Chapter 17: Deliverance from Chaos

Story mode. Written for a first playthrough and kept free of spoilers — it will not tell you what happens here, only what the game is asking of you.

This is the biggest dungeon in the game and the most fiddly one. You will spend it switching between small groups, often two characters at a time, and the game mostly decides who is in them. Plan for that before you start.

Set everyone up on their own

Every character needs to be able to survive without help. Give each of them Healing and Revival, and spread Lightning around: a lot of what you fight in here is machinery. If you have spare copies of materia, this is what they are for. Anyone you are not controlling still keeps what you gave them.

Open the purple chests

Two characters find their last weapons in this chapter, each in a purple chest. The first is in the room where the chapter starts. The second is just off the main route a little later, left of a flight of stairs. The last weapons are not always better than what you have, but each one has abilities worth learning.

Search before every doorway

The middle of the chapter is a big vertical facility split into numbered wards, and it has twenty chests in it — gil, armour, two materia and plenty of Mega-Potions. Most sit just off the path: at the end of a side branch, on top of a ladder, behind a pile of crates, inside a cage you open with a switch on the far wall. Some doors close behind you. When you reach one, look back at everything you have not checked yet.

Benches and vending machines are spread through the safe rooms. The machines sell discounted Mega-Potions and Ethers; stock up.

The fights

There is a sub-boss in one ward that splits into many copies at half health. Lightning and area attacks deal with it. There is a bigger machine later that melee barely touches — keep someone with range on the field.

Eventually an elevator takes you up, and that closes the whole facility behind you. After that, the chapter is a run of hard fights with benches between them. The roof has a bench and a vending machine on each side. Rest at every one.

Before the last fight

On the way into the chapter’s final fight, a cutscene shows an on-screen prompt to hold the menu button. Take it. It is your only chance to change the gear of the characters about to fight, and they may not be the ones you have been tuning. Lightning is the safe element for that fight.

Chadley is not here — yet

You will not see Chadley or a simulator on a first run of this chapter. Both appear when you replay it from Chapter Select, and that is where the hardest optional fights in the game live. Nothing is lost by playing through now.

Game Notes

This chapter asks more of your preparation than of your reflexes. The fights are fine. What goes wrong is going into one of them with two characters who have never been given a heal, because you set the party up for a three-person fight and the game had other ideas.

It is also the chapter where the Remake’s late weapons finally arrive, and it is worth a minute in the weapon menu each time one does. You are near the end. The abilities you master now are the ones you will be using in the last fights.

How this page was made

Researched across 5 community walkthroughs and written from scratch — no source’s wording appears here.

How we decide what to print

Completionist mode. Full spoilers, in play order, with every permanent loss called out before you reach it. 5 entries below are marked where our sources disagree with each other — we have not picked a winner for you.

Spoilers from here.

Chapter 17 opens in Hojo’s specimen wing with Aerith freed, sends Cloud and Red XIII down into the Drum when Sephiroth intervenes at Jenova’s tank, and spends most of its length cutting between Cloud’s group and Tifa and Aerith’s. It ends with President Shinra dead, Jenova gone, Rufus on the helipad and the Arsenal in the lobby.

The deadlines

The elevator up to the top floors, after Tifa, Aerith and Red XIII survive Hojo’s “trial” and regroup with Cloud and Barret, closes the lab and the Drum — all twenty chests. One guide also says the north doorway in the Drum seals behind Cloud’s group, so take the Poison Materia and the perched Phoenix Down before it.

Each team only reaches its own ward. Chests on Tifa and Aerith’s route can only be opened while you control them, and the same for Cloud’s. The game hands control back and forth often enough that nothing is stranded, but look properly each time.

The re-equip prompt before the Arsenal. During the elevator cutscene, a prompt lets you hold the menu button and gear up Barret, Aerith and Red XIII. If you miss it they fight in whatever they already have on.

Chadley and the simulator do not exist on a first run. Both appear only on Chapter Select, so nothing here can be missed — it just has to wait.

Everything, in order

The lab (A Way Out). Reinforced Staff, Aerith’s last weapon, in the purple chest in her room. Down the hallway of cells: Enfeeblement Ring in the first side room on the left, Phoenix Down in the next on the right, Ether just before the hallway door. A bench and vending machine sit in the room north of the east door, and another pair in the Employee Break Room. On Chapter Select, Chadley is waiting in the 66th-floor corridor after the first Unknown Entity fight — that is the simulator.

