Aerith Gainsborough (VII Remake party member)

Aerith Gainsborough is a playable character in Final Fantasy VII Remake. She is a ranged character who provides support and healing spells, and wields a weapon. Rather than striking enemies with her staves physically, she focuses on sending out magical projectiles from a distance that home in on her target, only dealing physical damage when an enemy is at very close range. Aerith is the best spellcaster in the party, and provides excellent supporting abilities.
Aerith joins the party in Chapter 8, "Budding Bodyguard". During this chapter, she can partake in many Odd Jobs, which both determine Cloud's affection score with her, and the audition dress she wears in Chapter 9, "The Town That Never Sleeps". She remains in the party until the end of Chapter 12, "Fight for Survival" and then rejoins in Chapter 17, "Deliverance from Chaos".
If Aerith is transformed into a toad, she has a little pink ribbon on her head and switches to physical damage entirely.
Aerith in Final Fantasy VII Remake is based largely on her playstyle in the original Final Fantasy VII, which similarly had her as a support character. Later, Aerith's playstyle in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth considerably altered her core moves and improved her mobility.
==Battle==
Aerith is a ranged support character with the highest magic attributes. Her basic attacks consist on shooting slow moving projectiles that hit hard, and deal damage based on her magic attribute. Enemies that stand close to her while she attacks will take physical damage from the staff itself. Her ability is Tempest, a ranged attack that can be charged to a greater effect.
Aerith is unique in that her limit breaks heal and strengthen other party members rather than deal damage. Aerith is one of only two ranged attackers in the game along with Barret, though her attacks are distinct in that they are purely magic based at a distance, and are only physical at very close range if the enemy is struck by the staff itself.
Aerith is locked into a spellcasting role, and the only variation is if she focuses on defensive spells, offensive spells, or a mix. Aerith excels in this role, as she has the greatest spellcasting damage potential, particularly when using the more powerful "-ga" spells, making her unmatched at exploiting enemies' elemental weaknesses in burst magic damage. Her abilities, such as Arcane Ward, capitalize on this even further, helping both herself and her allies cast spells at a high rate.
Aerith's weaknesses lie in her weak defensive attributes, which can cause her to be overwhelmed by enemies in close range, and her mobility. She is also a very setup-oriented character, as her most potent abilities require her to remain stationary and/or in its area of effect. Aerith's low durability means she relies on the other characters to protect her, and she is best staying at as far a distance as possible. Her damage output is also primarily magical, with only her basic attacks dealing physical damage when enemies are very close, and since she is best kept out of danger, this does not come into play often. Using Aerith as the active character can be dangerous in certain fights, specially against highly mobile opponents, as they can quickly close the gap and pressure her.
===Attributes===
Level	EXP 	HP 	MP	Strength	Magic	Vitality	Spirit	Luck	Speed	SP 	Weapon Level	+
17 	10987 	1684	46	29 	41 	23 	33 	25 	20 	45 	3 	
18 	13638 	1750	47	30 	43 	25 	35 	26 	21 	50 	3 	
19 	16521 	1831	48	31 	45 	25 	37 	27 	22 	55 	3 	
20 	19556 	1938	49	34 	48 	27 	39 	28 	23 	60 	4 	
21 	22662 	1999	50	34 	50 	28 	40 	29 	23 	65 	4 	
22 	26063 	2078	52	36 	52 	30 	42 	30 	24 	70 	4 	
23 	29535 	2198	53	38 	54 	30 	44 	31 	25 	75 	4 	
24 	33126 	2257	54	39 	55 	31 	45 	32 	26 	80 	4 	
25 	36849 	2338	55	40 	58 	32 	46 	33 	27 	85 	4 	
26 	40720 	2454	56	43 	61 	34 	48 	34 	28 	90 	4 	
27 	44658 	2535	58	44 	64 	34 	50 	35 	29 	95 	4 	
28 	48676 	2679	59	47 	67 	35 	51 	36 	30 	100	4 	
29 	52790 	2745	60	48 	69 	36 	52 	37 	31 	105	4 	
30 	58313 	2865	61	50 	72 	37 	53 	39 	32 	110	5 	
31 	64423 	2945	62	52 	74 	38 	54 	39 	32 	115	5 	
32 	71266 	3064	64	53 	77 	39 	55 	40 	33 	120	5 	
33 	78592 	3141	65	55 	79 	39 	57 	41 	34 	125	5 	
