The three patterns in this section are fairly straightforward. Your job is just to beat them with sword attacks and stay alive. They're kind of like classic bosses - which were pretty straightforward and easy in the early hours compared to those titanic fights. I highly recommend completing as many Colosseum challenges and side quests in Chapter 14 before going out to save Aerith. The more levels you have, the better these fights will go.
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The Valkyrie
- Chapter 15
- Weakness: Thunder, Aero
The Hunter-Killer Robot is an advanced drone that resists long-range attacks and magic - unless you hit it with Aero or Thunder. Equip Barret with a long-range weapon so he can continuously pressure the Valkyrie and build his ADP gauge. I also recommend giving Barret Pray so that it can keep everyone's HP up.
The Valkyrie flies around the arena, using a powerful flame drill to crash into the ground and follow you. He constantly uses his machine guns and will launch a barrage of rockets that you will need to guard against. In the second phase of combat, it will summon a laser satellite drone and enter a special overload mode. When it's bright purple, it takes less damage and attacks faster, but all attacks will fill its staggering gauge.
To get it out of its limiter override mode, stand under the Valkyrie until the laser activates - shooting itself. This disables limiter bypass and does massive damage. Doing a lot of damage with melee attacks will put pressure on the Valkyrie.
The boss does a lot of damage over time and from a distance. Keep your HP in place, keep hitting it and eventually you will win.
Specimen HO512
This disgusting experience surrounds itself with tiny minions who constantly trigger different elemental spells. The giant creature itself stumbles, grabbing figures with its Left Claw appendage and spawning more minions.
The fight is pretty straightforward. You can crush the left claw to disable its grappling hook attack, but it will use regrowth to heal and regenerate the claw. Attacking the Left Claw and using True Strike or Focused Strike seems like the best way to charge her Stagger Gauge, but she will recover extremely quickly when shifted.
After dealing damage, the specimen will retreat and use the mako tanks to gain new abilities. In phase 2, he will begin to spawn minions. In phase 2, he will give minions mako energy, causing them to explode when they are near you. In the third phase, he will also attempt to heal by leaching out the smaller mako reservoirs.
Record your limit breaks and invoke for the last step. When he tries to heal, unleash your limits and your most powerful abilities. The specimen has no specific weaknesses, so most of the magic will work against it. If you have a hard time in this fight, be sure to complete all Shinra fight trials in the cafeteria area. This is a great place to grind a level or two.
Swordipede
The Swordipede is another ridiculous foe from the original game that has been upgraded to a big boss battle. The Swordipede flies through the sky, drills through the ground, and drops electric bomb payloads from the sky. Before entering his room, prepare both parts - make sure Cloud / Barret and Tifa / Aerith have the Cure gear.
Equip a long-range weapon for Barret, and attack only with standard Cloud / Tifa attacks while the Swordipede soars through the air. When on the ground, it repels melee attacks. In the air, you can perform combos.
The second half of the fight is much more difficult. The Centipede leaves Cloud / Barret and attacks Tifa / Aerith on the central platform. There's nowhere to run here, so equip Manaward and Magnify to keep your party alive. Praying also helps! While the Swordipede isn't weak for Thunder, it seems to take more caliber damage. Use magic on the Swordipede while it's electrified to spread it out faster.
