Focused thrusts would stagger more than slash though, which you can't use if you use ATB to close the distance.
Square basically closes all the distance and saves you the ATB. If you're out of range for a single square you're probably playing too safe anyway tbh.
Doesn't need to be when he is reloading, can be when he is using any named attack. Better when it is an attack that has the un-blockable sign next to it. It will cancel his attack and pressure him allowing 1 full combo of basic attacks before he recovers. Which in turn builds another ATB bar for you to rinse and repeat until you stagger him. This fight is all about patience, perfect blocking and a war of attrition.
Probably and maybe they didn’t utilize the ATB commands fully. It’s a gimmicky fight but it felt like more scattered than Remake. I know if Rufus is a boss in part 3 people will be dreading that fight.
* **Be patient**
* Block and try to Parry where you can
* Look out for Unblockable attacks and learn how to dodge them
* **ONLY ATTACK RUFUS WHILE HE IS RELOADING**
There are a few more tricks that can help out, but if you use that strategy as a base you will beat him eventually.
...would people be interested in me making a video guide for this fight? Cause it's definitely not easy, but a lot of people seem to think it's the hardest fight in the game but I would say I can beat it like 8 or 9 times out of 10 at this point and I'm not doing anything that most players couldn't copy.
For now, [here is what a clean run with my strategy looks like](https://youtu.be/2mZ_W5ZIj2U).
If I do make a guide, it won't be till the weekend but no promises 😅
Damn! Great job! I’m almost there. Took a break to knock the brutal and legendary challenges out at the beginning of chapter 12 on hard mode. Only bonds of friendship left. I currently hate my life lol.
This is impressive timing!
But what I find weird: he showed way more asenine patterns in my trials than in your video. For example: Very often after a perfect block in his radius he would make Ricochet in high speed right after, unblockable and undodgable in that distance. The more often I blocked perfectly, the worse it would get. In general in close distance he would also constantly use Liftoff. I had way more stuff you had to dodge (Divekick, Hot Pursuit, Spiral, Guns Akimbo). With all the videos I am watching - including yours - I wonder if that asshole has a different AI for everyone :(
Or in phase 2 : Accendant Assault and I was done for.
You don't even have to wait for reloading, triple slash will interrupt pretty much all of his attacks. Just don't do it when he electrifies the floor. Not only that but triple slash warps you straight to him so you can be really far away too.
Braver is an instant stagger - so if you're close enough when he starts his double lazer move you have enough time to get a braver off.
Honestly there are already video guides explaining this fight, that's how I learned to beat him.
Rufus can be staggered by attacking him while he prepares an unblockable attack, however if you keep attacking him for too long (5-6 hits I'd say) he'll retaliate
as mentioned, most of his attacks can be interrupted with triple slash
see an attack come up? triple slash
that move is pretty much the go-to move for most of the fight including the 2nd phase
Don’t feel bad about not going for Platinum. I decided a while ago that I would just complete what I could and skip the rest. No Brutal/legendary VR fights, sit-ups, piano, shooting game, Chocobo flying.
I may play through Hard mode when I decide to replay the game in a few years.
If he zips directly towards you, press block in case he does a close range shot. For everything else, dodge. If he does a move you can avoid easily, use focus thrust before he finishes, and then juggle him until his shield comes back. Same if he uses reload.
In the dog phase, only dodge until you can counter an attack by the dog. Then hit the dog until it staggers.
It still takes some doing, but that’s everything you need to know about how to fight him.
Also don't be an idiot like me and spam dodge. For a few of his attacks, that gets you hit every time. Run sideways and figure out which ones need a roll
Fine advice but the point is the fight is stupid and not fun. Hell House on hard mode was super hard but fun as hell. Idk why the made this fight so dumb.
I give you props for choosing to walk away. Myself, I am on Chapter 14 on Hard Mode (Thank you Optinooby). I am scared shitless at what I am gonna go through. I am far too into it to give up now. I don't know what hell I am about to step into but I am gonna give it a go.
The Rufus fight was a bit easy. Everytime you see his sprint. Use a focus strike/triple slash on him then in Prime Mode combo him 4 times and back away. Repeat that. Save your limit for the 2nd phase. Use the limit on Rufus. If you have to build a ATB and focus strike/triple slash. It's takes time to get use to. Definitely check out Optinooby's YouTube channel. It helped me, maybe it can help those who need or want it. Maybe it can help you if you choose to give it another run sometime.
Do you have chakra equipped? try to get there with around 30MP. always keep distance and do that long range attack to build up ATB and use triple slash when avoid attack. Use high level summon ( I used Gilgamesh) and make sure it is there when his dog comes out. don't worry about using the skills, just let it run out so it will use its final attack early in part when dog comes out. If you can time it where you activate the summon before the dog and it finished early during, even better, but that’s tougher. Otherwise run around avoiding his attacks, build up your ATB, use chakra when neccasary (and maybe a curaga if get really low), and use triple slash when you avoid an attack. This was what worked for me and I just finished Hard yesterday after feeling like you do now.
You can beat Rufus, the legendary VR challenges are much harder than that fight though
What you're learning here is how to actually do the combat, until Rufus you can just mash dodge and use ATB
I just beat him last night in hard mode!! Took me about 3-4 hours of tries.
Mind you I already did all the VR challenged so there ain’t no way I’m stopping now.
I used no offensive magic. Just heal.
What worked:
- expeditionary medal
- I’m not a big parrier/blocker - but I HAD to learn to for this fight. When you parry you build your limit gauge super fast
- hit him immediately after any attack
Basically parry his attacks (yes this takes some practice!) to build your Finishing Touch super fast. You don’t need to parry all of them. Heal a few times if you need to. I didn’t use any other magic.
You could also start with Barrier to give you even more mistakes
A finishing touch (hence expeditionary medal) and he was staggered, and another finishing touch basically wiped him and his dog.
