The Trickiest Bosses In Final Fantasy Games

The Final Fantasy games are usually labeled by many as easy JRPGs that are perfect for beginners. While this may be true for the most part, there are some titles in the series that include their fair share of tricky bosses.

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A fair bit of strategy must be implemented to deal with these bosses, otherwise, players will be staring at a game over screen sooner rather than later. Optimal strategies and powerful party members are the best way to handily defeat these foes.

8

Ruby Weapon

Once Players Figure Out The Trick To Bringing A Full Party To This Fight, The Boss Becomes More Manageable

Released

January 31, 1997

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood, Fantasy Violence, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes

Ruby Weapon is one of the two iconic superbosses in Final Fantasy 7 who’s generally considered to be the easier one of the duo. However, fans will sing a different tune when they enter the battle, only for two of their party members to be yeeted out unceremoniously.

Before players can even hope to take on this massive boss, they must enter the battle with two KOd characters who must be revived to take on Ruby Weapon at full strength. Dealing with the pincer attack of the main body and its two tentacles can be a pain, but players with powerful materia and reliable strategies should be able to deal with this foe as long as all three characters are functioning in this battle.

7

Necron

Grand Cross Can Throw A Wrench In The Player’s Strategy

Released

July 7, 2000

ESRB

T for Teen: Violence, Mild Language

Final Fantasy 9 is a great game, even though the true final boss comes out of nowhere and can be a pain to deal with. Players must ensure that they’ve mastered as many status immunities as possible, otherwise they’ll be in for a rough time.

Necron is a tough boss who uses Grand Cross, an attack that functions similarly to the signature Bad Breath attack of the Malboro. Seeing the party suffer from numerous status elements and be rendered totally ineffective can spell doom for a player, who must figure out the trick to minimize this attack’s impact and take on Necron at full strength.

6

Yunalesca

The Zombie-Death Combo Will Catch Players By Surprise

Systems

Released

December 17, 2001

ESRB

T for Teen: Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

The battle against Yunalesca is a cinematic affair where the heroes decide to fight against fate and break the cycle of destruction haunting Spira once and for all. However, this hurdle is far from an easy one, especially if they fall for Yunalesca’s trick.

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When this boss casts Zombie on the entire party, it’s natural that players would want to get rid of this status before moving on with the fight. However, doing so leaves everyone vulnerable to Mega-Death, which will end the fight in no time unless a character is Zombified, since that prevents Instant Death from having any effect.

5

Hell House

A Regular Enemy From The Original Game That Turns Into A Lenghy And Grating Boss Fight In The Remake

Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Fighting

Action

Adventure

Systems

Released

April 10, 2020

ESRB

t

Hell House is one of the funniest enemies in Final Fantasy 7, but this foe turns into an absolute nightmare in the Remake. After entering the Coliseum, Cloud and Aerith team up to defeat this boss, who takes no prisoners.

If players aren’t smart about exploiting the boss’ elemental weaknesses, they’ll be in for a long and grueling fight spanning multiple phases. Hell House’s high resistances make damage numbers pitiful until his defenses are down, and even then this battle can be so lengthy that fans will be more annoyed than satisfied after winning against this tricky boss.

4

Penance

A Routine Must Be Followed With Pinpoint Precision If Players Don’t Want To Be Obliterated

Systems

Released

December 17, 2001

ESRB

T for Teen: Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

Penance is the ultimate superboss of Final Fantasy 10 who’s no joke. If both his arms are in play, then he will unleash Judgment Day to end the fight in a flash.

This makes it important to prioritize a strategy that targets an arm and takes it out of commission, with Doom ensuring that this arm stays inactive for a longer while without regenerating. Rikku’s Mix ability is valuable here, and players must have in-depth knowledge of all her alchemical mixes to deal with the trickiest boss in Final Fantasy 10 by a country mile.

3

Ozma

A Ton Of Preparation Is Required To Tackle This Superboss

Released

July 7, 2000

ESRB

T for Teen: Violence, Mild Language

Before players can even get a chance to face off against the optional superboss Ozma, they must make substantial progress in the Chocobo Hot ‘n Cold sidequest. After reaching the Chocobo Air Garden, players can initiate this encounter, but there’s another thing they must accomplish to make this tricky boss easier.

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By completing the Friendly Monsters side quest, Ozma isn’t out of reach for physical attacks and becomes vulnerable to Shadow. This is the trick players must figure out to defeat this boss since Ozma will become a nightmare to deal with otherwise.

2

Emerald Weapon

Managing Materia And The Timer Can Be A Nightmare

Released

January 31, 1997

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood, Fantasy Violence, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes

When players use the submarine for the first time, they’ll be shocked to see a massive beast appear out of nowhere in the distance. This is Emerald Weapon, a brutal superboss who takes no prisoners and punishes players for coming into battle with 9 or more materia equipped on a character.

This is because Aire Tam Storm deals 1111 damage for each piece of materia equipped, which would incentivize players to only bring a handful of powerful materia in this battle. However, another catch is that this fight takes place on a timer that can only be removed by equipping the Underwater materia, which occupies a valuable spot and makes this encounter even trickier to deal with for players.

1

Wiegraf & Belias

A Ridiculous Difficulty Spike That Will Turn Boys Into Men

Systems

Released

June 20, 1997

ESRB

t

Final Fantasy Tactics is arguably the hardest game in the series, with players being encouraged to mix and match jobs to enjoy greater stat gains. However, nothing will prepare players for the grueling duel against Wiegraf, which players must handle with Ramza alone.

A single mistake can lead to them being downed, but this tricky encounter isn’t over if players get lucky and take out Wiegraf. This is because Belias takes over the opposing knight’s body, engaging Ramza and the rest of the party in another challenging encounter where death is all but guaranteed unless players are aware of the offbeat strategy involving a Tailwind exploit.

Final Fantasy

Creation Year

1987

Developer(s)

Square Enix

Publisher(s)

Square Enix