The final stretch in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth includes some of its toughest battles, but they are nothing that your fully equipped party can’t handle. By the late game, you should have unlocked most materia that is available to you in the world, whether it be from Chadley’s Intel missions or from fully upgrading their levels, and you will have every party member that is playable in the game.
Related
10 Hidden Areas In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Everyone Completely Missed
Have you found all these hidden areas in FF7 Rebirth?
There are some better weapons and equipment that you’ll be able to acquire in the post-game, but if you want to get through the final chapters of the legendary story, your characters better be prepared for what’s to come.
Cloud
Cloud keeps his playstyle from the early game through the remainder of the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth story. His sentinel-like attacks allow the ex-Soldier to remain on the frontline with a barrage of powerful weapon abilities. Therefore, it’s best to equip him with materia that will rapidly increase his ATB gauge and buff him to keep him in the battle longer.
Purple materia will be your best friend when cooking up a late game build for Cloud. Materia like First Strike and Skill Master are essential as they will allow you to spam all of his strong skills to stagger your enemy quickly.
|
Equipment |
Materia |
Effect |
|
Igneous Saber |
Skill Master |
ATB boost after using three types of ATB commands. |
|
Auto-Weapon Ability |
Activate Auto-Weapon Ability |
|
|
Auto-Unique Ability |
Allows an ally to automatically use unique abilities when not actively controlled during combat. Tifa will also use Unbridled Strength when not actively controlled if equipped. |
|
|
Precision Defense Focus |
Extend input timing window for precision defense. |
|
|
Steadfast Block |
Take slightly less damage + small ATB boost when guarding. |
|
|
HP Up |
Increase max HP. |
|
|
Valkyrian Bangle |
HP Absorption – Enemy Skill |
Absorb HP. Use enemy skills as abilities. |
|
Darkside – Chakra |
Increase ability potency by 7-20% and suffer 5% HP damage on each use. Allows you to restore your own HP and cure Poison. |
|
|
First Strike – Strength Up |
Small ATB increase at start of battle. Increase max Strength. |
Tifa
Similar to Cloud, Tifa relies on using her powerful combos and weapon abilities to stagger the enemy within seconds. Tifa’s main bread-and-butter will be her Unbridled Strength skill, which will increase her Chi level, unlocking new unique attacks to help her in battle.
Related
8 Hidden Plotlines Everyone Missed In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Learn about all the hidden plotlines everyone missed in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth!
Since you’ll want to be up close and personal with the enemy, you’ll be smacked around quite a bit, so materia like Precision Defense Focus and Chakra will be essential to keep Tifa in tip-top shape for battle.
|
Equipment |
Materia |
Effect |
|
Crystal Gloves |
Precision Defense Focus – First Strike |
Extend input timing window for precision defense. Small ATB increase at start of battle. |
|
Chakra |
Allows you to restore your own HP and cure Poison. |
|
|
Speed Up |
Increase max Speed. |
|
|
Auto-Weapon Ability |
Activate Auto-Weapon Ability |
|
|
Skill Master |
ATB increases after using 3 types of commands. |
|
|
Hades Armlet |
Enemy Skill – HP Absorption |
Use enemy skills as abilities. Absorb HP with linked materia. |
|
Strength Up – Steadfast Block |
Increase max Strength. Take slightly less damage + small ATB boost when guarding. |
|
|
ATB Stagger |
Small ATB boost on staggering a foe. |
|
|
Time – Barrier (or any support magic) |
Allows you to use time magic. Allows you to use defensive spells. |
Aerith
Throughout most of the early and mid-game, Aerith will be your go-to healer, but as you unlock and find new materia, she will become an excellent caster with incredible potential for exploiting weakness. Her high magic attack stat will shred through the enemy’s defenses no matter the situation.
The ‘Lightning and Wind’ and ‘Fire and Ice’ materia are two of Rebirth’s best since they allow you to use two spells for the price of one materia slot.
The elemental magic materia, combined with MP Absorption, will allow Aerith to spam magic, while keeping some MP for dire healing situations.
If you know what kind of enemy you will be facing, you can switch both spell materia with each other depending on which you will be using more.
|
Equipment |
Materia |
Effect |
|
Timeless Rod |
Healing – Magnify |
Allows you to use healing spells. Allows you to expand the range of spells with the linked materia. |
|
Fire and Ice / Lightning and Wind |
Allows you to use fire and ice magic. Allows you to use lightning and wind magic. |
|
|
Yggdrasil Armlet |
Fire and Ice / Lightning and Wind – MP Absorption |
Allows you to recover MP when unleashing an attack of the linked materia’s type. |
|
Prayer – ATB Boost |
Allows you to restore the party’s HP with Pray. Doubles ATB when activated. |
|
|
First Strike – MP Up |
Small ATB increase at start of battle Increases max MP. |
Barret
Barret will be your tank in every section of the game, but the late game is where he truly shines. While this holds true for every character to some extent, it’s especially imperative that you equip Barret with Auto materia – Auto-Unique, Auto-Weapon. Barret is terrific at keeping the enemy off your flank with his rad aggro-pulling, damage-soaking, abilities.
