Shell is a magic spell in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. It is the second spell provided by Fortification Materia. It grants the
Shell effect, which boosts the
Magic Defense of the target, thus increasing their resistance to magic damage.
Though Manaward also exists, it has a different function, wherein Manaward halves incoming magic damage as opposed to boosting attributes. The two effects are multiplicative of each other.
The spell is opposed to Deshell, which inflicts the Deshell effect that reduces magic defense attributes. As such, casting it on a target with deshell will remove deshell rather than apply shell. The spell also has a physical damage equivalent, Protect.
Shell is also used by Moss-Grown Adamantoise and Two Face.
Use[]
Shell costs 9 MP to cast. It grants a defensive status that boosts magic defense attributes for its duration. The spell is a means of defending against enemies and bosses that rely on magic damage, either through spellcasting or magic-based abilities.
Shell competes with the Manaward spell, which applies the Manaward effect. Manaward provides greater magic resistance, but is slightly more expensive to cast than Shell. In most cases, players will prefer to cast Manaward for the additional defense. The two statuses however are multiplicative, and players can cast both on a party member at once to maximize magic damage resistance if needed.
Because shell is opposed to deshell, casting shell will remove a deshell effect but not apply shell to replace it. This has a cheaper MP cost than Esuna, unless one wishes to remove multiple statuses at once.
Shell can be cast on all party members at once when empowerment materia is paired with Magnify Materia to apply to the party. This, however, has the same problem wherein players will often prefer to pair magnify to
Barrier Materia.