Princess Guard (Final Fantasy VII)

The Princess Guard is Aeris's ultimate weapon in Final Fantasy VII. It is obtained from the Temple of the Ancients. The weapon has seven Materia slots, six of which are linked, and strong stats for Aeris all around, including improvements to her physical and magical resistance. The Princess Guard provides another mechanic to its damage: if a party member is dead, its damage doubles; if two are dead, its damage triples. It can be sold or thrown, but there is only one copy in the game. If the Princess Guard is equipped to Aeris at the end of the Temple of the Ancients segment, the player will lose it when she leaves the party.
==Obtained==
The Princess Guard is obtained from the Temple of the Ancients. It is found in room IV in the clock puzzle. This makes it the first ultimate weapon that can be obtained in the game.
==Mechanics==
As the Princess Guard has a base Attack stat bonus of 33, the base damage for physical attacks when the Princess Guard is equipped is in the following formula:
:\text{Base Damage} = \text{(37 + Strength)} + \frac{\text{(37 + Strength)} + \text{Level}}{32} \times \frac{\text{(37 + Strength)} \times \text{Level}}{32}
where "Level" is Aeris's current level and "Strength" is her Strength stat. This damage is then doubled if an ally in the party is knocked out; if two are, the damage is tripled, in the following formula:
:\text{Damage} \times (1 + \text{Number of Allies in Death Status})
The Princess Guard also has an Attack% (Accuracy) of 111%, and grants a +22 bonus to Aeris's Magic stat. Additionally, it provides +12 Vitality, improving Aeris's physical damage resistance, and +20 Spirit, improving her magic resistance.
==Use==
The Princess Guard has very strong stats for Aeris all around, including improvements to her damage resistance and physical damage. It also has seven Materia slots, six of which are linked, meaning it has the most amount of linked Materia slots of any of Aeris's weapons, playing into her strength as a magic user. The weapon also has a unique mechanic allowing her to deal double physical damage when an ally is dead, or triple when both are dead. However, due to Aeris's high Magic stat and her Limits being magical buff abilities and not physical attacks, she is better used for magic in most cases.
The Princess Guard has three pairs of linked Materia slots, and one unlinked slot. This means that three can benefit from Support Materia. For Aeris, the player can equip her with many Magic and Summon Materia to take advantage of her Magic stat. To mitigate the HP lost using this, she can be given an HP Plus Materia for the unlinked slot. Not all Materia need to be linked with Support Materia, and if the player prefers to give Aeris broader utility, they can simply equip all slots with Magic or Summon Materia to take advantage of her spellcasting ability. Aeris is also a great choice for the Enemy Skill Materia due to her Magic stat, which many Enemy Skills rely on.
Princess Guard deals significantly more damage if fellow party members are dead. If Aeris uses her Planet Protector Limit, she can take advantage of this and deal significant physical damage when other allies are dead while not being in danger of dying herself. However, this is less than ideal, as other party members are better suited to the role of physical damage. Additionally, it is normally better to revive allies as they are knocked out, rather than rely on Aeris's damage. This means that Princess Guard's physical damage mechanic should not be relied on, and the player is better using Aeris for her usual role even with the weapon equipped.
When Princess Guard is obtained, it is Aeris's best weapon overall, due to being very well-rounded and having a large number of Materia slots. Though its physical damage is less consistently strong than her Umbrella, Aeris is better used for magic anyway, and Princess Guard still has more physical damage potential if allies are dead.
The main drawback is that the player can only use the Princess Guard for a brief time, as Aeris leaves the party when they leave the Temple of the Ancients. Princess Guard can be used against only two bosses: the Red Dragon and the Demons Gate. If the player wants to use this weapon against the Demons Gate and still keep the weapon in their inventory after the temple events, there is a very brief window the menu can be opened immediately after Aeris says "It's not your fault."
Category:Weapons in Final Fantasy VII