FF7 Rebirth’s Golden Saucer has a treasure trove of minigames for you to explore, but some of them are harder than others. One is definitely the Musclehead Colosseum, which may be harder or not, depending on who you take with you into the fray.
How to win all the Musclehead Colosseum battles in FF7 Rebirth
A thing you should remember is that you’renot required to do any of these colosseum battles now. you may just push the main story forward and take them on with somebody else later in the game. In fact, I highly recommend you do this if you’re struggling.
Two Person Bout (Easy)
I’ll beCloud-centric with my advice for the first two challenges. After all, I’m not sure which partner you have with you during your first visit, and this might be a challenge you want to prove to yourself that you’re able to do at this point—and that’s fine!
The third and fourth challenges are 11 levels above the first two. That’s your sign to come back for them later.
The Zoomies
Are the Flame Whorls killing Cloud before he can move? No problem! Grab yourElemental Materiaand slap it into Cloud’sbracer. Link it with your Fire Materia. At level 2, you’re already immune to Fire Damage but even halved isn’t bad.
All the enemies are weak to Wind. EquipEnemy Skillon Cloud for access toSonic Boom, a Wind attack that also boosts his ATK/Magic ATK stat. Take full advantage ofCloud’s long distance slashes. Keep a steady distance away, dodge/roll, and press Square. It’ll create an air slice attack and keep you away from danger.
Once your ATB is charged, jump into the fray with aTriple Slash. It’s a skill that hits three separate enemies if it can. And it works for airborne ones too! This should throw those enemies off foot and cancel whatever attack they were preparing. Finish off the ones you can.
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In the second round, you’ll be up against J-Unit Sweepers, which are much easier to beat than the Lavalisks. There are only two of them, and both are weak to Lightning. Cast Sonic Boom for the self-buff, and be sure you watch out for their attacks.
Devil-May-Care Desperados
Two words: Firebolt Blade. It’s one of Cloud’s Folio-unlockable abilities that lets him release a small fire shot and imbue his own weapon with the element. Hack those bandits into defeat after you do this and move on to the next round.
The White Mousse is not a hard monster to defeat if you know how it functions. It’s weak to magic but absorbs whatever last element you hurled at it.Pick two materia elements and cast those in alternating order.Once the White Mousse is pressured, get Cloud or a partner to spam their abilities on it so it staggers quickly.
Exemplary Exterminators
Now, we get to the hard part of the Musclehead Colosseum. Exemplary Exterminators is truly an annoying challenge, especially in the first round. You need to battlefour Junon Flametroopers and four Daemonic Entitiesfor the first round and aQuetzalcoatlin the second.
Luckily, all monsters in the first round are weak to ice. Since I battled this at level 29 while using theLightning Punch Tifa build, increase her first ATB and immediately castPlasma Discharge. Having Plasma Discharge procs willincrease their stagger barsas long as they get hit by the A.O.E. damage.
Also, you’ll need totarget the four Junon Flametroopersand attempt to quickly eliminate them as soon as possible as their flames hurt a lot, especially when you’re severely under-leveled me. For Cloud, have himcast Triple Slashevery time he gets an ATB up.
Once the Junon Flametroopers are done, kill the rest of theDaemonic Entitiesas they’re not that difficult as long as you’reblocking or perfect blockingtheir attacks. If you’re having a very rough time with this round,summon Shivato help you manage the fight better.
Now that the most difficult part of the challenge is done, you’ll face theQuetzalcoatlfor the second round. The Quetzalcoatl is one of the most enjoyable bosses I’ve ever encountered, and it’s fairly easy to fight if you knowhow to pressure it.
Since I used Tifa, I equipped theElemental + Fire and Ice materiaon herKaiser Knuckles. This allows Tifa to continuously dealIce elemental damagewith her normal attacks, and with thePlasma Discharge procs, you’ll pressure the Quetzalcoatl in no time.
