The best materia in FF7 Rebirth, and exactly how to use them
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth treats materia as the backbone of its entire combat system. The right orb in the right slot can turn a tough boss fight into a clean win. The wrong setup, and you'll spend most of your ATB gauge doing nothing useful. This guide breaks down the best materia picks for each stage of the game, the strongest character-specific combinations, and the EXP-boosting setups worth knowing before you hit the level 70 cap.
What makes materia so important in FF7 Rebirth?
Materia determines your offensive options, your survivability, and how fast you cycle through ATB commands. Every character has limited slots, so every choice is a tradeoff. Equipping materia on reserve party members also lets it gain AP passively during battles, so there's no reason to leave slots empty even on characters you're not actively using.
Materia equip screen overview
Always equip materia on reserve characters. They still earn AP during battles, which levels up your orbs faster without any extra effort.
Best materia for early game (Chapters 2 to 4)
The first few chapters of FF7 Rebirth are where your materia habits form. These are the picks that carry the most weight before you reach the Corel region.
The Elemental materia deserves special mention. Linking it with any elemental magic materia imbues your basic attacks with that element, which means you're dealing weakness damage on every swing without spending ATB. Against enemies with a clear weakness, this is the most efficient damage setup available early on.
Best materia for mid game
Once you're past Chapter 6 and into the Corel and Gongaga regions, the enemy pool gets tougher and your materia kit needs to reflect that.
Time materia's Haste spell is worth more than its rating suggests in practice. Casting Haste on your active character early in a fight noticeably speeds up how often you can use abilities, especially on characters who build ATB quickly through attacks.
Linked materia slots on armor
Best materia for late game and post-game
After clearing the story, AP triples and EXP scales with your current level. That's the window to push toward the level 70 cap and master the strongest orbs.
Darkside's HP drain adds up fast in long fights. Always pair it with Chakra or HP Absorption materia, or you'll find yourself in danger against hard-hitting bosses.
How do materia combinations work for each character?
Each character has a role that specific materia combinations amplify. Here's the breakdown by character.
Cloud
Cloud's early game kit centers on the Sleek Saber, which provides an ATB Charge Rate Up weapon skill. Slot in Fire and Ice, HP Up, and MP Up to survive the Chapter 2 Midgardsormr fight and the Chapter 3 Turks encounter. By late game, Cloud wants Auto-Unique Ability, Auto-Weapon Ability, and Skill Master to keep his ability rotation flowing. The Igneous Saber is the weapon of choice at that stage, and the Valkyrian Bangle provides six materia slots with three links for flexible customization.
Tifa
Tifa's early build uses Chakra for ATB-based self-healing and Fire and Ice from the Sylph Gloves, which also comes with a Reverse Gale attack for wind-weak enemies. Her late-game setup prioritizes First Strike paired with Precision Defense Focus so she can use Unfettered Fury twice early in fights. ATB Stagger and Enemy Skill fill out the rest of her damage toolkit.
Barret
Barret is your support tank throughout the entire game. Early on, he runs Prayer linked with Healing on the Hi-Caliber Rifle for party-wide recovery. His rapid attack speed fills ATB fast enough to use Prayer regularly despite its 2-bar cost. Late game, he adds Provoke to redirect enemy aggro, Steelskin and Lifesaver for damage mitigation, and Alexander as his summon of choice.
Barret late-game materia setup
Aerith
Aerith is your primary spellcaster and healer. Her early setup links Healing with Fire and Ice on the Timeless Rod, which also boosts fire damage. By late game, she runs Healing linked with Magnify so healing spells hit the entire party, Time for Haste, and Phoenix as her summon. The Enhanced Yggdrasil Armlet provides enough slots for MP Absorption linked with Fire and Ice to keep her MP sustainable.
Red XIII
Red XIII's entire kit revolves around building his Vengeance gauge through precise blocks. Precision Defense Focus is his core materia from the first moment he joins the party. Early on, HP Up and Chakra cover the times when you don't block in time. Late game, the Golden Collar weapon and Garm Bangle armor support a fast, reactive playstyle with Fire and Ice linked to Elemental for attack-based elemental damage.
Yuffie
Yuffie pressures and staggers enemies through her Ninjutsu element-matching mechanic. ATB Stagger materia lets her follow up stagger with Art of War immediately. Her late-game setup on the Crystalline Cross includes Fire and Ice linked with Elemental, ATB Assist, and First Strike to deploy Doppelganger at the start of fights. Using Art of War twice during combos also triggers ATB Assist for your other party members.
Cait Sith
Cait Sith's strength comes from summoning his Moogle early and then spamming Roll o' the Dice or Fortune Telling to trigger ATB Assist for the rest of the party. First Strike, ATB Boost, and ATB Stagger on the Crystal Megaphone get Moogle on the field as fast as possible. Level Boost linked with ATB Boost on the Valkyrian Bangle rounds out the kit.
Materia combinations shown here are designed to maximize each character as a lead party member. If you're planning team compositions around synergy and role overlap, the loadouts will need adjustment based on who else is in your active party.
How does EXP Up materia fit into a farming setup?
The EXP Up materia doubles the EXP a character earns per battle. You find it in a chest in the Amberstar Chamber floor area of the Labyrinth during Chapter 13. After clearing the story, this orb becomes genuinely valuable because post-game EXP already scales with your current level. Stack it with Hard Mode difficulty for the biggest returns.
For the fastest path to level 70, the My White-Haired Angel side quest in Chapter 12 on Hard Mode via Chapter Select is the most efficient farming run available. The Queen Bee mini-boss infinitely spawns Guard Bees until defeated, and those bees are weak enough to kill quickly while still giving substantial EXP and AP. A single extended run of this quest can take a party from level 55 to the level 70 cap depending on how long you keep the Queen alive.
For ATB-optimized farming runs, the recommended equipment loadout is:
- Whistlewind Scarf, Chocoking's Cape, and First Strike materia to fill ATB at battle start
- Hermes Shoes for auto-Haste
- ATB Boost and ATB Stagger to maintain ATB pressure
- Magnify and Elemental materia for wide-range elemental damage
- Chocobo Armband and AP Up stacked for maximum AP gain per fight
EXP Up materia chest location
Equip EXP Up on the character you're actively using as your lead. It only doubles EXP for the character it's slotted on, so prioritize whoever is furthest from the level cap.
For more strategy guides covering builds, bosses, and side content, the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth guides collection has everything organized by topic. If you're looking for other JRPG games with deep progression systems worth exploring, the genre page has plenty of options worth checking out.