Materia

Overview

Materia is the basis for magical attacks in Final Fantasy VII,  Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and Dirge of Cerberus. Materia are small spheres of crystalized Mako, the life energy of the planet. It can be created naturally or artificially, although natural supplies are very rare. Since life energy is essentially the souls of all the departed on the planet, materia holds the memories and knowledge of the deceased. Materia works by linking the user to the life stream and manifesting them in a physical form, causing magic. The two most powerful pieces of materia are black materia, capable of calling down a planet-destroying meteor; and white materia, which casts Holy, a powerful protective spell that can save the planet.

Materia Basics

Materia can add extra abilites, or spells, depending on the color of the materia.  First of all, you must find the materia within the game world, and then have an empty slot within your weapon or armor.  Go to your menu, and then Materia. From there you can place materia into your weapons or armor for different effects.  The downside from equipping too much materia is that some materia (mostly green or red) reduce your characters stats for the trade off of an ability.  For example, if you equip a Fire Materia.  You'll gain a little more MP from it, and be able to cast the Fire Spell in battle, but you will also lose HP in the process.  So be careful when loading one character with too much materia.  The total amount of materia a character can hold in a single weapon or armor is eight.

Much like your characters, Materia gains experience from each battle as well.  Materia gains a different variety of experience points, called AP (Ability Points).  This may vary from enemy to enemy, much like experience points.  However, when a character is not in your party, they still receive a small portion of experience from the battles.  This does not apply to their materia.  Materia only gains AP if it is equipped to someone in your active party.  As materia grows, it gets better.  You might get additional abilites from it as it grows, or it could just improve its effects, it all depends on the materia.  There are a few ways to increase the amount of AP your materia gains.  In your weapons and armor are materia slots.  Some weapons and armor offer a better materia growth rate than others.  There are four types of materia growth.

• Nothing - As the name says, you get no materia growth for this one.  This is generally found on the 'ultimate weapons'.
• Normal - The standard.  This is found on the majority of equipment in the game, and allows for regular materia growth.
• Double - Double materia growth usually gets you double the AP from battles for your materia.  The only downside to these are a lack of materia slots, as well as weak attack rates.
• Triple - These are easily the best ones for materia growth, obviously.  However, there are only two in the whole game; the Scimitar (Cid) and the Apocalypse (Cloud).

At first glance, the smart thing to do would be to get the highest growth weapons and use only them to level materia faster.  Well, there are some downsides to this.  First of all, the higher growth weapons may not be nearly as strong as the lower ones.  They also lack a whole lot of materia slots, so if you want to level a lot of materia at once, you're out of luck.  You'll need to find a good balance between the number of materia you're going to be using, and the attack rate of the weapon.  Also, once a materia reaches its MASTER level, it will create an extra, entirely new materia of the same type that you can now also use and link with materia, allowing for multiple effects on the same materia.

Materia Types

Materia is the basis for all magical and additional abilities.  In Final Fantasy VII, there are five basic types of materia; Blue, Green, Purple, Red, and Yellow.  Each other these materia can be used by placed them within a slot that is found in a weapon or armor.  There are two types of these slots; linked, and unlinked.  Their names are self-explanatory.  If you put materia in a linked slot, it will infused with the other materia in the same linked slot, allowing for combinations of materia for different added effects. 

Blue (Support Materia)

• All Materia - Links with:  Green

        All Materia casts whichever spell the Green Materia coincides with to all enemies, rather than one.  This effect
        may only be used a limited number of times in battle, depending on what level the materia is.  For example; If
        the All Materia is level 1, you can only use it once in battle.  If it's level 2, you can use it twice, and so on.  This
        does not hinder how many times you can cast a single spell in a battle.

• Elemental Materia - Links with:  Green, Red

        Elemental Materia has two basic effects when linked with either a Green, or Red Materia.  If you link it to a Materia
        in your weapon slots, your weapon will deal elemental damage of the linked materia, rather than just physical.  If
        linked within your armor, it reduces damage of that elemental type by a certain number determined by the level of
        the materia.  This can be a double-edged sword, as if you use an attack on a creature of the same element as your
        linked materia, it could deal reduced damage or even heal them.

