-Advanced Materia Usage FAQ-

Version 1.0
Written by disturbly
Copyright 2008-2010 by disturbly

****************
1. Version History
****************

v.1.0 I just posted it; my first

FAQ! Respect!

*****************
2. Introduction
*****************

Hello. This is my guide to

advanced Materia combinations
and set-ups, for the Playstation
game Final Fantast VII. This is
my first FAQ for Final Fantasy
VII, and indeed, my first FAQ
for internet publication. So if
you could, please bear with me.

This document was originally

composed with the goal of
publication on gamefaqs.com; it
was, however, rejected, on the
basis that the game Final
Fantasy was already
oversaturated with FAQs, and
that this guide was too narrowly
focused. It is, to the best of
my knowledge, the most
comprehensive guide to Materia
use currently available on the
internet.

Let me note this at the very

top: This is a guide to
/advanced/ Materia combinations
that I have discovered; the
information contained herein
will only cover Materia
combinations that lend
themselves to EXTREME power,
VICIOUS utility, or those that
exploit bugs in the game to
achieve effects OTHERWISE
IMPOSSIBLE. I'm writing this
with the assumption that my
reader will know the basic
pairings and intermediate level
Materia combos, and will not be
including that information here.
If you need information about
basic Materia using, please look
for another FAQ.

(NOTE: Highly recommended is

Stewart "SBishop" Bishop's
"Final Fantasy VII Materia
Setups and Combos" FAQ,
available at gamefaqs.com. With
a single glaring exception (he
missed the fact that you can
pair Added Effect and Hades in
your weapon or armor to inflict
or defend from a massive list of
status ailments) his FAQ is the
greatest guide to Materia usage
I've ever seen. Indeed, my own
FAQ (this one) started life as a
list of Materia combos I like to
use, that I intended to send to
him to be included in his guide;
I only decided to make it into a
unique FAQ when it simply got
too large (and, uh, when I
noticed he hadn't updated his
guide in nine years). As such, I
have more or less shamelessly
copied the formatting of his
FAQ, although I've refrained
from actually reprinting the
information therein; in this
case, imitation is sincerely
intended to be a form of
flattery. Again, if you need
advice for basic to intermediate
materia combinations, and a
number of complex ones, look up
Stewart Bishop's FAQ.)

Also, I'd like to make it clear

that the combinations herein,
without exception, came from one
of three sources. The first are
the ones I've tried myself, and
that I know will (usually) work;
if a combination is noted as
such, and it doesn't work for
you, I assure you, the problem
is on your end. The second
source of combinations I use are
friends, acquaintances, or
reader submissions (if I wind up
getting any); if noted as such,
I will put forth that they
*should* work, but I won't be
able to make any promises. The
final sources are the least
reliable: theory, hypothesis,
and conjecture. There are
several combinations I include
that I thought up, that I think
*should* work, but have never
been able to test (usually,
these are devastating combos
that nothing in the game could
survive more than the first 1-2
blows of, other than the
Weapons, that I only came up
with when the Weapons were
already dead). These are
untested, and completely
impossible for me to guarrantee.
I will try to note every source
for every combo I give, so you
know how reliable the
information is. If you find any
materia setup or combination
that flat-out doesn't work,
please let me know.(edit for
2010: Scratch that. It will be
impossible to contact me. If a
combo doesn't work, too damn
bad.)
Finally, one more word on the
accuracy of the combos I
present. Support and Independant
Materia, occasionally, will
simply decide not to work,
either by their own accord or
due to the whims of a capricious
God. I've noticed MP Absorb,
Sneak Attack, and the various
"Counter" Materia are
particularly bad about this;
Bahamut Zero-MP Absorb will work
flawlessly in one battle, but
malfunction in another under the
exact same circumstances. If a
combo I present doesn't work,
please remember that it may be
due to this random failure
potential, and might work if you
experiment a bit. Also be warned
that if one of my combos does
function for you, there's always
the possibility that it won't,
and it might fail when you need
it most. Do not put all your
eggs in one basket, but try to
load out your characters with
several options for attacking
and healing. Don't sacrifice
versitility for brute force. Be
careful.

*****************
Table of Contents
*****************

1. Version History
2. Introduction
3. Materia Mechanics
4. Combinations
5. Setups
6. Gameshark Codes
7. Legal
8. Credits
*****************
3. Materia Mechanics
*****************

To create Materia combinations

of maximum utility, you must
first understand the rules that
govern them. Materia interact
with each other in complex ways;
some Materia will negate the
effects of others, while some
Support or Independant Materia
will drastically enhance the
impact of spells, summons, or
commands beyond all reasonable
expectations. The rules that
control this are sometimes
obvious, but just as ofen fairly
counterintuitive, and
occasionally they simply don't
make any sense at all. What's
more, many of these governing
rules are never stated, meaning
you must work them out through
trial and error.

In this section, I'd like to

highlight some specific Materia,
and explain, to the best of my
knowledge, how they function.
I'll also discuss some other
Materia, and explain why they
won't work in certain
combinations, or combinations
where the effects of one Materia
will take priority over or even
negate those of others you may
have equipped. My knowledge of
the mechanics of Materia is the
result of long research, and as
it stands is still incomplete.
But regardless, I hope it helps.

===Useful
Materia/Combinations===
NOTE: Dashes indicate paired
slots.
Magic Plus

Type: Independant
Effect: Increases "Magic"
Statistic

At first, it's very easy to

overlook the Magic Plus Materia,
which initially adds a paltry
10% to your Magic stat. However,
it's also very foolish. If used
correctly, this unassuming
little Independant Materia can
yield major rewards.

The "Magic" statistic determines

the effectiveness of summon,
attack, and curative spells. And
a mastered Magic Plus raises
this stat by 50 percent. While I
can't say there will be a
corresponding increase in the
amount of damage
inflicted/healed by the caster
(a spell which does 1000 damage
may not start doing 1500), there
will be a boost. For combos
which make use of the MP Absorb
or HP Absorb Materias, this is
vital (more on that later).

