Uploaded October 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The knot comes undone.
Challenge Conditions
-) Gjoerulv's Hardcore Mod Installed
-) Lv.1 Party Only
-) No Overflow
-) No 'Game Over' Slots
-) No Sources
-Strategy-
Easily one of the toughest fights I've done in this game, Ma Bino is a unique boss that seems to defy the normal rules of a battle. But we're going to have a look behind the scenes to see exactly what makes this bloody cat tick.
First off, there's six Ma Binos in this battle, each with 60,000HP. Only one is (supposed to be) visible and acts as the Frontman, using a single attack that changes from phase to phase. Behind it is a Support that can use up to five abilities per turn, including:
-) Aengus (Wall + Dragon Force)
-) Mabonagrain (Haste + Regen + Dragon Force)
-) Modron (500MP damage + status ailments, can hit Dead targets)
-) Culhwch (Heals HP, removes most bad status, and Hero Drink)
-) Ysbaddaden (Magic hit, 5100 damage, can inflict Death)
This is why Ma Bino can 'attack' when it's otherwise debilitated. When the Frontman dies, they cycle through to the next Ma Bino who takes his turn being the Frontman. To end the fight, you need to kill each Ma Bino twice so that's 12 phases in all to get through. However, the final phase has no Support so it's more like 11.
As you can see above, defence-boosting spells are being used so items and conventional attacks can quickly become useless. That's where Pandora's Box, one of our only Defence-ignoring spells, comes in. It can be Reflected in the Hardcore mod, which means we can triple it's output by equipping everyone with Reflect Rings (acquired from Ultimate Weapon).
The next crucial detail is that Ma Bino can be afflicted with a lot of status ailments but most of these are healed by Culhwch and Slow is killed by Mabonagrain...but Stop isn't taken care of by anything. So at the start of the fight and the beginning of each phase thereafter, we need to hit the Frontman with Stop to avoid a potentially lethal attack like Vagrant. We then need to kill it before Stop wears off. To make sure it sticks, I cast it with W-Magic Quadded-Time, with Hourglasses as a back-up if MP or a turn isn't available.
So that leaves the Support abilities to survive. Modron is devastating and will result in a game over to Slow-Numb/Death Sentence if not taken care of. To prevent it, we need at least one person to have the Resist status which is provided through Vaccines; as Ysbaddaden will kill people throughout, we need to constantly re-apply these to handle Modron. We also need to replenish MP after each Modron.
One thing to note about Modron; it uses the Hyper Jump animation which can infrequently cause FF7 PC to crash. For that reason (and because I lost a run at 10 cats killed) I changed it's animation to something a little safer; the attack itself is identical.
Finally, our Box casts will be crippled if Aengus is used, so Debarrier is there too for removing MBarrier. What it essentially boils down to is hanging on for dear life until an opening presents itself, and also managing our ATB so that we can get our slow-ass characters the turns they need against the 250 Dex Ma Bino.
So that's us got KOTR and Shield now. But KOTR isn't the cure-all you might expect in this mod; it's quite inaccurate and requires a tonne of Magic to get it hitting properly. But no worries; your old pal Sega Chief always has a plan; let's just say that KOTR wasn't our goal here today ;)
The knot comes undone.
Challenge Conditions
-) Gjoerulv's Hardcore Mod Installed
-) Lv.1 Party Only
-) No Overflow
-) No 'Game Over' Slots
-) No Sources
-Strategy-
Easily one of the toughest fights I've done in this game, Ma Bino is a unique boss that seems to defy the normal rules of a battle. But we're going to have a look behind the scenes to see exactly what makes this bloody cat tick.
First off, there's six Ma Binos in this battle, each with 60,000HP. Only one is (supposed to be) visible and acts as the Frontman, using a single attack that changes from phase to phase. Behind it is a Support that can use up to five abilities per turn, including:
-) Aengus (Wall + Dragon Force)
-) Mabonagrain (Haste + Regen + Dragon Force)
-) Modron (500MP damage + status ailments, can hit Dead targets)
-) Culhwch (Heals HP, removes most bad status, and Hero Drink)
-) Ysbaddaden (Magic hit, 5100 damage, can inflict Death)
This is why Ma Bino can 'attack' when it's otherwise debilitated. When the Frontman dies, they cycle through to the next Ma Bino who takes his turn being the Frontman. To end the fight, you need to kill each Ma Bino twice so that's 12 phases in all to get through. However, the final phase has no Support so it's more like 11.
As you can see above, defence-boosting spells are being used so items and conventional attacks can quickly become useless. That's where Pandora's Box, one of our only Defence-ignoring spells, comes in. It can be Reflected in the Hardcore mod, which means we can triple it's output by equipping everyone with Reflect Rings (acquired from Ultimate Weapon).
The next crucial detail is that Ma Bino can be afflicted with a lot of status ailments but most of these are healed by Culhwch and Slow is killed by Mabonagrain...but Stop isn't taken care of by anything. So at the start of the fight and the beginning of each phase thereafter, we need to hit the Frontman with Stop to avoid a potentially lethal attack like Vagrant. We then need to kill it before Stop wears off. To make sure it sticks, I cast it with W-Magic Quadded-Time, with Hourglasses as a back-up if MP or a turn isn't available.
So that leaves the Support abilities to survive. Modron is devastating and will result in a game over to Slow-Numb/Death Sentence if not taken care of. To prevent it, we need at least one person to have the Resist status which is provided through Vaccines; as Ysbaddaden will kill people throughout, we need to constantly re-apply these to handle Modron. We also need to replenish MP after each Modron.
One thing to note about Modron; it uses the Hyper Jump animation which can infrequently cause FF7 PC to crash. For that reason (and because I lost a run at 10 cats killed) I changed it's animation to something a little safer; the attack itself is identical.
Finally, our Box casts will be crippled if Aengus is used, so Debarrier is there too for removing MBarrier. What it essentially boils down to is hanging on for dear life until an opening presents itself, and also managing our ATB so that we can get our slow-ass characters the turns they need against the 250 Dex Ma Bino.
So that's us got KOTR and Shield now. But KOTR isn't the cure-all you might expect in this mod; it's quite inaccurate and requires a tonne of Magic to get it hitting properly. But no worries; your old pal Sega Chief always has a plan; let's just say that KOTR wasn't our goal here today ;)
