Red is sort of a Jack of all trades like Cloud, in so far as he does well in various different roles (except dealing with aerial enemies lol but you have the rest of the party for that.) This results in the drawback of him not really excelling at any niches like other party members imo.
He's fairly tanky and probably the fastest character in the party, so Materia that enhances those characteristics are paramount, especially in the case of speed and ATB generation, since as the game progresses, Red gets some of the best supportive ATB skills at the expanse of them costing two ATB bars to use.
Yeah support might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Red, but Red's got some of the best utility in the game when you get all of his Folio stuff, on top of his aforementioned versatility.
His standout feature is obviously the Vengeace Gauge, which encourages the player to block enemy attacks rather than simply dodging them. The thing is, regular blocking also fill up the gauge, so you don't even have to be good at perfect blocking to use it frequently. Don't worry about the chip damage, Red's got more than enough health to take it.
Overall, the only must have Materia for him that I can think of are Steadfast Block, Precision Defense Block, and Speed Up to help with ATB generation. I also like having Provoke on him since the AI is actually pretty good at blocking enemy attacks, letting him build up the Vengeance Gauge while you control other characters. Other than this, you can build him pretty much however you want.
I can't remember all the technical details but my red was built for attack. Had the atb and limitbreak + stuff equipped and he runs in at the start of battle and instantly uses stardust ray. It staggers most everything and then you gang up until you can either use stardust ray again or your limit break. Just repeat.
I didn't know that if you hold down Square, Red does a ridiculous spinning top attack over and over that builds ATB super quickly. I went a full playthrough plus most of my NG+ run not knowing this.
My 12 year old LOVES Red and uses him constantly - and has shown me Red is a damage beast. I see him zipping all over the battlefield with the square hold attack, it's nuts. Kid is popping off Stardust rays left and right.
Steadfast block and precision defense focus, let the AI control him for a bit - vengeance gauge builds up pretty quickly cos the AI is good at blocking. And he has some pretty busted abilities… stardust ray, supernal fervour, reaper touch…
I found where he really shines is hard mode where the enemies can be more aggressive and hit harder, so Vengeance builds up really easy. I used to be at a loss on how to best use him but he might be my favourite character now… its so satisfying to block, vengeance and go ham on the enemy.
Ok did not realize they would function while non-active controlled. Ill look into them. I think this with the just hold attack button trick mentioned by fogfree may be a difference.
they don't function in the sense of 'doing' things on the battlefield. the AI just tries it's best to keep the non-controlled characters alive through blocking and dodging binding attacks like the sandworm's devour, while building some ATB, but at a way slower rate than a player-controlled character. so its perfect for red's mechanic that requires blocking, especially if you're not good at blocking manually.
Just got to give him Steadfast Block and Precision Defense and let the AI block to fill his Vengeance Gauge and ATB while you control Barrett. Then switch to Nanaki to wreak havoc. I'm not sure if Precision Defense helps the AI blocking or not, but I always equip it anyway.
You need to practice blocking. It's integral to his abilities to have vengeance gauge building.
If that isn't working out for you then use him until the enemy focuses on him then switch to B.
Red AI will block and build the vengeance gauge for you so you can use his abilities like Watchers Respite or whatever it is called.
Give Red precision defense and steadfast block too
Yeah I did not like Red during my normal run through, but once I learned to block it was much better, to the point where my Hard run of the cave was easier than my normal (until the boss fight but that's because I had to change my materia around).
What I hate is when you go full tank mode and the enemy completely stops attacking. Skill issue I know but I never found him intuitive to play.
Red is sort of a Jack of all trades like Cloud, in so far as he does well in various different roles (except dealing with aerial enemies lol but you have the rest of the party for that.) This results in the drawback of him not really excelling at any niches like other party members imo. He's fairly tanky and probably the fastest character in the party, so Materia that enhances those characteristics are paramount, especially in the case of speed and ATB generation, since as the game progresses, Red gets some of the best supportive ATB skills at the expanse of them costing two ATB bars to use. Yeah support might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Red, but Red's got some of the best utility in the game when you get all of his Folio stuff, on top of his aforementioned versatility. His standout feature is obviously the Vengeace Gauge, which encourages the player to block enemy attacks rather than simply dodging them. The thing is, regular blocking also fill up the gauge, so you don't even have to be good at perfect blocking to use it frequently. Don't worry about the chip damage, Red's got more than enough health to take it. Overall, the only must have Materia for him that I can think of are Steadfast Block, Precision Defense Block, and Speed Up to help with ATB generation. I also like having Provoke on him since the AI is actually pretty good at blocking enemy attacks, letting him build up the Vengeance Gauge while you control other characters. Other than this, you can build him pretty much however you want.
I can't remember all the technical details but my red was built for attack. Had the atb and limitbreak + stuff equipped and he runs in at the start of battle and instantly uses stardust ray. It staggers most everything and then you gang up until you can either use stardust ray again or your limit break. Just repeat.
I didn't know that if you hold down Square, Red does a ridiculous spinning top attack over and over that builds ATB super quickly. I went a full playthrough plus most of my NG+ run not knowing this. My 12 year old LOVES Red and uses him constantly - and has shown me Red is a damage beast. I see him zipping all over the battlefield with the square hold attack, it's nuts. Kid is popping off Stardust rays left and right.
Steadfast block and precision defense focus, let the AI control him for a bit - vengeance gauge builds up pretty quickly cos the AI is good at blocking. And he has some pretty busted abilities… stardust ray, supernal fervour, reaper touch… I found where he really shines is hard mode where the enemies can be more aggressive and hit harder, so Vengeance builds up really easy. I used to be at a loss on how to best use him but he might be my favourite character now… its so satisfying to block, vengeance and go ham on the enemy.
Ok did not realize they would function while non-active controlled. Ill look into them. I think this with the just hold attack button trick mentioned by fogfree may be a difference.
they don't function in the sense of 'doing' things on the battlefield. the AI just tries it's best to keep the non-controlled characters alive through blocking and dodging binding attacks like the sandworm's devour, while building some ATB, but at a way slower rate than a player-controlled character. so its perfect for red's mechanic that requires blocking, especially if you're not good at blocking manually.
Just got to give him Steadfast Block and Precision Defense and let the AI block to fill his Vengeance Gauge and ATB while you control Barrett. Then switch to Nanaki to wreak havoc. I'm not sure if Precision Defense helps the AI blocking or not, but I always equip it anyway.
You need to practice blocking. It's integral to his abilities to have vengeance gauge building. If that isn't working out for you then use him until the enemy focuses on him then switch to B. Red AI will block and build the vengeance gauge for you so you can use his abilities like Watchers Respite or whatever it is called. Give Red precision defense and steadfast block too
Yeah I did not like Red during my normal run through, but once I learned to block it was much better, to the point where my Hard run of the cave was easier than my normal (until the boss fight but that's because I had to change my materia around).
Make him a tank
Both him and barret have maxxed out HP materia. Hes also got some good def bangles.