Allows you to use lightning magic.
Description
Lightning materia is a 
Magic Materia in Final Fantasy VII Remake and "Episode INTERmission" equipped to provide the user 
Lightning-elemental spells. The materia has the lightning element, meaning it can be linked with the 
Elemental Materia to add lightning damage to attacks or resist against lightning. It can be paired with Synergy Materia for auto-casting.
Obtained[]
Lightning materia picked up at Mako Reactor 5.
A lightning materia is initially equipped on Barret Wallace. More can be bought from shops, first available in the Sector 7 Slums, costing 500 gil each. A lightning materia is found in Mako Reactor 5 during "Sentenced to Death", in a room where the player uses a keycard to choose which parts of the airbuster to dispose of.
In "Episode INTERmission", lightning materia is sold in the Sector 7 Slums item shop, and in all vending machines. One is also found in the pillar maintenance break room right before fighting Gigantipede 
.
Stats[]
Growth[]
| Level | AP required | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Thunder |
| 2 | 300 | Thundara |
| 3 | 900 | Thundaga |
Abilities[]
| Magic | MP | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Thunder | 5 | Deal a small amount of Lightning damage.
|
| Thundara | 11 | Deal a moderate amount of lightning damage. |
| Thundaga | 22 | Deal a large amount of lightning damage. |
Use[]
Thunder.
Lightning materia grants three tiers of lightning-elemental spells, beginning with the base spell 
Thunder. After receiving AP, it unlocks more powerful spells that require greater MP use; 300 AP unlocks Thundara, and 900 AP unlocks Thundaga. These spells are comparable in damage to spells from Fire Materia, Ice Materia, and Wind Materia. Equipping lightning materia increases the user's max MP by +1.
Lightning damage is effective against most mechanical enemies, such as Shinra robots. In cases when battling large machines, such as sweeper-type enemies, it is useful to equip.
Thundara.
Lightning materia can be useful for spellcasting, particularly on Aerith and Cloud, who have the highest and second-highest 
Magic attribute, respectively. In the base game, lightning spells are the only elemental spells that are guaranteed to hit, striking the target instantly upon completion of the spell and bypassing any obstacles between the caster and target. (In Intergrade, wind spells also always hit, though not instantly like lightning.) Lightning spells have a smaller area of effect than other magic elemental spells, but since they will hit instantly, they are still useful to cast on enemies that clustered together. Aerith can also benefit greatly from Magnify Materia to allow spells to hit multiple targets, allowing her to stay at a safe distance. Lightning spells can knockdown enemies who are susceptible to knockdown, causing them to become pressured.
Lightning materia+elemental on a weapon.
The Elemental Materia can be paired with lightning materia to add its element to equipment. This can be paired on weapons to allow a characters' normal attacks to exploit an enemy's weakness to lightning, or on armor to resist lightning damage. When used on weapons, it is especially effective on Tifa and Cloud, who have high strength attributes, to increase their damage, particularly on enemies such as Sweepers and sweeper-type robots. On armor, it can be used well in combination with the 
Provoke Materia to greatly resist lightning attacks. This is ideal on Barret who can sustain a lot of damage in battle. When paired with elemental materia on a weapon, a visual blue sparkle effect is added onto the weapon model.
The level of the player's best lightning materia is assessed for Chocobo Sam's questline in Wall Market during "The Town That Never Sleeps". When Cloud and Johnny help the chef figure out which of his appliances is working sub-optimally, lightning materia level matters for assessing the power supply.
In INTERmission, Yuffie can already deal ranged magical lightning damage with her Elemental Ninjutsu for no MP cost, and thus does not need to use elemental offensive spells. Lightning materia may be more useful on Sonon Kusakabe, or when paired with magnify or with elemental in armor. It could be especially useful on Sonon in the Gigantipede battle.