Enemy Skills
You get four Enemy Skills materia in the game, but not all at once. This guide is to help you learn them all, on all four of them. You may wonder why you need all four as you can only have three people in the team, you may not.. it depends on how you battle in the last part of the game. I find it fun to do them all anyway. Anyway I hope this guide helps you in your Enemy Skill quest.

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Completed*: 20th July 2008

*all that's left to do is a few screenshots from areas I can't go back to on my save, and haven't been to yet on my latest one.*

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Shinra HQ - First Materia

You pick up your first Enemy Skill materia after Red XIII joins your team. Don't worry about equipping yet, you wont be able to learn your first skill until after you leave Midgar.

When you can get it
You only have one chance to get this, if you fail to get it (like I did the first playthrough, dunno how) you wont be able to go back for it.

Outside Midgar - Matra Magic

The Custom Sweeper holds your first Enemy Skill. This is called Matra Magic. It hits every enemy, and it isn't an elemental move.. so you don't have to worry about some enemies being strong to it.

When you can get it
As soon as you leave Midgar, until just before the end of the game. However it'll be difficult to go back and get it on your Second materia once you've gotten it. You'll have to wait until you've been to the desert prison and until you're a high enough level to withstand the Midgar Zolom in the swamps.

The Chocobo Farm Area - Level 4 Suicide / Chocobuckle

You do need to get Level 4 Suicide first, you cannot get Chocobuckle (or at least I don't think so) without it. So lets get started. If you don't want to spend ages trying to get two faffy enemy skills that you may never use (Level 4 suicide almost kills any enemy who's level is multiple to 4, and minimizes them as well. Chocobuckle gets more powerful the more you escape from battles), then skip these two. You can just skip it all together until you have all four materia's.. either way you wanna do it, here's the same instructions.

Your first skill to get is Level 4 Suicide from the Mu. I'm sure the enemy has more chance of using it if a character has a level that can be divided into 4. Sometimes it uses it when no one is, I did have Cid learn it at level 39 after lots and lots of waiting so.. it's not impossible, it just means you probably have to wait longer, or keep battling the things. To be sure have a character at level 16, 20, 24.. etc you get the idea (not everyone, or they'll all be badly injured and mini-ed), it doesn't matter who has Enemy Skill equipped, the move hits all. Wether it works on the character or not is irrelevant.

Now the tricky part, Chocobuckle. You get this move from the Chocobo's, but only certain ones. First go to the Chocobo farm (I'll assume you've already got the Chocobo Lure or perhaps the Chocobo/Mog summon materia from the Chocobo's in the pen outside), go to where you got the Chocobo Lure and buy the most expensive greens he has, make sure you get 2/3 just in case. You never know when these Chocobo's are just going to run off before your character's even thrown the thing (so annoying, it's happened to me).

Now the Chocobo you're after is a level 16 (Sense materia would be a good idea here), which usually appears with two of the same enemies: the ostrich like creatures and the elephunks (or whatever they're called). To be sure, Sense the Chocobo when it appears. If it's 16, give it one of the greens, have the character with the Enemy Skill on standby to attack. When it's finished munching, use Level 4 Suicide on the enemies. The Chocobo should now use the move on you before storming off.

When you can get it
As soon as you leave Midgar, until just before the end of the game. However it'll be difficult to go back and get it on your Second materia once you've gotten it. You'll have to wait until you've been to the desert prison and until you're a high enough level to withstand the Midgar Zolom in the swamps.

Mythril Mines - Flamethrower

Here you can learn the Enemy Skill Flamethrower, sweet huh? This one doesn't require that much waiting around, it always uses the move on whoever's got the highest HP. You can wait until you get the Manipulate materia as it's very easily taken over, and you'll have a second materia by then too. It's really up to you, it may prove handy in the mean time.

When you can get it
Once you reach the area until the end of the game. However once you're properly into the Junon for the first time you can't come back until you've been to the prison.

Junon - Second Materia

Once you've got Cloud up in the higher part of Junon, and done the march you'll be able to have a look around the town.

