Table of Contents
It's time to revisit Cloud's weapons for December 2023. We'll sort his weapons according to their usefulness in clearing content, efficiency in certain builds, and potential use as a sub-weapon.
Update Log:
New Additions:
- Bandaged Sword
- Zidane's Sword
- Holiday Cheer
| Tier | Weapons |
|---|---|
| S Tier | • Murasame • Maritime Sword • Zidane's Sword |
| A Tier | • Apocalypse • Enhance Sword • Mythril Saber • Crystal Sword • Hardedge • Shiva's Blade • Buster Sword • Bandaged Sword |
| B Tier | • Butterfly Edge • Iron Blade • Organics • Holiday Cheer |
S Tier
Zidane's Sword
Its C-ability is a non-elemental physical attack with a 1300% damage modifier when fully overboosted. It is the first weapon in the game to break the 1000% damage modifier mark. Even at level 90, its modifier is still significantly high at 650%. It has a 10% critical hit rate, which is very good.
Murasame
A lightning-based physical weapon that boasts the 2nd highest physical attack in the game. It is also Cloud's highest physical attack weapon. The magic attack and heal stats are his lowest, though it doesn't really matter since we want Cloud to be our physical attacker. Its skill is a single-target lightning-based attack that requires 4 ATB slots. The animation time for the skill is really fast, making him able to land at least three of them during stagger time if he has a full ATB gauge.
Both of its R. Abilities boost damage. The first one gives 40 points in physical attack, and the second one gives 36 points in lightning potency at OB10. At level 90, it boosts patk by 24 points and lightning pot by 9 points which are still good boosts.
Its featured banner has already come and gone, but you can still obtain it by adding it to your wishlist in another banner.
Many enemies in the game are weak to lightning, making the Murasame a must-have for easily clearing content.
Its first two support materia slots give a physical attack boost of 20%, perfect for physical element materia, so he can cover 2 more elements other than lightning. The last support materia slot boosts triangle sigil damage by 2. It is super useful against bosses that have a big attack shift count. You can unlock sigil boost 1 at level 70, which isn't that hard to do.
Maritime Sword
Similar to Murasame, it's a single-target physical elemental weapon for Cloud. This one is water-based, though. The animation time for its skill is super long, and he can only land at least two before the stagger time runs out. Similar to the Murasame, its first two materia slots offer a 20% physical attack boost. The last one offers a circle sigil damage boost of 2.
It is especially useful against the Yellow watermelon Tonberry, which is weak to physical water attacks. However, not many early-game bosses are weak to water. You might need it for the Ramuh fight when you unlock the mission.
For stats, it ranks third in the raw physical attack department, with the Butterfly Sword at 2nd. It has a slightly higher magic attack than Murasame, placing it in the middle of the pack among his weapons. It could be a good equip if you plan to make him use a bit of water magic attacks.
Its R abilities boost physical attack and water potency by 40 and 36 points, respectively at ob10. 24 and 9 at level 90.
Overall, a nice weapon but not as good as the Murasame. It is especially useful against Adult Sephiroth when he is lightning infused.
A Tier
Bandaged Sword
It provides an area-of-effect (AOE) magic defense boost similar to Matt's Core Defender and Red's Sleek Collar. To a lesser extent, it's comparable to Glenn's Hard Core Squad.
Apocalypse
The non-elemental version of the previous 2 weapons. Its skill has a 940% modifier, 190% more than Murasame and Maritime Sword at max overboost. At level 90 with no overboosts, it's only 500%, only 20% more than the previous two weapons.
It doesn't have a very high physical attack, falling six places below Murasame. The mag attack is at the lower end of the spectrum also. It does provide a significant heal stat, ranking only 2nd to his Crystal Sword.
Its R abilities both improve damage. The first one gives 40 points to attack. Attack means both physical and magical damage benefit. The second one gives 36 points in wind potency at overboost 10.
This is a good weapon to bring against wind-weak enemies. Just don't forget to equip Cloud with a good Aero Blow materia since Apocalypse's skill isn't wind-based.