Furthermore, it's very easy to

use Magic Plus to max out a
character's magic stat. Magic
Plus Materias are cumulative in
a sense. Their effects don't
multiply, but they do add up.
What this means is that the
boost to the Magic stat (between
10% and 50%) will be calculated
from your character's base
statistic. In other words, if
the character in question has a
base stat of 140, and you equip
them with a mastered Magic Plus,
it will add 50% to the stat, or
70 points; you then have a Magic
stat of 210. If you then equip
them with a level 1 Magic Plus
(plus 10%) it will only add 14
points to Magic, not 21. If you
equip them with another mastered
Magic Plus, it will again add 70
points, not 105. While his
limits the materia's utility,
it's still very possible to max
out the Magic statistic, as you
can see. In this example, two
mastered Magic Plus are more
than sufficient to raise a
character whose base Magic stat
is 140 to the maximum of 255.
This character, in turn, will be
the one you want equipped with
your high level magic and
summons.

Sneak Attack

Type: Support
Effect: Has a chance of
casting attached orb at the
beginning of battle; chance
increases with Materia level,
but will never be a sure
thing.

Most guides simply list the uses

of the Sneak Attack Materia as
casting Knights of the Round at
the beginning of a battle. For
what it does, this is of course
effective; who's going to argue
that? (I'll tell you who won't;
a bunch of dead monsters.)
However, this combo has
problems: 1)It's overkill
against everything but Emerald
and Ruby Weapon (and not very
effective against Ruby Weapon,
for that matter); 2) The KotR
animation is /long/; in all
seriousness, you'll likely be
able to use Sneak Attack-KotR
twice, before you can't stand to
watch it anymore. And 3), this
goes through MP the way I go
through Camel full flavor kings
(quickly). Sure, an MP Absorb
attached to another KotR or a
Master Summon fixes the last
problem (much more on that in a
bit), but does nothing to
address the first two. Besides,
Sneak Attack has so much more
potential it's not even funny.

Say you have four or five

mastered copies of any Materia
with an attack spell. By pairing
Sneak Attack to one, and various
support Materia to the others in
linked slots, you'll start off
the battle by casting the spell
of your choice, along with all
of the effects of the Support
Materia paired to the other
copies. Want to hit all enemies
for turbo damage, while
simultaneously stealing from
them, and absorbing MP and HP?
You can.

Alternatively, if you have

multiple Sneak Attack Materias,
you can pair them to others on a
single character or on your
entire party, and begin the
battle with a variety of spells
and commands. The ability to
start a battle by casting
numerous buffs and protection
spells, and get in a cheap
attack, is particularly useful
in the Battle Arena, and against
Ruby Weapon.

Be warned, the strategy of using

multiple Sneak Attack Materia
does have two flaws:

1. Unpredictable priority- If
multiple Sneak Attack combos are
equipped on multiple party
members, it's more or less
impossible to determine the
sequence they'll go into effect
in. It might be dictated by the
level and types of Materia
paired with Sneak Attack, the
characters' Speed stat, or even
the characters' order in the
party. Or any combination of the
three, or anything else. Besides
that, it isn't consistant. Say
for example you have Cloud
equipped with Sneak Attack-
Ultima, and Tifa and Barret
equipped with Sneak Attack-Mime.
Ideally, Cloud will begin with
Ultima, and the other two will
then Mime it. However, it's
possible that Tifa and Barret
will both Mime before Cloud
casts Ultima, a wasted action.
Or Tifa might Mime first, before
Cloud uses Ultima and Barret
successfully Mimes it. Or vice
versa. I have seen all of these
possibilities occur, with what
seems to me to be no rhyme or
reason. As far as I can tell
it's completely random.

2. Random failure- If you have

multiple Sneak Attack
combinations on a single
character, there's a chance some
will simply not work. Say you
have three in Cloud's armor,
paired with Restore, Shield, and
Deathblow. You might begin the
battle by Curing and Shielding
yourself, before using
Deathblow, but then again, any
one or all of these may not
happen. Again, as far as I can
tell it's random.

Also note that Sneak Attack will

automatically cast the most
powerful spell of the Materia
it's paired with. If linked to a
mastered Lightning, it will cast
Bolt 3. To a mastered Contain,
Flare. To a Master Summon, it
will cast Knights of the Round.
If you don't want this, make
sure you have Sneak Attack
paired to a Materia of a
specific level, so that the
spell you want to cast is the
most powerful available. This is
vital for some Materia setups I
provide.

In addition, Sneak Attack

interacts with Command Materia
in strange ways. First, it will
never, never, NEVER work with
the following Command Materia:
Double Cut, Slash All, Enemy
Skill, W Summon, W Item, or W
Magic. Second, while it will
work when paired with Master
Command, you won't get to choose
which command is used; any
single command has an equal
chance of being used, and some
(like Coin, Sense, or Mime)
could be either useless, or
actively damaging to you. Third,
this same caveat applies to the
Sneak Attack-Throw Combination;
you might wind up hurling 60,000
much needed gil at an enemy with
150 HP, or throwing away the
Ragnorok or Apocalypse forever.

Furthermore, Sneak Attack also

interacts just as strangely with
Support Materia, and Independant
Materia. If Sneak Attack is
equipped to a Magic Materia, and
another copy of that Magic
Materia is paired with a Support
Materia in another set of linked
slots, the effect of that
Support Materia will be
included; also, if the character
is equipped with Mega All, the
spell they Sneak Attack will
target all allies or enemies.
Not so with Sneak Attack-Command
combinations; the Support
Materia will take no effect.
And, finally, if Sneak Attack is
used with any Command, and the
character is equipped with Mega
All, this too will be ignored.

