Listen, all of the materia in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion can be the “best” materia for you. Zack is a really versatile character! There will be instances that mean certain magic materias will be more helpful or even worthless due to opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. You might find yourself loving the command materia more than magical spells. So when it comes down to it, “best” is objective. However, there are a bunch of materia that are super helpful when accomplishing goals regardless of what mission you might be taking. So here are some essential ones to pick up as you play.
Best Materia for Keeping Zack Alive:
Well, you start off the game with Cure for Zack. Which is great, because you definitely need it. However, as soon as possible you’ll want to try and get your hands on a Cura or Curaga. Curaga is the absolute best healing materia in Crisis Core. It heals a lot of health, you can use Dualcast with it, and it only costs 26 MP compared to the 64 MP Full Cure.
It is also pretty easy to get. If you use materia fusion, you can combine a Fire and a Regen to get one. As noted by our other Crisis Core expert Kazuma, keeping the Fire materia you start with and running Training Mission M1-1 until its mastered can help prepare it for this fusion. For Regen, you can get it for 5,000 Gil from the Happy Turtle or get it as a mission reward.
Best Materia for Helping Zack Get More Materia:
If you plan to engage in a lot of materia fusion or just want to collect a lot of them in Crisis Core, then you want to have Steal or Mug on hand. Neither one can be bought.
Steal is one you’ll be able to get as a reward from both Mission 7-4-1 and 8-3-6. Meanwhile, Mug, the upgraded version that also damages an enemy, appears in Mission 1-1-6. You can also “steal” Steal from a Gremlin or Mug from a Lesser Demon… but that means you need to have the materia in the first place to get it.
You’ll also want the Brigand’s Gloves accessory for Zack to guarantee you’ll always get an item when you rob them. I ended up getting it after Mission 7-4-2.
Best Materia for a People Who Want Zack to Be a Mage:
Dualcast is a special materia in Crisis Core, and boy is it “special.” When used, Zack can cast (most) magic twice in row. You’re paying MP for each one, mind you, but it’s a fast way to quickly do damage or swiftly heal up with Cure/Cura/Curaga. Certain spells don’t work with it, like Ultima, but it’s generally quite helpful.
There are two ways to get this materia. One is to go on Mission 9-4-1. The other is to go on Mission 9-5-4 to unlock Shop Shade, so you can pay 30,000 Gil to buy it.
Oh, and if you do go the method of unlocking the store to buy it, make sure you grab the Costly Punch materia while on Mission 9-5-4. That command material lets Zack sacrifice some of his health to deal major damage to an enemy that can’t be stopped by its defense.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is available for the PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. The original game appeared on the PSP.
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