Table of Contents
| Image | Name | Notes | Weakness | Resistance | Sigils |
 | Varghidpolis | Immunities: None Inflicts stun with Screech. Physical attacks are effective against this enemy. | |||
 | Trypapolis | Immunities: Poison / Darkness / Silence / Stun / Fatigue / Fog Inflicts stun with Screech. Deals damage proportionate to the target's current HP with Dance of Terror and Dance of Despair. Physical attacks are effective against this enemy. | |||
 | Custom Sweeper | Immunities: Poison / Darkness / Silence / Fatigue / Fog Uses many physical attacks. Inflicts poison with Poison Blast. Uses Shield Deployment when HP falls below a certain amount, and interrupting it will inflict DEF Down. Magic attacks are effective against this enemy. | Lightning |  | |
 | Death Machine | Immunities: Poison / Darkness / Silence / Fatigue / Fog Uses many physical attacks including the frequent use of the powerful fire-element physical attack Fire Blast. Magic attacks are effective against this enemy. | Lightning | ||
 | Assault Scorpion | Immunities: Poison / Darkness / Silence / Fatigue / Fog / PDEF Down / MDEF Down Grants self MATK Up with Increase Power, and subsequently uses the powerful multi-target magic attack Tail Laser A. Inflicts poison with Poison Missiles. | None | Fire | |
 | Queen Grashtrike | Immunities: Poison / Darkness / Fatigue Inflicts poison with Poison Sting and DEF Down and fatigue with Royal Webbing. | Ice | | |
 | Queen Grashtrike | Immunities: Poison / Darkness / Fatigue Inflicts poison with Poison Sting. When HP falls below a certain amount or allies are defeated, grants self DEF Up with Vulcanize. | Ice | ||
 | Specimen H0512 | Immunities: Poison / Darkness / Stun / Fatigue Uses many physical attacks. Inflicts poison on all targets with Mako Expulsion. When HP falls below a certain amount, calls for allies with Regurgitate. Physical attacks and multi-target attacks are effective against this enemy. |  | ||
 | Darkstar | Immunities: Poison / Darkness / Silence / Stun / Fatigue / Fog Uses many abilities to support Rufus, such as Curaga to restore his HP. Instead of focusing on Rufus, defeating Darkstar first is an effective strategy. | Ice | ||
 | Rufus | Immunities: Poison / Darkness / Silence / Stun / Fatigue / Fog Uses many physical attacks. Inflicts DEF Down with Tread Softly and fatigue with Up in Smoke. Physical attacks are effective against this enemy. | |
Map:
Permanent Rewards:
- 200 Blue Crystals
- 5 Synth Catalyst Pieces (Day)
- 5 Synth Catalyst Pieces (Night)
Team Building Guide:
This dungeon is filled with enemies that inflict poison, so it's best to have one character equipped with the Poison Heal Materia, preferably your healer. The final boss, Reno, doesn't have any weaknesses, so feel free to bring any elemental weapon you want. However, the trace abilities lean towards fire and ice boosts, so it would be best to bring those elements since some of the symbol enemies are also weak to them. He is also weak to physical attacks, so bringing physical attackers is better than mages. Also, bring Heal Fatigue Materia, Barrier, Defaith, Triangle Ruin Materia, and some way to debuff physical defense.
For my party, I brought Cloud equipped with Zidane's sword for non-elemental physical damage and his lightning sword in the offhand to deal with the Death Machine and Custom Sweeper at the start of the dungeon. He was my main physical damage dealer and sigil breaker.
For my healer, I brought Tifa equipped with Lifeguard Wraps and Leather Gloves specifically for breaking physical attacks. The dungeon featured numerous physical attackers, so her setup proved immensely helpful. Additionally, her limit break ability to break both physical and magical defense came in handy, particularly against Reno, who buffs his own physical defense.
Lastly, I brought Barret for further physical defense breaking and to provide a physical defense buff. He also served as my secondary physical damage dealer.
