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

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

Rufus Stats and Information

Basic Information

Rufus
Species	Movement	Type
Human	Grounded	Boss

Description

Shinra's vice president and the son of the president. He carries a custom-made shotgun and is protected by Darkstar, a military canine.

Assess (Tips)

Standard physical and magic attacks have no effect on his stagger gauge. However, hitting him with a certain attack when his guard is down will instantly stagger him.

Rufus Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	8078	14688	21222
Attack	139		220
Magic Attack	139		220
Defense	213		312
Magic Defense	213		312

Rufus Weaknesses & Resistances

Weakness / Status Ailments	-
Lesser Resistances	Poison, Magic, Fixed Damage
Greater Resistances	Sleep, Stop
Immunities	Silence, Slow, Berserk, Proportional Damage
Absorbed Elements	-

Stagger Rates

Melee	Ranged	Magic	Fire
×No effect	×No effect	×No effect	×No effect
Ice	Lightning	Wind	-
×No effect	×No effect	×No effect	-

Stagger Length

Stagger Length	6 seconds

Rewards

	Easy/Normal	Hard
Gil	1300	2250
AP	10	30
Exp	1300	4500
Items Dropped	-
Rare Items Dropped	-
Steal	-

Learnable Enemy Skills

No Enemy Skills can be learned from Rufus.

List of Enemy Skills

Check the guide below for information on Darkstar, Rufus's ally in combat.
Darkstar Weaknesses and Obtainable Items

Rufus Boss Fight Guide

Rufus Abilities and Attack Patterns

Name	Element	Blockable?	Knockdown?	Status
Shotgun	-	Yes	No	-
	Fires off a volley of bullets (normal is 6 shots while counterattacks are 5). When firing off 6 shots, one bullet will knock the target back.
Reload	-	-	-	-
	Loads 4 bullets into his guns (6 during Combat Load or Hard mode).
Follow-Up	-	Yes	No	-
	Moves to Darkstar's position and fires his gun.
Assist	-	Yes	No	-
	Jumps in front of his target and fires his guns.
Thunderclap		Yes	Yes	-
	When Darkstar casts Thunder, Rufus will use it to charge a lightning shot at his target.
Heel	-	-	-	-
	Reconnects with Darkstar.
Guns Akimbo	-	Yes	No	-
	Splits his gun in two and fires. Will fire 10 shots (13 on Hard mode) and then have to reload.
Up in Smoke	-	No	No	-
	Tosses a coin in the air and shoots it, causing a cloud of smoke to appear. Target will also flinch.
Bright Lights	-	No	Yes	-
	Throws 2 coins and shoots them, causing red lasers to fire at a target. Will also use as a counterattack.
Tread Softly	-	No	No	Stun (5 sec)
	Throws 3 coins to the ground that emit electricity for 8 seconds.
Think Fast	-	No	Yes	-
	Tosses 5 coins into the air and shoots them, causing them to explode.
Combat Load	-	-	-	-
	Ups the amount of bullets reloaded to 6 (does not use on Hard mode).

*Status Effects and Ailments Guide

Darkstar Abilities and Attack Patterns

Name	Element	Blockable?	Knockdown?	Status
Bite	-	Yes	No	-
	Bites its target.
Spear Whip	-	Yes	No	-
	Swings the tentacle on its head at its target.
Follow-Up	-	Yes	Yes	-
	Bites a target after Rufus performs an action.
Whirlwhip	-	Yes	Yes	-
	Jumps into the air and slams its tentacle down onto its target.
Subdue	-	-	No	-
	Emits a red aura and jumps at its target, binding them and tossing them into the air for a follow-up from Rufus.
Corkscrew	-	Yes	Yes	-
	Emits a red aura and charges while spinning at its target.
Thunder		Yes	No	-
	Casts Thunder on Rufus.
Curaga	-	-	-	-
	Casts Curaga on Rufus.

