Red XIII provides players the option to have an aggressive tank for their party, but he's also a very flexible character, making it hard to find a consistent build for him. For those reasons, I made three of the best builds for Red XIII in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which you can modify and scale to your liking.
If you're looking for more character builds other than Red XIII in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, check out some of these instead:
Best builds for Red XIII in FF7 Rebirth
Red XIII is an awesome companion throughout the entire game, as he can soak up a lot of damage while doing moderate counter-attacks at the same time. We have a few builds for you to try out, and you can further improve this once you get better equipment and materia later on in the game!
Siphon Fang Build
Red XIII has a unique ability that allows him to lifesteal 5% of his max health back after the attack. This attack is called Siphone Fang, and it's only accessible through his Vengeance Mode.
| Slots | Equipment Name |
| Weapon | Renegade's Collar |
| Armor | Enhanced Copper Bracer |
| Accessory | Power Wristguards |
| Summon | Titan or Ifrit |
| Materia 1 (Weapon) | Steadfast Block |
| Materia 2 (Weapon) | Poison |
| Materia 3 (Weapon) | HP Up |
| Materia 1 (Armor) | Precision Defense Focus |
| Materia 2 (Armor) | Provoke |
| Weapon Skills | Siphon Fang HP Up |
| Spell Shortcut 1 (L1 + Square) | Sidewinder |
| Spell Shortcut 2 (L1 + Triangle) | Sentinel Stance |
| Spell Shortcut 3 (L1 + Circle) | Stardust Ray |
| Spell Shortcut 4 (L1 + X) | Crescent Claw |
Since you'll need to further optimize this with Folio Nodes, here are the ones I recommend getting:
- Overfang
- Enhanced Counterspin
- Phantom Fang
- Vengeful Guardian
- Siphon Fang HP Up
- Enduring Vengeance
- Wild Charge
- Max HP Up
Red XIII's playstyle with this build revolves around building up your Vengeance Mode to have access to Siphon Fang. You can do this by using the Provoke materia and Sentinel Stance, which boosts your Vengeance Mode a lot quicker than you normally would (20 blocked attacks or 15 perfect blocks).
If you ever lose HP during this phase, you can use Siphon Fang to recover your HP back. This build will basically make Red XIII a self-sustaining tank DPS. For elemental damage, you can always opt to invest in his elemental abilities (like Wildfire if) your party lacks a certain element.
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Full Tank Build
| Slots | Equipment Name |
| Weapon | Renegade's Collar |
| Armor | Enhanced Copper Bracer |
| Accessory | HP Up Earrings |
| Summon | Titan or Ifrit |
| Materia 1 (Weapon) | Steadfast Block |
| Materia 2 (Weapon) | Poison |
| Materia 3 (Weapon) | HP Up |
| Materia 1 (Armor) | Precision Defense Focus |
| Materia 2 (Armor) | Provoke |
| Weapon Skills | Invigorating Vengeance |
| Spell Shortcut 1 (L1 + Square) | Sidewinder |
| Spell Shortcut 2 (L1 + Triangle) | Sentinel Stance |
| Spell Shortcut 3 (L1 + Circle) | Stardust Ray |
| Spell Shortcut 4 (L1 + X) | Crescent Claw |
The Folio nodes for this build are almost similar to the Syphon Fang build, albeit with a few tweaks:
- Overfang
- Enhanced Counterspin
- Wild Charge
- Max HP Up
- Savage Assault
- Vengeful Guardian
- Enduring Vengeance
- Max HP Up
For this build, I focused on getting as much HP up as possible so Red XIII will be able to soak up most of the enemy attacks with ease. Red XIII will still be able to dish out damage, but not as much as the Syphon Fang build.
Red XIII's sustain comes from the weapon skill called Invigorating Vengeance, which allows him to gain once he enters Vengeance Mode. Syphon Fang is also still useful here with a caveat of lesser life steal percent compared to the first build.
You can also flip the Poison Materia to Auto-Unique Ability Cast so Red XIII will cast Vengeance Mode even when you're not controlling him directly. With the Provoke Materia, the AI will garner enemy aggro once either of your party members falls to low health.
Related: How to prevent enemies from taking flight when using Soothing Breeze in FF7 Rebirth
Elemental Tank Build
If you have a party built around Tifa and Cloud as your main damage dealers, then a Red XIII Elemental Tank Build is a good bet for your third member.
| Slots | Equipment Name |
| Weapon | Mythril Collar |
| Armor | Enhanced Copper Bracer |
| Accessory | Earrings |
| Summon | Chocobo & Moogle, Shiva, Leviathan or Ramuh |
| Materia 1 (Weapon) | Steadfast Block |
| Materia 2 (Weapon) | Cure |
| Materia 3 (Weapon) | MP Up |
| Materia 1 (Armor) | HP Up |
| Materia 2 (Armor) | Provoke |
| Weapon Skills | Weapon Ability Damage +5% |
| Spell Shortcut 1 (L1 + Square) | Sentinel Stance |
| Spell Shortcut 2 (L1 + Triangle) | Static Shock |
| Spell Shortcut 3 (L1 + Circle) | Wildfire |
| Spell Shortcut 4 (L1 + X) | Snow Flurry |
Since you'll need a lot of abilities through the Folio Nodes, here are my recommended nodes for the Elemental Tank Build:
- Wild Charge
- Max HP Up
- Wind Current
- Savage Assault
- Iron Defense
- Max MP Up
- Static Shock
- Overfang
- Wildfire
- Phantom Fang
- Snow Flurry
Since Red XIII's primary role is to exploit weaknesses, you can exchange Earrings with Aureate Pinion if you think your ATB gauge build-up feels too slow for your liking. You can also swap the Steadfast Block Materia for the First Strike materia. However, it will significantly lower Red XIII's tankiness.
Your main focus is to build up Vengeance Mode with Sentinel Stance and counter-attack until the last second, then unleash your elemental abilities depending on the enemy's weakness. Although this may not be as powerful as Aerith, Red XIII's tankiness make him much more beginner-friendly.
If you're curious about other aspects of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, check out Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Enemy Skill List right here at Pro Game Guides!
Jay is a Weekend Senior Staff Writer for PGG and has been playing video games for over two decades now. He is a Mechanical Engineering graduate who transitioned into writing as he realized that his passion truly revolved around video games.
With over two years of dedicated experience as a writer specializing in the video gaming industry, Jay's passion for video games is seen through his art of crafting meticulously detailed video game guides, news, and reviews.
His expertise spans a diverse range of gaming genres, most notably ARPGs, JRPG,s FPS, and TPS. Jay's favorite titles and franchises include Final Fantasy, Dragon's Dogma, Soulsborne, and Call of Duty.