The ultimate challenge in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is Gilgamesh — the mysterious being from another world menaces Cloud and company throughout the game if you tackle the many Protorelic quests. Finishing those quests unlocks the hidden Gilgamesh Island where you’ll face off against some of the toughest battles in the entire game. I recommend waiting until you’ve finished the story before even thinking about taking on the bosses on Gilgamesh Island.
If you’re hungry to get the most powerful Summon Materia in FF7, here’s what you need to do to unlock Gilgamesh. We’ll also include basic strategies for every Protorelic sub-quest on Gilgamesh island. These battles are so difficult, a few tips can really help point you in the right direction. When you’re ready to overcome one of the biggest challenges in the open-world of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, here’s how to unlock the Gilgamesh Summon.
Unlocking Gilgamesh Island
To unlock the Gilgamesh Summon Materia we’ll need to travel to Gilgamesh Island and battle Gilgamesh himself in a difficult boss fight. This is endgame content and shouldn’t be attempted until after finishing the main story.
- To unlock Gilgamesh Island, complete all Protorelic quests. There is a Protorelic questline in all six regions. The last Protorelic quests unlock in Chapter 12 in the Corel Region.
- After finishing all Protorelics, a cutscene will show Gilgamesh Island appearing in the Meridian Sea. Use the Tiny Bronco to reach this location.
- This area is only available in Chapter 12 (after the Gold Saucer) or Chapter 13 (before travelling north) and is recommended for Level 65-70. For best result, I recommend waiting until you’re Level 70.
Once you reach Gilgamesh Island, you’ll need to complete three Tempering rituals. To complete these, you’ll need to collect all six Summon Materia and fully upgrade each.
- Each region you visit will unlock a new Summon Materia in Chadley’s Combat Simulator.
- You unlock Summon Materia, defeat them in the Combat Simulator. These are difficult boss fights — to make them easier, complete Divine Intel / Sanctuaries. There are three Sanctuaries in each of the six regions.
Collect all six Summon Materia and level the Materia to max by completing all Divine Intel. Once you do that, you’ll be able to activate the three rituals. In these rituals, you’ll need to battle two Summons in a single boss fight. They’re extremely difficult, so I recommend grinding to Level 70 before attempting any of the battles ahead.
Tempering #1: Titan + Bahamut Arisen
Bahamut and Titan have high defense and extreme power. Destroy the barrier protecting one to remove the barrier from both.
- Target the barrier. When it breaks, you’ll be able to damage either Bahamut or Titan.
- Bahamut is the real threat in this battle. When Bahamut begins to charge and expose its wings, break the wings. If it charges too often, it will eventually unleash a powerful attack.
Bahamut is pressured with Synergy Abilities. Charge and use them often to pressure and eventually deal more damage. Like all bosses on this list, you’ll want to unlock Level 3 Limit Breaks and charge them. Destroy the Titan Barrier, defeat Bahamut first, then polish off Titan.
Tempering #2: Kujata + Phoenix
This aggravating fight seems impossible at first. Kujata is linked to Phoenix — and while linked, Phoenix is immune to all damage.
- To damage Phoenix, you must defeat Kujata. Kujata changes elemental types. Exploit its weaknesses by attacking it with the opposite element. Exploiting its elemental weakness will pressure it.
- Ignore Phoenix and focus totally on Kujata. Build up your Limit Break Level while fighting Kujata. Destroy it once and Phoenix will automatically revive it. You can’t avoid this.
- After Kujata is revived, the link to Phoenix will break. Now you can damage Phoenix — attacking it normally will stagger it. Once staggered, us your Limit Breaks and everything else to kill it quickly.
Phoenix is relatively weak compared to Kujata. Destroy Kujata once, then destroy Phoenix and swap back to finishing Kujata a second time.
Tempering #3: Alexander + Odin
Two of the strongest Summons appearing in one fight makes this a difficult encounter. Equip an Esuna Materia to periodically use on Alexander to lower his Karma Level. Once Alexander is fully charged with Karma, he will unleash a powerful attack. Luckily, this is not an instakill attack. If you’re healing you’ll be able to survive.
- And Alexander is the lesser of the two threats. Odin is far more dangerous. Odin will charge his own party instakill attack during the fight. If you take too much damage without hitting Alexander or Odin back, you’ll build up Odin’s instakill ability. A special ‘horn’ ability will warn you that he has almost reached full charge.
- To stop Odin, you need to deal damage. At the start of the fight, focus on damaging Odin. After he takes a certain amount of damage, he’ll retreat temporarily — but, even when retreated — he can charge his instakill attack and use it. Make sure you continue to constantly attack Alexander.
- Eventually, Odin will return. Focus on destroying Alexander with Level 3 Limit Breaks and other powerful skills when he is staggered. Destroying Alexander so you can focus entirely on Odin makes this fight much, much easier.
Alexander can be destroyed surprisingly quickly, too. Once Staggered, build up the damage bonus with Tifa’s Unfettered Rage combo finishers and True Strike. Use Unfettered Rage twice, then True Strike twice after Stagger to push the damage multiplier to 280%.
Boss: Gilgamesh
The most difficult standard boss in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is Gilgamesh. This incredibly powerful swordman has a wide range of abilities. Before entering the fight, you’ll want to grind to Level 70. Bring lots of High Ether, Mist Potions and Maiden’s Kiss. Gilgamesh has an annoying ability to transform your party members into frogs. Bring Mega and Giga Mist Potions to keep your party healed and save MP.
- To pressure Gilgamesh, you’ll need to Perfect Guard his attacks. This is surprisingly difficult and takes practice — but it isn’t required to win the fight. You can brute force victory.
- Level 3 Limit Breaks and Synergy Abilities are very important here. Use Synergy to level up your Limite Breaks to Level 3 and unleash them when Gilgamesh is staggered to deal significant damage.
- Tifa can use Unfettered Rage to deal more Stagger Meter damage, while Barret can use Bonus Round to shoot special bullets that fill the Stagger Meter faster. Any skills that increase Stagger Meter damage are important for this fight.
- When he is staggered, use two of Tifa’s Combo Finishers (charged by using Unfettered Rage or Unbridled Strength twice) then use True Strike. These abilities will boost the stagger damage multiplier extremely high.
Be prepared for a long and difficult battle. If you manage to win, you’ll earn the Gilgamesh Summon Materia and unlock Genji Gear recipes in the Item Transmuter. In addition, you’ll be able to buy four unique new Materia from Chadley. He’ll appear in the Gilgamesh arena after the battle.
Finally, you’ll unlock one more series of challenges. The Combat Simulator will gain Brutal and Legendary difficulty battles. These are the true toughest challenges in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth — and you won’t be able to gain more levels to make them easier. At least with the Gilgamesh Summon you’ll make some of these battles a little easier.
