If you have a profound hatred for Final Fantasy XII's Gambit mode, then you're absolutely going to have a horrible time with this minigame. With so many builds and strategies you can conjure the minigame, here's a complete guide and explanation of Gears and Gambits in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Complete Gears and Gambits Guide - Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Since our guide will tackle all aspects of Gears and Gambits in FF7 Rebirth, use the table below to head over to your preferred section.
Gears and Gambits Mechanics Explained
The goal of Gears and Gambits is simple: beat the boss in the middle of the map, and don't let your portals get destroyed by leaving them unattended to enemy monsters.
You can summon units onto a three-lane map, and the boss will be able to summon its own minions to counter yours. The game will end upon the boss's defeat, regardless of how many enemy minions are left in the field.
Elements
Let's start off with the simplest aspect of the minigame, Elements. There are three elements in the minigame (as opposed to five in the main game): Fire, Ice, and Lightning. Each element has one weakness and one strength.
Here's the list of all the strengths and weaknesses of each element:
| Element | Strong Against | Weak Against |
| Fire | Ice | Lightning |
| Ice | Lightning | Fire |
| Lightning | Fire | Ice |
The elemental shot you equip to your T-Robot indicates its weaknesses as well (i.e. you put a Fire shot in your gambit, your T-Robot will be weak against Lightning attacks). Additionally, if you equip more than one elemental type to your T-Robot, your elemental weakness will also increase to two. If you decide to equip all elemental shot types to your T-Robot, your Robot will be weak to all three elemental attacks.
Gambits
Assuming you've never played Final Fantasy XII, you may not be familiar with the Gambits system. It's an original combat system specifically for FFXII that allows users to set certain conditions that your A.I. party member will follow throughout a battle (i.e. Ally ≤ 50% HP = Cure; If an ally has less than 50% HP then use cure).
Think of Gambits as computer coding, where you set a bunch of "if" parameters that your program consistently checks. Once an outcome situation falls within the "if" parameter, your program will automatically use a corresponding action or a "then" parameter to complete a single statement.
The order of your Gambits corresponds to the priority actions of the Robots provided by Chadley. Here's an example of the "if" and "then" statement using T3 Robot's gambits in the image below in relation to how it will act in a game of Gears and Gambits:
- Ally: HP ≤ 50% HP = Cure Multishot—If any of your allies have less than 50% HP, use Cure Multishot. This means whenever you have an ally below 50% HP, the T3 Robot will automatically use Cure until it runs out of charges.
- Ally = Bravery Multishot—If you have any allies on the field, use Brave Multishot. This parameter indicates that T3 will always use the Bravery shot if there are no allies with less than 50% health (Priority 1 Condition).
- Ally = Barrier Multishot—If you have any allies on the field, use Barrier Multishot. This parameter is similar to Bravery Multishot. If allies on the field are not below 50% HP (Priority 1 Condition) and there are no more Bravery Multishots left (Priority 2 Condition), then use Barrier Multishot.
- Foe = Hyper Lariat—If Conditions 1, 2, and 3 are false (alternatively, no charges left), then use Hyper Lariat on any Foe.
- Self: Modify HP & Cost— This Gambit is more of a balancing modifier than a conditional one. T3 Robot will cost less than 40 ATB at the cost of -200 HP.
- Note: Do not follow this setup; it is very inefficient, and you will be demolished.
In addition to all this information, enemies have gambits too! So you should always assess enemies (using the square button) while playing the minigame to check on their gambits and conditions, as some enemies will unleash strong attacks depending on their requirements.
Portal Skills
Portal Skills refer to power-ups you can use during the battle outside of your gambits. The player has full control over when and where they can use these skills. Below are the three Portal Skill presets available in the minigame.
| Loadout Name | Skill 1 | Skill 2 |
| Hybrid Loadout | Regenga Instant health restoration plus health regen over time | Comet Large A.O.E. damage to enemies |
| Offensive Loadout | Aeroga Moderate A.O.E. damage in a wide area | Comet Large A.O.E. damage to enemies in a small area |
| Defensive Loadout | Regenga Instant health restoration plus health regen over time | Cautious Courage Enhances attack power and defense of units within the affected area |
In my experience, Offensive Loadout is the best option, as you can always equip gambits like Cure, Bravery, and Barrier. The A.O.E. damage given by both Aeroga and Comet will come in handy, especially when there are multiple mob summons on the screen.
Standard Mode Gears and Gambits Guide
Phenomenon Intel 1 and 2
For Phenomenon Intel 1 and 2 in the Cosmo Canyon, it's very straightforward as you don't have too much flexibility on your builds for both challenges. Hence, you should treat this as the tutorial section of the minigame.
Phenomenon Intel 1 is very easy; you only have to summon robots that are elementally strong against the mob's affinity. Try to match one mob with two robot summons on your side so you can quickly eliminate the enemy and bring damage to the boss in the middle of the map.
For Phenomenon Intel 2, I recommend using the Auto-Program feature. To access it, select a T-Robot, and during the gambit customization process, press Square on your controller.
After running the Auto-Program feature, check the gambits and translate them using the example in the gambits section above to dissect how each unit will play during the battle. This will not only help you further understand how gambits work, but you'll also be able to implement your own setups in the succeeding challenges.
Use the same strategy as the first protorelic challenge and summon elementally stronger robots against the mobs. As long as you use the Auto-Program feature and strategically counter enemy summons, you won't lose this battle.
Phenomenon Intel 3
Phenomenon Intel 3 is where things start to get a bit more challenging. Of course, you can still use the Auto-Program feature, but that won't help once you get into hard mode as this feature is disabled.