*Status Effects and Ailments Guide

Best Characters for This Boss

Available Characters

Cloud

Recommended Characters

This battle is fought with Cloud alone. Similar to previous fights like Roche, Reno and Rude, you'll need to use your swordsman prowess to get the best of Rufus.

Be sure to equip Twin Stinger for the Counterstance ability or master it if you prefer other weapons. This ability will give you a huge advantage especially during phases where Darkstar is present since Darkstar uses only close-ranged attacks and Counterstance deals massive damage if it successfully counters an attack.

Rufus Attack Phases

Phase 1

	Phase Point Summary
1	Rufus will appear with his hound, Darkstar. Rufus will attack with his gun, while Darkstar will use melee attacks.

Phase 2

	Phase Point Summary
1	Rufus will start using Abilities involving coins.

Phase 3

	Phase Point Summary
1	This Phase will begin after Darkstar is defeated. Rufus will use Combat Load to start launching himself around at high speeds. He won't use his Abilities from Phase 2 here, or those involving Darkstar.

Tips & Strategies for Beating Rufus

★ Strategy Checklist ★ (Click to jump)
Watch the Ability Names Avoid Magic Attacks on Rufus Use Counterstance against Darkstar Break Darkstar's Link With Triple Slash In Phase 3, Wait for Rufus to Reload

Watch the Ability Names

Unlike other Bosses which use a variety of unnamed attacks that are difficult to predict and handle, Rufus and Darkstar give you an advantage of preceding almost all of their attacks with an Ability name. So long as you're aware of what each of these Abilities' effects are, you can get ready in advance and handle the attacks as they come.

In general, a rule of thumb is to use a counter, such as Punisher Mode's auto-counter or Twin Stinger's Counterstance against Darkstar's attacks, and use Operator Mode to guard against Rufus's gun attacks.

Depending on the move, some, such as lasers like Bright Lights, can be dodged, but usually he will aim wherever Cloud has moved to, so simply guarding is the best best.

Avoid Magic Attacks on Rufus

Here, Fira deals only 393 damage to Rufus, and 635 damage to Darkstar.

Rufus has a Lesser Resistance to Magic Attacks, meaning that you won't get much bang for your MP when you hit him with your expensive Spells. On the other hand, Darkstar will take standard damage from Magic attacks, so you could focus your Spells on Darkstar instead, or opt to spend your MP on Haste, allowing you to use Counterstance with greater frequency.

Use Counterstance against Darkstar

As all of Darkstar's attacks are melee attacks, which largely give you the benefit of showing the Ability name beforehand, the Counterstance Ability of Twin Stinger will come greatly in handy. Simply wait until an Ability name appears above Darkstar's head and use Counterstance to hit back for heavy damage.

If you don't have Twin Stinger on hand, Punisher Mode's auto-counter will do as well. Hold R1 to guard, and Cloud will unleash an auto-counter when Darkstar attacks.

Also keep note of when Rufus uses the Heel command – this will let Darkstar know not to attack, so go ahead and attack yourself instead of going for a counter when this occurs.

Break Darkstar's Link With Triple Slash

Darkstar is also linked to Rufus throughout the fight, allowing them to use combination attacks. Targeting Darkstar with Cloud's Triple Slash will quickly break the link, preventing them from comboing you. Darkstar should be your first target to push Rufus into the easier phase 3.

In Phase 3, Wait for Rufus to Reload

Phase 2 is the most dangerous part of this battle, as Rufus and Darkstar will use a variety of combo techniques which can deal lots of damage. On the other hand, after Darkstar is defeated, Phase 3 is much easier to handle. The pool of moves Rufus can use is greatly reduced, and he will Reload frequently. Instead of slashing at him haphazardly, guard and wait for him to Reload, using abilties like Braver or a Limit Break to stagger him during the opening and take him down.

Rufus: Hard Mode Guide

Equip the Chakra Materia

You will fight Rufus almost immediately after defeating Jenova Dreamweaver. As in that fight, you want to heal yourself without using MP as much as possible, so keeping Chakra equipped is the best for this.

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)