FF7 Remake

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

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Reno Battle

This is a guide to beating the Boss Reno in the game Final Fantasy 7 Remake (FF7R). This article explains Reno's attack patterns, weaknesses, and tips and strategies for defeating him on both Normal and Hard Mode.

Reno Stats and Information

Basic Information

Reno
Reno Enemy Icon
Species Movement Type
Human Grounded Boss

Description

An operative with the Turks unit of Shinra's General Affairs Division. Fast and extremely agile, he leaps in to attack with his special Shinra-made security baton.

Assess (Tips)

Magic and lightning attacks have only a slight effect on his stagger gauge.

Reno Stats

Easy Normal Hard
HP 3343 6079 15563
Attack 124 328
Magic Attack 124 328
Defense 103 268
Magic Defense 103 268

Reno Weaknesses & Resistances

Weakness / Status Ailments -
Lesser Resistances -
Greater Resistances Lightning, Proportional Damage
Immunities Silence, Slow, Berserk
Absorbed Elements -

Stagger Rates

PhysicalIcon.pngMelee
PhysicalIcon.pngRanged
MagicIcon.pngMagic
FireIcon.pngFire
×1 ×1 ×0.5 ×1
IceIcon.pngIce
LightningIcon.pngLightning
WindIcon.pngWind
-
×1 ×0.5 ×1 -

Stagger Length

Stagger Length 7 seconds

Rewards

Easy/Normal Hard
Gil 600 2250
AP 10 30
Exp 600 4500
Items Dropped Ether (100%)
Rare Items Dropped -
Steal Ether (10%)

Learnable Enemy Skills

No Enemy Skills can be learned from Reno.

List of Enemy Skills

Reno Boss Fight Guide

Reno Abilities and Attack Patterns

Name Element Blockable? Knockdown? Status
physical.pngBeatdown
- Yes No -
Swings at a target 4 times if contact is made (cannot be stopped on Hard mode) followed by a kick.
physical.pngRushdown
- Yes No -
Does a jumping attack with his stun rod. Kicks 3 times if contact is made (cannot be stopped on Hard mode).
physical.pngShock Swipe
- Yes Yes -
Charges himself with electricity and dashes at a target.
physical.pngCounterattack
- No No -
Dodges an attack or ability and counters.
magical.pngEM Shot
lightning.png No No
Stun (5 sec)
Shoots an orb of electricity that homes in on a target, stunning them.
magical.pngEM Flail
Phase 2.jpg
lightning.png Yes Yes -
Grabs an EM Mine and swings it at a target.
EM Charge
Phase 2.jpg
- - - -
Charges up an EM Mine with electricity.
magical.pngBright Spark
Phase 2.jpg
lightning.png No Yes -
Uses EM Mines to stun a target and slams down on the target.
EM Mine Toss
Phase 2.jpg
- - - -
Tosses out 2 EM Mines.

*Status Effects and Ailments Guide

EM Mine

Name Element Blockable? Knockdown? Status
magical.pngElectric Current
Phase 2.jpg
lightning.png Yes No -
Creates a chain of electricity with other EM Mines.
magical.pngDischarge
Phase 2.jpg
lightning.png No No
Stun (5 sec)
Expels a burst of energy that stuns.
magical.pngEM Pulse
Phase 2.jpg
lightning.png Yes Yes -
Explodes after receiving a charge of electricity from Reno.

*Status Effects and Ailments Guide

Best Characters for This Boss

Available Characters

Cloud IconCloud

Only Cloud is available for this battle.

Best Equipment for Characters

Cloud Icon.jpegCloud Role: Attacker
Weapon: Buster Sword
Armor: Titanium Bangle
Accessory: Power Wristguards

Best Materia for Cloud

Weapon (3 Slots)
Armor (2 Slots)
Summon

This fight is all about dodging projectiles and using Punisher Mode's auto-counter on Reno's melee attacks. Use Triple Slash on the EM Mines and heal yourself if needed.

Reno Attack Phases

Phase 1

Objectives
1 Uses Shock Swipe to rush you with lightning charge attacks
2 Also uses EM Charge, a slowly charging energy ball that he throws at you
3 Uses a series of quick swipes and kicks

Phase 2

Objectives
1 Starts when Reno reaches 50% health
2 Will summon 5 EM Mines
3 Get rid of the Mines quickly as they make electrical links between them that deal damage
4 Reno will use Beatdown to unleash a series of blows

Tips & Strategies for Beating Reno

How to Beat Reno on Hard Mode




Fill up his Focus Gauge by Countering

Reno1.jpeg

As Reno moves quickly around the stage, he'll frequently dodge attacks you throw at him if you try to simply swing at him with your sword. Instead, switch to Punisher Mode and wait for him to come at you in order to counter his blows. Most of Reno's Physical attacks can be countered in this way.

On top of that, Reno will be susceptible to further blows upon being countered. When comboing a counter with Punisher Mode's Strong Attacks, you can fill his Focus Gauge easily, scoring a Stagger and making the fight go much more smoothly.

Focus Gauge and How to Stagger Enemies

Will become more powerful at 50% HP

Reno2.jpeg

When Reno's HP gets below 50%, he'll enter Phase 2 of the battle. He'll start to move faster and his attacks will get more powerful, and on top of that, he'll pull out 5 EM Mines which he can use to execute additional Abilities. It becomes much more difficult to avoid his attacks in this stage, so keep your distance from Reno and move away after landing a few hits on him.

Destroy the EM Mines first

Reno3.jpeg

The EM mines should be taken out quickly and you can use both attacks and magic to deal with them.

When Reno gets down to about 50% HP, he'll release 5 EM Mines onto the stage. These can be used to stun and bind Cloud, so before Reno is able to use Abilities with them, take these out first before the battle wears on. You can use Iron Blade's Triple Slash Ability to hit multiple EM Mines in a single attack. They don't have much resilience, so you can take them out fairly quickly if you focus on attacking them.

Keep in mind that Reno can use EM Mine Toss after the first five are destroyed to bring out two new EM Mines; when he does so, be sure to take out the newly released Mines quickly before he can take advantage of them.

EM Shot will inflict Stun

Reno4.jpeg

Reno's EM Shot attack will definitely cause a Stun, preventing Cloud from moving for several seconds. Reno will take a few seconds to charge this attack, so be sure to move out of the way when you see this one coming.

Watch out for EM Flail

Reno5.jpeg

When Reno uses EM Flail, he'll shoot out a single bolt of electricity ahead of him. If Cloud gets caught by it, he'll be Bound with no other character to free him. Then, Reno will run a current through his rod and make an explosion, dealing around 600 damage on Normal Mode. He'll need to have the EM Mines active to use this Ability, so be sure to take out the EM Mines quickly to prevent him from using his most danagerous Abilities.

Reno: Hard Mode Guide

Best Characters and Equipment

Cloud Icon.jpegCloud Weapon: Hardedge
Armor: Chain Bangle
Accessory: Champion Belt

Save MP by Focusing on Physical Damage

Focusing on Physical damage is a good idea to save MP for the rest of the Chapter. Magic attacks are not effective for staggering Reno and he has a Greater Resistance against Lightning magic. Equipping Hardege and Champion Belt is the way to go for this fight!

Best Materia to Use

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

Cloud

Weapon (6 Slots)
Armor (4 Slots)
Summon
How to Beat Reno on Hard Mode


Same basic flow as Normal Mode

RenoHardMode1.jpeg

On Hard Mode, Reno does not show significant differences from his Normal Mode counterpart, and you can take him down in essentially the same manner as on Normal Mode. Now that you have Twin Stinger, you can use Counterstance to hit back against most of his moves.

Take out the EM Mines with Triple Slash

RenoHardMode2.jpeg

On Hard Mode, Reno will execute additional techniques with his EM MInes. It's best to take these out as quickly as possible using Iron Blade's Triple Slash Ability. While he's summoning the EM Mines, Reno will be vulnerable to attack, so use powerful Abilities like Braver and Infinity's End to hit Reno hard during this period.

Have Lightning and Elemental Linked for an Easy Fight

Immune to Lightning
Having Lightning materia linked with Elemental Lv.2 will make you immune to his Lightning attacks and even the EM Mines attacks. With Lv.3 they can even heal you without you having to spend any MP. Even with just Lv.2 you can ignore the EM Mines and Reno's Lightning attacks allowing you to stay in Punisher mode and counter the whole fight.

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)

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