Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth - EASY WAY to defeat RUFUS on Hard Mode 

It took the president showing up to finally make optinoob put in a healing materia into the loadout. Democracy truly is a powerful force

I could literally not once switch to punisher mode and get even one combo off before he countered, but I used your strat modified with regular faster operator mode combos. He transitioned to phase 2 without staggering but I cast bravery, did one quick attack and that tipped him over. And that did the trick! Your guides have gotten me through all of the toughest content in the game! Thanks for all of the amazing content!

The most infuriating thing about this fight is that it resets your load out EVERY TIME you have to restart. Morons.

Your guides helped me through all the Chadley combat simulator challenges. Just beat hard mode. You taught me well. Appreciate you and all your help. Keep up the great work!! A real one

On my way to a platinum and you have been a lifesaver with these videos. Many thanks

Anyone having trouble with this battle, I would advice swapping triple slash with Disorder, it builds his stagger incredibly fast. Also use Enhanced Expeditionary Medal instead of gotterdammerung, Clouds level 3 limit break destroys the dog in the second part of the fight!

You are a genius when it comes to this game, seriously. I had to take a break about 4 days ago, I came close but just couldn't do it. So I decided to wait until you put this video up. On my second try, I beat him, it was messy, he kept interrupting my attacks after pressured, then Darkstar came to the arena before I could stagger Rufus, but when I did stagger him pretty quickly, I did my limit break and he was done for. I honestly think the main key for this victory was the Darkside Materia. I had no problem ever with Rude and Elena, but your way just made the fight over before it began. For Rufus, I used up the 4 Empty slots with 2 Healings, with a Magic Efficiency and Swiftcast linked to each Healng, just in case. Thanks Again.

I managed to play through Hard Chapters 1-11 on my own, but knew I'd be running into a brick wall when I got to Rufus, so I decided to take a break to go through the VR challenges. I ended up following every one of your Brutal and Legendary guides, and after spending 2 weeks (!!) on the last 2 Legendaries, I finally beat them and only have the story left to complete for my Plat. So here I am, and I beat President Brick Wall on my 2nd attempt with your method :D A huge thank you from this trophy whore for all your hard work putting together these guides, they are fantastic! Hoping I can beat Sephi on my own, but if I get stuck, I know whose channel to turn to for help!

I used Enhanced Expeditionary Medal. Whenever I successfully blocked his shotgun dash I answered with Disorder, then did a Punisher Mode combo until his shield went back up. Rinse and repeat until I got at least 3 staggers to fill the Limit. As soon as Darkstar joined, I summoned, then did Finishing Touch, which pressured him, then Thundaga and beat him. Limit filled up again when the Summon did its move, and then another Finishing Touch and Rufus went down. Let me tell you, it was HARD, had to restart the fight multiple times, because he kept hitting me with his unblockables. And there was also the case of Square's BS design of "Retry Before the Battle" on the menu which I accidentally picked and had to repeat Rude and Elena.

You can build up ATB by dodging and attacking with the wind slashes. When he dashes close to you, use focused thrust and then combo him twice. I also recommend advanced medal because you will build up that limit break.

Brilliant guide, as always! One thing to note for everyone - if you change / put together your build mid cut scene, it won't save if you retry. So just make sure you check you're setup on each attempt!

I don't know how you're getting those punisher attacks off. I push triangle and it takes about 5-7 business days for Cloud to do it

This 100% doesn't work. Idk if they patched it but he now instantly shoots you out of any follow up after triple slash. There's no stun at all on him.

Recently subscribed as been using your guides for the brutal and legendary bouts. Should have waited for these hard mode guides but decided to do chapters 12-14 before waiting and you make what I struggled through look like easy mode lol

Every time I beat any boss I always feel the need to come here and thank you. I have 11 more chapters to go and the whole legendary bouts to complete.

Managed to beat this one today. Great guide as always! I squeezed in a couple of vitality materias for the extra defense and found that activating prime mode made it easier to get the timings right to stagger him. Also, going into the second phase with fury active means you don't have to cast bravery, so you don't have to save that extra ATB bar. I also kept my distance and used the range attacks to build up ATB whenever I got low on it.

