Wind Materia (VII Rebirth)

Wind materia is a in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth that provides the user -elemental spells. Wind spells deal initial damage and drag enemies toward the user. The materia is imbued with the element, and thus can be linked with the to add wind damage to attacks or resist against wind. It can be paired with or to cast wind spells automatically.
In addition to wind materia, the contains the properties of both wind and , although it is rarer and levels up slower than the wind materia does.
The wind materia in Rebirth is mostly identical to the materia in Final Fantasy VII Remake.
==Obtained==
The wind materia is first obtained during chapter 1, "Fall of a Hero". It is then sold in all shops that sell materia for 500 gil apiece. It is also a reward in Chadley's combat simulator for completing "Combat Training: Aerith", and a level 2 version is awarded for completing "Corel Region Intel: Level 1" starting in chapter 7, "Those Left Behind".
==Stats==
===Growth===
Level	AP required	Effect
1 	0 	Aero
2 	300 	Aerora
3 	900 	Aeroga
===Abilities===
Magic	MP	Effect
 	4 	Deal a small amount of damage.
 	10	Deal a moderate amount of wind damage.
 	21	Deal a large amount of wind damage.
==Use==
The wind materia grants three tiers of wind-elemental spells. Of these, the basic Aero spell is initially unlocked, while leveling up with AP first unlocks the mid-tier Aerora spell, and fully leveling unlocks Aeroga. The higher-tier spells cost more MP and take longer to cast, and Aeroga uses two ATB charges instead of one. The wind materia's spells are comparable in damage to the lightning materia, as well as the and . Although it levels up slower, the lightning and wind materia contains the same spells as the wind materia.
Wind-elemental damage is most effective against flying enemies. Additionally, wind materia spells have a bonus of dragging enemies toward the user.
Wind materia has several useful pairings. For spellcasting, auto-cast and synergy materia allow Aero to be cast often; Aero is typically less effective in this role compared to faster projectiles of the fire and lightning counterparts, but it can be useful against enemies weak to wind. This pairing is best for party members with high attributes (Aerith, Cloud, Yuffie, or Cait Sith). similarly can be very effective with Aero against groups of flying enemies. Early on, can grant access to higher-tier wind spells if they are needed before the materia is fully leveled. can increase the strength of wind spells against certain opponents, while can reduce its spells' MP cost. can speed the cast time. This materia, however, is normally better used on other materia pairings.
The wind materia's role can fundamentally be changed by pairing it with elemental materia. Pairing wind materia with elemental materia on a weapon imbues all attacks with wind damage, allowing non-spellcasters to take advantage of an enemy's wind weakness. This pairing can be particularly useful on those with high attributes who attack well in the air, namely Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie. Pairing it with wind on an armor will instead resist (or at full level, absorb) wind damage, making it an excellent pairing on party members who prefer to tank damage such as Cloud, Barret, or Red XIII. Doing so in combination with can be effective to protect other party members.
If the party member casting a spell from their wind materia has unlocked their wind-elemental weapon ability (e.g. Wind Current for Red XIII), Aero/Aerora/Aeroga becomes Aero/Aerora/Aeroga α, which will bestow a wind-elemental sphere to the spellcaster for the rest of the battle (unless the player changes the element with Fire α etc.) that will supplement small magical wind-elemental damage when defending against certain enemy attacks (perfect-blocking not needed) and when using ATB abilities. The attacks from the "wind sphere" do build stagger and can be critical hits.
The wind materia is outclassed by the lightning and wind materia, which is more slot-efficient due to having more spells, and a greater pairing with elemental materia due to providing the ability to imbue attacks with or resist two elements rather than one. However, only one lightning and wind materia can be obtained, meaning wind materia still has uses. Pairing lightning and wind with elemental materia can thus provide more effective resistance or physical attack, while lightning and wind materia can be more slot efficient for some spellcasters and potentially grant support materia pairing to two types of elemental spells. Either way, the rarity of lightning and wind materia means wind materia maintains use.
Category:Magic materia in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth