Guide: Hard Mode In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth!

[@damienjohn]

Someone probably already mentioned but, Elemental Materia paired with a dual materia (like the Fire and Ice materia) will actually alternate between the elements automatically depending on what the enemies weakness is. So you're not disadvantaged like you suggested at 4:00. It's actually really helpful in battles with multiple enemies with multiple weaknesses, especially some of Chadleys multi-round challenges.

[@ForzaTerra89]

Wow, I’ve been using it defensively for the resistance as I assumed it would backfire in an offensive slot

[@BahamutBreaker]

Off the rip: GREAT video; very worthy of any player’s time before venturing into a Hard difficulty run through Rebirth. Couple of extra bits: 1) You can link the Enemy Skill materia to a HP Absorb materia, then cast the enemy skill Plasma Discharge at the beginning of any fight. After that, every time you fill an ATB bar, Lightning AoE damage erupts from your character, and if that AoE damage hits any enemy, your character recovers HP. 2) The author of this video isn’t wrong about Assess materia’s importance. However, one should really do all of the possible enemy Assessing during his/her initial playthrough. You don’t want to be wasting a materia slot for Assess while actually in Hard difficulty content.

[@Soldier1stClass]

🙏 Thank you!! Yeah number 1 isn’t bad advice and I may try it on harder fights. And as for assess, I’ve heard of people not using it during their main playthroughs, and I wanted to stress just how important it was. I keep it handy though just in case I missed any enemies because I didn’t assess every single battle unfortunately.

[@kelela37clch]

Totally agree about Assess! I employed it for all of the enemies during normal mode, so now during hard mode, I can use the extra materia slot towards optimization of my gameplay! Enemy Skill was a game changer in facilitating the availability and subsequent use of powerful abilities acquired during specific combat simulator challenges!

[@kelela37clch]

Appreciate you taking the time to share these invaluable bits of information! I have to remember to use ATB Boost more often! Speaking of Red, his Stardust Ray ability is exceptionally effective in wiping out enemies as you probably already know! My all-star materia--many of which you highlighted--included HP Absorption + Enemy Skill, 1st Strike, Magnify + Barrier, Magnify + Time (to temporarily hasten the party or stop an enemy group), Prayer and Chakra! Besides having everybody's materia slots filled up, I also made sure that a 2nd party member was equipped with Synergy + Comet/Cometeor--the MVP combo of the collective--and that all members were equipped with Level Boost + Revival so that they all could access Arise until I could get at least three of the associated materia maxed out! Not all-inclusive by any means--just what I can remember at this moment! Thanks again for the final grinding tip! I used the EXP Up materia that I acquired during Chapter 13, headed over to one of the Fiend Intel sites and leveled up from 51 to 70 while watching 1-1/2 movies! All the best on all future endeavors!

[@Soldier1stClass]

Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment! Really appreciate it! Yeah there’s definitely some broken Materia builds out there. Especially ones that can trivialize even the toughest boss fights.

[@kelela37clch]

@@Soldier1stClass P.S. I left out what I considered to be my MVP of combos and edited accordingly!

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah I run Synergy-Meteor myself. Perfect for Crowd control!

[@NIXNE]

“Don’t forget to omnislash that like button”. Boy that takes me back.

[@Soldier1stClass]

I haven’t said that in what feels like forever

[@Soldier1stClass]

Thanks for watching everyone! I put a lot of work into this one, and I hope it helps you on your way to completing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Hard Mode!

[@cavsfightingroom3692]

thanks for the video. even though I'm already done with hardmode, only missing the 2 last chadley missions, which are insane lol

[@tangiblemammal5273]

So do you like the game? Did u like the ending more then remakes ending?

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah those Chadley mission are definitely something lmao

[@Soldier1stClass]

Honestly, this ending was much worse lmao love the game itself, minus a few story beats. I’m enjoying making content on it, but definitely loving the gameplay and stuff for it. I’ve got over 168 hours in it, I’d say it’s safe to say I’m loving it.

[@tangiblemammal5273]

@Soldier1stClass the ending made me so mad I forgot just how much fun I was having before it

[@zakbrueckner615]

My unlimited MP Aerith build basically uses Fire, Ice, and Fire & Ice materia paired with Magnify, MP Absorb, HP Absorp, and Magic Focus. Plus ATB Assist and the Chocobo Cloak to start every fight with two full ATB.

