What do you love about the iconic Final Fantasy VII? Or, indeed, what do you hate about it? The seminal JRPG (remake incoming!) tends to bring out very strong feelings, one way or the other. For many, it’s overrated, but for fans, everyone has their own personal highlights. The story. The memorable characters. The settings. Or, perhaps, it’s the character customization afforded by the Materia system.

The game is rife with different kinds of Materia, offering everything from simple magic spells to new battle commands that completely change your approach. New players often ask which are the ‘best’ Materia to use, which is a tough one to answer. To try and help out a little, here are our picks for some of the all-round strongest in the game.

10 Ultima

As anyone who’s ever dabbled in the Final Fantasy franchise will know, Ultima is a recurring spell, sometimes referred to as the ultimate black magic. It’s simple enough to understand: a formidable, non-elemental attack that ravages all enemies.

The issue with being a multi-target spell, though, is that it tends to suffer in terms of damage per target. In Final Fantasy X, for instance, Holy is sometimes seen as stronger (though that’s a different debate). It’s usually very costly in terms of MP, too, and is at its best when combined with other Materia in this game. Nevertheless, Ultima is Ultima, and it warrants a shout-out in the first spot of the list.

9 All/Mega All

Now, it’s important to note that the most powerful Materia isn’t always simply the most damaging. There’s a lot more to it than that. All, for instance, is Support Materia, which means that it deals no damage at all by itself (it doesn’t have any darn effect at all by itself, come to that). The power of All –and Mega-All, of course, by extension— lies in what it allows the player to do.

It’s darn useful when combined with all sorts of magic, allowing you to support all of your team or destroy/hinder all foes with one spell. Not to mention the well-publicised fact that a mastered All Materia sells for a cool 1.4 million gil!

8 Restore

As long-time fans frequently complain, the Final Fantasy franchise hasn’t been about the classic turn-based battles for quite some time now. While some players sorely miss this system, It took an element of skill out of the battles. In some RPGs, great players can deftly avoid almost all damage. In turn-based combat, though, you’re inevitably going to be hit. Lots.

As a result, a solid source of healing is absolutely vital to your survival. Very early in the game, the player is given access to the Restore Materia, which will be your best friend throughout your adventure. As the Cure spell levels up, it heals a lot more, and this Materia also gives you Regen. It’s hugely powerful in that sense, but, of course, deals no actually damage of its own. We’ll keep it in the third spot of our list as a result.

7 W-Item

On the surface, W-Item looks like a completely harmless piece of Materia, doesn’t it? Allowing you to use two items in one turn is nice, sure, but it hardly sounds essential. With the effectiveness of healing magic and the ability to easily manage status with Enemy Skill Materia (which we’ll get into later), some players very rarely use items in battle at all.

Here’s the thing about W-Item, though: it’s much stronger than it appears. Owing to an infamous glitch, the player can spawn infinite items by manipulating the process of W-Item (select and item, go to confirm it, cancel and select the second item over and over, to spawn another ‘copy’ of it each time). Naturally, if you do this with a rare and valuable healing item, you give your party a gigantic advantage. As this isn’t the Materia’s intended effect, though, we can’t rate it any higher.

6 HP Plus And MP Plus

Here are two other fantastic pieces of Materia that don’t deal with damage, but are incredibly powerful nonetheless. HP Plus and MP Plus Materia becomes available when the party reaches Cosmo Canyon (check the store there), and while it’s pricey for that point in the game, it can have an amazing impact on your characters.

Their effect is simple: they increase a character’s HP or MP by 10% (increasing up to 50% as the Materia is leveled). That’s only for a single Materia, too, meaning that stacking them can see your characters reaching the maximum level long, long before they were ‘supposed’ to. In any Final Fantasy game, this is a huge advantage. However, we’ve placed these two Materia in the middle of the rundown because they don’t directly affect your power themselves.

5 Final Attack

The Final Attack Materia is acquired at the Battle Square of the Gold Saucer, by achieving victory in the Secret Duel. As you already need Omnislash, W-Summon and other such difficult-to-get items to do this, it’s one of the most time-consuming and potentially frustrating pieces of Materia to unlock.

What do you get for your efforts? Something very special, that’s what. Materia linked with Final Attack will activate when that character is defeated, meaning that you can go right ahead and summon Phoenix when you’re KOed. Auto-life? Yes, please! You can also go out with a real bang by attaching Knights of the Round (which we’ll also take a look at later) to it. The Phoenix trick, in particular, is one of the only ways many players have survived the battle with Emerald Weapon and other challenging opponents.

4 Enemy Skill

The Enemy Skill Materia is the game’s way of mimicking the abilities of a Blue Mage. If the holder is hit by particular enemy techniques, they’ll learn them and be able to cast them themselves.

As is usually the case with these sorts of abilities, lots of these moves are very niche. However, a select few are very, very good. Big Guard will grant Barrier, Magic Barrier and Haste to your whole team at once, while White Wind will restore their HP (for an amount equal to the user’s current HP) and remove negative status effects. For just these two spells alone, Enemy Skill is fantastic, though a lot of what it can do is quite redundant.

3 Double Cut

Oftentimes in Final Fantasy games, straightforward strength boosts and physical attacks can be a very effective route to take. This is totally impractical with characters that are designed to be mages, owing to their stats, but the great damage you can deal (without paying MP or another resource) is super nice.

The Double Cut Materia is one reason why simple physical attacks are so strong in Final Fantasy VII. As the name suggests, it allows the character to strike twice with each use of the Attack command. Even better, when you level it up, it becomes 4x Cut! This Materia is found on the Sunken Gelnika and is an absolute must if you’re a player that favors physical attacks. Only a couple of Materia top this one.

2 Knights Of The Round

That’s right. Every Final Fantasy VII fan knew that this little doozy was going to be ranked highly here. It’s Knights of the Round, one of the most devastating summon spells the series has ever seen.

The hidden cave this Materia is found in can only be accessed by a Gold Chocobo, meaning that it’s no picnic to unlock. It’s absolutely worth it, though, to watch a series of powerful warriors decimate your foes. An invaluable weapon against the game’s optional superbosses.

1 Mime

What the only Materia more powerful than Knight of the Round? A Materia that lets the player happily spam it again and again for no cost, that’s what.

As the name implies, the Mime command will let that character repeat any action the last ally performed, including their own. They don’t expend MP or anything in the process, either. Even Limit Breaks can be Mimed (though only by the character whose Limit Break it actually is). This effect is so strong that it’s only really practical against the superbosses.

NEXT: The 10 Most Powerful Weapons In Final Fantasy 7, Ranked