Mindflayer Hard Mode Guide | Junon Classified Intel Boss

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

Junon Classified Intel Boss Location

Location

Map Location
Enlarged Map
In-Game Location

How to Unlock Quest

Chapter	4 - Dawn of a New Era
How to Unlock	Complete all of the Expedition Intels in the Junon Region
Rec. Level	Lv. 26

The Classified Intel Report: The Whisperer in the Darkness will be unlocked once you've analyzed the Lifesprings in all of the Expedition Intel Reportlocations in the Junon Region.

All Lifespring Locations (Expedition Intel)

Mindflayer Weaknesses and Stats

Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	14599	20856	75118

Weakness and Resistances

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

Changes When Staggered

Weakness / Effective	Resistance
None	None

How to Pressure Mindflayer

How to Pressure

Use Synergy Abilities

Landing synergy abilities will pressure it.

How to Pressure and Stagger Enemies

How to Beat Mindflayer (Normal)

Mindflayer Boss Fight Tips
Attack with Synergy Abilities to Pressure It Use a Physical Attacker Since It Resists Magic Stay Behind a Rock When It Uses Psychotic Break

Attack with Synergy Abilities

The only way to pressure the Mindflayer is by using Synergy Abilities on it. Cast Haste on your party or have the ATB Assist Materia equipped on the character you're mainly controlling to fill your other party members' ATB Gauges without having to directly control them.

Make Sure the Other Party Members are Using Their ATB Charges

Make sure that you're also issuing commands to your other party members so that they can use their ATB Charges and build up their Synergy Meter.

ATB Guide: How to Fill the ATB Gauge

Use a Physical Attacker like Cloud or Barret

It's recommended to have a physical damage dealer like Cloud or Barret as your source of damage since the Mindflayer resists Magic damage.

You can still use ranged magic attackers like Aerith or Yuffie to stay safely at range and apply pressure, but make sure that you immediately switch to a physical attacker like Cloud or Tifa once it gets staggered.

Use Rocks as Cover During Psychotic Break

After the Mindflayer uses Telekinesis, it will follow up with a powerful move called Psychotic Break. Make sure that you stay behind one of the rocks that it threw at you otherwise you will take 9999 damage and get instantly knocked out.

Thankfully, the AI that's controlling your other party members will position them behind a rock when it uses this move, so you won't have to worry about them getting knocked out.

Mindflayer Moves and Attack Patterns

Abilities and Attack Patterns

This section is under construction! Stay tuned for updates!

Battle Icons, Status Effects, and Ailments Explained

Mindflayer 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
Barret	【Stagger Bot / Tank】 ・Rapidly charges his ATB Gauge. ・Bonus Round helps swiftly stagger. Recommended Level: 70
Tifa	【Main DPS】 ・Heavily increases stagger damage. ・Also has Healing in case of emergencies. Recommended Level: 70
Aerith	【Support】 ・Primarily used to buff the party. ・Save ATB for emergency healing. Recommended Level: 70

Barret Will Tank Attacks and Spam Abilities

Barret's main role on this team to rapidly fill his ATB so that he can spam his abilities. This in turn will boost your other party members' ATB Gauges, thanks to the ATB Assist Materia, allowing you to use as many Synergy Abilities as possible.

Do note that Barret is pretty slow, so it may be difficult to avoid the Mindflayer's unblockable attacks if you're not careful. Put some distance between you and the Mindflayer so you can see its next move and react appropriately.

Tifa Increases Damage Dealt During Stagger

Once the Mindflayer 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.

Make sure that you use your Limit Breaks before the stagger bar expires to maximize your damage output.

Aerith Casts Haste and Defensive Buffs

Aerith will want to prioritize casting Haste on your party before applying defensive buffs like Protect and Shell to minimize the damage everyone takes.

Alternatively, you could skip applying defensive buffs so that you can heal Barret if he takes too much damage from using Lifeward.

Mindflayer Best Materia to Use

Recommended Materia for Barret

Weapon: Hi-Caliber Rifle	Armor: Valkyrian Bangle
ATB Assist ATB Stagger HP Up Vitality Up Spirit Up Precision Defense Focus	Steadfast Block Revival ATB Boost Assess Chakra Prayer
Summon:	Alexander

ATB Boost and Stagger are used to give Barret a boost to his ATB Gauge, so that he can continue to spam commands and proc ATB Assist to charge Tifa and Aerith's ATBs without needing to swap to them.

Precision Defense Focus helps you perfectly time your blocks while Steadfast Block helps reduce the damage if you don't time it perfectly.

For the flexible slots, HP, Vitality, and Spirit Up help increase Barret's tankiness, Assess is useful to check the boss' stats, and Revival, Chakra, and Prayer are great for emergency revives and healing.

Finally, Alexander is used to give Barret a balance boost to his HP and defenses.

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 her abilities as much as possible as soon as Quetzalcoatl 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 if they hit.

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
Time Fortification Barrier Empowerment	Magnify Healing Swiftcast Revival Magic Efficiency Reraise HP Up MP Up
Summon:	Phoenix

Time, Fortification, Barrier, and Empowerment are used so that Aerith can boost the party's ATB charge rate, defenses, and damage while HP Up and MP Up help her survive more hits and cast more spells respectively.

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.

Alternatively, you could swap Magnify with Magic Efficiency if you plan on absorbing damage with Barret's Lifeward.

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

Mindflayer Rewards and Details

Rewards

Quetzalcoatl Rewards
Easy/Normal						Hard Mode
・1680 EXP ・18 AP ・440 Gil						・10010 EXP ・18 AP ・1995 Gil
Items Dropped						Rare Items Dropped
・Mindflayer Crown						None
Stealable Items						Morphable Items
None						・Mindflayer Crown
Hard Mode Exclusive Drops
・Sharpshooter's Companion Vol. IX ・Vile Mindflayer Crown

Drops the Vile Mindflayer Crown on Hard

Beating Mindflayer on Hard Mode will award the player with a Vile Mindflayer Crown, which is required to craft the Genji Earrings accessory.

Genji Earrings Effects and How to Get

Basic Information and Details

Mindflayer
Location	Chapter Unlocked
Junon Region	Chapter 4
Species	Movement
Biological	Grounded
Details
A grotesque fiend that has taken up residence in one of Junon's inlets. It is capable of lifting even giant boulders with its preternatural psychokinetic skills. Using its tentacles, it siphons off the brains of anything that wanders into its domain. Landing synergy abilities will 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