The materia in Final Fantasy VII Remake are small orbs of energy that were formed by the planet and are absolutely necessary when trying to defeat adversaries. Each materia that is equipped will give your character one or more different abilities, which are helpful in different aspects of a battle. Some of the most useful materia are also sometimes the most difficult to use. This is the space that the Steal materia occupies.
To use the Steal materia, players will need to equip it and use it in a fight as an action. However, this can be a frustrating experience. Not all enemies have items worth stealing, which means that players have inadvertently used an action during a battle that was totally unnecessary. To curve this, we have compiled a list of what items can be stolen and when you will run into these enemies.
Further reading
- Final Fantasy VII Remake: Hard mode guide
- Here’s how many chapters there are in Final Fantasy VII Remake
- How to tweak the Final Fantasy VII Remake targeting system to suit you
- Final Fantasy VII Remake: Best weapon builds for Cloud Strife
Where to find the steal materia
The Steal materia is a Final Fantasy VII staple. The original game gave the materia to Tifa, which makes sense because she is the fastest melee character. Her ability to run into and out of a tough situation makes her ideal for the Steal materia. However, players can give the materia to whomever they see fit.
Finding the Steal materia is not as difficult as you would think. Once you reach chapter 8, entitled “Budding Bodyguard,” Chadley will give you new battle reports. You’ll need to finish Reports #07 (“Magic Elements Pt. 2”) in order to get Chadley to offer the materia in the shop.
It’s worth noting that the Steal materia is impacted by your Luck stat. So either using characters that have high luck or equipping the Steal materia with a luck-boosting materia or item would help increase chances of getting an item when using this skill. Tifa, for example, has an innately high luck stat that makes stealing all that much easier.
Can’t-miss items to steal
Most items in the game can be missed, but there are also a few items that players need (or absolutely should) steal. Some of these items are harder, if not impossible, to find in shops and can only be stolen.
The most important stealable item is Aerith’s Bladed Staff. The only way to get this weapon is by stealing it. Additionally, it’s an item that is easily missed. To get your hands on it, you’ll need to steal from the Eligor in chapter 11.
The Magician’s Bracelet can be stolen from Reno in chapter 12. This piece of armor has 7 Physical Defense, 7 Magic Defense, and 4 Materia slots. The big draw for this weapon is that, up until this point, it has more materia slots than any other piece of armor.
A Heavy-Duty Bracer can be found on Rude in chapter 12. This piece of armor has 53 Physical Defense, 13 Magic Defense, and 3 Materia slots.
The Enchanted Ring is an accessory that can be perfectly paired with your team’s magic user. This item will increase how long a beneficial effect is working on the team. You can find this item on the Type-O Behemoth in chapter 14. The Type-O Behemoth can be found during the side quest entitled “Subterranean Menace.”
The Timeworn Talisman can be found on Specimen H0512 in chapter 16. This item increases Spirit by 10%, which helps increase magic defense.
The Champion Belt is an item that increases Max HP by 10% and Strength by 5%. To get the Champion Belt, players will need to steal it from the Grundy Bandit. This bandit can be found in the Sector 6 Slums and the Shinra Combat Simulation mission, “Vs. Soldier Trainees.” Both of these can be found in either chapter 16 or chapter 17.
The last thing that is absolutely necessary for players to steal is the Iron Maiden. This piece of armor has a 124 Physical Defense, 20 Magic Defense, and (unfortunately) no Materia slots. This item is best suited for your team’s tank because of its high defense but low magic ability. The enemies that have this are in the M.O.T.H. Unit. They can be found in the Shinra Building in chapter 17 and in the Shinra Combat Simulator mission “Vs. 3-C SOLDIER” during chapter 16 and 17.
Additional items to steal
Although most of the items above can be found through regular gameplay, it’s way more entertaining to just steal them from those chump enemies. There are also quite a few items that you can consider stealing that may be worth your time. Unlike some of the items above, they’re not necessarily the most important items. You can buy all of them almost everywhere, so stealing them isn’t as important. But they’re definitely fun to have.
- Crab Wardens in chapter 5 have Molotov Cocktails, which do 90 Fire damage to all of the enemies within range.
- The Airbuster in chapter 7 has an A.I. Programming Core, which is just an item. But this can be sold for 500 Gil at just about any shop.
- Hell House in chapter 9 has Mr. Cuddlesworth, an adorable plushy that doubles as an explosive.
- Sahagin and Byobapolis carry Adrenaline for players to steal. This item helps bring a character back from the Stupor effect.
- Blugu carries Smelling Salts, which wake somebody up from the sleep status.
- Spiderweb is held by Queen Grashtrike and Grashtrike. This item will slow enemies within range.
- Lesser Drakes carry Phoenix Downs, which revives fallen allies.
- Beck, Butch, Burke, and Bandits hold Celeris, which helps speed up filling the ATB bar.
- Cutter and Sledgeworm have Echo Mist, which cures silence.
- Monodrive, Cerulean Drakes, Hedgehog Pies, and Reno hold Ether. Ether restores 20 MP to one character.
- Lots of enemies have Antidote, which heals poisoned allies. You’ll be able to steal it off of Bloodhounds, Wererats, Gorgers, Ringmaws, Abzu Shoats, and Mischievous Shoats.
- Guard Dogs and Terpsicolts have Potions. Potions restore some HP, although it’s only 350 HP.
- 3-C SOLDIER Operators, Mark II Monodrive, Sweeper Prototypes, Ghosts, Abzus, and Ghouls have Turbo Ether, which fully restores MP.
- Orb of Gravity can be found on Elite Helitroopers, Sentry Launchers, Slug-Rays, and Shock-rays. This item, when activated, decreases the HP of nearby foes by 25%.
- Armored Shock Troopers, Sissorclaws, and Varghidpolis have Sedatives, which help to eliminate the Fury status effect.
- Elite Security Officers, Elite Shock Troopers, and Cripshays have Hi-Potions, which restore 700 HP.
- Security Officers, Elite Grenadiers, Elite Riot Troopers, and Shock Troopers carry stealable Grenades. These are great for groups of enemies because these explosives have nice splash damage.
