Lightning (Final Fantasy VII)

Lightning is a Magic Materia in Final Fantasy VII equipped to provide the user Lightning-elemental spells. It can also be linked with the Elemental Materia to add Lightning damage to attacks or resist from Lightning.
==Obtained==
The Lightning Materia can be purchased for 600 gil from Sector 7 Slums, Sector 5 Slum, Wall Market, Fort Condor, Mideel, Costa del Sol, and Junon during part 1.
Cloud has the Lightning Materia initially equipped.
==Stats==
===Growth===
Level	AP required	Effect
1 	0 	Bolt
2 	2000 	Bolt2
3 	18000 	Bolt3
4 	35000 	MASTER
===Abilities===
Magic	MP	Formula	Power	Effect
 	4 	Magic 	8 	Low lightning-elemental damage.
 	22	Magic 	20 	Moderate lightning-elemental damage.
 	52	Magic 	64 	High lightning-elemental damage.
==Use==
The Lightning Materia grants three tiers of Lightning-elemental spells, beginning with the basic Bolt spell. Upon receiving 2000 AP, the Materia upgrades to level 2, unlocking Bolt2. Upon further upgrading with 18000 AP, the Materia grants the spell Bolt3. These spells are increasingly powerful for greater MP costs. They are comparable to the spells provided by the Fire and Ice Materia, the only difference being in the element. The Lightning element is especially useful against mechanical enemies, such as Shinra robots.
Characters who equip Lightning receive moderate stat changes, including +2% to MP and +1 Magic, but also -2% HP and -1 Strength. These stat changes are small enough to not be detrimental to physical attackers, and are near-identical to Ramuh Materia, which does not include the Strength penalty. Nonetheless, if the intended purpose of the Lightning Materia is to cast its spells, it is best given to characters that already have a high Magic stat and are less reliant on physical attacks, including Aeris, Red XIII, Yuffie, Cait Sith, and Vincent. Cloud is easily built towards magical or physical damage.
Lightning can be paired with Support Materia that improve its spellcasting power. Among these are All, which allows it to hit all enemies, and both MP Turbo and Quadra Magic, which can boost its damage output. It can also be paired with HP Absorb and MP Absorb to grant endurance to spellcasters to last long fights.
One major use of Lightning is pairing it with the Elemental Materia on armor to resist Lightning-elemental damage, or on weapons to amplify physical attacks with Ice-elemental damage. This can be useful in situations where the enemies encountered either deal mostly Lightning-based damage, or are weak to Lightning-based damage, respectively. When used in this way, it is best to give the Materia to characters that mostly deal high physical damage, such as Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and Cid. This is because pairing it with Elemental limit its potential to be paired with other Support Materia that boost its spellcasting power, although if the player has multiple Lightning Materia, they can be linked to different Support Materia simultaneously. The only downside to this is that Ramuh has the same use, while including no Strength penalty.
At higher levels, Lightning spells remain useful, though later Materia provide more powerful spells. This means that its lasting use is best by pairing it with the Elemental Materia.
Category:Magic Materia in Final Fantasy VII