Final Fantasy VII – Enemy Skills Materia Guide

The PC reboot of Final Fantasy VII still contains the Enemy Skill materia. This is a yellow command materia that allows players to learn the skills of their enemies. In order to learn these skills, a player must equip the materia to a character. Then, that character must be targeted with the special enemy skill. After learning the skill in battle, the player must finish the battle by defeating the enemies; running away cancels out the enemy skill.

There are four enemy skill materias that can be found in the game, and 24 enemy skills to learn. Some skills will require you to use the "manipulate" skill from the yellow command materia to Manipulate on the enemy first. You get that materia when Cait Sith joins your party. Learning all the enemy skills on at least one materia is required for the Materia Overlord achievement.

Enemy Skill Materia Locations

• In the ShrinRa HQ, inside of the specimen tank.  Grab it right after Red XIII joins the party.
• In the Intermediate Beginners Hall in Junon.  This is in the military sector, not the harbor.
• In the Forgotten Capitol (the City of the Ancients), behind the bed in the building that you rest in.
• After getting the Highwind, find the Chocobo Sage’s house to the north of Bone Village.  Talk to his chocobo.

Enemy Skills

????

This skill, literally entitled “????”, can be gotten from the rarely encountered Jersey in the Shrina Mansion in Nibelheim.  The Jersey will only use this attack before you use a physical attack on them, so wait for them to use the skill before trying to defeat them.  On your second trip to Midgar, you can also learn this skill from a Behemoth, found in the Sector 8 Underground.

Angel Whisper

This is gotten from Pollensalta in the Northern Cave, the final area of the game.  Take the right path to encounter her.  Pollensalta must be manipulated to learn Angel Whisper, as it is a healing spell.

Aqualung

This skill can be used by three different enemies.  The earliest enemy is the Harpy, found on the world map after you get the buggy.  Drive the buggy into the desert surrounding Gold Saucer to encounter it.  You can manipulate the Harpy to make it use the skill.  Jenova LIFE, a boss encountered in the Forgotten Capitol, will also use this skill.  Finally, the Serpents in the Sunken Gelnika will use this skill rarely.

Bad Breath

This skill can only be gotten from a Malboro.  These enemies are found on Gaea’s Cliff or on the right path in the Northern Cave, and they cannot be manipulated.

Beta

This powerful skill can be received from the Midgar Zolom.  Once you are strong enough to fight this enemy in the marsh by Chocobo Farm, bring the Midgar Zolom down to about 75% health for it to use the skill.  You may need to try this more than once, as the Midgar Zolom will knock out characters, ejecting them from the battle.

Big Guard

One of the most useful enemy skills, this skill can be learned by a Beachplug, found on the beaches near Costa Del Sol.  You will need to use manipulate to get this skill.  

Chocobuckle

Get L4 Suicide before trying to obtain this enemy skill.  Also, purchase at least 3 Mimett Greens beforehand.  Now, you must encounter a chocobo to learn this, and the chocobo’s level must be divisible by 4.  The best place to find this is outside of the Chocobo Farm.  Look for chocobos with two of the ostrich-type monsters, Levrikons.  Once in this battle, feed the chocobo three Mimett Greens.  Then, use the skill L4 Suicide on the group of enemies, and the chocobo should use Chocobuckle before running away.

Death Force

This skill can only be learned from an Adamantaimai on the coastal areas near Wutai.  You will need to manipulate the enemy to learn it.

Death Sentence

This skill can be used by a few different enemies.  The first place you can learn it is in the Cave of Gi, in Cosmo Canyon.  The Gi Spector and Sneaky Step in this area will use the skill frequently.  After this area, you can learn the skill from a Boundfat, found in the Corral Valley before entering the Forgotten City.  Kill these enemies with a magic attack and they will use the skill before they die.

Dragon Force

This skill is used by the Dark Dragon in the Northern Cave.  You will need to manipulate this enemy to get it.  Look for this enemy before you reach the fork in the road.  