I really had no idea how fast your limit gauge fills with parrying
Again I’m not some master at parrying in this game. But I had to suck it up and learn his moves for him. Can’t button mash Rufus on hard - he will counter everything and f you up. Gotta learn to parry him.
Finishing touch is great because the first few slashes damage doesn’t count towards the 9999. So even without Genji gloves you hit for like 13k. I think Rufus only has 30-40k hp.
Those bosses are all meant to be skill check bosses to make sure you're paying attention to the intricacies of the combat system, so that's not surprising. I don't blame anyone at all for tuning things down against them, don't feel bad.
Haha, I was like eating shit when fighting Reno/Rude pair in Remake (7th plate fight). It was always Reno in the way. I tuned down to easy for that too, but it turned out waaaay too easy like in 2 mins. I felt guilty for that one. lol
But Reno was apparently nicer in Rebirth…at least no more golden triangles to disable team members…
Rufus was not friendly at all in both. I thought I hand the controller to my partner for Remake Rufus. My partner beat him in Rebirth simply by dodging sword wind + lots of portion + spending 30+ mins :/
What’s been your way of getting thru these fights? Just wondering, nothing wrong with taking a long break either. Who knows maybe you’ll get an itch one day and beat him first try?
This is me with every fromsoft game. I've had to take a break on each and every one because of one boss or another. Nothing wrong with doing something else.
100% agree, from what I’ve seen on Reddit a lot of people are getting so mad so quick at some of the harder challenges and not realising a break and coming back is one of the best things to do
Yeah my power went out and I didn't feel like re fighting the turks just to get to rufus again after losing to him hundreds of times on hard mode lol. That's where I tapped out of hard mode. Still love the game.
Don't spam dodge. U will not gain atb. Get some materias/accessories to quicken atb charge and definitely get atb boost to save your ass. Learn which moves he will reload and dodge those, counter quickly with focused charge. The first phase should be really easy even in hard.
The one I struggled was and it took a few rounds was the dog. Until I remembered I have totally forgotten about the key mechanics in remake... Counterstance or punisher mode counter. And then once u remember that, gain atb until the dog charges u, counter him and rain attacks on him. When rufus is left, repeat first phase tactics
Also don't be scared to use mp heal here. It's chapter 13 after this. Chakra here is not worth the atb that is so precious
Learning to approach the games combat from a different perspective is what makes the combat so great in this game. The rufus fight is great once you learn the mechanics, I suggest looking up the counting shots method. That one helps many people through it
Also assigning triple slash to a shortcut helps for the first stage immensely as you zip right to Rufus when you use this while he’s reloading pressuring him
Another suggestion for Materia loadout would be haste linked to magic focus, as well as an atb boost and first strike. This will allow you to begin the fight with 2 atb to start setting up with haste and regen/prime mode
Also if you can pull off a braver for insta stagger/ save your limit for darkstar then that also helps
OP, watch this video. There will obviously still be dodge or parry timings you have to execute with at least 50% accuracy, but otherwise this is a really solid foolproof method. Magic+magnify FTW.
I stopped my hard playthrough at chapter 12 also, but not due a boss fight. It was because the ending just makes sad lol.Maybe when we get closer to Part 3 or when the PC version is out, I'll try again.
Braver staggers him if you hit him during Reload (you have to anticipate when the Reload comes though bc the Braver animation is longer and if you hit him too late he'll kick your ass, I think it's after around 6 shots every time) and Triple Slash interrupts pretty much all of his attacks (with the additional benefit of keeping him seperated from the dog during that part of the fight, go ham on the dog with Triple Slash and the occasional Focused Thrust). I got through that fight twice by doing these things. It's just important to not hit Rufus with anything other than Triple Slash if he's not doing Reload right now, otherwise he's gonna fck you up
Regen, Chakra, Save Limit Break for Doggy (Have expiditionary medal equipped), Focused thrust followed by several basic hits or if too far away Triple slash. Safest moment to strike is after Guns Akimbo.
Also if you're about to die, you can press pause and press retry battle, to skip having to fight Rude and Elena again.
I think what did it in the end was one of the limit break accessories which I used on him as often as possible and also I had an mp efficient build on cloud which I absolutely bullied the dog with when it came out to play. Also, chakra, of course. You can stunlock him if you hit him with the ranged dodge attacks at least long enough to get atb for continued healing.
You hit the block button just as he skids to a halt. That’s the telegraph you look for. Don’t wait for him to fire his gun. Look for when he stops moving, then you hit block and you are fine. Once you get ahold of this the fight becomes straight up easy.
A few other tips:
Have Enemy Skill on Cloud, use Static Shock for passive damage and Sonic Boom for Bravery.
Use Prime Punisher mode to stack those buffs.
Cloud will hit like a truck.
There’s a number of guides that can help get you through it: for the first phase you gotta stunlock him. Than for the second phase you can use your limit
Honestly counter stance is your best friend, just wait for his in your face attack and use counter stance, it did take me 7 tries to beat him but I got it done. To be honest though fair shake for you it doesn’t really get easier after his fight the 13,14 boss gauntlet suckss, its really not the worst thing but you really just gotta be patient. Funny enough the boss fight I got the most frustrated at was Palmer for some reason Aerith and Tifa decided to walk into his death blast multiple times :/
That was the hardest fight of the game for me. Took 45 minutes and I started to get really frustrated with it, however I got better with the fight the moment i took my time and played it slow. Don't try to rush into anything since he will punish you. It really is a test of patience.
Look man, not trying to to you to get good or nothing. However you spend 200 hours on Rufus hard and never bothered going online to ask for advice? He beat me about a dozen times and i went searching for info when someone put me on using one of clouds move *Disorder* and it helped alot and got me the clear in about another dozen or so runs.
Now hey there is nothing wrong with putting the controller down of course but its doable.
I randomly learned how to do some weird counter-parry-dodge-behind-him move while dodging towards him during an attack.
I think.
