Minerva (boss)

Minerva is a superboss in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, and the most powerful boss. She is faced at the bottom of the Great Cavern of Wonders in a mission.
==Stats==
==Battle==
Minerva is level 100 and has 10,000,000 HP and 999,999 MP. She uses non-elemental attacks, the strongest being Judgment Arrow, a cinematic attack that greatly depletes the player's HP, takes away their MP and AP and nullifies buffs (including Raise).
Minerva's other attacks include Flash Slash, a twofold barrage of physical attacks; Photon Feather, a ranged barrage of attacks that can hone in on Zack; Krysta, a delayed attack that freezes Zack before damaging him if it makes contact; Thor's Hammer, which is executed quickly; Crimson Flare, which summons a slow but powerful fireball that follows Zack for a period of time; and Ultima, which is powerful enough to one-shot Zack. All of these attacks can be dodged, but have specific timings. Minerva can also heal herself with Blessing Light and grant herself Barrier, MBarrier, and Invincible for 20 seconds with Anti-Material, Anti-Magic, and Absolute Ward respectively. When Minerva's HP wanes, she will attack more often, often using moves consecutively.
Once Minerva is defeated, the player obtains the accessory Divine Slayer, which increases HP, MP and AP by +100%, and increases all stats +50, breaks the HP, MP, AP, and damage limits, and gives Auto-Libra.
===Strategy===
====Costly Punch method====
Zack will need to be able to break the damage limit. One strategy is to use a Costly Punch Materia, which will deal a maximum of 99,999 damage; if the player only uses Costly Punch, it will take 101 hits to win. Other recommended materia to equip include a Full Cure/Curaga, as well as Dash and/or any Jump materia to aid in dodging. Phoenix Downs, Elixirs, Somas, and Ethers may need to be used. Minerva's buffs can also be dispelled with Dispel or Dispel Blade.
It would be recommended that as soon as the player sees Judgment Arrow, they switch to Ether, and select it so that Zack can restore his MP and use Full Cure. It is also advised to have Zack equipped with a Phoenix Down, and if he uses that one, Mug more from Minerva. Even with a full set of Genji equipment, Ziedrich, and materia with high stat boosts, this fight can be very difficult.
The player should be aware of the attacks that Minerva throws at Zack and guard only if dodge rolling is not possible. The player should not recklessly use Costly Punch, due to the long animation. If Zack has under 3/4 of his max HP, the player should be prepared to heal directly after Minerva uses Krysta. It also helps to interrupt the Ultima casting.
Equipping the SP Master is recommended, as it will reduce the damage and increase damage considerably (approximately doubles Zack's damage output and reduces damage taken to 0, if mastered) by spending Soldier Points. A good equipment setup is Ziedrich, Genji Armor, Genji Glove, and Genji Shield or Protect Ring and materia that boost Strength, Vitality, Spirit, and HP to the maximum. With the stats and equipment, if Zack guards, Minerva's attacks will cause between 100 and 7,000 damage. One should be sure to have at least 20 million SP.
The player should have at least 10 million SP for SP Master. SP Master materia can be stolen from Abyss Worms in Mission 9-6-1. SP can be farmed by purchasing Dualcast Materia from the Net Shop Shade and converting them, though additional SP Master materia can be converted as well. If playing on Hard Mode, an alternate and easier method is using Materia Fusion and 99 Phoenix Downs to create a Curaga Materia with +999% HP stat (Curaga + Libra + Fat Chocobo Feather to convert the attached stat to HP and then Curaga + Libra + 99 Phoenix Downs to max out the HP stat) and then converting it to SP. This Curaga Materia takes approximately 1 million SP to make, but when converted, grants 2 million SP.
====Gil Toss method====
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Gil Toss deals over 99,999 damage, and is faster to execute than Costly Punch or Hammer Punch. The player can keep using it as fast as possible until Minerva dies as long as they have enough gil. The player can equip one Gil Toss materia and fill the rest of the slots with SP Master materia. It is not necessary for any of the materia to be mastered. Some of the information of the Costly Punch method of beating Minerva still applies here, such as having an item equipped to break the damage limit. The Gil Toss materia should also be mastered.
