The original Final Fantasy would establish many of the series’ conventions moving forward, including several of its more iconic and powerful weapons and magic spells. Recurring armaments throughout the series like the legendary Excalibur or Masamune blades make their first appearance in the first game, as do iconic spells like Flare and Stop (even though their actual effects might change in later entries). What’s more, thanks to Final Fantasy‘s flexible class system, many of the most powerful weapons are equippable by multiple Jobs. That said, only Black Wizards are capable of learning and using the game’s most powerful offensive magic spells. When it comes to the best weapons and magic in Final Fantasy, players have several options for efficiently dispatching foes.
Some of these weapons and magic are obtainable within some of Final Fantasy‘s many shops, with Level 8 Black Magic exclusively available in either the towns of Lufenia or Gaia. However, most of the game’s most powerful weapons (specifically, its two most powerful — Excalibur and Masamune) are only obtainable either as treasures within some of Final Fantasy‘s most challenging areas. Rather than examine the additional offensive options available to players in the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, and PSP anniversary releases of the game, this list focuses on the most powerful weapons and magic obtainable within the NES/Famicom original.
Daggers – Cat’s Claw
 | Attack: 22 Accuracy: 35 Critical Chance: 35 Equippable Jobs: Knight, Ninja, Red Wizard, Black Wizard Buy/Find: Buy — Available in Gaia for 65,000 Gil The Cat’s Claw (or, in the NES version, CatClaw) is the ultimate dagger available for magic-users as a viable melee option. Though both the Knight and Ninja classes can equip the weapon, both Jobs have multiple other offensive options available that outclass it. However, thanks to the limited melee options for magic-using Jobs, the Cat’s Claw is one of the better weapons to equip a Red or Black Wizard with — as long as players save up plenty of Gil to afford one. |
Swords – Excalibur
 | Attack: 45 Accuracy: 35 Critical Chance: 39 Equippable Jobs: Knight Buy/Find: Gift from Smyth in Mount Duergar in exchange for Adamantite The valuable Adamantite ore is a missable treasure on the second floor of the Flying Fortress dungeon and a necessary component for crafting one of Final Fantasy‘s best weapons. Later on, after players obtain the Adamantite and successfully complete the Flying Fortress, they can head back to Smyth in Mount Duergar and give him the ore in exchange for one of the most powerful weapons in the game — Excalibur (NES: Xcalbur). This is the Knight’s ultimate weapon and the best sword in the original NES release of Final Fantasy. |
Katana – Masamune
 | Attack: 56 Accuracy: 50 Critical Chance: 40 Equippable Jobs: All Buy/Find: Find — Chaos Shrine (Past) Though Excalibur is only equippable by the Knight class and is that Job’s ultimate weapon, the actual most powerful melee weapon in Final Fantasy is the legendary Masamune katana. Players will find this blade within the game’s final dungeon, the Chaos Shrine, and can equip it on any character they choose. In the event that players have a Ninja in their party, it’s highly recommended to give the Masamune to that class thanks to the excellent scaling the Job provides to stats that synergize with the Masamune’s high accuracy and critical chance. |
Nunchaku – Iron Nunchaku
 | Attack: 16 Accuracy: 0 Critical Chance: 9 Equippable Jobs: Ninja, Monk, Master Buy/Find: Buy — Available in Elfheim for 200 Gil The Iron Nunchaku may be the most powerful of the weapon type, but that’s not saying much considering there are only two different Nunchaku in Final Fantasy. These weapons are a good option for the Monk, but they actually pale in comparison to letting the Monk go bare-handed and receiving the bonus to attack they get as a result. Still, the Iron Nunchaku is a great early-game weapon to give any party with a Monk a boost in survivability. |
Axes – Light Axe
 | Attack: 28 Accuracy: 15 Critical Chance: 29 Equippable Jobs: Warrior, Knight, Ninja Buy/Find: Buy — Available in Mage Town for 10,000 Gil Find — Sunken Shrine The Light Axe is the best available axe weapon for players to acquire in the original NES version of Final Fantasy. This powerful blade not only boasts some great attack power and critical chance, it also casts Diara when used as an item. Thanks to its Light-elemental affinity, the Light Axe is a great option for the jobs that can equip it when facing off against plenty of undead enemies. It has the highest critical chance of any axe as well, meaning players can expect to deal some substantially powerful hits when using it. |