34 	86364 	3205	66	57 	82 	40 	58 	43 	35 	130	5 	
35 	94599 	3265	67	58 	84 	41 	59 	43 	36 	135	5 	
36 	103029	3326	68	61 	87 	42 	60 	44 	37 	140	5 	
37 	111948	3386	70	62 	89 	43 	61 	45 	38 	145	5 	
38 	121369	3446	71	63 	91 	43 	63 	47 	39 	150	5 	
39 	131306	3502	72	66 	94 	44 	64 	48 	40 	155	5 	
40 	141773	3547	73	66 	95 	45 	65 	48 	41 	160	5 	
41 	152784	3591	74	66 	96 	46 	66 	49 	41 	165	5 	
42 	164352	3633	76	68 	98 	46 	66 	51 	42 	170	5 	
43 	176492	3676	77	69 	99 	47 	67 	52 	43 	175	5 	
44 	189216	3717	78	70 	100 	48 	68 	52 	44 	180	5 	
45 	202539	3758	79	71 	101 	48 	70 	53 	45 	185	5 	
46 	216475	3797	80	71 	103 	49 	71 	55 	46 	190	5 	
47 	231037	3838	82	72 	104 	49 	71 	56 	47 	195	5 	
48 	246239	3877	83	73 	105 	50 	72 	57 	48 	200	5 	
49 	262094	3915	84	74 	106 	51 	73 	57 	49 	205	5 	
50 	278618	3952	85	75 	107 	52 	74 	59 	50 	216	5 	
Aerith has the highest and attributes, making her both the most powerful spellcaster and the most resistant to magic damage respectively. She also has the highest MP pool. Her weaknesses lie in her poor HP and attributes (both the lowest in the game).
===Equipment===
Aerith wields staves used as a focus for her magic. An addition to performing a basic physical combo with them, she shoots non-elemental magic orbs from the tip at enemies while attacking; these can hit enemies in area when they are near to each other. Because Aerith's normal attacks rely mostly on her magic attribute, the main choice between her staves often comes down to the unique abilities they unlock when leveled up, rather than choosing between an increase in and . While high Attack staves can be used for a melee build, this is niche at best due to her poor range, survivability and strength. Aerith can earn SP for her weapons with Telluric Scriptures manuscripts.
Many of Aerith's weapons have upgrades that reduce the cost of spells, as well increasing her magic attack power and maximum MP. With two exceptions, most weapons eventually unlock Reprieve, allowing her to survive powerful attacks at 1 HP, greatly helping with her durability problem.
Aerith's default staff is the , which provides varied upgrades that improve her MP regeneration and attack damage a modest amount, but more notably provides abilities to increase her durability slightly. Her has a similar role and can lengthen the duration of buffs, as well as improving her resistance and healing.
 provides the best MP regeneration boost at +50%, while also having abilities that greatly reduce spell costs. This makes it her most MP-friendly weapon. Mythril Rod provides her the highest raw magic attack increase of any weapon, as well as Bloodsucker to allow her to recover HP after defeating enemies. Between the two, Silver Staff can be better for sustained fights if Aerith is having MP issues, and also in fights where she needs Reprieve to survive, as Mythril Rod does not have it. However, Mythril Rod can deal more raw damage when casting spells, making it often the best weapon for her.
Aerith's and have unique roles. The Bladed Staff provides several boosts to her critical hit rate and unlocks that improve her normal attacks, making it best if Aerith wishes to improve her regular attacks instead of focusing on improving her already powerful spells. It also provides the highest physical attack power due to the attached blades. Arcane Scepter, on the other hand, increases her regular damage and elemental damage, and reduces spell costs, while also providing Stagger Siphon to recover HP from a staggered enemy. This makes her more well-rounded in terms of regular attacks and spells.
In terms of accessories, early on Aerith benefits from Earrings to boost her magic, or Bulletproof Vest to mitigate her frailty. Later, Aerith is the best choice to equip the Spectral Cogwheel due to her emphasis on spellcasting, meaning that with the accessory, she will quickly build up her limit gauge as she spending MP. The Circlet is also a great choice for Aerith, as improving her magic attribute and her MP simultaneously takes advantage of her best traits. Healing Carcanet is arguably a must for Aerith during tough boss battles, as it increases the recovery effect of all items, spells and abilities, including her Healing Wind limit.
