How to Beat The Hoodlums | Boss Fight Guide (Normal & Hard Mode)

This is a guide to beating the Hoodlums Mini-Bosses in the game Final Fantasy 7 Remake (FF7R). This article explains the Hoodlums's attack patterns, weaknesses, and tips and strategies for defeating them on both Normal and Hard mode.

Hoodlums Stats and Information

Hoodlum A

Basic Information

Hoodlum A
Species	Movement	Type
Human	Grounded	Mini-Boss

Description

A man wearing a vest with a gaudy dragon emblem. He appears to be looking for something in the Sector 7 slums with his cohorts.

Assess (Tips)

When his HP gets low, he drinks a concoction that helps his attacks from being interrupted. Once he's doped up, attacks no longer fill his stagger gauge.

Hoodlum A Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	449	1088	3537
Attack	46		193
Magic Attack	36		148
Defense	47		194
Magic Defense	13		45

Hoodlum A Weaknesses & Resistances

Weakness / Status Ailments	Fire
Lesser Resistances	-
Greater Resistances	-
Immunities	-
Absorbed Elements	-

Stagger Rates

Melee	Ranged	Magic	Fire
×1	×1	×1	×2
Ice	Lightning	Wind	-
×1	×1	×1	-

Stagger Length

Stagger Length	10 seconds

Hoodlum B

Basic Information

Hoodlum B
Species	Movement	Type
Human	Grounded	Mini-Boss

Description

A man wearing a vest with a gaudy dragon emblem. He appears to be looking for something in the Sector 7 slums with his cohorts.

Assess (Tips)

When his HP gets low, he drinks a concoction that helps his attacks from being interrupted. Once he's doped up, attacks no longer fill his stagger gauge.

Hoodlum B Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	449	1088	3537
Attack	46		193
Magic Attack	36		148
Defense	47		194
Magic Defense	13		45

Hoodlum B Weaknesses & Resistances

Weakness / Status Ailments	Fire
Lesser Resistances	-
Greater Resistances	-
Immunities	-
Absorbed Elements	-

Stagger Rates

Melee	Ranged	Magic	Fire
×1	×1	×1	×2
Ice	Lightning	Wind	-
×1	×1	×1	-

Stagger Length

Stagger Length	10 seconds

Hoodlum C

Basic Information

Hoodlum C
Species	Movement	Type
Human	Grounded	Mini-Boss

Description

A man wearing clothes decorated with a gaudy dragon emblem. He appears to be looking for something in the Sector 7 slums with his cohorts.

Assess (Tips)

When his HP gets low, he drinks a concoction that helps his attacks from being interrupted. Once he's doped up, attacks no longer fill his stagger gauge.

Hoodlum C Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	598	816	4716
Attack	46		193
Magic Attack	36		148
Defense	47		194
Magic Defense	13		45

Hoodlum C Weaknesses & Resistances

Weakness / Status Ailments	Fire
Lesser Resistances	-
Greater Resistances	-
Immunities	-
Absorbed Elements	-

Stagger Rates

Melee	Ranged	Magic	Fire
×1	×1	×1	×2
Ice	Lightning	Wind	-
×1	×1	×1	-

Stagger Length

Stagger Length	10 seconds

Hoodlum D

Basic Information

Hoodlum D
Species	Movement	Type
Human	Grounded	Mini-Boss

Description

A man wearing clothes decorated with a gaudy dragon emblem. He appears to be looking for something in the Sector 7 slums with his cohorts.

Assess (Tips)

When his HP gets low, he drinks a concoction that helps his attacks from being interrupted. Once he's doped up, attacks no longer fill his stagger gauge.

Hoodlum D Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	598	816	4716
Attack	46		193
Magic Attack	36		148
Defense	47		194
Magic Defense	13		45

Hoodlum D Weaknesses & Resistances

Weakness / Status Ailments	Fire
Lesser Resistances	-
Greater Resistances	-
Immunities	-
Absorbed Elements	-

Stagger Rates

Melee	Ranged	Magic	Fire
×1	×1	×1	×2
Ice	Lightning	Wind	-
×1	×1	×1	-

Stagger Length

Stagger Length	10 seconds

Rewards

Hoodlum A

	Easy/Normal	Hard
Gil	34	981
AP	1	3
Exp	32	1006
Items Dropped	Potion (12%)
Rare Items Dropped	-
Steal	Adrenaline (15%)

Hoodlum B

	Easy/Normal	Hard
Gil	68	446
AP	1	3
Exp	38	774
Items Dropped	Potion (12%)
Rare Items Dropped	-
Steal	Adrenaline (15%)

Hoodlum C

	Easy/Normal	Hard
Gil	34	892
AP	1	3
Exp	32	928
Items Dropped	Grenade (12%)
Rare Items Dropped	-
Steal	Adrenaline (15%)

Hoodlum D

	Easy/Normal	Hard
Gil	75	446
AP	1	3
Exp	42	774
Items Dropped	Grenade (12%)
Rare Items Dropped	-
Steal	Adrenaline (15%)

Learnable Enemy Skills

No Enemy Skills can be learned from the Hoodlums.
Enemy Skill List and Locations

Hoodlums Boss Fight Guide

Hoodlums Abilities and Attack Patterns

Name	Element	Blockable?	Knockdown?	Status
Fighting Kick	-	Yes	No	-
	Kicks with his left leg. Can knock the target over while doped up.
Wild Stab	-	Yes	No	-
	Charges at his target with a knife.
Wild Slash	-	Yes	No	-
	Slashes at his target 5 times with a knife.
Full Nelson	-	No	No	-
	Bind his target in a nelson hold, allowing others to attack.
Grenade	-	Yes	Yes	-
	Throws a grenade at his target.
Spiderweb	-	No	No	(40 sec)
	Slows his target.
Open Fire	-	Yes	No	-
	Rapid fires 9 shots from his gun at his target.
Orb of Gravity	-	No	Yes	-
	Casts Gravity on his target.
Potion	-	-	-	-
	Uses a Potion on an ally.
Hi-Potion	-	-	-	-
	Uses a Hi-Potion on an ally.

