FFVII - Sidequests - Emerald & Ruby WEAPON
Before you begin...
Boy, these guys are tough. Thrown in for us westerners to make the game more of a challenge, and although they are not vital to the plot, they can give great satisfaction if you defeat them (and loads of AP and EXP points).
Firstly, it is very important that you are just starting disc 3, but it's best to start preparing in disc 2. You need to breed a Gold Chocobo so that you can get such goodies as Knights of the Round, Mime, Quadra Magic etc. all of which are extremely important. You should have about five HP Plus materia and two MP Plus. It is very important that you have Magic Plus materia because if it's, ideally, at master level it can do roughly twice as much damage with a summon. Even more important is HP Absorb, find it in Wutai. HP absorb is very important.
Here's a list of all the stuff you need when fighting both Emerald and Ruby:
| Item | Pref. Level | Importance |
| Mystile or Aegis Armor | N/A | Very Important |
| Enhance Sword | N/A | Very Important: it allows growth, unlike Ultima Weapon |
| Ribbon | N/A | Optional (for Ruby only) |
| Sprint Shoes | N/A | Optional |
| Enemy Skill with Big Guard | N/A | Optional |
| Magic Plus materia | Master | Very Important: raises damage with KOTR |
| 4-5 HP Plus and MP Plus materia | Master | Very Important |
| HP Absorb materia | Any | Very Important |
| Knights of the Round | Level two | Very Important |
| Bahamut ZERO or Hades | Level two+ | Important for Ruby |
| Quadra Magic | Level one | Very Important |
| W-Summon | Level one | Very Important |
| Mime | Level one | Very Important |
| Final Attack + Phoenix | Level one | Optional for Ruby, required for Emerald |
| Turbo ethers and elixers | N/A | Optional |
Ruby WEAPON
Really, it's ideal to attack Ruby weapon first. Ruby is the one in the desert under the Gold Saucer, that small red blob. Just go up to it in the highwind or a Gold Chocobo, but with a Gold Chocobo if you want to go in style. Ruby is the easier out of the two, although some people strangely say that he isn't, so killing him first and getting the AP from his death to up your materia level is important. Even though you must only fight Ruby with only one character, he is much easier than Emerald who can do 9999 damage to all people and heal himself in his terrifying Aire Tam Storm. Ouch.
First give Cloud the Mystile Armour, Enhance Sword, and a Ribbon. Give him HP absorb linked to Knights of the Round, Mime, Quadra magic linked to Bahamut Neo/Zero or Hades, W-Summon and finally Magic Plus and MP Turbo. Fill all your remaining slots with as many HP plus' and MP plus' as possible (preferably with a high level) and Final Attack linked to Phoenix. You won't have to use final attack, but the AP from Ruby's death will prove useful for Emerald...
After all this Cloud should ideally have an HP level of 7000+, an MP level of 600+ and a magic level of 200+. You should really have around these levels, or you are going to find it much harder. Now give another party member Enemy Skills and Sprint shoes, so at the beginning of the battle that person can cast Big Guard before anyone else, which will put Cloud in haste which is very useful.
Save your game near the Gold Saucer, and walk into the Red Tendril with your Gold Chocobo. Immediately cast Big Guard at the beginning of the fight, and hope that Cloud isn't the one who gets Whirlsanded away, if he does, just restart the game and load from the saved position earlier.
Note: I read somewhere that you can go into the battle with two of your party members already dead from a previous battle, leaving Cloud. Therefore, this wouldn't let Ruby kill your last member (i.e. Cloud) as he can only kill 2 party members with the whirlsand, and leave 1 left. This tactic has been proven to work.
As soon as you have cast Big Guard, have Cloud cast W-Summon Bahamut ZERO twice at Ruby. Do not cast Knights of the Round yet. Bahamut ZERO will run through five times (eight if Quadra magic is at level 2). You may or may not do damage to Ruby, that is not important, what is important is that you get Ruby to put hill tentacles into he sand and behind you. Now you have effectively won the battle. Now cast W-Summon Knights of the Round, the first at the tentacles and the second at Ruby. KOR wont be cast twice if it's only at level one, but what's important is that you kill the tentacles, which you'll do because you have a extremely high magic level. Now just mime every time; it'll cost zero MP and you'll be getting healed at the same time so it can't be bad. It should take 4 or 5 rounds of KOR until Ruby is dead. Nice.
Emerald WEAPON
Whoa. This guy is extremely hard to beat, and with over 1,000,000 HP it's gonna take a while as well. When he is annoyed, he unleashes his Aire Tam Storm which does 9999 unblockable damage to all party members, and heals himself.
The requirements for defeating him are as follows:
1 Final Attack at least level two.
2 Phoenix at the same level as Final Attack.
3 Knights of the Round at level 2.
4 HP Absorb.
5 Quadra Magic at level two.
6 Bahamut ZERO at level two.
7 Two magic plus materia (one at master level).
8 Several HP and MP plus materia at high levels.
9 One or two Mime materias (two preferred).
10 Two Sprint shoes.
11 W-Summon.
First pick the guy who has got the highest magic and HP level (Cloud), next equip a loser/cannon fodder with the under water materia. Now equip Cloud with Final Attack linked to Phoenix, Mime, Sprint Shoes, Magic Plus, MP Plus and the rest HP plus materia. Clouds HP should be over 8500.
For the last character equip Quadra magic linked with Bahamut ZERO, HP Absorb linked with Knights of Round, W-Summon, Sprint shoes, the other Magic Plus and enough MP plus' to get the MP over 800.
Just before you battle, save your game. In the battle, make your last character cast W-Summon once for Bahamut ZERO and once for Knights of the round. After, have Cloud mime it. You will see Bahamut cast 4 times and KOR once. If your magic levels are high enough, this should do 150,000 points of damage. Now wait for Clouds turn again, skipping everyone else, then have him mime again. Everyone else will probably die, but keep on miming with Cloud. You will probably be able to mime three more times because you would have been healed to full health every time (HP Absorb). However, by the fifth time Emerald gets hit with KOR, he will get annoyed and unleash his Aire Tam Storm. You will die, but Phoenix will resurrect you. Put your last character back into action by casting W-Summon Knights of the round on Emerald. Mime again with Cloud once that is finished.
By now you've hit emerald eight odd times with KOR, so one more mime from Cloud should be enough. Even if you die, Phoenix will resurrect you all and you can cast W-Summon Bahamut ZERO once more. Then Emerald dies... and you get loads of EXP and AP and can feel deeply satisfied that the bitch is dead...
Those other WEAPONs...Easy!
Diamond WEAPON
This is by far the easiest weapon to beat. He is the one that comes out of the water and starts advancing toward Midgar. Basically, all you have to do is to pummel him until he's dead by attacking with summons and maybe magic, I forget. Remember that he is invulnerable to physical attacks until after he does Diamond Flash. Anyway, cure yourself when you're low on HP and that's how to beat Weapon. You can also steal a Rising Sun from him.
Ultima WEAPON
This is by far the most annoying weapon. The first time you fight him, all you have to do is survive his attacks and attack back for a couple of rounds. The next time you fight him, I forget but here's how to beat him. When you can, take the Highwind over Lake Junon (waterfall, deep pool, near Junon). If you see a large black monster over it, that's Ultima Weapon. If not, try again later. When you fight him the first time, any attacks that are long range will hit him. When he's taken enough damage, he will fly away. Now, you have to chase him in the Highwind until he stops moving. Then you'll have to fight him again. When he makes his final stop at Cosmo Canyon, beat him and he will explode in the canyon creating passage for the ancient forest. You can get the Ultima Weapon after you beat him.