Take damage intended for other party members.
Description
Lifesaver is an ability for Barret in Final Fantasy VII Remake, provided by the 
Light Machine Gun. It provides Barret with a unique buff that redirects most damage taken by his allies to him. Lifesaver works similarly to the Cover Materia from the original Final Fantasy VII, but affects all allies automatically and doesn't require Barret to physically move to block attacks.
Mechanics[]
| Weapon Ability | Light Machine Gun
|
|---|---|
| Effects | - Grants Lifesaver to Barret for 120 seconds - Lifesaver causes Barret to receive proportional damage equal to 70% of the damage his allies recieve - Lifesaver causes Barret to heal allies by a fixed amount 1 second after they take damage - Allies are healed by an amount equal to the proportional damage that Barret received from that ally |
| Interrupt stats | Interrupted by attacks with ≥40 interrupt strength |
Lifesaver is a support ability for Barret that provides him with a unique buff. With Lifesaver active, 70% of the damage taken by Barret's allies is projected onto him. After this, Barret heals the character for the amount of damage Barret took himself. A glowing red icon appears above Barret's health bar to signal that Lifesaver is active. Barret will have an interrupt defense of 40 while casting Lifesaver.
The damage Barret receives through Lifesaver is not mitigated by any damage reduction effects he has on himself (for instance, Steelskin damage reduction does not apply to damage projected from other characters onto Barret via Lifesaver), and increased healing effects from Healing Carcanet do not affect the healing Barret applies back onto the character.
Use[]
Lifesaver is one of Barret's abilities that, alongside Steelskin, serves his role as a "tank" type of character, allowing him to draw damage away from the rest of the party. When used, Barret will receive 70% of the damage that any of his allies take, regardless of his distance from other party members, meaning Barret can stay at a safe distance while Lifesaver is active. After 1 second, he will heal any of his party members who were hit for the same amount of damage that he took, meaning that they will only sustain 30% of the damage dealt to them after being healed, while Barret himself will take the other 70%.
Redirected fatal damage will not bring Barret's HP below 1. While damage reduction or increased healing effects do not directly improve Lifesaver, it is nonetheless useful to mitigate the damage Barret receives himself because he is also taking damage for other party members and requires more healing in the long run.
Ideally, Lifesaver is useful during battles where the party is expected to take heavy damage, particularly if the damage is single-target and would otherwise cripple one character. An efficient strategy is to use Lifesaver, Steelskin, and 
Barrier and/or Manaward to make Barret resilient, capable of taking more damage for his team while mitigating the damage he receives himself. Equipping Barret with 
Complete Materia, such as HP Up Materia, Steadfast Block Materia, and Provoke Materia, further improves his durability, allowing him to tank considerable damage and keep the rest of the party safe.
Barret will need lots of healing to restore the damage he takes himself; casting Regen on him may be a good idea. Casting this on the entire party with 
Magnify Materia can also help reduce the need to heal the rest of the party while Barret tanks the majority damage. 
Chakra Materia is also an excellent choice on Barret to help heal him in a flash. A maxed Elemental Materia slotted into his armor paired to an element that a particular enemy uses can also be helpful. If he is built more towards magic use, he can make good use of Prayer Materia, HP Absorption Materia paired to Enemy Skill Materia or to a 
Magic Materia that target's the enemy's elemental weakness, or a Healing Materia to keep his HP high.
As with all of Barret's abilities, the player can tap 
to cancel into his recharge animation at the end of the ability to reduce the cooldown of Overcharge/Overrun by 7 seconds. This can save some time on his recharge animation, as a part of the animation will be split with his ability recovery time, allowing him to use his Overcharge or Overrun more frequently.