Quick Links
Phoenix is one of the coolest summons in Final Fantasy, and it’s always a treat when we’re given the chance to acquire its powers of fire and revival all over again.Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthgives it to us fairly quickly, in the Junon region. But like every summon, we’ve got to fight for it.
Our guide will cover what you should expect heading into your skirmish with the legendary bird. There are some key ways to prepare yourself for an easier - if still satisfyingly challenging - battle. Whether you’re fighting it full-force or as weak as you can get it, you’ll be ready.
Phoenix Summon Overview
Phoenixsummons a rotating chain of monstersto do its bidding for half the battle. Thisrepeats on a loop, with the same monsters each time.you’re able to only damage Phoenix once they’re all eliminated, but it will continue to attack your party while it’s invulnerable.
Phoenix has a wide array of techniques to use against you.Four of these techniques share the ‘Crimson’ moniker, and they follow a general,positional-damagepattern.
When we say positional damage, we’re referring to the fact thatportions of the arena’s floor will glow in accordance with pending damage. That entire section will light up several seconds after it’s telegraphed, sodo your best to stand elsewhere.
When Phoenix preparesIncandescent Burst,anoutward-trajectory area-of-effectburst of flames will emanate from its body. It’s going to hit your characters if they’reless than about ten meters from it- we realize ‘meters’ are kind of hard to qualify in this case, but trust your judgment.
Surging Flameshootsarcs of firein multiple directions.Dodge thisas best you’re able to.Empowering Flame increases Phoenix’s power, and it’ll last for about 30 seconds, which can feel like an eternity on higher difficulties.
Phoenix Summon Strategy
Phoenix isn’tusuallyweak to Ice, butit gains an Ice weakness once pressured. This is great, sinceyou won’t be making much of a dent on it when it isn’t pressured, and you certainly won’t have to worry about hitting it when it’scycling through its summoned monsters.
For that purpose,we recommend having a party with access to Ice magicacross the board. That doesn’t have to meanBlizzard/Blizzara, but you should have someFire and Ice Materiafrom Chadley by now.
Fire and Ice Materia is perfect for this fight in general, since the Flan and Grandhorn are weak to Fire.
Items are unavailable during Combat Simulator fights, so Item Economizer - a routine recommended orb of ours - is off-limits. Instead, bringHealingon one or two characters, andPrayon one party member.
Pray is steep -it requires two ATB charges- buta full-party healis going to be critical to your success throughout the fight. Plus, no MP cost.
For party composition,bring Tifa to bring down the Bombs and quickly stagger Phoenix. Aerith’s a good choice, since herhigh Magic Attackmeans Blizzard will pack a real punch. For the third,Cloud has a high Magic Attack as well, albeit not quite as high.
Cloud also has multipleuseful weapon abilities, likeFocused Thrust, which raises the stagger gauge at an accelerated rate. If you hope toget Phoenix staggered in one round between its summon cycles,rather than two, Focused Thrust is a must.
Aerith will likely get aLimit Breakat least once.Healing Windwill restore your party’s HP.Try to time it for when it’s truly neededmost - you’re able to keep it on standby until then.
