Ruby Weapon

Ruby Weapon first appears in the game after you defeat Ultimate Weapon and then fight one more random battle afterward; an outline of that fight is included on the Ultimate Weapon Battle side quest page. It takes the form of a small red figure in the sand surrounding Gold Saucer and pops up sporadically around the area.

Starting the battle merely requires you to smack Ruby Weapon with the Highwind, but there’s a lot of preparation needed before you go doing something like that…

Ruby Weapon and Emerald Weapon are the two most challenging fights in the game with Ruby Weapon arguably being the hardest of the two. The fight is available after the Weapons are released from the Northern Crater.

Ruby Weapon appears in the sands surrounding Gold Saucer, and you can initiate the fight by slamming the Highwind into it or by riding a Chocobo through the sand.

Overview of the Fight - What to Expect

Ruby Weapon is extremely strong. It has attacks that can completely remove a party member from the battle (called Whirlsand), and it has extremely high defense. The majority of the preparation that needs to take place is to prevent characters from being removed from battle.

Ruby Weapon will either have its tentacles withdrawn or planted in the sand during the fight, and its actions differ depending on the location of its tentacles. Most importantly, you cannot damage Ruby Weapon at all until it plants its tentacles into the sand for the first time; once that first dig happens, it stays vulnerable for the rest of the fight, even when it later pulls the tentacles back. It can use “Whirlsand” in either stance whenever more than one of your characters can be targeted, including as a counterattack while its tentacles are withdrawn.

It will use the following moves while its tentacles are withdrawn:

• Big Claw - Hits one character for ⁵⁄₈ of the character’s HP.
• Big Swing - Hits your entire party, with the damage split between everyone who can be targeted, and can inflict Paralyze (40% chance).
• Comet2 - Hits four times at around 3,000 HP per hit.
• Whirlsand - Removes one character from the battle permanently.

It will use the following moves once its tentacles are planted in the sand:

• Ruby Flame - Hits one character for around 5,000 HP.
• Ruby Ray - Hits one character for around 4,000 HP and can cause the Confusion status effect.
• Ultima - Cast as a regular attack while the tentacles are out, and also as a counterattack whenever a character summons Knights of the Round. Hits all characters for around 8,000-9,000 HP.
• Shadow Flare - Hits one character for nearly full HP.

The tentacles will also attack while they are out, dealing damage based on a percentage of the target’s hit points, which means they can never KO a character. The right tentacle damages HP and can inflict Frog and Small, while the left tentacle drains MP and can inflict Poison and Slow-numb.

Ruby Weapon’s biggest weakness is that it is susceptible to the Paralyze status effect. You can use an item called Dazers to inflict the Paralyze status effect, which will prevent Ruby Weapon from attacking and will prevent it from countering summons with Ultima, allowing you to use your most powerful summons (Knights of the Round Materia).

Preparation

The first thing you should do is stock up on Dazers. You can steal these items from a creature called a Boundfat, which can be found in the Corel Valley near the Forgotten City in the area leading up to it. You can find it by traveling to Bone Village and going through the Sleeping Forest or by traveling to the area in front of the Forgotten City.

Use the screenshots below to help you locate them. You can also use the W-Item Cheat to duplicate Dazers. Check out the Cheats section for more information.

You need to prevent Ruby Weapon from using the Whirlsand attack on your characters as it will remove them from the battle entirely. It can never cast Whirlsand on the last character left in the battle, which means that you can enter the battle with two KO’d characters and wait it out until the Tentacles disappear below the sand. If more than one of your characters can be targeted, though, Ruby Weapon will begin using “Whirlsand” constantly as the fight drags on (every turn from its 25^th turn onward against three characters, and from its 32^nd turn onward against two), so keep only one character active or finish the battle before then.

Make sure that you equip each of your characters with a Ribbon accessory to prevent any negative status effects. You will also want to equip fire-nullifying armor/accessories to resist Ruby’s fire-based attacks. Equip a Fire Armlet and equip an Elemental Materia paired with a Fire Materia on one of your character’s armor. You can also equip the Fire Ring accessory, but this is not recommended as that character could become impacted by status effects by not having a Ribbon equipped.

The Battle

The battle always begins as an ambush: your party starts with empty ATB bars and takes back-attack damage from Ruby Weapon’s physical attacks until you have attacked it. As mentioned in the Preparation section above, you should start the battle with two of your characters KO’d. Keep your one character alive until Ruby Weapon places both of its limbs into the ground, exposing its two tentacles. You can begin your attacks and your use of Dazers as soon as the tentacles are exposed.

You can cast Reflect on your characters to reflect Shadow Flare on Ruby Weapon. Focus on using W-Summon Materia and Knights of the Round Materia twice, followed by having another one of your characters use Mime Materia. The Paralyze status effect caused by the Dazers should prevent Ruby Weapon from countering with Ultima.

Ruby Weapon has 800,000 HP.

The battle offers a ton of AP after you defeat Ruby Weapon, so, if you can, use your weapons that have double or triple Materia growth to grow any of your last Materia with AP if you need to. Your reward for defeating Ruby Weapon is the Desert Rose. Returning it to the Kalm Traveler will net you a Gold Chocobo, which is almost useless, considering you likely already have one.

A video demonstration of this battle is included below for reference.

Congratulations! You have completed the most challenging boss fight in the game!