One of the "shops" is a house for the tutorials of the game, like the one in Sector 7 in Midgar. Go in, talk to the guy near the door, he'll comment on you being a know it all and let you downstairs. Go down, if you need to brush up on the tutorials go ahead, but the reason you're here is to collect the yellow sphere on the floor. There's your second Enemy Skill. Note that my screenshot doesn't show the materia, this is a later save where I've gone back (as you see he's not in the right outfit).. its just so you know where it is, you'll see it on the floor in the second room shown.

When you can get it
After you've done the march when you're infiltrating Junon, up until the end of the game.

Corel Prison - Matra Magic (2) / Laser

By this time you'll have the dreaded Cait Sith on your side, ahem.. the upside being is that he has the Manipulate materia on him. This'll help you in your Enemy Skill hunt, it'll save you lots of time. You'll also have a second Enemy Skill if you followed the last part. After you get Barret back on your team, equip somebody with the new Enemy Skill and go north back to where you started.

Go through the gate which was blocked when you first arrived. Go up until the next screen, make sure you stay in the next screen or you'll end up lost in the desert. Go right through the fence, passed the guy and onto the next screen which is a junk yard. There you'll be attacked by a few machine enemies. The Bullmotor will have Matra Magic for your second Enemy Skill. Once you have that, put your first one back on the same character. Another enemy, Death Claw will have the Enemy Skill Laser. This one's a Gravity/Demi move, which lowers an enemy's health to 3/4. Very useful.

When you can get it
You can't go back after you've done it. If you miss Matra Magic you can get it just outside Midgar, if you can defeat the Midgar Zolom on the way. Laser you can get from the Dark Dragon in the Crater on Disc 3. It's a long way away, so make sure you nab it here. Obviously your third/fourth materia will have to wait until then.

The Beach - Big Guard

When you're back on the World Map with your new transportation, get both your enemy skills equipped, as well as Manipulate if you haven't already. Now the reason I tell you to get this skill first before the next one is because the next one will take off a lot of damage, this one will protect you from it. Now go to the beach south of the desert (see picture), get off the buggy and hang around soaking up a tan. Lol probably not good for Cloud's complexion, but who cares really? But seriously run back and forth, while staying on the beach and you'll be attacked by the Beach Plug.

You need to manipulate it to make it use Big Guard on you. This is one of my favourites, the only catch is that it runs out quickly and that it eats your MP if you use it a lot. This casts Shell, Protect and Haste on everybody.. very useful.

When you can get it
As soon as you leave the prison, up until the end of the game.

Outside Corel Prison/Gold Saucer - the Desert - Aqualung

Now that you have Big Guard.. I really suggest you do, drive around the desert until you're attacked by the Harpy. Make sure you have high/full health when battling this guy and/or cast Big Guard, the enemy skill you're after is Aqualung and it takes off quite a bit of damage. It hits all so don't worry about equipping your enemy skills on the same character. Now this guy is immune to Manipulate so it's just a matter of waiting for it to use it.

When you can get it
You can do this from the moment you get out of the prison, up until you lose the buggy on Disc 2. However you can easily get Aqualung on your third and fourth materia from other sources. Keep following the guide ^_^

Note that on Disc 2 I somehow managed to encounter the Harpy twice outside the desert, while Chocobo hunting. So hang around the tracks near the desert, you may get it. It usually appears with Chocobo's, well it did the two times I found it.

Gongaga Area - Frog Song

Now this one is a pain in the butt if you don't have at least one accessory that defends against frog/toad and a good number of Maiden's Kiss. Drive or walk around the area near or in the woods, eventually you'll get attacked by some frogs. In my experience the stone happy monsters appear with them or they surround you like above. Anyway before battle equip your enemy skill/manipulator (best to have it on the same person) with the accessory I mentioned, and manipulate it to use Frog Song on you. They'll probably do it for you, but again in my experience it's either the wrong one it gets used on and/or it just uses the jab move a lot.

When you can get it
From when you reach Gongaga to the end of the game.

Junon Area - White Wind

Now that you're done on the other continent and you have a second Enemy Skill & Manipulate, you can go back to the Mythril Mines to get Flamethrower if you want. The real reason to come back here for is however White Wind. This is the good old healing move that'll prove useful. Run around the Junon area, out of the forests, and you'll encounter Zemzelett. Manipulate it and make it use White Wind on your team. Easy ey?

