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The final boss of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a doozy. There’s a series of Chapter 14 bosses waiting for you at the end of the story, and they get increasingly difficult — it can take upwards of an hour or more to fight them all, and some phases of the boss can wipe your party in an instant. We’ve got video and a whole lot of text to help you beat the biggest bosses of the game. Here’s how to take on Jenova and the many, many forms of Sephiroth.
Preparing For The Final Boss
The final boss is a grueling multi-stage fight that requires all of your characters. You’ll regain Cait Sith at the start of Chapter 14, who will enter the final battle completely unequipped if you don’t enter the equipment menu. Before progressing to the final boss battle, here’s what you’ll want to do to prepare.
- Reach Level 50 with all party members. You can reach Level 70 relatively easily just by completing all combat challenges in the Simulator or through the various arenas. But Level 50 is basically required.
- Cloud and Aerith need Healing Materia, Barrier Materia and any other materia focused on keeping them alive. Raise Materia is useful — Time Materia to unlock Haste is also extremely useful for Cloud. Use Magnify and pair with Healing, Barrier or Time.
- Craft Giga Potions and Mist Giga Potions — then craft as many Mist Mega Potions as you can. Bring Hi-Ethers to refresh your MP. Luckily, your party will generally recover MP between each phase of the boss.
- Equip Tifa, Barret, Red XIII, Yuffie and Cait Sith with a variety of Healing and Elemental Magic Materia. Yufie’s Elemental Ninjutsu is absolutely essential. Red XIII’s Watcher’s Respite is an incredibly useful healing materia.
Basically, prepare for everything. The party composition will change seemingly at random between phases, so you’ll want your secondary party of Tifa, Barret, Red XIII, Yuffie and Cait Sith to be prepared for anything.
If you’re short on ingredients for Giga-Potions and Ethers, go to the Nibel Region Chocobo Ranch to purchase almost any crafting resource. They’re expensive, but you won’t need much money after this. When you’ve collecting plenty of healing items and have your equipment / materia set, you can begin the final battle.
Boss: Jenova Lifeclinger
- Weakness: N/A
- Unable to read.
Phase 1: The powerful Jenova Lifeclinger is the first of a series of bosses in Chapter 14. At the start of the battle, you’ll have to use Cloud, Barret and Yuffie. Characters will change as the battle progresses.
During this fight, Jenova will generate a Barrier that is immune to physical damage. Use Lightning and Fire Materia to deal damage and destroy the barrier. This will Pressure Jenova. Use Stagger increasing attacks like Focus Round or Focused Thrust to increase Stagger.
As you deal damage, Jenova will capture Barret and then Yuffie, removing them from the battle. Take Jenova down to about 80% Health to reach the second phase. I recommend saving your Limit Breaks until Phase 2 has begun.
Phase 2: In this phase, Jenova becomes more dangerous. Barret and Yuffie will rejoin the battle with Cloud. Deal damage to Jenova while it is charging attacks (like Dreams of Sorcery) with Fire or Lightning. Charge your Limit Breaks to Level 2 or Level 3 in preparation for the final phase.
During this phase, Jenova will smash the arena at about 40% Health and you’ll swap character. Tifa and Cait Sith will team up. Use Tifa’s Unbridled Strength and Cait Sith’s abilities like Moogle Knuckle to knock out the first wing. Target the Right Wing — not the body!
Next, Barret and Red XIII need to destroy the Left Wing. Use Limit Break or Synergy Abilities if they’re already charged here to end either of these phases faster. Dodge through its attacks and keep healing until the wing is destroyed. The final part of this fight is with Cloud and Yuffie. Destroy the head like all the rest.
Phase 3: The final phase puts Cloud in a party with Red XIII and Cait Sith. Deal enough damage (or use Limit Breaks) to Pressure Jenova — but you’ll need a lot of MP. Only magic attacks will damage or pressure Jenova in this stage of the fight.
During the Desecration attack, guard to block incoming damage. Focus on keeping your party healed up — you’ll be taking constant damage, so better to be safe than sorry. You’ll also need to use a magic attack if you pressure it — one more magic attack will defeat it.
Boss: Sephiroth
- Weakness: N/A
- Unable to read.
Sephiroth comes in many, many forms in the final battle. For the first minor encounter, you’ll take on Sephiroth with Zack’s help. Zack is extremely powerful, making this fight surprisingly easy. Take your time and learn Zack’s moves. Zack’s abilities become more powerful when charged. Tap [Triangle] to rapidly charge your abilities. Wait for Sephiroth to look at Cloud, then charge. Remember to evade or guard before attempting to use one of Zack’s abilities — Sephiroth can easily interrupt.
When Sephiroth charges Octoslash, quickly pressure him by dealing high damage. Hit him with Focused Thrust or any of Zack’s attacks charged to at least Level 2. This will pressure him and make him vulnerable — once he’s Staggered, use Cloud and Zack’s unique Synergy Ability. That should be enough to defeat his first form.
Boss: Sephiroth Reborn
- Weakness: N/A
- Unable to read.
