Summary
TheFinal Fantasyseries may not have an overarching plot, but it does have a handful of themes and features that most games in the franchise share. Of these, one of the most iconic is the use of summons to aid the protagonists in battle. A staple of the series sinceFinal Fantasy 3was released in 1990, it’s hard to imagine the series without these powerful monsters.
The summoning mechanic has evolved a lot throughout the series, but one thing has never really changed. While most summons are unlocked via the story,Final Fantasy’s most powerful summonsare usually a real pain to unlock. They’re either locked behind a long list of chores, hidden away in hard-to-reach areas or require beating a superboss or two. Thankfully, they’re normally worth the effort, and few things feel more rewarding than one-hitting a boss with an overpowered summon.
Updated July 31, 2025 by Robbie Mitchell:Now that Final Fantasy 16 is out on PC, it’s only a matter of time until Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth joins it. With that in mind, now seems like the perfect time to take another look at the hardest summons to unlock from across Final Fantasy history. All of Final Fantasy 16’s summons might be unlocked by progressing the story, but Rebirth has one summon in particular who has earned a spot on this list.
For the most part,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s summons aren’t that difficult to unlock. A handful are simply handed to the player as the story progresses, while the others areunlocked by defeating them in Chadley’s combat simulator. There is one exception, however. Gilgamesh the weapon master is one ofFinal Fantasy’smost famous recurring characters.
To unlock Gilgamesh, the player simply needs to defeat him in combat. Unfortunately, getting that opportunity takes a lot of work. The player will need tocomplete all the Protorelic quests across the Grasslands, Junon, Corel, Gongaga, Cosmo Canyon, and Nibel regions. These quests are handed out by Chadley via his Phenomenon Intel, but thankfully, they’re pretty entertaining. Rather than being repetitive fetch quests, the tasks are quite varied - the returning Fort Condor minigame is a particular highlight. Once all the above quests are completed, the player can travel to Gilgamesh Island. A handful more quests later, and they’ll finally be allowed to take on Gilgamesh. It’s a long road for sure, but Gilgamesh is more than worth it, even if he can’t be upgraded.
When the gang first meetsAnimainFinal Fantasy 10, she’s being wielded by Seymour and makes for a pretty terrifying enemy. Anima’s design is incredibly creepy, and she hits hard. Back in 2001, without the use of a guide, manyFinal Fantasy 10players had no clue that they too could summon the ultra-powerful Anima.
Unlocking Anima wasn’t easy, though. The player had to possess all the hidden treasures, which could only be obtained after using all the destruction spheres in the game’s Cloister of Trials. If players missed them upon their first visit to each temple, they could return much later in the game but would have to face annoyingly powerful dark aeons to do so. Once they had these items, the player had to return to the Baaj temple and defeat the giant fish monster, Geosgaeno. If they manage all that, the player can enter the temple, receiving Anima as their reward. With a summon like Anima at her disposal, it’s no wonder Yuna is one ofFinal Fantasy’smost powerful summoners.
InFinal Fantasy 8, summons are referred to as GFs (Guardian Forces, not girlfriends) and play an integral part in its story. There are a lot of optional, difficult-to-unlock GFs in the game, and honestly, this list could have been 90%Final Fantasy 8summons. UnlockingJumbo Cactuardoesn’t take that many steps compared to some GFs; it’s just a real pain.
All the player needs to do is travel to Cactuar Island on the world map and run into the little Cactuar that jumps up. Fighting Jumbo Cactuar isn’t much fun. It might not be one oftheFinal Fantasybosses with the most HP, but it still has a lot to burn through. It also has a high speed stat and loves to use 10,000 Needles, which is guaranteed to insta-kill at least one party member. An unprepared party is likely to be wiped out before they’ve even scratched the giant cactus. The best strategy is to hit the monster with Slow and Meltdown, and then pelt it with Squall’s ultimate ability, Renzokuken. Just be warned that when Jumbo Cactuar hits 5% HP, it will try and run away, leaving the player to do the whole thing over again. And again. And again.
Final Fantasy 7 Remakegot a lot right, but its summon system is a little underwhelming. The game features some of the franchise’s most iconic summons, but unlocking them never feels that rewarding. They’re either barely hidden in the world, unlocked by progressing the story, or by doing boring chores for Chadley. Of all the game’s summons, the legendary dragonBahamutis easily the hardest to unlock.
Unlocking Bahamut requires the player to beat all the VR fights and complete all of Chadley’s Battle Intel Reports. The VR fights aren’t so bad, but some of those Intel Reports requirea lotof grinding. Many players won’t unlock Bahamut until New Game Plus because they’re simply unwilling to grind so much during their first playthrough. Once players have done Chadley’s chores, they unlock a difficult boss fight against Bahamut himself that they’ll definitely need to prepare for if they want to unlock the summon. While he didn’t quite make this list,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’sGilgamesh requires a similar level of homework to unlock.
