Table of Contents
It's time to revisit Aerith's weapons for December 2023. We'll sort her weapons according to their usefulness in clearing content, efficiency in certain builds, and potential use as a sub-weapon.
Update Log:
New Additions:
- Garnet's Rod
- Snowflake
- Chocobo Staff
| Tier | Weapons |
|---|---|
| S Tier | • Fairy Tale • Guard Stick • Sun Umbrella • Garnet's Rod |
| A Tier | • Mythril Rod • Wizard Staff • Full Metal Staff • Silver Staff • Wizer Staff • Ramuh Staff • Prism Rod • Snowflake |
| B Tier | • Striking Staff • Chocobo Staff |
S Tier
Fairy Tale
Aerith's best-of-the-best weapon. It allows your party to survive high-level content with its AoE heal. This weapon has the highest healing stat among Aerith's weapons. In terms of attack and magic, it's at the bottom, but we don't really need Aerith to dish out damage. She'll be occupied with buffing and healing the party.
Its abilities give 27 points of healing and 36 points of earth resistance. It is best used as a secondary weapon because she has a weapon that gives a better healing bonus. You could use it as a main if the enemy uses a lot of earth attacks to maximize the earth resistance bonus.
For support materia slots, it has a 10% ability damage bonus and two 20% magical ability damage bonuses.
Guard Stick
The best main weapon for Aerith for healing builds. Best paired with Fairy Tale for their healing bonus. In terms of base stats, it ranks third in the healing category among her weapons. Its magic stat isn't so bad, being in the middle of the pack. Its skill is a single-target magic defense buff. Equip a Barrier materia on her, and she'll be able to protect the party from both physical and magical attacks.
This weapon gives 54 points in healing and 24 points in limit break potency. Not only does it improve her Curaga from Fairy Tale, but it also enhances her healing limit break.
It is also a nice sub-weapon if you want other units to do the healing.
For support materia slots, 1 10% attack boost, 1 20% magic attack boost, and 1 20% buff/debuff extension boost. The last slot is great for placing the Barrier materia in.
Sun Umbrella
Enables Aerith to break enemy defense (single target), both magic and physical defense. This weapon can be part of a lot of builds. It ranks third in magic stat and sits in the middle in terms of healing.
Its abilities give 40 points in magic attack - one of only two weapons that do that - and 36 points in magic ability potency. Both of the abilities are offensive ones, which are good for magic builds. It is recommended to use it as a main weapon to maximize the bonuses.
For support materia slots, 1 10% attack ability boost and 2 20% magic ability boosts.
Clearly, this weapon was meant to be used for a magic DPS build. Pair this with Wizard Staff or any of her elemental weapons, and she will do massive magic damage. You can also pair it with Fairy Tale for a healing/breaking build if you don't have any unit that can break defense. This is also good as a sub-weapon for mage units.
Garnet's Rod
The C-ability of Garnet's Rod boosts the magical attack of a single ally while also applying a regen effect. This marks the first instance in the game where a weapon can enhance magical attack for a different party member than the one using the weapon. Sephiroth's Aonibi is the only other item that boosts magical damage, but it benefits only himself. This might open up possibilities for more characters to become powerful magical damage dealers in the future, as Sephiroth won't be the only one capable of enhancing magical attack. I'm curious to see whether the buffs from Garnet's Rod and Aonibi stack together or if they cancel each other out.
A Tier
Snowflake
Snow's Staff features a unique support materia slot that enables Cure to affect the entire party rather than just one ally. This lets Aerith act as an AoE healer, even without Fairy Tale.
Equipping this weapon turns her into an ice DPS/debuffer and healer simultaneously. To boost her healing ability and magic defense, she can carry another weapon like Guard Stick. Alternatively, Aerith can choose an elemental weapon to enhance magical attack, leaning toward a magic damage dealer role.
Snowflake is an excellent sub-weapon for ice magic damage dealers and mage builds overall due to its substantial boost in magical attack. It's a great fit for Ice Mage Sephiroth as it enhances both his magical attack and ice potency, maximizing his damage potential.
