Enemy Skill is a Command Materia from Final Fantasy VII that works in the same manner as Blue Magic from previous games, acquiring abilities used by enemies when the user is hit by them. It enables the use of the E.Skill (てきのわざ, Teki no Waza?) command in battle.
Obtained[]
There are four Enemy Skill Materia to obtain:
- In the sample tank in Professor Hojo's lab in the Shinra Bldg. after Red XIII joins the party. (Missable.)
- In the Respectable Inn in Junon.
- In one of the houses in the Forgotten Capital.
- Received from the Chocobo Sage's Mountain Chocobo.
Unlike many Command Materia, Enemy Skill cannot gain AP or be mastered. "Mastering" the Materia by gaining every Enemy Skill on one will not birth a new Materia of its type.
Mechanics[]
The Enemy Skill Materia can be used to learn specific enemy spells when a character equipped with the Materia is successfully targeted by that spell. The character permanently learns the spell regardless of whether he or she survives the attack. If the party escapes from the battle, the learned skill will be nulled, and if the battle ends due to the characters being ejected out of the battle, such as against Midgar Zolom, it counts as if having escaped and the skill will not be learned. Enemy Skills cannot be permanently learned from the Gold Saucer Battle Square. In other words, the character must be present in the Battle Results screen for them to keep the ability.
An Enemy Skill can only be learned from an enemy casting the Enemy Skill in question, and not from another party member casting the Enemy Skill using another Enemy Skill Materia that already has the Enemy Skill learned.
A single character can equip multiple Enemy Skill Materia and learn an Enemy Skill for all the Materia at the same time. However, the Enemy Skill Materia equipped can only learn a new Enemy Skill if all the rest of the Enemy Skill Materia equipped on the same character also do not already have that skill.
Unlike other types of Materia, an Enemy Skill Materia does not reproduce a brand new one once all skills on it have been learned. This means that, in the entire game, a player can have up to a maximum of four mastered Enemy Skill Materia.
Some enemies have to be manipulated to learn their Enemy Skill because they will never use it under normal conditions. Some enemies may also be inflicted with Confuse to have them use the ability on the player party.
Many of the enemy abilities are not specific skills and use unique formulas. Despite this, they are classified into Physical or Magical even if the ability does not take into account the target's Defense or Magic Defense stats. Its role does affect the attack, however, with Magical abilities being reflectable unless stated otherwise, and Physical abilities being able to remove Confusion and Sleep statuses.
An Enemy Skill Materia will not work with Support Materia of any sort, not even with the Master Command and Support Materia glitch.
List of Enemy Skills[]
Skill | Missable | MP | Power | Type | Effect | Learned from |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Frog Song | No | 5 | 0 | Magical | Inflicts Sleep and Frog on one target. | Touch Me, Toxic Frog, Christopher |
Causes [Sleepel/Frog] on one opponent | ||||||
L4 Suicide | No | 10 | 31/32 | Magical | On all members of the target party with a level divisible by 4, takes away 31/32 current HP and inflicts Mini status. | Mu, Trickplay |
Causes [Critical/Small] with levels in multiples of 4 | ||||||
Magic Hammer | No | 3 | 0 | Magical | Drains 100 MP from one target and transfers the MP to the caster. | Razor Weed[note 1] |
Drains 100 MP out of one opponent | ||||||
White Wind | No | 34 | 0 | Physical | Cures HP equal to caster's current HP and cures the Sleep, Poison, Confusion, Silence, Slow, Stop, Frog, Small, Slow-numb, Petrify, Berserk, Paralyzed, Darkness, Death Force, and Resist statuses of all members of target party. Cannot be reflected. | Zemzelett[note 1], Wind Wing[note 2] |
Restores HP and status to every ally | ||||||
Big Guard | No | 56 | 0 | Magical | Grants Haste, Barrier, and MBarrier to target party. Cannot be reflected. | Beachplug[note 1], (Wolfmeister)[note 3] |
Adds [Barrier/MBarrier/Haste] to every ally | ||||||
Angel Whisper | No | 50 | 32/32 | Magical | Restores to target's maximum HP, and cures Death, Sleep, Poison, Confusion, Silence, Slow, Stop, Frog, Small, Slow-numb, Petrify, Berserk, Paralysis, and Darkness to one target. If target dies before using ability, the ability will not change its target. Cannot be reflected. | Pollensalta[note 1] |
