5 most powerful summons in Final Fantasy history

Summons, also known as Eidolons or Eikons, are powerful monsters that can be summoned in Final Fantasy games. Some stick around and assist players for the entirety of the battle, while others appear once, perform an attack and leave.

Across the franchise, many protagonists identify as summoners, but not everyone’s power levels are equal. An argument could be made about many other summons in the series to be a part of this list.

This is the opinion of one writer, and how they see the power levels of various summons in the franchise.

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Which Summon/Eidolon is the mightiest of all in Final Fantasy?

Across the Final Fantasy franchise, how summons work tends to vary wildly. In some games, certain characters identify as summoners, while in others, everyone has access to the power if they equip certain items.

Whether called forth by a summoner or activated through Materia and Magicite, summons almost always feature game-changing attacks. All it requires for a summon to be on this list is that they can be called forth, temporarily or permanently, in a Final Fantasy title.

Best summons in Final Fantasy

• Phoenix
• Hades
• Eden
• Yojimbo
• Knights of the Round

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5) Phoenix

A rather common choice, Phoenix stands out as one of the more useful healing/support summons. It often deals fire damage to all enemies, but also resurrects all dead party members upon casting. While it plays a pivotal role in Locke’s story in FFVI, the best instance of Phoenix has to be in Final Fantasy VII.

In FFVII, Phoenix can be combined with various other materia to make it incredibly easy to overwhelm even powerful bosses. For example, one of the most popular combos in the game is Final Attack+Phoenix.

This means that whenever the party member dies, they cast Phoenix to resurrect dead party members. It can completely save the day in a tight spot, for sure.

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4) Hades

Hades is another summon that has its greatest role in FFVII. Found in the Sunken Gelnika location, it costs 150MP to summon, but has a devastating effect. It deals combat damage to all enemies and causes a variety of status ailments through the Black Cauldron attack.

All enemies can be inflicted by Sleep, Poison, Confusion, Silence, Frog, Mini, Slow, and Paralyze. Combining this with Quad Summon is an effective way to grind through areas like the Battle Arena for Omnislash.

Though Hades is also the final boss of FFXIV: Shadowbringers, he is not summoned in any game other than FFVII, and in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-.

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3) Eden

The ultimate summon in Final Fantasy VIII, Eden, can be found in the Deep Sea Research Center dungeon. It has a number of amazing features, such as the ability to break the damage limit and has Speed, Evasion, and Hit junctions.

It can devour opponents, which can offer permanent stat boosts, and is, in general, an unstoppable force of nature. There are plenty of amazing Guardian Forces in FFVIII like Cactuar, but Eden, when drawn from Ultima Weapon, will quickly prove itself to be a real asset.

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2) Yojimbo

Yes, Yojimbo is really one of the most powerful summons in the entire franchise. Final Fantasy X’s Yojimbo has a variety of attacks, depending on how much money Yuna gives him, and for that very reason, he can be a little frustrating to work with. There are many guides that exist to show how to easily get his ultimate attack consistently, Zanmato.

What makes Zanmato so great? This attack can essentially defeat any boss in the game with one strike. Even the ultimate, final superboss Penance can be struck through by Yojimbo with the greatest of ease, taking the boss down as if they were nothing.

He might be situational and require a great deal of money to get the most out of him, but if there is anything worth using money on, it has to be Yojimbo. Even the most frustrating battles can be defeated with one hit.

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1) Knights of the Round

While it takes a long time to sit through the casting of this, very few summons in the entire history of Final Fantasy match the sheer power of the Knights of the Round. It requires access to a Gold Chocobo, but having it means FFVII players can hit one target for about 129,987 damage.

Only a handful of enemies in the entire game cannot be one-shot by KOTR’s devastating attack. This includes the Weapons, the final boss, and funnily enough, chocobos. It’s a late-game attack, and can only be summoned in FFVII.

They do show up again in Final Fantasy XIV as a raid encounter, interestingly enough. Whether they are called Eidolons, Eikons, Summons, or Espers, few summons can ever match the ease with which Knights of the Round put enemies away.

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While some summons in other games can do hundreds of thousands of damage, this list represents an assortment of the most powerful summons across the franchise, each with something that makes them unique or interesting.