Chapter 4 has no shortage of fun minigames, but Fort Condor might be the most challenging of them all. Here’s how to defeat the Warlock Captain in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (FF7).
How to Beat the Warlock Captain in Fort Condor in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (FF7)
The fourth and final fight in Fort Condor is against the Captain, now revealed to be a Warlock, and it’s not an easy one. But with the right strategy, you can make mincemeat of this polygonal antagonist. The Captain’s team is small but exceptionally powerful. And when you combine that with our time limit of three minutes, there isn’t much room for mistakes.
The Captain’s team looks like this:
| Unit | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Warlock | Neutral | 1 |
| Archfiend | Neutral | 1 |
| Wyvern | Neutral | 1 |
| Villainous Vanguard | Vanguard | 2 |
| Rotten Ranger | Ranger | 2 |
| Evil Enforcer | Defense | 2 |
| Callous Cleric | Neutral | 1 |
It’s a diverse team, and the best fighting style to use against it is Balanced with Cloud and Barret as your hero selection. Once you’ve selected that, start the game. Personally, I like to immediately put the game into top-down by pressing L3. This will make it easier to see the entire board.
Once the game begins, the Captain will send out several units to the bottom lane. Respond by placing an Elite Enforcer and an Elite Vanguard at the bottom lane. The bottom lane is the lane most likely to be overwhelmed and it has to be babysat.
When you’ve put your two units there, the Captain will put a Ranger in the top lane. Respond by putting a Vanguard in the top lane. Enforce the top lane with a Vanguard if you can.
Otherwise, put one Cleric and Enforcer in the bottom lane. If your Vanguard is already dead but your Elite Enforcer is still alive, you can opt to put and Vanguard there instead. The next unit you’ll then want to put in on the bottom lane and, in general, is a Ranger. That’s because Wyverns will begin spawning in the bottom, and only Rangers will be able to hit them.
From here, you want to always be placing units closer and closer to the Warlock and his Outpost. We want to get to his backline as quickly as possible and overwhelm him. If you’re starting to lose the bottom lane, summon Cloud to ensure you keep it. Cloud has the best longevity, and his special ability will give allies near him a Barrier. That means you should use Cloud before the units in the bottom lane fall. If they fall, you’ll likely lose an Elite Unit, and you have a limited number.
There’s a chance that the Captain will summon an Archfiend. These Archfiends move quickly to your backline. While your Outposts will eventually kill an Archfiend, the Archfiend will move your spawn line backward. Summon a Vanguard near the Outpost the Archfiend is targeting to kill it as quickly as possible. When the Archfiend is dead, the spawn line will return to where the rest of your team is.
Once you reach the Captain’s Warlock, it will begin spewing out a green circular attack that will do area of effect damage. Use Rangers here to attack from a distance. If the Captain still has his Outposts, have at least one Enforcer to soak up damage. But the moment his Outposts are gone, switch over to Rangers.
When it’s just the Captain left, summon Barret to do 400 damage to the Warlock. The Warlock has a health pool of 1,800, so this will do a sizable chunk of damage. From there, keep spamming Rangers until he dies. Depending on how the battle went, you may find yourself coming right down to the wire with the timer. But with this strategy, you should be able to win.
And winning grants you a few rewards, including the ability to play Fort Condor whenever you want, and in Hard mode. You’ll also get the Captain’s Protorelic, 5 Party EXP, and a cutscene. Hard Mode will put a cap on your units and make your Heroes hit a little less hard.