Phase 1: The massive reborn fiend is the longest boss battle of Chapter 14. You’ll start with Cloud solo. Start by targeting and crippling the Body with physical attacks. Focused Thrust and Disorder are especially good here. If Disorder lands, it will recharge ATB and allow you to use it again. Dodge the attacks it spawns under Cloud’s feet to destroy it.
After the body is destroyed, Cloud will leap onto the massive fiend. Climb up and Cloud will take on the upper section of the body — the second head. Guard or Dodge Swarm, then evade backwards when it generates Apocalyptic Fire. Apocalyptic Fire is also a good time to heal. As long as you’re away from Sephiroth Reborn, you’re safe.
To avoid Hell’s Gate, wait for the circle to reach full size, then dodge immediately. The spear will crash down at that point. Inferred Horror spawns explosive blasts randomly — this is a good time to back off and use spells. Memorize these attacks, as all your party members will need to deal with them. Focused Thrust is especially good here at building Stagger meter.
Phase 2: At 90% health, you’ll reach the next phase. Barret, Tifa and Cait Sith will battle Sephiroth Reborn. But first, you’ll need to destroy Bahamut Arisen Whisper. This whisper has the same weaknesses as the summon. Use Synergy Abilities to pressure it. After dealing about half damage, it will charge Gigaflare.
The wings will revive Bahamut Arisen. Target the wings and destroy them one-at-a-time. Use Limit Breaks and Synergy Abilities to deal max damage. It will always heal Bahamut, so be prepared for a second round. During this phase, Sephiroth Reborn will slam its wings on the arena. Attack them to deal damage so you can destroy them faster. Defeat both wings and Bahamut to progress to Phase 3.
Phase 3: Joining Zack, you’ll need to fight Sephiroth Reborn solo. His attacks are powered up but essentially identical to the first phase. One unique feature is a magical ward in the center of the arena. Stand in the ward long enough to charge an orb. Attack the orb to launch it at Sephiroth, crippling and pressuring him.
Charge Zack’s meter to deal much higher damage, or use High Braver when Sephiroth is crippled. You can also use a unique Synergy Ability with Cloud — he isn’t in the arena but he’ll join you in spirit for the Synergy Ability.
Phase 4: Rejoining Tifa, Yuffie and Red XIII — you’ll need to destroy the Core. To do this, destroy the Left Wing and Right Wing. The wings switch to the four affinities (Fire, Ice, Lightning and Wind) — to damage the wings significantly, use opposing elemental magic on them. Use powerful Fire against Ice, Wind against Lightning and vice versa. The wings are often too high to reach, so magic is your best method for damaging them.
Destroy both wings to remove the barrier and expose the Core. Next, destroy the Core — Tifa’s Chi Trap and Unfettered Fury abilities are extremely good at destroying the core. Once the core is broken, Sephiroth will lower and begin using similar attacks to the Cloud / Zack phases of the fight. Tifa is really good at building stagger, so use everything in her arsenal to Stagger the boss.
When Sephiroth charges Heartless Angel be prepared. He will perform an unblockable attack that lowers your entire party to 1 HP. Heal immediately after this attack lands. Destroy Sephiroth Reborn to initiate the final (and hardest) part of this fight.
Boss: Sephiroth (Final)
- Weakness: N/A
- Unable to read.
The final form of Sephiroth must be fought with Cloud and Aerith. Before this fight, you’ll want to absolutely equip both with Healing Materia, the best gear possible, and unlock Synergy Abilities to increase your Limit Level. Be prepared to use a lot of Giga Potions.
Use Cloud to fight while Aerith backs you up. Use Protect and Haste if you have spare ATB, otherwise heal and build up Synergy.
Sephiroth will launch special attacks and reveal his Wing or Masamune. Both can only be damaged with magic. Aerith’s Ray of Judgement is extremely powerful and will cripple either part in a single use. Once shattered, Sephiroth will be pressured.
Dodge Grip of Fate — it is a projectile Whisper Sephiroth launches straight forward. Sephiroth will always use Skewer directly after. If a character is caught by Skewer, you can heal them mid-attack.
Learn to Perfect Guard Sephiroth’s standard attack. Guard just as he attacks, continue to guard, then guard against for his final slash. Each Perfect Guard will significantly increase his Stagger meter.
Like the previous battle, this Sephiroth will also use Heartless Angel and lower all party members to 1 HP. Immediately use Magnify+Curage or a Giga Potion. Aerith’s Limit Break Healing Wind is also extremely useful for countering this ability. I also recommend summoning Phoenix and using Reraise on Cloud.
Again, Sephiroth will charge Octoslash. Target Masamune with Aerith’s Ray of Judgement to destroy it and pressure him. After this, at low health, Sephiroth will use Tempus Finis and shoot beams from his hands. Keep circling Sephiroth and keep moving as blasts will slowly track you. He will continue to use this attack for the rest of the battle. Charge your Limit Level to 3 and save your Limit Break for this stage.
Using your Limit here will be enough to defeat Sephiroth. Congratulations, you just won the game! Now you can replay any chapter and replay on Hard Mode. There are still more difficult challenges waiting to unlock, so keep going if you’re brave enough. You can even unlock playable Zack and Sephiroth in the Combat Simulator.