• Added-Effect Materia - Links with:  Green, Red

        Added-Effect Materia functions in the same way as Elemental Materia does, but rather than it use elements, it uses
        status effects.  So, if you link this and any status effect inducing materia in your weapon, it will have a chance on strike
        to cause that status effect.  However, if placed in your armor, it will grant you limited or full immunity to such effects. 
       Once again, this can also function as a double-edged sword.

• HP Absorb Materia - Links with:  Green, Red, Yellow

        HP Absorb does exactly what the name says.  It returns a small amount of HP back to the user when casting the linked
       materia.  The amount of HP returned to the user depends on the level of the materia.

• MP Absorb Materia - Links with:  Green, Red, Yellow

        MP Absorb materia functions somewhat the same as HP Absorb.  As you would guess, you will receive a small portion
        of your MP back after casting the linked materia.  This also depends on the level of the MP Absorb Materia.

• MP Turbo Materia - Links with:  Green, Red

        MP Turbo materia increases the damage done of the linked materia, while also costing additional MP to do so.  This
        also varies depending on the level of the materia.  The most useful combo with this is MP Turbo Knights of the Round
        Materia.  For a small amount of only 5 MP, Knights of the Round will do 129,987 damage.

• Added-Cut Materia - Links with:  Green, Red, Yellow

        Added-Cut materia functions after you cast the linked materia on whatever target.  Your character will attack whichever
        target the linked materia was cast on.  Although this works with most Yellow Materia, it does not work with the Slash-All
        and Double Cut Materias.  Watch when using this materia, especially if you link it to a 'restorative' materia.  For example,
        say I link Added-Cut to the Restore Materia.  When I cast a spell such as Cure 2 on my party member, I will also attack,
        due to the Added-Cut Materia, essentially cancelling out the effects of Cure 2.

• Final Attack Materia - Links with:  Green, Red, Yellow

        Final Attack Materia casts the linked materia when the user of this dies, thus given the name 'Final Attack'.  This functions
        like the All Materia in the sense that the number of times this can be used in a single battle depends on the level of the
        materia.  Another notable thing about this is, that it casts the highest rank of the linked spell upon death.  Popular
        combinations of this materia include Final Attack Phoenix Materia, and also Final Attack Revive.  The effects are
        quite obvious.

• Sneak Attack Materia - Links with:  Green, Red, Yellow

        Sneak Attack does somewhat the opposite of Final Attack.  Rather than cast the materia automatically when the user
        exits the battle, it is cast (sometimes) when he enters.  This effect does not happen at the beginning of every battle.
        The percentage that it happens is dependant on the level of the materia.  It can never reach 100% for every battle.

• Magic Counter Materia - Links with:  Green, Red

        Magic Counter materia casts the highest rank of the linked materia after being attacked by an enemy.  This only
        happens a certain percentage of the time, depending on the level of the materia.  100% can be achieved by
        mastering the materia.

• Quadra Magic Materia - Links with:  Green

        Quadra Magic does what it says.  It casts the linked materia four times.  Much like the All Materia, you can only
        use this effect a certain amount of times in a battle, judged by the level of the materia.  Another notable thing is
        that you cannot have both Quadra Magic and All Materia on the same Green materia. 

• Command Counter Materia - Links with:  Yellow

        Command Counter is much like Magic Counter, except it works with Yellow Materia.  It only works a percentage
        of the time, and can eventually become a 100% thing.  Command Counter only works with a few Yellow Materia
        such as;  Control, Deathblow, Mimic, Morph, Sense, Steal, and Throw. 

Green (Magic Materia)

• Fire Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Fire Materia allows you to cast fire-based magical spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Lightning Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Lightning Materia allows you to cast bolt-based magical spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Ice Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Ice Materia allows you to cast ice-based magical spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Restore Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Restore Materia allows you to cast restorative magical spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Earth Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Earth Materia allows you to cast earth-based magical spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Revive Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -2, Vitality -2, Magic 2, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

        Revive Materia allows you to revive fallen party members, based on the level of the materia.