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah starting the battle with the most ATB possible is great. I try to lean towards having abilities that build ATB during combat, but a great opener is definitely nice.

[@babyfinesse_]

I’d love the full set up on this build please 👀

[@zakbrueckner615]

@@babyfinesse_ Weapon: Plumose Rod Armor: Cetran Armlet Accessory: Chocoking's Cape Weapon materia: Magnify+Ice, Magnify+Fire, First Strike, Magic Up (or any purple) Armor Materia: HP Absorb (or Synergy or Magic Focus)+Fire, Swiftcast+Fire & Ice, MP Absorb+Fire, MP Absorb+Ice

[@ForzaTerra89]

Can you get more than one enhanced karmic cowl? I’m about to start hard mode and trying to decide whether I build all 7 characters to rotate or build a party of 3 (cloud, red and Tifa are my best party)

[@babyfinesse_]

@@ForzaTerra89 you should be able to, tbh bro just go with it, currently in chapter 12 or my first hard mode run and the main party changes based on the story battles so you’ll be swapping stuff around

[@katiepersons6575]

Counterfire isn't just a useful ability to pull an ally out of harms way, it is also a useful way for Aeris to dump an ally right on top of her spell casting ward instantly. Do it with Yuffie especially while she has her shadow clone out and she can quadruple cast on Aeris' spellcasting ward.

[@crazydave4916]

Just a side recommendation for EXP and AP farming: Chapter 11 Hard mode EXP farming - You can go fight the horde of hoping bugs in Chadley monster investigation area - Slot Cloud with high physical damage weapon + ice element infusion + EXP bonus materia - Slot 2nd party member with synergy + comet materia combo - Slot 1 inactive (not part of battle team) character with HPMP materia and magnify + heal for sustain - All you need to do is Triple Slash with Cloud and enter punisher counterstance to build ATB for more triple slashes - Rough estimate of 15-25 mins to get all 7 party members to LV70 Grassland VR Easy mode AP farming - Have 3 characters (Barret is important here) with Cetrans armors and Chocobo armband, AP UP materias - Slot Barret with high physical damage weapon + Overcharge damage + ice & fire infusion materia combo + Auto unique ability materia - The rounds will instantly end in 2-3 seconds with Barret auto-overcharge as inactive character - Rinse and repeat for AP profits

[@juanlash]

I'm trying to complete the bruta combat simulations before tackling Hard mode, it's really tough but I need to complete this, I need the platinum, also I'm kind of tired of just playing mini games all the time so combat keeps me entertained for a while

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah I feel ya. I would definitely try grinding some Materia in hard mode cause it’ll make your brutal challenges much easier if you do. Having those max level materia is a game changer.

[@BGBPW]

Same. Got so tired of everything being a mini game. It makes me appreciate the combat challenges so much more. So now I’m going to clean up Chadley’s super hard combat battles. If I can defeat them all, maybe I’ll survive hard mode. 😅

[@krismunroe9849]

Happy to see you had a change of heart about Rebirth. I remember reading a community post where you said you werent going to be playing it

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah I wasn’t going to, but a few friends of mine, and a few content creators talked me into it. I love the gameplay and most of the story, but uh, that ending wasn’t it for me. But I was more prepared this time than last and the game is fun at least.

[@TheImperiumofLeaf]

Good to see you back SOLDIER!

[@Soldier1stClass]

Good to be back!!

[@akiinmoonlight79]

Decided to start hard mode yesterday - literally perfect timing thx sm 😂❤

[@Soldier1stClass]

Awesome!! Hope this helps!!

[@michaelhanson5773]

Dont use assess... If you did everything and already assessed enemies your first run, you dont need it for 99.999% of the hard mode. There are some enemies in the simulator that are unique to hard mode and maybe some classified enemy intel.

[@alexbaker7517]

I'm just building up to my hard mode play through. After completing the main story I've gone back and completed all the side stuff. I platinumed remake and dlc but I feel this will be my biggest achievement in gaming to get a platinum on this

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah this platinum is rough lmao especially since you have to do the hard mode version of almost every single mini game for Johnny’s trophy.