The Drum, Cloud and Red XIII. Pull the lever, cross the canisters, go down the rubble ramp. Past the Monodrives at the north fork, the side path ends at Poison Materia. Red XIII’s platform tutorial follows; jump the pods north to the chest perched on its own for a Phoenix Down. Bench and vending machine in the safe room to the west. Barret’s fights add Mark II Monodrives (wind; they drop Turbo Ethers), Unknown Entities and a M.O.T.H. Unit — steal an Iron Maiden from it if you missed the Chapter 16 chest. Through the north doorway, left of the first stairs: Twin Stinger, Cloud’s last weapon. 3,000 gil in the room past the pods the Unknown Entities burst out of.

Central terminal and the 3rd Ward. After the lever, hop the test pods past the 3rd Ward door for an Ether. Time Materia on the left edge of the central control platform, after a Blast-Ray and two Slug-Rays. Tifa and Aerith take the 3rd Ward (Bloodhounds, Zenene): a Mega-Potion behind the boxes in the caged room, 5,000 gil down the hallway outside the Bloodhound room, the caged Force Bracelet in the piping room (wall switch at the far end, after the pipe falls), a Mega-Potion at the top of the ladder after the Zenene, an Ether right and down the stairs after the Sentry Launchers, and a Mega-Potion on the platform by the 2nd Ward gate.

2nd Ward, Cloud and Barret. Astral Cuff behind the junk pile in Robotics Testing, Remedy x2 in the second room on the right of the dead-end corridor north, Chain Bangle in the right-hand corner before the stairs in the specimen-pod room. The Brain Pod waits in Specimen Refinement.

Rescuing Red XIII. Cloud uses the communicator; Tifa and Aerith fight through Hojo’s experiments, including a Sledgeworm (lightning; Torpid Strike causes Stop), to reach him.

4th Ward, Cloud and Barret. Mega-Potion x2 on the left side of the big pipe in the first drain, at its end. Then the Swordipede, which runs to Tifa and Aerith’s side to finish.

A Way Up. Tifa, Aerith and Red XIII hold out against waves until Hojo restarts the elevator. Everyone regroups. Ride up and the Drum is closed.

The top floors. The trail of blood leads to the president’s office: Jenova Dreamweaver. Then the heliport, with a bench and a vending machine on each side, and Rufus & Darkstar with Cloud alone. Barret, Aerith and Red XIII take the elevator down — re-equip at the prompt — and fight the Arsenal in the Skyview atrium. The chapter ends at the entrance.

The vending machines throughout sell discounted Mega-Potions and Ethers; the heliport ones add cheap Phoenix Downs.

Bosses

Brain Pod — Lightning. Poison (Noxious Whirl) and Stop; at half health it splits into a swarm of copies and all of them have to go. Area attacks.

Swordipede — melee bounces off its saw blades. Barret’s guns in the first half, Aerith’s ranged attacks in the second, when it moves to Tifa and Aerith’s side with a wheel attack and lightning rain. One guide finds Firaga and Aeroga hit hard and Thunder weak; two list no weakness. One guide describes a hold-menu prompt in its mid-fight cutscene for moving materia between the teams. 1,250 gil.

Jenova Dreamweaver — 78,336 HP on Normal and Hard. Five characters available. Cripple the left and right tentacles to stagger; the rear tentacle counters anything behind it. Black Light: hide behind a pillar. Later phases add place-swapping, a moving Stop/Silence field and summoned tentacles that must die quickly or she turns invulnerable; the last phase mixes everything. Aerith’s ranged attacks, Tempest, Triple Slash and Tifa for the tentacles. One guide gives Poison as her weakness; two list none. 1,300 EXP, 10 AP, 1,300 gil.

Rufus & Darkstar — Cloud solo. Kill Darkstar first; it shields Rufus. Rufus counters most attacks, so guard and punish during Reload with Braver, Focused Thrust or Triple Slash. Dodge Bright Lights, Think Fast and Up In Smoke; guard Guns Akimbo. 1,300 EXP, 10 AP, 1,300 gil.

The Arsenal — Barret, Aerith, Red XIII. Phase one: destroy the three Barrier Drones, use the pillars against Saturation Fire, leave the Voltaic Discharge circles; Homing Laser briefly exposes the Laser Cannon arm. Phase two: barriered wheels, Charge, Firewall, and Pulse Cannon and Cry Havoc — hide behind debris. Final phase: it pins you against the wall with no cover; burst it down in 30 to 45 seconds. Weakness depends on the guide — Lightning, Ice, or all four elements — but Lightning is the one that works when it raises its physical defence. Aerith’s Lustrous Shield from Chapter 14 helps. 1,300 EXP, 10 AP, 1,300 gil.