For armor, Aerith should focus more on improving her durability than on increasing her materia slots.
===Abilities===
Aerith's abilities add a lot of versatility to her kit and bring unmatched utility to the party, ranging from allowing double-casting offensive abilities to protecting allies from projectiles. She has a good deal of offensive abilities to help her conserve MP. A few of her abilities are costly to cast in terms of ATB.
Aerith's default ability Soul Drain allows her to restore her MP. This is initially lackluster, but improves further in the game. The ability can be useful as she will be casting spells often and her MP is precious, though she has other ways of restoring her MP.
Arcane Ward is core to her moveset. It places a circle on the ground, and party members who stand within it while casting offensive spells will cast the spell twice, at a reduced cost and potency. Depending on good placement of the ward, it can make Aerith a powerhouse for spellcasting, and buff the entire party. Aerith also obtains ATB Ward, which has a similar effect, but will boost the ATB fill rate of those within it when they cast spells. ATB Ward has a high ATB cost to place, but is still a worthy luxury ability. Aerith can use Lustrous Shield to place a shield in front of these wards that can block ranged damage.
Aerith has three offensive abilities. Ray of Judgment is the only ability outside of Tifa's abilities that allows her to boost stagger bonus damage, and is great to use before casting spells on staggered enemies to increase incoming damage thereafter. Sorcerous Storm deals great damage in an area-of-effect around Aerith, making it good for pushing enemies away from her when they gang up on her. Finally, Fleeting Familiar provides supplemental damage to her attacks.
Tempest from FFVII Remake.jpg|Tempest.
Sorcerous Storm from FFVII Remake.jpg|Sorcerous Storm.
Fleeting Familiar from FFVII Remake.jpg|Fleeting Familiar.
Ray of Judgment from FFVII Remake.jpg|Ray of Judgement.
Lustrous Shield from FFVII Remake.jpg|Lustrous Shield.
ATB Ward from FFVII Remake.jpg|ATB Ward.
===Materia===
Aerith joins the party with , a and a . Because of her magic attribute, Aerith is the best character to equip a variety of , especially those dependent on the attribute, such as offensive magic or healing magic. Generally, she should equip damaging magic materia of whatever element the enemies are weak to, or at least do not resist.
Aerith is the best character to give paired with a spell to maximize its effectiveness both with her Arcane Ward and her magic attribute. For a defensive role, this can be paired with or to quickly bring the party back up after being hit by a powerful attack, as it is more ATB-efficient than Pray. For offensive use, it can also be extremely potent when paired with a damaging spell.
Other that greatly benefit Aerith when paired with offensive magic materia are and . The former provides sustainability and allows her to cast spells constantly, while the latter is an efficient way to heal her. Though she has less use from with regard to augmenting her damage than others do, she can nonetheless effectively equip it on her armor to provide much-needed sustainability.
Equipping can be beneficial for Aerith in long fights with how frequently she will be spellcasting. can also benefit her spells even further to truly maximize her damage output. Conversely, can help mitigate her low durability.
Aerith can benefit from to either begin a battle with a powerful spell that can pressure an enemy, or to begin it with Arcane Ward. Alternatively, especially for boss battles, also provides her with a quick ATB fill that is useful for emergencies, such as having to heal a party member in a critical state, or to exploit an enemy weaknesses who is staggered.
In Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, now allows non-active characters to cast elemental spells for free (no ATB or MP consumed). This means it should always be equipped on magic users, such as Aerith, since the user gets to cast a free spell for every attack command the leader uses, e.g. Tifa or Cloud uses Divekick or Braver, and Aerith would cast a free spell. This completely changes the value of synergy materia in Intergrade, making it a priority to equip at all times.
Aerith is the best candidate for the due to its passive bonuses to magic attack, magic defense, spirit, vitality and HP, playing to Aerith's strengths and weaknesses simultaneously. Alternatively, also provides bonuses to magic, but also MP. When used as the main player-controlled party member, should be used, as it provides the best attribute increases all-around.
Aerith Parry from FFVII Remake.jpg|Parry.
Aerith Deadly Dodge from FFVII Remake.jpg|Deadly Dodge.
Aerith Fire Elemental from FFVII Remake.jpg|Fire elemental materia.
Aerith Ice Elemental from FFVII Remake.jpg|Ice elemental materia.
