Fighting Aeris

[=Angelus=]

Ok... i'm not sure about you guys... but the general idea i'm getting here is that Aeris is a weak fighter..

Which is true to a certain extent.. She was never meant to fight in the front line (Unless you want her to.. in which case you could give her 2 lvl 3 Hp Plus materia, and maybe a Champion's Belt along with her best weapon, i tried this and she would typically scrape about the same damage as a standard Cloud, maybe even more) Her stats aren't fantasic.. she seems to die very often.. and her Limits can't kill anything!!

Yes.. you're right that she doesn't seem to have much practical use.. But i suggest a different way of playing Aeris.. Maybe not the best way, but its my way of playing her

Notice shortly after you acquire Aeris.. you'd notice there is a Cover Materia in the Garden. Typically, what people would do is to equip Cloud with the Cover, to absorb more of the damage done in battle... Although this would seem like a logical idea... if you spent some time training/lvling.. you would realise that Aeris would be able to fend for herself quite well..

By now you would probably be familiar with Aeris' Limit Break "Healing Wind" In my opinion, this is one of the best limit breaks to start off with in the game. It pretty much heals all characters for Half their Max Hp, so that means Aeris can aid Cloud in more dangerous battles. Also, the Limit systems works such that her Limit guage increases everytime she gets hit..
But what happens when she gets hit too much? Her Limit would be full, she'd cast Healing Wind.. and all the injuries would be but a distant memory..

So what am i suggesting? Yes, Aeris would probably work best at the back row. But don't forget her while she is there. Once you have brought her up a few levels so she can be self sufficient (maybe have a decent Hp stay in battle), she can act as a shield for the party very well. Equip her with the Cover materia now, so that she can help the party absorb damage, as well as nullifying it with her Limit.

This would work even better with Hyper.. where Aeris would be pumping her Limit bar twice as fast, and since typically you wouldn't be using her for attacking, Fury's effect of making her normal attack less accurate wouldn't matter so much. Here you can use her to Spam spells like Bolt-All or Fire-All, instead of consuming her mana-pool (Although not frequently used, but still limited) for real damage in a fight. With her in the back row, with the cover materia, you are effectively reducing the amount of damage the party would suffer as a whole, allowing front line attackers to stay in the pink of health.

Usually we wouldn't have to worry, as the wait bar would place any limit breaks first with priority, so Aeris would heal the party(including herself) instantly once she takes enough damage. Though of course Aeris wouldn't survive a Beta attack from the Midgar Zolum the first time you see it, She would probably be able to help your party out with her limit, everytime the Zolum Fangs her (on other cases, have her case cure on the character who got hit)

So what have we got? an Aeris Meat-Shield!! at least for Lvl1 of her Limits. Her "Seal Evil" would come in handly a lot of times too, if the battle gets too tough, and you need a moment's peace to gather your wits.
Her Lvl 2 limits are a bit tough to use though, for i think the first ability "Breath of the Earth" is rather useless, since you would want to keep the Fury effect on her... However, her 2nd Lvl2 limit is kick ass... "Fury brand" would probably be her most offensive Limit, which allows her party members to re-use another of ther Limits for free.. This helps with the initial criteria for characters, who would have to cast the 1st limit of each level (was it 9?) a set number of times before attaining their next limit of that level.

Aeris would probably not make the best fighter, but in terms of a Balanced Party, she would make a great addition.

Other things you could do to improve a MeatShield Aeris:
Level up Cover Materia and give her Hp Plus Materia. (So she can take more blows)
Give her Counter-Attack Materia (Might as well let her attack back if she's gonna get hurt)
Give her Restore-all Materia (Sometimes relying on her Limit for healing isn't enough. This should help cover things)
Give her (Dmg-spell)-All Materia (she takes down a chunk of hp from every opponent, making the kill easier for your other characters, or for her to finish all the opponents ASAP)
Increase her Def. (Get some strong Armour for her.. maybe the Adamantine Bangle attained by Stealing from the creeps around Wutai)
Steal? (this of course, is a matter of preference.. Although we HAVE to devote some characters to the front line, sometimes sparing a character to do the "non-combat" objectives can be very rewarding ^_^

Citizens of the EoFF Forums, do spare some time to tell me what you think if you have any comments, or suggestions.. improvements or what so ever... do let me know

Ever your Favourite Pillow-Fighting Angel...
=Angelus=

[d£v!l'$ ph0£n!x]

I agree with the fact that fury brand is such an awesome limit break. it allows u to get 2 lv 4 limits for the price of 1 lv2 limit. I think it is even better than great gospel her 4th lv limit.

not sure i agree about aeris being a shield tho, when all it teks is a quick cure at the parts of the game where aeris lives. i jus leave her on the back row as a magic caster, with offensive as well as defensive magic. I tend to pile all the offensive magic i can on aeris, so she can do decent damage with minimal damage taken on. i also then put cover on the char with the most HP to make up for her HP loss.