[@RandallSimmons-ll3ii]

I've had elemental-fire and ice equipped on my weapon for over half of the game. If an enemy is resistant to ice and weak to fire, it rings up as a weakness hit every time. The materia defaults to the element that is most effective against the enemy being hit. Though, you probably wouldn't want it if they were resistant to both fire and ice, but that's pretty rare; and weakness to one or the other is fairly common.

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah I think most enemies are weak to either fire or ice. It’s less common to find enemies that are weak to lightning and wind.

[@LiquidSnake2424]

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Here’s two extra tips I just found out. Stick enemy skill on cloud and the item that automatically allows access to level three limit break. If you are facing groups of small to medium sized enemies like some of the fights on the coliseum, run in the middle of them, attack a couple times and use your atb materia when you get to one bar to make it two. Cast mind blast, and it’ll pretty much stagger everything in the area. If you have Clouds folio ability that charges the limit a percentage when staggering an enemy, you will end up with a full limit bar and can cast his level three limit break basically at the start of battle. I did this in the coliseum fights and you get a bunch of AP quickly. Second tip that I haven’t seen anyone talk about. Soothing breeze is an extremely good healing spell for hard mode that only cost 1 ATB. You could theoretically keep enemy skill on Cloud, run him near the enemies you are attacking, and have Barret use provoke or his other ability to draw fire because cloud is easily interrupted while doing soothing breeze. I used soothing breeze all the time during dynamic mode either with cloud and Barret in the ring far from combat, or close to combat with cloud just far enough that Tifa could attack and still be healed. Also, I assessed and did all side quests during my first play through, it’s making hard mode quicker because all I have to do is run to the objective because everything else is explored and I also don’t have to waste a materia slot on assess.

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah a lot of people don’t realize how broken enemy skill can really be. I don’t necessarily like Soothing Breeze because of how open it leaves you, but it has its uses. They also don’t realize just how important assess is. It’s why I included it because I wanted to stress just how necessary it is. Especially when certain bosses have what’s called an enrage mode where they can party wipe you. I’m definitely testing the different setups and abilities in this game cause an incredibly deep system. Love it haha

[@LiquidSnake2424]

@@Soldier1stClass Yea the only reason I assessed everyone my first play through was because someone online said there was a trophy, there isn’t. You have to assess though because you can’t beat bosses in hard mode without using their weaknesses. I only use Soothing Breeze in a pinch, I generally cast regen at the start of combat anyways because it only cost 6 MP. The only issue with regen is it doesn’t heal fast enough so you may end up running around battle avoiding enemies while you wait to be healed. Rancid Breath is another enemy skill that can be really good. I pair enemy skill with HP absorb. I guess I’m going to have to play that stupid mini game to get the ribbon. I didn’t know that was the prize. I think the devs did a good job of putting good prizes for mini games that they knew were challenging or annoying.

[@neloviolence]

If you time soothing breeze right before the end of a battle, the ability can still pop off through the end of battle and continue healing.

[@Washburnidol]

You dont need them to get a trophy, but if you are going for a 100% or just want every character to have maxed out skills, all the hard mode side quests have there own manuscripts. Just an fyi.

[@LiquidSnake2424]

@@Washburnidol I think you can get the manuscript by beating the regions boss again without doing the quests. I fast traveled to the boss in the grasslands and beat him and got a manuscript for it. I was surprised because the game doesn’t tell you that, but I just happened to fight the boss to try and get the item it dropped. So far I am 100 percent completion in hard mode and I haven’t had to do any side quests. I’m only in chapter 4 though.

[@fy4b230]

Cool to see you loving this game bro! Good to have you back. You should watch the behind the scenes videos square has been putting out and make a video on it. Love to see your commentary. Cheers!

[@Soldier1stClass]

I’m definitely gonna watch those at some point. May not make videos on them, but I’ll definitely be checking them out. I had (shocker) issues with some of the story beats, but I’m loving the gameplay and playing hard mode.

[@fy4b230]

@@Soldier1stClass yeah I’m the same. However the ending didn’t piss me off like a lot of people. I think it will pay off in part 3. Crazy that I was more emotional about aeriths trial than her death, but if they do what I think they are doing, the lifestream scene is going to hit hard in 4 years.

