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Final Fantasy 7 Remake Best Characters TIER LIST

Final Fantasy 7 Remake features 4 playable characters, and while they’re all generally well-balanced and very useful, I figured it’d still be fun to put together a best characters tier list. So here comes the battle royale.

Who wins? Will it be Tifa, the bombshell martial artist who destroys both enemies in the game and simps on the internet? Barret, the bombastic Avalanche leader who no one can figure out if he’s a leader with gravitas or some kind of high-fidelity cartoon character? CLOUD, the mopey too-cool-for-school main character who’s glowingly described in-game as “Possibly the worst person I have ever met”? Or the innocent and pure Aerith who seems to think getting a date with her is adequate payment for an open-ended bodyguard contract?

This is the Final Fantasy 7 Remake best characters tier list.

S Tier – Final Fantasy 7 Remake Best Characters

No one. No one is S-Tier. It’s not like any of them are broken or really have any godmode abilities. In general, it’s a pretty flat balance curve between the characters.

A Tier – Final Fantasy 7 Remake Best Characters

Barret

final fantasy 7 remake barret

Barret gets a ton of HP and his long-range attack comes in handy throughout the game. Not just because it can hit flying enemies, but also because 90% of the time rotating between his normal attack, Overcharge and Maximum Fury puts out the most consistent DPS of any character. Other characters have to waste time dodging and chasing enemies around. Not Barret. Just keep pouring out that rotation and you’re good. His defensive skills come in handy from time to time as well, as long as you remember to use them. Good as a support mage in a pinch, though he doesn’t have great MP or Magic power. He’s a great asset against several of the most annoying bosses that are constantly moving or flying around or throwing your active character around the room. He can just sort of ignore all of that and just keep pumping out that consistent, reliable damage.

B Tier

Cloud

final fantasy 7 remake cloud

Cloud has extremely high physical attack when he’s in Punisher mode and the built-in Punisher counter move is useful throughout the game. His ability-based attack skills aren’t all that impressive, all things considered, but Focused Thrust, Infinity’s Edge and Braver are pretty useful throughout the game. He has decent HP and with the Buster Sword equipped, he ends up with solid stats all around. Slap an Elemental Materia on him and go to town. You have him in your party at all times, and he’s usually pretty good. That attack string against flying enemies, though. Whew. Woof. Outside of Punisher mode, his attack string is pretty weak. Stay in Punisher mode at all times and just roll to switch back to Operator mode when you need to run or block.

Aerith

aerith

Aerith’s magic power is extremely high and her very first ability, Arcane Ward, is pretty busted. While Cloud is pummeling enemies with like 300-400 damage per attack, Aerith can doublecast 3rd tier elemental spells that hit for 4000+ damage, or 7000-8000 damage if you hit a weakness. It’s pretty wacky. Her Ray of Judgment ability is also a high damage dealer and has no MP cost at all. She’ll be a star player as a mage and a healer, easily. The main problem with her is she’s extremely squishy and switching to use her as your active character opens her up to getting attacked in ways she just has no way to deal with like all the other characters do. She’s not fast with a good roll like Tifa, she’s not sturdy as hell like Barret, and she doesn’t have Cloud’s counter. Her defensive options are extremely limited. So in practice you don’t get to make use of those busted spells very often. Unless you control her, she builds her ATB meter extremely slowly, and the AI rarely keeps her standing in her Arcane Ward like it should.

C Tier – Final Fantasy 7 Remake Best Character

Tifa

final fantasy 7 remake tifa

Before I begin here, I want to stress once again that this game is pretty balanced. There’s not an enormous difference in power between Tifa and Barret. But I will say, it’s a lot easier to beat the Top Secret VR Boss Rush with Cloud/Barret/Aerith than it is with Cloud/Tifa/Aerith. Tifa has some great utility and she can put damage out pretty fast, especially if you’re using the Deadly Dodge materia with her. Between Unbridled Rage, True Strike and Starshower, she can absolutely wreck bosses or meaty enemies that you put into Stagger. The main problem with Tifa is that she’s almost as squishy as Aerith and, while she’s fast, she usually can’t stand toe-to-toe with monsters in the same way that Barret and Cloud can. She’s much better if she’s not the enemy’s focused target, but the AI sucks at controlling her. Using her is super fun and feels great, but it also makes enemies focus on her, which is not what you want. Ideally, they system would allow you to use her as it feels like the game intends, which is hitting enemies from the back or side while they focus on Cloud. But in practice, that doesn’t really ever happen.

D & F Tier

No one. Everyone’s pretty good overall. I guess you could say Red XIII. I never felt like he made any kind of impact at all. But that doesn’t really count.

Okay. That does it for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Best Characters Tier List. Sort of a just for fun article. Be sure to check out the Games Section for more content like this, and click here for more game guides and articles for Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

Author

  • Ryan Night

    Ryan Night is an ex-game industry producer with over a decade of experience writing guides for RPGs. Previously an early contributor at gamefaqs.com, Ryan has been serving the RPG community with video game guides since 2001. As the owner of Bright Rock Media, Ryan has written over 600 guides for RPGs of all kinds, from Final Fantasy Tactics to Tales of Arise.

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