FF7 Remake Combat Tips

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake is finally here, and while the story is similar to the classic, the combat and gameplay have been totally reworked. With that being said, you might want to review our FF7 Remake combat tips guide before diving into the game.

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FF7 Remake Combat Tips

Using Basic Attacks – You usually only want to spam your basic attack skills to fill your ATB meter and stagger enemies. After the meter is full, it’s time to utilize your skills and spells.

Blocking – Each character can evade, but the best way to stop incoming damage most of the time is simply by blocking. Not only will you not get knocked down, but you can also gain ATB by blocking attacks. Some attacks like magic projectiles are unblockable so knowing when to block and evade is important.

Swapping Characters – Switching characters often to fill their ATB is essential. Try not to stay on a character that started doing their spell or ability because you could be doing something else with your time like building another character’s ATB.

Character Roles – Keep in mind each role the characters in your party play. For example, you want to switch to Tifa when the enemy is staggered to unleash the powerful burst damage.

  • Cloud – All-around combat
  • Tifa – Burst damage and increased staggering effects
  • Barret – Ranged damage and quick ATB meter generation
  • Aerith – Magic damage

Spell Channeling – The more powerful the spells, the longer the cast time. If a spell gets interrupted while you’re casting it you will lose the ATB and MP cost of the spell which can be disastrous. You’ll want to learn how long each spell takes to cast to avoid this.

Status Ailments – Memorize the Status Ailments and Beneficial Status Effects icons so you know what each one does. You can check these out in the manual.

Weapon Abilities – Each of the FF7 Remake Weapons has its own ability that can only be used when it’s equipped. Eventually, though, you can learn to unlock that ability to use it with any weapon. Try and figure out which weapon abilities are good for certain situations. For example, Triple Slash is good for large groups of enemies.

Assess Materia – When you fight tough enemy types, you will want to use Assess Materia to learn their weaknesses and how to fight them. Make sure you always have it equipped when you encounter a new enemy type.

Combo Settings – Changing the combo settings to “free” lets you switch targets during the combo using the left stick. You can easily attack groups of enemies this way.

Battle Camera – Setting Battle Camera distance to 3 allows you to see the attack next from the enemies and bosses before the attack animations happen.

Target Lock Change – Change target lock change to the direction buttons to allow you to easily rotate the camera without changing the target while locked on.

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Cole Andrews
Cole is a lifelong PC gamer who loves FPS, RPG, and MMO games. The first PC game that got him hooked was the Counter-Strike beta in 1999. He has thousands of hours in all of the old-school Blizzard games like Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo.