The Wutai ninja, Yuffie, makes a spectacular return in FF7 Rebirth as a playable character, but she won’t be available from the start. So when does Yuffie join the party?
When Yuffie Joins the Party in FF7 Rebirth
Yuffie will join the party at the start of the seventh chapter in FF7 Rebirth after playing through all the minigames at Costa del Sol and running through the events on the beach, in chapter 6. This is a heavy departure from the original game, where Yuffie was an optional character you could recruit after randomly encountering her in the forests outside of the Mythril Mine.
Now being a mandatory party member in FF7 Rebirth, Yuffie is far more integrated into the game’s story and given a stronger personality, whereas before she was mostly portrayed as an unsympathetic thief whose character development was mostly relegated to a single sidequest late in the game.
So if you’ve played the original game, and you’re wandering around the forests of Junon looking for Yuffie, continue the story instead and have a little patience. You’ll get Yuffie eventually—around 15-20 hours into Rebirth if you’re not distracted by all the side content.
How to Play Yuffie in FF7 Rebirth
Love her or hate her, Yuffie is one of the strongest characters in FF7 Rebirth if given the right build and attention. Yuffie plays as a speedy mid-range character, using a large shuriken as her primary weapon. You can throw the shuriken with the triangle button and have it stick to a single enemy, at which point Yuffie will then use elemental ninjutsu to attack from a distance. Press triangle again after the shuriken has been thrown, and Yuffie will dash to it, allowing her to jump in and out of battle in the blink of an eye.
You can change and cycle through Yuffie’s elemental affinities by using the d-pad while selecting her Ninjutsu ability during combat. Changing Yuffie’s elemental affinity will consume an ATB charge, but the skill does not cost any MP to use, allowing you to target and hit most enemy weaknesses without needing to worry about conserving MP. When you first get Yuffie, she’ll come equipped with her own Assess Materia, which you should use regularly to learn enemy weaknesses.
Her speed in combination with her access to all elements means Yuffie can constantly pressure enemies and hit their weaknesses with ease, staggering them quickly. When equipped with the Brumal Form and Blindside abilities, the latter obtained from her Savage Dagger weapon, she’ll become an untouchable beast dodging enemy attacks and quickly filling her ATB to unleash large explosive attacks of her own. Eventually, Yuffie can also learn Haste and Doppelganger, making her an absolutely unstoppable DPS machine.
I recommend using Chadley’s Combat Simulator to test Yuffie out after she joins the party, as Yuffie can feel a little wiley in combat when you first get your hands on her. Thankfully, Chadley has combat training for each party member, allowing you to get better acquainted with their unique abilities and learn the basic fundamentals behind them. And while you’re there, the Combat Simulator is also where you can get the Enemy Skill Materia and Plasma Discharge skill which pair so, so nicely with Yuffie’s speed.
That’s all there is to Yuffie in FF7 Rebirth. And now that Yuffie has joined the team, you may want to learn how to get all her weapons.