Remember to useUnbridled Strength two timesandfully recharge Tifa’s ATBbefore you stagger Quetzalcoatl so you can inflict as much stagger multiplier as possible. While the Quetzalcoatl is staggered, it’s the perfect opportunity to bust out Tifa and Cloud’sRelentless RushSynergy Abilityto furtherincrease the stagger multiplierandextend the stagger time.
Ghoulish Delights
Ghoulish Delights is another high-level challenge, which recommends your party to be at leastlevel 40. For the first round, you’ll fightfour Crawlers and four Grassland Wolves. On the second, you’ll fight the malevolentMindflayer.
This fight is a tad bit easier than the Exemplary Exterminators as long as you bringElemental Materia + Fire and Ice. Of course, since I had the same setup as the previous challenge, I still have myPlasma Discharge procs.
For the first round, use Tifa and set her up forPlasma Discharge. As Cloud, your goal is to trim the Crawlers as they’reweak to fire. Hence,Firebolt Bladeis the key. Tifa will be able to quickly dispose of the Grassland Wolves as they arevulnerable to ice.
Thesecond roundis more manageable but still difficult since Mindflayer’s attacks hit like a truck. The key to cheese the Mindflayer is by usingSynergy Abilities. The best way to quickly charge Synergy Abilities is by usingweapon abilities.
I recommendCloud’s Focused Thrustfor added pressure and a point in hissynergy,and as for Tifa,Unbridled StrengthorFocused Strike.Once you have two bars of synergy on both of them, use their Synergy Ability calledSynchro Cyclone.
Synchro Cyclone will grant youunlimited MPfor a limited time, so you can use this as an advantage toheal or buffyour party. Repeat until you stagger the Mindflayer, and unleash Tifa’sUnbridled Strength stacksto increase the stagger multiplier. If you have any synergy points left during the staggered phase of Mindflayer, useRelentless Rushfor more damage!
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Six Person Bout (Easy)
Once you have Cait Sith with you, you’ll unlock the Six Person Bout in the Musclehead Colosseum. Here, you enter two battles with two separate teams. Be sure you have abalanced compositionwithat least one healer on each team.
The Uncouth
This challenge should give you no trouble. The first one is arguably harder, so put Cloud there and spam Triple Slash when given the opportunity. Keep a safe distance away and dodge + basic attack to perform long-distance air slashes. Even without exploiting their (Ice) weakness, they show go down quickly.
For the second round, they’re just a group of bandits! Tifa and Omnistrike can very likely defeat each in one hit. You can also use Red XIII here for his AoE attacks.
The Befouled
It’s a little easy to get overwhelmed by the Sandhogs, so just, again, keep a safe distance and deal with damage from afar. A neat trick I did her was useYuffie. I threw her shuriken and dodged, Ninjutsu-d, dodged, Ninjutsu-d repeatedly. She’s fast enough to pull off a cheat win like that.
The next round, with flans, is whereAerithshines. Arm her with anything that can let her cast Fire/Firaga (either the Fire Earrings or a three-star Fire Materia). Cast anArcaneWard, build ATB, and have her blast Firaga. Try and control your other characters and have them continuously attack the enemies to draw the aggro away from Aerith.
Peas in a Pod
This is another easy challenge to complete once you have mastered your proper party composition. The first round consists ofone Saberhawkandthree Fleetwing enemies, while the second round hastwo Shriekersandtwo Elite Security Officer.
I recommend puttingBarret or Aerithon the first team andCloudon the second. For my run, I went with the standardLightning Tifa buildand usedLeaping Striketo close the gap with the flying enemies. I always kept an ATB gauge ready at all times so I could dodge any enemy attack withFocused Striketo massively increase their stagger gauge.
For the second round, Cloud is the best option since you can use hisPrime Mode(i.e. enhanced Punisher Mode) to completely decimate theShriekerswhile they are whirling their arms around. The two Elite Security Officers are weak tofire, so you can useYuffie’s Fire Ninjutsuto quickly dispose of them.
Scratch That
This challenge is a bit more difficult than the first two, as it has an enemywithout a weakness, an enemy whomostly blocks attacks, and another that only has aspecific vulnerability window. Round 1 consists of fourExperimental Varghidpolis, and Round 2 has oneShoalopodand twoCrown Lances.