Walkthrough:
From the starting point, head south, then east, and finally north to reach the console. Operate it to open one of the doors on the north side, granting access to a respawning chest.
Assault Scorpion
Now, fight the Assault Scorpion located at the west entrance. Skip the Custom Sweeper for now, as they can be a bit challenging to deal with as a first boss. The Assault Scorpion immediately targets one of your party members with a poison missile at the start of the battle. Prepare to remove that status effect and proceed to gradually reduce its health. Additionally, debuff its magical attack whenever it buffs itself. Watch out for its area-of-effect tail laser. If you can survive that, you'll eventually emerge victorious. You'll get to choose among these Trance abilities. Pick whichever you like, but I suggest acquiring the physical attack boosts.
Custom Sweeper
Head north and activate the console to open another door toward the northeast. Ascend the stairs and open the chest to discover 4 x Special Supplements and 6 x Potions. Proceed to use them to heal up before engaging in combat against the Custom Sweeper.
Handle the left and right Custom Sweepers first as they have lower health. If you've brought Ramuh, utilize his area-of-effect limit break to defeat them in a single hit. The Custom Sweeper inflicts area-of-effect poison, so ensure you reserve some ATB bars to cure each unit individually. Maintain your health to withstand its stomping attacks. Additionally, consider debuffing its physical attack to increase your survivability.
You can choose among the Trance abilities here. I suggest obtaining the Poison Resist if you want to avoid dealing with poison debuffs, but it does come with a major drawback of decreasing attack damage by 20%. Alternatively, you can select the Ice Potency Boost.
Queen Grashtrike
Head north and open the chest. You may encounter three Varghidpolis here, so be cautious as they can deal substantial damage to your party. Ensure you keep your HP up. The chest contains 6 ethers and 4 blizzard cocktails. Proceed to the next door and unlock the blue chest, which holds 5 Synth Catalyst Pieces (Night). Move towards the southeast to access another chest. There might be a Trypapolis here, which also inflicts significant area-of-effect damage, so maintain high HP. Inside the chest, you'll find 3 Summon Charges and 5 Supplements. Replenish your maximum HP and head toward the middle room to confront the Queen Grashtrikes.
They are weak to ice, so if you brought Shiva, unleash her area-of-effect limit break against them. The lesser queens should go down in one hit; if not, clear them quickly. The Queen will poison one of your units, so prioritize healing them. If you've chosen the anti-poison Trance ability, you won't have to worry about being poisoned anymore since the party will be 100% resistant to poison.
Attack her with ice abilities and debuff her physical attack. Address the fatigue status and the defense debuffs, and you should be able to survive the encounter.
You can select from these Trance abilities: I suggest choosing the defense buffs since magic attack boosts won't significantly aid us against the other symbol enemies.
Specimen H0512
Return to the stairs and ascend to the 2nd floor. You might encounter two Trypapolises here, so ensure your HP is topped up. You wouldn't want to fall in a random encounter. Go northwest and collect the shiny object containing 200 blue crystals. Head back south and then east to confront the Specimen H0512. It doesn't possess any weaknesses but isn't resistant to ice, so you can use a Blizzard Cocktail here for additional damage if needed. This foe isn't as challenging as the others, just make sure to maintain high HP.
You can choose from these Trance abilities: I suggest selecting the Ice Potency Boost again.
Pick up the two chests on either side for a tent and 5 Synth Catalyst Pieces (Day).
Rufus and Darkstar
The next battle is the final one against Rufus and Darkstar. Focus on defeating the Darkstar first using ice attacks and Shiva to prevent it from inflicting chip damage to your party. Debuff Rufus's physical attack and be cautious of his area-of-effect attacks. Ensure your HP remains high and also debuff his physical defense when he buffs himself. It will be a challenging battle since he doesn't possess any weaknesses. Concentrate on surviving his physical assaults, staggering him, and you should be able to defeat him.
Conclusion
Here you have it, a guide to Shinra Building - Very Hard. Stay tuned to Evercrisis.gg for more Ever Crisis content!
