This guide is an explanation on how to defeat Odin in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the hit sequel to 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, using a setup centered around the Disempowerment Materia. Even if you haven’t completed the story yet, you’ve probably already tried taking on some of the summon creatures through Chadley’s virtual reality combat simulator by now to obtain their respective materias. Perhaps you found them easy, laying them to waste one by one, but things sure did take a quick turn once you challenged Odin, didn’t they?
The problem with Odin is that he has a unique move – one that can one-shot your entire party at the same time. You can max out your defensive stats all you want, you can use the Steelskin ability with Barret to your heart’s content, pump him up with HP UP Materia, and spam him with protective magic, but Odin’s Zantetsuken move will slice through him like a hot knife through snow, leaving little hope for the rest of your squad as he’s easily the most tanky character.
Adding to the trouble is that a headstrong approach to fighting Odin means that he’ll throw Zantetsuken out early in the battle before you can even get your bearings straight! This guide will not only help you neuter his most powerful move, but it will show you how to defeat Odin entirely.
Now, don’t get it twisted – Odin is nowhere near the hardest challenge in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. However, beating him is the first step to unlocking the truly hard battles in the game, which include Odin and Alexander together, Gilgamesh, and others, as well as cool new materia. The first thing to mention about the Odin battle is that before he uses Zantetsuken, he sounds out Gjallarhorn’s Warning, a signal letting you know the end is nigh.
This warning call only triggers if he’s hit you enough times, meaning that dodging his attacks is a crucial component of winning. But that’s not all – using the Assess Materia, you can identify his weaknesses and even better, how to avoid getting hit by Zantetsuken altogether. The key properties that are unveiled is that Odin is particularly susceptible to detrimental status effects and is easily pressured by ATB attacks. This means that with the right materia and set up, Odin can be defeated without you ever having to worry about being one-shotted.
Want more Final Fantasy VII Rebirth articles, including guides on how to maximize Synergy Materia as well as the best places to grind up your level and materia? Check out these other pieces on KeenGamer:
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | How to Use and Maximize Synergy Materia
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | The Best Spot For Grinding EXP and AP
Odin’s Assessment screen.
The Goal
Your goal here is to make sure that Odin never sounds Gjallarhorn’s Warning, and if he does, you have just a few seconds to react and pressure him before he casts Zantetsuken. There are four efficient things you can do to keep Odin on his backfoot – cast poison on him, cast debrave on him, block his strikes, and slam him with your go-to ATB attacks. The Disempowerment Materia, which lets you cast Debrave and Defaith to lower an enemy’s attack and magic attack power, is the MVP of the fight. It is Odin’s bane.
Not only does it apply heavy pressure to him, making sure he doesn’t sound Gjallarhorn’s Warning, it makes it so that even his hardest hits – other than Zantetsuken – don’t hurt that much. However, it is important to once again bring up that Odin will only sound Gjallarjorn’s Warning if he’s hit you with a few attacks consecutively, so learning his patterns and dodging accordingly is key – you can’t “tank” your way through. Once you figure out how to take Zantetsuken out of the picture and reduce Odin to a normal fight you’re accustomed to, you’ll find he’s not that tough.
The Setup
For the purposes of this fight, I recommend using a party of Cloud, Yuffie, and Aerith, the latter being the most important as she will wield the Disempowerment Materia. Furthermore, this guide assumes all materia is maxed out – if you find that your materia is too weak, you can try linking some of them to the Level Boost Materia, though obviously this won’t work for orbs you need to attach to support materia.
For Aerith, I recommend a materia setup that looks something like this, if you have enough slots:
- Magic Focus Materia linked with Disempowerment Materia
- Magic Efficiency Materia linked with Disempowerment Materia
- Magnify Materia linked Healing Materia
- First Strike Materia
- ATB Boost Materia
- Magic Up Materia
I know it’s a lot, but she’s the centerpiece of this fight. If you don’t have enough materia slots and need to omit any, the Magic Efficiency and second Disempowerment can be your first cuts. But it is very important to have the Magic Up orb equipped to Aerith while also having the Magic Focus Materia linked with the Disempowerment Materia. Your role with Aerith, other than of course healing, is to keep Odin constantly trapped in a state of Debrave and Defaith. To start off the fight, I recommend activating ATB boost so you have two full gauges, using one to cast a Debrave on Odin and the other to cast a magnified Regen on your entire party. Here’s what a good start would look like:
For Cloud, I recommend:
- Elemental Materia linked to Fire and Ice Materia in the weapon slot
- Strength Up Materia
- Speed Up Materia
- Vitality Up Materia
- Chakra Materia
- Poison Materia
Your role with Cloud – who will be your party leader – is primarily to lay the beatdown, using ATB attacks and Poison to keep up the pressure on Odin. In this battle, Cloud will be your workhorse, afflicting the most amount of damage. Your goal with Cloud is to be mixing it up between Triple Slash, Disorder, and Poison spells. Guarding and dodging is key here – remember, if you take too many hits, Odin will sound Gjallarhorn’s Warning.
Moving on to Yuffie, her setup should include:
- Synergy Materia linked with Poison Materia
- First Strike Materia
- ATB Boost Materia
- Healing Materia
- Chakra Materia
The key with Yuffie is to use the ability skill Doppleganger as quickly as possible. The ATB Boost and First Strike Materia will make this possible as soon as the battle starts. Doppleganger clones Yuffie and lets both her and her copy cast a free spell of Poison on Odin anytime Cloud uses an ATB gauge to attack.
The Disempowerment Materia is your key to victory against Odin.
.The combination of Aerith’s powered up Debrave/Defaith, Cloud’s ATBs, and Yuffie’s doubled up Poison should generally create enough pressure to ensure that you’ll avoid being on the receiving end of a battle-ending Zantetsuken. One thing to note: casting Bioga with Cloud and having Yuffie follow it up with two Poison spells via the Synergy Materia can pressure Odin a lot in a short amount of time if you ever need it.
Emergency Situation
Though rare if this strategy is deployed, you may ultimately still find yourself in a situation where Odin does indeed get to cast Zantetsuken, whether he hit you too many times back to back to build up his meter or you ran out of ATB to apply consistent pressure, it can be possible. However, this doesn’t necessarily have to spell the end. There are two options in this case – the first only viable for those who have already unlocked the one-on-one battle mode against summons, meaning they’ve already conquered Odin in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, so it’s a bit moot.
They have the option of having the Reraise Materia equipped, which automatically revives whoever it is equipped to once they reach zero HP. However, those trying to beat Odin for the first time have a viable option as well – equipping the entire party with Revival Earrings as an accessory, which would also automatically raise them from death in case Zantetsuken ever goes off, just like the above video. Follow this up with Aerith’s limit breaker or a magnified Curaga, and you’ve basically started the fight fresh.
