Manaward is a magic spell in Final Fantasy VII Remake and "Episode INTERmission". It is the second-level spell provided by 
Barrier Materia, and applies the 
Manaward buff. This halves all incoming magical damage, and is multiplicative with any other defenses to physical damage. Manaward is a counterpart of 
Barrier, which reduces physical damage by half, and is superseded by Manawall, which reduces both forms of damage by half.
Mechanics[]
| Magic Materia |
Barrier Materia
|
|---|---|
| Effects | Applies Manaward to target
|
| Interrupt stats | Interrupted by attacks with ≥40 interrupt strength |
Compatible  Support Materia |
Magnify Materia
|
Use[]
Manaward costs 14 MP to cast, and can be used by characters with barrier materia at level 2. The spell applies the Manaward buff, which lasts for one minute (the duration can be lengthened with Enchanted Ring), and reduces magic damage by half. This makes it very effective against enemies and bosses who have very powerful magic damage attacks. The effect is multiplicative with other defenses against magical damage; for instance, a character who is blocking will take 40% less damage, and the remaining damage taken will be further halved by Barrier.
Barret can make great use of Manaward due to its multiplicative damage reduction. Using Steelskin reduces damage he takes by 30%, and this stacks with Manaward to reduce magic damage even further. This can also be useful in conjunction with Barret's Lifesaver, as although Barret will not reduce the damage that Lifesaver projects from other characters onto him, casting Manaward on another character will reduce the damage they receive, which in turn reduces the damage projected onto Barret while Lifesaver is active.
Manaward can be a good pair with Magnify Materia. Using it will reduce the duration of Manaward when cast on all allies, but not its effect. Casting Manaward on all allies at once can be extremely useful against powerful magic attacks that could otherwise wipe the party. Manaward can be replicated by Manawall once it is obtained, which applies both the manaward and 
Barrier buffs at once; at this point, Manaward is still useful if only magic damage is a threat in order to save MP, but when both types of damage are a threat, Manawall is a better choice.