The triple slash plus first punisher attack + hold square was the tip I needed. Went super smooth even without getting my limit this whole fight

Mate BIG props to you I've followed your methods for Brutal/legendary and hard mode only need 2 chapters. Left. I gotta Say Hard mode hasn't been to bad Rufus is the one difficulty spike. For me disorder into the punshier combo worked better on top of Darkside/regen/bravery. STILL ended up summoning Phoenix, beating Darkstar, used the limit Twice. Once again BIG THX

Whoever designed this fight needs their head examined, for me he's worse than Sephiroth which is absurd. Thanks to your strat I was able to get him but it took nearly 2 hours of trying to nail down the timing and executing. I had Healing tied to Swiftcast and Magic Efficiency and also Steadfast Block helped a ton during his charging regular attacks to negate damage and give me free ATB which can be a huge pain to get this fight.

The jank in this game is absolutely brutal. Took me over 2 hours with the strategy because I could never get Punisher Mode to activate. I would always get him within a couple hits of dying in his 2nd phase only to be killed by Darkstar. So thankful that BS is over.

You could also count to 8 bullets consumed and when he reloads do a Braver to stagger him right away, with ATB Stagger it can help inflict a lot safely. Adding Prime mode can help smoke him even faster. Instead of calling Bravoury you could do Sonic boom as the cool down does not matter in the end. Great video as usual, thanks a lot 🙏

Took me an hour to beat Rude and Elena. Took me almost two hours to beat Rufus. And I refused to stop for fear that my PS5 might crash or something. Couldn't quite get your strategy to work for me as Rufus always knocked me back when I tried to attack in Punisher mode. But I swapped out Triple Slash for Focus Thrust, and that worked like a charm. It especially helped in building his stagger gauge. Once I got to phase 2 I hit him with a Limit Break and, after a close call, I managed to knock him out with two more focus thrusts. Thanks for the help Optinoob. Your videos have been very helpful as I go through hard mode.

Thanks for the guide! Only thing I changed up was that I used magic focus and empowerment together and cast bravery prior to phase 2 in between his abilities on phase 1 and used disorder to gap close after Rufus uses abilities instead of triple slash since it automatically switches you to punisher mode so you can immediately start your combo. I found this made it easier to get his health as low as possible before the transition and made it so you don’t have to worry about having an ATB and casting an ability when phase 2 starts. You can just immediately use lb and kill him.

Man, you're a genius. It took me over 2 hours to beat this fight and you made it look so easy. I should've waited for your guide 😂

For an even easier way that doesn't really require any skill, just use the super magic strategy. Each Aeroga for me did a ton of damage to him, and you can just build up your ATB again by hitting him with the sword beams from a distance. I also recommend having Haste on to build up ATB faster.

Not done it on hard yet, but even in normal I found it so hard to hit him with Braver when he reloaded for the instant stagger. Seemed easier in Remake to pull off.

Worked like a charm. I had don't have the Gatterdammerung yet, so I used the Enhanced Draconic ring instead. Just focus on blocking his rush-ins to build limit meter but did your attack strategy and used Dark Matter + Bravery. Owned him pretty fast. Thank you.

Me not struggling through hard mode after learning how to overcome the combat simulators: “optinoob has taught me well I’ve not needed to come back to his guides at all for the hard mode run.” Rufus Shinra pummeling me into the ground for over an hour: Honey, get the optinoob videos. I require his wisdom. Thank you for all that you do

Man, you are an absolute godsend. I was losing my mind at this boss, I never thought I'd see the day where I needed to look up a guide for how to beat a storymode boss but here we are. What an absolute shit fight, as if fighting him on normal wasn't painful enough. Whoever designed these fights needs to be fired.

You are the man. Your guide helped a lot, I successfully passed this annoying boss fight.😅

After failing with this strat 5-6 times, what ended up working was not using regen at the start. The gains are very negligable and if u just do the triple slash to punisher right u dont need it. I also found saving an atb boost just in case for the next phase to be helpful in case i didnt fill enough atb to start. Otherwise fantastic strat

I wish I had seen this guide weeks ago when I fought him. I believe he was the only “wall” I faced in Hard Mode. I had to adapt and without Gotterdamerüng, relied on the Enhanced Expeditionary Medal and stressingly precise blocks to bring him down. Of all the already annoying fights in Hard Mode, I believe his reigns at the top

So I just discovered something. If you go into this fight with a different materia set up you have to redo this materia setup upon every retry. Idk if you can get around this but if this is true that is a hard oversight on the devs part.

