Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Best Materia to Get First

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is here and long time fans and newcomers to the series are finally able to jump in and experience this reimagined version of the classic PS1 RPG. There are lots of returning elements of course, and that includes materia. If you’re here, you’re probably wondering which is the best materia to get, buy and use first in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Let’s go over it.

Materia works similarly to as it did in the past. You can find and purchase various materia over the course of the game and equip them in weapons and armor to gain new spells, abilities and perks. There are lots of new and returning materia that you can take advantage of in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

Best Materia in Final Fantasy 7 Remake

So the best materia in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, is of course, a bit subjective. But below are the ones we found most helpful over the course of the story along with where to find them. After the list we’ll briefly go over each one and explain why we found them to be the best.

• Assess – Obtained after agreeing to help Chadley in Sector 7 for the first time.
• Auto-Cure – Purchasable from Chadley after completing Monster Bio Pt. 1
• Healing – Purchasable from item shops and vending machines, and found out on the field.
• Elemental – Complete the hidden Collapsed Passageway discovery in Sector 4.
• Enemy Skill – Purchasable from Chadley after completing Monster Bio Pt. 4.
• Fire – Purchasable from item shops and vending machines, and found out on the field.
• Pedometer/AP Up – Found along the path leading away from Aerith’s house in the early parts of Chapter 14: In Search of Hope.
• Poison– Purchasable from item shops and vending machines, and found out on the field.
• Steadfast Block – Purchasable from Chadley after completing Monster Bio Pt. 2
• Time – Found out on the field in the later chapters of the game.
• Thunder – Purchasable from item shops and vending machines, and found out on the field.

Access – Access might be the most important materia in the game if you’re not already familiar with Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s enemies and their weaknesses. It provides you invaluable intel on almost every enemy in the game tells you how you should strategize. It will let you know an enemy’s resistances, weaknesses, and stagger requirements.

Auto-Cure – Things can get chaotic in Final Fantasy 7 Remake and this materia will make things a little easier. Equip it to the party member that you use the least, and while you’re using a different character they will automatically cure someone a bit up to ten times per battle once you max it out.

Healing – This one is pretty obvious. It lets you cast the Cure line of spells and Regen. We’re just stating the obvious here but wanted to avoid any angry comments thinking we forgot about Cure, so here it is!

Elemental – If you’re going super try-hard on maximizing your DPS/survivability for the hardest fights in the game, Elemental is important to have. It adds linked elemental materia damage to your regular attacks, up to 23% at max level when added to your weapon. When added to your armor instead, you’ll resist and eventually absorb that element. So for example, if you pair Elemental with a Thunder materia, you’ll deal 23% extra damage at max level. That’s a lot!

Enemy Skill – This extremely powerful materia, when equipped, will give you a chance to permanently learn certain enemy skills after seeing them such as Self Destruct. It effectively turns whoever is using it into a Blue Mage, and there are very broken skills that you can learn from enemies.

Fire – This one is pretty simple, it lets you cast Fire, Fira and eventually Firaga. Why is it on this list? Well, it’s because so many of the enemies you’ll face in Final Fantasy VII Remake are various humans from Shinra and nearly all of them are weak to Fire in addition to a healthy dose of monsters as well.

Pedometer/AP Up – The Pedometer eventually will turn into AP Up when you complete it. Why did Square Enix make us walk 1000s of steps before allowing us to have AP Up? I’m not sure, but it doubles the amount of AP you get so it’s definitely worth the effort and is one of the best and useful materia you can have.

Poison – Bio and other damage over time effects are very underrated in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Stacking Poison with other effects like Chi Trap or certain enemy skills you learn like Algid Aura, can exponentially increase your overall damage in a long fight.

Steadfast Block – The toughest fights in the game will require you to Block if you don’t want to get smashed. This materia will increase the effectiveness of block and convert some of the damage into ATB charge, making it one of the best materia in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

Time – Time spells in almost every Final Fantasy game are among the best, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake is no different. We’re mostly interested in Haste which will increase the rate of time it takes for your ATB to charge. Every second counts in a difficult battle in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

Thunder – Like Fire, Thunder is simple as it lets you cast the Thunder-line of spells. Why is Thunder among the best materia over others? An extremely large portion of the game’s tough boss battles feature Shinra mech which are almost exclusively weak to Thunder spells. Make sure you’re stocked up and have at least three, one for everyone in the party.

That does it for our list of the best materia to get first in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. For more tips, tricks and FAQs answered definitely make sure to check out our Final Fantasy 7 Remake wiki guide and read our fully scored review.