As you embark on your adventure in Final Fantasy VII Remake, you'll soon encounter the Scorpion Sentinel — the giant robot guarding the Sector 1 Reactor.
An introduction to more advanced combat, you'll see that the game's bosses aren't pushovers. This guide helps you through what can be a tough early battle.
Tips
- The names of the enemy's special attacks appear in red above their heads, just before they are launched. Keep an eye on these and learn to react to the attack accordingly.
- Don't hesitate to explore the Reactor on your way, to find chests with valuable consumables. These include Ethers, which will be useful in allowing Barret to cast Thunder more often.
- Positioning is very important, especially against the most powerful enemies. Observe your opponent, pay attention to the boss's attack patterns, and position accordingly.
- Don't forget to guard with R1. Some burst attacks are far too wide and fast to dodge, but are easy to spot coming. A well-timed guard in Punisher Mode can also open the enemy up to attack.
Basic Attacks
- Target Scanner: This ability telegraphs the focus of the Sentinel's next attack.
- EM Field: The robot will stand on its two legs and pound the ground, creating a small shockwave. Try to move Cloud away as soon as you see the Sentinel rise.
- Scorpion Strikes: The boss will slam its tail on the ground several times, creating electrified shockwaves. Dodging a couple of times backwards should help you avoid damage.
- Mark 99 Launchers: We recommend guarding (R1) this attack, rather than trying to dodge.
- Mark 98 Cannons: Deals damage across two to three hits, used when the Sentinel is on the wall. Low damage, but interrupts actions, so just use Guard.
- Death Grip: Grabs a party member and binds them. Switch to your second character and attack to free them.
- Stinger Salvo: A series of ten cannonballs which deal low damage per hit.
- Tail Laser: Used after the Sentinel is reduced to 50% health, this does massive damage. Take cover!
- Overkill: A combination of Mark 99 Launchers, Mark 98 Cannons and Stinger Salvo. Wide area of effect, low damage per hit.
- Auto-Repair: A move in which the Sentinel attemps to heal itself of 94 HP. During this, it will use Overkill.
Scorpion Sentinel
Phase 1
The Scorpion Sentinel will give you time to get used to its rhythm during the first 10% of its HP. It will unleash attacks that will be repeated constantly, so it's a good time to let it do his own thing and learn its attack pattern.
Phase 2
The Sentinel will jump and activate a near-impenetrable physical barrier. To deactivate it, attack from behind. Cloud's Cross Slash should help, and Barret's Overcharge will disable it in one hit.
Be especially careful when positioned behind the Sentinel, as Scorpion Strikes are unforgiving. The barrier generator will become a fully destructible part of the boss, meaning you can target it.
Phase 3
This is where things heat up. The Sentinel changes position and charges its Tail Laser, a devastating attack. When this happens, take cover behind the debris. Take advantage of this safe position to heal your party.
Once the shelter is destroyed, return to the attack. From this phase on, the boss will also launch EM Field, a particularly powerful shockwave. Also be mindful of Death Grip, which will disable one of your party temporarily.
Final Phase
This is where you focus on bringing the Sentinel down. When staggered, throw everything you have at it.
If you give him too much respite, he will take advantage and launch into Auto-Repair, extending the fight further and risking defeat.
Scorpion Sentinel: Advanced Tips
- In the first two phases, you'll have to counter the boss' target acquisition by taking the aggro with the character that suits you. In Phase 1, you'll have to spam the Thunder spell, so make sure that Cloud is targeted to give Barret all the time he needs to chain his spells.
- In Phase 2, do the opposite and harass the boss with Barret for him to be targeted. This will relieve Cloud, which is even more important since the barrier generator must be destroyed as quickly as possible. Position Cloud behind the Sentinel in Punisher Mode, and don't hesitate to use Braver regularly. In the following phases, the Sentinel no longer uses Target Scanner and attacks characters at random.
- Coordinate: launching attacks in unison is great for the ATB gauge. Thunder and Fire will help you stagger the enemy very quickly. Cast Thunder until the enemy goes down, at which point you'll need to throw everything at it as mentioned above.
- During the last phase, your only way to trip the boss will be to target its legs. Concentrate on one of them, and when the Sentinel falls, hit him with all the special attacks you have.
Here's how we took it down:
Following this advice should mean the Sentinel provides a challenge, but is overcome relatively easily.
Congrats on an epic win!
After a long wait, and much speculation, Square Enix have now released a playable Final Fantasy VII Remake demo for PS4.