The punisher square attack stall option against him was the game changer for me in the fight. Used a different load out than you, but thanks for that combat tip against him. Liked the video, 🍻 cheers!

Took awhile to figure the triple slash to the punisher but using your material build and strat worked. Thank you for sharing!

Gosh, I thought my grinding days were over, but ive never equipped Darkside at all. Ugh

It’s funny I realized on my 10th battle with him on hard that if you just killed him first on second phase you were done lol. Well done 🙏🏾

Disorder works very well too if you have trouble timing the attack after tripple slash. Great guide as always!!

Fun fact: ive been stuck on this Rufus boss fight for 5 hours. Yay.

Thanks a lot Mr. Optinoob. Your vids are helping me a lot. I just beat Rufus and Im now heading to chapter 13.

Doing my hard mode boss rush after your videos helped me get through the horrendous VR challenges. Rufus was giving me trouble, and here you are with a vid on him. Turns out if you get the HP lock on phase 1, you dont need Berserk active on phase 2 for the limit break 😅 mine ran out right before i got the limit break started.

For anyone having trouble with punisher timing after triple slash, try focused strike instead. It's a more forgiving window to switch to punisher mode and get the 4 hold/cancel combos off.

Takes some practice to get this fight right. When you do triple-dash, wait until the third dash to hit triangle. Tap square three times quickly, then hold on the third. If you hold it, you will be countered. I practiced this a bunch of times to get the timing right before swapping the materia since that takes so damn long. Also, if you need to charge ATB, dodge backwards and tap square three times and repeat. You won't do damage, but you'll keep Rufus locked up while you charge ATB.

something really cool about this fight is learned. if u shoot clouds ranged blades at him non stop u can lock him in place. it’s cheap, long and cheesy but it’s free atb.

Some extra tips I learnt if you are an idiot like me and spammed MP until you don’t have enough to pull through Rufus on hard/ or your Darkside Braver materia is not levelled. 1. Brace the shotgun blasts with perfect blocks with precision and steadfast 2. Wait till one ATB charged then boost to get max bang for your buck ATB 3. For the Ricochet move you gonna have to pull a Malenia dodge move and dodge diagonally to his left or right side, backwards usually don’t work. 4. If you don’t have Gotter, use the Enhanced Exp Medal just rinse repeat triple slash or better yet Disorder until he pops, but when he staggers don’t bum rush him down until his second phase, summon Gilgamesh until his final move brings him to second phase and *even lower*. Which should be just enough to limit him to death with a Finishing Touch stored all this while. Just pop it immediately or you’ll get ganged on 5. It will take quite a while but it’s possible put down the controller if you’re ever getting dizzy trying to spin the camera around Rufus and take a break Good Luck 🤞

Another option here that makes this much easier and doesn't really require reaction times as much is to use plasma discharge, which will pressure him the same amount as an ATB move if it activates when you block one of his moves and he's close enough to get hit by it. Even nicer, this allows you to have an extra ATB bar when he is pressured.

And another one thanks to you!! I couldn't switch to punisher mode in time to start the staggering combo, so i added to the strategy running around like a coward waiting for the gotterdammerung to fill my limit gauge 😂 and it worked! Thanks boss

Once again sir, your strategy saved me from insanity. Was able to down him in one go after watching this - I had spent probably 3 hours trying to get him prior. 👏

Thanks this guide helped a bunch

Great, great, great guide!!! Thanks a lot. I used bravery before end of 1st stage. Works too. 5-6 tries with this method. Before I was learning about 3 hours with others. Now it's simple. PS. I had only 3MP :) played without regen (chakra instead) and 50% cost reduce on bravery. 1 spell is enough for this battle.

I stun locked him hitting triangle in the beginning of the fight. then immediately tapping square while in punisher mode followed by aeroga. Wash rinse repeat. He'sliterally locked until his dog joins.

