Final Fantasy 7 Remake: 10 Best Materia You Don't Want To Miss

Final Fantasy 7 is all about Materia. Equipping and upgrading your favorite Materia to enhance your party is a major part of the gameplay, and unlocking new Materia slots is always an exciting prospect, because that means you can make your party even stronger. Most of the standard Materia can be purchased from shops or vending machines, but certain Materia is incredibly limited — you might only find one single unique Materia orb for certain spells.

There’s a lot of Materia in the game, so I’m breaking it down to my top 10 recommendations. These are the Materia you absolutely won’t want to miss — there’s a whole lot more essential Materia (like Revive) that I don’t list here just because it’s very possible to purchase more of it on your own. This list is all about underrated or extremely rare Materia you might’ve overlooked. We’ve got 10 orbs listed below with their locations so you can stock up on anything you’ve missed.

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Chakra Materia

Chakra is an incredibly important — and very rare — Materia for Hard Mode. It allows you to heal yourself with ATB. No MP required. That makes it incredibly valuable for the late game, and once it’s fully upgraded, it provides a pretty good HP boost. Fill up both ATB bars and use it twice!

Location: Tifa starts with this Materia. You can find more Chakra at the Sector 7 Slums Item Shop (or other item shops) for 500 Gil.

Elemental Materia

The Elemental Materia is an offensive and defensive Materia. By placing the Elemental Materia in a linked slot next to an elemental type (Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind) you can gain either bonus elemental damage to your attack, or enhanced defense against the matching element.

Location: Complete the ‘Collapsed Passageway’ Discovery quest in Chapter 6 – Sector 4 – Plate Interior.

Chocobo & Moogle Summon Materia

While it isn’t the best Summon — it’s actually one of the least useful — it is still a summon. I want a full collection of summons, and this is the one summon that can be missed in-game.

Location: At the end of the Chapter 6 – Sector 4 – Plate Interior dungeon, you’ll have to disable three sunlights. Use the lift platform to the right of the exit to reach an optional path. Get through the enemy room in a minute or less to reach this materia.

Magic Up Materia

Not everyone is as good at magic as Aerith. Barret serves as a secondary magic-support party member, so it helps to equip him with the Magic Up Materia, which improves his magic power and makes his healing more effective. You can give it to anyone, but I recommend slapping this on Barret when Aerith isn’t around.

Location: Found near the end of the Mako Reactor in Chapter 7. At the top, you can play an optional unlocking mini-game to access the dump room. Inside this room, you’ll find the Magic Up Materia.

Prayer Materia

Another incredibly useful healing materia like Chakra. Prayer costs 2 ATB but it heals your entire party. Give a support party-member Haste and Prayer, and they’ll be able to keep your party healthy without wasting MP. You can only get two of these total.

Location: Aerith starts with one. If you want a second one, reach Chapter 14 and complete the ‘Corneo’s Secret Stash’ side-quest. The materia is located behind the gate in the Steel Mountain stash.

Magnify Materia

One of the best Materia in the entire game — and there’s only one. Magnify, when linked with another Materia, allows you to cast area-of-effect magic for the same MP cost that’s only slightly less effective. Link with Fire to hit every enemy with a spell, or link with Cure to heal your entire party. It’s incredibly useful.

Location: Found in the Collapsed Tunnel in Chapter 9. At the third robot arm puzzle, stack the two containers on top of each other, then move the top container to the right to create a platform for Aerith. Drop her off and she’ll collect Magnify.

Warding Materia

Another rare Materia, this provides a powerful defense against elements. You’ll need to link Materia to Warding to get the benefit. Like some of the other rare Materia, there is only one location.

Location: In Chapter 10, near the end of the Sewers dungeon, you’ll reach an area called ‘Aqueduct 1’. There’s a bunch of optional rooms to the left of the main path. Go explore to find this Materia.

MP Absorption Materia

An absolutely essential Materia — you won’t get far in Hard Mode without it. Link to your favorite elemental spells and you’ll earn back some of the MP you waste. Anything that helps you retain a little MP is a life saver on Hard Mode.

Location: Complete Battle Intel #18 for Chadley to unlock it at his shop. It’s a tough one — you’ll need to reach max rank in all 12 spell Materias. The next Materia on our list will help you.

AP Up Materia

Link AP Up to any Materia, and you’ll earn double AP after every fight. This is the best way to rank up Revive Materia, which is easily the hardest Materia to upgrade. Arise is another absolutely essential spell, making this a vital tool in your arsenal to prepare for Hard Mode.

Location: In Chapter 14, after leaving Aerith’s House, you’ll find the strange Pedometer Materia near the exit steps. Equip this to any character and run 5,000 Steps to unlock AP Up. You’ll easily earn it just by running around the slums completing side-quest in Chapter 14.

Refocus Materia

The only Materia that unlocks a Limit Break, Refocus is a pretty cool little Materia. It isn’t exactly required, but you can only find three total in the game. It’s also important for completing a Battle Intel. Refocus, when used, splits your ADP meter into three bars instead of two.

Location: Aerith starts with Refocus, and you can earn two more in the Hojo Lab Shinra Combat Simulator that unlocks after completing the game once. Return to Chapter 17 on Hard Mode to attempt the Two-Member or Three-Member battles.