Shinra Combat Simulator (Chapter Select only)

Find Chadley in the 66th-floor corridor of the lab after the first Unknown Entity fight. Every Chapter 16 course is here at any difficulty, plus:

Challenge	Fee	Difficulty	First-clear reward
Aerith vs. SOLDIER Trainees	400	any	Geometric Bracelet
Cloud vs. 3-C SOLDIER Candidates	500	Hard	The Art of Swordplay Vol. XIII
Barret vs. 3-C SOLDIER Candidates	500	Hard	Sharpshooter’s Companion Vol. XIII
Tifa vs. 3-C SOLDIER Candidates	500	Hard	Way of the Fist Vol. XIII
Aerith vs. 3-C SOLDIER Candidates	500	Hard	Telluric Scriptures Vol. XI
Two-Person Team vs. Dynamic Duos	500	Hard	Refocus Materia
Three-Person Team vs. Monsters of Legend	600	Hard	Refocus Materia
Three-Person Team vs. Top Secrets	700	Hard	Götterdämmerung
Three-Person Team vs. The Immaculate One	700	see below	Götterdämmerung x2

Items are disabled in every simulator fight, and on Hard that means you heal with materia or not at all.

3-C SOLDIER Candidates throws Unknown Entities with an Enhanced Shock Trooper, Zenene, Sledgeworm, an Armored Shock Trooper and a M.O.T.H. Unit at each character alone.

Monsters of Legend — Bomb, Tonberry, Type-0 Behemoth, Bomb and Tonberry together, then Malboro. It is the only Malboro in the game: beating it is That’s the Smell, and it is the only source of Bad Breath for the Enemy Skill materia and Master of Mimicry.

Top Secrets — listed as “???” until you have cleared every Corneo Colosseum course, every other simulator course and all 20 Battle Intel reports. That is the requirement the game itself states on the locked course. One guide leaves out the reports; another adds Chadley’s summon fights on Hard. Once open: Shiva, Fat Chocobo, Leviathan, Bahamut (who calls Ifrit at half health), then the Pride and Joy Prototype, back to back with no items. First clear pays Götterdämmerung and the Gold trophy Ultimate Weapon. A common setup: Cloud with Champion Belt and Ascension, Tifa with Supreme Bracer and Dolphin Flurry, Barret healing with Prayer and Healing; Barrier for Manawall, Fire for Shiva, Lightning for Leviathan.

The Immaculate One (Intergrade) — opens in this simulator after you clear Episode INTERmission. The boss is Weiss, there is a cutscene with Chadley first, and beating him is a Silver trophy. One guide says it needs Hard; another does not mention it.

Chadley’s last summon

Bahamut — Battle Intel report 20, “Combat Simulation: Bahamut”, offered once reports 01 to 19 are done. Beat it in VR for Bahamut Materia. On a first run the latest you can do this is the Chapter 16 lounge; after that, it is here on Chapter Select. Bahamut is also the fourth fight of Top Secrets, so learn it here first.

Hard mode

Eight Manuscripts, all Hard-only:

• The Art of Swordplay Vol. XIII, Sharpshooter’s Companion Vol. XIII, Way of the Fist Vol. XIII, Telluric Scriptures Vol. XI — the four 3-C SOLDIER Candidates courses.
• Telluric Scriptures Vol. XII — the Swordipede.
• Way of the Fist Vol. XIV — Jenova Dreamweaver.
• The Art of Swordplay Vol. XIV — Rufus & Darkstar.
• Telluric Scriptures Vol. XIII — the Arsenal.

The Hard route most players settle on: finish Battle Intel, the Chapter 16 courses and the Colosseum on Normal first, clear Hard through to here, then do the Candidates, Dynamic Duos, Monsters of Legend and Top Secrets in that order.

Game Notes

On a first run this is a long, tense dungeon. On Chapter Select it becomes the endgame: the room off the 66th-floor corridor is where the hardest content in the game lives, and where completion runs end. Top Secrets in particular is less a fight than an audit of everything you have done — every Colosseum course, every report — and then five boss fights in a row with no items.

The Drum itself rewards patience more than skill. The team-switching can feel like the game taking control away, but it is also the only stretch where every character has to stand up on their own, and a party that gets through it with its materia set up properly is ready for what comes after.

How this page was made

Researched across 8 community walkthroughs and written from scratch — no source’s wording appears here. 5 are marked where sources disagree with each other — we have not picked a winner for you.

How we decide what to print