With seven weapons per character (totalling 49 across all characters), it can be tricky to know when to switch weapons. While you may be tempted to switch to a new weapon the moment you find it, you’ll want to make sure you’ve unlocked your previous weapon’s ability before swapping.
Read More: FF7 Rebirth’s Character Folios, Explained
Each weapon comes with a Weapon Ability which you can spend ATB charges to use during combat. Activate this ability enough times in combat and it will be permanently available regardless of what weapon you have equipped. You can check the progress of each of these abilities by navigating to Equipment & Materia in the main menu and observing the meters under each character’s name. If there’s a checkmark, that character has learned the Weapon Ability of the armament they have equipped. That’s a good sign it’s time to switch weapons when you find a new one.
Upgrading weapons in Rebirth isn’t too dissimilar to equipping materia. While there is a dedicated Upgrade Weapons page of the main menu, unless you’re using the auto-upgrade feature in this menu, you can otherwise just manually equip a weapon’s upgrades in the Equipment & Materia menu.
Read More: FF7 Rebirth Materia Basics and Recommended Loadouts
If equipping another selection of buffs via weapon upgrades feels overwhelming, it’s fine to start with the auto-upgrade feature, which you can activate in the Upgrade Weapons page.
The fight against Shinra and Sephiroth won’t be easy, but these staves, guns, megaphones, swords, collars, gloves, and shurikens will make all the difference as you travel the Planet.
