Alexander’s glorious return to Final Fantasy has felt like a long time coming, andFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthbrings the excellent summoned entity to the forefront upon the party’s arrival in the Corel region in the game’s seventh chapter. Here, you can find shrines to unlock more of its might, and weaker modes to fight.
But whether you’re prepping for the most powerful version of Alexander or taking it easier with its weakest, you’re in for an ordeal. Alexander doesn’t mess around. Follow our guide for tips and tricks on how to turn the tables and get this castle-sized summon on your side.
Alexander Summon Overview
To begin with,while you can acquire Alexander as soon as Chapter 7, we don’t recommend giving it a (serious) attempt untilChapter 9. This is because Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’sCorel regionhas two distinct “halves” despite functioning as one overarching map.
The first half,the half of Corel closer to Costa del Sol, unlocks as soon as you leave that city.The half with North Corel and the Gold Saucerisn’t explorable until Chapter 9. Here’s the thing:two out of Alexander’s three sanctuaries are in the second half.
This means you will be contending with asuper-powerful version of Alexanderif you don’t wait. Even the slightly weakened version that you can access via the one available shrine will likely be extremely difficult.
With that aside,Alexander is weak to Lightning. You will want to bringLightning orbsandRamuh(assuming you have Episode INTERMission save data for the latter).
The most frightening aspect of this summon fight, however, is the fact thatAlexander’s arms render it highly resistant to damage. Of course, it isn’t stuck that way permanently, or else this would be unwinnable!
You must target the arms and cripple thembefore the entity itself can be harmed.We whittled them down roughly simultaneously, which helped us toknow when to have our ATB gauges fullwith our most powerful attacks during thepressured phasethat follows their destruction.
Don’t hang too close to Alexander for too long.Most of its attacks affect its surrounding area, and some even linger with detrimental status effects that won’t go away for a while.Stick to the sidelinesas much as possible, andbring Barret and Yuffiefor this.
We love Yuffie for this fight becauseLightning Ninjutsu lets her deal piecemeal super-effective damage swiftly, efficiently, and nigh-constantly. Yuffie’s a glass cannon, though;when Alexander seems primed to target her, swap to someone hardier. Like Barret.
Karma stacksare the deadliest thing that Alexander has on tap.When karma ‘stacks’ on a character, it adds to a counter that youdon’twant hitting three; Alexander eventually uses its ultimate attack,Divine Judgment, andthree stacks will spell doom for the character.
There aren’t any items in Combat Simulator bouts, of course, so without the Revive Materia, you’re out of luck! The good news is thatEsuna removes karma stacks, making it your secret defensive weapon in the fight to win Alexander’s trust.