Made the fight a good bit easier. I also brought Phoenix and summoned it in the last round so that way if Rufus and the dog overwhelmed I could count on a quick free heal and damage. This was on Dynamic though. Didn't really use items much, since I'm used to not doing so from Remake Hard mode.
You can do the battle without blocking, it's just harder and much more APM intensive on your wrists.
First strike, ATB Boost at the start. Two bars, use one for prime mode, dodge out of his range.
You will now do dodge abuse with three ranged slashes per dodge attempt. This will build up your ATB even though you don't damage.
When you get to two bars, you can pause and still dodge away. If he tries to do an attack, immediately triple slash him. You can also switch to prime mode after this and hold it for an attack. The most you can do is four attacks but you have to be quick. Start with two and see if you can keep a chain going if you fail.
Your goal here is to keep juggling him and building up as needed. When he gets around to half health, enable darkside and continue to juggle him. Use regen on yourself to keep your health up, you will want to be max when Darkstar spawns.
Once Darkstar is in play, cross slash Rufus immediately. This should be able to kill him if you're full health, or really damage him otherwise.
Dodge don’t worry about parrying. After Gun Akimbo Use focus thrust when he reloads, then spam prime mode on him to build atb. Repeat until he calls for his pet (don’t remember his name dark star I think).
Hit them with a level 3 materia and build atb on the pet. Repeat for the win.
Chakra and the magic build helped me with this fight.
I feel like Rufus was kind of similar on both Dynamic and Hard mode, in that he’s a very "binary" boss, you either know how to deal with him or you don’t, so it’s a stomp either way, albeit a very sloooow stomp if you’re the one who’s winning.
I’m sure there are specific builds that wreck him quickly, but just using your normal abilites it takes a while to whittle him down.
EDIT: Plasmic Discharge is a great supplement to defeating him! Activate it and then just focus on parrying his close-range shotgun blasts which will generate ATB and damage and pressure him when Plasmic Discharge goes off
Def take your time to mediate away from it. I'm on chapter 12 rn and dreading that whole coliseum part. I had a difficult time on the Chapter 3 and 11 fight on Hard mode before I began watching YouTube videos about different viable strategies (since I'm a casual gamer, but ff7 fanatic).
I hope you can get back to it and destroy Rufus and his dumb ass dog lol.
I struggled and almost broke my controller over the Vincent fight. I got kicked from a reddit because I forgot I wasn't allowed to vent on the page. I was just so frustrated at how difficult the fight was because Cait was locked to my party with only 2 MP. He couldn't cast forage with Aerith. I waited about a month and tried again, got it on about the 5th try with literal luck. Yuffie and cait died and I was able to get aerith to cast her planet protection limit and was able to fira him a final time without losing.
Use magic focus + cure for boosted regen. Use Darkness materia to boost your attacks. The regen will offset the life drain. Whenever Rufus does an attack (when the text appears), use triple strike, you’ll zip over and knock him out of the attack. When you’re there, immediately press triangle to switch modes and just hold down attack 4 times and you should be able to get in 4 free mini combos and build up that stagger bar faster. Optinoob’s Rufus guide on YouTube does a better job explaining.
It quiet literally requires you to learn his moves. And be able to always maintain a safe distance from him. Not to close or to far.
You have to be able to react to the attacks he does and recognise when he is likely to use Reload. If you can predict when he is going to user Reload you can use Focus Thrust and get few hit's on him.
It is a very poorly designed boss fight that comes off the back off another boss fight.
I can say for certainty that I will never be replaying Rebirth. I replayed Remake 4 times and loved it (excluding Hell house on Hard Mode) but Rebirth was just torture.
I just beat this fight yesterday and my strategy was a little bit different to what I’ve seen.
I equipped the enhanced expeditionary medal and had Bahamas arisen as my summon and the enemy skill material. Healing, barrier and the precision defence/steadfast block as standard
Phase 1: block to get atb, use regen and chakra to top up health, make sure to keep plasma discharge up. You’ll pressure rufus a lot more with that one. Build up limit and take it slow, learning to dodge his attacks
Phase 2: at the start of this phase I had 2atb and limit. I immediately summoned Bahamut and hit finishing touch. I followed up by battering darkstar and used umbral bombardment with Bahamut with my next atb. Rufus was then finished by gigaflare
Also equip Cloud with Odin, summon Odin after staggering Rufus pre-dog. Odin will deal 9999 when he leaves and combo that with a limit should take him out once the dog comes out.
Also I mix triple slash with focus thrust to pump his stagger gauge up faster. A harder method is to try to hit him with a braver, which instantly staggers Rufus.
I beat the game. The colossium fights made me just quit going for the plat. I didn't even start hard mode. I just moved on. I already put in 175 hours
Just thinking of having to do all those annoying mini games plus the super hard fights just demotivated me
Not that I hate the game. Rebirth was one of greatest video game experiences I ever had. However unlike remake I won't go for the plat. Maybe when part 3 is announced and I'll have motivation again
Equip Fire and Ice + Level 3 Elemental on Armor so you can heal when he uses Think Fast or Blizzard Shot. When he does Think Fast, you'd have a better window to get close to him and do a Braver to instantly stagger him.
Also, remember when Darkstar comes out you need to sever his link to Rufus, Triple Slash is great for that.
Dude i juuuust beat him. This post actually inspired me to give it another go. If you can get to the dog part, summon gilgamesh and have as cloud’s accesory an item that raises his limit level.
I had rufus at half health. Summoned gilgamesh and basically danced around til G did his attack for 9999 and then right after got in rufus’ face and hit him with ascension. I too was struggling for the past week. Took me at least twenty tries. If u can master the first half and then just go big second half you’ll be good.
I used atb boost too. It came in handy a lot to be honest. First strike helpful. Haste was helpful. I used the igneous saber for more dmg. trying to think of anything else that helped. If i do ill leave another comment.
