Final Fantasy VII Remake: How to use the Synergy materia

The materia system is a signature trademark of Final Fantasy VII so it's no surprise to see it return in all its glory in Final Fantasy VII Remake. While some of our favorite materias such as Enemy Skill and even Summons have returned, there are a few key differences -- for instance, the Magnify materia is as close as it gets to the original game's All, for better or worse.

One of the new materia here is Synergy, a unique support materia that isn't very clear on how it's meant to be used -- it's a bit less straightforward than Elemental, for instance. Here, we'll discuss where you find Synergy, and how exactly Synergy works.

For more help with Cloud's reimagined adventure, check out our full FF7 Remake guide & walkthrough. It covers everything from all materia locations and music disc locations for the power of music quest to wall market dresses, Corneo's secret stash and even a detailed choices and consequences guide for those difficult dialogue options - and that's just a handful! 

Final Fantasy VII Remake: Where to find the Synergy materia

There is only one Synergy materia in Final Fantasy VII Remake, and you'll get it from Chadley, the Shinra researcher who you'll encounter multiple times in Midgar. Starting around Chapter 8, he'll expand his selection of Battle Intel reports for you to carry out. Specifically, we're looking at Report 09: Monster Variants Pt. 1

Monster Variants Pt. 1 asks Cloud to simply defeat 3 unique varieties of monsters. These are anything in the Enemy Intel list that have a crosshair next to its name. If you've been diligent in doing quests starting in Chapter 3, you'll have already defeated Doomrat and Wrath Hound, and many of Chapter 8's quests will also lead you to fight unique enemies, such as Venomantis and Hedgehog Pie King. Long story short, completing the report shouldn't be hard at all unless you're allergic to side quests. You'll only be able to ever buy one from Chadley, so Synergy is entirely unique.

Final Fantasy VII Remake: How to use the Synergy materia

Synergy is a blue support materia, which means it must be connected to another magic materia in a linked paired materia slot -- armor or weapon doesn't matter. Synergy only works with Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, and Poison materia.

The in-game description for Synergy reads "Allows an ally to follow the leader's attack command with an attack from linked materia." This doesn't really make it exactly clear how the attack triggers. It actually works very similarly as Auto-Cure does, only you get to decide specifically which spell you want to be automatically cast.

The idea here is that you link Synergy which whichever spell you want that ally to cast when you're not controlling them. For instance, in this example we've slotted Synergy and connected it to Fire in Cloud's armor.

Now, when we are not controlling Cloud, he will cast Fire whenever the party leader uses an offensive ability. Two important things to note is that he must have at least one atb charge to cast the spell and he must have enough MP, and he must not be silenced. [Update: See note below about Intergrade]

Other things we've noted in our testing:

• Despite the level of the linked materia, Cloud always only ever cast the base-level version of the spell -- IE, even if Aerith casts Thundaga, Cloud follows up with Fire, not Firaga.
• Cloud will also follow up non-damaging offensive spells, such as Slow.
• Synergy will also follow up offensive abilities, such as Tifa's Divekick and Overpower.
• Synergy will also follow up offensive abilities that don't select an enemy target, such as Aerith's Sorcerous Storm.

Is it worth it?: The fact that Synergy seems to be limited to base-level spells and will use up ATB charges seems to make Synergy not widely applicable, in our opinion. Unless you're planning ahead of time to fight an enemy that you know has a given weakness, it's hard to see using synergy as significantly better than manually casting the spell -- potentially linking something like HP Absorption instead.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

The way Synergy material works in the PlayStation 5 and PC Intergrade version of Final Fantasy VII Remake has been changed. In these versions, the Synergized spell does *not* cost MP or AP, meaning it is essentially a free action for a non-player-controlled combatant. This makes it a much more valuable material, and can be used in a few different ways, including linking a copy of the synergized magic materia with an HP Absorption or MP Absorption materia for free healing.