Emerald Weapon (Final Fantasy VII)

Emerald Weapon is an optional superboss in the North American, PAL and International versions, and one of the toughest of the five Weapons (the others are Ultimate, Diamond, Ruby, and the non-battled Sapphire). Emerald Weapon is released when Sephiroth summons Meteor; Weapons are awakened when the Planet is under grave threat, to work as its protectors. Emerald Weapon is one of the two superbosses in the game, along with Ruby Weapon.

Emerald Weapon is located at the Bottom of the Sea, accessible by the submarine. A battle will ensue after making physical contact, although it is possible to avoid him by piloting the sub at its maximum height.

Defeating Emerald Weapon in the PC version re-release of Final Fantasy VII unlocks the Emerald Weapon achievement.

Battle
The player will have 20 minutes to complete the battle unless they have the Underwater Materia equipped. With one million HP, Emerald might take less time to defeat than Ruby because of its lower Defense and Magic Defense, but will probably take longer than 20 minutes.

One of the things that makes Emerald Weapon a dangerous opponent is its Aire Tam Storm attack ("Aire Tam" is "Materia" spelled backwards). The attack deals damage to each character equal to the amount of Materia equipped on them multiplied by 1,111. As such, having nine Materia or more equipped on a character means certain death. It is possible to manipulate the characters' Materia configuration as to get All Lucky 7s if a character only has two Materia equipped and 9999 HP when Aire Tam Storm hits.

Emerald, unlike Ruby, follows a specific attack pattern. After using a random number of Emerald Shots, which deal a few thousand damage to each of their targets, it uses a physical attack, hitting the party for thousands of damage. He then uses Emerald Shoot and Emerald Beam, as well as reviving the eyes. They are different entities from Emerald entirely, unlike Ruby's tentacles, and use magical attacks that hit for thousands of damage to either HP or MP.

If one is to attack Emerald's main body at this point in a way that is not a Limit Break or a Bahamut summon, it retaliates with Revenge Stamp, which is similar to its physical attack. Destroying the eyes prevents Revenge Stamp and restarts the pattern, but otherwise Emerald simply casts Emerald Beam again and then uses Aire Tam Storm. He then alternates between the Beam and Aire Tam Storm until either dying, or having its eyes destroyed.

After using Revenge Stamp ten times, Emerald Weapon will use Emerald Beam and Emerald Shoot both half as often, and after reaching Aire Tam Storm, will use it over and over again. Emerald Weapon also uses Aire Tam Storm as a counterattack to Knights of the Round, so although the knights will destroy the eyes, summoning them will not prevent Aire Tam Storm.

Attacks

 * Foot Stamp: Hits the whole party for a few thousand damage. Only used when the eyes are not present.
 * Emerald Shoot: Hits a single character for massive damage, usually between 6000 and 8000 with average defenses. Only used when the eyes aren't present and after an attack. Also cancels out most positive status effects that are Barrier, MBarrier, Shield, Death Force, and Resist.
 * Emerald Beam: Hits the whole party for approximately 63% of each characters current HP and cancels the Regen status. Only used when the eyes are present.
 * Revenge Stamp: Counterattack; hits the whole party for several thousand damage, and cancels the Haste status. Only used when at least one eye is present.
 * Aire Tam Storm: Deals damage to the entire party equal to the amount of materia that character has equipped * 1111. Only used when the eyes are present and after two Emerald Beams, or one after Revenge Stamping ten times; or as a counterattack at any point in the battle after taking 500,000 damage, to Knights of the Round. Also cancels out most status effects.

Strategy
Maxing out the party's stats with Guard Sources and Mind Sources will render many of Emerald Weapon's attacks, save Aire Tam and Emerald Beam, harmless. Hero Drinks can be used to boost the party's stats mid-battle.

If the player has a mastered Phoenix Materia paired with a mastered Final Attack Materia, the character will come back to life five times in total when killed if they have enough MP to summon it. If the player is using high level characters with their level four Limit Breaks unlocked, and the Knights of the Round Materia with W-Summon, the player will likely not need to use the Underwater Materia.

