Deal a small amount of ice damage.
Description
Blizzard is a magic spell in Final Fantasy VII Remake and "Episode INTERmission". It is granted by the 
Ice Materia, and is the basic 
Ice-elemental spell below 
Blizzara and Blizzaga. Blizzard deals small ice-elemental damage, but has the lowest MP cost of the three ice spells, and has no charge time.
Blizzard is also a materia in the Fort Condor minigame in INTERmission on the following boards: Sorcerer Board I, Sorcerer Board II, and Assassin Board II. The spell damages a chosen target with a short delay.
Mechanics[]
| Magic Materia |
Ice Materia
|
|---|---|
| Effects | Small Ice damage 1.6 meter area-of-effect No charge time |
| Interrupt stats | Interrupts targets with <50 interrupt defense Interrupted by attacks with ≥40 interrupt strength |
Compatible  Support Materia |
Magnify Materia Synergy Materia HP Absorption Materia MP Absorption Materia
|
| Unconditional weapon passive bonuses | Ice Damage Up Elemental Damage Up MP Saver: Attack Spells |
| Special Interrupt(s) | Knockdown (initial impact; knocks down interrupted enemies) Launch (second hit; launches interrupted targets) |
Damage formula:
Stagger formula:
Where 16 is used rather than 4 while the target is Pressured, and "Target Ice Modifier & Target's Magic Modifier" are the respective stagger rate modifiers of the target.
Use[]
Chill out!
Tifa Lockhart
Blizzard costs 4 MP to cast with a level 1 ice materia equipped. The spell can be used against low-level enemies, dealing considerable damage, and in many case killing them. It is also highly effective for pressuring and staggering enemies. It is particularly strong against enemies weak to ice.
Among its peers— Fire, Thunder, and Aero—Blizzard is different that after hitting its target, it creates a stationary icicle before dealing damage to any enemies caught in the radius. Though this can be used effectively to catch enemies that run into it after it hits the first enemy, the main drawback is that the initial enemy that is hit can run away from and evade the spell. Therefore, it is crucial to cast it on stationary enemies, such as those pressured or staggered or stopped or sleeping, or to take advantage of a window of opportunity when they can be knocked down. If Blizzard's initial hit would knockdown the target, it increases the reliability greatly and will cause considerably more stagger than the other elements.
The ice spells' main strength is in their high stagger rate. Blizzard deals 3x the stagger of Thunder, and 1.5x more than both Fire and Aero. Since the initial impact can knockdown targets, it can pressure them before the icicle shatters, which will multiply the stagger it deals by 4x, while leaving the target unable to escape.
Blizzard is outclassed by Blizzara, but can still have uses due to its short cast time and low MP cost. Blizzard can be cast much faster than Blizzara and Blizzaga, meaning it is easy to aim the spell in a window of opportunity. There are many cases where players may choose to use Blizzard over Blizzara, though when Blizzaga is acquired and characters have greater MP, Blizzard is more often than not redundant.
The Blizzard spell can be amplified by pairing the ice materia with Support Materia. HP Absorption Materia and MP Absorption Materia can be potent pairs to increase a character's sustainability, while Magnify Materia can be a good pair to allow multiple Blizzards to be cast on all enemies. These materia are often best used with more powerful spells, however. Blizzard can also be used effectively with Aerith's Arcane Ward, casting it twice in succession.
In "Episode INTERmission", Yuffie can deal elemental magical damage without any MP cost with her Elemental Ninjutsu, and the effect also combines with her Banishment, and so using spells is less relevant to her. Blizzard may be more useful on Sonon or when paired with magnify or elemental in armor.
