Master Fist (Final Fantasy VII)

The Master Fist is a weapon for Tifa in Final Fantasy VII. It can is found in the Shinra Bldg. during the Raid on Midgar. Master Fist is a high-tier weapon, which appears to have low stats, but is potentially very powerful due to its unique mechanics: when Tifa is afflicted by certain negative status effects, her damage with the weapon is doubled or tripled, and the effects stack. This means that, though less consistent than God's Hand, Master Fist can be a formidable weapon for Tifa, and makes it possible for her to reach 9999 damage even without raising her stats or level.
Master Fist has six unlinked Materia slots. As with all of Tifa's gloves, it cannot be thrown. It sells for 1 gil.
==Obtained==
Master Fist is found in the Shinra Bldg. shop in Part 2 during "Mako Cannon Rampage" (the treasure chest could not be opened during the party's first visit in Part 1). If the player doesn't grab it then, the weapon is permanently missed. Visiting the Shinra Bldg. during the "return to Midgar" segment is optional; when in the train tunnels, the player needs to keep heading up even if the characters not currently in the player's party keep saying it is the wrong way.
==Mechanics==
As the Master Fist has a base Attack stat bonus of 38, the base damage for physical attacks when the Master Fist is equipped, with no status effects on Tifa, is in the following formula:
:\text{Base Damage} = \text{(38 + Strength)} + \frac{\text{(38 + Strength)} + \text{Level}}{32} \times \frac{\text{(38 + Strength)} \times \text{Level}}{32}
where "Level" is Tifa's current level and "Strength" is her Strength stat. This is further amplified by any status effects inflicted on Tifa, with the following formula:
:\text{Damage} =\text{Base Damage} \times (1 +\begin{cases} 1, & \text{for each Near-death, Poison, Sadness, Silence, Slow and Darkness Statuses} \\ 2, & \text{for each Death-sentence and Slow-numb Statuses} \end{cases} )
The Master Fist also has an Attack% (Accuracy) of 108%, and grants no bonus to Tifa's Magic stat.
==Use==
Though the base damage for Master Fist is low, the damage is multiplied by a number that starts at 1 and increases when status effects are inflicted on Tifa. If she has Near-death, Poison, Sadness, Silence, Slow, or Darkness, the multiplier increases by 1. If she has Death-sentence or Slow-numb, the multiplier increases by 2. These effects stack, making Tifa's damage potentially devastating, and making Master Fist an extremely powerful weapon against enemies that inflict negative status effects. Though the weapon is riskier to use and less reliable than God's Hand, it has the potential to deal great damage, even reaching 9999 without significantly raising her level or stats.
Master Fist also has six Materia slots, though none of them are linked. This means the slots should be given to Independent Materia or Command Materia that strengthen her physical damage. Independent Materia, such as Counter Attack and HP Plus, are useful, along with Command Materia that provide her with abilities relying on her physical damage.
To reliably quadruple Master Fist's damage, the player can use a Tranquilizer on Tifa and equip her with a Curse Ring, causing her to start the battle under both Sadness and Death-sentence. Inflicting any status on top of this, such as Poison, will add further damage, but status afflictions (besides Fury and Sadness) do not persist after battle like in some other games in the series. To use the weapon in prolonged fights and prevent dying from Death-sentence, the player can equip Tifa's armor with Odin and Added Effect or use Death Force on her. Although using Curse Ring with Tifa for Master Fist has less of an effect than with Powersoul, which quadruples damage dealt while Death-sentence is inflicted, Powersoul does not stack effects with other negative statuses.
Master Fist has a potentially high damage output, but is less reliable or well-rounded than God's Hand or Premium Heart. It lacks the 255% perfect accuracy provided by God's Hand, and is riskier to use than Premium Heart, which can achieve stronger damage output if Tifa's Limit gauge is full or near full. Master Fist is best used against enemies that inflict multiple negative statuses. Although Master Fist has a greater damage output potential than Powersoul, which uses similar mechanics, Powersoul provides double AP to all its Materia slots, meaning it is a better choice for level grinding.
Category:Weapons in Final Fantasy VII