So, to conclude: Sneak Attack is

one of the most useful Materia
in the game, with nearly
unlimited potential for abuse;
it will be the central factor in
a number of combos I recommend.
On the downside, though, it's
unpredictable, unreliable, and
if used unwisely, could cause
more harm than good. My final
verdict? Use it, abuse it, but
don't depend on it; don't set
your characters up in a manner
that means they're relying on
any Sneak Attack combination,
and will be screwed if it fails.
Honestly, I don't even know
/how/ you would go about doing
such a thing, but I'll go ahead
and warn you not to.

Counter Materias: Counter

Attack, Magic Counter, Counter

Type: Independant, Support,

Support
Effects: Counter with a
physical attack, a paired summon
or magic, or a
paired command, respectively.

I'm including all three in a

single description, because 1)
they all do more or less the
same thing, and 2) the way they
relate to each other is
important, allowing for one of
the deadliest combos in the game
(more on that later).

Counter Attack Materia are the

simplest, but one of the
deadliest. For every Counter
Attack a character has equipped,
they'll counter with a physical
attack in response to being hit.
If a character had a full
sixteen slots loaded with
Counter Attack Materias, they
could potentially counter 16
times when hit, and likely
would, if all were mastered.
Now, Omnislash only hits fifteen
times. I believe the implication
is obvious. Of course, such a
setup lacks versitility, so I
wouldn't recommend it. However,
in terms of shear power, it's
absolutely devastating.

Magic Counter allows a character

to counter with a paired magic
or summon when they receive
damage. For the minutia of the
way it works, scroll back up to
the section on Sneak Attack
Materia, where I discuss how it
interacts with magic and
summons, and replace the phrase
"at the beginning of a battle"
with "after your character takes
damage". It more or less works
in exactly the same fashion.

For Counter (Command), again,

please refer to what the Sneak
Attack Materia does when paired
with a Command Materia. The same
rules apply: It doesn't work
with Double Cut, Slash All,
Enemy Skill, W Summon, W Item,
or W Magic; pairing it with
either the Throw Materia or
Master Command is a bad idea;
and the Materia it's paired with
will not work with the effects
of any Support or Independant
Materia, such as HP Absorb or
Mega All.

It's important to know that like

Counter Attack, Magic Counter
and Counter will work as many
times as they're equipped on a
character with a paired orb. And
while it would be easier to use
Magic Counter linked with a
magic Materia, with another of
the same Materia in a linked
slot with Quad Magic, this won't
work with Knights of the Round.
Also, multiple Counter Materia
are the only way to use multiple
commands in a sequence, so if
you want to use eight Deathblow
or Mug in a row, you'll need
eight of that Materia, eight
Counters, and sixteen linked
slots in your weapon and armor.

Note that equipping a character

with multiple Magic Counters or
Counters, paired with various
summon and magic or command
Materia, lets you counter with
multiple options. Countering a
single blow with two Deathblows,
Mug, and Morph, or a chain of
Ultima, Flare, Comet 2, and
Bahamut ZERO is simplicity
itself. Child's play, really.
Now, as for a complex
combination...

It's important to know that if a

character is equipped with all
three Materia of this type,
they'll all work (usually), and
generally do so in the order I
list them: First Counter Attack,
then Magic Counter, then Counter
(Command). This fact makes it
possible to respond to a single
attack with a string of attacks,
spells, and commands which has
the potential to deal well over
a quarter million HP of damage;
it's the most devastating
combination I've yet to
discover, and it will be
detailed in the "Setups"
section.

The drawback is that Magic

Counter and Counter are often
nearly as unreliable as Sneak
Attack. Not as unpredictable,
but still nothing to base your
entire fighting strategy on.
Counter Attack is more
predictable, but still, not a
sure thing.

Quad Magic:

Type: Support
Effects: Casts paired magic
or summon four times, at the
cost of a single cast.

Quad Magic. Just... damn.

At first glance, the

applications seem obvious.
Attach it to anything but
Knights of the Round, get four
casts. But there's so much more
than that. First, Quad Magic
lets you cast a spell four
times, at the cost of a single
cast; W Magic or W Summon only
lets you cast it twice, at "full
cost". Second, when using W
Magic or Summon, there's a delay
between the casts, allowing an
enemy to get an attack in; Quad
Magic gives you four casts that
take priority over any attack
from an enemy or fellow party
member. Ergo, we've already
established that Quad Magic is
the more useful Materia.

But wait! There's more! Since

Quad Magic is a Support Materia,
if it's paired with a magic or
summon, and another copy is in
another set of linked slots with
Final Attack, Magic Counter, or
Sneak Attack, the spell or
summon will be cast 4 times when
you die, get hit, or just when
the battle begins. For the cost
of a single cast, I'll remind
you. And if you have a few more
Support Materia like MP Turbo,
MP Absorb, Added Cut... Do you
see? DO YOU SEE?

And of course, you can always

put that combination in the
weapon and armor of a character
who's also equiped with the
vastly inferior W Magic and W
Summon, to chain together eight
casts of any spell or summon
other than Knights of the Round,
for the price of two casts worth
of MP. While you won't be able
to respond with these eight
casts as a result of the actions
of Sneak Attack, Final Attack,
or Magic Counter, you can still
string eight Ultimas or Bahamut
ZEROs together at your
discretion, while absorbing MP,
attacking, and dealing Turbo
Damage. For the price of two
casts. And those eight will be
divided into two groups of four,
which take priority over... you
know... anything. Can anyone say
"Godlike"?

MP Absorb

Type: Support
Effect: Returns a portion
of damage dealt to all targets
in MP.
NOTE: The same rules that
govern MP Absorb apply to HP
Absorb; however, MP Absorb has
much, much more potential for
abuse, as I plan to
demonstrate.

