After entering the settlement of Cosmo Canyon during Chapter 10, Nanaki will be taken into the Cave of the Gi to resolve some deep-seated animosity. As veterans of the original Final Fantasy VII know, the leader of the Gi people, Gi Nattak, awaits Nanaki at the end of his trial. This page will provide a guide on how to defeat Gi Nattak in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, including a list of Gi Nattak’s attacks, how to kill the Soul Flames he summons quickly, and how to deal with his Doom attack.

Gi Nattak Boss Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Best Gear and Materia¶

For this fight you’ll only have Barret and Red XIII at your disposal, and you cannot swap party members. The two are fairly complementary and tanky, with Red XIII being a close range melee character and Barret being a ranged attacker - the fight will probably involve you micromanaging Red XIII while swapping to Barret for the odd Overcharge or to make use of the ATB he’s stored up. Understanding how Red XIII’s Vengeance mechanic works will help a good deal, but Gi Nattak is fairly elusive, being able to teleport around the arena. This will, without some caution, cause some of Red XIII’s attacks to whiff, and you likely won’t be able to enter Vengeance mode and just spam Siphon Fang to make progress. This is definitely a fight that rewards you for learning the boss’s mechanics, and that may mean fighting him a few tries.

Gi Nattak isn’t weak to any elements, nor does he share the same vulnerabilities to healing magic and items with his counterpart in the original FInal Fantasy VII. He only takes 15% damage from all sources of healing (fixed damage) and is immune to Slow and Petrify . He cannot be one-shotted by Phoenix Downs anymore, but using one can still stun him momentarily. It’s worth noting that he can be afflicted with Stop or Poison, the latter of which can deal a moderate amount of damage to Gi Nattak over the course of the fight, and isn’t a terrible cast. For his part, Gi Nattak doesn’t use any elemental magics himself nor does he inflict status effects, but the Soul Flames he summons may, depending on your actions (or inaction) be another matter entirely. There are no magic bullets for this fight, and while you can reduce the damage from the odd Fira cast by Soul Flames, you’re largely just going to have to learn how to defeat Gi Nattak fair and square.

Staples like MP Up Materia, Prayer Materia, Precision Defense Materia and Steadfast Block Materia are all welcome and will serve you well (as well as the obligatory HP Up). Item Master Materia may also be worth an equip on Barret, as with it Mega-Potions will heal for up to 2,250 HP, which is probably competitive with Cura and costs no MP - a few of these over the course of the fight can keep Red XIII topped off, even with sloppy play. Aside from that, Poison Materia to debilitate Gi Nattak is marginally useful, while Fortify Materia can be used to apply Shell and/or Protect to reduce incoming damage, although Gi Nattak has a good balance of physical and magical skills, his physical attacks are likely going to cause more damage over the course of the fight. Ice Materia + Magnify Materia is a great equip for dealing with the Soul Flames Gi Nattak summons - one cast can eradicate many of these pests.

Below you’ll find all of Gi Nattak’s moves:

Gi Nattak’s Attacks - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth¶

Spear Combo: Gi Nattak’s spear isn’t just for show, and he’ll use it to express his ire at the living, performing various combos over the course of the fight. These typically deal low to moderate damage individually, but if you get hit by one attack you’ll probably be struck by all subsequent attacks in the chain. These attacks are best blocked to mitigate damage and charge ATB and Red XIII’s Vengeance gauge. Just be wary of Wrathful Lunge, which can follow a combo - this attack hits harder (500+) and must be dodged. Later in the fight Gi Nattak may also finish a combo with Anguished Thrashing, and he’ll gain the ability to shoot beams with his spear strikes.

Wrathful Lunge: After a brief charge up, Gi Nattak will lunge forward and spear a target for significant damage (500~). This attack cannot be blocked, so you’ll need to evade to the side when you see it coming. Often follows a standard spear combo.

Anguished Thrashing: Another spear combo that ends with a powerful downward smash. Once again, your best bet is to block.

Withering Grip A grab attack with surprisingly little warning, characters near Gi Nattak are also drawn closer as this charges up. If you get hit, Gi Nattak will, over the course of time, siphon off around 1,500 HP from the victim and use it to heal himself. To dodge it you need to evade towards Gi Nattak as he lunges, but the camera and the suction effect at the start of the attack can make this very tricky to time. Worst case scenario, switch to Barret, hit Gi Nattak with a bunch of bullets (an Overcharge, if it’s ready) and use the ATB gain tossing Red XIII and Mega-Potion.

Spectral Flames: Gi Nattak conjures several blue-white flames that seek out a target, each dealing moderate magical damage. These are quite hard to avoid, but can be blocked fairly easily.

Phantasmal Scourge: After an incantation, Gi Nattak will summon a host of projectiles to rain down on the battlefield. These aren’t very damaging individually and you can generally avoid them by keeping on the move. It’s also a fine opportunity to get a bunch of free hits in while Gi Nattak casts this and largely remains stationary for the duration of the skill. These magical attacks cannot be blocked, however.

