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FFVII - Limit Breaks Only Challenge, Part 9: Bottomswell

2,953 views · Published 16 March 2015 · 4:36 · Indexed 31 October 2026

Channel: GarlandTheGreat · 2015 · Gaming

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This is, in all seriousness, one of the biggest obstacles I have faced in any FFVII challenge. I always had options to pass it easily, like leveling up or getting Yuffie, but I didn't want to do any of those things. I am getting Yuffie later, though. Also, this is the kind of video that isn't going to do justice to the difficulty, so reading the description is mandatory.

Waterpolos are your worst enemy here. Unlike Reno's pyramids, there's no way to get rid of them and once someone gets trapped, that character is lost forever. Thankfully, Bottomswell is not as cruel as Reno, as he will not use Waterpolo when there is only one character left.

Bottomswell has three phases. In the initial phase, he uses Tail Attack most of the times and some times Bodyblow, which hits the target with the highest current HP. This phase lasts until you deal at least 625 damage to him. In the second phase, he uses Moonstrike and Bodyblow. One more limit break will now trigger the Waterpolo phase where he uses Waterpolo and Big Wave. Another attack now will bring him back to the first phase, unless you've dealt more than 1250 damage to him. Then it's Waterpolo phase all the way.

When I first got here, Barret was only doing 30 per hit with Ungarmax and I had a lot of trouble dealing enough damage. I first tried to get him as close to 625 damage as possible and then launch Ungarmax to trigger the Moonstrike phase. Then I would charge both Cloud and Barret's limits and launch both to trigger the Waterpolo phase. This would put me at ~1850 damage, which was too little for both Cloud and Barret to be able to finish the battle on their own. I also tried stacking a lot of green materia on Cloud to reduce his HP and make sure one Big Wave would be enough to give him a limit break, but this weakened him too much for the extra limit break at the end to have any effect. Simply put, I tried everything, but no matter what I did, I would be roughly 100 damage short of ending the battle.

Then it occurred to me. I had not paid attention to Barret's strength gain at level ups and it turned out his strength was pretty much as low as it could be at this point. I had no choice. I had to redo the entire challenge up to this point and make sure he got the maximum strength gain et every level up. Once I got back, Barret was suddenly doing 38-39 per hit with Ungarmax, so Bottomswell's days of tyranny would soon be over. You still need a very carefully planned strategy, though.

We begin by having Cloud use Cross-Slash twice and then Ungarmax to trigger Moonstrike. I could have let Cloud attack three times, but then Ungarmax would have triggered Waterpolo and we don't want that to happen just yet. Now wait until he uses Moonstrike on everyone and Bodyblow on Barret, then launch Cross-Slash and Ungarmax again. Here comes the first Waterpolo and it must hit Barret. Yep, this is where the luck kicks in. DO NOT use Healing Wind until after the first Big Wave. Cloud must have full health after this. Second Waterpolo must hit Aerith, and it's now up to Cloud to save the day. There's about 500 damage left to deal at this point and Cloud will get three more limit breaks, which is just enough. Just pray none of the Big Waves go critical and you win. As simple as that.

Btw, I also had to buy new weapons for Cloud and Barret in Kalm. Ungarmax was learned by fighting Devil Rides. I could use Satellite Beam twice per battle, so that's not a lot of extra EXP.

Difficulty: 9/10

Challenge rules:

- The main rule is that you may only ever use Limit Breaks to deal damage and heal in battle. The only other commands you can use are Defend and Change.

- Hypers can be used outside of battle to inflict Fury. Otherwise, you have to overlevel like crazy in Midgar and the challenge will get too easy once you get access to Fury from enemies on the world map. All other items are banned, but they can be sold.

- Materia can be equipped for support, but anything that violates the main rule is banned, like Counter and Sneak Attack combos. You can not use Materia to heal and revive outside battle. Cover is allowed.

- The Fury Ring is banned because it inflicts Berserk. You also have to avoid getting hit with Berserk and Confusion in battle, as it will result in violations of the main rule.

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