[@forsetigodofjusticeexcelle7506]

I find Red being able to use his vengeance meter to heal the whole party for a large amount to be extremely useful. He's a natural tank with his vengeance mechanics anyway and on very aggressive enemies where his vengeance meter can be repeatedly maxed easily, he's extremely useful and MP efficient. I also just like using Barret with the prayer materia and haste, use Barrets steelskin ability and for a lot of fights he can just stand in the face of attacks rapidly charging ATB to spam prayer for no MP heals.

[@Soldier1stClass]

Barret with Ribbon is an extremely powerful combo, especially in fights where status effects are heavily used against you. His ATB abilities are nasty, so I’ve been using him a lot lately, but like I said in the video, Red is definitely a viable option as a tank, and I used him that way a lot in my normal playthrough.

[@kelela37clch]

Totally agree, Barret's Steelskin ability is quite impressive! I also included Red in my party quite often in order to take advantage of his Stardust Ray ability which was extremely effective in taking out groups of enemies! Game changer!

[@Coolio_Ash]

You didnt mention that elemental materia, when maxed out, ABSORBS THE LINKED ELEMENT. If you have it attatched to a fire and ice materia, then all magical fire and ice attacks heal you instead of damage you. Lets you use less atbs curing. Its a gamechanger against enemies like that one where whenever you attack them it counterattacks with lightning.

[@Soldier1stClass]

I mean it says it in the description and this video was already over 15 minutes long lmao but yeah, it’s important to know what your materia actually does. I did mention that it creates resistances at least.

[@xRoycex]

Doesn't have to be maxed to absorb the element; as the description states, weapon linking adds the element to your attacks, armor linking absorbs the element. Wanted to clarify if anyone else had a question about this.

[@un_known5895]

i suppose it goes without saying that another tip could be "if you haven't already, become a master at parrying/blocking" for those all important boss fights, especially when it comes to a certain rich boss in chapter 12.... otherwise you could spend 1-2+ hours stuck on him XD

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah that's why I included the Steadfast Block + Defense Focus materia combo cause uh, not being good at blocking is a common issue in action games for a lot of people.

[@un_known5895]

@@Soldier1stClass true without those 2 i would've been throwing my controller in rage, it's insane how these two materia are that vital for the parry to avoid being damaged, before i could just powerhouse my way through hard modes up to chapter 12, Rufus forced me to be a pro at parrying and pretty much nearly 0 damage other than incidental aoe got me from then on XD

[@PetarBladeStrok]

Let's go! Been waiting for this!

[@Soldier1stClass]

Hope it helps!!

[@pocketmonsterhuntr]

Synergy Abilities don't have i-frames like limit breaks so be careful of when you use them

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah I’ve been burned on that a few times myself.

[@michaelhanson5773]

For some chapters you can get to a boss, beat it, fast travel to a stop, use a cushion and then fast travel back and continue on. You dont need to use assess at all for the most part in hard mode if you already assessed the enemies in your first playthrough... This takes up a slot you could be using for something else.

[@Soldier1stClass]

Right, I understand that, but that being said, some people slept on the assess materia and just don’t get how important it is. Especially hard mode where you need to be able to stagger as much as possible. And I honestly missed a few scans myself at certain points of the game, so not every single player has assessed every single enemy.

[@xRoycex]

Props to you for the excellent content. There are a lot of critics in the comments :[ I enjoy the game, in the middle of running through hard mode currently. Not a fan of the minigames but I was able to get through almost everything minus the last brutal challenges and hard mode chapters (doesn't seem hard so far)

[@Soldier1stClass]

I’m glad you enjoy it! I’m planning some more guides to help with trophies, completing hard mode, builds for certain characters, and more. The brutal challenges are something I’m looking to tackle once I get more of my materia maxed out.

[@cdraun1880]

More stars does NOT equal more AP. Put AP Up on support materia like Warding, Magic Focus, Swiftcast, etc. as they need so much more AP than anything else (your HP and MP and Luck Ups are plenty leveled up by hard mode).