• Gravity Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Gravity Materia allows you to cast gravity-based magical spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Time Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -2, Vitality -2, Magic 2, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

        Time Materia allows you to increase or decrease time for party members or enemies.

• Destruct Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -2, Vitality -2, Magic 2, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

        Destruct Materia allows you to rid of enemy defensive spells, as well as kill them instantly.

• Contain Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -4, Vitality -4, Magic 4, Magic Def 2, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 10%

        Contain Materia allows you to use various different magical spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Comet Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -2, Vitality -2, Magic 2, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

         Comet Materia allows you to call down a comet, depending on the level of the materia.

• Full Cure Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -4, Vitality -4, Magic 4, Magic Def 2, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 10%

        Full Cure Materia allows you to cast restorative magicial spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Shield Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -4, Vitality -4, Magic 4, Magic Def 2, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 10%

        Shield Materia allows you to cast protective spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Ultima Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -4, Vitality -4, Magic 4, Magic Def 2, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 10%

        Ultima Materia allows you to cast non-elemental magical spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Barrier Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -2, Vitality -2, Magic 2, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

        Shield Materia allows you to cast various protective spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Poison Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Poison Materia allows you to cast various poison-based spells, with a chance to poison.

• Exit Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Exit Materia allows you to cast various escape-esque spells, based on the level of the materia.

• Transform Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Transform Materia allows you to cast various status-effect inducing spells.

• Mystify Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Mystify Materia allows you to cast various status-effect inducing spells.

• Seal Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Seal Materia allows you to cast various status-effect inducing spells.

• Heal Materia - Stat Changes:  Strength -1, Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Heal Materia allows the ability to cure several status effects. 

Purple (Independent Materia)

• Cover Materia - Additional Effects:  Vitality 1

        Cover Materia gives the user a chance to block physical attacks that may harm a party member.  Eventually
        this materia can reach a 100% success rate status, but only once it has reached the MASTER level. A good
        combination of this materia is Cover Counter Attack materia.  Allowing one person to take multiple hits,
        and Counter Attack each one of them.
 

• Counter Attack Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        Counter Attack Materia gives the user a chance to counter attack after being the victim of a physical attack,
        The success rate of this can be increased depending on the level of the materia.

• Long Range Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        Long Range Materia gives the user the ability to hit flying targets that they normally couldn't.  The best use
        of this is to put it on a melee-only character (such as Cloud), and put him in the back row.  He won't lose
        any damage because of this and will take less from being in the back row.

• MP Plus Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        MP Plus Materia increases the user's MaxMP by a percentage depending on the level of the materia.

• HP Plus Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        HP Plus Materia increases the user's MaxHP by a percentage depending on the level of the materia.
        A good use of this is on a character that suffers the HP loss of a lot of green materia, to balance it out.
        It's also a good idea to stack these on one character in something like that Gold Saucer's Battle Square.

• Luck Plus Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        Luck Plus Materia increases the user's Luck by a percentage depending on the level of the materia.

• Magic Plus Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        Magic Plus Materia increases the user's Magic by a percentage depending on the level of the materia.

• Speed Plus Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        Speed Plus Materia increases the user's Speed by a percentage depending on the level of the materia.

• Chocobo Lure Materia - Additional Effects:  Luck 1

        Chocobo Lure Materia gives the user the ability to find wild chocobos while walking near chocobo tracks.
        Very useful for escaping the Midgar Zolom at the beginning of the game, as well as chocobo breeding later
        in the game.  This is a must if you want materia like Knights of the Round and such.

• Gil Up Materia - Additional Effects:  Luck 1

        Gil Up Materia increases the amount of Gil gained from battles based on the level of the materia.

• XP Up Materia - Additional Effects:  Luck 1

        XP Up Materia increases the amount of XP gained from battles based on the level of the materia.

• Pre-Emptive Materia - Additional Effects:  Speed 2

        Pre-Emptive Materia gives the user a better chance of a Pre-Emptive Attack during battles.

• Enemy Lure Materia - Additional Effects:  Luck -1

        Enemy Lure Materia increases the amount of battles the user faces when in a random battle location.

• Enemy Away Materia - Additional Effects:  Luck 1

        Enemy Away Materia reduces the amount of battles the user faces when in a random battle location.

