How to steal Tonberry King's Crown in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
How to find the Tonberry King's location and steal his Pristine Crown.
You have to get the Tonberry King's Crown for Johnny as part of the 'The Saga of the Seaside Inn' side quest in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
You can't do this until Chapter 9, however, even though the quest is picked up in Chapter 7. To help you out with this last part of Johnny's quest when you get to Chapter 9, we've detailed the Tonberry King's location in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and how to get the Tonberry King's Pristine Crown below. We also explain how to beat the Tonberry King in the last section.
For more help on your travels across Gaia, check out our pages on all weapon locations, the best Materia, and all Corel Cache locations.
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Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Tonberry King location
The Tonberry King is located in the southern area of Corel, which is only accessible from Chapter 9 onwards in FF7 Rebirth. However, you need to visit and complete four Lifespring locations in this southern part of Corel before you can summon the Tonberry King. The Tonberry King will then be marked on your map as 'Classified Intel: Heavy Lies the Crown'. If this doesn't mark its location, try visiting the two Lifespring locations in northern Corel as well.
Specifically, the Tonberry King is near the eastern coast of the southern section of Corel, north of a Mogstool, and directly south from the Johnny who gives you the subquest to get a Tonberry Crown.
To find Lifesprings quickly, we recommend activating the southern Corel Remnawave Towers, as these show more World Intel locations when you activate their red switches. You'll need to make use of the Grapple Hook to access some of these Corel towers.
How to get Tonberry King Crown in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Similar to Quetzalcoatl in the Grasslands, the Tonberry King's Crown can only be obtained after unlocking its location on your map by visiting Lifesprings, then summoning the King to battle. However, this time there's a few extra steps that involve the Steal Materia if you want the Pristine Tonberry King Crown.
Here's step-by-step instructions for how to get the Tonberry King's Crown in FF7 Rebirth:
- Reach south Corel in Chapter 9.
- Find and scan four south Corel Lifesprings (if this doesn't work, scan the other two in northern Corel).
- Go to 'Classified Intel: Heavy Lies the Crown' location.
- Equip Steal Materia on a party member (Yuffie has this by default).
- Summon the Tonberry King and Pressure it to get it to drop its Pristine Crown.
- Use the Steal ability on the Pristine Crown to pick it up.
- Defeat the Tonberry King to successfully claim the Crown.
If you kill the Tonberry King without stealing the Pristine Crown, you get the Marred Crown instead. It doesn't make a huge difference which crown you give him, but that Pristine Crown does look pretty on Johnny's desk, and he's very happy about getting it.
Tonberry enemies are notoriously deadly one-shotters in Final Fantasy games, so we've got tips on how to beat the Tonberry King below:
How to beat Tonberry King in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
The Tonberry King has 14,220 HP on normal difficulty and has no elemental weaknesses in FF7 Rebirth. Instead, you have to inflict enough damage after its attacks miss to Pressure it. Save your ATB charges for right after the moment it attacks (or during a projectile attack) to make the most of this weakness. Once Pressured, the Tonberry King's Pristine Crown will fall, allowing you to use the Steal ability on it if you have the Steal Materia equipped.
Preparing for the fight
We recommend adding at least one ranged character to your party before taking on the Tonberry King in FF7 Rebirth, as you'll want to be as far away as possible from it to avoid its Chef's Knife instant-death move. We used Barret, as his Overcharge and Maximum Fury moves are enough to Pressure the Tonberry King if used right after the Tonberry King misses an attack.
You can also link the Auto-Cast Materia with healing spells, and equip the Auto-Unique Ability Materia on everyone you can. The Auto-Unique Ability Materia enables a character to use their special abilities without you having to manually command them to do so. This means your other party members can get lucky and Pressure the Tonberry King without you having to time it perfectly yourself.
You'll also want to equip the Steal Materia if you plan on nabbing the King's Pristine Crown when it falls (Yuffie has this Materia by default).
Tonberry King boss strategy
First thing's first: stay away from the front of the Tonberry King. The King's very speedy and devastating Chef's Knife attack instantly kills you if you get too close. If you're good at dodging you can attack from the front, but this is very risky.
Generally, we recommend controlling Barret for the majority of the fight, as you can keep your distance while unleashing strong attacks. Then, you can switch to characters with powerful attacks like Cloud, Tifa, or Red XIII when the Tonberry King is Staggered to drain its health quickly. Using Synergy Abilities that partition the ATB bar, raise limit levels, or extend Pressure and Stagger are recommended too.
It's not a guaranteed win to attack from long range though, as the Tonberry King's Rancor and Doom and Gloom moves send out projectiles at the party member you're controlling. Make sure to dodge to the left or right away from them, or you'll get stunned in place with Rancor, or die instantly after Doom and Gloom hits.
Being Stunned is a dangerous position to be in too, as the Tonberry can then kill you instantly if it gets too close, or Doom and Gloom hits from afar. However, you can aggro the Tonberry King away from a stunned character by inflicting enough damage before it reaches them.
Another annoying move is the Call for Friends attack that summons regular sized Tonberry enemies. These Tonberries can also instantly kill you with Chef's Knife, so be sure not to get too close!
The Tonberry King's final attack of note is Hopping Mad, which rains down debris from above. This is a good opportunity to hit the Tonberry King with powerful abilities to Pressure it, after dodging the debris.
Lastly, take your time! Fighting the Tonberry King can be annoying if you can't time the powerful abilities to Pressure it, but you will eventually beat it, even without Pressuring it, just as long as you can avoid its Chef's Knife and Doom and Gloom projectiles.
Good luck taking on the Tonberry King!