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Final Fantasy 7 Remake guide: Summon Materia

How to call in allies for tough battles

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Jeffrey Parkin (he/him) has been writing video game guides for Polygon for almost seven years. He has learned to love just about every genre of game that exists.

Throughout Final Fantasy 7 Remake, you’ll be picking up new Materia — either finding it (hidden) in the world, as rewards, or buying them from shops. We’ve covered Materia in general in another guide, but there’s one kind of Materia that doesn’t work like the others — Summon Materia.

In this guide, we’ll explain what Summon Materia are and how you’ll use them. We’ll also let you know where to find more Summon Materia.

What Summon Materia are

Summon Materia get slotted into a special slot on your party’s weapons (and only their weapons). Each party member can have their own Summon Materia.

During certain fights (like really tough fights and boss fights), you’ll get a new purple gauge on the right side of your screen. When this gauge is full, you’ll have an option in you Command menu called Summon. This will call in something — like a chocobo or an ifrit — to fight alongside you and your companions.

These summons deal huge amounts of damage just with their basic attacks, but they also have their own special attacks. Whenever one of your party has an ATB point to spend and there’s a summon present, they can direct that summon to perform an attack on an enemy of your choosing.

While the summon is present, its gauge will slowly drain. When it’s empty, the summon will perform one last extra-powerful attack, and then leave the battle.

Where to get Summons

There are (at least) nine Summon Materia in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

You’ll get two by progressing the story and exploring the levels:

  • Ifrit Summon Materia. You’ll get your first Summon Materia from Jessie at the very end of Chapter 3.
  • Chocobo & Moogle Summon Materia. You’ll find the second on during Chapter 6 “Light the Way” inside Mako Reactor 5.

The next four are rewards from Chadley. For every five of his Battle Intel challenges you complete, he’ll set up a VR battle for you. When you win, you’ll get the following Summon Materia:

  • Shiva Summon Materia
  • Fat Chocobo Summon Materia
  • Leviathan Summon Materia
  • Bahamut Summon Materia

The remaining three Summon Materia are pre-order bonuses or come with the special editions of the game:

  • Chocobo Chick Summon Materia (pre-order)
  • Cactaur Summon Materia (Deluxe Edition)
  • Carbuncle Summon Materia (Deluxe Edition)

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