MP Absorb is yet another Materia

whose true power is easy to
overlook. If you get it on Disc
1 or 2, it doesn't seem that
hot. Attached to Lightning, Ice,
or Fire, and it will return MP
in the double digits for your
trouble. Convenient, but not
particularly useful, is what you
might think. But that's only
what they want you to think!
It's only when attached to the
higher power spells and summons
that it truly shines.

MP Absorb works by returning 1

percent of the damage a spell
does in MP. The figure it works
on may be an average of the
damage you deal to all targets,
or 1 percent of the damage to
each enemy, added together. I'm
inclined to believe the latter,
because in my experience, Ultima
and Bahamut seem to give back
more MP when used on larger
groups of enemies. Either way,
the rule of thumb is: more
damage dealt, more MP back. Keep
this in mind.

What does it all mean? Well,

first of all, this dictates that
a cast of Knights of the Round,
with MP Absorb attached, will
give you back between 500-800
MP! It only takes 250 Mp to
cast! It's a net gain! This
combo alone is an application of
absolutely game-breaking
utility; KotR is transformed
from a desperation attack you
save for the big fights into a
means of attacking while
simultaneously using a Turbo
Ether, and that's *before* you
factor in the Magic Plus or MP
Turbo Materia. It actually makes
it a better idea to use it on
every pilfering little random
encounter, than to save it for
the big bosses. It changes the
dynamic of every battle you'll
ever fight after receiving KotR
and MP Absorb. It's the single
greatest combination in any RPG,
ever, and basically a button
that says "win", grafted to the
top of the Playstation Control.
I mean... I'm a Twink, a
Munchkin, and a Powergamer, and
even I think it's a bit too
good.

So with that in mind, are there

any more subtle uses for MP
Absorb? Slightly. MP Absorb also
has the capacity to make Ultima,
Bahamut Zero, and a possible few
other high level summons pay for
themselves. This works
especially well if the caster is
equipped with a Magic Plus.
Higher magic equals more damage
equals more MP back. Mp Turbo is
less predictable in it's effect.
Best case scenario, a Turbo
powered spell will deal so much
damage that the MP returned is
more than the spell costs. Worst
case, the MP absorbed cancels
out the turbo price, meaning the
spell costs as much as it
usually would. Middle case, the
MP regained is slightly more
than the cost of turbo, meaning
you still suffer a net loss, but
not nearly as much as you
usually would. Keep in mind,
even the worst case scenario
entails causing turbo damage for
no extra cost, which is actually
still pretty good.

Finally, there are two more

applications of MP Absorb with
high potential for abuse. One is
using two mastered, powerful
spell Materia of the same type,
such as Contain or Comet. Attach
an MP Absorb to one, Quad Magic
to another, and stand back and
watch the fun. This should allow
you to cast four rounds of
Comet, Flare, etc. for the price
of one, while regaining MP with
each cast. It should easily be a
net gain.

The other tactic is similar, but

restores MP to the entire party.
Have one character cast Comet,
Flare, etc., with an MP Absorb
attached, in a battle against
multiple enemies. Then have the
other characters Mime it. This
should allow the Mimeing
characters to regain MP, without
having to pay any in the first
place.

However, the problem with these

applications is simple: They
don't always work. In theory,
they should. And they have; I've
seen it with my own eyes.
However, I've also seen them
fail, under identical
circumstances. I cannot account
for this in any way.

===Useless Cominations===

These are the combinations that

don't work, and never will.
Again, these DON'T WORK. Do not
try them.

Double Cut-Slash All/Double

Cut-Mega All

Do not equip any character with

both the Double Cut and Slash
All Materias, or both Double Cut
and Mega All. Doing so means
your attack command will become
Slash All (or Flash), making
Double Cut meaningless.

Double Cut/Slash All-Any

Support Materia

Neither Double Cut nor Slash All

can be enhanced with any Support
Materia, under normal
circumstances. However, there is
a glitch you can exploit to add
Steal As Well, HP Absorb, MP
Absorb, or Added Cut to either,
and this trick is listed in the
Combinations section below. But
you will still never be able to
pair Double Cut/Slash All with
Final Attack, Sneak Attack, or
Counter. Sorry.

Enemy Skill-any Support

Materia

No Support Materia will work

with Enemy Skill, and there is
no trick to get around this.
Sorry.

Restore-Added Cut/Steal As
Well/HP Absorb/MP Absorb

Do I... Do I even need to say

why this is bad? Attaching any
of these Materia to Restore (or
any spell that targets yourself
or your party) means they also
target your party. This will
either damage you, make you
attempt to steal from yourself,
damage you, or cause you to lose
extra MP in casting the spell.
There is a way to heal yourself
by attacking yourself (No,
seriously. There is. Please
check the combination section
for the hilarious details), but
this isn't it.

Elemental-Contain/Kjata

You can pair Elemental with an

magic or summon in your armor to
give yourself an immunity to
that element, or weapon to add
it to your attack. So it makes
sense that you could do the same
with a Materia with multiple
elements, right? Wrong. Doesn't
work. I see no logical reason
why, but it just doesn't.
 Elemental/Added Effect-
Master Summon/Master Magic

Wouldn't it be awesome if with

one pair of slots, you could add
every element or status to your
weapon or armor? It would,
right? Yeah... you can't.

Quadra Magic-Shield, Mega

All-Shield

How nice would it be if you

could target all your party
members with Shield, for one
cast? But again, no, you can't.
Mega All-Shield wouldn't do
anything, and Quad Magic-Shield
just let's you cast the Shield
spell on the same character four
times. Which of course does the
same thing as casting it on a
character once.

Added Effect-Cure

This combination in a weapon

will not turn it into a "Healing
Shiv". It doesn't work in 8 Bit
Theater, and it doesn't work
here. I only cover this because
there is a way to heal yourself
with an attack, that I will be
addressing very soon.

*****************
4. Combinations
*****************
I've covered why certain Materia
combos don't work, and which
ones they are. Now onto the ones
that do. As promised,
instuctions to create the
Legendary "Healing Shiv" await!

