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Crisis Core How to Get Costly Punch
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion has a ton of strong command abilities and special attacks, but one of the strongest is Costly Punch. There are a few caveats to that, though. For instance, obtaining Costly Punch can be somewhat painful for the player.
The potency of Costly Punch is what makes it so valuable; it has to be one of the most overpowered Command Materia in the whole FF7 universe. It has been completely identified with protagonist Zack Fair because it is so helpful for many late-game tasks in Crisis Core. Many PSP original fans were relieved when Costly Punch wasn’t nerfed for the Crisis Core Reunion remake.
You might be perplexed by Costly Punch if you only see it on paper. Although it shares some parallels with a few other historical Final Fantasy abilities, this Command Materia’s unique mechanism is what makes it so potent. To be more precise you can disregard the 38 Attack Stat. Costly Punch is more valuable than several materials with greater base stats, despite the fact that it is technically correct.
Zack’s HP serves as the basis for Costly Punch’s power. Costly Punch can deal greater damage the more HP Zack has. That implies it can very easily surpass the higher damage output, maximum damage limit of 99,999 damage when combined with Breaking the Damage Cap or using the Battle Stance mechanism that is special to Reunion.
However, Costly Punch comes at a price. Each use of the talent will reduce Zack’s health by 1.5% (PSP) or 15%, depending on whatever version of the game you’re playing (Reunion, a major nerf). Additionally, Zack can be hit out of the move’s large wind-up, so you must be careful when employing it.
Regardless of nerf, it’s still essential. It’s still one of the strongest moves in the game, and you can always use an item or cast some magic to recover the HP lost back, despite the damage it also delivers to Zack being greatly raised to nerf the move in Crisis Core Reunion.
In the appropriate setup, Costly Punch is virtually unstoppable due to these factors, which is why we’ve already dubbed it one of Crisis Core’s Best Materia. How do you obtain it then?
How to Get Costly Punch in Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion?
The single quickest and earliest way to obtain Costly Punch in both the PSP and Reunion versions of Crisis Core entails a little Materia Fusion. However, there are some other ways to obtain it, so you are free to choose how you want to go.
Whether you elect to earn Costly Punch through fusion or “naturally” will primarily depend on how far along you are in the Crisis Core experience at the time. You’ll need Fusion to speedrun to Costly Punch earlier. Otherwise, you might receive it as payment for a variety of actions. Let’s clarify:
How to purchase ready-made Costly Punch You can obtain a Costly Punch Materia via one of three methods other than through crafting it. However, both of these techniques are late-game and necessitate Zack to be rather substantial.
In Mission 9-5-4 “Abnormal Power,” take Costly Punch from one of the prize chests.
Utilizing the Steal/Mug Materia, take it from the Mako Ifrit boss in Mission 9-5-1.
You’ll require a DMW materia and another punch materia to create a Costly Punch via materia fusion. We presume that if you are reading this, you are trying to achieve a Costly Punch very early on. There are more difficult techniques to fuse and generate a Costly Punch, but they require numerous mastered materia.
Goblin Punch, Iron Fist, Magical Punch, and Hammer Punch are the four alternate “Punch” materia that are available. Where to find them is as follows:
Goblin Punch is available for theft or can be found in some side-quest missions:
- In Missions 4-4-4, 4-4-5, and 9-2-1, this item can be stolen or mugged from the Vajradhara Kumbhira adversary (50% probability).
- from a treasure chest in the mission 9-5-4.
- a prize for completing Chapter 10’s Gongaga Waterfall minigame, which can be found in the Gongaga Outskirts.
- Goblin Punch is the reward for completing 55% of the 300+ Side Missions that are accessible through save points.
Several foes can be tricked into giving up their Iron Fist:
Obtain it by stealing it from a G-General foe in Missions 3-4-3 or 3-4-4.
There are numerous side tasks where you can find Magical Punch:
- Awarded for completing Missions 4-5-6, 5-4-2, and 9-3-4.
- discovered in chests of riches in 6-5-5 and 7-5-5.
A few missions allow for the theft or acquisition of Hammer Punch:
- a bonus for completing the late-game mission 9-3-1.
- In Mission 3-5-1, a chest that has this item is open.
- In missions 4-4-6 or 9-2-1, Vajradhara Kinnara can be taken from.
Additionally, each DMW character in the game, including summons, has a unique DMW Materia. A couple of the Crisis Core Shops that are accessible as well as several rewards offer the DMW Materia:
- The mission 2-4-1 chest that opens Junon Souvenirs, which buys Chocobo Mode DMW Materia.
- A chest in Mission 7-5-3 must be opened to access Bone Village Commerce, which offers Summon DMW Materia for sale.
Missable material, Research Dept. QMC+ must be obtained during Chapter 10 from a chest in Gongaga.
In its later stages, Mission Strand 9 offers some DMW Materia prizes for specific tasks.
It’s time to fuse Costly Punch once you have the DMW Materia and Punch Materia in your possession.
Simply combine any DMW Materia with any other Punch Materia to create Costly Punch. You’ll end up with a customized version of one of the top game skills! Make careful to breach the damage cap’s HP ceiling to render your opponents helpless!
Keep in mind that if Costly Punch is your main damage provider, investing mats in increasing its attack stat is futile. This is due to the fact that, while being a Command Materia, Costly Punch’s power depends on your health rather than your attack stat; hence, increasing attack does not enhance it.