Heavy Vulcan (Final Fantasy VII)

The Heavy Vulcan is a weapon for Barret in Final Fantasy VII. It can be purchased at Cosmo Canyon, and has stats on-par with other weapons available at that time. Heavy Vulcan is a ranged weapon with four Materia slots, with two sets of two linked Materia. It can be equipped to Barret or thrown.
==Obtained==
Heavy Vulcan can be purchased for 2,700 gil at Cosmo Canyon.
==Mechanics==
As the Heavy Vulcan has a base Attack stat bonus of 39, this means the base damage for physical attacks when the Heavy Vulcan is equipped is in the following formula:
:\text{Base Damage} = \text{(39 + Strength)} + \frac{\text{(39 + Strength)} + \text{Level}}{32} \times \frac{\text{(39 + Strength)} \times \text{Level}}{32}
where "Level" is Barret's current level and "Strength" is his Strength stat. The Heavy Vulcan also has an Attack% (Accuracy) of 100%, and grants a +8 bonus to Barret's Magic stat.
==Use==
Heavy Vulcan is a long range weapon with moderate stats, and four linked Materia sots. Once obtained, it outclasses all of Barret's previous weapons in stats, range, and Materia slots.
Heavy Vulcan has two sets of two linked Materia slots. Barret can thus link Magic Materia or Summon Materia with several Support Materia, such as Elemental. Barret is a viable user of Magic, with a decent Magic stat and plenty of HP, meaning equipping Magic Materia on Barret is less detrimental than other characters. However, the player may simply opt to use Independent Materia or Command Materia to take advantage of Barret's Strength stat.
Heavy Vulcan remains Barret's most powerful long range weapon until Microlaser is acquired. Though Chainsaw is more powerful, it is not ranged. Which weapon the player chooses to use depends on how much they value Barret being usable in the back row.
== Etymology ==
The Heavy Vulcan may be based on the real-world M61 Vulcan automatic Gatling gun found on fixed-wing aircraft. The six-barrel, 20 mm cannon has been in service for over six decades.
Category:Weapons in Final Fantasy VII