Note: Dashes represent linked

slots, backslashes represent
optional Materia.

Elemental

WEAPON:Elemental-(Any
Materia with an element; Fire/
Lightning/ Earth/ Ice)
ARMOR:Elemental-(Any
Materia with the same element as
in your weapon)

*Both Elementals must be

Mastered, or at least level 3*

Effect: By attacking yourself

with the Element you absorb, you
can heal for free! And for a
pretty good chunk of HP, if
you're using the right weapon.
Note that this works just as
well without the Elemental
combination in your armor, as
long as your using either the
Bolt Armlet, Fire Armlet, or
Aurora Armlet, with the
Elemental-Lightning, Fire, or
Ice combination, respectively
(or Elemental-Ramuh, Ifrit, or
Shiva). Honestly, this isn't
particularly useful; there's no
way to use Slash All, Double
Cut, or Deathblow to either
target all party members, or
deal a crap load of healing to
yourself, and by the time you've
mastered two Elementals, you'll
probably have curative magic
that can do either. However, it
is extremely amusing to watch.

Source: Tried it myself, so I

know it works.
Added Effect-Hades

Effect: In your weapon, allows

you to inflict Sleep, Poison,
Confusion, Silence, Frog, Small,
and (possibly) Paralyze. In your
armor, defends you from the
same. The former may be very
useful against Ruby Weapon,
who's vulnerable to being
Paralyzed, the latter is perfect
for the Battle Arena, to protect
you from the nastier effects
like Mini, Frog, and Poison if
your Ribbon breaks.

Source: Tried it myself, so I

know it works.

Master Command-Steal As Well/MP

Absorb/Added Cut/HP Absorb,
Double Cut/Slash All

Effect: As promised, this is a

way to get around the fact that
Double Cut and Slash All don't
work with any Support Materia.
This should not work, but it
does; it's some kind of glitch.
(My theory is that the two were
originally allowed to be linked
to Support Materia, and both
options were originally going to
be included within Master
Command; this might have been
changed late in production, but
with enough of the original code
left to make the glitch work. I
don't work for Squaresoft,
though, so it's only a theory.)
While you still can't pair Slash
All or Double Cut to Final
Attack, Sneak Attack, or
Counter, linking either with any
of the four mentioned has
definite possibilities. Also
note that it's Double Cut OR
Slash All, not both, and that
the Support Materia of your
choice will additionally affect
all of your other commands.

Source: Tried it myself, so I

know it works.

Sneak Attack-Exit(Level 1),

Enemy Away

This lets you avoid a good

portion of battles, and escape
from any that do occur.
Particularly useful in areas
where they're are a lot of rare
items and random battles are
more of an inconvenience than
anything else, like on the way
to meet Sephiroth in the
Northern Cave.

Sneak Attack-Gravity, Master

Magic-Quad Magic, Morph

I only used this in one place in

the game- The Sunken Gelinka,
where every monster can be
morphed into a stat enhancing
Source item, and none of them
are immune to Gravity. Starting
the battle with four casts of
Demi 3 (at the cost of one,
mind) should drain all but a
pitiful remnant of their HP,
easily leaving them open to
being Morphed by the first
character whose command window
pops up.

That's it for the moment; my

combination list is a little
weak at the time, due to my
refusal to include basic combos,
or reprint from other guides. As
I think up new
combinations/receive them from
readers, they'll be posted.

*****************
5. Setups
*****************

These are the combos that go

beyond combos; entire materia
setups to equip a character for
a specific purpose. I've chosen
all of these with one of two
purposes in mind: raw power, or
shear fun. Enjoy.

The Invincible

Total Slots Required: 13

Linked Slots Required: 10

Weapon/Armor: Sneak Attack-Time

(Level 1), Sneak Attack-Cure
(Level 3), Sneak Attack-Barrier
(Level 4 or Mastered), Sneak
Attack-Knights of the Round,
Master Summon-Mp Absorb, Mega
All, Pre Emptive, Magic Plus

If all goes according to plan,

this should let you start a
battle by casting Wall, Haste,
and Regen on all of your party,
and attack with KotR for a cheap
shot, and absorb a crap load of
MP back. Particularly useful
against Emerald Weapon, either
form of Sephiroth, or just any
dangerous opponent. It might
take a while to clone/win that
many Sneak Attack Materia, but
it may be well worth it; just
note that Time, Barrier, and
Cure *must* be at the levels
specified. Also note that Shield
can be substituted for Barrier,
but it won't target all allies,
and I personally find it to be
less reliable.

(Awesome note: The entire chain

takes a mere 356 MP to cast, but
with Magic Plus, and MP Absorb
you'll absorb more than 700-900!
Do you see? DO YOU SEE?)

Source: Me. I made it up, tried

it, and know it usually works,
disregarding Sneak Attacks
capacity for random catastrophic
failure.

The Ultimate Counterer

Total Slots Required: 16

Linked Slots Required: 4

Weapon/Armor: HP Plus, Cover,

Magic Counter-Knights of the
Round, Counter-Mime, Counter
Attack, Counter Attack, Counter
Attack, Counter Attack, Counter
Attack, Counter Attack, Counter
Attack, Counter Attack, Counter
Attack, Counter Attack.

The priorities of the various

"counter" materia make this the
single most devastating chain
I've yet to find in this game.
When someone is attacked, the
character with this set-up will
first respond with ten counter
attacks. Afterwards, they'll
counter with a cast of Knights
of the Round, which they'll then
Mime, as Magic Counter takes
priority over Counter. The end
result? Depending on who you
have it equipped on, this combo
can deal well over a quarter
million points of damage! This
is a fight-ender against
anything in the game other than
the Ruby Weapon. NOTE: For some
bizarre reason, the Counter-Mime
combo only works to Mime Knights
of the Round if it (Knights of
the Round) is in a pair of
linked slots before Counter and
Mime. In other words, put Magic
Counter-Knights of Round in the
first pair of linked slots in
your weapon, otherwise you'll
only mime one of the hits from
the Counter Attack Materias.