Revives, restores HP and status to any one ally | ||||||
Dragon Force | No | 19 | 0 | Magical | Raises Defense and Magic Defense to 150% for one target. Cannot be reflected. | Dark Dragon[note 1] |
Raises the Defense and Magic Def. level of one ally | ||||||
Death Force | No | 3 | 0 | Magical | Grants Death Force status to one target. Cannot be reflected. | Adamantaimai[note 1] |
Makes any one ally immune to death | ||||||
Flame Thrower | No | 10 | 14 | Magical | Minor-moderate Fire elemental damage to one target. | Ark Dragon, Dragon |
Causes Fire damage to any single opponent | ||||||
Laser | No | 16 | 16/32 | Magical | Gravity-elemental damage equal to 1/2 target's current HP to one target. | Dark Dragon[note 1], Death Claw |
Lessens one opponent's HP by 1/2 | ||||||
Matra Magic | No | 8 | 11 | Magical | Non-elemental damage to target party. | Bullmotor, Custom Sweeper, Death Machine |
Non-elemental damage to all opponents | ||||||
Bad Breath | No | 58 | 0 | Magical | Inflicts Sleep, Poison, Confusion, Silence, Frog, and Small on target party. Cannot be reflected. | Malboro |
[Poison/Confu/Sleepel/Silence/Small/Frog] on all | ||||||
Beta | No | 35 | 54 | Magical | Major Fire elemental damage to target party. Cannot be reflected. | Midgar Zolom |
Fire damage on all opponents | ||||||
Aqualung | No | 34 | 52 | Magical | Major Water-elemental damage to target party. | Jenova∙LIFE, Harpy, Serpent |
Water damage on all opponents | ||||||
Trine | Yes | 20 | 34 | Magical | Moderate-major Lightning elemental damage to target party. Cannot be reflected. | Materia Keeper, Godo, Stilva[note 1] |
Lightning damage on all opponents | ||||||
Magic Breath | No | 75 | 77 | Magical | Major Fire, Ice, and Lightning elemental damage to target party. Cannot be reflected. | Parasite[note 1], Stilva |
Fire/Ice/Lightning damage on all opponents | ||||||
???? | No | 3 | 0 | Physical | Non-elemental physical damage equal to the user's Max HP minus their current HP to one target. | Jersey, Behemoth |
Does damage equal to user's MaxHP/HP | ||||||
Goblin Punch | No | 0 | 12 | Physical | Physical damage to one target. Damage multiplied by 8 if target's level equals caster's level. | Goblin |
Non-elemental damage on any one opponent | ||||||
Chocobuckle | Yes | 3 | 0 | Physical | Damage equal to the number of times the party has fled from battle on one target. | Chocobo |
Non-elemental damage on any one opponent | ||||||
L5 Death | No | 22 | 0 | Magical | Instant Death if target's level is a multiple of 5 on target party. Cannot be reflected. | Parasite[note 1] |
Causes [Death] on levels in multiples of 5 | ||||||
Death Sentence | No | 10 | 0 | Magical | Inflicts Death-sentence status on one target. Cannot be reflected. | Boundfat, Gi Spector, Sneaky Step |
Pronounces death sentence on any one opponent | ||||||
Roulette | No | 6 | 0 | Magical | Instant Death to a random target. Cannot be reflected. | Death Dealer |
Pronounces death on any one opponent or ally | ||||||
Shadow Flare | No | 100 | 125 | Magical | Non-elemental damage to one target. | Safer∙Sephiroth (Post-JORG), Ultimate Weapon (Cosmo Area), Dragon Zombie, Ruby Weapon |
Big non-elemental damage on any one opponent | ||||||
Pandora's Box | Yes | 110 | 60 | Magical | Defense-ignoring non-elemental damage to all targets. | Dragon Zombie |
Big damage on all opponents, ignores defense |
Obtaining rare Enemy Skills[]
Most of the rarer Enemy Skills can be obtained in the Northern Cave at the end of the game: Dark Dragon uses Dragon Force and Laser, Parasite uses L5 Death and Magic Breath, Malboro uses Bad Breath. Pollensalta uses Angel Whisper, Death Dealer uses Roulette, and Dragon Zombie uses Shadow Flare and Pandora's Box.
All four Enemy Skill Materia can simultaneously learn a skill when all four are equipped on a character, easing the task of learning many of the Enemy Skills, including Roulette and Shadow Flare. If an Enemy Skill is used on a character who has an Enemy Skill Materia equipped that already has that skill, the other Enemy Skill Materia on that character will not learn the skill.
To learn Roulette and L5 Death, casting the Death Force enemy skill on any potential target of Roulette or L5 Death prevents the enemies or allies (in Roulette's case) from being instantly killed.
