How to Unlock and Beat Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is an optional boss found on Gilgamesh Island in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (FF7 Rebirth). Read on to learn how to unlock and beat Gilgamesh, his location, his weaknesses and resistances, a list of his moves and attack patterns, as well as tips and rewards for beating him.

Gilgamesh Island Bosses
Bahamut and Titan	Phoenix and Kujata	Alexander and Odin	Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh Location and How to Unlock

Gilgamesh Unlock Requirements
1. Collect All Protorelics from the Six Different Regions 2. Get All Summon Materias from the Combat Simulator 3. Use the Tiny Bronco to Head to Gilgamesh Island 4. Beat the Summon Bosses Again on Gilgamesh Island

Unlocked After Collecting All Protorelics

To unlock Gilgamesh, you'll need to collect all of the Protorelics scattered across the six different regions. Once you've collected them, a new Phenomenon Intel will appear leading you straight to Gilgamesh Island.

You can easily track which Protorelics you're missing by checking your Intel progress on the World Map.

All Protorelic Locations (Phenomenon Intel)

Obtain All Summon Materia from the Combat Simulator

Summon Boss Fight Guides
Titan	Phoenix	Alexander
Kujata	Bahamut Arisen	Odin

Before going to Gilgamesh Island, you'll also need to collect all of the Summon Materia from the Combat Simulator. These are required to unlock three extra fights that you'll need to beat before being able to challenge Gilgamesh.

Combat Simulator Guide: How to Unlock and Win All Battles

Head to Gilgamesh Island

Once the island's been unlocked and you've obtained all Summon Materias, board the Tiny Bronco and sail towards the hidden cove to the north of Midgar.

To unlock the ability to traverse the seas, you will need to progress to Chapter 12 where the Tiny Bronco will lose its wings and become a sea-faring vessel.

Chapter 12: A Golden Key Walkthrough

Beat the Summon Bosses to Unlock the Gilgamesh Fight

The final requirement to unlock Gilgamesh's fight is that you need to defeat the Summon Bosses one last time. The main difference though is that unlike the fights in the Combat Simulator, the fights on Gilgamesh Island will have you fight two Summons at the same time.

The three summon pairings that you will need to beat are Titan plus Bahamut Arisen for The Bladesman of Legend Intel, Phoenix plus Kujata for The Genji Armaments Intel, and Alexander plus Odin for the Isle Out of Space-Time Intel.

Once you've beaten these three battles, you'll be able to head on inside to the Enkidojo were you can finally challenge Gilgamesh to a fight.

Gilgamesh Weaknesses and Stats

Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	?	101228	?

Weakness and Resistances

Weaknesses	Lesser Resistances	Greater Resistances
Fire Deprotect Deshell Debrave Defaith Poison	None	Fixed Damage Sleep
Absorbed Elements	Immunities
None	Proportional Damage Berserk Slow Silence Stop Stone Petrify Morphable Items

Changes When Staggered

Weakness / Effective	Resistance
None	None

How to Pressure Gilgamesh

How to Pressure

Block Gilgamesh's Attacks at the Right Time Inflict Enough Damage

Blocking Gilgamesh's attacks at just the right time or inflicting enough damage will pressure him, forcing him to drop one of his weapons, thus decreasing the potency of his attacks. While his Genji Shield is active, it will absorb all incoming damage. Reduce its HP to zero to destroy the shield and make Gilgamesh susceptible to pressure.

How to Pressure and Stagger Enemies

How to Beat Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh Boss Fight Tips
Level Up Your Characters Sufficiently Inflict Fire Damage on Gilgamesh Use Bioga to Deal Consistent Poison Damage Perfectly Block Gilgamesh's Attacks Buff Your Party's Defense Apply Debuffs on Gilgamesh Dispel Gilgamesh's Genji Shield Buffs Use Limit Breaks during His Ultimate Move Dodge Sloppy Swordplay

Level Up Your Characters Sufficiently

Gilgamesh is a difficult boss, so you would want to fight him at the recommended Level 70. Although, if you have good materia and equipment for your team, it is possible to defeat him at level 60 at Normal difficulty, or even lower at Easy.

How to Level Up Fast

Inflict Fire Damage

Since Gilgamesh is weak to Fire attacks, all of your party members will want to have a Fire Materia equipped. Make sure that you link it to a Magic Focus Materia for magical attackers and a Elemental Materia for physical attackers to maximize your Fire damage.

