Emerald and Ruby WEAPON Guide

A guide on the two superbosses of Final Fantasy VII: Emerald WEAPON and Ruby WEAPON

Who are they?

Emerald and Ruby WEAPON are the two superbosses that appear in all versions of Final Fantasy VII except the original Japanese release. They are two of the several weapons the planet created to protect itself from Jenova, the calamity from the skies. They were sealed in the Northern Cave, but are released halfway through the game when Meteor is summoned.

How can I find them?

Emerald WEAPON can be found as soon as the submarine is available. It floats about under the sea in the area between Junon and Costa Del Sol. It periodically lays itself to rest either above the small crater in the area or in front of the sunken Gelnika.

Ruby WEAPON appears in the desert around Gold Saucer after the player defeats the Ultimate WEAPON and then reloads the world map by, for example, triggering a random battle. It can't be approached on foot - the battle can be triggered by either flying into it with the Highwind or by running into it with a Gold Chocobo.

How strong are they?

EMERALD WEAPON

Level 99
HP: 1.000.000
Weak to Lightning
Halves Gravity
Nullifies Earth
Absorbs Ice and Water

EMERALD WEAPON'S EYE

Level 50
HP: 25.000
Weak to Fire
Nullifies Earth
Absorbs Ice and Water

RUBY WEAPON

Level 59
HP: 800.000
MP: 2560
Nullifies Water and Gravity
Absorbs Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth and "Hidden"

RUBY WEAPON'S TENTACLE

Level 37
HP: 40.000
Nullifies Water and Gravity

What do I need to know?

There are two very important facts you must know:

The battle with Emerald WEAPON has a time limit. As soon as the fight starts, a timer of 20 minutes will appear and if it runs out, it's an instant Game Over. This timer can be negated, however, by equipping the Underwater Materia. To obtain this materia, you must use Morph on a Ghost Ship (found in either Junon Underwater Reactor or in the Gold Saucer's Battle Square) - you will obtain the Guide Book. This item can be traded for the Underwater materia in Kalm, in the upper floor of the rightmost house.

Ruby WEAPON is invulnerable at the start of the fight until only one party member remains. If you enter the battle with more than one live party member, Ruby WEAPON will be completely impervious to all attacks and counters anything with Whirlsand, which completely ejects a random party member from battle. He may also use this attack at random. As soon as only one character remains, it will put its tentacles into the ground, become vulnerable and not use Whirlsand for a long time. The deadly effect of Whirlsand can be bypassed by entering the battle with only one live party member and reviving the others as soon as Ruby WEAPON's Tentacles appear - then never killing the tentacles, which would cause it to resume using Whirlsand.

These two are the most important things to know when facing these monstrosities. Now we can move on to more specific details.

Emerald WEAPON's AI

Emerald WEAPON will open the battle with Emerald Shoot, which inflicts about 7000 points of damage on average to a party member - about 5000 if they are in Sadness. After that, the WEAPON will either use Emerald Shoot again, or move on to Foot Stamp (not named in-game), which deals minor damage to all party members. Again, Emerald WEAPON may either use Foot Stamp again or move on to another Emerald Shoot. After that, on its next turn, it initiates the "Eye Phase".

At this point, all four Eyes of Emerald WEAPON are revived to their full 25'000 HP. They will attack the party members for a bit of damage each - the blue eyes deal HP damage, the yellow ones deal MP damage. During the "Eye Phase", Emerald WEAPON will counter all attacks on its main body with Revenge Stamp, which is a weaker version of Foot Stamp but also removes Haste. On the same turn Emerald WEAPON revives its eyes, it will also use Emerald Beam, an attack that hits all party members for fixed damage - precisely 5/8 of their current HP. Its next turn will be skipped (although the Eyes will still attack), after that it uses Emerald Beam again, then the all-powerful Aire Tam Storm. This attack hits all party members for exactly 1111 multiplied by the amount of materia they have equipped! This means a party member with 6 materia will take 6666 damage and any party member with 9 or more materia will take the full 9999 damage and be killed instantly. Additionally, Emerald WEAPON absorbs the damage dealt by this attack. Rarely, Aire Tam Storm can also miss. Afterwards, Emerald WEAPON goes back to when it skips a turn, then uses Emerald Beam again, then Aire Tam Storm again, etc. If Emerald WEAPON's eyes are killed, it returns to its original phase and its AI starts over from the beginning.

