Boss: Crab Warden¶

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(1 of 4) Use Thunder to deal heavy damage to Crab Warden’s legs

Crab Warden hasn’t changed much since the last time you fought him - his damage and HP scale pretty well with what gains you’ve made since the first time, save now you have more MP to throw around and can use Fire + Elemental to mitigate two of Crab Warden’s attacks (“Flamethrower” and “Wildfire”). Healing + Magnify was sufficient to keep everybody’s HP up, Lightning Materia was useful for attacking both the boss and the Slug-Rays it summoned. Its early attacks are as follows:

• EM Field: Creates waves of electricity in the direction Crab Warden is facing, dealing moderate damage over repeated strikes. Just give it some distance when you see it charging.

• Flamethrower: Pretty much what the name implies, Crab Warden shoots a gout of flame from the front. Deals heavy damage with sustained contact.

• Machinegun Strafe: With this unnamed attack, Crab Warden will strafe back and forth with its machineguns - can deal heavy damage overall, even though each bullet deals only minor damage.

• Missile Barrage: Shoots several dumb missiles in an arc. Can be avoided by just running, or by hiding behind shipping containers.

• Slam: An unnamed attack where Crab Warden uses its bulk to smash the area right in front of it. Not very elegant, but can deal heavy damage.

• Target Lock: Not technically an attack, but it’ll focus on a character with its other attacks after this, so be wary.

• Wildfire: Crab Warden spins in a circle, firing multiple fiery shells that persist and continuously deal damage to all characters in contact with them. Good source of healing with Fire + Elemental, just be wary that the spin itself can deal damage if you’re too close.

By this point in time we could just have Cloud cast Regen + Magnify on the party and idle. Obviously you don’t want to do this if you plan to win a timely manner, but it illustrates how weak this boss can be. Target its legs with Thunder and “Maximum Fury”, and once it’s Staggered, punish its now-exposed “Generator” until its HP bar has been whittled down to 2/3rds, at which it’ll begin phase two.

At the start of this phase, Crab Warden spawns some Slug-Rays. Hit them with Thunder to quickly take them out, then focus on Crab Warden again, which fights nearly identically to how it did in phase one, save it’ll use “Air Support” to summon more Slug-Rays if enough time passes. It can also shoot concentrated bursts of fire from its two main guns, which collectively will deal tremendous damage. After all four legs are destroyed, switch your focus to attacking the “Right/Left Auxiliary Weaponry”, hitting them with Thunder and “Maximum Fury” until Crab Warden is Staggered again.

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(1 of 3) Avoid Crab Warden’s “Surge” attack by staying between the tracks.

Phase three starts when Crab Warden is reduced to 1/3rd of its HP bar, and it actually gets somewhat dangerous here, as it’ll pick up the pace and use its ultimate attack “Surge”. It takes a while to charge up, during which time you’ll need to stand on the concrete tiles between the rails to avoid damage. You’ll really want to avoid this, as it can hit for over 4,000 damage. Otherwise its only new attack is “Charge”, which, of course, is a charge attack.

Focus on destroying the “Right/Left Auxiliary Weaponry” and when Crab Warden is Staggered you’ll note that it’ll recover unusually quickly, allowing the game to introduce the “Pilot” - your next target. Once the “Pilot” is destroyed (use Thunder and “Maximum Fury”, as usual“ the Generator will remain exposed until the boss is defeated.

For defeating Crab Warden on Hard difficulty you’ll obtain the Sharpshooter’s Companion Vol. V Manuscript.