Also, there are a multitude of weapon skills and abilities that deal fire damage, so take this into consideration as well when choosing party members for this fight.

Use Bioga to Deal Poison Damage

Aside from Fire damage, Gilgamesh is also weak to Poison. This means that you can cast Bioga on him to deal consistent damage while you're performing other actions. Remember to link it to a Magic Focus Matera to increase the duration and potency of the poison.

Do note that when Gilgamesh uses Genji Shield, he will apply multiple buffs and remove the poisoning effect. Make sure to recast Bioga on him so that he will continue to take damage over time.

Perfectly Block Attacks

The only other way to put pressure on Gilgamesh besides attacking him is to perfectly block his attacks. You can do this easily by using Cloud's Counterstance from the Slipstream Saber to parry him and deal damage at the same time.

To make this easier, it is also recommended to equip a Precision Defense Focus Materia to increase the timing window needed to perfectly block his attacks.

Buff Your Party's Defense

Since most of Gilgamesh's attacks deal physical damage, you will want to counter this with buffs like Protect and Barrier. This helps significantly lower Gilgamesh's damage, especially when combined with the debuffs that you can apply.

Apply Debuffs

Unlike the majority of the bosses, Gilgamesh is susceptible to Deprotect, Deshell, Debrave and Defaith. Make sure that you apply these debuffs on Gilgamesh to maximize your damage and make his attacks weaker.

As mentioned earlier, Gilgamesh's Genji Shield will remove these debuffs and apply buffs instead. You should either remove his shield first before applying these debuffs or reapply them once it's gone.

Dispel Gilgamesh's Genji Shield Buffs

The buffs applied by Gilgamesh's Genji Shield are reversible. This means that you can cast Dispel on him to remove all the buffs that he just acquired. Do note though that the shield will still be active, and you'll still need to destroy it before you can damage Gilgamesh.

Use Limit Breaks during His Ultimate Move

During the second half of the battle, Gilgamesh will start a countdown for his ultimate move. You would want to avoid this as much as possible by interrupting it with strong attacks. Make sure to build up your Limit meter so you can use a Limit Break on him to stop his ultimate move.

Note that after interrupting him, he will restart the countdown right after he gets back up. With that, it is best to use your team's Limit Breaks one at a time. You can also charge up your Limit by using certain Synergy Abilities as well.

List of Limit Breaks

Dodge Sloppy Swordplay

When Gilgamesh brings out Excalibur, he will start doing a move called Sloppy Swordplay. It is easier to dodge to the left or to the right rather than perfect blocking it to avoid the strong damage this move can do.

Gilgamesh Best Party and Builds

Recommended Party Setup

Recommended Party Setup
Yuffie	【Main DPS】 ・Has multiple sources of Fire damage ・Easier to block attacks at range Recommended Level: 70
Cloud	【Support】 ・Used to heal and apply buffs ・Focused Thrust increases stagger meter Recommended Level: 70
Tifa	【Secondary DPS / Debuffer】 ・Applies debuffs at the start of the fight ・Increases damage dealt once staggered Recommended Level: 70

Use Yuffie to Spam Fire Damage

Yuffie will be your Main DPS for this fight due to the amount of fire damage that she can dish out. In between Ninjutsu, Banishment and Fire Spells, Yuffie will be able to quickly pressure Gilgamesh to allow Tifa to come in and deal massive stagger damage.

As a bonus, being able to attack at range with her Ninjustu makes it a lot easier for you to see and perfectly block Gilgamesh's attacks.

Cloud Mainly Heals and Buffs the Party

Cloud is going to mainly be casting healing spells and buffs to support your party and make the fight easier. Outside of spells, he also has Focus Thrust to increase Gilgamesh's stagger meter and Disorder to fill his ATB bar so that he can cast more spells.

Even though Cloud will mainly be your support, he can dish out solid damage with Punisher Mode's Counterattacks. This is perfect against Gilgamesh since this one move fulfills both of his pressure conditions.

Switch to Tifa Once Gilgamesh is Staggered

Tifa is the best character to use once an enemy's been staggered thanks to the combination of Rise and Fall, Omnistrike and True Strike heavily increasing stagger's damage bonus. Pair this with Limit Breaks and you'll see Gilgamesh losing massive amounts of his HP in the blink of an eye.

Also, remember to switch to Tifa every now and then to build up her ATB gauge so that she can reapply any debuffs that might have worn off.

