Stagger (VII Remake)

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 File:Stagger from FFVII Remake.jpg

**Stagger** (バースト, Bāsuto?, lit. Burst) is a gameplay mechanic in *Final Fantasy VII Remake* that stuns enemies and makes them vulnerable for increased damage after their gauge is full. The mechanic can be exploited against larger enemies and bosses to defeat them faster and optimize attacks against them. Once staggered, an enemy will take more damage than usual, normally at 160%, and temporarily be unable to act.

The state is thus similar to the concept of stagger from the *Final Fantasy XIII* series of games, as well as the vulnerable status from *Final Fantasy XV*.

Staggering an enemy unlocks the bronze trophy **Staggering Start**. Another trophy is unlocked by increasing the bonus damage from stagger.

## Mechanics

When an enemy sustains damage, its Stagger meter will rise. Using certain abilities can raise the meter even higher than usual. Once an enemy's meter fills, it will be staggered, leaving itself stunned and open to attacks, receiving increased damage from all sources. This provides a good opportunity to use Limits and other powerful ATB abilities to defeat the enemy quickly.

Certain abilities, such as magic spells of an element that the enemy is weak to, can make an enemy Pressured. This is a temporary state where the enemy is briefly stunned and does not respond to attacks. In this state, its stagger gauge will fill faster than usual (specially when hit by attacks designed to inflict higher stagger); however, if the Stagger meter does not fill up during the Pressured state, the enemy will become active once again. Enemies can also fall into the Pressured state after the player evades certain abilities it uses; others fall into the Pressured state when they have multiple parts that can be targeted and one of them is destroyed.

Inflicting the File:Stop from FFVII Remake icon.png Stop on a staggered enemy will also lengthen their stagger for the duration of Stop. Casting File:Spell from FFVII Remake icon.png Stop will inflict this status.

## Staggering abilities

Certain abilities increase Stagger at a greater rate than others. The following abilities increase Stagger at a higher rate:

## Increasing the stagger bonus

By default, the stagger bonus is 160% when an enemy is successfully staggered. This value can be increased by using certain abilities on the staggered enemy, further increasing their damage taken. This can only be achieved by Tifa's unique skill through the File:Triangle-button.png button, as well her True Strike ability. It can also be achieved by Aerith's Ray of Judgment ability, although this ability costs two ATB bars to use, meaning she cannot raise stagger bonus as efficiently as Tifa can.

Increasing the stagger bonus to 200% is needed for Chadley's Battle Intel report, "The Stagger Effect Pt. 3". Further increasing stagger bonus damage to 300% unlocks the bronze trophy **Staggering Feat**. For both, including Tifa in the party is a requirement, but including Aerith with the Ray of Judgment ability can help.

The best way to achieve this is to have a party with Tifa and Aerith, preferably in the Corneo Colosseum or Shinra Combat Simulator against a powerful enemy. There, they must raise Tifa's chi level to 2, unlocking her Rise and Fall ability, and give Tifa and Aerith two ATB bars, ready for an enemy to be staggered. The File:Magic Materia from FFVII Remake.png Time Materia on a third character is extremely useful for achieving this, as casting File:Spell from FFVII Remake icon.png Haste can increase Tifa and Aerith's ATB bars quickly, while casting Stop can lengthen a stagger. Once an enemy is staggered, Tifa must use Rise and Fall, use True Strike twice, and then use Omnistrike and Whirling Uppercut. Doing so should help give Tifa another ATB bar to use True Strike again. If Aerith also uses Ray of Judgment, and a third enemy uses Stop to lengthen the stagger duration, a 300% bonus can be achieved.