Roche (Chapter 4) Hard Mode Guide

Roche (Chapter 4) is a boss in Chapter 4: Dawn of a New Era of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (FF7 Rebirth). Learn how to beat Roche (Chapter 4) on Hard Mode and normal difficulties, his weaknesses and resistances, and a list of his moves and attack patterns in this guide!

Roche Weaknesses and Stats

Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	5243	7490	34145

Weakness and Resistances

Weaknesses	Lesser Resistances	Greater Resistances
Fire	None	None
Absorbed Elements	Immunities
None	Proportional Damage Stone Morphable Items

Changes When Staggered

Weakness / Effective	Resistance
Fire	None

How to Pressure Roche

Use Fire Spells or Perfect Block His Dash Attacks

Use Fire spells to Pressure Roche. Perfect Block Roche's dash attack multiple times.

The easiest way to Pressure Roche is to cast Fire while he rides around the arena. However, be careful when casting while he's riding on the walls of the arena. If you hit him while he does this, he'll counterattack with Crash and Burn immediately.

Alternatively, you can opt to Perfect Block Roche's dash attacks to Pressure him. Equip a Precision Defense Focus Materia to help Cloud perfect block the attacks. After multiple Perfect Blocks, Roche should enter a Pressured state.

How to Pressure and Stagger Enemies

Pressure Lasts Longer if You Exploit Roche's Fire Weakness

Even though Perfect Blocks will result in Pressuring Roche, it is still better to use Fire spells when playing on Easy or Normal difficulties since the Pressured state lasts longer. This allows you to easily follow up with Stagger buildup attacks compared to Perfect Blocks.

Roche Best Party and Builds

Notice from Game8	This section is for players who are playing on Easy and Normal difficulties. To check out the best builds and tips for Hard Mode, jump to our Hard Mode Guide section, below!

Cloud is the Only Usable Character

The boss fight against Roche is a one-on-one battle with Cloud. It means the only character you can use will be Cloud, so try to familiarize yourself with his movement and attack pattern to defeat Roche effectively.

Cloud Strife Best Builds and Weapons

Best Materia to Use Against Roche

Materia	Effect / How to Use
Fire	・Use to cast fire spells, which is Roche's primary weakness
Ifrit	・Summon Ifrit after staggering Roche to maximize damage ・It also inflicts fire damage
Item Economizer	・Equipt to automatically use items without spending ATB.
Precision Defense Focus	・Equip to slightly extend input timing window for Perfect Block.
HP Up	・Increase Cloud's HP, making him slightly tanky.

How to Beat Roche

Roche Boss Fight Tips
Perfect Block Attacks Use Fire to Apply Pressure Summon Ifrit to Fight Dodge Voltage Attacks Perform Ranged Sword Attacks

Perfect Block Attacks

The main gimmick to survive against Roche is to Perfect Block most of his attacks in battle. Equip the Precision Defense Focus Materia to help you with this! As he dashes towards you, hit R1 at the right time to Perfect Block the attack.

If you time it right, he will sometimes spin out of control, leaving you with a short opening where you can do damage. Chain together Perfect Blocks and he will enter a Pressured state - perfect for a quick Focused Thrust to build Stagger.

How to Get Precision Defense Focus Materia

Use Fire to Apply Pressure

Equip the Fire Materia and use Fire to apply pressure on Roche and turn the battle in your favor. Time the cast while he's dashing or circling around the arena to pressure him with 100% success rate!

Note: Hitting Roche with Fire while he's circling the walls of the arena will have him immediately counterattack with Crash and Burn. Be ready to dodge or block when this happens since it deals a lot of damage on hit.

Summon Ifrit to Fight

You will get a chance to summon Ifrit during the second phase after staggering Roche for the first time. Ifrit will automatically attack with fire damage and cast Hellfire at the end of his summon.

You can also consume ATB to use some of his skills, but make sure to use it while Roche is staggered as they aren't guaranteed to hit, unlike Fire.

List of All Summons

Dodge Voltage Attacks

Roche's Voltage attacks are high-damaging stomps that can deplete almost half of your HP if you get hit directly. Always dodge them to preserve your HP and win the fight.

You will know if those attacks are coming once you see the Loose Voltage or High-Voltage Ride highlighted in red above his head.

Perform Ranged Sword Attacks

Cloud can do ranged attacks with his sword after dodging. Utilize this attack technique to retaliate even if Roche is already far away from you!

Roche (Chapter 4) Hard Mode Guide

Roche (Chapter 4) Hard Mode Tips
★ Best Hard Mode Build for Roche (Ch. 4) ★
Avoid Casting Fire Spells Perfect Block and Counter to Pressure Roche Use Mode Switch for Easier Blocking and Dodging Use Roche's Lightning Attacks to Heal Save Up ATB for Infinity's End Casts on Stagger

Roche (Chapter 4) Hard Mode Build for Cloud

Notice from Game8	The build featured in this Hard Mode section is at Weapon Level 8. If you find that you don't have enough Materia slots to complete the setup, consider getting all the possible Manuscripts on Normal, first.