Dang, that was a smooth finish. I got so sick of dancing with this fool I ended up letting my limit break charge twice in the second phase. Didn't think to use Bravery with Berserk right at the start, cheers!

I was able to beat this guy first try on hard mode! I didn’t exactly use you setup (cuz I don’t have a gottodamerung or however you spell that) but I did use your first hit operator mode combo so thanks! This dude was wayyyyy tonight for me in normal mode 😅

I made a comment four hours ago about how I Miss Crisis Core reunion specifically I might add and Remake. My take at 350 or so hours (400 because I accidentally overwrote a save, just had to recollect Intel and stuff a while back) I'd say the first 140 hours I was enjoying myself but it was after about the 90 hour mark that I started to realize something was wrong when I was doing all these mini games and somewhere in the combat simulator I realize that these fights aren't really tough in the way that is fun. I've had a lot of fun but it was all concentrated in dynamic and normal mode and easy mode. It seems like hard mode doesn't know what difficulty it wants to actually be I mean THIS fight right here that took me 4 hours to do and about 30 minutes with this strategy here that's pretty good, I wouldn't consider a fight like this fun. I wouldn't say it's hard in a traditional sense but there's so many little gimmicks. I guess that's why the combat doesn't really flow for me. They lob these curve balls at you that break the story immersion but they also incentivize you to do it while simultaneously making it a bad experience or at least very dull and repetitive. The story of the original Final Fantasy 7 is soul legendary that even with some of the questionable choices it takes it from like "S+ tier story" only down to like "B+/A tier". Something about the adaptation into action RPG real time kind of struggling with these games even though I love the battle system something just feels off I think ATB generation should be FASTER AND THEY SHOULD IN THE THIRD PART give you default multiple segments so each bar has a faster base regeneration rate kind of like the original in active x3 but they should also in my opinion have three ATB bars in the next game AND KIND OF DO WHAT THEY DID WITH STORMS FURY but with the other abilities. KOTR Summon. That's a good example of something that should cost a bunch of ATB, I DON'T WANT TO GO ON AND ON but the summons really feel kind of useless in this game. They are only good for early game nobody wants to waste an ATV on something that's going to do 500 damage when you can do that with a basic attack and that is another thing that they should have kept the 9,999 as sort of an end game thing like...HP up... Basic strong attacks should be able to do that much... There needed to be more multiple slash attacks that did more damage. I hope we get everything we got in the mid to end game of Final Fantasy 7 into rebirth. Though I'd like to see them use bigger numbers like in Crisis Core to signify that cloud is now on the level of his old war buddy. It seems fitting given his combat experience and his soldier memories. He eventually has to get stronger and it should be reflected. Anyway that's my super super long comment, I ought to ramble in videos and become one of those hated RU-vidrs that people realize was right 2 years later lol.

1 try brother. 1 try with your method. It does help that I familiar myself with Rufus moves over many many attempts 🙏👍

Trying to get Cloud to switch to punisher mode is something else... HOW DO YOU DO IT?!! Cloud might do the switch IF you stop moving & stop playing, count to 5, then try to do it. I've seen the same thing with Yuffie and it's SO frustrating, especially since it's not a complicated thing to expect the game to be able to accept a button press in the middle of a ″battle sequence″...

Great build thanks man, but if anyone is stuggling with triple slash to punisher, try staying in range and do focus thrust instead => longer pressured window for more atb build-up and faster stagger. You can even have spare times to cast bravery in phase 1. Couldn’t pull it off as the guide but I pulled focus thrust off 1st try.

You must have saved me about 3 hours hahhaha, you are the best of all and I wouldn't be getting platinum if it wasn't for your help, thank you so much! 😍❤️

Wait, you can OPEN the menu between the fights??

Optinoob, if it's not too much to ask, could you please do a guide on the Middle Manager's UPA Challenge: Send in the Clowns? Having a hard time beating it at the moment and I've noticed you don't have a video covering that. Your tips have been wonderful so far.

This fight + the vr mission with zack are finally the things that made me uninstall it. I tried...i dont have the patience.

