Talk:Strategies/@comment-50.53.50.225-20141105033640/@comment-15607600-20150528213624

^Uh, yes, yes it does. Significantly so. BUT it's really a call the player has to make once they have some experience with the levels. If you feel underpowered, you need to loop & see if you get lucky with some better stuff. But there's risk in either choice, and luck can swing either way. You just do your best with what you have, which IMO is why the game's so fun.

One of the tough realizations is that all momentum gear is mostly useless vs Providence. Since they're typically on-kill items, they'll be useless because the whole Provi battle involves a max of 7 kills unless Origin triggers during the fight. If you think you can 1v1 a Magma Worm, King Imp, or Ifrit and survive a few hits, then you're probably getting close to ready for Provi. Sustain is probably the best thing; something with some extra healing so you can regen on the run. Otherwise, learn his patterns (wiki page here really useful): 3 attacks, ground blast (jump it!), repeat, repeat, delayed purple blasts, start over.