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We’re almost at the end of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The Temple of the Ancients is packed with boss fights, and the Chapter 13 bosses are some of the toughest in the game. We’re at the penultimate chapter, so you’ll want to fully prepare your entire party for action — you’ll want to stock up on Mist Potions, Phoenix Downs and unlock those Level 3 Limit Breaks. Some classic bosses return this time around, and you’ll have to take on all the Turks with characters you might not be using as often. Make sure to outfit all six characters before venturing forth and check out each section below for more boss guides.
Boss: Red Dragon
- Weakness: Blizzard
- Striking the scorched pillars and bringing them down on the dragon will pressure it. Destroying one of its wings while it is flying will cause it to plummet, pressuring it. Attacking its chest will reduce the range of Crimson Breath.
At the start of the battle, you can begin attacking the head. Use Cloud’s Triple Slash to glide over the fire breath AOE attack and hammer the head, commanding Barret, Yuffie or anyone else to hit it with Blizzard to rapidly cripple it. Destroying the head part will fill a portion of the pressure gauge.
The fire breath attack also only targets the floor of the arena. You can continue to attack the head while it is breathing fire with melee characters as long as they’re flying mid-air. Almost every character has a mid-air ability you can use to start floating.
When the Red Dragon’s chest glows, target it with high-damage output characters or use Blizzara. Breaking the chest will lower the range of its Crimson Breath ability.
Eventually, the dragon will shoot fire everywhere — you’ll see the pillars on the corners of the arena glow red. You’ll need to aim the pillars by standing in the opposite direction you want them to fall. Dropping a pillar will fill the pressure gauge significantly.
Finally, when it’s flying target one of the wings. Barret is especially good at this with a fully-charged Maximum Fury. Destroy one of the wings to interrupt the Red Dragon, cause it to fall, and pressure it. Stagger it twice and you’ll defeat this initial boss fight.
Boss: Reno & Rude
- Rude Weakness: Wind
- Hitting him with multiple powerful offensive abilities while his guard is up will pressure him. Interrupting his synergy strikes will also pressure him.
- Reno Weakness: Fire
- Evading his counters or countering him with powerful offensive abilities will pressure him. Interrupting his synergy strikes will also pressure him.
This encounter with Reno and Rude is similar to past fights — target Reno first and defeat him, then take care of Rude. Reno is easier to pressure while fighting him with Cloud. Evade often or use Cloud’s Counterstance to deal high damage and immediately pressure him.
Reno is aggressive but generally easier to defeat than Rude. He is weak to Fire, so use Fira when he’s Pressured to stagger first. Interrupting his Synergy Abilities is easier when you use Synergy Abilities yourself. Charge everyone up in your party and especially focus on increasing Limit Level. The stronger your Limit Break when they stagger, the faster these two will be defeated.
Boss: Elena & Tseng
- Elena Weakness: Thunder
- Hitting her with two powerful offensive abilities or interrupting her synergy strikes will pressure her.
- Tseng Weakness: Blizzard
- Blocking or evading his combo finishers will pressure him for a short while. Once he has recovered, he will begin to charge up for a powerful technique. Inflicting enough damage while he is charging will pressure him.
Tseng is the more powerful and dangerous enemy in this tough boss fight. Focus on defeating Elena first so you can focus completely on Tseng. To pressure Elena, use any two powerful offensive abilities. Judgement Ray, Sidewinder or Art of War are extremely good for pressuring her. Summon a Doppelganger and use Thunder Ninjitsu to constantly deal lightning damage to Elena.
Tseng is best fought with Red XIII or Yuffie — he only stays pressured for a short time. Evade or guard against his special attacks to pressure him for a short time. While he isn’t as difficult as Roche or Rufus, he’s still very fast. Practice Perfect Guard against him to more consistently pressure.
Tseng can use Phoenix Down to revive Elena. If Tseng is low on health, defeat him first. Use Summons and Limit Breaks to finish him off, then switch to Elena. Phoenix Down revives only a portion of her health.
Boss: Demon Gate
- Weakness: N/A
- Draws the walls inward to narrow the field of battle. Inflicting enough damage while it gathers strength to move will both interrupt and pressure it. It unleashes elemental aspected attacks from its enormous hands but striking it with an opposing element will interrupt its assault.
Before entering the fight against Demon Gate, equip all four Elemental Materia types. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder and Aero are all required to pressure. Unlock Synergy Abilities in your Folio. You’ll be able to select any party you want for this battle.
The Demon Gate will attempt to shrink the arena with its Encroach ability. When it uses Encroach, use everything you can to stop it. Any high-damage ATB Command is useful here. Weapon Skills like Disorder are extremely useful here — Disorder charges ATB when it connects, letting Cloud use it multiple times very quickly.
Charge Synergy Abilities and save for when the Demon Gate attempts to Encroach. These abilities are strong enough to knock it into a pressured state and stop the encroachment immediately. I recommend using Limit Level Synergy Abilities.
At 50% Health, another Demon Gate will spawn behind the party. Focus on destroying Demon Gate A — use Tifa’s combo finishers to increase Stagger Damage Bonus and completely wreck the first gate. Once it’s down, you can switch angles and take on Demon Gate B. Follow the same simple strategy by stopping its Encroachment. You can also counter its opposite elemental attacks but we didn’t need to do that to destroy both gates quickly.
