Upon reaching Chapter 12 of the main story in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, you will unlock a plethora of quests. One of these will be the Tides of War and Worry quest in the Junon Region. This page will detail how to defeat the Hell Rider II, including tips on pressuring and staggering it.
Beneath Still Waters Location¶
This quest will become available in Chapter 12 of the main story, but not until you have done all of the other quests in the Junon Region. Those quests that you need to complete are as follows:
- Stuck in a Rut
- When Words Won’t Do
- The Hardest Sell
- Calling All Frogs
- Dreaming of Blue Skies
- Tides of War and Worry
Once you have done all of the above, head on over to the Excavation Intel: The Scars of War and fast travel to it. This is located on the southern end of the western of the two peninsulas. You’ll know it’s the spot, as there is a huge crater there and you’ll want to go on the eastern side of it. Look over there to find some Shinra soldiers, who happen to be the 7th Infantry! As you speak to them and the Commander, a huge monster appears out of nowhere, so it’s time to fight.
Hell Rider II Fight Strategy¶
For the first battle (yes, there’s more than one) with the Hell Rider II, you don’t have to worry about any special abilities, as it will just use various melee attacks. One melee attack is where it pounces forward onto its front legs, which is usually after it moves around quickly. There is another attack where it will breath some fire and sweep it across the field. Other than that, it has a weakness to ice and you can keep using that to eventually pressure the fiend.
Upon defeating the Hell Rider, a piece of its tail will fall off and it will run away. As the Commander points out, a Chocobo can track the creature’s scent, so mount it and begin tracking the scent with the Chocobo’s nose. Like other similar quests, the trail will be orange and will eventually lead you to the next stop on your little tour. Once you eventually catch up to the beast, you will see it fully recovered its health and will run off again, leaving you to fight a Fonadu and Stormwing. You’ve fought both enemies before in this region (they were Fiend Intels), and both are weak to wind.
Second Hell Rider II Fight¶
With those enemies gone, it’s time to follow the scent once more, which will take you to the Fallen Citadel area here in Junon. The Hell Rider will be here and the true battle will begin. The first thing you’ll need to be aware of is that the Hell Rider will be immune to magic for a little bit, so you won’t be able to take advantage of its ice weakness. Yes, this means it’ll be immune to Ice Ninjutsu from Yuffie, too, so stick with physical attacks at the beginning.
Gravity Well is less of an attack and more of something that pushes you away from it, since there is no damage attached to the move. Infernal Cannon is nothing more than a quick laser on a single character, but it might be hard to dodge due to its quickness. At some point during the battle, it will use Polarity Shift and the magic immunity will be gone, so you will now be able to blast it with ice. However, the Hell Rider seems to expulse some energy every now and then at this point, which can be really annoying.
Once you manage to pressure the beast, though, you should be able to do some great damage to it. If it doesn’t perish on the first stagger, then do the same thing as before to finally fell this abomination. There will be some dialog after this, bringing an end to this quest.
Beneath Still Waters Rewards¶
The main thing you’ll receive from this quest is the Telluric Scriptures Vol. VI, which will give 10 SP for Aerith. You’ll also receive the normal rewards, like Party EXP and character experience. Since Aerith was accompanying you on this quest, your relationship will improve with her.
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