How to get Titan Summon and guardian sanctuaries in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
How to unlock your first new summon.
Summons are one of the most powerful spells in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, allowing you to call upon a giant deity to battle to fight alongside your party and unleash powerful abilities when you have taken enough damage during a tough battle.
The good news is that you start the game with quite a few Summoning Materia from Final Fantasy 7 Remake. However, there are also plenty of new Summoning Materia available in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Titan is the first one you have the chance to unlock. This is a hard-hitting Summon that deals a large amount of non-elemental damage (technically, it's earth-based but this game only has four elements).
Obtaining Summoning Materia is similar to Final Fantasy 7 Remake in that you have to complete one of Chadley's combat challenges. You'll also likely find it far more challenging than expected, however, so there's a few more steps to take before going ahead with this.
This guide explains how to obtain the Titan Summoning Materia and how to weaken Titan with the Guardian Sanctuaries.
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Guardian Sanctuaries in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth explained
Each region of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has its own summon entity, with Titan being the summon entity in the Grasslands region. You have the opportunity to battle Titan when you first run into Chadley at Bill's Ranch shortly after you have unlocked the ability to ride a Chocobo.
One of Chadley's new requests is for you to gather world intel in the open world but a returning feature is his VR-style combat simulator. The challenge Summon Entity: Titan will be available as soon as the combat simulator is unlocked, giving you the chance to obtain the Titan Materia very early. If you rush straight into the battle, however, you'll find yourself incredibly overwhelmed by its high damage.
But instead of banging your head against its rock wall or waiting until you've leveled up considerably, you'll also notice there's an option to select the fight's difficulty. While the default fight is at Full Might, you can bring its power down by up to three levels to make it an easier battle, while also strengthening the Summoning Materia you'll eventually obtain. These options will however be greyed out to begin with, as you first have to analyse the summon crystals in the Grasslands region.
There are three Guardian Sanctuaries in total for Titan where the summon crystals are located. When you're near one, you'll also come across guidestones that when broken will release a trail of light to point you in the sanctuary's location.
Once you're at the sanctuary, you have to examine the crystal and it will reveal its crystal memory matrix. This is a rhythm and memory-based mini-game where a series of points appear around a circle with symbols corresponding with the PS5 controller's face buttons. A light hand will spin around the circle to denote the positions and timings of these points. When you start the analysis, these points will fade out before you're prompted to make the correct inputs at the correct times. If successful, then you will have extracted the necessary data to weaken the summon entity, while you'll also add data points to the region's World Intel, as well as party EXP.
To find these sanctuaries, you can fortunately make use of Remnawave Towers in the region, which, when activated, reveal new points of interest on the map that further add to researching the region's World Intel. These towers will also reveal the locations of the three sanctuaries you need for weakening Titan.
Titan Sanctuary locations in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
On the region map, sanctuaries are denoted by an icon that resembles a crystal with an arch around it. The icon will appear on the map if you approach it yourself or by activating the corresponding tower it's near to. These are the towers you want to activate first and how to get to the sanctuary from there.
1. Activation Intel 2: Eastern Seaboard Tower - reveals location of Divine Intel 1: Titan Sanctuary
This tower is found at the east side of the Grasslands close to cliffs overlooking the coast. There's just a couple of wolves you have to take care of before you're free to activate it.
The sanctuary is just north of the tower so you just have to follow the path and then take a right when the road splits. While you might appear very close to the icon on the map, it's nowhere in sight on the surface. You will, however, encounter a guidestone nearby so break that and the light will point you to a rocky path to the right that takes you down.
On the way down there's another guidestone you can break and the path basically winds you back around to a cave below where the sanctuary is located. Examine the crystal and you'll get the following crystal memory matrix you have to memorise.
Get the inputs correct and you'll extract the data for the first summon crystal for Titan.
2. Activation Intel 3: Swamplands Tower - reveals Divine Intel 2: Titan Sanctuary
This tower is furthest to the South in the centre of the Grasslands region. The sanctuary revealed is, however, across the swamp so you actually want to fast-travel back to Abandoned Dock and cross the swamp with your Chocobo, which is where you're heading if you're progressing the story.
When you've crossed the swamp to reach the foot of what seems to be ruins of a stone bridge, you should see a guidestone you can break, and the light revealed will guide you upwards. Look at the wall and there should be a point you can climb up. This will take you to a cave where the sanctuary is.
Examine the crystal and you'll get the following crystal memory matrix to memorise.
Get the inputs and timing right to extract the data for the second summon crystal for Titan.
3. Activation Intel 6: Wastelands Tower - reveals Divine Intel 3: Titan Sanctuary
This tower is the furthest west of the Grasslands region, albeit in the area that's a rocky wasteland rather than grassland. The unit you have to activate is also higher up the tower so you'll need to climb a couple of ladders to reach it.
The sanctuary is south of the tower, though there'll be a big pipeline in your way from the tower's location, so you head a little further west until the pipe goes underground to cross over. It's a rocky path to reach the sanctuary but you should encounter a guidestone or two to point you in the right direction. Essentially, you'll have to follow around a big rocky structure to reach an entrance that takes you to the sanctuary.
Once there, examine the summon crystal and memorise the following crystal memory matrix.
When you've got this correct, you'll have extracted data for all the summon crystals for Titan.
Titan Combat Challenge strategy in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Having analysed all three summon crystals in the Grasslands region, go speak to Chadley and you'll have the option to select the lowest difficulty to fight Titan. He'll still hurl huge non-elemental rocks at you but the most powerful attack will just take a fraction of your HP rather than almost one-shot your whole party, so it doesn't really matter who you select for your party of three.
Although an entity with non-elemental damage, Titan is actually weak to wind so having Aerith use Aero is effective pressure. However, both Cloud and Tifa's standard attacks are just as effective, especially if you block, evade or counter his attacks first.
Cloud's Punisher Mode will be best here as he can deal damage that quickly builds up his ATB bar, while holding guard unleashes a terrific counter that also does wonders for ATB. You can then spend the ATB on Focused Thrust, which will increase Titan's stagger gauge quicker.
Just be aware that Punisher guard doesn't work against Titan's Stone spells. Overall, you won't have to worry too much about his attacks as in his weakened form you'll be able to withstand most of what he throws at you.
When Titan is down to half his HP, he'll perform Earthern Aegis, which raises a barrier around him reducing the damage taken. The barrier actually has its own HP so instead of blindly wailing on Titan, have your attack locked onto the barrier instead to take it down. He also has more powerful attacks in this state, including a combo called Mountain Crusher and another called Granite Shell that encases a character in rock before he charges and smashes them. Fortunately, in his weakest form this attack only does a couple hundred damage, but if the character you're controlling is targeted, switch to another party member who can still move and attack.
Focus on taking down the barrier either with party members' unique abilities or Synergy Abilities. If you leave the barrier alone for too long, he will eventually start charging up a devastating attack called Earthern Fury that will damage everyone. Normally, this would probably mean you're toast but at his weakest form, you don't have to worry too much, though healing afterwards is still good for reassurance.
When the barrier is down, Titan will be pressured for a good amount of time so all of your attacks will increase the stagger bar faster. Once staggered, one or two Braver attacks from Cloud, along with your allies' firepower will be enough to finish him off.
With the fight over, you'll be awarded the Titan Materia, and as you have analysed all three summon crystals, it will also be at its four-star rating, allowing you to use its Boulder Hurl ability when summoned in battle.
Good luck with obtaining more Summoning Materia in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth! A word of warning however that the others will put up much more of a fight, even after analysing all the summon crystals.