How to defeat The Huntsman mini-boss in Final Fantasy VII Remake

During the second chapter of Final Fantasy VII Remake, as you begin to make your way around sector 8 of Midgar after completing the first mission to destroy Reactor 1, you will encounter several waves of Shinra’s guards. While the guards themselves don’t pack a huge punch, if you’re playing on Normal or Hard, it can be a challenge to keep your health up without the use of a healthy dose of potions.

There’s also an introduction of a few more powerful enemies, including Grenadiers, who are squishy but do a lot of damage, and Riot Soldiers, who use a riot shield and ultimately are difficult to take out from in front of them.

However, just before you escape from the clutches of the Shinra guards on the train, you will have to take on The Huntsman, a mini-boss that has a high amount of health and does some pretty big damage. Moreover, he looks like a much beefier Riot soldier, so getting through his defenses can be a challenge.

There are ways to take down The Huntsman though. Like most of the Shinra guards, he’s susceptible to Fire damage, meaning that if Cloud is holding the Fire materia, this will be your main outlet for damage. However, this doesn’t work throughout the fight as you will not always have access to the ATB meter. Thankfully, The Huntsman is a big guy, so he’s not got the best turning circle. With this in mind, make sure you are out in plenty of space, and then wait until he starts to taunt you. This is your opportunity to shuffle around him and pummel him from behind. 

Hit him hard enough and you should be able to stagger him. This is when you want to unleash Punisher Mode to hit him as hard as you can. Keep repeating this and you should be able to take him down with minimal damage taken. Just be careful of him charging at you as this can incapacitate you for a few seconds.