In Final Fantasy VII Remake, some of the Summon Materia you obtain will require you to defeat said summon in the Combat Simulator. That method of obtaining summons will carry over to Rebirth, as you need to defeat them in the simulator to get the materia. When you reach the 
Junon Region, you will unlock the 
Phoenix battle in the Combat Simulator. This page will go over all of the info and strategies needed to tackle the Phoenix summon boss.
Phoenix will unlock once you reach the Junon Region.
Unlocking the Phoenix Summon Boss¶
As briefly mentioned in the opening paragraph, Phoenix is part of the Combat Simulator and you will automatically unlock the battle upon reaching the Junon Region. This is right after passing through the Mythril Mine in Chapter 3, so the start of Chapter 4 is when you’ll unlock it. Should you fight Phoenix at this point, it will be at Full Might, so things will definitely be challenging (all summon fights will scale to your level). There is a way to make the summon fight easier, which is by finding all of the Divine Intel. Doing this lowers the stats of the Phoenix fight, so you will be able to win more easily.
All of Phoenix’s Attacks¶
Phoenix will have a pretty simple pattern to it, but don’t let that make you complacent, as the battle can be challenging when you first unlock it.
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Flame of Life: Not really an attack, as Phoenix will summon three orbs that will be tethered to it. While these are linked to Phoenix, it will take severely reduced damage. This move is used in conjunction with Breath of Creation.
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Breath of Creation: Whenever there are orbs linked to Phoenix from Flame of Life, it will use this to essentially “hatch” them. These enemies are preset and you’ll need to defeat them all to make Phoenix vulnerable to normal damage.
(1 of 3) Surging Flame is a very quick projectile that slightly homes in on your position.
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Incandescent Burst: Phoenix will explode with fiery energy, which will hit the entire arena. This is pretty much unavoidable, considering it covers a huge area, but you are able to block it.
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Surging Flame: Phoenix will unleash three vertical beams of fire energy, which will home in on your characters. These move much more quickly than Flaming Geyser, but you can also block this move.
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Flaming Geyser: Phoenix will shoot off three flaming projectiles that slowly track your characters. You can either try to block it, or keep running around to let them disappear on their own.
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Rending Talons: Phoenix will go up into the air, then swoop down with its talons, trying to hit you with them.
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Blazing Onrush: Phoenix will do a charging attack across the arena. This is the only non-fire attack in its arsenal.
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Wings of Flame: Similar to the previous attack, but Phoenix will leave behind some fire on the ground as it flies across the arena. You will take damage if you stand in the area affected by the fire.
(1 of 3) Fire spots will be left on the ground with Wings of Flame.
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Crimson Attacks: There are four attacks that start with Crimson, all of which are similar to one another. Phoenix will flash a pattern on the ground, which will then explode shortly after. There will be spots where you can safely stand, so search for those to avoid taking damage. You can block these.
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Rebirth Flame:
Unblockable and unavoidable. Phoenix’s ultimate attack that deals major fire damage to all characters. It will also summon an entire set of enemies at the same time.
Phoenix Boss Strategy¶
Phoenix can be an annoying boss, as it will summon a bunch of reinforcements throughout the battle. What makes it extra annoying is that while the reinforcements are out and alive, Phoenix will take very little damage. So, not only will you have to deal with those other enemies, Phoenix will still be attacking you in between. When the battle starts, Phoenix will always use Flame of Life, which summons three orbs that have a line connecting to it. Right after this, it will use Breath of Creation to spawn an enemy from one of those orbs. There will be some downtime, but it will eventually do it against to spawn a second enemy, then a third.
The first enemy that spawns is a 
Flan, which is easily dealt with by casting a 
Fire spell or two at it. The second enemy it will spawn is a 
Bomb, which is a little troublesome, as it has no weaknesses. The third enemy will be a 
Grandhorn, which is also weak to Fire. This one is a little sturdier, but it should still go down rather quickly. Defeat all three enemies and Phoenix will become pressured, so that’s your chance to quickly build the stagger gauge. If you don’t get this done, then it’s possible that it will use Flame of Life again.
(1 of 4) Phoenix will always open the battle with Flame of Life.
However, the second time will have different enemies, starting with an 
Archdragon (weak to 
Wind). The second enemy will be a 
Fleetwing (also weak to Wind), and the third enemy will be an 
Ogre (weak to Fire). The second set of enemies might be a little more challenging, so you’ll have to contend with them a bit more while trying to avoid Phoenix’s attacks. Speaking of those, the majority of those are fire-based, so if you wait a bit on fighting it, you can get an 
Elemental Materia from one of the simulations. Combine this with a 
Fire Materia on your armor to cut the damage done by half (Elemental Materia takes a lot of AP to level up).
Once you get Phoenix to half health, it will use Rebirth Flame, its ultimate attack. This is unblockable and unavoidable, since it’s a cutscene attack, so you want to make sure your health is as close to full as possible. The first thing you want to do after that attack is heal, but you also need to be careful, as Rebirth Flame will spawn all three of a set of enemies at once. The ones that spawn seem to be determined on the last set it used during the battle. So, if you didn’t get the second set of enemies from Flame of Life, then those will be summoned. Of course, the first priority is to quickly take out all of the extra enemies.
(1 of 2) At 50% HP, Phoenix will use Rebirth Flame to deal damage and summon a whole set of enemies at once.
At 50% HP, Phoenix will use Rebirth Flame to deal damage and summon a whole set of enemies at once. (left), During the second phase, deal big damage to stop Empowering Flame, which can be used to do another Rebirth Flame. (right)
The second phase of this battle is just a straight up fight, with no more extra enemies being summoned. There aren’t really any new attacks, but there is a new ability that you want to keep an eye out for, called Empowering Flame. This may seem like nothing, as it just grants Phoenix some buffs, but if it uses this twice without being interrupted, then it can use Rebirth Flame again. You can simply interrupt it by doing as much damage as possible, which isn’t hard, as Phoenix sits still while trying to perform it. You will also pressure the summon if you do stop it from doing Empowering Flame, so that’s another bonus.
It should be noted that the enemies he summons during the second phase do not get tethered to Phoenix, so you don’t have to worry about losing out on damaging it. The second phase is pretty much just dodging/blocking its attacks, healing when necessary and stopping Empowering Flame. From there, the battle is pretty much a piece of cake, so once you finally get its health to nothing, you will be victorious and have another Summon Materia in your inventory.
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