Pairings like Provoke, Vitality Up, and Spirit Up, will allow Barret to draw the aggro from the fight, letting you shred through the enemy with your other characters.
|
Equipment |
Materia |
Effect |
|
Calamitous Bazooka |
Auto-Unique Ability |
Allows an ally to automatically use unique abilities when not actively controlled during combat. Tifa will also use Unbridled Strength when not actively controlled if equipped. |
|
Auto-Weapon Ability |
Activate Auto-Weapon Ability |
|
|
Steadfast Block |
Take slightly less damage + small ATB boost when guarding. |
|
|
Provoke |
Automatically uses Provoke to temporarily draw the enemy’s attention when teammates are severely injured. |
|
|
HP Up |
Increase max HP. |
|
|
Celestial Bangle |
Barrier – Magic Efficiency |
Allows you to use defensive spells. Reduces the MP cost of spells with the linked materia in battle. |
|
Vitality Up |
Increase max Vitality. |
|
|
Synergy Support |
Slightly increases synergy when other party members use a synergy abillity during battle |
|
|
Spirit Up |
Increase max Spirit. |
|
|
Prayer |
Allows you to restore the party’s HP with Pray. |
Red XIII
Red XIII is quite a versatile character. He excels at physical combat, yet his magic stat is nothing to laugh at. Red can equip combat magic like Fire and Ice, but if paired with Elemental, his deadly fangs and claws will now be imbued with magic, making enemies more susceptible to his attacks.
Related
His Vengeance Mode is one of the best sustain-based unique attacks in the game, but giving him a bit of HP Up doesn’t hurt anybody, especially if you want to give up some of your HP to increase your damage with Darkside.
|
Equipment |
Materia |
Effect |
|
Golden Collar |
Healing – Auto Cast |
Allows you to use healing spells. Allows an ally to automatically use spells with the linked materia. |
|
Vitality Up – Spirit Up |
Increase max Vitality. Increase max Spirit. |
|
|
Precision Defense Focus |
Extend input timing window for precision defense. |
|
|
Darkside |
Increase ability potency by 7-20% and suffer 5% HP damage on each use. |
|
|
Celestial Bangle |
Barrier – Magic Focus |
Allows you to use defensive spells. Increses the potency and duration of spells. |
|
Auto Weapon Ability |
Activate Auto-Weapon Ability |
|
|
Provoke |
Automatically uses Provoke to temporarily draw the enemy’s attention when teammates are severely injured. |
|
|
Steadfast Block |
Take slightly less damage + small ATB boost when guarding. |
|
|
HP Up |
Increase max HP. |
Yuffie
Yuffie is one of the best characters in the game, hands down. She inherently has the ability to exploit any enemy weakness due to her Ninjutsu ability and has the chance for huge burst potential by charging up her Banishment gauge.
With the Crystalline Cross equipped, Yuffie can use the multiple materia slots to buff her stats rather than equipping her with more magic, as she already has access to every element. Depending on the fight, you can add a magic materia paired with Elemental to add extra magical damage to your shuriken throw attacks.
|
Equipment |
Materia |
Effect |
|
Crystalline Cross |
Fire and Ice / Lightning and Wind – Elemental |
Allows you to use fire and ice magic. Allows you to use lightning and wind magic. Infuses attacks with elemental magic. |
|
ATB Assist |
Slightly fills teammates ATB gauges. |
|
|
HP Up |
Increase max HP. |
|
|
MP Up |
Increase max MP. |
|
|
Luck Up |
Increase max Luck. |
|
|
Valkyrian Bangle |
Subversion -Warding |
Grants resistance to the linked materia’s detrimental status effect. |
|
Prayer – First Strike |
Allows you to restore the party’s HP. Small ATB increase at start of battle |
|
|
Auto-Weapon Ability – Assess |
Activate Auto-Weapon Ability Allows you to view enemy info. |
Cait Sith
Just like Red XII, Cait Sith is an excellent and versatile character, but his Roll o’ The Dice ability can provide some excellent buffs with a short cast time, making him a perfect support for your party. The amount of luck involved here can make him a barrel of fun to control, since the outcomes are always positive – no game over rolls like in the original!
Assess is crucial to every party, and can be slotted into any character build, but if you are using Cait Sith, he will be the best option to carry the essential materia.
|
Equipment |
Materia |
Effect |
|
Crystal Megaphone |
First Strike |
ATB increase at start of battle |
|
ATB Stagger |
ATB boost on staggering a foe. |
|
|
Barrier |
Allows you to use defensive spells. |
|
|
HP Up |
Increase max HP. |
|
|
Precision Defense Focus |
Extend input timing window for precision defense. |
|
|
Valkyrian Bangle |
Luck Up – Assess |
Increase max Luck. Allows you to view enemy info. |
|
ATB Boost – Steadfast Block |
Doubles ATB when activated. Take slightly less damage + small ATB boost when guarding. |
|
|
ATB Assist |
ATB increase for ally when repeating command 2 times. |
|
|
Synergy Support |
Slightly increases synergy when other party members use a synergy abillity during battle. |
Next
The 8 Best Accessories In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Ranked
Don’t head into battle unprepared. Check out these accessories before rushing into battle.