Most players tend to be in agreement that Final Fantasy 7 Remake's battle ꦐsystem is one of Square Enix's best in the modern era. It takes the classic FF7's turn-based fun and transforms it into an action hybrid without going so far as to feel like somethi𒆙ng too divorced.

does precisely what we'd hoped it would. It treats꧙ Remake's combat as a baseline from which to blossom into something more𝐆 diverse, more complex, and ultimately, more rewarding. But it can be a lot to take in. Here are several ways to stand your ground in Rebirth's sprawling world.

Build Your Major Synergy Attacks Quickly And Effectively

FF7 Rebirth prioritizes the budding friendships (or more) between Cloud and his team of globetrotters. The developers have cleverly incorporated much of this into the battle sy🍨stem.

The clearest sign of this is through the major Synergy attacks involving two party members teaming together to deliver a massive blow.

These have even been given their own spot on the Command Bar, though more often than not it will be grayed out and unavailable. There is a relatively swift way to change this to your advantage. Look for character abilities with 'pips' at the forefront of their descriptions.

The bars you're seeing are in reference to the number of bars you've filled for a major Synergy attack. The trick is to switch between party members filling their respective bars until you have opened up an opport🦩unity to use one.

Not every character ability sports one of these pip-like bars. In particular, elemental attacks available across the party's folios do not raise the Synergy bar. That doesn't mean don't use t❀hose - they're plenty he🐻lpful - but don't expect them to boost this aspect of the combat system.

Treat Your Minor Synergy Attacks As Constant Extensions

What do we mean by constant extensions? Well, think about how these 'minor Synergy attacks' are utilized. Holding R1 while in combat brings up a separate menu for Synergy attacks that can be used at any time so ﷽long as yo🦄u have the right party members with you.

It can be fairly easy to fall into treating these as secondary considerations. Instead, use them routinely so long as the situation calls for them. There are quite a few, and they don't even require ATB charges.

A good example of a helpful Synergy attack to rely upon on the regular is Counterfire, which turns the tables when blocking against flying enemies, counterattacking their pesky aerial strikes. There's no reason not to use this to your heart's content (and your party's good health).

Don't forget to assign these as you'd like to the R1 hotbar for Synergy attacks. For a while, you'll only have a few, but a f𝓡air number unlock further on.

Remember To Equip Weapon Abilities

Square has changed the heck out of the weapon upgrade system from FF7 Remake. Rather than accessing a series of circular boards and spending SP over time, your weapons will level up in accordance to the total number of SP that you have acquired over time.

In other words, it's automated. Somewhat. You'll gain stat boosts, situational perks, and even special abilities, but while certain stat boosts (like Attack +17, for instance) are automatically applied, you must set all other weapon abilities manually.

You also have a limited number of slots for equippable weapon abilities, thus allowing you to customize your characters to your combat preferences. 🌠Weapons eventually do gain additional slots, but you'll never have nearly enough for everything.

Here's the thing - whenever you equip a new weapon, you must go to the Equipment and Materia Screen and take a moment to equip weapon abilities yourself. It's an easy th﷽ing to forge🌠t, and you're lowering your overall power by doing so!

Magic Combination Materia Grows More Slowly

FF7 Rebirth introduced several Magic Materia that combine two elemental spell Materias into one, which sounds like a terrific deal. And don't get us wrong. It is. Fire and Ice is the first one you'll find, via Chadley's Materia creation screen, and it gives you both Fire and Blizzard.

You're expanding your arsenal significantly, and you'll only get stronger as they level up into the -ra and -aga variants. But there's a catch. Combo Materia grows at a reduced rate, so you won't be seeing those second- and third-tier spells for a long time wi🅰th them.

Consider whether the tradeoff is worth it for you. There's no right or wrong answer here, but our advice is to use combo Materia and the regular versions, so that you can cast that F🃏iraga much earlier than you would by relying upon your other option.

Don't Get Discouraged When Summon Fights Overwhelm You

Each region features a legendary Summon monster to acquire, and as you locate and interact with shrines, you'll unlock increasingly weaker bouts against them.

For example, acquiring Titan can be done at once, but finding all three shrines gives you three decreasingly mighty battles to choose between. This is all well and good, but you'll need to be exceptionally talented at Rebirth's combat to beat the strongest versions remotely early.

In fact, even the version of Phoen🍷ix that's one stage lower than its maximum might gave us a ton of grief when we first uꦆnlocked it.

These higher-tier variants are designed for you to tackle later, as you level up and gain key abilities. In other words, it's not you. It's them. Feel free to try them out immediately, and if you win, wow - fantastic! But they're tough, so don't obsess until you're too frustrated.

Barret's Your Physical Tank, And Red's Your Magic Tank

It won't be obvious at first, but Red XIII makes for an excellent character when dealing with magic-centric foes. He gets a huge boost to Magic Defense around the midgame via his folio. It's a 35-point raise, and when it happens, he instantly becomes your best magic tank for quite some time.

Barret's physical tanking prowess was well-documented in the first game, with abilities like Steelskin making their return. But with abilities that double as defense buffs, and such plentiful HP, he's bett🥀er suited th꧂an ever for this role.

Assess Is Key To Success

There's a far larger number of enemy-specific pressure tactics this time around. Most foes have certain methods, and many will tear you apart if you don't learn them. So don't just use Assess to fill your enemy log for new Enemy Skill unlocks.

Make it a point to always deploy Assess on new enemies, and react accordingly. Some aerial monsters are pressured when you dodge a special attack, while Flans partly follow the conventional elemental attack to pressure tactic, but they gradually gain resistance if you spam the same elements.

Knowing when to mix✃ things up for them is vital to sinking their substantial defense. Plenty of other scenarios exist, so Assess the situation!

Buff And Debuff

Classic Final Fantasy 7 staple Materia like Barrier makes its triumphant return in Rebirth, and spells from other games, like Empowerment (which imbues Attack-boosting Bravery and Magic-boosting Faith) have been poꦬrted over to offer even fꦗurther options.

FF7 Rebirth will be much easier, especially on Dynamic and Hard difficulties, if you equip buffing spells as often as you can. Along similar lines, debuffs that reduce your rival's power can be a lifesaver against the mightiest fiends. Some enemies are immune, but a surprising number of them aren't!