For the first round, I recommend using Cloud. The trick to fighting the Experimental Varghidpolis is toquickly eliminate them. Their numbers may overwhelm you, especially when they use the move Screech. Using Cloud, consistentlycast Triple Slash, and when you see an enemy with half an HP left,use Braverto trim their numbers down.
The second round is arguably the most frustrating during my playthrough sinceShoalopodcan consistently block attacks, and theCrown Lancecan dodge through most of your attacks if you don’t wait for the right time to strike. Both enemies areweak to fire, so I recommend a spellcaster likeAerithto quickly dispose of the two Crown Lances first, then the Shoalopod last.
Match Made in Pain
Match Made in Pain is an all-around “fun” challenge for me. The first round involves 1ZuandCockatrice, while the second round has aBagnadranaand twoDeath Claws. Zu is weak toWind, Cockatrice toFire, and Bagnadrana toIce.
For the first round, the easiest way to eliminate Zu is to use the Enemy Skill Sonic Boom. Afterward, you may focus on the Cockatrice with fire attacks or, alternatively, use anElemental + Fire materia.
The second round is trickier than the first. TheBagnadranaworks similarly to the Shoalopods as they only receive full damage in the frontal area. I suggest youtake out the two Death Clawsimmediately, as they can pose a huge threat if you have noSafety Bitequipped for your party members. After taking care of the Death Claws, useIce attacksto eliminate the Bagnadrana.
League of Reprobates
League of Reprobates is among the most annoying challenges I’ve faced so far. It includesBurt and Deathwheelin the first round andBarnaclaw and Tonaduin the second.
For both rounds, I suggest you useTifa on one teamandYuffie on the other. In the first round, eliminateBurtas early as possible. He isweak to fire, so any fire attacks from Aerith or Yuffie will quickly take him down. For the Deathwheel, avoid trying to chase it down while it’s moving; wait for it to halt, and unleash either Fire, Ice, or Wind attacks.
The second round is a bit more manageable, as you only need to focus onTonadu. Tonadu is weak towind, so Tifa with theEnemy Skill Sonic Boomis still very viable. I recommend usingTifa’s synergy skill, where her allies throw her up in the air to close up on Tonadu. Lastly, useFire attackson theBarnaclawonce it is in itsDefensive Stance.
Pecking Order
Pecking Order includes several bird-like enemies, such as Levrikon and Tonadu. In the second round, you’ll needfire and ice attacks on Levrikonandwind attacks on Tonadu.
The first round is straightforward, as you only need to fight three Levrikons. I suggest trimming the numbers down with Cloud’sTriple Slash, Firebolt Blade, and Prime Mode, as Levrikons primarily deal with physical attacks.
For the second round, I suggest using Tifa or Yuffie. I usedTifafor my run and mainly fought the Tonadus in the air. I dodge their attacks usingTifa’s Focused Strike, as it has a dodge animation prior to the strike, which also increasesTonadu’s stagger bar.
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Access Denied
This challenge is the most difficult I’ve faced in the Musclehead Colosseum so far. In it, you’ll fighttwo Mystic Dragonsin the first round andtwo Modded Sweepersin the second. So, the challenge includes two boss fights per round.
For the first round, I recommend usingTifa with Sonic Boom. Since Mystic Dragons tend to fly higher in the air when pressured,Tifa is your best aerial combat optionfor them. In aerial fights, you’ll want to utilizeTifa’s Focused Striketo quickly stagger the Mystic Dragons and bring them down.
The second round is very tough as each Modded Sweeper hastwo arms and a main bodyto target. You can useYuffie with Lightning Ninjutsufor this fight, as one of herFolio Nodesallows her to deal more damage tospecific partsof an enemy. You can also use theRamuh Summoning Materiato quickly take out one of the Modded Sweepers.
For more help withFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, take a look atBest Synergy Skills and Abilities in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthhere at Pro Game Guides.
