Every Final Fantasy game has a super boss that challenges you to display your mastery of the mechanics of the game (or your ability to take advantage of loopholes and glitches – not that they are known yet for this game).
You need to employ your A-game and some luck to get to the finish line for the exclusive trophy or item at the end of this boss challenge.
Final Fantasy VII Remake’s super boss is the Pride and Joy Prototype. While it is a super boss, it is by no means the hardest boss in the game. That honor goes to Bahamut. The fight before the Pride and Joy Prototype. Bahamut can easily wipe out a party that is unprepared. The battle is made harder by his ability to bring Ifrit to his side during the fight.
To challenge the Pride and Joy Prototype, you must have done all the following:
- beat the game to unlock Hard Mode;
- clear all the Corneo Coliseum and Combat Simulations challenges, including the solo challenges involving Aerith in Chapter 9 that are only available right after the battle with Hell House; and
- clear all of Chadley’s 20 Battle Intel challenges.
You must be playing on Hard Mode to select this final combat simulation in Chapter 17.
To prepare for the fight, you will want all your characters to be on level 50, collected almost all the weapon manuals on Hard Mode and have close to max materia.
I chose Cloud, Barret and Aerith for my party and equipped them with weapons that had the ability Reprieve. This ability leaves the wielder with 1 HP if they would have died from an attack.
In terms of materia, I equipped Elemental (level 2 or 3) and Ice to both Cloud and Barret’s armor to make the fight with Shiva easier. I equipped MP Absorb and Thunder on Aerith to help with the Bahamut right. The rest of the materia is up to you. My preference is to play it safe and equip all my characters with a healing materia and Revive.
In this challenge, Cloud’s role was the tank and crowd control. Barret’s role was the healer and provider of buffs. While Aerith’s role was the secondary healer/supporter and magic damage dealer.
The final combat simulation consists of five battles against 1) Shiva, 2) Fat Chocobo, 3) Leviathan, 4) Bahamut plus Ifrit and 5) Pride and Joy Prototype. This can only be selected when playing on Hard Mode.
With the right equipment and materia, the battles against Shiva, Fat Chocobo and Leviathan should be no problem. You should avoid heavy use of MP in the first three rights since you will need MP for your battle with Bahamut.
For Shiva, an Elemental-Ice materia combination on a character’s armor will mean that ice attacks are neutralised or absorbed. If the Elemental materia is only level 1, you should look to level it up to at least level 2 before taking on this challenge.
Fat Chocobo is simple if you eliminate the enemies it spawns as soon as possible. Tonberrys can cause havoc if left on the field too long. When Tonberry or other enemies spawn, I recommend controlling Cloud and having him jump in and deliver some heavy slashes in Punisher Mode.
For Leviathan it is a good idea to disperse your party and keep them away from each other. When its HP is 50% or lower, it will start to fly and release water spouts. Use Aerith or Barret to continually attack Leviathan while it is in the air. Swap to Cloud if Leviathan is sliding on the ground for higher damage.
Bahamut is the most difficult challenge. It’s normal attacks can be blocked, but its Umbral Infernos need to be dodged and its hard to dodge them. He usually throws two at a time. Additionally, Bahamut will continually be charging for its Mega Flare throughout the right using a countdown from 5. When its HP reaches 50%, it calls forth Ifrit to join the battle. You can take down Ifrit with two limit breaks from Cloud and Barret or a summon (e.g. Shiva).
Bahamut also has a AOE aura that damages anything within range and a devastating divebomb attack that can be blocked. When Bahamut is in the air readying for the divebomb, move the character you are controlling away from the others.
To take down Bahamut, you need to set up for high damage. I recommend using Aerith for this task. You will need to set up an Arcane Ward during the battle. When Bahamut is charging, make sure that Aerith is standing on the Arcane Ward and select a -ga spell. When Aerith is on the Arcane Ward, she will cast the spell twice – one will be for free. Aerith was dealing around 3,000 damage per strike. Cloud should unleash any attack like Triple Strike or Braver if he has spare ATB.
Before Bahamut countdowns to Mega Flare, which deals 9999. You can mitigate the damage by putting up a manawall on all the characters to cut the damage in half. Alternatively, you can hope that the Reprieve ability activates and leaves your characters with 1 HP. To ensure you can recover after Mega Flare, I recommend building up your ATB as soon as possible with each character when Bahamut’s countdown reaches 1.
Once you beat Bahamut, the Pride and Joy Prototype should be a relief. It’s surprisingly easier, however this enemy can still decimate your party if you are not careful. The two mechanics to watch out for are when he grabs a character, you should attack its arm or the character it holds will eventually die, and when it unleashes its napalm attacks that leave ‘lava’ on the battlefield, just stay out of those circles. The strategy is to just whittle away at its HP and eventually you will claim victory.
If you beat the Pride and Joy Prototype, you earn yourself the Ultimate Weapon Trophy and the ultimate accessory Götterdämmerung. This accessory gives the wielder a full limit break at the start of battles and charges the limit break bar throughout the battle. This accessory will make beating any remaining Hard Mode boss easier, including the final boss.
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