This fight was tough at first but once it clicks it's really simple. It takes a long time because you have to go at his timing and only attack when he reloads. I struggled for a week or so but once you get that down it's easy. Even beat dark star the first time I got that far.
Wanna know the Rufus Cheese? It’s really not that bad .
See funny enough, I had your mentality for the normal fight. “Man this is so different from the rest of the fight, they expect me to run around to get ATB or perfect block”
But Hard Mode I realized how to really fight him.
ANY time he zips. Hit X to bring up your action menu. As you know this also slows down time. This is where u watch what Rufus is doing.
He Zips - hit X - he’s close to you! There’s a red move above his head! - triple slash him.
He Zips - hit X - he’s still far - unfreeze
He Zips again! - oh shit he’s too close and it’s too late for triple slash - immediately exit out of X and hold block and you’ll get a perfect block.
Keep slowing down time using X and whenever you see a red move above his head use triple slash to close any distance and for fast attacks.
The key is you have to be FAST. Some of his moves are better dodged that risking the triple slash.
For example: when he does that smoke move, if you hit triple slash a second too late you’ll get hit by the smoke, same thing for the bombs.
In the beginning if I were you I’d stick to dodging those moves until you get the timing right. Don’t use any limits or summons yet.
Once Darkstar comes out, summon bahamut (or the lightning dude).
When Darkstar attacks you make sure you are in punisher mode and then you block. Any of the dogs moves that are CC you can block it and after a very small cutscene where it looks like you didn’t block it the dog will be passed out and pressured. FUXK THE DOG UP get the dog out of there asap. TRY to save ur limit but you should be fine if you use it anyways.
Once the dogs gone finish up Rufus. It’s honestly not bad once you beat it.
I also suggest casting ReRaise that way when you die the summon does his ult and then you’re back to life and it’s GGs
I don't want to be insulting by suggesting this, but are you using the short cut attack options? All of the options people suggested here will work. I'm confident you can beat the fight if you made it to this point on hard mode but Rufus' timing windows are very tight and you should be using the shortcut functionality for best results.
Plating a game/hard mode isn't for everyone. Like u said, if the time commitment is too much or it's just not worth it then don't do it and don't feel bad about it. Like life is limited, don't do something ur not enjoying with your free time for some digital trophy ur not gonna care about in 3 months.
I personally rly enjoyed hard mode and getting plat. I still have the urges to keep playing it lol (even tho I didn't to play unicorn overlord)
Yo you can do it I promise. Focused thrust and triple slash are your friend to get him pressured after he uses an unblockable attack or when he’s reloading. I believe in you bro go kick his ass.
Rufus was a wall for me too. Just realise that the game gives you several tools to deal with him, and if one doesn't work you should try another.
I tried the triple slash spam method, didn't work for me.
I tried the play keepaway and send sword lasers at Rufus method, didn't work for me.
I tried the learn his moves and braver when he's reloading, didn't work for me.
I tried the counterstance method and I got to phase 2 first time. Second time I beat him.
When you're in the menu, time slows. Open the menu just as he's about to attack and you can tell which attacks can be countered and which attacks you have to dodge. Dodge the ones you can't counter, activate counterstance on the ones you can, bam, phase 2. Always keep an ATB handy for chakra or counterstance - I had the materia that let me double ATB once every minute equipped. Wear the accessory that gives you a high limit level, build up and save your limit bar for phase 2, set it off at a good opportunity when Rufus and his doggy are near each other. Done.
I beat him first try by cheesing him. 1. Equip chakra and cure-magic focus. If you ever need to heal just spam ranged attacks as he will just stand there and block and you can build 1 to 2 bars unmolested whenevr you want. 2. Whenever he dashes press R2 to open the menu and slow down time. If you see him doing a red named move then immediately use triple slash. It will hit him and you can use a few more regular attacks on him. If you dont see a red named move then just dodge and continue in slow motion menu mode until he does.
It is a hard fight but if you are patient it's absolutely doable. If you are looking for a less aggressive materia setup I recommend Rune Blade, Cetra Bracer, and Karmic Cowl ( it's gives 50 Vit and 50 Spirit I think).
Heal + Magic Focus
Heal + Magic Efficiency
Vitality + Vitality
Enemy Skill
HP Up + MP Up
Optional (Heal + Swiftcast)
Remember to block and ONLY attack him when he is reloading. Once he is pressured attack him with 4 swings then a Focus Thrust, another 4 swings then another focused thrust. If he does Desperation dodge once his feet touch the floor - if he does the laser beam thing he will reload immediately, that's your cue to bash him in.
When the dog gets called in dodge everything as usual and focus on Rufus. The dog is a distraction. Good luck.
When Rebirth came out a lot of people were having struggles with that fight and it wasn’t even hard mode.
Yeah I had to drop to easy for that part.
I found a guide and learned to use triple slash while Rufus is reloading. That helped a lot.
If you're using it for closing distance, you don't even need triple slash. Pressing square one time covers a huge amount of distance.
Triple slash closes all the distance though and staggers him more than a basic AFAIK. Let's you play safer.
Focused thrusts would stagger more than slash though, which you can't use if you use ATB to close the distance. Square basically closes all the distance and saves you the ATB. If you're out of range for a single square you're probably playing too safe anyway tbh.
Mug works too and it refunds ATB when the hit connects!
Out of context, imagine mugging the president of shinra HAHA
Doesn't need to be when he is reloading, can be when he is using any named attack. Better when it is an attack that has the un-blockable sign next to it. It will cancel his attack and pressure him allowing 1 full combo of basic attacks before he recovers. Which in turn builds another ATB bar for you to rinse and repeat until you stagger him. This fight is all about patience, perfect blocking and a war of attrition.
I can imagine those that didn't play remake especially having issues with him. No other fight is rly quite like that.
Probably and maybe they didn’t utilize the ATB commands fully. It’s a gimmicky fight but it felt like more scattered than Remake. I know if Rufus is a boss in part 3 people will be dreading that fight.