[@kelela37clch]

That's exactly what I did! I kept linking AP Up materia to anything that I wanted to reach MAX status on as quickly as possible, and it worked tremendously well!

[@jblaze600]

Ty for the vid. Should I upgrade the recommended material in dynamic or wait until hard mode? I’m only on chapter 8, long way to go 😂. I like to be prepared.

[@Soldier1stClass]

Wait til you finish the game, because you get tripled AP and Experience. And then you can farm AP to max out your Materia before tackling Hard Mode

[@dreamphoenix]

Amazing tips. Thank you so much!

[@Soldier1stClass]

You’re very welcome! I’ve got a new AP grind video coming out tomorrow you’re gonna love if you’re planning to really take on Hard Mode!

[@kingofclubbz8742]

Dont even care about the video, just glad to see u back online brother! Keep making that good content!

[@Soldier1stClass]

Appreciate ya bro!!

[@benmorrow1701]

Fyi gilgamesh island doesn’t need to be complete for swiftcast materia. I only completed two of the shrines and was able to purchase swiftcast. Not sure what the exact requirements are.

[@kelela37clch]

Good to know; thanks!

[@cavsfightingroom3692]

cloud was my healbot in hardmode, he had 3xhealing with magic efficiency/magnify/autocast and with his last weapon you basically never run out of MP

[@Soldier1stClass]

Very nice! Yeah I’m still labbing with a bunch of stuff, but it’s gonna really come down to play style.

[@cavsfightingroom3692]

@@Soldier1stClass it worked very well for me, tifa was my main dps with stop and unfettered fury and stagger assist, you always have full atb bars for the whole party and then spamm true strike once staggered. 3rd member was caith, which did the same as tifa, once staggered spamm moogle knuckles while tifa fills the atb bars with her hold square combo. I killed bosses like that in seconds, epseicallly if she is using genji gloves

[@1Hollowgoku]

Glad you’re making content again

[@Soldier1stClass]

Thank you 🙏I’ve been making content for a little while, unfortunately I think I’m just now getting back into people’s algorithms lmao you should definitely check out some of my more recent videos and the podcast I started with a friend of mine, you might enjoy it!!

[@1Hollowgoku]

@@Soldier1stClass will do

[@1Hollowgoku]

@@Soldier1stClass I had mainly watched 4 people for ff7 content NSP, blitzz, Maximilian dood and you and your absence was noticed lol but I also fully respect you stepping back for personal reasons…all to say it’s good you are back

[@Soldier1stClass]

Thank you very much! I’m glad you stuck with me. It’s very much appreciated after all these years. I’ve had a few people say I was missed in the FF7 KZbin space, which I honestly wasn’t expecting. 🙏

[@ForzaTerra89]

I had no idea you could stop the stagger bar :O

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yep and most enemies are susceptible to it from what I’ve found. Time materia is a solid part of my rotation.

[@ForzaTerra89]

@@Soldier1stClass do you recommend building a party of 3 characters or building everyone (all 7) to rotate between. Waiting for them to fix the side quest bug before I start hard mode. I need to get some armour too. I’m using Cloud Tifa and Red for the brutal combat simulators, I just got the 3rd magnify materia Thanks for the tips. Great video

[@richizzle39]

In battles were status effects are an issue a magnifying resist will go a long away

[@Soldier1stClass]

For sure

[@56Tyskie]

Just need to complete chadley simulator to platinum this game. Having lots of fun

[@kaspauf06]

Excellent video and thank you for this!

[@Soldier1stClass]

Thank you 🙏 and you’re welcome!!

[@Sing4DLaughter]

just what we all needed!!!!!

[@Soldier1stClass]

Hey! Hope it helps!! Good to see ya!

[@Celledhor]

Just finished my story run last night. Moving on to hard mode and mini game clean up. A few really broken builds possible that I've seen. Also mean I should start looking for optimization on materia and weapons rather than just.... whatever.

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah I’m excited to keep going on builds. My Barret build demolished the first brutal difficulty combat sim and got me all the way to round 10 on the second one before I personally screwed up. Really loving that build for Barret.

[@Celledhor]

@@Soldier1stClass I'm looking at tifa/yuffie/aerith or red. The first three melted foes on normal with no healing.