I am sure when I try it, it won't go to plan. Anything that is technical with exact timing and movement is beyond me. I struggled a lot with Roche in chapter 12 in the same way

Thanks for taking time to make the guide, this is very stable method. Normally 1 braver stagger need some time to familiar with his move, and it not as stable as this guide. I did this when not have the LB accessory yet, have to take out dark star before giving rufus the infinity edge with dmg limit break XD

Followed what you said but changed to operator with combo, dodge, repeat. Also used another heal and magic efficiency to cut mp cost of cura and regain. Also steadfast block to build atb. Don’t have the gotterdammerung so used enhanced expeditionary medal. Had limit full half way through first phase. Saved it for 2nd. Never got to stagger him till 2nd phase when I used final touch right from the start. Then 1 braver and it was over. So thanks for the help. Rufus was hard on dynamic mode but damn near impossible on hard mode for the average player.

like most people here in comments it seems, I couldn't get the TripleSlash-into-Punisher to work properly. No matter what I tried, Rufus interrupted the first use of Punisher mode, so I took more damage, built less ATB, and built less stagger than this. So I checked another guide and ended up sort of blending the two strategies together. Main differences: blocking with Steadfast Block, using Haste (they didn't use Bravery, so I borrowed that from here), and most importantly, using the Enemy Skill - PlasmaDischarge right up front so every ATB bar after that activated a plasma burst. Catching Rufus in that plasma immediately pressures him, and since you are guaranteed an ATB at that point, you can immediately hit a FocusedThrust for more stagger, and a couple times I immediately had enough ATB to kick off a second Plasma/Focused combo. That helped replace my inability to get the required Triple/Punisher combo described here. I ignored the dog and toward the end summoned Phoenix just so it would deal some fire damage to Rufus while he was immune/blocking my ranged shots, and whittled him down while playing more defensively. This is the first of Optinoob's hard-mode strategies I just haven't been able to get to work, so I'm not bent out of shape over it. Not sure if there's some additional notes/advice he can provide around timing that Triple/Punisher bit, since it seems so many have problems replicating his skill there.

This boss fight in particular is hard enough as it is, even on Easy difficulty. Fortunately, it took me fewer attempts than I thought it would with this guide (which I think was 4, maybe 5).

First try with this strat thanks 👍

Man, I'm tired haha after 2 hours I mastered the punisher mode and beat it! It's a little difficult for me to understand you (I'm not a native English speaker) but your guide is wonderful, I appreciate it a lot :)

Genius thank u may the algorithm be good with u

Only 2 more Chapters to the platinum and it’s all thanks to @Optinoob! I did find a few tweaks helped a ton: 1. In the Rude / Elena fight equip both HP Up & MP Up. Then make sure Cloud is at max HP/MP at the end. I actually equipped all the extra material with those 2 to make preparing the materia faster in between fights. Started off with 7300+ HP & 112 MP. Comes in handy for Curagas if you mistime the dodges or if ATB attacks get countered. 2. I added Skill Master, MP Up (from previous fight) & Time in the 3 empty spots left. Because you use 3 diff types of commands a lot if you need to heal, Skill Master added 1 ATB at least 3x in my fight. Adding Time for the extra slot left because Haste can help widen the cushion to get the ATB & Prime attacks in. (MP Up took up the other spot from the fight before). I also swapped out Magic Focus for Swiftcast for Healing - your healing & regen are good enough the extra saved time is way more important. 3. I started with Darkside without ATB Boost because it gives you 3/4 of a bar back when you cast it. Then I dodged / long distance attack to 1 full ATB. Then I did ATB Boost & did Prime Mode & Regen. With Skill Master I then got 1 ATB bar already when I released the LB. 4. I then hit Limit Break and Prime Mode attack x4. You now have 2 full ATB bars and are fully buffed. If you are low on HP you cast Curaga. If you are ok then Sonic Boom for the Brave / Faith buff or Haste for the extra forgiveness in getting the ATB attack off in time. Then you go with Dodge / ATB attack with Rufus missing any red line attack except the bullet salvo one. 5. If you miss on your ATB attack and don’t have an ATB bar then do the dodge / ranged attacks. Circle - square x4. Once you have 1 ATB you go back to the offense (unless you are low on HP then Curaga obv). And yes Focused Strike is easier than Triple Slash to get the Prime Mode attacks in after. Disorder probably as well given its shorter animation time wise. Doing the above if you have trouble dodging attacks perfectly and you use your Limit Break super early you get it back in time for the 2nd phase. I made sure to have at least 1 more ATB bar when I fired the LB after I died 2x with sliver of HP left on Rufus after the limit. I hope the adjustments above help others who struggle with this. In to chapter 13 tomorrow!