When you can get it
As soon as you get out of the prison up until the end.

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Now lets double check what you've got so far before going any further. I've put * next to the two that's probably best left until you have all four, if you don't want to faff around to get the skill.

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Now the next one I'm going to tell you about is a toughie at low levels. I suggest being in the 30's when going to get it. The beast that has it, and the only one might I add, is quite a nasty piece of work for an early game enemy.

The Swamps on route to Mythril Mines - Near Chocobo Farm - Beta

Ok this guy is a b**ch. Even in my late 20's/early 30's I've had trouble getting Beta from him. It's only because the person who has to learn the move needs to stay in battle, which means he/she has to do the least damage to the Zolom, and be able to kill it at the end. Beta is a very good fire spell to have, so I like to get it as soon as I'm able. So here is how I usually do it.

Equip Cloud with all the Enemy Skills I have (without Beta on already obviously, but in this case there isn't any)

Make sure everyone is about Level 30, at least. Put a high attacker or two in the team along with Cloud. Have somebody else or two equipped with a Restore materia. Somebody equipped with Sense. Save then go into battle.

Once in battle have the second highest attacker (in other words the toughest one next to Cloud) attack the giant snake until it knocks him/her out of battle. Obviously Cloud casts Big Guard first, then again when needed. The other person heal when needed.

Once I'm down to two, the other one uses Sense to keep an eye on how much health it has, then start attacking again. If needed Cloud casts White Wind to make sure his health stays as high as possible. Sometimes the Zolom knocks the second person out of battle after casting Beta, most of the time for me anyway. That usually leaves Cloud on his own to finish it off. If he isn't alone, great for me.. How many times I've been stupid enough to leave Aeris solo, MP-less.. during a level 2 limit break. Fury Brand/Breath of the Earth is useless in that situation lol. Sure I had ethers/hi-potions, but no time.

This may take you several tries. Even if your Enemy Skiller learns Beta and is killed afterwards, she/he'll have forgotten it when you revive them after the battle. So yey you survived but, booo to you having to do it again. I'd imagine there's a better way to do it at an early level than my guide, but that does work for me if I pick the right characters. You can always come back later for it. Note that in the screenshots above Cloud & Aeris are 48, Yuffie 40, it knocked Yuffie out of battle only after a few hits, and used Beta right after that.. so yeah a lot easier in your 40's lol. Of course my health there begs to differ. I wasn't bothering with my healing/Big Guard tactic cos of my levels, and was too busy screencapping. So there you go, you can't take it lightly.. Beware of the mighty Midgar Zolom.

When you can get it
Technically as soon as you get to the swamps, but I swear even if you do get Beta during this fight and lose.. you'll lose it. It's probably cos everytime I'm left with the one character who has the Enemy Skill, and he/she dies very soon after. Like above I recommend going at higher levels and with Big Guard already learned. You can get it whenever, but remember you have to damage it to get it to use Beta.. so don't go too high a level or you'll kill it. Like I did once.. I had to use Morph several times, that's all I had at the time lol.

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If you've gotten passed the Zolom again, you can now go to the Chocobo Farm area to get Level 4 Suicide and Chocobuckle on your second materia (or first if you haven't done it already). Plus you can go back to get Matra Magic on the second one if you missed it during the prison.

If you have decided against going up against the Zolom for now, no worries.. lets continue on our quest. We can always come back to that part later.

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Cosmo Canyon / Cave of the Gi - Death Sentence

Now the storyline will lead you to Red XIII's hometown, Cosmo Canyon. Eventually you'll be accompanying him to a cave. Two of the common random battle monsters is the Gi Spector and the Sneaky Step. These things will use a move called Death Sentence on you. Before you begin your trek through the cave, equip both enemy skills onto one character. These things are common enemies, you don't even have to Manipulate it.. they'll probably do it. It only hits one character, so if you want to save time (or you want to replace both Enemy Skills with materia that needs levelling up asap) manipulate it do your bidding.

When you can get it
You can only go to Cave of the Gi once. You can get Death Sentence just before the end of Disc 1, up until the end of the game (again my guide will tell you later on), so don't worry if you miss it.

Nibelheim - Shinra Mansion - ????