Source: Myself. I don't know if

it will work for you, but it
sure as hell hurt Emerald Weapon
when I used it on him.. uh, her.
It. They?

The Reaper, a.k.a. The

Shinigami, a.k.a The Valkyrie
(if equipped on Tifa or Yuffie)

Total Slots Required: 11

Linked Slots Required: 6

NOTE: These should be mastered

for best effect.

Weapon: Added Effect-Destruct

Weapon/Armor: Sneak Attack-Odin,
Final Attack-Revive, Slash All,
Death Blow, Mega All, Enemy
Skill, Exit

The theme of this combo is

"Ikken Hisastsu"; attacks that
kill with one blow. Sneak
Attack-Odin gives you a chance
of automatically killing most
normal enemies before the fight
starts, while a mastered Slash
All gives you Flash. The Added
Effect-Destruct combo in your
weapon gives you a chance of
instantly killing anything you
hit, while Mega All lets you
target every enemy with Death
Blow. Mega All also lets you
target every enemy with Death,
while the Exit Materia's Remove
spell targets all monsters by
default. Enemy Skill gives you a
variety of thematically
appropriate spells (Death Force,
Death Sentance, L5 Death, and
Death Roulette). Finally,
because any self-respecting
shinigami must be immortal,
Final Attack-Revive is there to
make sure you're still alive
when the battle's over, even if
nothing else is...

It's important to note that

while this setup is viciously
effective when it works, the
capacity of most monsters to
defend against instant death
spells means that it won't very
often, and never when you really
need it to. Thus, this
combination falls into the
category of "Cool, But Useless".

Source: Me again. This one

works; all of the components do,
and so does the whole package.
Although again, considering the
ability of many creatures to be
immune to Death, "works" is a
highly subjective term in this
context.

Dragon Knight

Total Slots Required: 11

Linked Slots Required: 8

In keeping with the theme, this

is recommended for Cid, with
either the Dragoon Lance and
Wizard Bracelet, or the Dragon
Armlet and the spear of your
choice.

Weapon/Armor: Quad Magic-Master

Summon, MP Turbo-Bahamut, HP
Absorb-Neo Bahamut, MP Absorb-
Bahamut ZERO, W Summon, MP Plus,
Magic Plus

This let's you take advantage of

the powerful (and cool looking)
Bahamut summons. Quad Magic and
W Summon multiply, allowing you
eight casts of Bahamut, Neo
Bahamut, or Bahamut ZERO,
dealing turbo damage, absorbing
HP, or absorbing MP each time,
respectively; while it normally
wouldn't be possible to cast 8
Bahamut Zero, attaching MP
Absorb to it effectively cuts
the cost in half. Note that you
don't have to cast the same
summon 8 times; you can pair any
two that suit your needs. MP
Plus makes sure you have the
mana to do all this, while Magic
Plus makes sure beyond a shadow
of a doubt that they *feel* the
blow. NOTE: For maximum
effectiveness, each summon
materia must be linked to the
support materia in the exact
combinations given. If Quad
Magic is linked to anything but
Master Summon, you won't be able
to get the full eight casts. If
MP Absorb is linked to anything
but B. ZERO, again, you won't
have the MP to cast it eight
times. HP Absorb-Bahamut doesn't
return enough HP to bother with,
while Bahamut needs to be linked
with MP Turbo to deal decent
damage. Rest assured, I have
thought this out.

Source: Me. This combo,

unfortunately, is merely
conjecture at this point. I
didn't think it up until after
I'd beaten all the Weapons, and
I haven't yet had the chance to
test it against Safer Sephiroth;
I can't find anything else that
can survive two shots of Bahamut
Zero outside of the Northern
Cave! I don't see any reason it
wouldn't, but I won't say
anything definitive until I've
seen it with my own eyes.

Ruby Weapon's Bane

Total Slots Required:14

Linked Slots Required: 10

Recommended for Yuffie or Cloud,

with their ultimate weapons and
the Mystile. Also, the Ribbon.

Weapon/Armor:Hades, Knights of
the Round-MP Absorb, Sneak
Attack-Cure (Level 3), Sneak
Attack-Barrier, Sneak Attack-
Time (Level 1), Master Summon-HP
Absorb, HP Plus, Magic Plus, W
Summon (All should be mastered,
except where specified)

This is the setup I used to beat

Ruby Weapon, and I can tell you
beyond a doubt that it works;
Ruby died. The various Sneak
Attack combos let me start out
the fight by casting Wall,
Regen, and Haste on myself,
while the Master Summon served
two purposes. It made sure I
could cast Hades and KotR
infinite times, and let me
absorb HP each time, aiding
Regen in its task (this was
necessary for me; due to factors
that may or may not, but in fact
did, include poorly chosen
Gameshark codes, I was unable to
get the Final Attack Materia on
the file I used this on; ergo, I
had to not die). W Summon let me
chain Hades and Knights of Round
together, meaning I didn't have
to worry about the counter
attack of Ultima (Hades either
Paralyzes or Stops Ruby Weapon
for about three turns), while
attaching MP Absorb to KotR made
sure I didn't have to waste any
precious moments using Turbo
Ethers. The purpose of Magic
Plus and HP Plus should be
obvious.

Ruby's Worst Nightmare

Total Slots Required:16

Linked Slots Required: 8

Note: Best used with Yuffie and

her Conformer and the Mystile,
or Cloud with the Ultima Weapon
and the Mystile. All should be
mastered for the greatest
effect.

