Once you complete the story of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth once, you will unlock Hard Mode, a challenging difficulty that can be hard to beat unless you use the best weapons for every character. In this mode, you cannot use items and enemies are far stronger than they were before. Without the right skills and abilities that come from weapons, it's nearly impossible to overcome obstacles throughout the story.

Many of the new weapons introduced in FF7 Rebirth offer unique abilities for your characters, but only while wielding a specific sword, gun arm, staff, or other tool. You can get around this limitation by leveling up every character's weapons as you get them. This will allow you to learn that weapon's ability even while it isn't equipped, giving you the opportunity to use a party member's best weapon instead.

When attempting a Hard Mode run, you should try to learn how to play as every character in the game, so you are familiar with their unique skills and how they might match with various weapon abilities.

12 Umbral Blade

Cloud's Most Balanced Sword

The Umbral Blade is perhaps the most balanced weapon for Cloud, featuring equal max stats for both the raw Attack power and Magical potential for the weapon. The ability allows you to raise Cloud's DPS through Punisher Mode, but you do not have to use Cloud as the most damaging member of your party. This weapon lets Cloud deal a lot of damage and cast powerful spells in equal measure throughout a Hard Mode run.

11 Igneous Saber

Cloud's Strongest Saber

Those looking to use Cloud as their party's primary source of damage should consider using the Igneous Saber, a blade that specializes in raw DPS against enemies and bosses. Since your foes have much more health in Hard Mode, you need someone constantly attacking every chance they can get. Cloud can fulfill that role with this weapon, especially with the Blade Burst ability that gives him a ranged attack against elusive enemies.

As you can see in the above video by YouTube creator NorZZa, some of the best builds with Cloud utilize his ability to combo enemies for higher damage, rather than trying to apply stagger or exploit elemental weaknesses.

The best weapons for Cloud in FF7 Rebirth often deal non-elemental damage, making it nearly impossible for enemies to resist the damage you deal as the former SOLDIER. With Blade Burst not being attached to any element as well, you can always be damaging foes without having to worry about their defenses as much. While you may not cast many spells, you can keep some Healing Materia on Cloud with this weapon.

10 Dragon Claws

Tifa's Strongest Self-Buff Guantlets

The Dragon Claws deal some of the highest damage Tifa can inflict in the game, making a character already focused on DPS even more specialized. Although Tifa's health can be quite fragile in Hard Mode, the Starshower ability allows her to make up for this weakness through a unique buff. Tifa can herself without relying on another party member by making her next attack or spell much stronger.

9 Járngreipr

Tifa's Best Stagger Weapon

Tifa is an extremely offense-oriented character whose greatest strength comes from being able to stagger enemies and bosses extremely quickly. The best weapons for Tifa in FF7 Rebirth emphasize this point, making Járngreipr perhaps her best tool for Hard Mode. The more you stun empowered enemies on this higher difficulty, the more chances you will have to win much harder fights.

8 Barrage Blaster

Barret's Gun Arm Of Team Protection

Most parties feature Barret as a tank who takes hits for others due to his larger health pool and strong defensive abilities gained from different weapons. The Barrage Blaster gives Barret a balanced tool that can be used for damage or spell-casting, but the unique skill is what you'll want to use the most. Lifesaver can make Barret and his allies last longer in battle, giving you more chances to revive anyone who goes down.

7 Empress Scepter

Aerith's Protective Spellcasting Staff

Spells, especially the strongest versions of certain magic, take a long time to cast and can be interrupted by aggressive enemies who become even more aggro on Hard Mode. This makes the ability of Aerith's Empress Scepter incredibly powerful by giving both Aerith and any ally a safe space to use magic Materia in FF7 Rebirth. This weapon also makes Aerith's basic attacks stronger to deal with the boosted health of various enemies.

Since you can't use items in Hard Mode, you'll be casting a lot of magic with nearly every party member throughout enemy encounters. According to the above video by YouTube creator TheGameFather, you'll want to utilize Aerith's abilities the most to maximize the use of each character's MP before it runs out. Without Aerith's ive skills to enhance magic or heal injured allies, Hard Mode can feel overwhelming.

6 Ceremonial Staff

Aerith's ATB Staff

The Ceremonial Staff has one of the best abilities out of all the weapons in FF7 Rebirth by giving you a way to increase the ATB of all your allies at the same time. By keeping your group in the conjured ward from this weapon's skill, you can constantly use everyone's abilities or cast spells rapidly in a fight. This makes your team faster, hit harder, and have more versatility you can explore during a battle.

5 Plumose Rod

Aerith's Best Magical Staff

One of the best weapons for Aerith in FF7 Rebirth is the Plumose Rod since it has the highest max magical attack stat out of any weapon in the game. The right skills from other weapons make Aerith a powerhouse in battle capable of dealing damage alongside normal abilities. With the Ray of Judgment from this weapon, she can even inflict great stagger damage similar to Tifa against dangerous enemies or bosses.

4 Brísingamen

Red XIII's Risky Damage Collar

Red XIII can be a tricky party member to fully utilize, as he can be both a strong damage dealer and powerful spell caster at the same time. This balanced approach is ed through weapons like Brísingamen, which has fairly equal max attack and magic stats. This weapon's ability may be risky to use, but considering how often you will on low HP in Hard Mode, the skill becomes far more useful in chaotic fights.

to have a character in your party on standby ready to heal Red XIII after he uses Reaper Touch. You should never rely on this ability to eliminate an enemy or boss since you have to be dangerously low on health to use it effectively.

3 Crystalline Cross

Yuffie's Best Weakness Exploiting Shuriken

The Crystalline Cross weapon allows Yuffie to exploit elemental weaknesses in enemies, to stagger them faster, and deal greater damage through the Banishment ability. The high attack stat of this weapon can turn Yuffie into a high DPS character similar to Cloud and Tifa in brawls but with the added benefits of her ninjutsu. The effortless switching between elemental-type damages will allow you to adjust to any situation.

According to the above video by YouTube creator Primalliquid, one of the reasons Yuffie shines is through long-range attacks from her shurikens that let her attack enemies from afar. With this weapon in Hard Mode, Yuffie can even the playing field with enemies you may struggle against. Constant targeting of weaknesses combined with Banishment can sometimes be crucial for winning boss fights made tougher on this difficulty.