Now this one is a little annoying as the enemy who has it rarely turns up (I find it turns up more often in the picture's location), and the ones that do cast confusion, silence on you. When they do turn up it's a matter of waiting for it to use the move you want. I'm sure Manipulate has never worked on this thing.

Anyway the creature you're looking for is the Jersey. ???? is a move that depends on how much health you've lost compared to your total HP, so generally when the Jersey uses it on you (I never touch it until it casts it) it's 0 damage. Again it hits one character only, so you'll probably be waiting a while.. make sure the two enemy skills are on one character. Be aware that these things are annoying to fight. Once you've hit them psychically, they become immune to it.. so you have to kill them with magic.

When you can get it
As soon as you get to Nibelheim until the end of the game.

Mt Nibel - Trine

Now Trine is annoying little skill as you can only get it during one off battles or areas. The first one is in Mt Nibel, next to the save point you'll see a dragon sitting around. It's called the Materia Keeper. Make sure you have both enemy skills equipped cos you'll not get another chance to get Trine for a long time, it hits all so don't worry about who has it.

When you can get it
The Materia Keeper is a one off battle, so make sure both materia's are equipped when you fight him. You'll only have two more chances to get this skill, so if you want it on all four.. keep following the guide.

Wutai - Death Force / Magic Hammer

Now these two are some of my favourite Enemy Skills; Death Force is especially useful when you first get to the crater on Disc 3 as it makes you immune to instant death. Anyway.. enough about me. After recruiting Cid in Rocket Town you'll have the Tiny Bronco which can go across shallow waters. You can get to an optional continent called Wutai.

If you have recruited Yuffie before going here, follow this guide exactly. If you haven't don't worry too much, you can roam the entire continent right now.. Anyway if you have, you only have to go up the hill before she'll stop and mug you. You wont be able to get Enemy Skills if they've been stolen, can you?

So.. first lets get Death Force. As soon as you disembark from the ickle plane-now-boat, roam the beach until you're attacked by a huge tortoise/turtle. This is the Adamantaimai, it usually spends the battle protecting itself and counter attacking everything. The thing we're after is the enemy skill though, which he will never even use on himself let alone you. So Manipulate is in order, don't you think? Before the battle get it equipped. It's an easy one to capture, so no worries. Once you've got that finish it off and prepare for your next task.

Now as I've said if you don't have Yuffie on your side yet, you can wander the area where you'll find more beaches, he'll attack you on any of them. But this guide is assuming you do have Yuffie, so lets just stick to the southern-est part of the continent. Do not go up the up-hill walkway, don't.

Anyway next up is the Magic Hammer. This move drains 100mp (or less depending on how much they have left), and gives it to you. Yes you've guessed it, it's a move you'll have to Manipulate. Now from that first beach where you landed, go south east where the land is green. You'll be attacked by little weed looking things called Razor Weed. Manipulate it to get it to use Magic Hammer on you.. if you want you get just go and return the favour to the rest of the weeds to heal yourself again. It's what I always do lol.

Once again I say if you don't have Yuffie, any patch of green on Wutai will have these little things attack you.

Of course once you've done the Yuffie sidequest you can go wherever you want on Wutai, so I wouldn't worry too much.

When you can get it
When you get to Wutai (After getting the Tiny Bronco) up until the end of the game.

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Now lets double check what you've got so far before going any further. I've put * next to the ones you may not have decided to go for yet. These are the skills you probably should have before getting your third enemy skill.. yes that is next on our quest.

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The Forgotten City - Third Materia

This one's easily missed, so keep an eye out for it. This wont be available until near the end of Disc 1, it's located on the north continent. I'm trying not to be spoilerific while writing this, but it's quite difficult not to be as you need to know where it is.

Now when you get to the Forgotten City (north of the Bone Village), and you've finished exploring the place, go to the right screen where there are few little buildings. One of them is a resting area. Rest there. The team will be awake during the night, and decide to continue on. Go up to the top of the room, you'll see a small yellow orb (as I screencapped this near the end of the game, I've indicated where I remember it being with a pink dot) lying behind the top bed. There's your third Enemy Skill.

You won't get much chance to work on it, just yet as you'll have something else to do.

However the next boss will get you started.

