The Great Malboro is a fearsome foe who can be found in the Gongaga region. The difficulty of this battle entirely depends on the player’s knowledge of the monster type and will likely knock out the player’s party the first time it’s encountered. The Great Malboro loves to cast debuffs, making it annoying to contend with. The guide below goes over where to find the Great Malboro, its moves, how to defeat it, and what to do with the item it drops, the Great Malboro Tendril.

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The Great Malboro appears in the Gongaga region.

How to Find the Great Malboro - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth¶

The Great Malboro is the secret boss of the Gongaga region. This monster will be revealed once you have found four Expedition Intel locations. After this, the Classified Intel Report: The Sultan of Stench will appear on your map. This is located down from the fourth Remnawave tower on the other side of the map. Keep in mind that you have to make it through Chapter 9 to get your Chocobo and have full access to the Gongaga region. The first part of the Gongaga region only has one Remnawave Tower, along with the first set of Intel locations. If you haven’t yet been sent to check out the reactor, then you won’t to be able to access the second area at all.

Great Malboro Strategies - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth¶

Depending on which Final Fantasy game you’ve played, Malboros may or may not seem like an easy fight. The trick with them is not getting hit by their breath. If you can do this, then you should be fine for most of the fight. If you don’t know how to avoid them or attack at the wrong time, then chances are high that your entire party gets wiped out. This is especially true when the Great Malboro uses its most powerful move, Mephitic Breath. This essentially turns the whole battlefield into a dangerous zone.

Outside of its breath attack, the Malboro mostly just flails its tentacles around. This can be rather dangerous if you’re not careful, though, so be sure to watch out if you are using a close-ranged character. It’s a bit surprising just how much damage this boss can do, especially if you’re fighting it for the first time and just trying to tank your way through its attacks. Below, we take a look at every attack the Great Malboro has.

• Tentacle Swipe: The Great Malboro swipes one of its tentacles at the player. This attack can be dodged by rolling or blocking.

• Poison Swipe: The Malboro swipes one of its tentacles at the party and poisons it. There will be more of a purple glow than the regular swipe. You can dodge this by rolling or blocking it.

• Malboro Bombs: The Great Malboro sends out small purple bombs that coat the ground. When touched they explode, dealing damage to the character. These usually land close to where the Great Malboro is currently positioned.

• Bad Breath: This attack coats the area directly in front of the Marlboro in a toxic mist. If you touch it, you will become a frog, fall asleep, be petrified, poisoned, and silenced. If you don’t destroy the Malboro’s mouth, this attack will continue to gain potency.

• Rancid Breath: This attack is stronger than Bad Breath but has similar effects. This time the mist that spews out of the Malboro’s mouth will stick around for longer.

• Test Bite: This move has the Great Malboro track down and bite one of the members of your team, removing them from battle. This leaves you stuck with two players, so keep dodging away or interrupting the attack.

• Tentacle Whirl: The Great Malboro spins in a circle knocking back any characters that are close to it. This can hit multiple characters even if they are a few feet back from the Great Malboro.

• Bubble: Encases the player in a yellow mucus-like bubble that will explode, causing damage. This is one of the Great Malboro’s few ranged attacks, and it’s not used often.

• Fetid Haze: Coats the field in a purple haze. While you are inside of the haze, your health will constantly drain.

To beat the Great Malboro, you will need to make sure to keep out of the way of its breath attacks and Fetid Haze. Bad Breath is easier to avoid as you just have to be on the side or back of the Malboro, it dissipates rather quickly. Rancid Breath, on the other hand, is much more difficult as it covers a decent portion of the field in a purple haze that sticks around for longer. It can be easy to run into by accident, even if you avoided the initial attack. If you do get hit, you will be at the mercy of the Great Malboro.

If you’re turned into a frog, you want to be able to move, and you will be poisoned, forcing your HP to drain. If you’re low on health, this will most likely completely deplete your health bar. Fetid Haze is just as dangerous as it rapidly drains the health of party members within the purple smog, and the Malboro will still attempt to attack you. One way to stop these moves other than dodging them is to attack the Great Malboro’s Mephitic Mouth. This will only pop up during these attacks and you will need to unleash your most powerful moves to stop it. You will also need to ensure that you interrupt or dodge Test Bite. If you don’t, one of your party members will permanently be swallowed by the Great Malboro and removed from the battle.

No attacks other than the tentacle-based attacks are blockable, but dodging them shouldn’t be a problem anyway. The Great Malboro is weak against ice attacks, so using Shiva in battle is a must if you get the chance. We also highly recommend you bring Aerith and using Pray on her so she can get you out of a pinch. Having Esuna to relieve poison and other status effects is also important, so equip Aerith with the Cleansing Materia. Resist will also help protect your party from adverse status effects. This also comes from the Cleansing Materia, when you MAX it. Antidote and Remedy items should be brought along, in case you are in a pinch and equipping the White Cape or using a Maiden’s Kiss can protect you from Toad, but you will still be afflicted with the other four status effects so it’s best to be prepared fully.

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(1 of 4) Putrid Breath will turn you into the frog along with other debuffs.

For our strategy, we used Tifa and Cloud to build up synergy and their limits while pressuring the Great Malboro into being staggered with Ice magic. Ice Materia should be equipped with all of your characters to help make this possible. We kept Aerith in the back with two full ATB bars to cast Pray, if needed. Once the Great Malboro is staggered, unleash back-to-back synergy and Limit Breaks to deplete most of its health. If you fight the Great Malboro normally, you will get the Great Malboro Tendril. If it’s defeated in hard mode, you will also get the Slimy Malboro Tendril. This can be used to make Genji’s Gloves. This accessory breaks the 9,999 damage limit, making your characters overpowered when using their strongest attacks.

What do you do with the Great Malboro Tendril?¶

The Great Malboro will drop (or you can steal) the Great Malboro Tendril. This is a strange item that you likely won’t find an immediate use for until you start the quest, Trouble in Paradise. This quest will become available once you reach Chapter 12 and have completed The Hardest Sell side quest in Costa Del Sol. After this, you can grab the quest from the notice board and will need to use the Great Malboro Tendril during it to make the Legendary Bait.

If you’re looking for a use of the Tendril before you reach Chapter 12, you can also use it to create the Malboro Orb once you’ve found the Expedition Intel in this region. This handy accessory will extend the time your debuffs stick to an enemy, and decrease the time they stick on you.