FF7 Remake Hell House Boss Guide: How To Tear This House Down

One of the tougher boss fights you'll encounter in Final Fantasy 7 Remake is the Hell House during Chapter 9. If you're not up coming into this one prepared, you're likely to get wiped quick. Below we detail everything you need to know about how to defeat this seemingly sentient house.

For more boss tactics, check out our FF7 Remake boss guide. Otherwise, be sure to check out our FF7 Remake walkthrough and guide roundup.

How To Defeat The Hell House

The Hell House is a tough fight, so make sure you're prepared. Spread magic materia between Cloud and Aerith so you have spells covering all four elements: Ice, Fire, Wind, and Lightning. It's also a good idea to remove Elemental materia from your weapons for this fight. You need a balance of elements because the Hell House will constantly change its elemental affinity, using a barrier that will defend it from your attacks. That means that if you're using Elemental materia and the wrong barrier is up, your physical attacks will be useless, putting you at a big disadvantage. You also want to bring plenty of ethers to this fight.

At the start of the fight, watch the Hell House's windows. When they're red, the house's barrier is tuned to Fire; green is Wind; yellow is Lightning; and blue is Ice. You want to cast spells of the opposite type of whatever the barrier is in order to run up the Hell House's stagger meter--so if the barrier is Fire, use Ice, and if it's Wind, use Lightning, and so on.

In the first phase, the house will fling explosive furniture and toys at you, so stay well back. The Chair Salvo attack will launch a bunch of chairs that will track you like missiles, but you can avoid them fairly well if you just run around the arena and try to keep moving. When the house sprays out stuffed animals, stay clear of them--they're all bombs. And when it uses its Hospitality attack, try to run away; it'll suck one of your characters into the house, taking them out of the fight briefly while inflicting a bunch of damage. If you can hit the house with a spell opposite its barrier during that attack, do so.

The first phase isn't too tough if you have the magic to deal with it. After the house takes some damage, it'll flip to a much more aggressive second phase. You'll get fewer indications of the house's barrier from here on out; what magic to hit it with will be dictated by its attacks, which you can interrupt with the right spells. Keep back from its Jetstream attack, in which the house will spin around and spray fire, then use Ice. Do the same for the Double Rocket Charge attack, where the house will shoot itself straight at you--run to the side to avoid the first charge, but know that the house will follow up with two more. The Housing Shock attack will see the house chasing you around to do electrical damage, so try to hit it with Wind. Renewed Hospitality is a Wind attack, so use Lightning.

The tough part of this fight, really, is dealing with God House Mode. The house will create a barrier for itself that severely reduces both physical and magical attacks and isn't tied to an element. When that happens, change targets to the Hell House's arms and focus fire. A couple of big spells from Aerith or ATB attacks from Cloud should be enough to damage the house and drop the barrier, opening it up for your regular slate of attacks. You'll really need to be on your toes for this one, though; as soon as the barrier is down, hit the Hell House with whatever spell will stagger it most based on its window color, since you have a brief period after God Mode drops where you can get a big boost on stagger.

This battle will put you through your paces because it'll require you to be ready with the right spell at the right time, but it also makes charging your ATB meters difficult as you deal with the barriers. When you do get a big hit with the right element, close the gap with Cloud for Punisher attacks and ATB abilities in order to run up as much stagger as you can. Above all, though, be careful about keeping your team alive; don't be afraid to use a lot of items and healing spells here, because you're going to need them.

In the last phase, Hell House will add an attack called Heavensward, where it'll fly around the battlefield, shooting more chairs and other explosives at you. If you keep moving, you should be able to avoid the missiles, but eventually the house will shoot itself back down at you. You'll have a brief window before it hits it with a spell, if you can land it, so pay attention and get your ATB bars charged ahead of time.

As long as you remain patient, cast the right magic, and dodge properly, you should scrub Hell House from the field in no time. Props to you, though! You really showed them where the heart is--certainly not this home!