How to level up Materia fast in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Materia is front and center of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s combat, and to stop Avalanche from becoming snowed under by difficult enemies, upgrading your Materia fast is key to digging yourself out of danger.

Final Fantasy 7 gave us the Materia system—a gameplay mechanic still lauded to this day, and rightly so. It offers the ability to mix and match different types of magic, grow them as you see fit, try new ones out, and experiment without severe repercussions.

It’s represented beautifully in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth—and I know you want to level yours up as quickly as possible.

Fastest ways to level up Materia fast in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Let the battles begin!

Fight, slash, guard, riposte, charge your ATB meter, unleash Materia, and earn battle rewards consisting of Gil and AP for your Materia. To be fair, it doesn’t matter if you specifically use the Materia you want to level up in combat because it levels up regardless.

So theoretically, you can just deal damage with your primary weapons, win the fight with said Materia equipped, and still get rewarded with AP.

Regardless, if you want to level up certain Materia, you need to engage in combat as much as you can. Take on all comers and don’t avoid fights, lest you be stuck with 1-star Materia until the end of time.

Use AP-boosting support Materia

Two Support Materia, in particular, are the gateway to quicker Materia-leveling: AP Up Materia and Level Boost Materia.

AP UP Materia

Starting with the best option—AP Up Materia—if you have a weapon or accessory with two connecting Materia slots, you can place the AP Up Materia in one and the Materia you want to level up faster in the other. By doing so, you earn double the AP you normally would for the linked Materia.

Do note, though, the piece of equipment must have two Materia slots with a clear and distinct connecting strip joining the two slots together. For example, if you have a sword for Cloud with two separate Materia slots and place the AP Up Materia in one and Fire Materia in the other, you won’t earn double AP.

You will know if you’ve done it correctly, as there should be a fine blue outline around the two slots—as shown in the picture above.

Level Boost Materia

While you don’t directly earn extra AP for using Level Boost Materia together with a piece of Materia, if they are correctly paired up, it automatically increases the level of the Materia by one.

For instance, if you have 1-star Fire Materia and link it to Level Boost Materia, it immediately becomes 2-star Fire Materia—allowing you to cast Fira. It’s a quick bypass, for sure. The spell becomes much stronger, allowing you to win battles faster and still earn AP toward its next, and potentially final, form.

Find pre-made 2-star Materia through exploring & Quests

For most of the early stages of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, you find, are given, and can buy 1-star Materia. This is so you equip it with a weapon or accessory and level it up naturally. However, if you go out of your way to explore every nook and cranny of Midgar—tick off side quests, open chests, and other extracurricular activities—you can instantly obtain 2-star Materia or even higher perhaps levels.

This means you can forego all the grindy legwork needed to upgrade Materia by obtaining a Level-2 variant on your travels. It encourages you to stretch your legs, run up the miles counter on your Chocobo, and be given a pat on the back for doing so.

Complete Chadley’s research for the Grasslands, Junon, and other regions, and he can develop Materia for you. Although it’s dependent on the region you’re trading in your rewards for, you can snap up Support Materia to aid you.

Chadley’s Combat Simulator

For consistent battles where you can control the variables by handpicking them yourself, you can always pop into Chadley’s Combat Simulator.

Once you reconnect with the handy hero from the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, you gain access to his research tasks and the Combat Simulator. Taking on new monsters in FF7 Rebirth, finding Summon research, amongst other activities, unlocks new combat scenarios in the simulator.

You can earn lots of AP here for your Materia without the risk of permanent death, saving your stock of items in the process.