[boys from the dwarf]

aeris is my least favourite FF character but in battles she unlike others in FF7 is a white mage. because of her limits and her weapons arent that powerful. everyone in the game but aeris is a fighter. seems as materia can mimic the effects of a white mage though i find aeris useless but a lot of white magic isnt as powerful as aerises. and seems as she dies its not worth getting all of the cool limits. although some will have a good and easy time winning with aeris itll be realy annoying having your best healer knocked out of battle for good.aeris was not supposed to be a fighter and her magic stats are higher than everyones and her health and attacks stats are lower which is what WMs are supposed ot be like. the reason aeris is my least favourite character is her personality is very annoying and also in battle it takes loads of leveling up to make her good.

[Vyk]

I love Aeris, but I don't baby her. I don't think I've ever used the back row in FF7. She's right up there with everyone else. And everyone else is just as likely to die as her. I don't honestly see her as any weaker except maybe in attacking. But that never really caught me as annoying so it must not have been too different. I think the Aeris haters like to exagerate. A lot.

[Starboard Regulator FlareNUKE]

I try to avoid using back rows... they limit your attack, and yes, regardless how weak, I always use attacks on regular battles for the sake of conserving MP and how boring they are... and want them to be as useful as possible. I wouldn't bother with that strategy, she leaves your party after the Temple of Ancients (No, not at the Forgotten City, she may appear, but at no point in that area does she join you, so she "dies" after you leave the Temple of Ancients, which is a fault in many guides saying that Aeris will not come back, when they should say it there.

[Shoden]

She makes a difficult optional boss though.

[Reine]

She makes a difficult optional boss though.

...

[boys from the dwarf]

its because the titles called."fighting aeris" i first thought it was gonna be about some idiot whos made up a rumour about a way to fight aeris in a boss battle or something.

[=Angelus=]

Ack.. sorry... A Fighting (something) would be a term used in Dota, for a spellcaster who would be using attacks more efficiently than usual, For Example a Fighting Slayer, is a spellcaster with a stun spell, and manipulating that, we increase her attack damage, instead of pumping her other nuking spells to deal damage (which costs mana)

I agree with Vyk, Aeris should be used in the front row, but only after you can be assured she won't die on you.. only then can you see her limit bar filling like crazy, and where the Cover + counter-attack materia would seem more profitable.

Furthermore, at lvl 3, when you get the Limit which effect like a Mega-Elixer.. your entire party can be spamming spells for free!! as her limit would fill your Mp as well as Hp when you use it.. Great Gospel would be a great spell to buy some rounds in a tough battle to re-cast all your spell-ups (Barrier, Mp-Barrier, Haste, Regen, etc..) without worrying about your Hp going down in those few turns you're invulnerable.

Although there is nothing i can do about her character, or the fact that she's a magnet for sephiroth's sword.. all i'm trying to say is, do give Aeris another try.. she was made part of the game anyway, and its just another way of playing the game

[Mirage]

Remember that magical accuracy is also lowered when in the fury state (not that that stops me from having my entire party in fury :p). However, a character at the back row would take half damage when covering someone on the front row, that's a trick I've been using quite much.

[Azure]

its because the titles called."fighting aeris" i first thought it was gonna be about some idiot whos made up a rumour about a way to fight aeris in a boss battle or something.

Amen. Was rather dissapointed.

[Dreddz]

Keep her in back row and do magic, shes the best in doing that, but I dont have her in my group for obvious reasons, if her fate wasnt go grim I'd keep her in my group ....

[=Angelus=]

Remember that magical accuracy is also lowered when in the fury state (not that that stops me from having my entire party in fury ). However, a character at the back row would take half damage when covering someone on the front row, that's a trick I've been using quite much.

but with lets say, Bolt+All, the chances of you not hitting anything is practically negligible (unless theres only 1 opponent on the field, which usually you'd be able to take out anyway)

I still strongly suggest using Cover on her

[Vyk]

She doesn't need babied. And I don't care about her grim fate. It doesn't hinder your party's growth all that much to spend some time with her. But that's just me being a sentimental plot-whore. Instead of a min/max stat-whore XD I play the game the same way I would if I didn't know. Because until that point she is part of the team and I treat her as such ^_^ Cloud/Tifa/Aeris will always be my favorite team

[Lost Number]

Hear hear. Aeris is just as valid a character as any other. Her end shocked me the first time through and almost destroyed my party. But I still use her because she is going to die.