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The toughest bosses in the game so far appear in Chapter 9 — both Specimen H1024 and Crimson Mare Mk. 2 can wipe your party if you don’t target their weaknesses. You’re stuck using specific characters for both boss fights, so don’t rely on your usual strategies. You’ll need to change things up and reset your Materia for the best chance at survival. Bring Ice Materia for the first fight and Fire Materia for use against Scarlet herself. The Specimen will slowly absorb more Mako until it unleashes a killer attack that hits your entire party — there’s no dodging this, you’ll just have to suppress it by dealing high damage while it attempts to absorb. Interrupting it is your only option. The Crimson Mare has a similar mechanic. If you don’t destroy both arms of the mech (before one is repaired) then she’ll continue to hammer you with deadly attacks. Try dealing damage to both equally before quickly crippling. And that’s just scratching the surface of these encounters. Learn more about each boss in the full guide below.
Boss: Specimen H1024
- Weakness: Blizzard
- Strengthens itself by ingesting mako, then unleashes a powerful attack after a certain amount of time has passed. Inflicting enough damage after Make Ingestion will both interrupt the subsequent attack and pressure it.
The first party that arrives at the Abandoned Reactor will fight this weird mutant. The boss fights in this chapter are some of the more difficult ones in the game. I recommend preparing. Complete side-quests and other activities in the previous regions to level up before attempting these bosses.
For this fight, you’ll have access to Cloud, Barret, Red XIII and Cait Sith. I highly recommend using Red XIII over Cait Sith — Cait can be really useful, but if you’re still learning the systems of FF7, his random abilities and weird features can be a challenge to overcome. Especially against a genuinely difficult boss fight. Red XIII is much easier to get to grips with and has immediately useful abilities. Give the Magnify Materia to Barret or Red XIII and combine with Barrier or Healing. You can protect your entire party for the cost of one spell.
Equip Blizzard Materia — this is VERY important. The Specimen will unleash a deadly attack if you don’t stop its Mako Ingestion. Any type of damage works to stop Mako Ingestion, but Blizzard will deal extra damage. Power up with Barret’s Bonus Rounds and use Disorder with Cloud — if Disorder lands, you’ll automatically recharge enough ATB to use it again. While Disorder does not charge Synergies, it’s still very useful to dealing high damage fast.
I recommend giving Blizzard to Red XIII — use Blizzara to deal high damage to the Specimen and interrupt its charged. If it does unleash its special charged attack, it can often do a full party wipe. You’ll want to be fully healed before it hits.
The Specimen is completely immune to Thunder and Fire. Don’t use these attacks at all. The boss uses Thundara regularly, so magic barriers and resistance to Thunder damage will help your party survive longer.
Boss: Crimson Mare Mk. 2
- Weakness: Thunder
- Destroying the weapons on both of its arms will allow you to target Scarlet. Knocking her out will pressure the battle armor.
Another difficult boss. This is encountered with Tifa, Aerith and Yuffie. Use Aerith as your designated healer and swap Magnify, Healing and Barrier Materia. You’ll also want Thunder Materia on Tifa or Yuffie — Yuffie can swap to Thunder Ninjutsu. Combine with Doppelganger to deal even more magic damage.
The two arms are much more vulnerable than the main body. The boss will repair itself, so switch focus and bring both arms to low HP. Once they’re both low, use Thunder on each to cripple them and reveal Scarlet. Targeting Scarlet and crippling her will pressure the suit. That’s the only way to Stagger her, and you can easily complete this battle without staggering her at all.
Once again, Synergy Abilities are very important. Boost your Limit Level, give your Unlimited MP or lengthen her stagger timer with Synergy Abilities. These attacks are also just very strong.
I recommend bringing the fully-upgraded Phoenix Summon. Equip to Aerith and use it. This heals and allows you to place Reraise on one party member. Very useful if Scarlet uses her most powerful attack and wipes the party.
