strongest: Airbuster
Airbuster was already one of the more memorable bosses in the original Final Fantasy VII by virtue of when it was fought, but VII Remake ups the ante considerably by making it one of the hardest bosses in the game. With Cloud split off from Barret and Tifa, the fight against Airbuster makes use of a tight boss arena that keeps the battle tense.
Airbuster’s difficulty is something VII Remake builds up to fairly well, too. All throughout Chapter 7, Cloud can sabotage pieces of the Airbuster– ultimately culminating in a fight between the machine and the party. The player even has some agency in what to remove, although the fight will be challenging no matter what.
11 Weakest: Rude
Reno’s church battle wasn’t particularly difficult in the original Final Fantasy VII, so him putting up a real fight in the Remake was a welcome surprise. When it comes time to fight Rude, one can naturally assume that this Turk will put up just as much resistance. He does not– not even close.
Not only is Rude easy enough to subdue, switching to Aerith actually makes him a bit more passive. This makes taking down Rude extremely easy for anyone who makes good use of character switching and keeps an eye on their party’s status. If nothing else, Rude and Reno make a good tag team.
10 Strongest: Sephiroth
The man himself, Sephiroth does indeed serve as Final Fantasy VII Remake’s final boss. Completely ignoring the fact that fighting him so early will end up undermining the actual final battle, Sephiroth makes for a challenging and very engaging final boss. With the party gradually sprinkling in to help Cloud, the fight moves at a fairly dynamic pace.
That said, anyone who hasn’t mastered the art of Counterstance with Cloud yet is going to suffer. Sephiroth is vicious, and it’s expected that the player will not only wait for openings, but create them. It’s a difficult note to end the game on, but a satisfying one from a gameplay perspective.
9 Weakest: Beck, Butch, & Burke
Fought inside of the Collapse Expressway and then again at Corneo’s Colosseum, the bandit trio offer one of the more pitiful challenges in the game. Granted, they are joke villains and clearly aren’t meant to pose too much of a threat, but Beck, Butch, & Burke really do pose no threat.
To be fair, this could be to allow players to get accustomed to Aerith’s more passive play style, but they don’t behave much differently when they’re fought again in the Colosseum. Considering how dense Final Fantasy VII Remake ends up being after Chapter 9, though, a few easy fights are forgivable.
8 Strongest: Eligor
Much of Eligor's difficulty comes down to his annoying attack patterns and the various status effects that some of his attacks can inflict. It also doesn't help that the fight comes almost immediately after another boss battle which can easily catch players unprepared.
Ice and Wind materia are a must for this one, as too are curative and status healing spells. Unlike some of the other tough bosses in the game, this is one that really doesn't favor a slow and steady approach, with the best strategy being to deal damage as quickly as possible to prevent him from flying into the sky.
7 Weakest: Brain Pod
The Brain Pod shows up while exploring Hojo's lab in Chapter 17, but is nowhere near as intimidating as its appearance might suggest. Providing Cloud has Lightning and Elemental materia paired in his weapon, it can be taken down in a ridiculously short amount of time.
Its second phase does pose a little more of a challenge, with the floating head splitting up into multiple copies. Thankfully, Cloud's Triple Slash ability or a cast or two of Magnified Thunder should be more than enough to dispose of them pretty quickly. If not, equipping Star Pendants isn't a bad idea as they have a habit of casting Poison.
6 Strongest: Pride & Joy Prototype
The Final Fantasy series has featured some fantastic optional bosses over the years. Sadly, however, the Pride & Joy prototype comes up a little short when compared to the likes of Ruby and Emerald weapon. It's still pretty challenging, but a lot of this is down to how tough it is to actually reach the boss itself.
Players will first need to complete the game on Normal Mode and all of the Colosseum and VR battles. They'll then have to successfully take down five of the game's Summons in a grueling and unforgiving boss rush. Compared to all of that, the Pride & Joy Prototype isn't actually all that bad. Defeating it also unlocks the game's best accessory - the Gotterdammerung - and so it's definitely worth the effort for those who have the skill.
5 Weakest: Harbingers
Sephiroth makes for a solid final boss all things considered, but the Harbingers are something of a letdown. Modeled after Kataj, Loz, and Yazoo from Advent Children, the Harbinger Trio make for a conceptually cool fight, but they’re a bit on the easy side. They can dish out a decent bit of punishment, but players each one goes down fast enough.
The idea of a 3 on 3 boss leading into Sephiroth is sound, but FFVIIR shows some surprising restraint here. It’s as if because the Harbingers function as a party they end up going easier on the party than they should. It’s really not hard to kill all three back to back to back in spite of all the phase shifting.
4 Strongest: Hell House
Hell House makes for a relatively dangerous random encounter in the original Final Fantasy VII, but the Remake takes things to another level entirely. Rather than a regular enemy, Hell House is now a major boss in Chapter 9 and by far the single hardest fight in the main game. Taking down Hell House on a first try is an achievement in and of itself.
Not only is the boss battle long, it’s frantic. Hell House requires players use varied use of magic (requiring they have the proper Materia equipped,) while also understanding how to properly stagger enemies. Hell House basically forces players to learn the mechanics if they haven’t already.
3 Weakest: Enigmatic Spectre
Players will come up against the Enigmatic Spectre in Chapter 4. It may seem like there's a lot happening due to the plethora of gray specters that circle around it, but it's actually a relatively straight forward fight that shouldn't last more than a few minutes - even on Hard Mode.
There are two viable strategies for the battle, neither of which requires too much skill. The first is to ignore the gray specters entirely and instead focus on brute forcing the main target. Alternatively, it's possible to stagger the boss by taking out its underlings, which is probably the faster of the two methods.
2 Strongest: The Arsenal
Very rarely do players have to fight a boss without Cloud in their party. As a result, most will rely on Cloud more than their other characters– if not using him almost exclusively. The Arsenal pairs up Barret with Aerith as they take on a boss that can be a lot harder than it needs to be depending on how well players have familiarized themselves with their party.
Even knowing how to play Barret and Aerith, fighting the Arsenal requires strategic movement, careful timing to attack, and plenty of foresight as far as healing goes. The Arsenal can very quickly wipe out Barret and Aerith if players are being careless.
1 Weakest: Beastmaster
Beastmaster is also fought in Chapter 9’s Corneo Coliseum, but unlike Hell House, Beastmaster will go down in seconds so long as players attack right away. Heck, if Cloud has Triple Slash learned, the fight basically fights itself. The Beastmaster and the beasts he’s mastered will die like the dogs they are.
To be fair, though, Beastmaster is just one of many in a string of fights. He’d technically be a mid-boss in any other capacity, but he’s his own unique boss character with two flunkeys. Considering how vivacious Hell House is (and the fact FFVIIR is a demanding game in general,) a few pushover bosses don’t end up hurting the experience.
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