Weapon: Added Effect-Hades,

Added Effect-Choco/Mog
Weapon/Armor: Final Attack-
Revive, Master Summon, W Summon,
Knights of the Round-Mp Absorb,
HP Plus, MP Plus, Counter,
Counter, Restore, Enemy Skill
(w/ Big Guard learned)

And this is how I wish I beat

Ruby Weapon. The strategy is
basically similar to Ruby's
Bane, but the Added Effect-Hades
combo should allow to to stun
Ruby with a mere attack or
counter; emphasis is firmly on
SHOULD, and Added Effect
Choco/Mog is there in case Stop
will do what Hades can't. Based
on the assumption that Ruby
should be much easier to
Paralyze this way, which will
give it less chances to move,
the Sneak Attack Combos have
been removed in favor of other
options. Also, Final Attack-
Revive should cut down on the
need for defense, eliminating
the need to start the fight with
Regen, Wall, and Haste, and the
need to constantly absorb HP
back. This is a more offense
minded setup for the same task.

Source: Conjecture and

Speculation. I have not been
able to test this myself, and
can easily see the possibility
that Added Effect-Hades or
Choco/Mog may not stun it, thus
making the Counter Attacks
useless, and generally
undermining the effectiveness of
the entire setup. Until I can
play through the game again, and
test it out myself, I would
recommend you go ahead and use
the Ruby's Bane setup, or
whatever strategy you prefer.

God

Total Slots Required: 16

Linked Slots Required: 14

Weapon/Armor: Sneak Attack-

Knights of the Round, Magic
Counter-Knights of the Round, HP
Absorb-Knights of the Round, MP
Absorb-Knights of the Round, MP
Turbo-Knights of the Round,
Added Cut-Knights of the Round,
Steal As Well-Knights of the
Round, Magic Plus, W Summon

...well... What can I even say

about this one? This is the
instant, game breaking,
unstoppable "win" combination
against everything but Ruby
Weapon. Casting Knights of the
Round (which I never want to
type again at this point) will
fully restore your MP, almost
fully restore your HP, Steal as
well, let you get an extra shot
in, and deal turbo damage.
Furthermore, you'll cast it at
the start of battle, in response
to anything hitting you, or at
any point in the fight you
choose. Twice.

Again, this is a game-breaking

tactic. There is nothing in the
game that would require this
kind of firepower to kill but
Ruby Weapon, and this wouldn't
even work on it (Ruby counters
KotR with Ultima, and will
unless paralyzed). Furthermore,
mastering... "that" materia 7
times would take more time than
playing the rest of the game
combined, unless you're using a
Gameshark to get back higher
returns of AP. There is no
reason that any person would
ever have the need to set up a
character in this fashion, nor
the free time to do it. Alhough,
if you wanted to, who would
argue with you? I'll tell you
who won't: Safer Sephiroth.
Source: Hypothesis and Theory.
Again, I've yet to find anything
but Emerald Weapon that could
possibly stand up to this, and
it was dead long before I
mastered that many KotR Materia.
It should work, but I'm not
going to make promises I can't
keep.

HellBilly Deluxe

Total Slots Required: 16

Linked Slots Required: 14

WEAPON: Elemental-Ifrit
ARMOR: Elemental-Fire
Weapon/Armor: Quad-Magic-Fire,
MP Turbo-Fire, MP Absorb-Fire,
HP Absorb-Fire, Magic Counter-
Fire, W-Magic, Magic Plus

NOTE: All should be mastered for

best effect.

Description: This is my own

favorite variant on the "Hell
Knight" formula featured in
SBishop's Materia guide, which
in turn had been contributed by
one SYNOAS@AOL.COM. (Note: I
changed the actual setup, so you
can't pin plagiarism on me; I'm
only acknowledging the
inspiration to underline the
fact that Stewart Bishop's guide
is awesome.) This combination
allows you to cast eight Fire
3's for turbo damage, while
absorbing MP and HP, any time
you want, and counter with four
Fire 3's with the same
properties when hit. It also
gives you a summon spell, adds
an element to your weapon and
armor, and, since they're the
same element, allows you to hit
yourself to heal yourself. Which
is good, because this setup
doesn't allow room for a Restore
Materia, and casting Fire on
yourself with those HP and MP
Absorb Materia would have bad
consequences. Note that Mega All
could be substituted for Magic
Plus, if you want to target a
group of enemies with this
combo, but you'll then lose the
capacity to target yourself with
a healing attack. And c'mon,
that's what Ifrit's for anyway.

Sub-Zero

Exactly the same as the setup

for the HellBilly Deluxe, except
substitute the Shiva Materia for
Ifrit, and mastered Ice Materia
for Fire. I'm not going to
bother typing out another
description, even if I did
bother to give it a new name.

Lightning Emperor

Exactly the same as the previous

two setups, only with Ramuh and
Lightning Materia. Again, not
bothering with a description,
though I will note that of the
three, this is my favorite.

The Death Knight

Total Slots Required: 6

Linked Slots Required: 4

Recommended for Cloud, with

either the Organics or Ragnorok,
and the Ziedrich

Weapon: Deathblow-Mega All,

Added Effect-Destruct, HP Plus,
Cover

This outfitting is as near as I

can get to, and slightly better
than, Cecil's abilities as a
Dark Knight in Final Fantasy 4.
Added Effect-Destruct makes it
possible to inflict instant
death, just like Cecil's Black
Sword. Since there aren't any
attacks analogous to Darkwave in
FF7, Deathblow-Mega All will
have to do. Of course, it means
his standard attack will hit all
enemies, but I think you can
deal with it. HP plus just adds
to his durability, which the
Ziedrich will already make
considerable; all the better to
tank with. Cover serves this
same purpose; while, after
recently playing FF4 from a
saved file, I'm nearly sure that
Cecil didn't have the cover
ability before he became a
Paladin, it's not like it hurts
anything, right?

Note: I'm aware that Cecil

started out as a "Dark Knight";
the term just has too many
Batman connotations to suit me.