Cloud Damage / Stagger Buildup
		Weapon		Armor
		Igneous Saber		Cetran Armlet
		Accessory		Summon Materia
		Supernatural Wristguards		Bahamut Arisen
Weapon Materia			Armor Materia
Elemental and Fire HP Up MP Up Steadfast Block Precision Defense Focus			Elemental and Lightning and Wind Magic Efficiency Healing Strength Up ATB Stagger Enemy Skill Chakra
Weapon Skills
Stalwart Punisher			Max HP +200
Unrelenting Punisher			Limit Gauge Stagger

Avoid Casting Fire Spells

In Hard Mode, Roche casts Reflect at the start of the boss fight and re-casts it after getting Staggered. This limits the window of time you'll be able to cast Fire during the fight, making it impractical.

Instead, rely on your weapon's linked Elemental and Fire Materia to exploit Roche's weakness. While it may not proc Pressure on hit, it will buff your regular attacks and counters throughout the fight.

Use Mode Switch for Easier Blocking and Dodging

Mode Switch Perfect Block	Hit as Roche is dashing towards you.

Since Roche's attacks are much stronger in Hard Mode, it'll be better to stay mobile. For this reason, avoid staying in Punisher Mode. Instead, stay in Operator Mode and use mode switch (Triangle) to perfect block and counter his dash attacks.

After countering, immediately switch back (triangle) to Operator Mode. This should allow you dodge the triple ranged attack Roche likes to spam. Mode switch is perfect for this encounter since it blocks like a Punisher Mode parry, allowing you to counter after a block.

Use Roche's Lightning Attacks to Heal

Take advantage of your armor's linked 3★ Elemental and Lightning Materia and use them to heal up by standing inside Roche's lightning attacks. Whenever he uses Loose Voltage or High Voltage Ride, simply stand in the AoE and get hit to heal from the damage.

Note: Using this setup, any unblockable attack during Phase 2 of the boss fight will heal you. Just remember that if he jumps from the wall ride with Crash and Burn, you'll have to block since this is a physical attack.

Save Up ATB for Infinity's End Casts on Stagger

With heals and Fire damage guaranteed by your linked Materia, you can save your ATB charges for when Roche gets Staggered. Once he goes down, use up your saved 2 ATB charges to hit him with Infinity's End. Repeat until he goes down in Phase 2.

Roche Rewards and Details

Rewards

Roche Rewards
Easy/Normal						Hard Mode
・1063 EXP ・50 Party EXP ・10 AP ・723 Gil						・6500 EXP ・30 AP ・2763 Gil ・The Art of Sword Play Vol. IX・The Art of Sword Play Vol. XIII
Items Dropped						Rare Items Dropped
・Elixir						None
Stealable Items						Morphable Items
・Elixir						None

Gives the Speed Demon Keychain if All 5 Troopers are Alive Before the Fight

If you manage to keep all five of the 7th Infrantry Troopers alive leading up to the boss fight, Roche will reward you with an accessory called the Speed Demon Keychain after you beat him.

Speed Demon Keychain Effects

Basic Information and Details

Roche
Location	Chapter Unlocked
Junon Seaport Facilities - Section H	Chapter 4
Species	Movement
Human	Grounded
Details
A 3-C SOLDIER maverick who left Midgar in order to reunite with his dear friend. His freewheeling, reckless, and altogether bombastic nature has earned him both envy and scorn in equal measure. Exploiting his elemental weakness can pressure him. If Rocher is pressured while riding walls, he will drop to the ground and counterattack. Inflicting enough damage while he is pressured will cause him to spin out.

FF7 Rebirth Related Guides

Boss Fight Guide and List of All Bosses

Story Bosses

All Major Story Bosses
Chapter 1	Materia Guardian
Chapter 2	Midgardsormr
Chapter 3	Rude and Elena Mythril Golem
Chapter 4	Terror of the Deep Roche
Chapter 5	Jenova Emergent
Chapter 6	Grasptropod
Chapter 7	Custom Valkyrie Gigatrice
Chapter 8	Dyne Anuran Suppressor
Chapter 9	Specimen H1024 Crimson Mare Mk. II
Chapter 10	Gi Nattak
Chapter 11	Diabolic Variant Yin and Yang Forgotten Specimen Galian Beast Roche
Chapter 12	Abzu Rude and Elena Rufus
Chapter 13	Red Dragon Ironclad Reno and Rude Tseng and Elena Moss-Grown Adamantoise Demon Gate
Chapter 14	Jenova Lifeclinger Sephiroth Reborn

Optional Bosses

Grasslands
Summon	Titan
Classified Intel	Quetzalcoatl
Side Quests	White Terror
Junon
Summon	Phoenix
Classified Intel	Mindflayer
Side Quests	White Mousse Hell Rider II Sandstorm Drake
Corel
Summon	Alexander
Classified Intel	Tonberry King
Side Quests	Dark Claw Joker
Minigame	Test 0
Gongaga
Summon	Kujata
Classified Intel	Great Malboro
Side Quests	Levridon Mastodon Gorgon Mane Gigantoad
Cosmo Canyon
Summon	Bahamut Arisen
Classified Intel	Jabberwock
Side Quests	Irasceros Gigaworm
Nibel
Summon	Odin
Classified Intel	King Zu
Side Quests	Queen Bee Dranabarga
Meridian Ocean
Gilgamesh's Island	Gilgamesh Titan and Bahamut Arisen Phoenix and Kujata Alexander and Odin
Pirate King's Treasure	Ogre Raider Brineborn Demon Hueyacoatl Sea Dragon