When you can get it
When you get to the Forgotten City, after spending the night there, I assume until right to the end of the game.

The Forgotten City - Aqualung (3)

Now you probably already have Aqualung on your first & second materia, if not.. equip them with the new one. Anywhere is fine, this move hits all. You wont encounter this boss until you find what you're looking for in this place. The best place to equip the enemy skill(s) if you haven't played the game before is just after you get the new one. There are no random battles until the boss, so don't worry about having the Enemy Skill wasting a slot or two.

Now this boss, Jenova Life, will use Aqualung, guaranteed. It hits hard even if you've overlevelled like me, my lowest character was 43 and the highest was 54.. and it still did quite a bit of damage. Use Big Guard if you're worried about it, I find the guy an easy battle (obviously at those levels, but my first playthrough I was a lot lower than that). So just hit it a few times, it'll use it, then just kick it's butt.

If you miss it you can go all the way back to the desert and get it from the Harpy. Make sure though you do it before going to Gaea's cliff.. as I'm sure you can't go back then, and when you're finished doing that part you wont have the buggy anymore.

When you can get it
It's a one off battle, obviously as it's a boss. You can get Aqualung later from the Harpy still, or from the Serpent in the Gelinka. You can get this from the Jenova Life after going into the depths of the Forgotten City.. after one huge cutscene that'll change everything :/

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Anyway that's it for Disc 2.. Now you've got to fill this new one up. It's up to you how you want to do that. You can do the following.

1 - Stop playing the storyline, backtrack and get everything you can.
There is no real advantage to doing this unless you want each character in the team to have a so-far-full Enemy Skill materia each. It would be quicker to leave it until after you're finished on the North Continent, you'll have access to an Airship then.. which would make getting around to each destination a lot quicker.
2 - Continue on with the storyline up until Junon, and you have the airship and fill up your third one then.
If you don't want to be wasting too much time on Enemy Skills, and/or you don't need the third one filled up for a while, it's best to wait until the storyline takes you to Junon. You'll get the airship and get most of it filled up in no time. Plus you'll be able to get your fourth materia when you do, you can fill them both up together then.

Now in my current PC save I'm leaving the older Enemy Skills until after I have the airship, so the guide is going to do the same. I'm concentrating on this method as it's the most efficient, and doesn't make this page any longer than it should be. Though the other option was to fill up the Enemy Skills once you've got all four, but where's the fun in that? No matter what you're doing first, I recommend doing this first:

Coral Valley - Death Sentence (3)

This one's not much of a backtrack, so I'll get this one out of the way first. After the Jenova battle, leave the same way you came in. On the world map go south back to the Sleeping Forest, this is Coral Valley. Go back up the path, to the next screen.

Wander aimlessly for a while (make sure your mostly empty Enemy Skill is equipped, as well as Manipulate), you should get attacked by the Boundfat. These things rarely use the move, so Manipulate it. Once you're finished here go back to The Forgotten City, and go where Cloud told you to go. Or if you're filling up the third materia first before progressing, go back to the Bone Village.

When you can get it
Anytime after reaching the area, until the end.

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If you're doing the first option, you can have a skim through this ickle guide to well.. guide you ^_^ If you're doing the same as me, skip it.

1. Outside the Bone Village you can nab Level 4 Suicide by a Mu, or at least what looks like one.
2. Get back on the Tiny Bronco, sail south west and land on the south banks of Wutai. Get Magic Hammer and Death Force.
3. Sail again back to the main continent where your other transportation is sitting. Go north to Nibelheim and nab ????
4. Head back south way towards Cosmo Canyon. In the Gongaga area nab Frog Song. Head north towards the desert and get Big Guard. If you missed Aqualung during the last boss fight, go into the desert for another chance (or on the Chocobo tracks nearby).
5. Ride your hover car into Costa De Sol, and take the ferry to the eastern continent where you started. Leave Junon and get White Wind. Don't forget Flamethrower in the caves.
6. I'm sure your level is just fine for a battle against the Midgar Zolom. If you're still 30/40's follow this Beta advice, if you're higher check out my later guide for this beast.
7. If you decided to take him on and can survive another go, head east to the Chocobo Farm. I am 100% sure there's Chocobo's there who's levels are 16, so equip your lure as well. Make sure your Enemy Skills are Chocobuckle-less and have Level 4 Suicide on, and nab it.
8. Last but quite least, head back to the Midgar area and get Matra Magic.
9. Head back the way you came and carry on with the story.
please note - I have managed to get to the northern continent from the starting one, via the Bronco.. I do know you can, I just don't remember the route exactly.. so I've gone with this one. If you're doing this method anyway, I'm sure you're not in a hurry right ^_^