If Emerald WEAPON uses Revenge Stamp ten times or is hit by Knights of the Round, it becomes "angry". When it is angry, it immediatly moves to its "Eye Phase" after the first Emerald Shoot. Then, immediatly after reviving the eyes and using Emerald Beam, it moves on to Aire Tam Storm. At this point, if Emerald WEAPON's HP is still above 500'000, it will stop being "angry" - if it is below 500'000, it will continuously use Aire Tam Storm until all its eyes are killed. Emerald WEAPON's "angriness" can only be cured by using any Bahamut summon on it during its "Eye Phase". It's also important to note that during the "Eye Phase", if the player uses Knights of the Round on Emerald WEAPON, it will not only become "angry", but also counterattack with Aire Tam Storm, even if the summon kills all the eyes in the process.

Beating Emerald WEAPON

So all this information is all well and good, but how do we beat Emerald WEAPON? Well here are some general tips:

Emerald WEAPON does not nullify Gravity. This means that the spells Demi, Demi2 and Demi3 can be used to great effect, as they will mostly do 9999 damage. Combine that with Quadra-Magic and W-Magic and you're looking at a lot of damage per turn.

A W-Magic Ultima plus a Slash-All can kill the eyes before they get a turn. It's good to keep Emerald WEAPON out of its Eye Phase as much as possible. The eyes hurt a lot after your party has been nuked with Emerald Beam and they also drain your MP which is very bad. If you manage to kill the eyes quickly, you also do not need to fear Aire Tam Storm (as long as you don't use Knights of the Round), so you can use as many materia as you want.

4x Cut is the fastest way to inflict damage on Emerald WEAPON. Knights of the Round is all well and good, but it takes a long time and you can do twice the damage one summon of that does if you simply use 4x Cut. On high levels with strong weapons, this will most likely mean 4x 9999 damage in a matter of seconds. With that, you don't even need the Underwater materia.

Regen-All is all the healing you will ever need. With all three characters in Sadness, the chances of a character going down before the Eye Phase are slim. They are practically nullified if you cast Regen. In case you don't know, Regen heals all 100% of your HP over an extended period of time. You can cast this just before Eye Phase activates and you're safe for a long time. And in case something goes wrong, it's probably nothing a Phoenix or Megalixir can't fix.

Overall, I can only recommend that you quickly take out the eyes as soon as they appear, do not neglect your healing and overall try to find a way to dish out a lot of damage quickly and Emerald WEAPON will be much less threatening than it appears at first.

Beating Emerald WEAPON gives 50'000 EXP, 50'000 AP, 50'000 Gil and the Earth Harp, which can be traded in Kalm - just like the Guide Book - for a Master Summon, a Master Magic and a Master Command materia.


Emerald WEAPON beaten without Underwater materia in 7:07, just with 4x Cut, Regen-All and using W-Magic Ultima + Slash-All to instantly kill the eyes.

Ruby WEAPON's AI

Unlike Emerald WEAPON, Ruby WEAPON picks its attacks mostly at random and is overall much less predictable. It has two different sets of attacks, depending on its stage.

Ruby WEAPON has two stages: the Lone Stage and the Tentacle Stage. The Lone Stage is when Ruby WEAPON is by itself, with its tentacles outside of the ground. The Tentacle Stage is when its tentacles are in the ground and act on their own. Remember that Ruby WEAPON starts the fight in Lone Stage, but is completely invulnerable until it switches to Tentacle Stage for the first time.