The Paladin

Total Slots Required:12

Linked Slots Required: 2

Reccomended for Cloud, with the

Heaven's Cloud and Mystile

Weapon/Armor: Cover, Speed Plus,

Mp Plus, Magic Plus, HP Plus,
Restore, Heal, Mega All, Counter
Attack, Counter Attack, Final
Attack-Phoenix (in the Mystile)
This is as close as I can get
to, and significantly better
than, Cecil's abilities as a
Paladin in Final Fantasy 4. Heal
and Restore give Cloud all of
the white magic Cecil wielded
and more, while Final-Attack
Phoenix completes the list, and
gives Cloud the opportunity to
bring back himself and the party
if something goes horribly
wrong. The various __ plus
Materia are an added stat buff,
while Mega All allows the white
magic spells to target all
allies. Of course, this also
means that his attack will
become Slash All, but I think
you can deal with it. Cover
still let's him cover; while
Cecil couldn't counter, the
Counter Attacks make covering
worth Cloud's while, and help
round out the setup.

*****************
6. Gameshark Codes
*****************

NOTE: I'm not recommending you

use the following codes. I'm
simply providing them, and I
assure you, they won't corrupt
your file or mess up the game.

Always get 50,000 A.P Points

after battle:
8009D7DC C350

Bypass File Ruined Error;

Necessary to load the other code
on a file it wasn't saved on:
D01D4A6C 10F0
801D498A 1042
If you don't want to use the
50,000 AP code, then skip this
section. If you do, then be
aware, if your Gameshark is one
of the later models that's only
a disc, with no hardware that
can be turned off (a.k.a. 90% of
the versions I've seen in my
life) you'll have to either
start a new game with the code
active, or simply use the Bypass
File Ruined Error Message code
to load it on a file that it
wasn't saved on. If your device
does have hardware that can be
turned off, it should be
sufficient to turn the code on,
turn off the hardware, load your
game, then turn the hardware
back on.

Many people consider using

cheats "unfair", and I myself
tend to refrain from them on my
first playthrough of a game.
However, the 50,000 AP code can
be a massive timesaver if you
need to master a Materia
multiple times, or master
multiple Materia. Despite that,
I personally don't feel using it
unbalances the game. It doesn't
give you anything sooner than
you'd normally have it in the
game's storyline; playing
normally, it might well be
possible to Master the Lightning
and Ice Materias in the First
Reactor, if you get lucky enough
to find a sufficient supply of
Potions there, and it would be
more than possible to master
Materia in the Train Graveyard,
before the raid on the Second
Reactor. The only thing required
would be (an unholy amount of)
patience. In fact, that would
likely be the most advantageous
method; in addition to AP, you'd
gain EXP, Gil, items, and likely
unlock some Limit Breaks along
the way.

So, if you want to use these

codes, go ahead. If, on the
other hand, you think you're too
much of a man to resort to a
Gameshark, ignore this section.
Your call.

*****************
7. Legal
*****************

This guide may not be reproduced

for a profit, or reproduced
without giving me credit. You
may not post this guide on your
site without my permission. You
may not alter this guide, or
post isolated parts of it. Don't
steal this guide. Granted, I
have trouble comprehending why
you'd want to, considering that
the game is more than eleven
years old at the time of this
writing (2010 edit: Make that
thirteen years old), and I'd
surely give you permission to
host my FAQ on your website if
you e-mail me...(2010 edit:
change "e-mail" to "use scribd
to send me a message") But
regardless, don't mess around
with my guide. You can, of
course, download or print a copy
for your personal use, but
that's it. Beyond that, e-mail
(message) me for permission
before you do anything. Unless
you're the bastard who killed my
mom and dad, I'll give it to you
(just kidding; I killed my mom
and dad).
*****************
8. Credits
*****************

To Squaresoft, for making the

best RPG to grace a fifth-gen
console. And I do NOT mean
"Square-Enix". With the lone
exception of 7th Saga, I hate
every game the latter ever made.
disturbly says: **** Enix.

To CJayC, for founding

gamefaqs.com. Granted, I have my
complaints about the forums...
But I also haven't had to buy a
strategy guide in nine years.
Respect.

To Stewart "SBishop" Bishop,

whose Materia guide inspired me
to create what I largely
consider to be an inferior
product. Awesome, awesome guide.

To my 8th grade Alpha teacher,

who, by forcing me to learn to
touchtype while I was recovering
from a broken left thumb and
right pinky (long story) endowed
me with the typing skills to
crank out the first version of
this FAQ in a single afternoon.
Fifty words a minute and
counting.

To you, reader, for tolerating

this first, faltering attempt on
my part to create a FAQ.

And to me, disturbly, for

getting off my ass to get a
beverage, before getting back on
my ass to type this out. First
FAQ y'all!
***********
About the Author
***********

Name's disturbly. I've been

lurking about the gamefaqs.com
boards for years, and playing
videogames for what amounts to
my entire life.

Mostly I play survival horror,

and RPG's. I'm also a big fan of
fighters and FPSs, but I suck at
them. At the moment, I don't
have any of the seventh
generation consoles, nor plans
to get one. I've got a massive
list of 16 bit RPG's I'm playing
through; once I'm done with the
classics, I might look up some
new stuff.

I bought my copy of FF7 in 2000;

it was actually the second game
I owned for the Playstation
console (I'd gotten the N64
before the PS1). In the
following eight years, I have
racked up a *lot* of experience
playing this game; I really
don't think I've been without at
least one save file in all that
time. I've toyed with the idea
of writing a walkthrough, but
I'll probably never get around
to it. There are already plenty
of FAQs posted for it, and
between all of them, anything I
could say about the game already
has been. So this materia guide
will probably be it.

***********
Final Note
***********

If you find any mistakes, either

in my combos, or in my text,
please send a message to
disturbly through scribd.com.

If you'd like to post this FAQ

somewhere, please contact me via
the same method. And if you have
a Materia combination or setup
you'd like to contribute, send
it to me, and it'll be posted
and your name added to the
credits!