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Gaea's Cliff - Magic Breath / Trine (3)

Now before I get started, I just want to leave a little tip. It should go in the Item Finder section, but it's important for one of the enemy skills coming up. I can't believe I never spotted it until now.. but nm. After your first climb up the mountain and you enter a cave that's quite the ickle tiny puzzle, there's a hidden area with a second Ribbon accessory (now my memory's fuzzy but I think the first one is after a boss battle or something, unavoidable). You know these things, they protect you from status ailments. Now I discovered it by accident while looking for the next Enemy Skill for the second/third time lol.

When you first come in, you have to go straight up into the next room. Go into the doorway directly to the left of you, where you'll return to the first screen but on the upper level. Run to the far bottom right and you'll keep running, and find yourself in a little room with a chest. Bingo. Now lets get back to work. (Yes I should get a screenshot of this, but I've ran back to this area enough :P I'll come back another time when I'm doing the Item section)

After a long walk, snowboard, walk again through the North Continent you'll reach Gaea's Cliff. Did it just get colder in here? Now you'll be either climbing mountains, or wandering caves in this place.. the first skill you're after is in the first cave you come to. Now be aware that we're going to be picking up the third Trine from the same enemy, so this'll take two battles with it (both moves hit everyone, so I'm not 100% sure on this but if the other two ones equipped that have Trine on, may make learning it on the third one difficult unless you unequip them after). First make sure you have all three Enemy Skills equipped on everyone/anyone. Also make sure you're at good health.

Wander around until you come across a huge red creature called Stilva, it will use Magic Breath on you almost right away. Heal, finish it off. After that remove your first two Enemy Skills and hunt for it again, make sure you have Manipulate equipped as well just in case. It uses Magic Breath very early on, but Trine lets just say I didn't know it had it until just recently. Manipulate works wonders on it, so do that and learn Trine on the third enemy skill. I always thought that the boss later on had this, and I obviously never got it from it (I usually am getting my butt kicked waiting for it to do it lol). However getting Trine from here is still kinda a one off like I said as you can't return here later, I came all the back from the boss battle to get it. Stilva only populates the early part of the area (the first cave after climbing).

When you can get it
You can only get Magic Breath when you're in the area, once you're done with that part of the game.. you can't go back. You'd have to wait until Disc 3 before getting this skill again. As for Trine, your last chance to get this is in an optional battle on Wutai. You have to have Yuffie recruited to get it.

Gaea's Cliff - Bad Breath

Now this one's easy, unless you don't have a Ribbon or two equipped. Now after the first cave you'll be climbing again, any random battles there or in the part after the second cave, there's a chance you'll run into this beast. Bad Breath is one of the most annoying moves on any FF game in my opinion, at least you can inflict the pain yourself now. You can't manipulate this, so just get your Ribbon's and Enemy Skills (all on anyone, the move hits all.. it wouldnt be such a b**ch move if it didn't) equipped. Now you have to wait for it to use the move, it can be anytime. When I'm actually after the skill or a screenshot, it'll take ages.. but any random battle after that it'll be the first thing it does grrrrrrrr.

When you can get it
You can only get this when you're in the area, once you're done with that part of the game.. you can't go back. You'd have to wait until Disc 3 before getting this skill again. They're the same beasts you fight, but just harder and in a different area. This was the last one I got cos like my description above, the thing refused to use the move for ages.. I kept killing it out of frustration and Counter Attack lol. Damn my lack of patience. At least by then you could have three or more (depending on how well you can use the Morph move lol) Ribbon's to protect you.