Trine can be learned only from three enemies: Materia Keeper, Godo and Stilva. Since the first two are bosses (Godo is optional and can be fought any time after obtaining the Tiny Bronco) and Stilva is found only at Gaea's Cliff (which is a one-visit area), Trine can be missed permanently. Stilva later appears in the Battle Square, but the player cannot learn Enemy Skills there. The Chocobo Sage cabin, where the fourth Enemy Skill Materia is located, can only be visited after Gaea's Cliff. If the player wishes to learn Trine on all four Enemy Skill Materia, they must refrain from fighting Godo until all four Materia are in their possession.
Due to the game's programming, Dragon Zombie only uses the Pandora's Box once per save file, and will never use it again. To learn Pandora's Box on all four Enemy Skill Materia, all four must be equipped on the party. If Dragon Zombie does not have enough MP to cast the Skill, then Pandora's Box will be lost forever. If, however, Dragon Zombie was defeated via the the Petrify status (using the magic Break), then the Pandora's Box will be used on the next encounter with the foe.
Chocobuckle is only used by enemy Chocobos when they have been fed a Mimett Greens or Sylkis Greens, and they are hit by an attack that reduces them to 1/32 of their HP or less. A Chocobo Lure Materia equipped is required. The player can pick up only two of these at the Chocobo Farm, so they can permanently miss Chocobos and the Chocobuckle skill by trashing or selling all their Chocobo Lures.
Earliest each Enemy Skill can be obtained[]
- Matra Magic from the Custom Sweeper in the Midgar Area on the world map.
- L4 Suicide from the Mu in the Grasslands Area near the Chocobo Farm.
- Chocobuckle from the Lv.16 enemy Chocobo in the Grasslands Area (appears with either two Elfadunks or two Levrikons). The player must use a Mimett Green (can be bought for 1,500 gil at Chocobo Farm) and L4 Suicide on the Chocobo.
- Beta from Midgar Zolom in the marshes outside Mythril Mine. The character who equips Enemy Skill must not be ejected from the battle after learning Beta.
- Flame Thrower from the Ark Dragon in the Mythril Mine. It uses Flame Thrower on the character with the highest current HP.
- Aqualung from a Harpy in a Chocobo battle in the Gold Saucer Area. It is also possible to get a Harpy fight in the desert, a small corner of which is accessible without the buggy, meaning the skill can be learned at this point even without the Chocobo Lure.
- Laser from Death Claw in the Corel Prison.
- Big Guard from Beach Plug after acquiring the buggy, returning to the Costa del Sol area and fighting the Beach Plug on the beach on the world map, using Manipulate on it to make it use Big Guard on the party.
- White Wind from Zemzelett after acquiring the buggy, returning to Costa del Sol, stowing away on the cargo ship back to the Junon Area, and using Manipulate on Zemzelett to make it use White Wind on the player party.
- Frog Song from the Touch Me in the forests of the Gongaga Area.
- Death Sentence from the Sneaky Step or Gi Spector in the Cave of the Gi.
- ???? from the Jersey in the Mansion.
- Trine from the Materia Keeper boss in Mt. Nibel caves.
- Death Force from using Manipulate on the Adamantaimai in the Wutai Area beach after acquiring the Tiny Bronco.
- Magic Hammer from using Manipulate on the Razor Weed in the grassy parts of the Wutai Area after acquiring the Tiny Bronco.
- Bad Breath from the Malboro on the snowy outside slopes of Gaea's Cliff.
- Magic Breath from Stilva in the interior caverns of Gaea's Cliff.
- Goblin Punch from the Goblin on the Goblin Island when the player has the Highwind.
- Shadow Flare from Ultimate Weapon's final attack in the Cosmo Area after defeating Diamond Weapon as part of the story.
- Dragon Force from using Manipulate on Dark Dragon in the First Descent area of the final dungeon to make it use it on the party.
- L5 Death from using Manipulate on Parasite in the First Descent area of the final dungeon to make it use it on the party.
- Angel Whisper from using Manipulate on Pollensalta in the Right Descent area of the final dungeon to make her use it on the party.
- Roulette from Death Joker in the Right Descent area of the final dungeon.
- Pandora's Box from Dragon Zombie in the Right Descent area of the final dungeon. Only uses it once per save file as a final attack.
Other appearances[]
Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]
- Ability Cards
- Legend Cards
Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
Materia means "matter" or "substance" in Latin, Spanish, and Italian; it also means "subject" in Italian and Spanish, and is the root of Portuguese "Matéria".