Our Midgar-raised, spellcasting Flower Girl is pretty handy at this whole magic business. Equipped with the right staff, Aerith can not only ascend to cause dramatic devastation for your enemies, but she can also keep your party healthy via her limit breaks and very high magic stats.
As with every character in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, you should seek out every weapon for every character so they can learn each weapon’s unique ability. But after you scour the planet for each of Aerith’s staves, which should you rely on for late-game battles and repeat playthroughs on Hard Mode?
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I’ve selected three staves for your consideration, from the late-game Gambanteinn to the earlier Timeless Rod, with tips on how to get the most out of each of them and how to properly spec them out with upgrades.
Is Gambanteinn Aerith’s best staff?
Gambanteinn is the final weapon you can acquire for girliepop. It has a nice amount of materia slots, a decent bonus to magic, and looks rather neat (though it does kinda look like it belongs in something like Xenoblade instead).
Unfortunately, Gambanteinn is far from the most optimal choice for Aerith, but you can get some good mileage out of it depending on what you slot into your weapon upgrades.
My preferred setup for this staff is to equip ATB Charge Rate Up to get Aerith’s gauges going even faster (which will allow you to start laying down Wards which will only improve Aerith’s many combat utilities), followed by Magic Attack Power +20, and then Reprieve. The last one (which is also available via the Ceremonial Staff—more on that one in a moment) will give Aerith a freebie should she fall unconscious, resurrecting her with 1 HP.
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That may not sound like a lot, but if you’re quick, it can be what ends up saving you from a Game Over screen. This is where the other upgrades come in handy as our girl will have a faster ATB Charge Rate and greater magic damage (note: All of Aerith’s attacks count as magic damage). You can use that faster ATB Charge Rate to get Aerith and her companions back to full health, or if the battle is particularly punishing, Aerith will revive as a more competent damage dealer than she would be otherwise.
Magically melt your foes with the Plumose Rod
The Plumose Rod comes out as the clear winner for turning our red-jacket-wearing gal pal here into a devastatingly powerful offensive spellcaster. And given that Aerith’s best utilities are found in the magic department, the Plumose Rod is arguably the best weapon for her, full stop.
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The Plumose Rod has a generous amount of materia slots and will raise Aerith’s magic damage into the 400s. Yeah, it rocks.
What the Plumose Rod won’t give you, though, are upgrade abilities to take that magic damage further, at least not directly. You should at least equip her with Max HP +200 to make her a bit more robust in a fight. Add to that the Enduring Ward upgrade to increase Ward duration by 25 percent, which will indirectly make her a more powerful spellcaster. You then have a choice of going with Ward Shift Mastery if you find yourself using Ward Shift (the ability that warps Aerith back to her wards) a lot. But I’d go with Enhanced Tempest, which is her secondary attack, activated by holding down square.
Double down on healing and buffs with the Timeless Rod
If you want to amplify Aerith’s status as a healer and support character, consider going with the Timeless Rod or the Ceremonial Staff.
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The Timeless Rod will give you less stat bonuses, but you can equip Altruistic Recovery +10% as a weapon upgrade, increasing the amount of health you give to your party members via cure spells by 10%. That combines well with Enduring Ward and the Max HP +200 boost to keep Aerith more powerful and healthier on the battlefield.
Out of all of the party members in Rebirth, Aerith is perhaps the most simple and direct in her function: Healing and Magic. Any of the three staves in this guide will serve you well on taking her down more powerful or more useful paths for combat.
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