Northern Continent - Fourth Materia

Now as soon as you get the airship get your team all set up, then fly your new toy to the northern continent. Nearby the Forgotten City and whatnot there's a tiny green patch, surrounded by cliffs (which is why you couldn't get there before). You'll see a small house there. Land and go inside. There you'll see a strange coloured Chocobo, talk to it to get your Fourth and final Enemy Skill. Also if you want to do Chocobo breeding later so you can get some extra rare materia's (Knights of the Round, Mime.. the other two are meh) talk to the guy in the house as well, keep going back every now and then to learn more from him.

When you can get it
Anytime after you get control of the Highwind.

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Filling Up Your Third and/or Fourth Materia's
Now as I've said earlier, you can finish off filling up your materia's any way you want. You can delay continuing the story and fill up the third one solo if you want it filled up before continuing, or cos you like the training. Or you can hold it off for the moment and wait until you've got the fourth one, filling them up together is time saving that's for sure, with the exception of the three enemy skills you miss on the fourth one when you go through Gaea's Cliff. Or you might of just waited until getting all four before filling them up, that's good too. Either way you do it, this guide will point you basically in the right direction. So lets do this, first things first.. your checklist.

Now we've got a lot of skills to get, it's an ok amount of training that one character (or two depending on if you went to Mideel before all of this)  is going to miss out on. So if you're bothered about him/them missing out, continue with the storyline until they're both back in action. You wont miss any skills by doing this.

Here we go.. Now some of these I don't need to add any new information, so they link back to the original section. When you're done with it just click back on your browser.

Midgar Area / Chocobo Farm
NOTE: If you're Enemy Skill hunting for the third materia only, so in other words you've just left Bone Village and are still on the Northern Continent, then you can get Level 4 Suicide right there. The enemies that have this skill appear more often here than they do in the Midgar area. Just run around the area around the Bone Village and the enemy will appear, they look just like the Mu's so no worries (see below).

Now lets go back to the beginning and get some of the faffier ones out of the way: Matra Magic, Level 4 Suicide & Chocobuckle. Now remember to keep off the Enemy Skills that already have these learned, just in case. To speed things up with Matra Magic, have Manipulate equipped.

Now you should be a good enough level to tackle the Midgar Zolom for the Beta move. Now if you're quite a high level be aware it's possible that'll you'll kill it before you get the skill. If you do, just equip your attacker(s) with a less powerful weapon. I had Tifa go back to her original weapon for this. Also if you have Counter Attack on, take it off.. now.. it's a nightmare to do Enemy Skill hunts when this is equipped, especially against the Zolom as it throws you off.

Now you remember the place don't you, of course you do. Run into the swamps, make sure you have no Enemy Skills equipped that already have Beta, even if they're the only ones with Big Guard or whatever on. If you really need Big Guard for this, equip the Enemy Skill onto the guy/girl who's doing the attacking first and who will be knocked out of battle, and just use it at the beginning. You shouldn't need to though.

Now as we're a higher level, 40+ this would apply.. any lower than that click here for the original guide, it's still difficult but in a different way. The Zolom can easily die during your attempts to get it to use Beta, it's health has to be so far down before it'll use it.

First things first, equip your two attackers with a less powerful weapon, equip somebody with Sense, and go in to battle. Sense the Zolom so you can keep an eye on it's health (have the help bar on, if you select attack it'll tell you how much health it has left). Have the weaker one attack, keep an eye on how much he/she takes off. When he/she is out of battle, have the second highest one attack. Make sure you don't kill it, if it keeps doing regular attacks and you're worried you'll kill it.. try using something else like poison. If you kill it, just remember to downgrade your teams weapons again (make sure you haven't lost the appropriate materia when you're doing this) and try again.

Now back to easier things, go into the mines and get Flamethrower. To make your life easier (or quicker anyway) equip Manipulate if you haven't already.

Next up is the ever useful White Wind in the Junon area. This is the same as before. No worries.

The Middle Continent

Now get back on the airship and head for the desert. Get Big Guard, then head towards the Chocobo tracks to the east. The Harpy can appear in the tracks as well as the desert, I found it by accident during Chocobo hunting. It will appear eventually, be patient. Before you trigger a battle, take off all Enemy Skills that already have Aqualung (you know the routine by now ^_^).

Once you've got that jump on the airship again to get across the stream in the south, leading to Gongaga. This is just for Frog Song.