[@Celledhor]

Did you look at Enemy Skill - HP absorb primarily using Plasma discharge? Tifa was almost immortal. And that was before ho absorb leveled up. Thinking about combing that with Darkside use.

[@Soldier1stClass]

I’ve seen some rumblings about Darkside being absolutely devastating on the right build. I’m interested to do some research on it.

[@Celledhor]

@Soldier1stClass btw, if you haven't already, grab the Stellar Blade demo. I would be interested in seeing you stream it. Sekiro meets DMC meets Nier.

[@kenjishin]

I can tell you that chapter 13. The white haired angel is legit. Got lvl 70 in no time and max all my materia. Just set it to easy and boom., your done. rinse and repeat. btw you need to complete the game first

[@Soldier1stClass]

I actually released a video on that side quest the other day, and now I’ll be releasing another one that improved on that method. It’s ridiculous how much AP you get from that.

[@ODZ2174]

Just beat the game on Dynamic, I just need time to recuperate from the ending before I can play Hard mode lol

[@Soldier1stClass]

I feel ya, I’ve got 168 hours into it and no sign of slowing down lmao

[@davidwhatsthatabout7404]

I use Cloud as my primary combatant. I give him all my HP/Vitality materia, auto unique ability, and Wind/Elec materia paired with elemental materia. And strength up. Then Barret is my support character who has the first strike materia, empowerment/ cast all materia, and Fire/ Elemental materia, also auto unique materia, Lastly Tifa is my healer with 2X HP up and MP up materia, first strike, chakra, barrier and revival as well first strike. // so usually what happens when I fight is barret will automatically use bravery on cloud and Tifa will use barrier / wall on cloud. I then switch to barret, cloud uses punisher and I have barret use bonus round ability to deplete the stagger bar, switch to Tifa and I have her activate bridal strength switch back to cloud and by then barret charge ability is being used and I use clouds infinity end on the staggered enemy. By then Tifa is using dive kick on the enemy too and the fights over, also I have luck up for cloud so each attack is critical

[@TheLateral18]

What's the difference between hard mode and dynamic? How do i get cloud weapon to level 8... That's driving crazy 😂 Once you scan enemies on your first playthrough, you do need to scan again I also this video where you can stack magnify and focus materia or two focus materia. with the same elemental materia.. Boy those hit hard.

[@Soldier1stClass]

Hard mode is max level end game difficulty. Dynamic is just basically normal difficulty, but it’s where the game determines the difficulty based on how poorly/well you play. If you’re destroying everything, the game bumps up the difficulty, if you’re losing, the game lowers it. Hard Mode is basically its own separate mode that just happens to use chapter select if that makes sense. Raising weapon level happens when you get SP, and it just levels up automatically. So you just need to get more SP to level it. And on the scan, once an enemies been scanned, you don’t need to scan again, but if you’re unsure, it’s always ok to scan just in case. There were quite a few I missed in the base game.

[@TheLateral18]

​@@Soldier1stClassI'm still surprised that i missed the cetran bracer after floating death. I'm at max level, but only Tifa and Yuffie are a weapon level 8 Cloud and the rest are a level7. I didn't know about the chocobo stops. Hard level here we go.. With my double focus magic build!! 😆

[@Soldier1stClass]

Good luck! Hope this video helps in some way!!

[@TheLateral18]

@@Soldier1stClass it has. I also need to figure out with accessories are better im using the full throttle wrist guards and all 3. I know there are better ones.

[@Soldier1stClass]

I prefer accessories that help with things that require more work to pull off. So limit break accessories are nice, but ribbon is a really powerful one, especially if you’re wanting to make a character more of a tank. I also like ATB boosting accessories like ChocoKing’s Cape among others. The enhanced expeditionary medal is really good for my builds too, especially combined with Limit Syphon materia. Honestly I say just test out accessories in the battle simulator and try to note any differences. I love my current builds but I know I could still find even better builds with the right amount of time.

[@Phatboino1]

Soothing breeze is an excellent healer specially at end of fights and it's mp free

[@wizcatcheslightning]

I’m curious to see if the HP MP materia is viable

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah I’ll have to do some labbing with that one to see. I imagine it definitely has its uses, especially given hard modes resource management. I wonder if HP up would still boost HP, or if it would just add more MP with it switched.

