The final stretch inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthincludes 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 befrom Chadley’s Intelmissions or from fully upgrading their levels, and you will have every party member that is playable in the game.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Since you’ll want to beup 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.
Crystal Gloves
Precision Defense Focus - First Strike
Extend input timing window for precision defense. Small ATB increase at start of battle.
Allows you to restore your own HP and cure Poison.
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.
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’re able to switch both spell materia with each other depending on which you will be using more.
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.
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 isterrificat keeping the enemy off your flank with his rad aggro-pulling, damage-soaking, abilities.
Pairings like Provoke, Vitality Up, and Spirit Up, will allowBarret to draw the aggro from the fight, letting you shred through the enemy with your other characters.
Calamitous Bazooka
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.
Celestial Bangle
Barrier - Magic Efficiency
Allows you to use defensive spells. Reduces the MP cost of spells with the linked materia in battle.
Increase max Vitality.
Synergy Support
Slightly increases synergy when other party members use a synergy abillity during battle
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.
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.
Golden Collar
Healing - Auto Cast
Allows you to use healing spells. Allows an ally to automatically use spells with the linked materia.
Extend input timing window for precision defense.
Darkside
Increase ability potency by 7-20% and suffer 5% HP damage on each use.
Barrier - Magic Focus
Allows you to use defensive spells. Increses the potency and duration of spells.
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.
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.
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
Activate Auto-Weapon Ability Allows you to view enemy info.
Cait Sith
Just like Red XII,Cait Sithis 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.
ATB increase at start of battle
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 increase for ally when repeating command 2 times.
Slightly increases synergy when other party members use a synergy abillity during battle.