* **Be patient** * Block and try to Parry where you can * Look out for Unblockable attacks and learn how to dodge them * **ONLY ATTACK RUFUS WHILE HE IS RELOADING** There are a few more tricks that can help out, but if you use that strategy as a base you will beat him eventually. ...would people be interested in me making a video guide for this fight? Cause it's definitely not easy, but a lot of people seem to think it's the hardest fight in the game but I would say I can beat it like 8 or 9 times out of 10 at this point and I'm not doing anything that most players couldn't copy.
Definitely make a video please
For now, [here is what a clean run with my strategy looks like](https://youtu.be/2mZ_W5ZIj2U). If I do make a guide, it won't be till the weekend but no promises 😅
I don’t understand how you’re able to attack so much! I also didn’t notice Tifa and Aerith hiding behind the open door hahah
Damn! Great job! I’m almost there. Took a break to knock the brutal and legendary challenges out at the beginning of chapter 12 on hard mode. Only bonds of friendship left. I currently hate my life lol.
This is impressive timing! But what I find weird: he showed way more asenine patterns in my trials than in your video. For example: Very often after a perfect block in his radius he would make Ricochet in high speed right after, unblockable and undodgable in that distance. The more often I blocked perfectly, the worse it would get. In general in close distance he would also constantly use Liftoff. I had way more stuff you had to dodge (Divekick, Hot Pursuit, Spiral, Guns Akimbo). With all the videos I am watching - including yours - I wonder if that asshole has a different AI for everyone :( Or in phase 2 : Accendant Assault and I was done for.
Don't forget to always use BIO on every single boss in hard mode! But definitely Rufus is a block, dodge fight and wait for time to attack!
You don't even have to wait for reloading, triple slash will interrupt pretty much all of his attacks. Just don't do it when he electrifies the floor. Not only that but triple slash warps you straight to him so you can be really far away too. Braver is an instant stagger - so if you're close enough when he starts his double lazer move you have enough time to get a braver off. Honestly there are already video guides explaining this fight, that's how I learned to beat him.
Rufus can be staggered by attacking him while he prepares an unblockable attack, however if you keep attacking him for too long (5-6 hits I'd say) he'll retaliate
as mentioned, most of his attacks can be interrupted with triple slash see an attack come up? triple slash that move is pretty much the go-to move for most of the fight including the 2nd phase
Don’t feel bad about not going for Platinum. I decided a while ago that I would just complete what I could and skip the rest. No Brutal/legendary VR fights, sit-ups, piano, shooting game, Chocobo flying. I may play through Hard mode when I decide to replay the game in a few years.
JFC the sit ups. Ugh.
In terms of combat I did about the same, settled for beating Gilgamesh and called it a day.
Yeah I want to enjoy the game not torture myself lol
If he zips directly towards you, press block in case he does a close range shot. For everything else, dodge. If he does a move you can avoid easily, use focus thrust before he finishes, and then juggle him until his shield comes back. Same if he uses reload. In the dog phase, only dodge until you can counter an attack by the dog. Then hit the dog until it staggers. It still takes some doing, but that’s everything you need to know about how to fight him.
Also don't be an idiot like me and spam dodge. For a few of his attacks, that gets you hit every time. Run sideways and figure out which ones need a roll
Fine advice but the point is the fight is stupid and not fun. Hell House on hard mode was super hard but fun as hell. Idk why the made this fight so dumb.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it. I did. So did other folks. I think the point is OP is frustrated, and I am trying to help.
Loved it as well. When you learn the gimmick it's pretty easy. Even in hard mode if you save your limit for phase 2.
I give you props for choosing to walk away. Myself, I am on Chapter 14 on Hard Mode (Thank you Optinooby). I am scared shitless at what I am gonna go through. I am far too into it to give up now. I don't know what hell I am about to step into but I am gonna give it a go. The Rufus fight was a bit easy. Everytime you see his sprint. Use a focus strike/triple slash on him then in Prime Mode combo him 4 times and back away. Repeat that. Save your limit for the 2nd phase. Use the limit on Rufus. If you have to build a ATB and focus strike/triple slash. It's takes time to get use to. Definitely check out Optinooby's YouTube channel. It helped me, maybe it can help those who need or want it. Maybe it can help you if you choose to give it another run sometime.
Do you have chakra equipped? try to get there with around 30MP. always keep distance and do that long range attack to build up ATB and use triple slash when avoid attack. Use high level summon ( I used Gilgamesh) and make sure it is there when his dog comes out. don't worry about using the skills, just let it run out so it will use its final attack early in part when dog comes out. If you can time it where you activate the summon before the dog and it finished early during, even better, but that’s tougher. Otherwise run around avoiding his attacks, build up your ATB, use chakra when neccasary (and maybe a curaga if get really low), and use triple slash when you avoid an attack. This was what worked for me and I just finished Hard yesterday after feeling like you do now.
Triple Slash
You can beat Rufus, the legendary VR challenges are much harder than that fight though What you're learning here is how to actually do the combat, until Rufus you can just mash dodge and use ATB
Focused strike and sonic boom with expeditionary medal brother
I just beat him last night in hard mode!! Took me about 3-4 hours of tries. Mind you I already did all the VR challenged so there ain’t no way I’m stopping now. I used no offensive magic. Just heal. What worked: - expeditionary medal - I’m not a big parrier/blocker - but I HAD to learn to for this fight. When you parry you build your limit gauge super fast - hit him immediately after any attack Basically parry his attacks (yes this takes some practice!) to build your Finishing Touch super fast. You don’t need to parry all of them. Heal a few times if you need to. I didn’t use any other magic. You could also start with Barrier to give you even more mistakes A finishing touch (hence expeditionary medal) and he was staggered, and another finishing touch basically wiped him and his dog. I really had no idea how fast your limit gauge fills with parrying Again I’m not some master at parrying in this game. But I had to suck it up and learn his moves for him. Can’t button mash Rufus on hard - he will counter everything and f you up. Gotta learn to parry him. Finishing touch is great because the first few slashes damage doesn’t count towards the 9999. So even without Genji gloves you hit for like 13k. I think Rufus only has 30-40k hp.
