Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: How to Get the Dragon Claws for Tifa (Desert Rush Guide)

There are a ridiculous amount of mini-games in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth; some new and some returning. Desert Rush falls somewhere between the two, serving as a souped-up version of one of the many mini-games found in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Cloud will need to play Desert Rush while down in the Dustbowl in order to get some feed for Piko, but Slykis Greens aren’t the only rewards on offer for completing this challenging Final Fantasy mini-game.

If players achieve Rank 3 in Desert Rush, they’ll be rewarded with a pair of Dragon Claws, which serve as one of Tifa’s seven weapons in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. To do this, however, they’ll need to achieve a score of at least 42,000, which will require them to break almost every single box. This can be incredibly difficult even for those who played Final Fantasy 7 Remake, as there as some key differences between Desert Rush and Whack-a-Box that they’ll need to understand.

How to Play Desert Rush in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Like Final Fantasy 7 Remake‘s Whack-a-Box mini-game before it, Desert Rush requires players to break boxes using physical attacks, with each box they break awarding them a set number of points. They’ll have two minutes to get as many points as possible, but will be able to increase the time limit by breaking yellow and red Clockboxes, which grant five and ten bonus seconds respectively. Where Desert Rush differs from its predecessor is through its inclusion of Gearboxes, Shockboxes, and Elevators; all of which will need to be incorporated into the player’s strategy if they’re to have any chance of achieving Rank 3 and unlocking Tifa’s Dragon Claws.

Gearboxes award players with 500 points but can only be broken after players have destroyed the required amount of Shockboxes. They’ll be able to tell how many Shockboxes are needed to break a Gearbox by the number of green lightning bolts shown on the circles inside the gear. Shockboxes are blue with large lightning bolts on them. They don’t reward players with any points directly but will release five smaller 200-point boxes when broken and so are effectively worth 1,000 points. Elevators are colored platforms with a single large gear on them, which will need to be struck repeatedly to make the platform move up or down.

Desert Rush Tips & Tricks

The best way to achieve Rank 3 in Desert Rush is to plan a route in advance. Thankfully, there’s only really one logical route for players to follow if they want to achieve a score of 42,000 (see below), which makes things quite a bit easier. It’s also a good idea to use Cloud’s Braver ability to break several large boxes at once, which can be done by positioning him in between boxes so that the main impact of the attack and the resulting shockwaves hit more than one box. Finally, players should be sure to use the Circle button to roll off of elevators as soon as they arrive at their destination, as the platforms will start to move back to their starting positions pretty quickly once players stop striking the gear. Other than that, players should keep an eye out for Clockboxes, as every extra second helps here.

How to Unlock Tifa’s Dragon Claws (Desert Rush Rank 3 Optimal Route)

Players should begin by using Cloud’s Punisher Mode to break the Shockbox and yellow Clockbox immediately to their right, then, after destroying all of the 200-point boxes that came out of the Shockbox, head down the ramp to the left and use Braver to break the three 1,500-point boxes to the right of the first Gearbox. With the first Shockbox already broken, they can again use Punisher Mode to break the aforementioned Gearbox; attacking it from the left so as to break the nearby pile of 50-point boxes at the same time.

Tempting though they may be, players should ignore all of the boxes up on the next level (save for the single yellow Clockbox to their left); instead heading down the ramp opposite the one that they just came up. This will lead them straight to the next Shockbox, which, like the last one, has a yellow Clockbox next to it. With that taken care of, players can follow the path around, destroying all of the boxes in front of them, including the large 1,500-point box to their left. They’ll then come to another Gearbox, behind which is a ramp leading back up to the area that they were in a moment ago.

Here, players should break the Gearbox on the left and then use Cloud’s Braver ability to destroy the other two Gearboxes that are blocking the entrance to the nearby elevator. Striking the gear on the elevator will take them up to the next level. If their ATB bar is full, they should use Braver again to destroy the two 1,500-point boxes dead ahead of them. If not, they should break some of the smaller boxes to their right in order to charge it. Behind the two 1,500-point boxes is the next Shockbox, though this alone won’t be enough to break the nearby Gearboxes. Instead, they should head up the ramp on the opposite side of the area; using Braver one more time to take out the other two 1,500-point boxes on their way.

If they still have charge left, players should use Braver to destroy the three Gearboxes blocking access to the next elevator. If not, Punisher Mode should make pretty quick work of them. For this elevator, players should make sure to stand a little to the left of the gear, as there’s a yellow Clockbox in the background that can be hit as the elevator goes up. Once at the top, they’ll wanna roll off the elevator and then follow the path to the left to find red and yellow Clockboxes. After breaking those, they should backtrack and follow the wooden ramp down to a blue elevator.

Upon their arrival back down on the lower floor, players will find the final Shockbox opposite the elevator they just used. After breaking it, they’ll want to take the blue elevator to their left down to the lowest floor, being sure to break the large 1,500-point box to their left upon their arrival. Now, they’re going to need to make their way all the way up to the highest floor, which means retracing their steps quite a bit. On their way there though, they should be sure to break any Gearboxes that they couldn’t get the first time around. There are three blocking access to the final red elevator, which also has a yellow Clockbox on it.

Together, the boxes on the highest floor are worth 6,000 points, and breaking them all will take around 15 seconds, so as long as players arrive at the final elevator with a score of 36,000 and about 20 seconds on the clock, they should have no problem hitting 42,000 points. Doing so will lead to them achieving Rank 3 of Desert Rush, which will unlock the Dragon Claws for Tifa. If they haven’t already received them, players will also get the Rank 1 and Rank 2 prizes at the same time: some Sylkis Greens for Piko (Rank 1) and 3,000 Gil (Rank 2).

Desert Rush Prizes