During Lone Stage, Ruby WEAPON randomly uses either Big Claw, Big Swing, Comet2 or Whirlsand. The latter is only used if more than 1 party member is alive. Big Claw hits one party member and deals fixed damage equal to 5/8 of the target's HP. Big Swing hits all party members for minor physical damage. Comet2 is just like the version available to the party - it hits random party members 4 times for moderate magic damage. Whirlsand, finally, completely ejects a party member from battle. In Lone Stage, Ruby WEAPON counterattacks with Whirlsand, but again, not if there's only one active party member. If Ruby WEAPON gets a turn when there is only 1 live party member, it switches to Tentacle Stage.

During Tentacle Stage, it's very important to know that the tentacles do not act on their own. Ruby WEAPON controls them with its main AI and any attack from a tentacle takes up its turn. On every turn, Ruby WEAPON chooses from the following attacks: Ruby Flame, Ruby Ray, Shadow Flare, Ultima and four tentacle attacks. Ruby Flame is fire-elemental and deals moderate magic damage to one party member. Ruby Ray is similar, but deals a little less damage, is non-elemental and also inflicts Confusion. Shadow Flare and Ultima both deal heavy non-elemental magic damage, the former to one, the latter to all party members.

Finally, Ruby WEAPON has four tentacle attacks. Left Revenge, Left Thrust, Right Revenge and Right Thrust. The "left" attacks, executed by the left tentacle, deal fixed damage to one party member's MP and also inflict Poison and Slow-numb, a countdown to petrification. Left Revenge takes away 15/32 of the target's MP, while Left Thrust takes away 25/32. The "right" attacks, executed by the right tentacle, are similar, but affect the target's HP; they both inflict Frog and Mini. Right Revenge takes away 15/32 of the target's HP, while Right Thrust takes away 30/32 (or 15/16)!

During Tentacle Phase, Ruby WEAPON counters every attack against its main body by either Left Thrust or Right Thrust. At this point, it's very important to know that the damage dealt by all tentacle attacks can be halved by equipping a Ziedrich! This makes all of their attacks very manageable, especially the Right Thrust, an otherwise devastating attack.

If the fight lasts for at least 25 turns and you fight with more than 1 party member Ruby WEAPON will be forced to use Whirlsand on its next turn, even if its tentacles are in the ground! The same thing happens after 32 turns. So if you use more than 1 character in the battle, make sure to dispose of Ruby WEAPON before this happens.

Finally, if the player uses Knights of the Round against Ruby WEAPON, it will counterattack with Ultima.

A very important detail to know here is that Ruby WEAPON only has 2560 MP. Comet2, Shadow Flare and Ultima all take away 100+ MP per use and if his MP don't suffice, Ruby WEAPON will waste turns trying to cast these spells to no avail.

Beating Ruby WEAPON

The main problem with Ruby WEAPON is that it has an absurdly high defense and evasion stat, making it not only very difficult to hit, but also rendering most attacks useless as they won't even deal 1000 damage. With that being said, the following hints will be very helpful when you try to take down this superboss:

Kill off two of your party members before the battle. That way, Ruby WEAPON will immediatly switch to his Tentacle Form. At this point, the player can revive their dead party members and continue the fight with three fighters. This is by no means necessary, but certainly helpful. Keep in mind that if the tentacles are killed, Ruby WEAPON will use Whirlsand again, and it will also use it if the battle takes too long.

Use Hero Drinks. With four Hero Drinks on a character, physical attacks and Limit Breaks will deal a decent amount of damage. Also, Ruby WEAPON's greatest weakness is its lack of considerable damage output. With four Hero Drinks, its non-fixed-damage-attacks will seem very tame. When it runs out of MP, its damage output is lowered even further.

Ruby WEAPON is NOT immune to Paralysis! Yes, you read that correctly. You can paralyse Ruby WEAPON, either with Dazers or the Hades summon. This renders this mighty foe completely helpless.