• Underwater Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        Underwater Materia removes the timer while fighting the Emerald Weapon.

• Mega All Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        Mega All Materia adds the 'All Materia' effect on all avaliable materia.

• HP <> MP Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        HP <> MP Materia swaps your HP and MP effects. 

Red (Summon Materia)

• Choco / Mog Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Summons "Choco / Mog" that deals wind damage to multiple enemies.

• Shiva Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Summons "Shiva" that deals ice damage to multiple enemies.

• Ifrit Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Summons "Ifrit" that deals fire damage to multiple enemies.

• Ramuh Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Summons "Ramuh" that deals bolt damage to multiple enemies.

• Titan Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, MaxHP -2%, MaxMP 2%

        Summons "Titan" that deals earth damage to multiple enemies.

• Odin Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

        Summons "Odin" that either deals significant damage or instantly kills multiple enemies.

• Bahamut Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

        Summons "Bahamut" that deals non-elemental damage to multiple enemies.

• Kjata Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

        Summons "Kjata" that deals multiple elemental damage to multiple enemies.

• Alexander Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

        Summons "Alexander" that deals holy damage to multiple enemies.

• Neo Bahamut Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 2, Magic Def 2, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 10%

        Summons "Neo Bahambut" that deals non-elemental damage to multiple enemies.

• Leviathan Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 1, Magic Def 1, MaxHP -5%, MaxMP 5%

        Summons "Leviathan" that deals water damage to multiple enemies.

• Phoenix Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 2, Magic Def 2, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 10%

        Summons "Phoenix" that revives all allies, as well as restoring full health, while dealing fire damage.

• Hades Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 4, Magic Def 4, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 15%

        Summons "Hades" that deals non-elemental damage to mutiple enemies, plus random status effects.

• Bahamut ZERO Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 4, Magic Def 4, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 15%

        Summons "Bahamut ZERO" that deals non-elemental damage to multiple enemies.

• Typhoon Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 4, Magic Def 4, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 15%

        Summons "Typhoon" that deals non-elemental damage to multiple enemies.

• Knights of the Round Materia - Stat Changes:  Magic 8, Magic Def 8, MaxHP -10%, MaxMP 20%

        Summons "Knights of the Round" that deals non-elemental damage to multiple enemies (129,987 damage max). 

Yellow (Command Materia)

• Steal Materia - Additional Effects:  Dexterity 2

        Steal Materia allows the user to steal items from an enemy, and later deal physical damage while doing so.

• Morph Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        Morph Materia allows the user to deal minor damage to an enemy.  If this damage kills the enemy, they will
        transform into an item.

• Enemy Skill Materia - Additional Effects:  None

        Enemy Skill allows the user to learn and cast many enemy spells from various enemies.  This is probably
        the most useful materia in the game.  Give all your characters these when you get three of them.

• W-Item - Additional Effects:  None

         Allows you to use multiple items at once, and even duplicate items with the "W-Item Trick".

• W-Summon - Additional Effects:  None

        Allows you to cast multiple summon spells at once.

• Mime - Additional Effects:  None

        Mime Materia allows the user to repeat the last action of your party members was.

• Manipulate - Additional Effects:  None

        Manipulate Materia gives you a chance to take control of an enemy, while losing your abilities temporarily
        while controlling said enemy.  This is very useful in combination with Enemy Skill, since generally enemies
        don't use their enemy skills.  Just manipulate them and cast them yourself. 

• Deathblow - Additional Effects:  Luck 1

         Deathblow is a physical attack that is an automatic critical hit, but its accuracy is greatly reduced.  Very useful
         if you obtain the 'Sniper CR' weapon for Vincent, as it never misses.

• Throw - Additional Effects:  Vitality 1

         Throw Materia allows you to 'throw' weapons and even money at your enemy for damage.

• Sense - Additional Effects:  None

        Sense Materia allows you to see the selected enemy's stats, weaknesses, and sometimes attacks.

• Slash-All - Additional Effects:  None

        Slash-All Materia changes the 'Attack' command into an attack that hits all targets but splits damage between them.

• Double Cut - Additional Effects:  Dexterity 2

        Double Cut Materia changes the 'Attack' command into an attack that hits one target multiple times at once.