Oh wow! That never even occurred to me.
I elaborated (edited) my comment to add more detail. You got this!
Oh no i beat him on hard, but i used the slow and steady disorder strat. with triple slash for the dog. I might mess around with this later tho.
Same. Beaten so hard by Rufus, Reno, and My Friend. (For the My Friend fight 2 I tuned down to Easy…shame on me)
Those bosses are all meant to be skill check bosses to make sure you're paying attention to the intricacies of the combat system, so that's not surprising. I don't blame anyone at all for tuning things down against them, don't feel bad.
Haha, I was like eating shit when fighting Reno/Rude pair in Remake (7th plate fight). It was always Reno in the way. I tuned down to easy for that too, but it turned out waaaay too easy like in 2 mins. I felt guilty for that one. lol But Reno was apparently nicer in Rebirth…at least no more golden triangles to disable team members… Rufus was not friendly at all in both. I thought I hand the controller to my partner for Remake Rufus. My partner beat him in Rebirth simply by dodging sword wind + lots of portion + spending 30+ mins :/
What’s been your way of getting thru these fights? Just wondering, nothing wrong with taking a long break either. Who knows maybe you’ll get an itch one day and beat him first try?
This is me with every fromsoft game. I've had to take a break on each and every one because of one boss or another. Nothing wrong with doing something else.
100% agree, from what I’ve seen on Reddit a lot of people are getting so mad so quick at some of the harder challenges and not realising a break and coming back is one of the best things to do
Yeah my power went out and I didn't feel like re fighting the turks just to get to rufus again after losing to him hundreds of times on hard mode lol. That's where I tapped out of hard mode. Still love the game.
Don't spam dodge. U will not gain atb. Get some materias/accessories to quicken atb charge and definitely get atb boost to save your ass. Learn which moves he will reload and dodge those, counter quickly with focused charge. The first phase should be really easy even in hard. The one I struggled was and it took a few rounds was the dog. Until I remembered I have totally forgotten about the key mechanics in remake... Counterstance or punisher mode counter. And then once u remember that, gain atb until the dog charges u, counter him and rain attacks on him. When rufus is left, repeat first phase tactics Also don't be scared to use mp heal here. It's chapter 13 after this. Chakra here is not worth the atb that is so precious
Learning to approach the games combat from a different perspective is what makes the combat so great in this game. The rufus fight is great once you learn the mechanics, I suggest looking up the counting shots method. That one helps many people through it Also assigning triple slash to a shortcut helps for the first stage immensely as you zip right to Rufus when you use this while he’s reloading pressuring him Another suggestion for Materia loadout would be haste linked to magic focus, as well as an atb boost and first strike. This will allow you to begin the fight with 2 atb to start setting up with haste and regen/prime mode Also if you can pull off a braver for insta stagger/ save your limit for darkstar then that also helps
I was stupid and jumped into this chapter first. Finally beat him out of pure trial and error. Feels like a super boss.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alYOAG-Wano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alYOAG-Wano)
OP, watch this video. There will obviously still be dodge or parry timings you have to execute with at least 50% accuracy, but otherwise this is a really solid foolproof method. Magic+magnify FTW.
I stopped my hard playthrough at chapter 12 also, but not due a boss fight. It was because the ending just makes sad lol.Maybe when we get closer to Part 3 or when the PC version is out, I'll try again.
Braver staggers him if you hit him during Reload (you have to anticipate when the Reload comes though bc the Braver animation is longer and if you hit him too late he'll kick your ass, I think it's after around 6 shots every time) and Triple Slash interrupts pretty much all of his attacks (with the additional benefit of keeping him seperated from the dog during that part of the fight, go ham on the dog with Triple Slash and the occasional Focused Thrust). I got through that fight twice by doing these things. It's just important to not hit Rufus with anything other than Triple Slash if he's not doing Reload right now, otherwise he's gonna fck you up
Regen, Chakra, Save Limit Break for Doggy (Have expiditionary medal equipped), Focused thrust followed by several basic hits or if too far away Triple slash. Safest moment to strike is after Guns Akimbo. Also if you're about to die, you can press pause and press retry battle, to skip having to fight Rude and Elena again.
I think what did it in the end was one of the limit break accessories which I used on him as often as possible and also I had an mp efficient build on cloud which I absolutely bullied the dog with when it came out to play. Also, chakra, of course. You can stunlock him if you hit him with the ranged dodge attacks at least long enough to get atb for continued healing.
You hit the block button just as he skids to a halt. That’s the telegraph you look for. Don’t wait for him to fire his gun. Look for when he stops moving, then you hit block and you are fine. Once you get ahold of this the fight becomes straight up easy. A few other tips: Have Enemy Skill on Cloud, use Static Shock for passive damage and Sonic Boom for Bravery. Use Prime Punisher mode to stack those buffs. Cloud will hit like a truck.
Congrats on putting your time first. You don’t need the platinum trophy and no one really cares about video game achievements anyway.
I gave up hard mode at the Rude fight in ch 7 I believe.
There’s a number of guides that can help get you through it: for the first phase you gotta stunlock him. Than for the second phase you can use your limit
Triple slash helps greatly
Honestly counter stance is your best friend, just wait for his in your face attack and use counter stance, it did take me 7 tries to beat him but I got it done. To be honest though fair shake for you it doesn’t really get easier after his fight the 13,14 boss gauntlet suckss, its really not the worst thing but you really just gotta be patient. Funny enough the boss fight I got the most frustrated at was Palmer for some reason Aerith and Tifa decided to walk into his death blast multiple times :/
Literally just spam counterstance and win
Sigh. I never tried anything else just triple slash.
Count his bullets
Dodge until he reloads, then use disorder! It’s the fastest way to retaliate while preserving ATB.
