Enemy Skill Materia
During Final Fantasy VII (FF7, FFVII) you can obtain a total of four Enemy Skill Materia. Enemy Skill Materia is a Command type Materia and allows you to learn enemy spells and attacks. If you have the Enemy Skill Materia equipped and a learnable attack or spell is used on you, your Materia will absorb the ability and it will then be available for use by anyone with that Enemy Skill Materia equipped. This gives your party access to numerous abilities and new strategies in battle that would otherwise not be available.
An Enemy Skill will only be learned if it is currently unknown on the Materia. This means if a character is equipped with multiple Enemy Skill Materia, they will only learn a skill if both Materia do not know it. Enemy Skills will be learned even if the move results in the character’s death. Enemy skills will not be retained if the party escapes from battle, is completely ejected by an ability from the battle, or if they are fighting in the Battle Arena. Enemy Skill Materia is also incompatible with linked Support Materia and there are a total of 24 available skills to learn with the Materia.
Where to find Enemy Skill Materia
There are four locations where you can find Enemy Skill Materia in Final Fantasy VII (FF7, FFVII).
Shinra Headquarters
The Shinra Headquarters contains the first of the four Enemy Skill Materia. Here you’ll find the Materia laying on the floor of the container that held Red XIII after the fight with Sample:H0512. This is the only one of the four that is missable. If you don’t grab it while you’re in the Shinra Building you will not be able to obtain it later on.
Junon
The second piece of Enemy Skill Materia is located in the town of Junon. You’ll need to head into the basement of the “Respectable Inn” to locate it.
Forgotten Capital
The third piece of Materia is found in the Forgotten Capital. As you make your way through the Forgotten Capital, you’ll find the Materia on top of one of the shell houses.
Chocobo Sage
The fourth and final piece is located in the home of the Chocobo Sage. Once you gain access to the Highwind you can make your way over to the Chocobo Sage. Speak to the Green Chocobo on the bottom floor to obtain the final Enemy Skill Materia.
The Easiest Way to Learn Enemy Skills – Manipulate Materia and Hypnocrown Strategy
Since it can be a substantial challenge getting an enemy to use a particular skill on a character equipped with the Materia, you can use a strategy to shorten the process. There is another Materia called the Manipulate Materia, if you equip this, it will allow you to use the Manipulate command. Using this command on an enemy, if successful, will then let you select attack commands for the enemy to use, allowing you to force them to use the skill you want against the character with the Enemy Skill Materia. You can also equip the character that is holding the Manipulate Materia with a Hypno Crown to boost the success rate of the Manipulate Skill.
Where to find Manipulate Materia
Cait Sith comes equipped with Manipulate Materia when you first unlock him. You can also purchase Manipulate Materia from Rocket Town and Fort Condor.
Where to find the Hypno Crown
The Hypno Crown accessory (HypnoCrown) is obtained from a chest in the Coral Valley Cave.
Enemy Skill Materia – Ability List:
Frog Song
The ability “Frog Song” can be used to inflict either the Sleep or Frog (sometimes both) status effect on one enemy.
The easiest area to acquire this skill is from the small frog enemies called “Touch Me” found in the Jungle areas around Gongaga.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frog Song | Inflicts Sleep and Frog on one target | Touch Me |  | Gongaga Area |
| Toxic Frog |  | Temple of the Ancients | ||
| Christopher |  | Northern Cave |
L4 Suicide
The L4 Suicide ability removes 96% of the target’s current HP and inflicts the Small Status effect, so long as the target’s level is divisible by 4. Bosses and some strong enemies are immune to its effects.
The easiest way to obtain the ability is from the Mu found in the Grasslands area, just outside the Chocobo Ranch. They don’t use it often, so you may need to wait a little while for them to cast the skill though.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L4 Suicide | Removes 96% of the enemies HP and inflicts the Small Status | Mu |  | Grasslands Area |
| Trickplay |  | Icicle Area Forgotten Capital |
Magic Hammer
The enemy skill, Magic Hammer, drains 100 MP from the target and transfers it to the caster.
Magic Hammer is obtained from the Razor Weed enemies outside of Wutai. They will not usually use the move though, so you’ll need to hit them with Manipulate and force them to use the skill on your character to learn it.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic Hammer | Drains 100 MP from the target and gives it to the caster. | Razor Weed |  | Wutai Area Da-Chao Statue |
White Wind
White Wind restores HP and cures status effects for the entire party. It will also bypass the Reflect status and MBarrier as well.
