FF7R INTERmission Sonon vs Nero [Hard Mode]

Описание: General strategy is to use Swirling Storm to pressure and follow up with Twirling Lunge to build stagger.

Nero has four phases, you need to take 25% of his health for each.

Phase 1 is the easiest, Use Fighting Spirit as soon as you can to boost all of Sonon’s attacks by 1.5x. Dance of the Dragon will do most of the damage. From there look for a Swirling Storm, Twirling Lunge combo. This should end the phase. Best case scenario you interrupt him casting Haste, but if he starts phase 2 with it that’s not terrible as Sonon can get some free hits in.

Phase 2 he usually opens with the big purple blast so be sure to dodge it if he isn’t casting Haste. This is the phase I intentionally take damage in order to begin Summoning Ramuh. This is done so I can control when he uses Soul Erosion as you need to cast Cura right as your health turns red to survive. Didn’t happen in this run but that’s what I usually wanted to happen. From there casting Magnify Regen, and Haste is the goal while getting him to 50% HP.

Phase 3 is the hardest. Dark Matter makes it impossible to see what he’s doing so hold block and pray Sonon dodges Binding Talons. I think I only had 1 or 2 runs ruined by that so it’s not terrible. Make sure Sonon has Haste so you always have ATB for Soul Erosion. Manawall is a great way to survive and will let you survive Binding Talons if you do get grabbed. I summon Ramuh here when I can as he will help get us to phase 4. I usually get a limit break during phase 2 which is why I save Ramuh’s damage for this phase. I was able to get a stagger here and since I traded First Strike for ATB Stagger I was able to pile on the damage with 2 Swirling Storms. I was hoping to get 3 but Skill Master proced before the stagger unfortunately.

Phase 4 is not that bad, and it’s mostly similar to phase 2. I was able to barely survive because I messed up using Limit when Ramuh was using Judgement Bolt. Thankfully using magic fills the Limit Gauge quickly with the Götterdämerung and I was able to get another Dance of the Dragon to finish him off. Reprieve also helped. Ideally I would’ve let Ramuh take use Judgement Bolt and THEN use Dance of the Dragon on the wings. That should break them and pressure him, allowing you to pile on a bunch of damage and maybe another stagger if you’re lucky.