IN-GAME
You only have to fight Rufus once in FFVII, on top of the ShinRa building when Rufus makes his first appearance as newly named President. It's an easy battle, but if you're having trouble, here's some tips.
STRATEGY
First thing is to go after Dark Nation. Its Bolt attacks are powerful and it casts MBarrier on itself and Rufus, which tends to make the fight tougher than it has to be. If you equipped Cloud with the "Elemental-Lightening" Materia combination, you won't need to worry about Dark Nation's attacks.
Once Dark Nation is down, keep your HP up and use Bolt and Limit Breaks on Rufus to wipe out his HP. It's an easy battle, and once Rufus takes 500 damage, he grabs his chopper and escapes.
WEAPON
Shotgun: \Shot"gun`\, n. A light, smooth-bored gun, often double-barreled, especially designed for firing small shot at short range, and killing small game.
Rufus's weapon suits him well in my opinion. It allows him to keep a fair distance away from his opponant and keep from "getting his hands dirty". Rufus isn't the type to use something that would create gore, such a a knife or sword. And given his build and sheltered lifestyle, I doubt he'd be too good at hand-to-hand combat. This doesn't mean he's weak however, as we can see Rufus fire that thing one-handed, and that would take an incredible amount of upper-body strength.
Dark Nation
It is debated as to whether Dark Nation is a dog, a panther, or some kind of tentacle beast. I'm pretty sure its a Guard Hound, which does a lot of showing up in Dirge of Cerberus. Another option is that tis related to a Cuahl, which is a beast that resides around Gaea's Cliff. Dark Nation seems a more intellegent than the other Guard Hounds/Cuahls, and of course a bit more tame, but I wouldn't put it past Rufus to have such an animal domesticated and imported. Dark Nation may also be mutated due to mako exposure or raised in the ShinRa labs.
It doesn't really matter too much exactly what Dark Nation is. What does matter is that Dark Nation is Rufus' loyal pet and helps him out in battle situations. When you fight Rufus on the roof of the ShinRa tower, Dark Nation is right there to cast barrier spells on his master and himself.
STATS
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Name: Rufus Level: 21 HP: 500 MP: 0 Attack: 35 Dexterity: 72 Evade: 14 Magic Power: 0 Magic Defense: 160 EXP: 240 AP: 35 Immune to: Gravity Attacks: Shotgun Gil: 400 Steal: n/a Win: Protect Vest |
Name: Dark Nation Level: 15 HP: 140 MP: 80 Attack: 43 Dexterity: 74 Evade: 18 Magic Power: 15 Magic Defense: 94 EXP: 70 AP: 7 Immune to: Nothing Attacks: Bite, Bolt, Barrier, MBarrier Gil: 250 Steal: n/a Win: Guard Source |
Info from the BradyGame's official strategy guide and the FFWiki.
Part of Final-Heaven.org.
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