Equip a Ziedrich and a Ribbon. The fixed damage attacks from the tentacles are devastating. A Ziedrich will halve all the damage they do. This is enormously helpful and will give you a much more realistic chance at beating Ruby WEAPON. In case you don't know, Ziedrichs can be stolen from Rude the Turk in all battles against him in Disk 2. In addition to that, Ribbons prevent the several negative status ailments Ruby WEAPON causes. Without protection, they can quickly destroy your party.

With a proper setup, Ruby WEAPON is not quite as tough as it seems at first. Its strongest attacks are the ones that deal fixed damage and those can't kill you, giving you ample time to heal. Its high defense, evasion and counterattacks are annoying, but not particularly dangerous, they just drag out the battle. Regen is again the best way to heal and Limit Breaks are great for damage as they are unlikely to miss.

Beating Ruby WEAPON awards you with 45'000 EXP, 30'000 AP, 50'000 Gil and the Desert Rose. The latter can be traded in Kalm - just like Guide Book and Earth Harp - for a Gold Chocobo. This chocobo can be used to bypass the entire chocobo breeding sidequest, though beware: it is terrible for racing, so breed it at least once and hope to get another Gold Chocobo.


Ruby WEAPON beaten with a single character, just with 4x Cut, Regen, 4 Hero Drinks and some Turbo Ethers.

[colby_rasmussen0987]

Ruby weapon uses whirlsand no matter what (unless there is only 1 player left or alive in the battle) in the latest edition (The Newest version has the original soundtrack, that's how I know it's different then the other steam versions), and it's tentacle attacks can also do Death Sentence. He can counter attacks in between your W-Summon's, so if you try to W-Summon KoTR and Hades (to paralize him), he will counter after KoTR with Ultima, thus rendering the Mime trick completely useless. The only way I've found to beat him is to do the 'All Lucky 7's' trick or the Overflow glitch. I've tried Hero Drinks, I've tried Hades and KoTR (The other way around), and nothing works, he is UNSTOPPABLE!

[Cetra]

Haven't read through the whole post, but I just wanted to mention for anyone who needs it. I made this video guide (a bit long I know) that might help with Ruby & Emerald, for those of you who may need it. FFVII Guide to killing Ruby and Emerald Weapon with only one command

[MSMW]

Easy Ruby Tactics. You need Phoenix, Knights of the round Level 3 or higher, Mime W-Summon and HP Absorb (preferebly mastered) You need to link Knights with the HP Absorb, and equip all of the above materia on a single character. Kill two other people, and enter the fight. Wait for the tenacles, cast double Knights, count the damage dealt. You will regen more HP than the enemy can deal. When you lower Ruby's HP from 800,000 to an ammount which can be taken down with a single Knights W-cast Phoenix and KotR. Ruby is dead, you get 150 000 AP in up to nine materias, and another 50 000 AP in about 20 others - congratulations, you are ready to fight emerald. If you kept mime materia in 3x growth weapon, you just got another one. Which means that you can use similar tactics to beat another weapon. Just keep your materia count below 9 per character, and KotR + HP absorb with 3 mimes will beat it easilly.

[Sega Chief]

I'd use grenades, myself.

[Frankenstein]

Liked the DEMI Tip for Emerald Weapon. Found other tactics a bit impractical, since I was hoping to take maximum advantage of all those AP. So beating Ruby with just one character and using a ziedrich isn't optimal.

Beat them anyways

Double Summon + Hades and Knights of the Round + 3 Mimes works perfectly against ruby weapon. Especially after reviving the two teammates with Hades+Phönix.

[Ade Dead Evil]

4 weapon it hard and more different to kill. So i ues Yuffie to kill Ruby and Emerald with single character, So i try ues Master Materia 3 Counter, Steal, Magic Counter, Knights of Round, 2 Mime, Final Attack and Revive...!!

[JimFnSterlingSon]

something I would have needed for my first playthrough it was hard to look all this up from different sites on the internet
very good guide