Minerva (boss)

Minerva is a superboss in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, and is the most powerful boss in the game.

During battle, Minerva uses non-elemental attacks, the strongest being Judgment Arrow, an attack with animations resembling that of a summon. Once she is defeated, the player obtains the accessory Divine Slayer, which increases HP, MP, and AP by +100%, and increase all stats +50, breaks the HP, MP, AP, and Damage limits, and gives Auto-Libra. The player can repeat the battle even after she is defeated.

Strategy
Minerva is at level 100 and has 10,000,000 HP and 999,999 MP. Zack will need the ability to break the damage limit. Second, the battle should not be entered without a Costly Punch Materia, which will deal a maximum of 99,999 damage, a Full Cure/Curaga Materia, a Phoenix Down, a lot of Elixirs, Somas, and Ethers, since Minerva's Limit Break, Judgment Arrow, will take a lot of Zack's HP away, as well as take away all of his MP and AP, as well as negating any status bonuses Zack has (including Raise). It would be recommended that as soon as Zack sees Judgment Arrow, he switch immediately to Ether, and select it so that he can restore his MP and use Full Cure. It is also advised to have Zack equipped with a Phoenix Down, and if he uses that one, mug more from Minerva.

It is not worth equipping a Libra because Minerva's HP and MP are hidden due to being so high. The player should be aware of the attacks that Minerva throws at Zack and guard only if dodge roll is not possible. Player should always aim to interrupt Ultima's casting, and not spam Costly Punch.

The player should not recklessly press on Costly Punch, because it won't make Zack's attacks come any faster, and he might need to switch to dodge roll or guard. Minerva uses an attack called Krysta that can be dodged, but it requires perfect timing or the Dash Materia. If Zack has under 3/4 of his max HP, the player should be prepared to heal directly after this attack. Minerva also uses a slow-moving but high-damaging homing attack called Crimson Flare. It is possible to avoid this attack by running, but if it hits it will do serious damage. Even with full Genji equipment, Ziedrich, and Materia with high stat boosts, this fight can be very difficult.

Equipping the SP Master is highly recommended as it will reduce the damage and increase damage by a lot (approximately doubles Zack's damage output and reduces damage taken to 0, if mastered) by spending SP points. A good equipment setup is Ziedrich, Genji Armor, Genji Gloves, and Genji Shield or Protect Ring and Materia that increases Strength, Vitality, Spirit, and HP to the maximum. With the stats and equipment, if Zack guards, her attacks will cause between 100 and 7,000 damage. One should be sure to have at least 20 million SP.

To have a large amount of SP or money, one can mug 99 Phoenix Downs from Minerva and sell them, then buy a lot of Dualcast Materia and convert to SP. (This strategy will not work with the game's Japanese version since once a mission is lost it will be Game Over). The Materia can be bought from the Network Shop Shade.