King Zu Hard Mode Guide | Nibel Classified Intel Boss

King Zu is a secret boss in Nibel Region of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (FF7 Rebirth). Learn how to beat King Zu in Hard Mode and normal difficulties, its weaknesses and resistances, and a list of its moves and attack patterns in this guide!

Nibel Classified Intel Boss Location

Location

Full Map
Enlarged Map
In-Game Location

How to Unlock Quest

Chapter	11 - The Long Shadow of Shinra
How to Unlock	Complete all four Expedition Intels from the Nibel Region
Rec. Level	Lv. 43

The Classified Intel Report: Avian Tyrant can be unlocked by first going to all four Expedition Intel Reports in the Nibel Region and analyzing the Lifesprings there.

All Lifespring Locations (Expedition Intel)

King Zu Weaknesses and Stats

Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	28787	41124	78532

Weakness and Resistances

Weaknesses	Lesser Resistances	Greater Resistances
Lightning	Fire Wind	None
Absorbed Elements	Immunities
None	Proportional Damage Stone

Changes When Staggered

Weakness / Effective	Resistance
None	None

How to Pressure King Zu

How to Pressure

Destroy Its Wings During Swan Song

When it finishes performing its Swan Song, a single attack against it will deal lethal damage. Destroying its wings in the middle of its Swan Song will interrupt the attack and pressure it.

How to Pressure and Stagger Enemies

How to Beat King Zu

King Zu Boss Fight Tips
Use Lighting Attacks Against King Zu Destroy Both of Its Wings When It Uses Swan Song Use Manaward, Shell, and Defaith to Reduce Damage Equip High Magic Defense Armors

Use Lightning Attacks

With King Zu being susceptible to Lightning Attacks, make sure that you have a Lightning Materia equipped on your Main DPS so that you can exploit its weakness.

Ideally you'd want Yuffie for this role so that she can weave in Lightning Ninjutsu basic attacks and Thunderous Banishments in between her spell casts.

Destroy Both of Its Wings

Whenever it uses the move Swan Song, it'll leave its wings exposed to get destroyed. Prioritize destroying the wings to put it under pressure and stop its Swan Song. If you don't, you'll end up taking 9999 damage and instantly lose the battle.

You can also apply Reraise to revive your party after the Swan Song finishes, but it's much easier to destroy the wings instead.

Starts the Fight With Swan Song on Hard

If you're facing this boss on Hard Mode, it will start the fight by using Swan Song. Make sure that you react accordingly and quickly build up your ATB bar so that you can spam Lightning attacks to destroy its wings.

Use Manaward, Shell, and Defaith

Considering that all but one of King Zu's attacks are Magic, it's advised to buff your party's Magic Defense and lower King Zu's Magic stat to make the fight easier.

The specific spells you're looking for are Manaward from the Barrier Materia to halve all magic damage taken, Shell from the Fortification Materia to increase your Magic Defense stat, and Defaith from the Disempowerment Materia to lower King Zu's Magic Attack stat.

Equip High Magic Defense Armors

Lastly, to further increase your defense against King Zu's Magic attacks, equip high Magic Defense Armors, like a Snailshell Bracelet or Varvados Bracelet, to further mitigate the damage that it deals.

Best Armor and How to Get Them

King Zu Moves and Attack Patterns

Abilities and Attack Patterns

This section is under construction! Stay tuned for updates!

Battle Icons, Status Effects, and Ailments Explained

King Zu Best Party and Builds

Notice	This party setup is built for Hard Mode. If you don't have certain members, equipment, or Materia available, you could replace them with the closest alternative that you have available.

Recommended Party Setup

Recommended Party Setup
Yuffie	【Main DPS】 ・Has multiple Lightning attacks. ・Can swiftly dodge King Zu's attacks. Recommended Level: 70
Tifa	【Stagger DPS】 ・Heavily increases stagger damage. ・Uses Defaith to free up Aerith to buff. Recommended Level: 70
Aerith	【Support】 ・Buffs the party's Magic Defenses. ・Save ATB charges for emergency heals. Recommended Level: 70

Yuffie Spams Lightning Attacks

Yuffie will be your Main DPS on this team due to Lightning Ninjutsu, Thunderous Banishment, and Thunder Spells being able to constantly exploit King Zu's weakness.

After it's been staggered, she can fire off a Thundaga or Thunderous Banishment III with her Doppelganger active to double cast it and deal massive damage to King Zu.

