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Combat is incredibly nuanced in Square Enix’s action-RPG follow-up, and there are a lot of distinct mechanics that’ll prove super useful. Chief among them is knowing how to Pressure and Stagger enemies in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. While on the surface it may seem straightforward, knowing the ins and outs of this strategy is critical to your ongoing success.
How to Pressure and Stagger an Enemy
In essence, once you’ve dealt enough damage to an enemy, this will put them into a Pressured state. On top of this, exploiting an adversary’s elemental weakness will help speed this process up. In other words, once you dole out enough damage or inflict enough elemental damage that the enemy is weak against, this will initiate a state known as Pressure.
Once the enemy is in a Pressured state, you’re going to want to go ham on the enemy — by using your magic or your abilities — in a bid to fill its Stagger gauge. This is the orange bar located underneath its health bar. The trick with identifying an enemy’s elemental weakness is by using the Assess ability. This reveals a foe’s specific weakness.
It’s important to note that certain abilities will help to quickly fill up the Stagger gauge. For example: Cloud’s Focused Thrust, Barret’s Focused Shot, and Tifa’s Focused Strike will be super effective on an enemy that’s in a Pressured state. Once the Stagger gauge has been filled, you’ll initiate your foe’s Stagger state.
What Do You Do When an Enemy Is Staggered?
When an enemy has been Staggered, it will be unable to attack you and will be vulnerable to damage. Specifically, Staggered enemies are particularly susceptible to unique abilities (these can be used by pressing the Triangle button) as they quickly fill your ATB gauge. Once your ATB gauge is full, you can use an ATB charge to wreak havoc on your enemy and finish them off with a devastating attack.
And with that, we conclude our guide on how to Pressure and Stagger enemies in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. For more on the epic RPG sequel, feel free to check out The Nerd Stash’s walkthrough of the first couple of hours of the game down below.
