Sleep is a magic spell in Final Fantasy VII Remake. It is the first spell provided by 
Binding Materia, and inflicts the 
Sleep debuff on a target. This causes them to be unable to act, leaving them vulnerable to magic damage in the meantime, until they are woken.
Mechanics[]
| Magic Materia |
Binding Materia
|
|---|---|
| Effects | Inflicts Sleep on target for 40 seconds No charge time |
| Interrupt stats | Interrupted by attacks with ≥40 interrupt strength |
Compatible  Support Materia |
Magnify Materia
|
| Unconditional weapon passive bonuses | Debuff Extension |
Use[]
Sleep costs 5 MP to cast, and can be used by characters with binding materia at level 1. The spell applies the Sleep debuff, which causes a target to be unable to act for its duration. This makes it very effective in removing an enemy as a threat, either giving the opportunity to focus on another enemy or to set up a more powerful spell attack.
Many higher-level bosses are not actually immune to Sleep. If a boss is vulnerable both to Sleep and 
Stop, casting them interchangeably can near-permanently lock an enemy down and make them unable to act, making them highly vulnerable to damage. Although many more powerful bosses later in the game have immunity to Sleep, for those that are vulnerable, this is an extremely effective tactic.
Sleep can be improved by pairing binding materia with Magnify Materia to allow Sleep to be cast on all enemies. The main drawback to this is that this is an inefficient use of materia, and magnify can just as easily be paired with Time Materia to achieve the same thing with Stop.