Worst part about this fight is that game dont save changes made during cutscene, so for every attempt you have to shuffle materia again, or fight turks again with this set. That and that braindamaged commentary, makes you want to start petition to SE, so it wil be broadcasted for hours in office of person who designed this entire thing

Great guides, I’ve used just about all of them. Thank you. You’re insane, especially with this fight! I cannot hit Rufus on reload every time and getting that punisher combo down just right is hard asf for me lol anyways great stuff.

Thanks, did it this way except I used enhanced expeditionary medal because gotterdammerung with level 1 LB was not enough to kill after stagger phase. I think it’s because my strength up and darkside materias are not max level yet. But finishing touch did the job

I didn’t opt for triple slash but I used disorder instead since if a disorder hits you regain back the atb but this is another cool combo

After losing 10 times in a row, I used your strategy and won my first go! Thanks Optinoob!!!

I need to " git gud " I'm not understanding the dodge, combo technique, Rufus still gets me and eats me alive, what am I doing wrong?

i love how everytime i lose i have to put in the materia again great mechanic square

Holy fuck, this worked like a charm once I got the timing of Triple Slash into Punisher combo. Much thanks!

Nice, I had to use the Infinite ATB strat from a different video to beat this fool last night. Finished him off in style with the third limit break after staggering him. Can't wait to see what easy strat you'll come up for the bosses on chapters 13 and 14

For Rufus's second phase I didn't have an ATB guage, so I couldn't do Bravery. But, the Limit Break was enough to kill him anyways. (Maybe because I stacked a bunch of Auto-Unique Ability materia to boost Attack)

Worked like gamebusters, Thanks!

Lol you make this look so easy. I struggled for hours against this guy a week ago. Finally eek'd out a victory. Should've just waited for the guide 🙂

What would you consider a good alternate if I don't have the limit accessory yet?

FUCK YES THANK YOU This was the ticket after trying for over 2 hours. Thank you brother!

All your guides have been AMAZING until this one its not helping me at all, i cant get no hits on him

I LOVE YOU, OPTINOOB!!! 😭

Thanks so much for your videos! They are super helpful.

this saved me from wasting so much more time… this is the ONLY boss on hard mode i had to find an easier way to beat.

you're the best, Opti

I tried doing this fight using braver to get the instant stagger but the window is so short it never seems worth it, triple slash’s it much safer and easier it just takes a bit longer.

Thanks again man! You’ve been a great help! God bless you

Do you need max speed up for punisher to hit?? Everytime I switch he hits me, driving me insane!

This would've made my run faster lol I just ran Barrier linked to Magic Efficiency, Focus, and Swiftcast with Chakra to heal and played patient

I Counterstance'd Rufus with well over 1/3 of his health and he just flippin' died. WTF? I don't know how but that's what happened, he still had about 1/3 of his HP, Darkstar was still alive and about to cast Fira on me... I had already given up on that attempt since the cat didn't die to a level 1 limit break, used Counterstance out of reflex and Rufus instantly died, cue to the cutscene that follows the fight. Was that a bug? 'Cause bro, I don't mind winning through a bug, I just wanna finish this 200+ hour platinum.

not sure what i'm doing wrong, i get to his phase 2, add bravery, do limit break, and yet he still has like 5% of hp left. it's pretty much game over after that.

I knock him into stage 2 before I get a chance to stagger and bring his health down, so when I hit the limit it doesn’t kill him; getting mad annoying cause it’s happened like 4 times

Yo I’m gonna save this video, and when I come to Rufus fight I will be back at this video

I’m really struggling to get into punisher mode once he’s pressured. I can see triangle lighting up but not changing. By the time it chances it’s too late 😩

Thank you!

but at which point do you have to press triangle to enter punisher mode for cloud? when im doing an attack and press triangle he does not enter in punisher mode