Summoning Guardian Forces are tricky business, but one that reaps a whole lot of rewards. You can employ the abilities and powers of these companions to aid you in battles. Here’s how you acquire all Guardian Force units in Final Fantasy 8 Remastered.

Final Fantasy 8 Remastered Guardian Force

Guardian Forces (GFs) are sources of magical power that can augment and improve your stats in combat and allow you to tackle the enemies much more easily. Buffs to certain attributes include those of strength, resistance and vitality.

The table below compiles all the Guardian Forces obtainable in Final Fantasy 8 Remastered. The instructions for acquiring them and their location are put down in a succinct manner. Lastly, we’ve also shed light on the tools and abilities these Guardian Forces bring with them.

Guardian Force Abilities Location
Shiva Harnesses the power of Ice and Water to increase vitality and defense. The doom ability will inflict a status effect, chipping at the health of the enemy. Before taking on the fight against Ifrit, interact with the console at Squall’s Desk to recruit Shiva.
Quezacotl A GF focusing on thunder and lightning damage, this elemental creature can also turn your cards or those of the enemies into useful items. Before taking on the fight against Ifrit, interact with the console at Squall’s Desk to recruit Quezacotl.
Ifrit Ifrit focuses on increasing the damage and power output of the user. Later, Ifrit can also perform fire-based attacks. In The Fire Cavern east of Balamb Garden, interact with and defeat Ifrit. This is unmissable since it is part of the story, so you’ll recruit Ifrit after you’ve defeated it.
Diablos The caster of dark and demonic magic, Diablos can buff magic and health aspects as well as eliminate threats of surprise attacks.  Diablos can also manipulate time and space to its liking. Speak with Headmaster Cid before taking on the first SeeD mission in Timber. This will grant you a lamp that you can utilise to summon Diablos. Defeat him by casting Blind and add it to the list of your GFs.
Siren Siren can silence enemies; cast restorative spells, buffs magical stats and allows players to detect secrets in FF8 Remastered. After completing the SeeD exam, draw out Silence from Elvoret boss at the peak of Dollet Radio Tower. Alternatively, you can recruit Siren by drawing it out of Tri-Point boss in Ultimecia castle.
Brothers The duo boosts vitality and defense while also absorbing damage from the enemies via the Cover ability. To encounter and recruit the Brothers, navigate to Tomb of the Unknown north of Deling City in Galbadia.  You can keep moving in an anti-clockwise direction to reach the Watergate and Water Wheel rooms where you’ll fight the Brothers (cast the Float magic for the best result!)
Carbuncle Carbuncle specializes in reflecting attacks with the Counter and Auto-Reflect abilities. Carbuncle will also help you regain vitality. Draw Carbuncle from one of the Iguion sentries aiding Sorceress Eda in Deling City. Alternatively, you can draw out Carbuncle from Krysta in Ultimecia Castle.
Leviathan This GF uses the power of the tsunamic waves to deal damage to enemies and buff the player’s defence. It can also replenish the user’s HP and increase Spirit for every level up. After Squall and co. are summoned for NORG in the military academy, defeat the boss to draw Leviathan out of it. Alternatively, you can do the same with Trauma boss in Ultimecia Castle.
Pandemona The wind elemental GF that boosts strength and speed attributes while also dealing chunks of damage to foes. After the Galbadia attack, you’ll face Fujin and Rajin in a local hotel. You can draw Pandemona from Fujin. Alternatively, it can be done from the Red Giant in Ultimecia Castle.
Cerebrus Very useful in junction-focused abilities and can cast Double or Triple on the team. It can also add auto-haste to the members and can reduce the damage taken from dual-casting spells or those from behind the player. After infiltrating Galbadia’s Garden, Squall can face Cerebrus in the atrium hall. Defeat the GF to recruit it.
Alexander A very defense-focused GF, Alexander will grant your team elemental defense, revival skills and upgrade Med Data. Draw out Alexander from the sorceress, Edea in Battle of the Gardens. Alternatively, you can do the same with Catoblepas in Ultimecia’s castle.
Tonberry A unique GF, Tonberry not only increases chances of players’ evasion and luck, but will sell items as a vendor. The haggle ability will get you sweet discounts while the Level Up ability will get you more rare drops from the enemies. After boarding the ship in Centra Ruins of Balamb Garden, defeat the smaller Tonberrys to get to Tonberry King. Defeat it to recruit the Guardian Force.
Cactuar A well-rounded GF, Cactuar will boost vitality, luck, speed, evasion and magic stats. Defeat Jumbo Cactuar on the Cactuar Island off the shore of Kashkabald Desert in Centra.
Doomtrain This is a heavy-hitting GF which will inflict multiple status effects on the foes. These open chances of counter-attacks. Doomstrain can also create healing item via the Forbidden Medicine ability. You need to gather four types of items. These are 6 Steel Pipes (Wendigos, Timber forests), 6 Malboro Tentacles (defeat Malboro on Island Closest to Hell/Heaven), 6 Remedy+ (transform Remedy to Remedy+ via Alexander’s Med level up ability). The final item is the Solomon’s Ring which you can collect from the woman’s statue at Tear’s Point in Eshtar. Use this ring from the inventory to recruit Doomtrain.
Bahamut A powerful dragon that causes fire damage and boosts your magic and strength stats by 60%. It can also refine forbidden magic and upgrade weapons. Head to the Deep Sea Research Centre via the Ragnarok ship. Here, enter the DSRC room and answer the questions from the terminal correctly. Bahamut will then appear. Defeat the GF to recruit it.
Odin A unique GF that summons on his own to randomly eliminate a foe. Deals immense melee damage with his Zantetsuken blade. Attempt the puzzle in Centra Ruins within 20 minutes to recruit Odin. You’ll also need to fight Odin before you can add him as a GF to your team.
Gilgamesh Like Odin, GF can emerge at random to kill your foes for you. He can unleash the power of his Excalibur or other powerful melee weapons. If you have Odin’s Triple Triad Card, then after defeating Seifer on Lunatic Pandora, Gilgamesh will appear. Defeat him to recruit the GF.
Eden The most powerful GF, this is a game companion can only be recruited in the late game. His most lethal attacks can deal up to 10k damage while he can boost your Evasion, speed, and attack attributes. Lastly, items can be refined to continuously groom Eden. Head deeper into the Deep Sea Research Centre by completing the environmental puzzles and interacting with them. Your best bet is to cast Aura on Squall and hope for a Lionheart finisher with Renzozuken limit breached.  This will allow you to defeat Eden and recruit the final, most powerful Guardian Force in Final Fantasy 8 Remastered.

This marks the end of our Final Fantasy 8 Remastered Guardian Force guide. If you need more help with the game check out our SeeD exams answers.