[@zakbrueckner615]

​@Soldier1stClass It adds more MP. I messed around with a few combinations. It's great for farming in hard mode. Especially with Aerith because her Soul Drain starts restoring 800+ MP and more on stagger.

[@xx1kareemxx]

Put it on someone in your back line party then spam healing spells outside of battle without worrying about refilling your MP

[@michaelhanson5773]

If you are good at blocking, it can help you get a limit breaks fast because a single hit can massively fill limit gauge...

[@tarutso]

3:00 what sorts of situations specifically would you use recommend using Limit Siphon? Thx

[@Soldier1stClass]

Just before staggering your enemies. You wanna hit that limit break early in their stagger bar because you do the most damage while an enemy is staggered. If you have the enhanced expeditionary medal, or the Genji Gloves if you use a lot of synergy attacks, you’ll do massive damage. There’s also the final boss fight where all characters besides Cloud get a free limit break. I believe you should be able to take their full bars and use Cloud’s level 3 a couple times just for free at that point. I’d have to test that one out though.

[@rafael82x]

For it was a bit funny playing normal first because I was playing like I play hard mode on Remake Sometimes I forget I could use items half way through the game Of rebirth I don’t think I will play hard mode rebirth for a bit since I don’t think they will transfer the game date to next game hopefully they would on next game

[@Soldier1stClass]

I doubt data transfer will be a thing. It wasn’t this time besides a couple summon materia. Hard mode is mostly for completionists or people looking for the challenge.

[@rafael82x]

It would of been very cool to play with all my previous stuff and the new stuff I had lot of cool materia combinations I wanted to try 😂

[@tarutso]

In the accessories section you don't recommend running Genji Gloves?

[@Soldier1stClass]

It was the very last suggestion I made lmao I believe it was Genji Gloves and something else, can’t remember the second one.

[@tarutso]

@@Soldier1stClass Ah sorry mate I must've missed it. Thanks

[@Soldier1stClass]

No worries! I threw a lot of information at ya and even I don’t remember every single thing I put in the video, and I made it lmao

[@jeremyseaton3314]

Why do you use magnify on healing materia when Prayer is an option? I use my magnify for time, and Barrier.

[@Soldier1stClass]

I like running healing because it’s much easier to level imo, and if choose to have passive healing with regen, I can have that option. Keep in mind, I’m still working out my materia setups as I go, as this is just my current set up. Pray also eats up 2 ATB bars instead of the one that magnify and healing takes. So it’s honestly just a matter of which resource you’re fine with taking a hit.

[@BahamutBreaker]

This is an easy question to answer - Magnify + Curaga costs 1 ATB charge and (often) heals the party to full. Prayer costs 2 ATB charges and partially restores the party’s HP. Both healing strategies have utility, depending on the situation. One is not necessarily always better than the other.

[@jeremyseaton3314]

@Soldier1stClass Yeah, I just view MP as a premium so I give everyone Chakra, and a few people with prayer.

[@mrbonjangles4408]

Is it advise to unlock all those item first in lower difficulty (2nd playthru via chapter selection) then to hard mode?

[@Soldier1stClass]

It would be much easier to unlock them in the easier difficulties, and with materia and stuff that requires experience, it’s best to unlock them in those modes, then wait to power level them until Hard Mode where you get the added boosts to combat rewards. But for accessories / armor, definitely get them on your first run if you can help it, so you don’t have to hunt them down in chapter select. If you missed any weapons, you can purchase them in a shop later if you’ve completed the game.

[@mrbonjangles4408]

Thanks guess I'll just unlock them in easy mode. I'm lvl 50 now in Dyna mode, do I jump to hard mode for lvling?

[@Soldier1stClass]

100%. You get triple the Exp and AP on hard mode.