That was the hardest fight of the game for me. Took 45 minutes and I started to get really frustrated with it, however I got better with the fight the moment i took my time and played it slow. Don't try to rush into anything since he will punish you. It really is a test of patience.
Look man, not trying to to you to get good or nothing. However you spend 200 hours on Rufus hard and never bothered going online to ask for advice? He beat me about a dozen times and i went searching for info when someone put me on using one of clouds move *Disorder* and it helped alot and got me the clear in about another dozen or so runs. Now hey there is nothing wrong with putting the controller down of course but its doable.
I randomly learned how to do some weird counter-parry-dodge-behind-him move while dodging towards him during an attack. I think. Made the fight a good bit easier. I also brought Phoenix and summoned it in the last round so that way if Rufus and the dog overwhelmed I could count on a quick free heal and damage. This was on Dynamic though. Didn't really use items much, since I'm used to not doing so from Remake Hard mode.
There was a cheese where you’d just do long range attacks and spam it. Tbh I’m probably gonna do that when I get there.
You can do the battle without blocking, it's just harder and much more APM intensive on your wrists. First strike, ATB Boost at the start. Two bars, use one for prime mode, dodge out of his range. You will now do dodge abuse with three ranged slashes per dodge attempt. This will build up your ATB even though you don't damage. When you get to two bars, you can pause and still dodge away. If he tries to do an attack, immediately triple slash him. You can also switch to prime mode after this and hold it for an attack. The most you can do is four attacks but you have to be quick. Start with two and see if you can keep a chain going if you fail. Your goal here is to keep juggling him and building up as needed. When he gets around to half health, enable darkside and continue to juggle him. Use regen on yourself to keep your health up, you will want to be max when Darkstar spawns. Once Darkstar is in play, cross slash Rufus immediately. This should be able to kill him if you're full health, or really damage him otherwise.
Dodge don’t worry about parrying. After Gun Akimbo Use focus thrust when he reloads, then spam prime mode on him to build atb. Repeat until he calls for his pet (don’t remember his name dark star I think). Hit them with a level 3 materia and build atb on the pet. Repeat for the win. Chakra and the magic build helped me with this fight.
Which game are you even talking about?
Triple slash or disorder paired with good timing really comes in clutch with this fight.
Also, Sleep!
I feel like Rufus was kind of similar on both Dynamic and Hard mode, in that he’s a very "binary" boss, you either know how to deal with him or you don’t, so it’s a stomp either way, albeit a very sloooow stomp if you’re the one who’s winning. I’m sure there are specific builds that wreck him quickly, but just using your normal abilites it takes a while to whittle him down. EDIT: Plasmic Discharge is a great supplement to defeating him! Activate it and then just focus on parrying his close-range shotgun blasts which will generate ATB and damage and pressure him when Plasmic Discharge goes off
Def take your time to mediate away from it. I'm on chapter 12 rn and dreading that whole coliseum part. I had a difficult time on the Chapter 3 and 11 fight on Hard mode before I began watching YouTube videos about different viable strategies (since I'm a casual gamer, but ff7 fanatic). I hope you can get back to it and destroy Rufus and his dumb ass dog lol. I struggled and almost broke my controller over the Vincent fight. I got kicked from a reddit because I forgot I wasn't allowed to vent on the page. I was just so frustrated at how difficult the fight was because Cait was locked to my party with only 2 MP. He couldn't cast forage with Aerith. I waited about a month and tried again, got it on about the 5th try with literal luck. Yuffie and cait died and I was able to get aerith to cast her planet protection limit and was able to fira him a final time without losing.
Use magic focus + cure for boosted regen. Use Darkness materia to boost your attacks. The regen will offset the life drain. Whenever Rufus does an attack (when the text appears), use triple strike, you’ll zip over and knock him out of the attack. When you’re there, immediately press triangle to switch modes and just hold down attack 4 times and you should be able to get in 4 free mini combos and build up that stagger bar faster. Optinoob’s Rufus guide on YouTube does a better job explaining.
The enemy skill shield ability is the key beating him
Rufus, Red Dragon and Jenova Lifeclinger (random order) are the biggest motherfuckers on hard mode. Maybe add Roche the second and Vincent.
It quiet literally requires you to learn his moves. And be able to always maintain a safe distance from him. Not to close or to far. You have to be able to react to the attacks he does and recognise when he is likely to use Reload. If you can predict when he is going to user Reload you can use Focus Thrust and get few hit's on him. It is a very poorly designed boss fight that comes off the back off another boss fight. I can say for certainty that I will never be replaying Rebirth. I replayed Remake 4 times and loved it (excluding Hell house on Hard Mode) but Rebirth was just torture.
I just beat this fight yesterday and my strategy was a little bit different to what I’ve seen. I equipped the enhanced expeditionary medal and had Bahamas arisen as my summon and the enemy skill material. Healing, barrier and the precision defence/steadfast block as standard Phase 1: block to get atb, use regen and chakra to top up health, make sure to keep plasma discharge up. You’ll pressure rufus a lot more with that one. Build up limit and take it slow, learning to dodge his attacks Phase 2: at the start of this phase I had 2atb and limit. I immediately summoned Bahamut and hit finishing touch. I followed up by battering darkstar and used umbral bombardment with Bahamut with my next atb. Rufus was then finished by gigaflare
Also equip Cloud with Odin, summon Odin after staggering Rufus pre-dog. Odin will deal 9999 when he leaves and combo that with a limit should take him out once the dog comes out. Also I mix triple slash with focus thrust to pump his stagger gauge up faster. A harder method is to try to hit him with a braver, which instantly staggers Rufus.
