FF7 Rebirth

Abzu Hard Mode Guide

FF7 Rebirth - Abzu Hard Mode Guide

Abzu is a boss in Chapter 12: A Golden Key of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (FF7 Rebirth). Learn how to beat Abzu on Hard Mode and normal difficulties, its weaknesses and resistances, and a list of its moves and attack patterns in this guide!

Abzu Weaknesses and Stats

Stats

Abzu Image
Easy Normal Hard
HP 51716 73880 136578

Weakness and Resistances

Weaknesses Lesser Resistances Greater Resistances
Fire Icon Fire
Ice Icon Ice
Stop Icon Stop
-
Absorbed Elements Immunities
-
Proportional Damage Icon Proportional Damage
Slow Icon Slow
Poison Icon Poison
Silence Icon Silence
Sleep Icon Sleep
Stone Icon Stone
Petrify Icon Petrify
Morphable Items Icon Morphable Items

Changes When Staggered

Weakness / Effective Immunity
Fire Icon Fire
Ice Icon Ice

How to Pressure Abzu

How to Pressure

Checkmark Inflict Enough Fire Damage

Checkmark Make It Hit a Wall With Ferocious Charge

Checkmark Dodge Its Pounce Attack

Inflict Enough Fire Damage

Hitting Abzu with enough Fire attacks will cause it to catch on fire and become pressured. Take this opportunity to raise its Stagger Bar while it's flailing around trying to put out the fire.

Make It Hit a Wall With Ferocious Charge

Once Abzu drops below 50% HP and it goes into a Frenzy, you'll no longer be able to pressure it with Fire attacks. At this point, you'll need to dodge Abzu's Ferocious Charge and make it hit a wall to pressure it.

Just make sure that you have a wall directly behind you and not to your side when you dodge the attack to ensure that Abzu charges into the wall. If Abzu grazes the wall with Ferocious Charge, it won't register as a direct hit.

Dodge Its Pounce Attack

Similar to Ferocious Charge, dodging Pounce will also make Abzu pressured once it's Frenzied. Thankfully, you don't need it to hit a wall and all you'll need to do is dodge the attack.

How to Pressure and Stagger Enemies

Abzu Best Party and Builds

Cannot Change Builds In Between Rounds

Do note that you cannot change builds in between rounds, so you'll also need to beat the first 3 rounds with these builds before challenging Abzu.

Normal Mode Builds

Builds by Difficulty
Normal Mode Hard Mode

Recommended Party Setup

Recommended Party Setup
FF7 Rebirth - Yuffie Yuffie ・Use Yuffie as the active character to attack Abzu from a distance
・Use Fire Ninjutsu to infuse Fire on your ranged attacks
Recommended Level: 44
FF7 Rebirth - Cloud Cloud ・Hit Abzu with Firebolt Blade to deal more damage
・Only switch to Cloud if Yuffie has low HP or the boss is staggered
Recommended Level: 44
Chapter 12 Date Partner
(Fixed)
・Depends on which character has the highest affection level once you reach Chapter 12.
Cait Sith will automatically be the third member if the Relationship Level is not enough.
・Use Tifa for single-target damage if Yuffie is your Date Partner.
Recommended Level: 44

Best Materia to Use

Materia How to Use
Fire Image Fire ・Gives the ability to cast Fire spells
・Can be equipped on all characters
Healing Image Healing ・Gives the ability to cast healing spells
・Can be equipped on all characters
HP Up  Image HP Up ・Equip to increase HP
・Can be equipped on all characters
ATB Boost Image ATB Boost ・Doubles ATB after activation
・Best equipped on Cloud or Yuffie
Time Image Time ・Apply Haste to match Roche's speed and accumulate ATB charges quickly
・Best equipped on Yuffie
Item Master Image Item Master ・Increase the effect of items like Potions
・Can be equipped on all characters
Chakra  Image Chakra ・Can be used to recover HP if you're out of potions or MP for healing
・Can be equipped on all characters
Barrier Image Barrier ・Barrier reduces the damage of all of Abzu's Physical attacks.
Magnify Image Magnify ・Allows you to cast healing and buffing spells on the whole party.

Hard Mode Builds

Builds by Difficulty
Normal Mode Hard Mode
Notice Table IconNotice from Game8 These Hard Mode builds use equipment that are at least Weapon Level 8. If you don't have enough Materia slots or the right Weapon Skills to complete a setup, consider using a different weapon or collect all of the character's Manuscripts first.

Best Build for Cloud

Jump to Character Build
Cloud Yuffie Tifa
FF7 Rebirth - Cloud Cloud
Support
Weapon Armor
Slipstream Saber Cetran Armlet
Accessory Summon Materia
Enhanced Psychic's Charm Gilgamesh
Weapon Materia Armor Materia
Weapon Skills
Max MP +3Max MP +3
Max MP +3Max MP +3
MP Recovery Rate UpMP Recovery Rate Up
Trade-OffTrade-Off

Cloud is required for this fight and cannot be swapped out even on Hard Mode.

Cloud will primarily provide support with recovery spells like Curaga and Arise, as well as buffs like Barrier to reduce the damage of Abzu's Physical Attacks. He can also quickly stagger Abzu with Focused Thrusts or deal massive damage with Infinity's End when it's staggered.

Besides those Materia, Cloud also has HP and MP Up for generally great stat boosts, Steadfast Block and Precision Defense Focus to minimize damage taken while blocking, and First Strike to cast Barrier at the start of the fight.