Mythril Rod
Has a skill that buffs the party's defense and also heals a bit. This is quite useful against bosses with heavy-hitting physical AoE attacks. Its healing stat is second only to Fairy Tale.
Its abilities boost magic defense by 27 points and lightning resistance by 36 points. Too bad it doesn't have any healing bonus.
It can be paired with Fairy Tale, but you lose out on the massive healing bonus from Guard Stick. You can still equip Guard Stick as a sub-weapon to at least benefit from half of its bonus.
For support materia slots, 2 10% attack boosts and 1 20% buff/debuff extension.
Wizard Staff
Allows Aerith to hit with AoE lightning magic. It has an above-average magic stat, ranking 4th among her weapons.
Its abilities give a 40 magic attack bonus and 36 lightning potency. Both are offensive ones, so this will do great for a magic build.
For support materia slots, 3 20% magic attack boosts.
Pair this with Sun Umbrella for the lightning mage build. Make this the main weapon if you need the full lightning potency bonus. Otherwise, just stick with Sun Umbrella as the main. This is also good as a sub-weapon for mage units.
Full Metal Staff
Now, if for some reason you want Aerith to be a physical damage dealer, this is your weapon. It has the highest attack stat among her weapons, with low magic and healing stats, understandably.
It gives her the ability to lower the enemy's attack stat and it's AoE. For its abilities, it gives 27 points in physical attack and 36 points in ice resistance. Sadly, she has no other weapon that gives a physical attack bonus.
For support materia slots, 3 20% physical attack boosts.
Silver Staff
It gives 40 points in attack and 36 points in ice potency. Really good offensive abilities.
Her highest magic weapon. Does AoE ice magic damage, good for clearing waves and for ice-weak bosses.
For support materia slots, 2 10% attack boosts and 1 20% magic attack boost.
Pair this with Sun Umbrella or another elemental weapon to further boost her magic.
Wizer Staff
Her second-highest magic weapon. This does AoE earth damage.
It gives 40 points of HP and 36 earth potency. Only one offensive bonus, so it's the worst of her elemental weapons. It is useful, however, against earth-weak adds and bosses, though I would argue that you can just equip her with Quake materia and use another weapon with a magic bonus. The unique thing about this weapon is that it has an X sigil damage boost for its third support materia slot. It is especially useful if you are having trouble destroying X sigils fast enough.
For support materia slots, 2 20% magic attack boosts and 1 X sigil boost +2.
Pair this with Sun Umbrella, and you are good to go.
Prism Rod
The Prism Rod is Aerith's first wind-based weapon. It deals single-target wind damage and boasts the second-highest damage modifier among all her weapons at level 10. Its base magic attack is second only to her Silver Staff. Unfortunately, its first ability is not offensive; it boosts HP by 24 points and wind potency by 9 points at level 90. It could have been an excellent DPS weapon if it had a magic attack bonus instead. It pairs well with her Prism Dress, which provides a 35% wind damage bonus. For support materia slots, it has two magic attack 20% damage bonuses and an O Sigil damage boost.
Ramuh Staff
Another option for Aerith to deal lightning damage with is the Ramuh Staff. It has decent stats but doesn't compare to her other weapons. It is farmable, though, and free-to-play players can realistically get it to overboost 10. It provides a 24-point water resistance boost and a 6-point HP boost through its R abilities.
B Tier
Chocobo Staff
Useful as a sub-weapon for healer builds and to bolster magical defense if needed.
Striking Staff
This is Aerith's physical damage weapon. However, it's unusual to have Aerith deal physical damage. It does have a 900% damage modifier with a 10% chance to crit. If you somehow max out its potential, it could be worth using. It provides a 24-point attack boost and a 9-point limit break potency through its R abilities. It could serve as a decent sub weapon for attack if you have nothing better to equip. However, physical attack (PATK) and magic attack (MATK) are generally better than plain attack (ATK).
