An armband that allows the wearer to harness uncanny strength. Efficacy enhanced when worn with the accessories Gozu drive or Mezu drive.
Description
Chthonian Armlet is a piece of armor in "Episode INTERmission" in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. It has one set of linked materia slots and two single slots, and provides +42 to 
Defense and 
Magic Defense. It is a good armor piece with balanced defense, and its efficacy is enhanced when the equipper also wears Gozu drive (increases damage dealt proportional to wearer's current HP) or Mezu drive (increases damage dealt inversely proportional to character's current MP). When coupled with the drives, it can be one of the best armor pieces in the episode, and is suitable for the superboss encounters. When active with a drive, the armlet glows red (Gozu) or blue (Mezu) in the menu.
Obtained[]
Chthonian Armlet is obtained by defeating Corneo Lackeys in as part of the main quest in "The Handoff" in Chapter 1, "Wutai's Finest".
Use[]
When used with Gozu drive or Mezu drive, the equipper gains a flat damage bonus to abilities that expend ATB depending on how much HP or MP they currently have. With Gozu drive, the equipper will deal 10% of their current HP as bonus damage. With Mezu drive, the wearer deals more damage the lower their MP is. The equipper will never do less damage than they would if they did not have the chthonian armlet+drive equipped; the added damage is simply a bonus. This makes it one of the more potent equipment setups in the game.
Chthonian armlet is good on Yuffie in her hardest battles, i.e. "Top Secrets" gauntlet and the final boss. With the Gozu drive, it helps to have 
Regen, and for her to be topped up whenever her health falls below 75%, easily done with the low level 
Cure that does not take much charge time or MP to cast—Sonon can take a healer role so Yuffie can keep pummeling away. The damage boost is especially great with the ranged Windstorm, as it can be pulled off so fast and only costs 1 ATB segment; the player can quickly build it back up with 
Haste.
Behind the scenes[]
In the original Final Fantasy VII, party members' ultimate weapons have unique damage formulas, and some of them depend on the wielder's current HP or MP. The chthonian armlet coupled with the drives may have been inspired by this mechanic, though they grant a damage bonus on top of the wielder's normal damage, rather than modifying the damage formula.
Etymology[]
The word chthonic or chthonian means "subterranean", and is used to describe deities of the underworld, or monstrous beings of primordial chaos, especially in the Ancient Greek religion. It is derived from the Ancient Greek word χθών (khthṓn) which means "ground", "soil", or "earth".
This complements the names of Gozu and Mezu drives. Ox-Head and Horse-Face are two guardians of the underworld in Chinese Buddhist mythology, called Gozu and Mezu in Japanese folklore. Both have the muscular bodies of men but heads of animals, giving them a monstrous appearance akin to oni. They are considered the close assistants of Yama, the Judge of the Dead, and whose duties range from being the first entities a dead soul would encounter upon entering the underworld to returning lost souls and hunting those who dare escape the judgment of the underworld.