The easiest way to learn White Wind is from the Zemzelett enemies found in the fields around the Junon area. You’ll need the Manipulate Materia to force the enemy to cast White Wind on the party.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Wind | Restores HP equal to caster’s current HP and cures the following status effects: Sleep, Poison, Confusion, Silence, Slow, Stop, Frog, Small, Slow-Numb, Petrify, Berserk, Paralyzed, Darkness, Death Force, and Resist Status. White Wind also bypasses Reflect and MBarrer. | Zemzelett (must use Manipulate Materia) |  | Junon Area |
| Wind Wing (must use Manipulate Materia) |  | Whirlwind Maze |
Big Guard
Big Guard grants your party a whole host of positive status effects including Haste, Barrier, and MBarrier. Haste will allow your ATB gauge to fill much faster, Barrier reduces income physical damage, and MBarrier reduces incoming magic damage (it also reduces the effectiveness of spells like Cure). Big Guard can help significantly with tough battles, giving your party much greater survivability.
The easiest way to learn the Big Guard ability is from the Beach Plug enemy found on the beaches near Costa Del Sol. You’ll need to land a successful Manipulate in order to force the enemy to cast the protective ability on a member of your party.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Guard | Casts Haste, Barrier, and MBarrier on the Party. Can’t be Reflected. | Beach Plug (must use Manipulate Materia) |  | Corel Area Beach; Gold Saucer Area Beach; Gongaga Area Beach |
| Wolfmeister (must use Manipulate Materia) |  | Coal Train |
Angel Whisper
Angel Whisper will completely refill a character’s HP, revive them if they have been KO’d, and cure a host of status effects including Berserk, Confuse, Darkness, Frog, Paralyze, Petrify, Poison, Silence, Sleep, Slow, Slow-numb, Small, and Stop. This makes it stronger than White Wind, especially due to the ability to revive fallen allies, however, it can only be cast on one party member at a time.
Angel Whisper is learned from the Pollensalta enemy found in the Northern Cave. You’ll need to use Manipulate Materia to learn this ability as well, as the Pollensalta will not cast this on your party during a normal battle.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angel Whisper | Revives a KO’d character, refills HP to full, cures status effects: Berserk, Confuse, Darkness, Frog, Paralyze, Petrify, Poison, Silence, Sleep, Slow, Slow-numb, Small, and Stop. | Pollensalta (must use Manipulate Materia) |  | Northern Cave (Spiral Upper, Spiral Lower, Hatchery, and Spine areas.) |
Dragon Force
Dragon Force raises the Defense and Magic Defense for one target to 150%, it also bypasses the Reflect status. This will decrease the damage that the party member takes from most sources and help with survivability in tough battles.
Dragon Force is learned from the Dark Dragon enemy found in the first two areas of the Northern Cave. You’ll need to use the Manipulate Materia to force it to use the ability on a party member for it to be added to your Enemy Skill Materia.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon Force | Increases a party member’s Defense and Magic Defense by 150%. Bypasses Reflect. | Dark Dragon (must use Manipulate Materia) |  | Northern Cave (Spiral Upper, Spiral Lower, Hatchery, and Spine areas.) |
Death Force
Using Death Force on a party member grants them the “Death Force” status which protects that party member from instant death attacks.
Death Force can be learned from the Adamantaimai enemy found on the beaches around the Wutai area. You’ll need to use the Manipulate Materia in order to force it to use the skill on a party member.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Death Force | Inflicts Death Force status on a party member, preventing them from being affected by instant death attacks. | Adamantaimai (must use Manipulate Materia) |  | Wutai Area Beaches |
Flame Thrower
The Flame Thrower ability will inflict fire damage to one enemy. It is relatively weak compared to some of the other fire magic that is available and will likely be outclassed quickly.
Flame Thrower is easily learned from the Ark Dragons of the Mythril Mine. Ark Dragons regularly use the ability making this ability relatively easy to obtain as well.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flame Thrower | Inflicts minor Fire Damage to one enemy. | Ark Dragons |  | Mythril Mine |
Laser
The Laser ability removes half of one enemy’s HP using gravity-based magic.