Here's my recommended Gambit setup per robot:
| T1 Robot | T2 Robot | T3 Robot |
| Ally: HP ≤ 50% = Cure Shot | Self = Barrier Shot | Self = Bravery Shot |
| Self = Regen Shot | Elemental Weakness Priority = Blizzard Shot | Elemental Weakness Priority = Thunder Shot |
| Elemental Weakness Priority = Fire Shot | Foe: Airborne = Gravity Shot | Foe: Airborne = Gravity Shot |
| Foe: Airborne = Missile | Foe = Lariat | Foe = Lariat |
| Foe = Lariat | Self: Modify HP & Cost = Cost -40 | HP -200 | Self: Modify Cost = Cost -20 |
The trick to this stage is to know about Airborne enemies. Technically, you can still beat them with elemental shots, but this is not optimal due to the limited charges of the skill. Instead, our gambits ensure that all robots are capable of dealing aerial damage to airborne enemies with gravity shots and missiles.
I also introduced Foe = Lariat as a condition for skills like Gravity Shot, which does not damage airborne enemies. Instead, it forces them to stay on the ground. After casting Gravity Shot, instead of expending elemental shots, your robots will instead use a "free" skill instead with Lariat.
Related: FF7 Rebirth Tempering Trials Guide – How to beat all shrine summons
Phenomenon Intel 4
Phenomenon Intel 4 gives you a glimpse of what's to come for Gears and Gambit's Hard Mode. You gain a new skill and additional conditions in this challenge.
Here's my recommended Gambit setup for Phenomenon Intel 4:
| T1 Robot | T2 Robot | T3 Robot |
| Self = Regen Shot | Self = Barrier Shot | Self = Bravery Shot |
| Self = Augmentation Additional Condition: Defeat 1 Enemy | Self = Nullemental Field Additional Condition: Two enemies targeting unit | Self = Haste Field Additional Condition: Defeat 1 Enemy |
| Elemental Weakness Priority = Fire Shot | Elemental Weakness Priority = Blizzard Shot | Elemental Weakness Priority = Thunder Shot |
| Foe: Airborne = Missile | Foe: Airborne = Gravity Shot | Foe: Airborne = Missile |
| Foe = Lariat | Self: Modify HP & Cost = Cost -40 | HP -200 | Self: Modify Cost = Cost -20 |
This Gambit setup may be too aggressive for most people, but the catch with Standard Phenomenon Intels is you can infinitely summon as many units as you want as long as you have the ATB to spend.
This setup also takes advantage of the new skills added to your gambits, like Augmentation, Nullemental Field, and Haste Field. These are skills with additional conditions required in order to use them.
In this example, I used Augmentation on the T1 Robot. Augmentation boosts your non-elemental attack damage, and with Missile and Lariat, this means you'll be able to deal more damage to non-elemental and airborne foes.
Nullemental Field and Haste Field can be interchangeable. It's a matter of personal preference which element you want to utilize for either skill. As with the previous challenges, you only need to match your enemies' summons with their opposite elements.
If you become overwhelmed by the summoned enemies, use Aeroga or Comet to trim them down and have your units go all out on the boss. Congratulations, you've finished the standard mode of Gears and Gambits!
Related: How to receive Remuneration in FF7 Rebirth – Piano tips, sheet locations, & more!
Hard Mode Gears and Gambits Guide
Now that you're finished with standard mode, it's time to multiply your gambit knowledge by 10 with Hard mode. Once you engage hard mode, you'll instantly unlock a plethora of new conditions and spell gambits at your disposal. Another addition to hard mode is that you're only limited to nine total summons or three for each robot for the entire round.
Here are my recommended Gambit setups for each robot:
| T1 Robot | T2 Robot | T3 Robot |
| Self = Barrier Shot | Ally: HP ≤ 50% = Cure Multishot | Self = Bravery Shot |
| Foe: Airborne = Missile | Foe: Weak to an Element= Blizzard Shot | Foe: Weak to an Element= Thunder Shot |
| Elemental Weakness Priority = Fire Shot | Foe = Blizzaga Shot Additional Condition: HP ≤ 50% | Foe: Airborne = Missile |
| Foe = Firaga Shot Additional Condition: HP ≤ 50% | Self: Modify HP & Cost = HP +300 | Cost +15 | Foe: Thundaga Shot |
| Self: Modify HP & Cost = HP +150 | Self: Modify HP & Cost = Cost -20 | Self: Modify HP & Cost = Cost -40 | HP -200 |
I'd like to name this setup the Kamikaze build. Basically, this setup allows each robot to cast an elemental -ga shot, which translates to some of the best spell materias in FF7 Rebirth. This usually happens when they are fighting the boss, allowing you to deal a tremendous amount of damage and ending the battle with time to spare.
For example, here's how to breakdown T1 Robot's actions and priorities with this build:
- On summon, use barrier shot on self
- Look for Airborne foes; if there are any, use missiles. If none, proceed to the next condition.
- Look for enemies who are too weak to fire, and use fire shots if there are any.
- If HP is below or equal to 50%, begin casting Firaga Shot.
Another strategy I noticed during my experimentation with this difficulty is to treat it as a turn-based strategy RPG. The boss summons one monster, you summon your counter, and so on and so forth.
The boss also seems to have a definite summon pattern whenever you take turns summoning monsters. This means if you interrupt the boss's turn, it will summon a random monster (usually in an empty lane) to counter your extra turn. I recommend playing this challenge as slow as possible and only responding to the boss's summons so you don't run out of robots before the timer ends.
Lastly, at 50% health, the boss will summon a bunch of monsters at the same time. This is the perfect opportunity to use Aeroga or Comet to clear them and let your robots take down the boss with their elemental -ga spells.
For more in-depth guides on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, check out FF7 Rebirth: Queen’s Blood Best Decks & Strategies right here at Pro Game Guides!
