Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s gun-arm wielding, zealous environmentalist, Barret, not only makes for a great ranged fighter, he can typically soak more damage than anyone else given his high defense and HP stats. So when it comes to kitting out Barret with the best gear, it’s a solid idea to reinforce his tank-like nature.
That said, Barret is fully capable of dealing out some devastating damage too. This guide will consider these two approaches when it comes to speccing out Barret appropriately.
Tank or canon?
Before we jump into which guns are best to equip Barret with, we need to talk some RPG theory and decide on how we’re using Barret in battle. Our fierce environmentalist warrior excels at being the tank of the group, where he’ll soak the most damage and stay alive the longest. Though he’s not the best magic user (that would obviously be our gal, Aerith), his ability to withstand damage also makes him a decent go-to for healing and reviving (especially when using his Lifesaver ability which lets him soak damage dealt to other party members).
But while Barret does fall shy of Cloud, Tifa, and even Yuffie when it comes to dealing damage, many of his weapon upgrades can accelerate how quickly he earns ATB and how fast his Limit Break gauge fills. In that way, we can overcome his lower attack speed with higher attack output, leading to quicker climaxes with Limit Break use.
Read More: Where To Find All Of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s Weapons
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There is some room for a middle ground here, especially when you consider the fact that Barret’s almost always going to be good at soaking damage. But the weapons in this guide will observe ways to fortify Barret as a tank or amplify his overall damage output as best as possible.
Battle Cry: higher damage output, speedy ATB, and faster Limit Breaks
Battle Cry is the final weapon you can secure for Barret in Rebirth and is great at upping his role as a damage dealer. Battle Cry will up Barret’s damage output the most, and the upgrades can only reinforce that.
Attack Power +20 is a great upgrade for upping Barret’s damage even further. But there are three other upgrades worth considering: Weapon Ability ATB Recovery, ATB Charge Up Rate, and Limit Gauge Recharge Rate +10%. The first two push Barret closer to using ATB actions as soon as he possibly can, while the final one obviously shortens the wait for his Limit Break.
Barrage Blaster: going all in on Barret’s tank role
The Barrage Blaster has a nice balance of physical and magic attack, but it really helps improve Barret’s role as a tank given that you’ll get two Max HP +200 upgrades to stack for a total of 400 more HP.
Choosing those two HP boosts is almost essential when rolling with the Barrage Blaster, so what should you pick for the third slot? If you want to up how much damage Barret can soak, Enhanced Physical Guard will improve how much physical damage is reduced. That said, I tend to favor Selfish Recovery +25%, assuming Barret has Healing Materia equipped. I like combining that with a Magnify materia orb so that Barret not only heals himself, but also heals others in the party.
Barret clearly excels as the tank of the group, but don’t dismiss his damage output.
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