The player should have at least 60 million gil. Gil Toss is a reward in Mission 4-4-4, and it can also be retrieved in a treasure chest in Missions 7-4-6, 8-6-3, and 9-5-3. It can also be stolen from Scissor Devil, a random enemy in Missions 9-5-2 and 9-5-3 and created via Materia Fusion by upgrading from Mug or Smart Consumer. The player can farm gil by obtaining the rare steal of Gold Rolling Pin x4 from the Holy Tonberry boss in Mission 9-6-2.
Recommended equipment is the Genji Helm (bought from the Network Shade Shop for 1,000,000 Gil) and the Genji Glove (found in a chest in Mission 9-6-4). The rest of the equipment is up to the player's preference, although most recommendations use the Ziedrich (halves all elemental attacks received, ATK +100, VIT+100, MAG+100, SPR+100, found in a chest at the end of a path in mission 9-5-6) and the Protect Ring (keeps Barrier and MBarrier active, bought from Mythril Mine Trading for 30,000 gil, or as a reward for completing Missions 7-6-2, 9-3-2 or 9-5-3), or using some other combination of equipment, but the Genji Glove and Genji Helm are standard.
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade===
==Behind the scenes==
The hardest group of missions becomes available early in the game, right after Zack is promoted to a SOLDIER 1st Class, thus it is possible to do these missions before receiving the Buster Sword, especially if the player is playing in New Game Plus. In the original PlayStation Portable release, the Minerva battle starts off with a cutscene showing Zack with the Buster Sword even when it has not been obtained yet, and because the cutscene transfers directly into the battle, the Buster Sword remains on Zack for the battle. However, wielding different weapons is merely cosmetic in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, so it will not affect anything outside the sword's appearance. This is no longer the case in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion.
Reunion also modified the Minerva fight, with Judgment Arrow dealing 75,000 fixed damage to Zack, which can be weakened as with any other cinematic enemy ability in this release. Zack also cannot guard against Ultima spells, though in Normal Mode, Minerva's will deal 55,555 fixed damage and increase by 11,111 every time Zack is damaged by it. In Hard Mode, Minerva's HP is increased from the original 20,000,000 HP to a new total of 77,777,777 HP. Additionally, Judgement Arrow deals 99,999 damage, Flash Slash can dispel status effects, and Ultima consistently deals 99,999 damage. Minerva also attacks more often from the beginning of the fight. In this version, Libra is capable of displaying Minerva's staggering HP and MP. The player also cannot farm gil as effectively by stealing 99 Phoenix Downs and selling them at any shop, as the mission must be completed to retain any spoils.
The golden wheel with angel wings sprouting out on Minerva back's superficially resembles the dharmachakra, a widespread symbol in Buddhism, often used as a decoration in temples, statues, and inscriptions, used to represent the Buddha's Dharma (Buddha's teaching and the universal moral order), Gautama Buddha himself, and the walking of the path to enlightenment. Gautama Buddha is said to have set the "wheel of dharma" in motion when he delivered his first sermon, and the turning of the wheel signifies change with universal consequences.
==Gallery==
CCFFVII Minerva Artwork.png|Artwork.
Minerva boss2.jpg
Minerva boss3.jpg
Minerva boss4.jpg|Minerva and Zack.
VIICC Anti-Material.jpg|Anti-Material.
VIICC Blessed Light.jpg|Blessed Light.
VIICC Crimson Flare.jpg|Crimson Flare.
VIICC Flash Slash.jpg|Flash Slash.
VIICC Krysta.jpg|Krysta.
VIICC Photon Feather.jpg|Photon Feather.
VIICC Thor's Hammer.jpg|Thor's Hammer.
Category:Bosses in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Category:Superbosses