Hammers – Thor’s Hammer
 | Attack: 18 Accuracy: 15 Critical Chance: 36 Equippable Jobs: Knight, Ninja, White Wizard Buy/Find: Buy — Available in Mage Town for 40,000 Gil Find — Mirage Tower Thanks to the White Mage/Wizard’s ability to equip hammers, Thor’s Hammer is undoubtedly the best melee option for the class in the mid-to-late game. That said, the White Wizard’s primary role in the party is still to provide support via restorative magic and healing spells, so players should only have the White Wizard use melee in situations where they can safely spam attack until wiping out enemies. For those exact kind of situations, Thor’s Hammer comes in handy by giving a nice boost of attack power to a class who hits comparatively weaker than all other Jobs. |
Staves – Wizard’s Staff
 | Attack: 15 Accuracy: 15 Critical Chance: 33 Equippable Jobs: Black Wizard Buy/Find: Buy — Available in Mage Town for 50,000 Gil Find — Waterfall Cavern The Wizard’s Staff, like the name suggests, is the ultimate weapon for the Black Wizard. Similar to the White or Red Wizards, the Black Wizard’s primary role in the party will be to use magic. As a result, Black Wizards don’t necessarily need to have a high-level weapon equipped, but the Wizard’s Staff is arguably the best tool for the job. Though it doesn’t improve the Black Wizard’s magic power in any discernable way, the staff does have a high critical rate and can even cast Confuse on enemies when players use it as an item. |
Black Magic
All of the following spells are the Level 8 Black Magic abilities available in Final Fantasy. Accordingly, only the Black Wizard is capable of using these spells, as Red Wizards can only cast up to Level 4 Black Magic. Players with a Black Mage/Wizard in their party will want to acquire all of these spells at some point during the adventure, especially Flare. Without equal, Flare is the most powerful attack spell in the game that doesn’t cause Instant Death (a hard status to trigger).
Note that no spells have MP cost listed, as Final Fantasy would not adopt the traditional MP model until the sequel. Originally, players have a certain number of spell slots available for each level of magic. This is a similar system to the original pen and paper RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons.
Flare
 | Level: 8 Power: 100 Accuracy: 107 Buy: Lufenia Back Magic Shop for 60,000 Gil Flare will burn multiple enemies using non-elemental heat magic to deal massive damage. Not only is Flare the most powerful Black Magic spell in Final Fantasy, it’s also its best, as it never misses targets like other high-level spells will. Once players have a Black Wizard with Flare in their possession, it will likely become a standard part of their attack strategy. |
Stop
 | Level: 8 Power: 0 Accuracy: 48 Buy: Gaia Back Magic Shop for 60,000 Gil Before future Final Fantasy games would separate Black Magic and Time Magic, all of the harmful Time-manipulating spells would belong to the Black Magic school. The most powerful of these is the Stop spell, which only Black Wizards can utilize as a Level 8 casting. As the name implies, players can use this spell to paralyze enemies in time and prevent them from acting, giving the party ample opportunity to strike without retaliation. |
Kill
 | Level: 8 Power: 0 Accuracy: 0 Buy: Gaia Back Magic Shop for 60,000 Gil Kill (which goes by the name “XXXX” in the NES release of Final Fantasy) is a strange spell. Though it can cause instant death to any enemy under 300 HP, it hits with such low accuracy as to essentially be useless. Many enemies in the game are impervious to the Instant Death effect, and that (combined with the spell’s low accuracy) makes the chances of Kill successfully hitting very, very slim. Still, if it does manage to connect, it’s an easy victory for the party. |
Warp
 | Level: 8 Power: 0 Accuracy: 32 Buy: Gaia Back Magic Shop for 60,000 Gil Unlike Kill, Warp (Zap in the NES release) has a much higher chance of actually working. Conversely, just like Kill, Warp will cause instant death to an enemy by banishing them outside of time and space. There are no HP targets for players to track when using Warp, as it will either connect or not based on the accuracy stat and the Black Wizard’s magic power. Against weaker enemies in the late game of Final Fantasy, Warp can be a boon to quickly grind out random battles. |
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Gameplay screenshot.