Drain: Gi Nattak will create a greenish cone of energy, leeching the HP of characters inside and transferring the stolen vitality to himself. Get outside of the range of the attack to avoid damage, but note that Gi Nattak will abandon the effort when it becomes clear that it’s not profiting him.

Spirit Drain: Same thing as Drain, but this attack leeches MP.

Crushing Resentment: More area denial than an attack, Gi Nattak will manifest a black orb of ill intent, whereupon it’ll float around the battlefield, compelling you to avoid it.

How to Kill Gi Nattak’s Soul Flames Quickly¶

Aside from being forced to play with only Barret and Red XIII, this is a fairly orthodox fight so far. Gi Nattak can leech HP more than many other bosses, but you really just need to learn what attacks to block and what ones to avoid, using Prayer Materia and Mega-Potions to patch up after mistakes. The lack of elemental weaknesses and limited exploitable debilitations means you’ll largely be focused on the bog standard slog that is trading blows with Gi Nattak. Deal enough damage and Gi Nattak will become pressured, inflict enough stagger and you’ll be able to rack up some big damage against this boss. Gi Nattak can deal out respectable damage, but he doesn’t really hit so hard that you can’t heal up.

That all changes when he summons his Soul Flame minions, however. These will appear twice in the fight, once when Gi Nattak’s HP are reduced to around 75% and a second time when he’s at 50% HP, and on their own they’re not that threatening. They’re generally content to float around, casting Fira at you, but if you allow them to persist they’ll possess a statue and Gi Nattak will use his Execration of the Gi ability, which will inflict a variety of debuffs:

• Halve HP
• Halve MP
• Deplete ATB
• Shrink Battlefield

These will last until Gi Nattak is staggered, and if you just staggered him to reach this this HP threshold, you could be in for some pain. Gi Nattak’s damage output suddenly becomes much more impressive when your HP are halved, and getting caught by one Withering Grip could spell trouble, not to mention it’ll be hard to heal or deal damage if your ATB is constantly draining, and dodging Gi Nattak’s attacks will become more difficult on a smaller battlefield. Best practice is to kill the Soul Flames so they can’t inflict these debuffs - if you can do this reliably, defeating Gi Nattak because much easier.

First, you’ll want to avoid burning through your ATB as Gi Nattak approaches one of his Soul Flame summoning thresholds, as having ATB to burn when the Soul Flames arrives will make it much easier to dispose of them. Once they’re in play, there are a variety of attacks you can use to dispatch them quickly:

• Stardust Ray: This will set Red XIII back two ATB bars, but it’s a potent AoE that’s almost guaranteed to eradicate several Soul Flames. Holding down with Red XIII will cause him to perform an AoE spinning attack, which will charge his ATB quickly when facing so many densely-packed foes.

• Blizzaga + Magnify: If you have two ATB to burn and Ice Materia + Magnify Materia, you can expend a great deal of MP to dust numerous Soul Flames with a devastating Blizzaga barrage.

• Maximum Fury: Soul Flames aren’t very sturdy, and even normal attacks can snuff them out quickly. The more ATB you have, the longer this attack will last and the more enemies it’ll kill, but this is a great use for Barret during this phase - command him to use it and watch as a good number of flying skulls die. Barret even automatically switches targets as they fall! What’s better is you can use Overcharge to gain ATB, which itself is a great way to deal with a few Soul Flames.

Be aggressive, burn your ATB, but wisely, and use your best AoEs or other attacks that can blast through these fragile enemies quickly. When Gi Nattak joins the fight again without any ceremony to perform, you’ll know you’ve done well.

How to Survive Gi Nattak’s Doom Spell - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth¶

While Soul Flames are one of Gi Nattak’s standout gimmicks, they’re not the only nasty trick he can play. When reduced to around 25% HP, Gi Nattak will cast Doom on the party, starting a countdown that, if it reaches 0, will kill all party members. The Safety Bit and Karmic Cowl accessories won’t save you (although the “resist” text will still pop up to rub it in), only defeating Gi Nattak before the fight timer runs out will. You can’t even skip this phase of the fight, as Gi Nattak will become immune to damage if reduced to 15% HP (say, during a stagger phase). Point is, game’s going to get its stuff in, and you have to play along despite any silly pretenses to being an RPG.

The solution to this problem is simple enough - don’t burn your limit break early. Instead hold onto it until after you’re afflicted with Doom and hit Gi Nattak with your limit (ideally limits, if both characters have one), and this should end the fight. A summon will almost certainly charge during the fight, and if you want to make use of them you’ll need to time a summon just before Gi Nattak reaches 25% of his HP to ensure their ultimate attack will hit after Doom is cast. Otherwise, throw the kitchen sink at Gi Nattak; hit him with Bioga to ensure he’s constantly ticking away HP, charge your ATB and spam your best offensive attacks; if you have Time Materia equipped, inflicting Stop on Gi Nattak so you can pile on damage without reprisal - even for a short time - will pay off. The end of this fight is a damage race, but as long as you don’t use up your limit breaks early you should be fine.