Tifa Increases Damage Dealt During Stagger

Once King Zu gets staggered, Tifa can use the combination of Rise and Fall, Omnistrike, and True Strike to massively increase the amount of damage it takes while staggered.

Combine this with Yuffie's powerful Lightning attacks and Aerith's Ray of Judgement also increasing stagger damage, King Zu will easily go down in no time.

Aerith Casts Buffs on the Party

Aerith's primary role in the party is to cast Manaward and Shell on the party to reduce the amount of Magic damage everyone takes. Just make sure that she has extra ATB Charges to heal the party in case someone's HP gets too low.

King Zu Best Materia to Use

Recommended Materia for Yuffie

Weapon: Crescent Sickle	Armor: Valkyrian Bangle
ATB Assist ATB Stagger HP Up MP Up Magic Up Luck Up	Magic Focus Lightning ATB Boost Assess Chakra Prayer
Summon:	Gilgamesh

Magic Focus linked to Lightning will be your primary damage source outside of Thunderous Banishment III, so make sure that you have this equipped.

ATB Boost and Stagger are used to give Yuffie a boost to her ATB so that she can continue to spam commands while ATB Assist is great for charging up Tifa and Aerith's ATBs without you needing to swap to them.

For the flexibles slots, HP, MP, Magic and Luck Up are all generally good stat increases while Assess is useful to check for the boss' stats. Also, Chakra and Prayer are useful in case you need to quickly heal yourself or the party.

Finally, Gilgamesh is used to give Yuffie a balanced boost to her Attack and Magic while also giving a slight boost to her HP and MP.

Recommended Materia for Tifa

Weapon: Kaiser Knuckles	Armor: Enhanced Varvados Bracelet
HP Up Strength Up Luck Up Skill Master ATB Stagger ATB Boost	Magnify Healing Disempowerment Enervation Chakra
Summon:	Odin

ATB Stagger, Boost, and Skill Master are used so that Tifa can spam as many abilities as possible as soon as King Zu gets staggered.

Magnify linked to Healing is used in case no one else has ATB Chagres to heal the party, while Disempowerment and Enervation will debuff the boss and make the fight more manageable.

For the flexible slots, HP, Luck, and Strength Up are all generally good stat increases while Chakra will heal Tifa in a pinch without having to use MP.

Finally, Odin is used because it gives her the highest Attack boost out of all the available Summons.

Recommended Materia for Aerith

Weapon: Ceremonial Staff	Armor: Cetran Bracer
Barrier Fortification Time Empowerment	Magnify Healing Swiftcast Revival Magic Efficiency Reraise HP Up MP Up
Summon:	Phoenix

Barrier and Fortification are the main Materia for this build so that Aerith can cast Manaward and Shell, but she also has Time and Empowerment for Haste and to buff Yuffie and Tifa's damage respectively.

While not mandatory, HP and MP Up are recommended since Aerith has pretty low HP and she needs the MP with all the buffs that she's casting.

For the linked Materia, Magnify and Healing are used to heal the entire party in a pinch, Swiftcast and Revival to instantly revive a downed ally, and lastly Magic Efficiency and Reraise to cast Reraise on an ally at a lower MP cost.

Finally, Phoenix is used because it gives her the highest Magic boost out of all the available Summons.

King Zu Rewards and Details

Rewards

Quetzalcoatl Rewards
Easy/Normal						Hard Mode
・5238 EXP ・18 AP ・483 Gil						・12870 EXP ・18 AP ・907 Gil
Items Dropped						Rare Items Dropped
・King Zu Feather						None
Stealable Items						Morphable Items
None						・King Zu Feather
Hard Mode Exclusive Drops
・Secrets of the Ninja Vol. XII ・Argent King Zu Feather

Drops the Argent King Zu Feather on Hard

Beating King Zu on Hard Mode will award the player with a Argent King Zu Feather, which is required to craft the Genji Ring accessory.

Genji Ring Effects and How to Get

Basic Information and Details

King Zu
Location	Chapter Unlocked
Nibel Region	Chapter 11
Species	Movement
Biological	Flying
Details
An avian creature with bloodred feathers that rules the skies above the Nibel region. Boasting excellent hunting skills, it descends on its prey with a mighty shriek. When it finishes performing its Swan Song, a single attack against it will deal lethal damage. Destroying its wings in the middle of its Swan Song will interrupt the attack and pressure it.

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