Although it isn't very specialized, it is pretty flexible in terms of building around it. Cloud can heal, do physical and magical attacks effectively with this equipped.
All of its support materia slots give physical ability damage a 20% boost.
Not many bosses are weak to wind, so it's not as useful, but it could change in the future when we get more bosses. It's not a must-have, but it's good to have so Cloud can cover the wind element.
Enhance Sword
If you want to turn Cloud into a magic attacker, this is the weapon for him. It is his highest magic weapon, and it has an ice element. It is certainly better than Shiva's Blade, which you can farm. Its skill is an AOE ice magic attack. Since it has an AOE skill, it can be put to use in clearing ads fast.
It has the 2nd lowest physical stat and the 3rd lowest heal stat. It isn't very good at anything else other than magic damage dealing.
Both of its R abilities boost damage. It gives 40 points in attack and 36 in ice potency at max overboost.
Its 1st support materia slot gives a 10% ability damage boost, while the last 2 slots give a 20% magic ability damage boost.
Not many bosses are weak to ice in the early game, but it is still quite useful if you want Cloud to build as a magic damage dealer. Furthermore, it adds another element that Cloud can cover.
Mythril Saber
another good weapon for a magic damage dealer Cloud. It has the second-most magic stat among his weapons, second only to his Enhance Sword. This one does single-target non-elemental damage.
It gives 40 points in magic attack and 36 points in ability damage at max overboost.
Similar to the Enhance Sword, its 1st support materia slot gives a 10% ability damage boost, while the last 2 slots give a 20% magic ability damage boost.
Crystal Sword
Now, for some reason, you want Cloud to be your main healer, Crystal Sword is your go-to weapon. It has the highest heal stat among all of Cloud's weapons.
It has an AOE heal skill like Aerith's Fairy Tale, though not as potent. At max overboost, it gives 27 points in heal and 36 points of earth resist at overboost 10.
Like the Mythril Saber and the Enhance Sword before it, it gives a 10% ability damage bonus and magical ability bonus of 20%.
Hardedge
Hardedge isn't very strong. It's in the middle of the pack in terms of stats, but it does have a single-target skill that lowers physical defense. It will always be useful on Cloud unless the enemy is immune to physical defense break or you are using another unit to break defense like Zack or Tifa.
It gives 27 points in attack and 36 points in wind resist at max overboost. It could be useful as a main weapon against enemies who spam wind attacks.
It gives a 10% ability damage boost and a 20% physical ability damage boost.
Shiva's Blade
Shiva's Blade is a farmable weapon for Cloud. It is very efficient in dealing ice damage in relation to its ATB cost. If you can manage to overboost it to 10, it will become a really good sub-weapon for raw stats.
Buster Sword
The Buster Sword is a good weapon for Cloud in the early game when you have nothing better to equip him with. However, its usefulness declines as you obtain better weapons that focus on physical or magical damage. It can still be useful as a sub-weapon if you want to increase Cloud's HP. The game gives us enough materials for a free overboost.
B Tier
Holiday Cheer
For its R-ability, it increases magic attack by 27 points and physical defense by 24 points. It is the first free event weapon to have a magic attack boost, which is quite useful for mage builds. I'm assuming there will be another free event weapon with a magic attack boost in the near future since they always come in pairs.
Butterfly Edge
The Butterfly Edge is a weapon that self-buffs PDEF and heals a bit of HP. It's not particularly useful on Cloud due to his defensive-first abilities. It has a niche use if you need Cloud to be more durable, but upgrading this weapon may not be justified. One thing to note is that it provides a 30% ice damage boost if you place a Blizzara materia in its third slot.
Iron Blade
The Iron Blade is a weapon that has an AOE physical debuff and offers a PDEF boost as its first ability. It's not particularly useful for clearing content as there are better debuffers like Tifa.
Organics
Organics is a weapon that has a single-target stun ability. It doesn't have any offensive abilities, so unless you want Cloud to focus on crowd control, this isn't the ideal weapon for him.
That's it for Cloud's weapon tier list, October 2023 edition. Check back next month to stay updated on Cloud's strongest weapons.
