Building charac꧅ters for a specific purpose is m♕uch more complicated in than in the original. Where the character’s Materia loadout was the primary concern in the past, now the character's weapons, armor and accesso𒁏ries play a larger role in modifying their capabilities. Cloud Strife, as ✨the central character, can have the most versatile builds.
General Principles
Each of these builds is designed using end game stats and equipment to illustrate the extreme end of a given playstyle. To replicate these builds early in the game before gear and Materia have been obtained or fully upgraded, players should do their best to find appropriate substitutes. The I꧟ron Sword is a good substitute for the Hardedge in the Attack build, for example. Each build also splits Materia into Core Materia which are necessary to make the playstyle function and Recommended Materia for the extra slots.
Attack
Weapon: Hardedge for maximum physical damage. This weapon is found in Chapter 9 in the Weapons Store in Wall ♓Market which is located across the street from the Colosseum near Don Corneo’s Mansion.
Bracelet: Supreme Bracelet for the highest physical and magic defense. This bracelet is found in Chapter 16 as a reward f🅷or finishing SOLDIER Trainees using Barret in the Shinra Combat Simulator.
Accessory: Transference Module, fills the limit gauge faster as you spend ATBꦬ charges. This accessory is found in Chapter 14 as a reward 𝄹for scoring 30,000 points in Hard difficulty at the Whack-a-Box Minigame.
Materia: This build has a maximum of nine materia slots. Core: First Strike, Deadly Dodge, ATB Boost, C🅺h💦akra, Parry Recommended: Time, Barrier, Healing, Revive
Pla🐻ystyle: This build is all about the stagger loop of Final Fantasy VII: Remake. In small fights open with Triple Slash using the ATB from First Strike then use normal attacks and blocks to rebuild ATB, rinse, and repeat. In bigger fights, open by casting Haste and Barrier on Cloud, then🍨 build ATB meter using basic attacks and parries, then go for a stagger by combo-ing Focused Thrust to Disorder into Punisher Stance attacks. Don't bother saving Limit Breaks for staggered enemies since they help build the stagger meter better than most abilities, to begin with.
Tank
We🉐apon: Buster Sword for balanced defense buffs and HP boosts. You start the game with this weapon.
Bracelet: Supreme Bracelet for the highest physical and magic defense. This bracelet is found in Chapter 16 as a rewardꦯ for finishing SOLDIER Trainees usin𝔉g Barret in the Shinra Combat Simulator.
Ac🅷cessory: Champion Belt for HP boost and Strength Buff Found in Chapter 9 by winning the Squats minigame on the highest difficulty levﷺel.
Materia: This b❀uild has a max🧸imum of nine Materia slots. Core: 2 X HP Up, Steadfast Block, Provoke, Chakra. Recommended: Time, Barrier, Healing, Revive
Playstyle: This build works best when controlling a character other than Cloud, specifically because of the Provoke Materia which does nothing when equipped to a player-controlled character. On NPC Cloud, Provoke forces enemies to focus on🌺 him instead of the other characters whenever their health is below a certain threshold. The double HP up Materia will ensure that Cloud has the hit points to take all that aggro. At level 50 with two max-level HP ups Cloud has the game’s maximum HP of 9999. The addition of Steadfast Block is also better on a non-player Cloud as the AI tends to do more blocking than players. In bigger fights, Cloud should cast a barrier on himself early in the fight and haste on the player character whenไever he has spare ATB.
Mage
Weapon: Mythril Saber for across the board casting buffs and maximum magic damage. This weapon is available in the same weapon shop as the 🉐Hardedge but isn’t there until Chapter 14.
Bracelet: C🅘hain Bangle for materia capacity, four slots, and magic defense. This Bracelet is found inꩲ Chapter 17 in a chest Located in ‘The Drum’ section of Hojo’s lab.
Access🍸ory: Circlet for MP and Magic power boosts. This accessory is found in Chapter 13 in one of Don Corneo’s secret stashes located in the Sector 5 Slums.
Materia: This build has a maximum of ten materia slots. Core: Lightning linked to MP Absorb, 2 X MP Up, First Strike, Refocus🥂, ATB Boost. Recommended: Fire, ൩Ice, Wind.
Playstyle: This build is about storing up ABT meter and using it at the correct time set up stagger and for maximum damage. Use basic attacks and spells almost exclusively in this build. The Mythril Saber’s low physical damage means Cloud’s abilities will do far less damage. Use basic attacks to build ATB as high as possible then use low power spells of the enemy’s elemental weakness to pressure them. Save at least one ATB slot to cast a high level spell when the enemy is stag𝐆gered. On enemies with no weakness, use Lightning because it is the most difficult to dodge. With any magic heavy build in Final Fantasy VII: Remake the timing oღf spellcasting is crucial༒. Wait until an enemy is moving slowly, knocked down or paused between animations to cast spells to avoid missing the target.
T🐷hese aren’t the only ways to build Cloud either. Final Fantasy VII: Remake has hundreds of potential weapon, armor, accessory and Ma🧸teria combinations to play around with.