The All Lucky 7s status, if not used when the eyes are present, will deal 489,951 damage in total to Emerald Weapon, just under half its HP. Triggering the status for the battle is not easy, however. One method is to have 9999 HP while being hit with Aire Tam Storm while having two Materia equipped, resulting in 2222 HP damage and All Lucky 7s. Another way is to use Chocobuckle. Chocobuckle always does a set amount of damage based on a formula surrounding how many times the player has run away. That, along with a character's Max HP, is a factor the player can control. The player must make sure at least one of the characters' Max HP is equal to 7777 + the amount of damage done by a Chocobuckle. The player can then Chocobuckle that character.

For an easy way to beat Emerald Weapon, the player can have a character equip HP Absorb, Knights of the Round, Counter, Mime. With W-Summon and two stars on the Materia, they can summon it twice. The HP Absorb paired with Knights of the Round, and Command Counter paired with Mime, the player can cast Knights of the Round and when the character is attacked, they will counter with Knights of the Round while being healed. This makes the other party members unnecessary, however.

Another effective strategy that requires almost no Materia, excessive grinding or preparation, is to use Fury and Level 3 Limit Breaks. The player should come with one character equipped with W-Item, one equipped with Underwater, and all three equipped with HP Plus so that they have 9999 HP. By exploiting the W-Item glitch, one should amass many Elixirs and Megalixirs, at least 20 of each, and put them on the top of the inventory, along with 12 Hero Drinks. All three characters should be in Fury status and have Level 3 Limits, as Lv4 limits take too long to prepare, and Limits need to come frequently for this strategy to work. Any other Materia is unnecessary, and Aire Tam Storm should rarely be used. The player should begin the battle by responding to every Emerald Shoot with an Elixir, while the characters buff up with Hero Drinks. A stomp attack should prompt a Megalixir. The player should keep at least one person ready to heal at all times, as the strategy is ruined if anyone gets KO'ed. Once the eyes appear, the party should be at max health when they are hit by Emerald Beam. All three party members will likely hit their Limit Breaks, but one should select to use a Megalixir while Emerald Beam's animation is beginning, and the others should select their Limits. Since Limits take priority, they will override the Eyes' attacks and hit first, likely killing a couple of Eyes before they can move. The Megalixir will heal, and the player should use the third Limit. If any Eyes persist, the player should wait for the second Emerald Beam and repeat, which should finish them before Aire Tam Storm hits, reverting Emerald to its previous phase. The party should resume with Hero Drinks and Elixirs until four have been used per character. As long as the player keeps their HP maxed, Emerald Beam will always prompt Limit Breaks due to it being a gravity attack, the eyes will never get many turns, and Emerald will never kill anyone. The best Limits to use are Cloud's Meteorain, Barret's Angermax, Tifa's moves up to Meteor Strike, Yuffie's Doom of the Living, Red XIII's Earth Rave, and Cid's Big Brawl or Dragon Dive.