You can obtain the Laser ability earlier than usual by taking the time to find the Death Claw enemies in Corel Prison. However, if you miss it early on, you can obtain it from the Dark Dragon enemies in the Northern Cave as well.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laser | Lessens one opponent’s HP by 1/2 | Dark Dragon (must use Manipulate Materia) | | Northern Cave |
| Death Claw (use Manipulate Materia to make obtaining it easier) |  | Death Claws can be found early on in the unrevisitable part of Corel Prison. |
Matra Magic
Matra Magic inflicts non-elemental damage to all opponents. When you first obtain Matra Magic it has exceptional damage to MP use ratio. Making it very effective at dealing damage to groups of enemies in an MP-effective way.
This can be the first Enemy Skill you can obtain after leaving Midgar. When you first enter the World Map, you can encounter the Custom Sweeper enemy around the Midgar area, they frequently use this attack.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matra Magic | Inflicts Non-Elemental Damage to all enemies. | Bullmotor |  | Corel Prison |
| Custom Sweeper |  | World Map – Midgar Area |
||
| Death Machine |  | Junon Branch and Junon Path |
Bad Breath
Bad Breath is a powerful status effect-inflicting ability. It has a 100% chance of inflicting the following status effects: Sleep, Poison, Confusion, Silence, Frog, and Small. It will only fail if the enemies are immune to the status.
Bad Breath can first be learned on the Gaea’s Cliff outdoor areas. If you’ve missed this opportunity, you’ll need to wait until you reach near the end of the game for the next chance to acquire the ability.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Breath | Inflicts: Sleep, Poison, Confusion, Silence, Frog, and Small on all enemies. | Malboro |  | Outdoor areas of Gaea’s Cliff, Graveyard of the Northern Cave. |
Beta
Beta is a fire-based spell that inflicts great damage to all enemies at once.
Beta is learned from the Midgar Zolom which can be encountered as soon as you are out on the world map. The Midgar Zolom is a very strong foe for this point of the game though, making it tough to actually survive the battle to retain the ability. It is recommended to return later, especially once you have gear that nullifies fire damage.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beta | Major Fire elemental damage to all enemies, cannot be reflected. | Midgar Zolom |  | Grasslands area – Shadow in the Swamp |
Aqualung
Aqualung is one of only three water-based attacks in the game. It will inflict Water-elemental magic damage to the entire enemy party at once.
You can learn Aqualung before visiting the Gold Saucer by using a Chocobo Lure to encounter a Chocobo just outside of the Gold Saucer area. Here the Chocobo has a chance to also have a Harpy enemy with it. The Harpy can use Aqualung, but it will be quite powerful for this section of the game so care is needed.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aqualung | Major Water-elemental damage to target party. | Harpy |  | Gold Saucer Area (Chocobo Tracks with Chocobo Lure) |
| Jenova LIFE |  | Forgotten Capital | ||
| Serpent |  | Sunken Gelnika |
Trine
Trine will inflict moderate Thunder-elemental damage to all enemies. It is one of the only Enemy Skills that is possible to entirely miss, as there are only 3 instances where you can encounter it, and all of them are available for only a limited time.
Trine is most easily learned from the Materia Keeper Boss battle in Mt Nibel. It will cast Trine after using Cure 2 on itself at half health.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trine | Lightning damage on all opponents | Materia Keeper |  | Mt Nibel (Boss) |
| Godo |  | Wutai (Boss) | ||
| Stilva |  | Gaea’s Cliff |
Magic Breath
Magic Breath will hit enemies with a combination of Fire/Ice/Lightning magic damage. It stays as a relatively powerful spell, even into the late game.
Can be learned from Parasite (you’ll need Manipulate Materia) in the Northern Cave or from Stilva’s in the Gaea’s Cliff area.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic Breath | Fire/Ice/Lightning damage on all opponents | Parasite (must use Manipulate Materia) |  | Northern Cave |
| Stilva | | Gaea’s Cliff |
????
???? Deals damage equal to the caster’s max HP minus their current HP. Due to this, you need to be fairly low HP for it to inflict large amounts of damage.
