The magic materia is green. Usually, it has 3 to 5 levels (stars), and each time the materia gains a level, it's possible to use a new spell, with the first being equivalent to slight tickling, the second being the one you use most, and third one being the one that kills everything dead (or heals everyone alive or something). There are a few exceptions like Ultima. The first star filled at the beginning and the last star being filled means the materia is mastered, thus depending on the stars the materia can usually have 2 to 4 spells - in Ultima's case, only one.
Base magic is computed by multiplying 6 × (your level + your MP). For example, a level 20 character with 30 MP has base magic damage of 300 (6 × (20 + 30)). To find the amount of damage you'll do with a given spell, use the multiplier given with your base magic damage. Using the previous example, if the character cast Comet, he would do 1,500 damage (300 × 5).
Pairing magic with an All materia drops the damage done to 66.66% and using Quadra Magic drops it to 50% damage.
In the various sections Materia are sorted by the AP necessary to master them.
Healing materia
Restore
Revive
Heal
Fullcure
Support materia
Exit
Time
Barrier
Shield
Debuff materia
Seal
Mystify
Transform
Destruct
Attack materia
Lightning
Ice
Fire
Poison
Earth
Gravity
The Demi spells cause a lot of damage (particularly to fliers), but is not too accurate. Also, most bosses are nearly immune to Gravity effects as well. Effective against Emerald Weapon when used with W-Magic or Quadra Magic.
Comet
Contain
Note that pairing Contain with All has no effect.
Ultima
Spells effect list
- Field spells: spells that can also be used outside battle.
- Support spells: battle spells that target the allies.
- Debuff spells: battle spells that target the enemies but deal no damage.
- Attack spells: battle spells that deal damage or instantly kill the enemies.
Materia | Spell(s) | Type | Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Restore | Cure/Cure2/Cure3 | Field/support | Restore HP |
Revive | Life | Field/support | Cures "death" status |
Revive | Life2 | Field/support | Cures "death" status and fully restores HP |
Heal | Poisona | Field/support | Cures "poison" status |
Heal | Esuna | Field/support | Cures status ailments |
Restore | Regen | Support | Causes "regenerate" status, that restores HP gradually |
Heal | Resist | Support | Causes "resist" status, that prevents status ailments |
Fullcure | Fullcure | Support | Restores HP completely |
Exit | Escape | Support | Party escapes from battle |
Time | Haste | Support | Increases speed |
Barrier | Barrier | Support | Increases defense |
Barrier | MBarrier | Support | Increases magic defense |
Barrier | Reflect | Support | Causes "reflect" status, that reflects spells back at caster |
Barrier | Wall | Support | Increases elemental protection |
Shield | Shield | Support | All four effects of "Barrier" materia |
Mystify | Berserk | Support/debuff | Causes "berserk", i.e. target will always attack physically but cannot be given commands |
Transform | Mini | Support/debuff | Cures or inflicts "mini" status, that reduces physical attributes |
Transform | Toad | Support/debuff | Cures or inflicts "toad" status, that reduces all attributes and negates magic |
Time | Slow | Debuff | Decreases speed |
Time | Stop | Debuff | Inflicts "stop" |
Seal | Sleepel | Debuff | Inflicts "sleep", i.e. target cannot act |
Seal | Silence | Debuff | Inflicts "silence", i.e. target cannot use magic |
Mystify | Confu | Debuff | Inflicts "confusion", i.e. target will attack his allies |
Destruct | DeBarrier | Debuff | Removes barriers |
Destruct | DeSpell | Debuff | Removes positive statuses |
Exit | Remove | Attack | Instant-death attack |
Destruct | Death | Attack | Instant-death attack |
Lightning | Bolt/Bolt2/Bolt3 | Attack | Element: lightning |
Ice | Ice/Ice2/Ice3 | Attack | Element: ice |
Fire | Fire/Fire2/Fire3 | Attack | Element: fire |
Poison | Bio/Bio2/Bio3 | Attack | Element: poison; inflicts "poison" status |
Earth | Quake/Quake2/Quake3 | Attack | Element: earth |
Gravity | Demi/Demi2/Demi3 | Attack | Element: gravity |
Comet | Comet/Comet2 | Attack | Non-elemental |
Contain | Freeze | Attack | Element: ice; inflicts "stop" status |
Contain | Break | Attack | Element: earth; instant-death (petrify) |
Contain | Tornado | Attack | Element: wind; inflicts "confusion" status |
Contain | Flare | Attack | Element: fire |
Ultima | Ultima | Attack | Non-elemental |
Master Magic
The Master Magic materia basically gives you all the abilities of all the magic materias. It can be gotten either by defeating Emerald WEAPON and trading in the Earth Harp at Kalm, or by mastering all the magic materias and trading them for the Master Magic materia at Cosmo Canyon (if you managed to save that Huge materia anyway). The Master Magic materia can be linked to an "All" or a "Quadra Magic" materia to give all spells the effect of the support materia.
Materia locations
For players who want to master every materia, it may be useful to know how early any green materia can be obtained:
Disc 1, part 1 (Midgar):
- Lightning (on Cloud)
- Ice (on Cloud)
- Restore (Reactor N.1)
- Fire (on Nanaki)
- [All (on Nanaki)]
- Poison (Shinra H.Q.)
Disc 1, part 2 (land travels):
- Heal (Kalm)
- Earth (Kalm)
- Seal (Junon)
- Transform (Gold Saucer, on Caith Sith)
- Revive (Gongaga)
- Time (Gongaga)
- Mystify (Gongaga)
- Gravity (Cosmo Canyon)
- Destruct (Nibelheim)
- Exit (Rocket Town)
- Barrier (Rocket Town)
Disc 1, part 3 (sea travels):
- Comet (Forgotten Capital)
Disc 2:
- Fullcure (Cosmo Canyon)
- Contain (Mideel)
- Ultima (Corel)
Disc 3:
- Shield (Northern Crater)
- [W-magic (Northern Crater)]
NOTE: The blue All materia and the yellow W-magic materia are included in this list because they only affect green Magic materia.