AI script
AI: Setup { BattleVar:EyesLeft = 0 } AI: Main { If (Count == 0) Then { Choose Random Opponent Use Emerald Shoot on Target If (2/3 Chance) Then { Count = Count + 1 } If (TempVar:Angry != 0) Then { Count = 3 } } Else If (Count == 1) Then { Choose All Opponents Use  on Target If (4/5 Chance) Then { Count = Count + 1 } If (TempVar:Angry != 0) Then { Count = 2 } If (Emerald Weapon's HP <= 50% of Emerald Weapon's Max HP) Then { Count = 2 } } Else If (Count == 2) Then { Choose Random Opponent Use Emerald Shoot on Target Count = Count + 1 } Else If (Count == 3) Then { Choose Self Use <> (Revive Eyes) on Target Emerald Weapon's IdleAnim = Open Eyes Emerald Weapon's HurtAnim = Flinch (Open Eyes) Leg's IdleAnim = Leg: Open Eyes Leg's HurtAnim = Leg: Flinch (Open Eyes) Stage = 1 Choose All Opponents Use Emerald Beam on Target Count = Count + 1 If (TempVar:Angry != 0) Then { Count = 6 } BattleVar:EyesLeft = 4 Activate each Eye Set each Eye's HP to Eye's Max HP } Else If (Count == 4) Then { Count = Count + 1 If (TempVar:Angry != 0) Then { :Count = 6 } If (BattleVar:EyesLeft == 0) Then { Choose Self Use <> on Target Count = 0 Emerald Weapon's IdleAnim = Closed Eyes Emerald Weapon's HurtAnim = Flinch (Closed Eyes) Leg's IdleAnim = Leg: Closed Eyes Leg's HurtAnim = Leg: Flinch (Closed Eyes) Stage = 0 } } Else If (Count == 5) Then { Choose All Opponents Use Emerald Beam on Target Count = Count + 1 If (BattleVar:EyesLeft == 0) Then { Choose Self Use <> on Target Count = 0 Emerald Weapon's IdleAnim = Closed Eyes Emerald Weapon's HurtAnim = Flinch (Closed Eyes) Leg's IdleAnim = Leg: Closed Eyes Leg's HurtAnim = Leg: Flinch (Closed Eyes) Stage = 0 } } Else { Count = 5 If (BattleVar:EyesLeft != 0) Then { Choose All Opponents Use Aire Tam Storm on Target If (Emerald Weapon's HP > 50% of Emerald Weapon's Max HP) Then { TempVar:Angry = 0 } } Else { Choose Self Use <> on Target Count = 0 Emerald Weapon's IdleAnim = Closed Eyes Emerald Weapon's HurtAnim = Flinch (Closed Eyes) Leg's IdleAnim = Leg: Closed Eyes Leg's HurtAnim = Leg: Flinch (Closed Eyes) Stage = 0 } } } AI: Counter - General { If ((Last Command wasn't Limit) & (Stage == 1) & (BattleVar:EyesLeft > 0)) Then { If (Last Attack was Bahamut, Neo Bahamut or Bahamut ZERO) Then { TempVar:Angry = 0 } Else { Choose All Opponents Use Revenge Stamp on Target TempVar:RvStamp = TempVar:RvStamp + 1 } } If (TempVar:RvStamp >= 10) { TempVar:Angry = 1 } If (Last Attack was Knights of Round) Then { TempVar:Angry = 1 If ((Emerald Weapon's HP <= 50% of Emerald Weapon's Max HP) & (Stage == 1)) { Choose All Opponents Use Aire Tam Storm on Target } } } AI: Counter - Death { Choose Self Use  on Target Remove all Eyes GlobalVar:EmeraldDefeated = 1 }

Glitches
There is a glitch that involves casting Ultima against Emerald Weapon with Quadra Magic, while the Ultima Materia is also linked to HP or MP Absorb. Casting Ultima with this setup may freeze the game.

Emerald Weapon can be killed in one hit using the Overflow glitch with Vincent or Barret if their ultimate weapon is powerful enough. Emerald has one million HP, making Overflows to Emerald Weapon more powerful than any other attack in the game.

Defeating Emerald Weapon when the timer hits zero causes a game over and victory at the same time.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
The still-frozen Emerald Weapon appears as an Easter egg, buried in Banora Underground. In the northern sections of the first area "Depths of Judgment", Emerald Weapon's shoulders emerge from a large formation of crystal. The ridges and slots on the shoulders for Emerald's four orbs identify it, but the player is unable to move Zack or the camera in such a way as to see past the crystal.

Emerald Weapon lies beyond the map borders, and the player cannot get any closer to it other than this distant view. The same Emerald Weapon sighting might be encountered on background in mission 9-6-6, during the battle with superboss Minerva.

Related enemies

 * Eye
 * Diamond Weapon
 * Ruby Weapon
 * Ultimate Weapon

Smaragd Weapon