Equips "Ice" magic
Description
Ice is a Magic Materia in Final Fantasy VII equipped to provide the user Ice-elemental spells. This also allows it to be linked with the Elemental Materia to add Ice damage to attacks or resist from Ice.
Obtained[]
The Ice Materia can be purchased for 600 gil from Sector 7 Slums, Sector 5 Slum, Wall Market, Fort Condor, Mideel, Costa del Sol, and Junon during part 1.
Cloud has the Ice Materia initially equipped.
Stats[]
Growth[]
| Level | AP required | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Ice |
| 2 | 2000 | Ice2 |
| 3 | 18000 | Ice3 |
| 4 | 35000 | MASTER |
Abilities[]
| Magic | MP | Formula | Power | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice | 4 | Magic | 8 | Low ice-elemental damage. |
| Ice2 | 22 | Magic | 20 | Moderate ice-elemental damage. |
| Ice3 | 52 | Magic | 64 | High ice-elemental damage. |
Use[]
The Ice Materia grants three tiers of Ice-elemental spells, beginning with the basic Ice spell. Upon receiving 2000 AP, the Materia upgrades to level 2, unlocking the spell Ice2. Upon further upgrading with 18000 AP, the Materia grants the spell Ice3. These spells are increasingly powerful for greater MP costs, and are roughly equal in power with the spells from the Fire and Lightning Materia, the only difference being the element.
Characters who equip Ice receive moderate stat changes, including +2% to MP and +1 Magic, but also -2% HP and -1 Strength. These stat changes are small enough to not be too detrimental to physical attackers. However, the Shiva Materia, which has similar effects, has the same stat changes, with no Strength penalty.
If the Ice Materia is being given primarily for spellcasting, it is best given to characters that already have a high Magic stat and are less reliant on physical attacks, including Aeris, Red XIII, Yuffie, Cait Sith, and Vincent. Cloud can be easily built towards magical or physical damage. If used for spellcasting the Materia can be paired with Support Materia that improve its ability, notably All, which allows it to hit all enemies, MP Turbo or Quadra Magic that can increase its damage output, or either HP Absorb or MP Absorb that boost the endurance of the casting character. If the character has multiple Ice Materia, the player can link them for Support Materia to get multiple effects at once.
Another major use is pairing Ice with the Elemental Materia on armor to resist Ice-elemental damage, or on weapons to amplify physical attacks with Ice-elemental damage. This can be useful in situations where the enemies encountered either deal mostly Ice-based damage, or are weak to Ice-based damage respectively. If it is used in this way, however, the same Materia cannot be paired with Support Materia that boosts its spellcasting ability. If used in this way, it is best to give the Materia to characters that mostly deal high physical damage, such as Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and Cid. However, the Shiva Materia can also be used in this way, with the same stat changes minus no penalties to the Strength stat.
Ice spells are useful against enemies weak to Ice-elemental damage. At higher levels, Ice spells remain useful though they are outclassed by Freeze from the Contain Materia, which not only deals major Ice damage, but also has a chance of inflicting Stop. This means that later in the game, it is best used with the Elemental Materia, as it becomes outclassed for spellcasting. Though Shiva's damage is greater early on, hits all enemies, and cannot be reflected, she is also very expensive to cast, and later Ice spells outclass Shiva's damage.