For the flexible options, you can replace Vitality Up, Spirit Up and Time with other Materia that you may find more useful. Also, you can replace Enhanced Psychic's Charm with either Enhanced Karmic Cowl for more defense, or Gotterdammerung so that Tifa can instantly Siphon his Limit Gauge.

Best Build for Yuffie

Jump to Character Build
Cloud Yuffie Tifa
FF7 Rebirth - Yuffie Yuffie
Magic DPS
Weapon Armor
Fuma Shuriken Cetran Bracer
Accessory Summon Materia
Genji Gloves Phoenix
Weapon Materia Armor Materia
Weapon Skills
Magic Attack Power +20Magic Attack Power +20
Max MP +3Max MP +3
Fire Damage UpFire Damage Up
ATB Charge Rate UpATB Charge Rate Up

Yuffie will be your main carry and Leader for this fight since she can exploit Abzu's weakness with Fire Ninjutsu basic attacks, Darkness boosted Fiery Banishments, multiple Fire elemental spells, and summoning Phoenix.

Since she's the character you'll be controlling, make sure that she has Skill Master and ATB Assist equipped so that she can fill the other party member's ATB Gauges without you having to control them. Also, use Prayer since she'll have 2 ATB Charges more often than not.

Besides that, she also has the generally useful stat boosting and block enhancing Materia, Revival in case someone goes down, and MP Absorption so that she has near infinite MP as long as she casts Fire spells.

Set Yuffie as Your Date in Extra Settings

Since the other required member for this fight is Cloud's date during Chapter 12, you'll want to make sure that his date is Yuffie since she's the most important character for this boss. Set your Chapter 12 date to Yuffie in the Extra Settings menu, so that it will always be her regardless of everyone's affection levels.

Best Build for Tifa

Jump to Character Build
Cloud Yuffie Tifa
FF7 Rebirth - Tifa Tifa
Physical DPS
Weapon Armor
Dragon Claws Valkyrian Bangle
Accessory Summon Materia
Enhanced Expeditionary Medal Odin
Weapon Materia Armor Materia
Weapon Skills
Attack Power +20Attack Power +20
Attack Power +20Attack Power +20
Enhanced TechniquesEnhanced Techniques
Weapon Ability Damage +5%Weapon Ability Damage +5%

Tifa does a lot of single-target damage once Abzu is staggered, especially when you boost the Stagger Damage Bonus with her Unique Ability and True Strike. Also, these moves have their damage boosted thanks to her Weapon Skills.

Another key point for this build is that Tifa can use Limit Siphon to instantly use her Level 3 Limit Break, without using Synergy Abilities, thanks to the Enhanced Expeditionary Medal.

For the rest of her Materia, she has the always useful stat boosting, block enhancing, and recovery Materias, as well as ATB Stagger so that she can spam out her high-power abilities. Just make sure that you swap to Tifa before Abzu gets staggered so that she can benefit from this boost.

How to Beat Abzu

Abzu Boss Fight Tips



Use Yuffie to Attack From a Distance

Use Yuffie's ranged attacks so that you can put some distance between you and Abzu. Since most of its attacks are melee, hitting it from far away lets you see what it's about to do and you can react accordingly.

This is especially important once Abzu goes into a Frenzy because it will become a lot more aggressive and you'll need the space and time to react.

Cast Barrier to Lower Damage Taken

Cast Magnified Barrier with Cloud at the start of the fight to lower the damage of Abzu's attacks. Since all of its moves deal Physical damage, having Barrier halve the damage of all of its attacks becomes vital for your survival.

Exploit Abzu's Fire Weakness

Exploit Abzu's Fire weakness to deal massive damage and pressure it. Use Fire Ninjutsu attacks and cast Fira with Yuffie to set Abzu on fire and pressure it. You want to cast Fira over Firaga so that you can quickly proc ATB Assist and build up Fiery Banishment charges.

Once Abzu's pressured, quickly stagger it with Focused Thrust and Focused Strike so that you can deal massive damage with Tifa's abilities, Yuffie's Firaga or Darkness-boosted Fiery Banishment, and Cloud's Infinity's End.

Can Still Use Fire Spells Once It's Frenzied

Even though the yellow text when you Assess it says that it evades Fire attacks when it's below 50% HP, you can still use Fire attacks as long as it's locked into an animation where it stays still, like Upheaval.

Use Limit Breaks to Interrupt Abzu

While it seems like it'd be better to save a Limit Break for when Abzu's staggered, it's better to use it as soon as possible so that you can interrupt its attacks. This way, you're still doing massive damage while stun-locking it, and your other party members can use their own powerful attacks that could otherwise miss.

Abzu Rewards and Details

Rewards

Abzu Rewards
Easy/Normal Hard Mode
3510 EXP
50 Party EXP
10 AP
975 Gil
7800 EXP
30 AP
1625 Gil
Fortunes Untold Vol. XIV
Items Dropped Rare Items Dropped
None
None
Stealable Items Morphable Items
・Turbo Ether
None

Basic Information and Details

Abzu
Location Chapter Unlocked
Gold Saucer Chapter 12
Species Movement
Artificial Grounded
Details
A seedy undercity businessman and his precious pet, both currently on the run from Shinra. Despite the don's wanted status, he finds himself in the center of a heavily advertised battle with Director Dio to rebrand the Saucer as a Corneoland. Lascivious to the core, he's always sizing up potential brides—even in the middle of a heated battle
Inflicting enough fire damage will light them on fire and pressure them. When their HP falls below half, they will begin evading fire spells and Corneo will douse any flames. They will crash into the wall if Ferocious Charge misses, pressuring them and causing Corneo to faint.

FF7 Rebirth Related Guides

FF7 Rebirth - List of All Bosses

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

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