Flame Thrower

This is a skill that can be learned early on.  The Ark Dragon uses this skill and is found in the Mythril Mines.  Dragons will also use the skill on Mt. Nibel.  Dragons cannot be manipulated but Ark Dragons can.

Frog Song

This skill can be learned from two different frog enemies.  Touch Me is the frog in the forests outside Gongaga, and the Toxic Frog in the Temple of the Ancients.   

Goblin Punch

This skill can only be learned after you get the Highwind.  You will need to fly to some small islands in the Northeast and encounter them in the forest.  They can be manipulated with some luck.

L4 Suicide

The Mu in the area around the Chocobo Farm will use this skill.  Another enemy called the Trickplay will also use this; they are located in the world map pathway between the Corral Valley and the Forgotten Capitol.  These enemies can’t be manipulated, so wait for them to use the skill.  This skill is needed to obtain the Chocobuckle skill.

L5 Death

This skill can only be obtained from a Parasite in the Northern Cave.  You must manipulate the enemy to get the skill.  Because this skill instantly kills any character whose level is divisible by 5, make sure the person with the materia will survive the attack!

Laser

This skill can be learned earlier in the game when you are in the Desert Prison area.  Look for a Death Claw enemy in the junkyard area right before fighting Dyne.  After this, you will have to wait until you encounter a Dark Dragon in the Northern Cave.  The Dark Dragon must be manipulated to get it.

Magic Breath

This skill can be learned earliest from a Stilva in the caverns in Gaea’s Cliff.  You can wait for it to use the skill or manipulate it.  This is the only time you will encounter a Stilva.  The skill is also used by the Parasite in the Northern Cave, before the split in the road.  Manipulate the Parasite for the skill.

Magic Hammer

You can learn this skill from Razor Weeds that are found in the grassy areas near Wutai.  

Matra Magic

An early skill, this can be learned as soon as you leave Midgar.  Look for a Custom Sweeper enemy in the gray area surrounding the city.  It is also used by the Bullmotors in the Desert Prison and the Death Machine in Junon Path after hitting the alarm.  All of these enemies can be manipulated to learn the skill faster.

Pandora’s Box

This is the only skill that you only have ONE chance to get!  Equip all of your enemy skill materia and save the game before the battle.  Then, take the right path in the Northern Cave and encounter a Dragon Zombie.  You must kill the Dragon Zombie as quickly as possible so that he will have MP left when he dies.  When he dies, he will use Pandora’s Box if he has enough MP.  If you see a message saying Dragon Zombie’s skill power has been used up, reset your game and try again.

Roulette

This skill can only be learned from the Death Dealer in the Northern Cave.  They only use it once per battle, so manipulate them to get it.  The targeted character will need to have an auto-life or null death effect on them to survive the attack.

Shadow Flare

You can first learn this skill from Ultima Weapon.  Ultima Weapon will use this skill against the character who delivers the killing blow, so you can equip one character with the materias and have them defeat it to learn it.  The character must survive the attack.  Dragon Zombie also uses this skill; they are found on the right path in the Northern Cave.  Ruby Weapon rarely uses this skill, but it is easier to learn from the other options.  None of these enemies can be manipulated.

Trine

This is an enemy skill you need to be aware of, as it can only be learned from three different unique encounter enemies.  After you get the first two enemy skill materias, you can learn Trine from the Materia Keeper boss in Mt. Nibel.  After this, you can learn Trine from Godo, in the pagoda at Wutai.  The final enemy to get it from is the Stilva, in the caverns of Gaea’s Cliff.  If you go to Wutai before you find the last enemy skill materia at the Chocobo Sage’s house, you won’t be able to learn Trine on the last materia.

White Wind

Another useful skill, White Wind is learned from two different enemies.  You can learn it from the Zemzelett in the area around Junon after manipulating it.  You can also learn it from the Wind Wing, but this enemy is only encountered in the Whirlwind Maze, and it must be confused for it to use it.