I did this fight on Normal Mode just as a quick demonstration, but it works on Hard Mode too and the fight took me 45 minutes there. See the last 15 minutes of the fight on HARD here:
https://youtu.be/0HvRwLjAXO8
I used Divine Slayer here, which you obviously won’t have the first time fighting her, but you should use Adaman Bangle instead. (Also you’d likely need a 999% AP materia on Hard Mode). The only specific materia you need for this build is Aerial Drain and SP Turbo (SP Turbo Attack works too). Costly Punch (or Hammer/Magical Punch) is useful for breaking through her Judgment Arrow shield and anti-physical shield she occasionally puts up, though not mandatory. Of course, you’ll want 255 for ATK, VIT, and SPR too. MAG stat doesn’t matter since you aren’t doing any MAG damage. I used Rush Assault materia here too since it’s the highest damaging limit break, so it speeds up the fight. Necessary equipment for this strategy is Adaman Bangle (or Divine Slayer)/Genji Shield (or Protect Ring)/Genji Gloves/Ziedrich.
This cheese revolves around 2 things: Buster Sword’s /”Battle Stance/” and Aerial Drain.
With the new mechanic added in Reunion, Zack can enter into Battle Stance (once he acquires the Buster Sword) by pressing Attack and Dodge buttons simultaneously. While in this stance, Zack will guard all incoming attacks, severely reducing the amount of damage he receives. Additionally, one great thing about this is that you can buffer the Battle Stance out of Aerial Drain and can even enter into the stance in the middle of her melee attacks (i.e. Flash Slash). This means all of Minerva’s abilities, including Flash Slash, will barely damage Zack while in this stance. And that’s if they even hit given the numerous I-frames on Aerial Drain startup and in the air, of course. Another feature of this stance is that, any Command Materia moves will do more damage (similar to using Command Materia towards the end of a melee combo) – this is designated with the orange colored numbers.
The strategy incorporates these Battle Stance features with Aerial Drain, which synergizes extremely well in addition to healing Zack. Basically, you can just Battle Stance – Aerial Drain – Buffer Battle Stance, rinse and repeat. There’s very few frames while Zack is truly vulnerable (pretty much immediately after he lands) – otherwise, he’s in Battle Stance taking very reduced damage, or in the middle of Aerial Drain I-frames. You can totally cheese her like this ignoring all moves she’s doing and it’s 95% reliable. If you are a little more strategic, and time your Battle Stance and Aerial Drains you shouldn’t really be dying. As you can see, I really didn’t get close to dying. Mastered SP Turbo and Genji Glove for guaranteed critical hits boosts Aerial Drain’s Battle Stance damage to 99999. Without it, he does around half the damage. Total SP needed is almost negligible on Normal, so no need to farm (600k SP needed on Hard Mode).
Finally, the only things to worry about are 1) Judgment Arrow and 2) AP.
1) Judgment Arrow – on Hard Mode, she will do this every 10m hp (70m HP, 60m HP, 50m HP, etc.). You have a decent amount of time to get her shield down, so just make sure you have enough AP, and get her to 75% charge. On Hard Mode, it will do 75000 damage at 75% instead of 99999 at 100% charge, so you can survive. On Normal Mode, she does Judgment Arrow at 7m HP and 3m HP, but the same principle applies. I used Costly Punch on the shield just since it’s a little faster, but 2 Aerial Drains out of stance will work with a little tighter timing.
2) AP – while I didn’t use any AP Cost 0 equipment (Genji Helm, Laurel Crown) you may be able to substitute it for Genji Gloves. Otherwise, just make sure you’re in Battle Stance before using Soma to restore your AP just to be safe. Again, I used Divine Slayer here, which raises my max AP. I almost ran out of Soma with it equipped on Hard Mode, so you’ll likely need a materia with AP 999% to make up for it unless you have a decent amount of Elixirs saved up or you get really lucky with the DMW. You could replace the Rush Assault materia I used with it.
3) On Hard Mode, Flash Slash (in addition to Judgment Arrow) will dispel Reraise and all casted buffs. I recommend being a little more strategic with your Aerial Drains on Hard Mode, although almost completely unnecessary, if you’d like to maintain Reraise. Also, Flash Slash does not kill from max health even on Hard Mode if you have either Protect Ring or Genji Shield, since the Wall effect is not dispelled, as opposed to manually casting Wall. The only advantage of Genji Shield over Protect Ring in this fight is preventing stun from the Dud limit break. Otherwise, since Minerva’s attacks are all non-elemental and she doesn’t apply status effects, there is no difference between the 2.
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