Can be learned from the Jersey enemies found in the Shinra Mansion. However, if you attack them, they will not cast it on you. So instead you’ll need to encounter one and then sit idle and wait for it to cast the ability.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ???? | Deals damage equal to casters max HP minus their current HP | Jersey |  | Shinra Mansion (found in room with Safe) |
| Behemoth |  | Gaea’s Cliff |
Goblin Punch
Goblin Punch will inflict a non-elemental physical hit on one enemy. The damage is multiplied 8x if the target is the same level as the caster.
Goblin Punch can only be learned from the Goblin enemies found in the Forest of Goblin Island. You’ll need the Highwind (or a Gold Chocobo) to be able to reach the Island.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goblin Punch | Physical damage to one target. Damage is multiplied by 8 if the target’s level equals casters level. | Goblin |  | Goblin Island Forests |
Chocobuckle
Chocobuckle deals non-elemental damage to one target, based on the number of times you’ve previously fled from battle.
Chocobuckle is a difficult skill to learn. In order to obtain it you need to feed them Mimett or Sylkis Greens and then reduce the Chocobo’s HP to 1/32 of its maximum HP in one hit, but not KO it. The Chocobo will then use Chocobuckle on the party member that reduced its HP and then it will flee. L4 Suicide is the perfect move for doing this. The trouble is that it will only work on a Chocobo who has a level that is divisible by 4. There are two areas that are good to obtain this skill, the first is outside the Chocobo Farm you can find level 16 Chocobos and later in the game near Mideel, you’ll find level 36 Chocobos. Remember you’ll need the Chocobo Lure material to encounter Chocobos.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chocobuckle | Deals damage equal to the number of times the party has fled from battle to one target. | Chocobo |  | Grasslands Area*, Junon Area, Gold Saucer Area, Rocket Launch Pad Area, Wutai Area, Icicle Area, Mideel Area* |
L5 Death
L5 Death will inflict instant death on enemies who have a level that is a multiple of 5.
L5 Death can only be learned from the Parasite enemy found in the Northern Cave area. You’ll need to use the Manipulate Skill on it, to force it to use the ability.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L5 Death | Causes Death to enemies who have levels that are a multiple of 5. | Parasite (must use Manipulate Materia) | | Northern Cave |
Death Sentence
Death Sentence inflicts the Death Sentence status on one enemy. Death Sentence puts a timer above the target that once it reaches zero the enemy is killed.
Death Sentence is easily learned from the Sneaky Step or Gi Spector in the Cave of Gi area. You can also learn it later, if you miss it in the Cave of Gi, from the Boundfat enemy in Corel Valley.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Death Sentence | Inflicts the Death Sentence status on one enemy. | Boundfat |  | Corel Valley, Forgotten Capital, Corel Valley Cave |
| Gi Spector |  | Cave of Gi | ||
| Sneaky Step |  | Cave of Gi |
Roulette
Roulette inflicts Death on one random opponent or ally.
Roulette is learned from the Death Dealer enemies found in the Northern Cave. It will only cast the spell once per battle after its below 25% HP. To counter this, simply use the Manipulate Materia to cast it more frequently.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roulette | Pronounces Death on any one opponent or ally. | Death Dealer (use manipulate materia to speed up the process) |  | Northern Cave |
Shadow Flare
Shadow Flare deals an extremely large amount of non-elemental damage to one enemy.
Shadow Flare is learned mostly from optional bosses toward the end of the game. But you can also learn it from the Dragon Zombie enemies in the final dungeon. You’ll need to inflict paralyze on yourself to make the Dragon Zombie cast on the Paralyzed character, you can use Dazers to inflict paralyze on your characters.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow Flare | Non-elemental damage to one target. | Safer Sephiroth |  | Final Boss |
| Ultimate Weapon |  | Cosmo Area | ||
| Dragon Zombie |  | Northern Cave | ||
| Ruby Weapon |  | Gold Saucer Area |
Pandora’s Box
Pandora’s Box inflicts a large amount of damage to all enemies, it also ignores defense.
There is only one opportunity in the entire game to learn Pandora’s Box. It is learned as the final attack by the first Dragon Zombie that you defeat. No other Dragon Zombie will cast the ability and if the first doesn’t have enough mana when it dies it will not cast it either and the ability will be lost.
| ENEMY SKILL: | EFFECT: | LEARNED FROM: | IMAGE: | LOCATION: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pandora’s Box | Defense-ignoring non-elemental damage to all targets. | Dragon Zombie | | Northern Cave |
