What is the best way to pressure enemies, including the tricky Thunderclaw, in FF7 Rebirth?

By Joshua Lamb

Published: Tuesday, 05 March 2024 at 11:47 AM


Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the sequel to 2020’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake, sets players free in a vast open world where they can tackle a variety of missions.

Monster hunting for researcher Chadley is a recurring side quest which means there is a heap of combat to engage in.

Battling enemies in Rebirth is sublime, but it takes practice to hone your skills as each opponent poses different challenges.

The aim of each encounter is to cause the monster you are facing to enter a pressurised state.

From there, if you deal enough damage they will become staggered and, subsequently, highly vulnerable. Learning about your enemy is the best way to identify how best to defeat them.

However, taking on Chadley’s Grasslands Fiend Intel 6 task poses a different combat-based problem altogether. Here, Cloud and co face off against an electric wolf called Thunderclaw that has no weaknesses for you to target.

So, how do you take it out? Let’s take a closer look at how to pressure this beast and kick off your path to victory.

How to pressure enemies in FF7 Rebirth

Cloud in FF7 Rebirth mid combat
Cloud in FF7 Rebirth.
Square Enix

To identify how you can pressurise enemies in FF7 Rebirth, the best way is to use the Assess Materia.

To do this, a member of your combat party must have the Assess Materia equipped. Navigating to the pause menu, you can select Materia and Equipment and then choose one of the empty slots, or simply replace an existing one with Assess.

There are many Materia options to choose from that can grant your chosen character different spells, such as healing themselves or dealing damage with fire and ice.

Once equipped, you will need to attack your enemy until your ATB gauge is full. From there, you can press X and select Abilities before scrolling down and choosing Assess.

This will bring up a report of the enemy you have scanned on the screen which will detail their weaknesses, as well as the spells and attacks they are resistant to. 

On the left side there will be a brief explanation of what you can do to cause your enemy to become pressured. Often, this involves using particular attacks against them or timing dodges accurately to avoid them.

After they become pressured, bombard them with assaults to make them staggered – which leaves them even more vulnerable to damage.