Rufus Shinra Guide

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John-Carlo Vijuan

John-Carlo has been a gaming writer for quite some time, and this expertise shines through when covering his favorite JRPG series, Final Fantasy. When Carlo isn't busting out insane Limit Breaks, he often swaps Mana for madness and plays some GTA for a more casual gaming experience.

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In this Rufus Shinra guide, we’re going to take a closer look at this Final Fantasy character.

Rufus Shinra is one of the well-known villains in Final Fantasy VII. He is the son of President Shinra and is also the Vice President of Shinra. After Sephiroth killed President Shinra, he stepped on the mantle as the president and led the Shinra Electric Power Company to oppose Cloud and his rebellion group called Avalance. While all this is happening, he is also trying to pursue Sephiroth, a legendary SOLDIER first class who went AWOL during the incident at Nibelheim.

With all of that said, let’s take a look at Rufus Shinra’s lore, boss battle guide, and everything you need to know about him!

Rufus Boss Guide

Rufus Shinra Original Final Fantasy VII

Stats

Elemental Affinities

General Guide

Rufus Shinra fights with his pet named Dark Nation and supports him from time to time. Dark Nation usually casts a Barrier on Rufus at the beginning of the match, which lessens the amount of physical damage Rufus takes about a half.

You’ll be taking on Rufus as Cloud only for this fight. It’s a fairly straightforward fight, but first, you need to make sure that you target Dark Nation first. A single-use of Cross-slash will easily take care of Dark Nation.

Lastly, if Cloud has Bio, use it against Rufus to slowly whittle down his health. After taking a few hundred of damage, Rufus flees using the helicopter.

Upon defeating Rufus, he drops Protect Vest 100% of the time.

Rufus Shinra Final Fantasy VII (Remake)

Stats

Elemental Affinities

Damage Type Affinities

Statuses and Resistances

Stagger Multipliers

Rufus Shinra’s Moveset

General Guide

Like the original game, Rufus fights alongside his hound, renamed Darkstar, and again, a two versus one fight against Cloud. If you decide to attack Rufus directly at the start of the battle, a short cutscene will play, reminding the player not to focus on him as Rufus will only counterattack Cloud every time. Rufus has three phases in this fight, and as usual, Rufus gets more and more dangerous and widens his move set with every stage.

First Phase

Rufus relies mainly on Darkstar to engage a combo through the Heel ability, which shows the connection between Rufus and Darkstar. Throughout this phase, Rufus will primarily command Darkstar to attack Cloud, and then he will follow up with a complementary attack of his own.

To progress to the next phase, players must focus on Darkstar first and get him to half of his health bar. Be careful, as unleashing a barrage of attacks on Darkstar will cause Rufus to interrupt you by blasting you away with his shotgun.

Second Phase

A cutscene of the helicopter leaving signifies the beginning of the second phase. Rufus now has a broader array of abilities, most notably Bright Lights. Here are some things to keep in mind for the second phase.

• Keeping yourself close to Rufus is the way to go, as distancing Cloud from him will allow Rufus to use Bright Lights, which is devastating to the health bar, especially if you don’t have many healing items or even a healing ability.
• Rufus’ move called Guns Akimbo, where Rufus shoots Cloud multiple times, should be blocked as Cloud can not dodge this attack. Failing to do so will proc Darkstar to follow up while Cloud flinches.
• Be careful of Thunderclap, as this can not be blocked or dodged.
• Watch out if Rufus throws three coins into the ground, as stepping on the electric puddles will stun Cloud for a reasonable amount of time.
• To avoid Rufus’ Think Fast and Up in Smoke, players must dodge backward.

Same as the first phase, players must continue to whittle down Darkstar’s health bar until he dies, which signifies the start of the third phase.

Third Phase

At this stage, Cloud and Rufus will have a showdown. Rufus will be much more aggressive than in the previous phases. He can do fast ground dashes and even midair dashes. Rufus zigzags through the battlefield to quickly close in on Cloud. Be very careful in this phase, as he can still counter you from time to time. The only safe time to attack Rufus is when he is reloading his shotgun, but he can easily counter you if he’s not reloading.

Tips and Strategy

• Never use punisher mode on Rufus; Punisher mode’s counterattacks will not trigger.
• Punisher mode is effective against Darkstar.
• Using triple slash and focusing on Darkstar first is one of the best tactics for this fight to lessen the amount of healing items you will need throughout the battle.
• After severing the link between Rufus and Darkstar, use Focused Thrust to stagger Darkstar.
• Rufus is vulnerable to the Sleep spell.
• If you use Brave on Rufus, you can instantly stagger him; however, this is much more of a challenge.
• Keep your Lock-on on Rufus during the 1v1 showdown (After the player has defeated Darkstar)
• Equip Steadfast Block Materia to build ATB faster and protect you from some attacks.
• If you have the Chakra Materia, you can heal without the use of MP.

Rufus Shinra’s Story

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- Era

Back then, Rufus is actually conspiring with Avalanche as their leading financier and a spy who provides the information about Shinra’s plans. However, Rufus was only using the Avalanche to gain access to his father’s power and take over Shinra altogether. At that point, Shinra figured out that there was a traitor within them; however, they still had no idea who the traitor was.

During at attack on the Old Corel, the Turks, an investigation sector of Shinra, were able to apprehend Rufus and used him to save the Turks’ leader Verdot and Avalanche’s leader Elfe. President Shinra having no options left, saves Rufus and lets Elfe and Verdot go. President Shinra ordered the execution of The Turks for insubordination; however, Rufus had them spared since Tseng allegedly “killed” Verdot and Elfe. After conspiring to kill his father, Shinra placed Rufus under house arrest instead.

Final Fantasy VII Era

Sephiroth finally emerged and attacked the Shinra Building in Midgar, which resulted in President Shinra getting killed. After Sephiroth kills President Shinra, Rufus Shinra then announces himself as the new president of the Shinra Electric Power Company.  Rufus then confronts cloud and battles him on top of the Shinra Building. Realizing he can’t win, he falls back into the helicopter with a new plan in mind.

Rufus ordered the full military force of Shinra to pursue after Sephiroth, and have the Turks keep a close lookout on Cloud and his group, the Avalanche. During an encounter with the Avalanche, Rufus and the Turks captured Tifa and Barret. Rufus wants to publicly execute the two to alleviate the mass fear of the incoming Meteor. However, his plan to kill them failed due to the Sapphire Weapon attacking Junon.

Once again, Rufus has another plan up his sleeves; destroy the meteor, unleash and defeat Sephiroth himself. Rufus fails to blow up the meteor and moves Sister Ray Mako to Midgar to beat the defensive barrier protecting Sephiroth. As he tried to launch the cannon, Diamon Weapon approached Midgar and launched a relentless assault, destroying the Shinra Headquarters.

Having his life flashed before his very own eyes, Rufus miraculously survived the attack through a secret tunnel system that his father created and fled to a nearby town called Kalm.

Rufus Shinra’s Other Video Game Appearances

• Pictlogica Final Fantasy
• Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
• Final Fantasy Record Keeper
• Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
• Mobius Final Fantasy
• Final Fantasy Trading Card Game

Frequently Asked Questions