[@mrbonjangles4408]

@@Soldier1stClass thanks alot

[@cavsfightingroom3692]

also its insane to me how so many ppl especially streamers totally ignore synergy skills, like what?! for example clouds spellblade or even power blade hit damage caps for me and that for free lol

[@Soldier1stClass]

Synergy skills are legit. I use them constantly, especially Spell blade with Aerith and Cloud. I can’t remember what the one with Tifa and Cloud is called but it does a lot of damage too. The defensive ones are pretty great. Especially during that colosseum battle where you have to fight the two giant cactuar. People sleep on Synergy skills and it baffles me lmao

[@cavsfightingroom3692]

@@Soldier1stClass I for example I love max, but it drove me crazy how he played...he did like these skills maybe a total of 20 times in his whole play-through

[@ibrahimq981]

Am i an idiot for not knowin bout cushions healin Mp?🙃 but i mean i never really needed it honestly. Once you’re max lv MP would be much easier to manage during battles

[@Soldier1stClass]

You would think, but in hard mode where damage taken is so high, you need all the MP you can get haha

[@Soldier1stClass]

And no, it doesn’t make you an idiot. There’s no real indication that it would work unless you were testing it.

[@muby102]

How different is rebirth's hard mode in comparison to remake or is it generally the same?

[@Soldier1stClass]

It’s generally the same. The Chocobo stops were a nice addition for MP restore though.

[@fy4b230]

It’s the same but VERY hard. Remake was basically, no items, but you can spam triple slash and elemental material to win. Rebirth is no items, and get your ass handed to you if you think you can yolo at max level. Literally got merked in grasslands on the 2nd side quest at max level. Did not expect that but loved it.

[@Soldier1stClass]

If you’re talking about Flowers on the Hill, that one is giving everyone trouble. It’s complete bullshit lmao the rest of the game hasn’t been even close to being that hard yet for me at least lmao

[@fy4b230]

@@Soldier1stClass haha. Yup that’s the one. Never thought I’d use Aeriths shield, but that’s how I did it. The fucking wolf in the grasslands is as hard..also midgarsormr and mythril golem were bitches. I’m on chapter 6 hard mode now. I maybe died once in hard mode remake, I’ve wiped out a shit ton in hard mode rebirth. Love having to actually make builds and strategize.

[@muby102]

It might sound like I'm complaining but is it just me or some enemies are like damage sponges even at max level on dynamic difficulty.

[@OnwardToMail]

Does enemy intel reset in Hard Mode? If not, then Assess isn't really that necessary in hard mode if you already assessed all the enemies in your first playthrough.

[@Soldier1stClass]

It doesn’t reset, but there’s still a lot of people that don’t realize how important assess really is. And if you didn’t assess all enemies, then it’s still necessary. There were a few I missed, so I still keep assess around in case I need it.

[@lukes5392]

Can you show the materia set up in a separate video ?

[@Soldier1stClass]

I put my exact setup in this video, a second video would be kinda redundant. There’s also a chapter timestamp for it in the description if you need to reference it for later. Hope that helps!

[@cavsfightingroom3692]

poison + mp absorb is a must for hardmode, thank me later

[@Soldier1stClass]

Gonna have to test it out!!

[@asaffin1]

I'm guessing the implication here is that every poison tick absorbs MP? But there's no way, that would be insane...

[@cavsfightingroom3692]

@@asaffin1 not sure if its every tick, but you get back a lot over time. for example in the last chapter barret was out of mp and I gave him that combo, by the the time I reached the 3rd boss he was already back at full mp

[@asaffin1]

@@cavsfightingroom3692 Might be a game-changer for the later chapters that require so many boss fights in a row. You don't get MP back for Rufus, for instance, and while you can't poison him, I believe you can poison Rude and Elena, so that could help Cloud stay topped up while being able to use magic against them.

[@asaffin1]

@@cavsfightingroom3692 So I just tried this and didn't get a single MP back over the course of a fight

[@danieltilleru3528]

Hard mode was easier than normal mode

[@moudacouldashoulda195]

Ff7 rebirth hard is way easier than ff7 remake's.

[@steveozone4910]

I'll come back to the last bosses in hard mode when they make cutscenes skipable 😂

[@Soldier1stClass]

You mean in battle cutscenes? Thats probably not happening lmao

[@steveozone4910]

@@Soldier1stClass Just some of the transition scenes. Its so annoying to have to sit through that stuff 20 times lol

[@Soldier1stClass]

Yeah trust me, I get it lmao

[@chancebrady2]

NOICE!!! 🤘

[@Soldier1stClass]

Hope it helps!!