Final Fantasy VII Remake Enemy Skills | How to learn every Enemy Skill
The Enemy Skill materia is an absolute FF7 classic. It’s back in Final Fantasy VII Remake, and is used to give the player access to some combat abilities that are otherwise unnatural to Cloud and crew. It's a great addition to your arsenal, but there's a catch - the enemy skills have to be learned.
Elsewhere in the Final Fantasy series, this ability is quite often known as Blue Magic - the ability to cast magic skills that you're usually on the recieving end of. Basically, you learn special magic directly from enemies. It has the more straightforward name of Enemy Skill in FF7 Remake, as it did in the original, and takes the form of a Command Materia that, when equipped, means you can learn certain skills when they’re used on you by enemies and then use them yourself.
Each Enemy Skill is a powerful, high-quality move, and in FF7 Remake they only cost an ATB bar charge, not MP. They can be extremely powerful if used right - but you'll have to track down the enemies that can teach you all of the skills first. Get them all and you'll get the Master of Mimicry trophy or achievement. On this page:
How to get and use the Enemy Skill Materia in FF7 Remake
To use the Enemy Skill Materia, you first have to obtain it. That’s pretty simple - as detailed on our full FF7 Remake Materia guide, the Enemy Skill Materia is nabbed by completing Battle Report Intel 16 for Chadley, the kid Shinra researcher. Chadley is found in all major hub areas of the game during the more open-ended chapters.
Battle Report Intel 16 asks you to use Assess on 30 enemy types, which is also pretty straightforward. All you need to do is equip the Assess Materia, which Chadley gives you as part of his first Chapter 3 Side Quest, and use the Assess skill on 30 different types of enemy. You should be doing this anyway, as Assess reveals information about your opponents, such as weaknesses. Once Battle Report Intel 16 is complete, you can buy the materia from him at a discount price. You should nab it straight away.
To use the Enemy Skill Materia, all you have to do is equip it and then hope an enemy hits you with a learnable skill. When that happens, you’ll learn how to use that skill, but you can only use it while the Enemy Skill materia is equipped. As well as getting a set of useful new skills, you'll get a trophy once the enemy skills are all learned.
That sounds like a lot of trial and error, of course... but don't sweat it, you've got us to help. Rather than stumble around in the dark, here’s the four total enemy skills in FF7 Remake listed for you, as well as where to learn them and from which enemies. Read on...
FF7 Remake Enemy Skill Moves: how to learn them all
As we said, enemy skills are essentially learned almost at random naturally, but if you know what enemies you need to learn from, you can go hunting for them. The Assess Materia will tell you if an enemy can teach you a skill… or you can just use this page. Naturally enemy skills are technically missable content until new game plus like music discs, limit breaks and certain other items, as the enemies required to learn them only appear in certain chapters and places.
There are four enemy skills total:
Strangely, the moves enemies use and the skill you learn from them often have different names. But we’ve got that covered too. Here’s the enemy skill move list, plus what enemies to learn each off, and where:
Algid Aura Enemy Skill
Imbue with a magical aura that deals ice damage on contact, giving your attacks an ice element. Costs 1 ATB. This Enemy Skill can be learned off the following enemies:
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Cerulean Drake casts the move ‘Icy Aura’, which is learned as the Algid Aura enemy skill.
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Encountered in the Sector 7 Slums (Chapter 3, ‘Just Flew in from the Graveyard’ sidequest - only available on NG+, as you can't get Enemy Skill materia this early otherwise).
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Also encountered in the Train Graveyard (Chapter 11).
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Also shows up in the ‘Two-Person Team vs. Team Payback’ VR Simulator battle challenge in Shinra HQ.
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This move is great for casting on a character to exploit an ice weakness on an enemy, making a powerful weapon even more so.
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Spirit Siphon Enemy Skill
Drain HP from surrounding enemies. Costs 2 ATB. This Enemy Skill can be learned off the following:
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Phantom casts the move ‘Essence Drain’, which is learned as the Spirit Siphon enemy skill
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Encountered in the Sector 5 slums during the quest ‘Missing Children’ (Chapter 14)
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Also encountered in the Shinra Tower VR combat simulator (Chapter 16 & 17)
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Self-Destruct Enemy Skill
Deal a large amount of damage to enemies in the surrounding area while incapacitating self. Costs 2 ATB. Learn this enemy skill from the following monsters:
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Varghidpolis uses the move ‘Apoptosis’, which is learned as the Self-Destruct enemy skill.
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Encountered in the Sector 6 or Sector 7 slums post collapse (Chapter 14)
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Trypapolis will summon Proto Trypapolis, which also uses the move ‘Apoptosis’, which is learned as the Self-Destruct enemy skill.
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Encountered in the Sector 6 slums during the ‘Chocobo Search’ side quest. (Chapter 14)
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Encountered during the ‘Three-Person Team vs. Team Ragbag’ battle in the Shinra VR Combat Simulator (Chapters 16 & 17)
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Bomb uses the move ‘Apoptosis’ as well, which is learned as the Self-Destruct enemy skill. It tends not to use it until it reaches full size, and then is hit by an attack.
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Encountered in the Corneo Colosseum during the ‘A Dynamite Body’ and ‘Two-Person Team vs. Team Payback’ challenges.
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Encountered in some Shinra VR combat simulator missions (Chapters 16 & 17)
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Smogger actually uses the move ‘Self-Destruct’ upon defeat which unsurprisingly can also teach the Enemy Skill Self-Destruct.
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Most commonly found in the Sector 5 Slum Undercity area.
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Can also be found in the Shinra Combat Simulator during ‘Three-Person Team vs. Team Ragbag’.
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Bad Breath Enemy Skill
Inflict poison, silence, and sleep. Costs 2 ATB. Learn this enemy skill from the following enemy:
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Malboro uses Bad Breath, with the same name - but it only appears in one very specific place. Get hit with it to learn the Bad Breath enemy skill, and have someone ready to cast Esuna!
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Encountered in the ‘Three-Person Team vs. Monsters of Legend’ mission in the Shinra VR Combat Simulator (post-game via chapter select only, Chapter 17)
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