===Limit breaks===
Aerith's level 1 unique limit break is Healing Wind, which restores health for the party. As this comes at no ATB or MP cost, it is a very strong healing ability, albeit not a substitute for prayer or healing materia. Her level 2 limit break is Planet's Protection, which applies to the entire party for a duration, rendering them immune to physical damage. As a level 2 limit break, setting it to this means her limit bar takes longer to fill.
Aerith is the only character whose limit breaks provide utility rather than damage output. Both her limit breaks are used to aid the party's survivability in dire situations, though they have different purposes. Planet's Protection is very useful for surviving fights against enemies who rely on physical damage, but cannot protect against powerful magic attacks. Healing Wind provides a more simple heal which can be used whenever the party is in trouble.
By equipping the Spectral Cogwheel accessory, Aerith builds the limit gauge further as she expends MP. This can allow her to use Healing Wind much more often, or to use Planet's Protection earlier in a battle. Once obtained, Gotterdammerung allows her to open the battle with Planet's Protection.
By equipping Refocus materia, Aerith can use the Refocus ability. This gives her three ATB bars for a long time, allowing ATB charges to be filled more rapidly. This can be beneficial for her due to the high ATB cost of some of her abilities, and also to aid her role as a supporting character.
Planet's Protection from FFVII Remake.jpg|Planet's Protection.
Refocus from FFVII Remake.jpg|Refocus.
==Quests==
Aerith joins Cloud in Chapter 8, "Budding Bodyguard", in "Head for the Station". After Cloud escorts her home, she will ask Cloud to help her deliver flowers to Sector 5 orphanage. Afterwards, she assists Cloud in the Odd Jobs, and fights against Rude at the end of Chapter 8.
Aerith leaves briefly after defeating Rude, but rejoins in Chapter 9, "The Town That Never Sleeps". After passing the Underground Colosseum quest, Aerith leaves and won't assist Cloud with Odd Jobs during the chapter. She rejoins before Honeybee Inn quest and remains in the party until "Evacuation Orders" in Chapter 12, "Fight for Survival".
Aerith rejoins the party in Chapter 17, "Deliverance from Chaos". During "Find the Others", she forms a party with Tifa.
Aerith dress 1 from FFVII Remake render.png|Aerith's first dress.
Aerith dress 2 from FFVII Remake render.png|Aerith's second dress.
Aerith dress 3 from FFVII Remake render.png|Aerith's third dress.
==Interactions==
During the "Rescue Tifa" segment at Wall Market in Chapter 9, "The Town That Never Sleeps", Aerith's audition dress depends on how many sidequests the player completed in the Sector 5 Slums. During the Honeybee Inn segment, Aerith's reactions are more excited the better the player performs in the rhythm minigame during the dance.
After falling into the sewers, the player can progress by talking to either Tifa or Aerith who lie on the ground; the scene is different depending on whom the player picks.
Depending on the player's affection score with Aerith, she may appear in the resolution scene in the quest "Resolve" in Chapter 14, "In Search of Hope" that takes place in Aerith's garden. If the player gets Aerith's scene, Cloud will dream of meeting her in the garden.
==Behind the scenes==
Among survey respondents, Ray of Judgment was Aerith's most popular ability at 32%, followed by Arcane Ward at 23%, and Healing Wind at 20%. 93% of players reported seeing Aerith's best dress on their first playthrough, suggesting they completed all of the "Buddying Bodyguard" Odd Jobs with her. 42% of players reported seeing Aerith's resolution scene, compared to 56% who saw Tifa's and only 2% who saw Barret's. When Aerith asks about her outfit, most players reported answering "It's alright". at 41%, followed by "Looks comfortable". at 37%, and "It matter what I think?" at 22%.
==Gallery==
Aerith Battle Stance from FFVII Remake.jpg|Battle stance.
Aerith in battle from FFVII Remake.jpg|In battle.
Aerith Defend from FFVII Remake.jpg|Guarding.
Aerith Evade from FFVII Remake.jpg|Evading.
Aerith Victory Pose from FFVII Remake.jpg|Victory pose in Corneo Colosseum and Shinra Combat Simulator.
Toad Aerith from FFVII Remake.jpg|Toad status.
Aerith KO'd from FFVII Remake.jpg|Incapacitated.
==References==
Category:Party member gameplay in Final Fantasy VII Remake