Gilgamesh Best Materia to Use

Recommended Materia for Yuffie

Weapon: Fuma Shuriken	Armor: Valkyrian Bangle
ATB Assist ATB Stagger Precision Defense Focus HP Up MP Up Luck Up	Magic Focus Poison Magic Focus Fire ATB Boost Prayer
Summon:	Phoenix

ATB Stagger and ATB Boost are used so that Yuffie can continuously spam abilities and spells, while ATB Assist helps boost her allies' ATB gauges whenever she repeats her commands.

For her offensive spells, Fire and Poison are linked to Magic Focus to increase their potency, and duration for Poison, but remember that Yuffie doesn't always need to be spamming Fire spells because of her abilities.

As for the flexible options, HP, MP and Luck Up give useful stat boosts while Prayer can heal your entire party in a pinch. Also, Precision Defense Boost helps you perfectly block attacks, but some players may not need this.

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

Recommended Materia for Cloud

Weapon: Igneous Saber	Armor: Cetran Bangle
Elemental Fire Barrier Fortification Time Empowerment	Magnify Healing Magic Efficiency Revival Cleansing Subversion HP Up MP Up
Summon:	Bahamut Arisen

The main Materias that Cloud will be using are Barrier and Fortification for Barrier and Protect, Time for Haste, Empowerment for Brave and Faith, and lastly Subversion to dispel buffs.

As for his linked Materia, Magnify plus Healing will heal the entire party in one cast, Swiftcast plus Revival lets Cloud instantly cast Arise, and Elemental plus Fire to give his attacks fire damage.

For the flexible Materia, HP and MP Up give generally good stat boosts, while Cleansing is used for Esuna in case you need to remove any negative status effects from Gilgamesh's Draw Slash, Daemon Wave, Triple Slash, and Booming Swing.

Finally, Bahamut Arisen is used because it gives him a boost to both attack and magic.

Recommended Materia for Tifa

Weapon: Kaiser Knuckles	Armor: Enhanced Garm Bangle
ATB Boost ATB Stagger Elemental Fire Enervation	Magnify Healing Disempowerment Chakra HP Up
Summon:	Odin

ATB Boost and Stagger are used so that Tifa can spam her abilities as soon as Gilgamesh gets staggered. She also has Enervation to apply Deprotect and Deshell, as well as Disempowerment for Debrave and Defaith.

As for the flexible options, HP Up is used for a general survivability boost while Chakra and Healing linked to Magnify are used to heal herself and other party members in case of an emergency.

Also, since Tifa's a physical attacker, she's equipped with Fire linked to Elemental so that her attacks will also apply fire damage.

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

Gilgamesh Rewards and Details

Rewards

Gilgamesh Rewards
Easy/Normal						Hard Mode
TBD						TBD
Items Dropped						Rare Items Dropped
・Gilgamesh Materia, Genji Armaments Transmuter Chips						None
Stealable Items						Morphable Items
None						None

Obtain Transmuter Chips for Genji Equipment

Accessory	Effect
Genji Gloves	Breaks the 9,999 damage limit.
Genji Earrings	Increases damage dealt by 15% but also increases damage taken by 15%.
Genji Ring	Reduces damage taken by 15%, but also reduces damage dealt by 15%

You can obtain the transmuter chips for the Genji Earrings, Genji Ring, and Genji Gloves which allows you to craft them once you reach Craftsmanship Level 16.

Crafting Recipes and How to Increase Crafting Level

Unlock Brutal and Legendary Combat Simulator Fights

Additionally, you will unlock the Brutal and Legendary Combat Simulator fights after completing all Phenomenon Intel. Completing these combat simulators can reward you with various equipment and manuscripts for your party members.

Brutal and Legendary Combat Simulator Guide

Basic Information and Details

Gilgamesh
Location	Chapter Unlocked
Gilgamesh Island	Chapter 12
Species	Movement
Unreadable	Grounded
Details
An eccentric wanderer of the rift who, with the reclamation of Genji armaments, has regained both his memories and his might. He wields a wide array of acclaimed arms with extraordinary dexterity. Blocking Gilgamesh's attacks at just the right time or inflicting enough damage will pressure him, forcing him to drop one of his weapons, thus decreasing the potency of his attacks. While his Genji Shield is active, it will absorb all incoming damage. Reduce its HP to zero to destroy the shield and make Gilgamesh susceptible to pressure.

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