When debating the bestFinal Fantasygame,Final Fantasy 6tends to come up a lot. It’s one ofthe most influential turn-based JRPGs ever madeand has one of the franchise’s best battle systems. InFinal Fantasy 6, summons are known as Espers and can be incredibly powerful. The game features one “ultimate” Esper,Crusader.
To unlock Crusader, the player doesn’t just have to defeat one super powerful boss; that would be too easy. Instead, they have to thoroughly explore the World of Ruin and defeat all eight of the game’s legendary dragons. While some of these bosses aren’t so bad, others can be really difficult. To add salt to the wound, while powerful, Crusader’s attacks hit both the party and their enemy, meaning that despite its power compared to other Espers, it’s not even all that useful.
UnlockingFinal Fantasy 7’s most powerful summon isn’t easy. That being said, somewhat surprisingly, it also doesn’t require beating any ofFinal Fantasy 7’shardest bosses. The only foe the player has to overcome is Chocobo genetics and the gods of RNG by breeding a Golden Chocobo.
Breeding a Golden Chocobo will most likely take a fair amount of time, but it’s worth it. The birds can take the player to otherwise inaccessible areas of the game’s map, including Round Island, where theKnights of the Roundmateria can be found. Gamers feeling less patient can simply kill Emerald Weapon to obtain a Golden Chocobo, but that’s something much easier said than done, especially without access to the game’s most powerful attack.
Final Fantasy 12might be one ofthe highest-ratedFinal Fantasygames on Metaritic, but some of its hidden content can be grueling to unlock. The game has a handful of optional summons called Espers to unlock, but doing so is often a grind. Unlocking Chaos, one of the game’s most powerful Espers requires completing a long and fairly tedious quest, Three Medallions.
This quest requires the player to spend a fair amount of time looking for easy-to-miss items, NPCs, and hidden paths. Once they have everything they need, they travel to the Cloister of Distant Song in the Necrohol of Nabudis, where they must use the medallions to unlock and fight two rather difficult bosses. Defeating them will unlock a third boss,Chaos. Chaos has high HP, inflicts status effects, and likes to boost its own damage. If they manage to complete all these steps, players receive the ability to purchase Chaos' license as their reward.
Arkmight be difficult to unlock, but at least the player is given several options as to how to unlockFinal Fantasy 9’s most powerful summon. To receive Ark as an Eidolon, the player needs to acquire the Pumice item, which can be obtained in two different ways. Option one is to defeat Ozma, one of the most powerful ultra-bosses inFinal Fantasyhistory. Defeating Ozma takes a ton of luck, and it isn’t even guaranteed it’ll drop a whole Pumice. Furthermore, just reaching the boss means completing two lengthy side quests.
Option two is to synthesize Pumice by combining Pumice Pieces, which is easier said than done. Step one is defeating the powerful optional boss, Hades, so that he’ll let the player use his synthesis store in the first place. Step two is acquiring two Pumice Pieces. One is dropped by Ark himself, who is a story boss. The other two can be obtained by stealing from Ozma (not fun) or doing the Chocograph minigame. Getting Ark might be a drawn-out process, but seeing as he’s one ofthe most underrated summons inFinal Fantasy, it’s definitely worth it.
9Eden - Final Fantasy 8
Exploring Under The Sea
EdenisFinal Fantasy 8’s most powerful GF, and acquiring it is suitably difficult. First, the player must find the Deep Sea Research Center, which is hidden in the corner of the game’s map. One ofFinal Fantasy’sbest optional dungeons, this area is designed to test all the player’s skills. To begin with, on its upper levels, Squall’s party must first beat Bahamut, which isn’t an easy fight.
Then, to reach the dungeon’s lower levels, the player must complete a series of math puzzles in the guise of a plumbing challenge. The lower levels themselves are full of powerful random encounters, which can quickly wear the party down. The final challenge is facing the super-boss, Eden. Eden has a ridiculous amount of HP, can one-hit KO characters with its Light Pillar ability, and deals heavy damage with the Meteor spell. During this fight, the player must use Draw on the boss to receive the GF, essentially wasting at least one turn. The other option is to draw it from Tiamat in Ultimecia’s Castle, but that’s so late in the game that there’s little point in doing so.
10Zodiark - Final Fantasy 12
A Really Unfair Fight
The process of unlockingZodiarkinFinal Fantasy 12arguably isn’t as long as unlocking Chaos, but it is harder. For starters, players must have collected at least ten Espers and then have to go to Jahara and speak to Geomancer Yugelu to unlock a new area.
After working their way through this difficult new zone, the player will reach the Special Charter Dig. Once they’ve explored this area, players will finally reach Zodiark, the game’s hardest and most irritating boss. Zodiark is one of the franchise’s hardest bosses, and fighting him simply feels unfair at times. He casts a special that can inflict instant death and blindness, not just at the start of the battle but throughout. On top of this, most of his attacks require that characters have broken the HP limit for them to survive. Throughout the battle, Zodiark amps up in power, casting more insta-kill attacks and even becoming immune to physical attacks. It can feel like an incredibly cheap boss fight that requires more luck than skill to survive.