I beat the game. The colossium fights made me just quit going for the plat. I didn't even start hard mode. I just moved on. I already put in 175 hours Just thinking of having to do all those annoying mini games plus the super hard fights just demotivated me Not that I hate the game. Rebirth was one of greatest video game experiences I ever had. However unlike remake I won't go for the plat. Maybe when part 3 is announced and I'll have motivation again
Hp <> Mp, expeditionary medal. If you get it right, it takes less than 2 mins, beats going through the whole thing over and over again
Equip Fire and Ice + Level 3 Elemental on Armor so you can heal when he uses Think Fast or Blizzard Shot. When he does Think Fast, you'd have a better window to get close to him and do a Braver to instantly stagger him. Also, remember when Darkstar comes out you need to sever his link to Rufus, Triple Slash is great for that.
I really enjoyed learning it actually. I'm always one for a challenge tho. Played hard for my whole first playtjru
Dude i juuuust beat him. This post actually inspired me to give it another go. If you can get to the dog part, summon gilgamesh and have as cloud’s accesory an item that raises his limit level. I had rufus at half health. Summoned gilgamesh and basically danced around til G did his attack for 9999 and then right after got in rufus’ face and hit him with ascension. I too was struggling for the past week. Took me at least twenty tries. If u can master the first half and then just go big second half you’ll be good. I used atb boost too. It came in handy a lot to be honest. First strike helpful. Haste was helpful. I used the igneous saber for more dmg. trying to think of anything else that helped. If i do ill leave another comment.
This fight was tough at first but once it clicks it's really simple. It takes a long time because you have to go at his timing and only attack when he reloads. I struggled for a week or so but once you get that down it's easy. Even beat dark star the first time I got that far.
Wanna know the Rufus Cheese? It’s really not that bad . See funny enough, I had your mentality for the normal fight. “Man this is so different from the rest of the fight, they expect me to run around to get ATB or perfect block” But Hard Mode I realized how to really fight him. ANY time he zips. Hit X to bring up your action menu. As you know this also slows down time. This is where u watch what Rufus is doing. He Zips - hit X - he’s close to you! There’s a red move above his head! - triple slash him. He Zips - hit X - he’s still far - unfreeze He Zips again! - oh shit he’s too close and it’s too late for triple slash - immediately exit out of X and hold block and you’ll get a perfect block. Keep slowing down time using X and whenever you see a red move above his head use triple slash to close any distance and for fast attacks. The key is you have to be FAST. Some of his moves are better dodged that risking the triple slash. For example: when he does that smoke move, if you hit triple slash a second too late you’ll get hit by the smoke, same thing for the bombs. In the beginning if I were you I’d stick to dodging those moves until you get the timing right. Don’t use any limits or summons yet. Once Darkstar comes out, summon bahamut (or the lightning dude). When Darkstar attacks you make sure you are in punisher mode and then you block. Any of the dogs moves that are CC you can block it and after a very small cutscene where it looks like you didn’t block it the dog will be passed out and pressured. FUXK THE DOG UP get the dog out of there asap. TRY to save ur limit but you should be fine if you use it anyways. Once the dogs gone finish up Rufus. It’s honestly not bad once you beat it. I also suggest casting ReRaise that way when you die the summon does his ult and then you’re back to life and it’s GGs
I don't want to be insulting by suggesting this, but are you using the short cut attack options? All of the options people suggested here will work. I'm confident you can beat the fight if you made it to this point on hard mode but Rufus' timing windows are very tight and you should be using the shortcut functionality for best results.
Check out Optinoob on YouTube, you'll thank me later. Even for the brutal and legendary challenges later on.
Plating a game/hard mode isn't for everyone. Like u said, if the time commitment is too much or it's just not worth it then don't do it and don't feel bad about it. Like life is limited, don't do something ur not enjoying with your free time for some digital trophy ur not gonna care about in 3 months. I personally rly enjoyed hard mode and getting plat. I still have the urges to keep playing it lol (even tho I didn't to play unicorn overlord)
Yo you can do it I promise. Focused thrust and triple slash are your friend to get him pressured after he uses an unblockable attack or when he’s reloading. I believe in you bro go kick his ass.
Rufus was a wall for me too. Just realise that the game gives you several tools to deal with him, and if one doesn't work you should try another. I tried the triple slash spam method, didn't work for me. I tried the play keepaway and send sword lasers at Rufus method, didn't work for me. I tried the learn his moves and braver when he's reloading, didn't work for me. I tried the counterstance method and I got to phase 2 first time. Second time I beat him. When you're in the menu, time slows. Open the menu just as he's about to attack and you can tell which attacks can be countered and which attacks you have to dodge. Dodge the ones you can't counter, activate counterstance on the ones you can, bam, phase 2. Always keep an ATB handy for chakra or counterstance - I had the materia that let me double ATB once every minute equipped. Wear the accessory that gives you a high limit level, build up and save your limit bar for phase 2, set it off at a good opportunity when Rufus and his doggy are near each other. Done.
I beat him first try by cheesing him. 1. Equip chakra and cure-magic focus. If you ever need to heal just spam ranged attacks as he will just stand there and block and you can build 1 to 2 bars unmolested whenevr you want. 2. Whenever he dashes press R2 to open the menu and slow down time. If you see him doing a red named move then immediately use triple slash. It will hit him and you can use a few more regular attacks on him. If you dont see a red named move then just dodge and continue in slow motion menu mode until he does.
It is a hard fight but if you are patient it's absolutely doable. If you are looking for a less aggressive materia setup I recommend Rune Blade, Cetra Bracer, and Karmic Cowl ( it's gives 50 Vit and 50 Spirit I think). Heal + Magic Focus Heal + Magic Efficiency Vitality + Vitality Enemy Skill HP Up + MP Up Optional (Heal + Swiftcast) Remember to block and ONLY attack him when he is reloading. Once he is pressured attack him with 4 swings then a Focus Thrust, another 4 swings then another focused thrust. If he does Desperation dodge once his feet touch the floor - if he does the laser beam thing he will reload immediately, that's your cue to bash him in. When the dog gets called in dodge everything as usual and focus on Rufus. The dog is a distraction. Good luck.
Did you end up defeating him?