*Status Effects and Ailments Guide

Best Characters for This Boss

Available Characters

Cloud

Only Cloud is available for this battle.

Best Equipment for Characters

Cloud	Role: Attacker & Healer Weapon: Iron Blade Armor:Star Bracelet Accessory: Power Wristguards

Best Materia for Cloud

Weapon (3 Slots)
Fire	Healing
Assess
Armor (2 Slots)
HP Up	Deadly Dodge

Since they are weak to Fire, cast Fira for extra damage whenever you have extra ATB charges. Otherwise, keep on guarding and healing. You can also resort to Triple Slash for a quicker attack and to conserve MP.

The Hoodlums Attack Phases

	Objectives
1	Lock-On to and Finish one Hoodlum at a time
2	Use Fire magic, they are all weak to it
3	Look out for Grenades and the Hoodlum with a gun

Tips & Strategies for Beating the Hoodlums

★ Strategy Checklist ★ (Click to jump)
Focus on One Hoodlum at a Time Use Fire Magic Stay in Operator Mode

Focus on One Hoodlum at a Time

Even though the four of them make no real threat despite their bigger numbers, it'll be a quicker fight if you focus on one enemy at a time.

Use Fire Magic

The Hoodlums all share a weakness to Fire, so if you're having some trouble handling them, cast Fire from a distance to deal massive damage.

Stay in Operator Mode

Since the Hoodlums are spread out over an area, you'll want to stick to Operator mode to quickly close the distance between Cloud and the enemies.

The Hoodlums: Hard Mode Guide

Best Characters and Equipment

Cloud	Role: Mage Weapon: Mythril Saber Armor: Supreme Bracer or Iron Maiden Accessory: Circlet or Survival Vest

All of The Hoodlums are weak to fire, it is best to use a weapon with high magic damage like the Mythril Saber. It can also provide MP and MP regen if the upgrades were unlocked.

Supreme Bracers are a good choice as armor as all the damage in the fight will be Physical Attacks. Iron Maiden is also a solid choice if you do not think you need the extra materia.

You will be using mostly Fire spells for this fight, so Circlet will provide good damage and MP to help with that. Survival Vest can help with survivability if it is a problem.

Best Materia to Use

The number of slots in your Weapon may vary depending on your Weapon Level.

Cloud

Weapon (4 Slots)
Magnify + Fire
Steadfast Block	First Strike
Armor (3 Slots)
Magic Up	ATB Boost
Healing
Summon
Leviathan

The best offensive materia for this fight is Magnify binded with Fire as The Hoodlums are weak to Fire spells. Having your Fire spells hit as many of The Hoodlums with one ATB can make it a quick fight.

Steadfast Block is a good materia to have as when you do not have any ATB you will need to block to avoid being overwhelmed.

First strike will allow you to immediately cast a magnified fire spell. And ATB Boost will allow you to get two bars of ATB to cast Fire spells back to back.

Healing will make sure you survive through the whole fight while Magic Up will help further increase your Fire spell damage.

Even though you can not summon Leviathan this fight, the materia will provide good Magic Attack stats.

Hard Mode Basic Strategy

Use Magnified Fire Spells For a Quick Fight

Thanks to First Strike and ATB Boost you can get two bars of ATB right at the start. This will allow you to cast two Fire spells which should be enough to kill 3 of The Hoodlums at most and 2 at least if all the spells hit.

Block or attack to continue building ATB then continue using Fire spells until all The Hoodlums are beaten.

Boss Fight Related Articles

List of Boss Battles

Major Story Bosses

All Major Story Bosses
Chapter 1	Scorpion Sentinel
Chapter 4	Roche
Chapter 5	Crab Warden
Chapter 7	Airbuster
Chapter 8	Reno Rude
Chapter 9	Hell House
Chapter 10	Abzu
Chapter 11	Ghoul Eligor
Chapter 13	Failed Experiment
Chapter 14	Abzu (2nd Fight)
Chapter 15	The Valkyrie
Chapter 16	Specimen H0512
Chapter 17	Jenova Dreamweaver Rufus The Arsenal
Chapter 18	Motor Ball Whisper Harbinger Sephiroth

VR Mission Bosses

All VR Mission Bosses
Chapter 8	Shiva
Chapter 9	Fat Chocobo
Chapter 13	Leviathan
Secret Boss	Bahamut
Superboss	Pride and Joy Prototype

Story Sub-Bosses

All Story Sub-Bosses
Chapter 2	The Huntsman
Chapter 3	The Hoodlums
Chapter 4	Enigmatic Spectre
Chapter 12	Enigmatic Spectre
Chapter 17	M.O.T.H. Unit Brain Pod Swordipede

Monster Variants & Optional Sub-Bosses

All Monster Variants & Optional Sub-Bosses
Chapter 3	Doomrat Cerulean Drake Wrath Hound
Chapter 8	Hedgehog Pie King Mark II Monodrive Venomantis Chromogger
Chapter 14	Rust Drake Tonberry Trypapolis Type-0 Behemoth
Chapter 17	Malboro

Intergrade and INTERmission Bosses

Intergrade and INTERmission Bosses
Chapter 1	Levrikon Gigantipede
Chapter 2	Scarlet & The Crimson Mare Projector Nero the Sable
Optional	Ramuh Weiss the Immaculate Pride and Joy Mk. 0.5 (Top Secrets)