Only the best and/or most insane players of the Final Fantasy VII remake will get their hands on a Gotterdammerung. It’s only available in the game’s Hard mode, which in turn is only unlocked after you’ve completed the game at least once, and requires you to win through five of the most difficult fights that FF7 has to offer… in a row.

If you can get through all that, though, you’ll have obtained the Gotterdammerung accessory. When equipped, you start each fight with a Limit Break available, and it dramatically speeds up the rate at which your Limit Break meter refills. It’s just the thing for taking a slow victory lap through what little of the game is left, as at this point, you’ve proved your mastery of FF7.

How to Get Gotterdammerung in Final Fantasy VII Remake

Just to emphasize this again, you can’t get the Gotterdammerung at all unless you’re playing on Hard Mode. If you’re still on your first run through the FF7 remake or you’re replaying on a lower difficulty, this guide isn’t for you.

If you are on Hard Mode, your first step towards Gotterdammerung comes in Chapter 9, when you can first take on Don Corneo’s Colosseum challenges. One important note is that there’s one fight here, Aerith’s solo fight, that you’ll need to do now, as Aerith isn’t available for Colosseum fights when you revisit the area in Chapter 14.

Once you’ve cleared all of Don Corneo’s fights, you can move on to Chapter 17. A few minutes in, you can access the Shinra Combat Simulator in Shinra HQ, where you can take on some of the toughest challenges that the FF7 remake has to offer.

If you clear all 13 fights in the Combat Simulator, after beating all the Colosseum challenges, on Hard Mode, you unlock Challenge 14: a five-round gauntlet that pits you against Shiva, Fat Chocobo, Leviathan, Bahamut (who will also summon Ifrit), and the Pride and Joy Prototype.

In order to have a realistic chance of clearing this, you’ll want to have all members of your party at level 50, equipped with their best or second-best weapons. You’ll want to have grabbed most of the game’s manuscripts, too, and to be equipped with strong defensive Materia. Aerith is a must-have in this fight, as her Healing Wind Limit Break gives you strong healing without spending MP. This is an endurance fight, and every edge counts.

It’s also helpful if you equip Cloud and your third party member, ideally Barret, with Lightning and Elemental Materia on their weapons.

In Round 1, vs. Shiva, hit her with fire magic to quickly fill her stagger bar. Her Frost Familiar backup can be dropped quickly with cheap fire spells, and you need to dodge Whiteout or it’ll put you to sleep. Unfortunately, when she casts Diamond Dust, you need to be ready to just take it on the chin; heal your party to full when she starts to charge it, then follow up with another big group heal.

Fat Chocobo, in round 2, is a bit of a breather level. It’s easy to dodge its attacks, and while Fat Chocobo likes to summon backup creatures, they’re weak enough that you should be able to knock them down almost as fast as they show up. When Fat Chocobo says “Kweh” twice in a row, be ready to avoid the following high-damage attack.

Round 3 sees your bout against Leviathan, which is why you’ve got Cloud and Barret/Tifa equipped with Lightning materia. It’s a knock-down, drag-’em-out where you’re going to take a lot of damage regardless of what you do, but Leviathan’s Lightning vulnerability is easy to exploit. Use Manawall to cut some of the damage from Briny Below.

Naturally, Round 4 is the hardest fight here, as it pits you against Final Fantasy mainstay Bahamut. When he counts down, he’s preparing to level you with a Megaflare; be ready for it by staying at maximum health, and use Manawall to prevent as much damage as possible. When Bahamut reaches 50% health, he’ll duck out and sic his buddy Ifrit on you; counter by summoning Shiva. You should be able to stagger Bahamut and take it out before he can cast a second Megaflare. 

After that, the Pride and Joy Prototype is just tough enough that it might be able to finish you off if you barely made it past Bahamut. Your Lightning-infused weapons are just as useful against it as they were against Leviathan, though, since the Prototype is a Shinra mech. If it grabs one of your characters, use Thunder spells directly on the Prototype’s arm to free your character before he/she dies. The Prototype is also extremely slow, so you can get a lot of free damage by just staying behind it as much as possible and working to destroy its legs.

Now that you’ve beaten the most difficult challenge that the FF7 remake has to offer, you’re either sick to death of the game or you’re still thirsty for more. Check out our other FF7 articles at our game hub, like:

• Check out this brilliant Cloud cosplay
• Here’s how to get Barret’s best weapons, if you’re still gearing up for this
• FF7 doesn’t have a photo mode yet, but it should

Your reward for clearing Challenge 14 in the Combat Simulator is the Gotterdammerung accessory. Now you can win many fights almost before they start by instantly dropping a free Limit Break on your opponents.

Congratulations on demonstrating your mastery over Final Fantasy VII. Be sure to stop by our official Twitter @PrimaGames to flaunt your new Gotterdammerung, before you go off and use it to break the final boss fight over your knee.