The only thing I hate more than Cactuars are the Tonberries, and in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, they have their very own version of this menace, which you’ll need to steal from and beat to complete Johnny’s quest. As a very safe player, here’s how you can do all this without getting too close to the literal knife’s edge.
How to beat King Tonberry from a distance in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
To safely go about this fight, be sure you’re always attacking the Tonberry from a distance. By keeping the fight away from stabbing point, you immediately avoid all the dangerous instant-kill attacks. My recommended party for this is Cloud, Yuffie (with a Steal Materia), and Aerith/Barret/Cait Sith.
If you weren’t already spamming the move, Cloud has a long distance basic attack that I really love. To trigger it, dodge with Circle and press square right after. It should release an air slice that can hit the Tonberries from a distance.
If Cloud has Enemy Skill equipped, use Sonic Boom to boost his ATK stat further. It’s a long range attack too!
Once the King Tonberry summons one of his Tonberry friends, kill them first to reduce the number of knives on the field; their HP is really low. One successful Braver from Cloud is sometimes enough. If not, just lock onto them with the R analog stick and attack from a distance.
Related: How to defeat the enemy without getting swallowed in FF7 Rebirth
How to get the Tonberry King’s crown in FF7 Rebirth
To get the Tonberry King to let go of his crown, you’ll need to pressure him. An Assess will let you know that the way to pressure it is to deal “enough” attacks when its attacks miss.
Here’s a summary of the strategy to safely defeat the Tonberry King and take home its crown:
- Charge everyone’s ATB to the max.
- Avoid an easily avoidable attack.
- Switch to Yuffie.
- Unleash all the damage.
- Command Yuffie to Steal the Pristine Crown.
- Beat the Tonberries.
The attacks that miss don’t have to be Well-Honed Knife or anything lethal. It could be something as simple as Rancor, which is an attack that will freeze a party member when hit. It’s really easy to avoid. Look out for these bluish orbs and roll when they’re near.
Once you’ve successfully not been hit by Rancor or another attack, it’s time to lay on the damage. A LOT of damage. Switch control to Yuffie and use up all your party’s ATB on offensive abilities except Yuffie’s. Overpower for Tifa, Braver for Cloud, Maximum Fury for Barret, etc.
While the party is doing their thing, Throw Yuffie’s weapon and just use Ninjutsu with Square to add to the damage everyone is dealing. If the Abilities aren’t enough for a pressure, Yuffie’s continuous attacks should eventually do it (like it did for me!).
Once the Tonberry King is pressured, it will drop its crown. Command Yuffie to Steal the Pristine Crown. Don’t forget to switch to another character as she does her action to draw the King Tonberry’s attention away from her. With her high luck stat, she’ll rarely fail. You’ll know you’ve gotten it when a notification pops up and you hear some snark from your resident ninja.
For more help with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, take a look at Best skills & cores to unlock for all characters in FF7 Rebirth – Folio Guide here at Pro Game Guides.
Bianca has over three years of experience in gaming journalism, specializing in anything remotely turn-based and strategic, like Pokémon, Final Fantasy, and Honkai: Star Rail. She's a huge fan of Square Enix, RPGs, party games, and visual novels, but will play anything with a banger OST. She's a proud early bird.