Get back on the airship again and fly towards Nibelheim. It's the same again for ????, however if you decide to do this after all of the events in Mideel (and I mean when you have your current team back) you'll get a cutscene in the basement. You don't need to go that far anyway, but a word of warning just in case.

That's it for this continent. Now get back on your airship and head for Wutai.

Wutai

This section all depends on wether you have Yuffie on your team or not. If you don't you cannot get Trine on your last materia. If you want all four materia's filled, go and recruit her.

First things first. If you haven't been mugged by Yuffie yet*, either because you stopped by just for the Enemy Skills or you've just recruited her.. fill up any of the enemy skills missing Death Force and Magic Hammer on the southern tip of the island. You can land in the green path of the south, and get Magic Hammer right away. The beach just a tiny walk away you can get Death Force.

*Note I have no clue what happens if you land the airship near Wutai itself, if you haven't even done the Yuffie sidequest yet. I'm not sure if she just mugs you regardless, or as you don't walk passed the trigger point nothing happens at all. At this moment (July 2008) I'm doing a Cloud and Aeris only challenge, and don't plan on going out of my way to recruit Yuffie right away, so I might find out myself later.*

If you have free reign of the island, you can land where I said or in the north. Either way works really.

For the third skill we're after, you have to do the Yuffie materia sidequest first. So if you haven't, and just landing the airship near the town doesn't trigger it, fly the ship down to the south and go up the first hilly walkway. Once you're materia-less, fly back up and get your stuff back.

Now before going into town again (the sidequest always chucks you out of town *shrug*), put Yuffie in your team and equip her any Enemy Skills that don't have Trine on. Make sure she's prepared to fight solo. Go in to town, head up to the second screen (not the mountains, where the Don kidnapped her in the previous quest..)

I'll warn you now, this is the ONLY time you can have Trine used on you once you've gotten the fourth materia. So please, if you're not reading this in order and have just found this guide randomly or whatever.. please do not trigger this subquest until you have all four Enemy Skills.

Now once you're ready, go to the building in the distance. If you've tried to go in without Yuffie before you'll remember being rudely told to leave this place, now cos she's with you, you can go on. She will get into five battles on her own, the last guy has Trine. You do have a chance to mess with her materia and equipment between each battle, but I always like to keep an Enemy Skill on her anyway. He will use Trine, in one battle he used it three times. So no problem, ey?

Last but not least, or most either
Get back on the airship and nab yourself the Death Sentence skill.

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Moving On..
How are we doing then? If you've followed my guide, this is how it should look regardless of wether you filled 3/4 together or not.

Your first two only need 7 more skills, your third needs 8, and your fourth is missing 10. The difference being Laser, Magic Breath and Bad Breath.. you can only get these three now from the last area on Disc 3. So for the time being your skills are caught up. Lets get one more before carrying on with the story, or training, or Chocobo breeding.. whatever you plan on doing next.

Goblin Island - Goblin Punch
I'm not sure what this place is called, I'd imagine it's something like this. I always forget about this one, I never use it. I usually remember during the Chocobo sidequest, and I'm after a nut the Goblins carry. For the first time ever equip the same character with all four Enemy Skills. Make sure you have Manipulate as well to speeden this process. These buggers are sometimes quite hard to manipulate, and my first experiences with it I had forgotten to remove Counter Attack and well.. you know what happens there.

Once you're prepared get on your airship, and fly to the tiny island on the far north east part of the map. It's the island with a little forest taking up most of it.

It wont take long to trigger a battle with these, they seem to be the only ones there. Manipulate one and bingo.. if you're doing the Chocobo sidequest don't forget to steal from them too. Saves you a second trip.

When you can get it
Anytime after you get control of the Highwind, or you can just breed a Gold Chocobo to get you there.. Highwind's obviously faster.

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Now that is it for a while, there's only one more skill you can get on this disc and even then you can save it for disc 3. This is the next one I'll be writing about anyway, you can do it whenever you're ready. Continue with the story or sidequests, you can only get the next skill once you've had your battle with Diamond Weapon outside of Midgar.

Ultimate Weapon/Cosmo Canyon - Shadow Flare

Now this one is quite a lengthly entry, and I'm not even 100% sure on the instructions. I'm only basing this on what I've done myself, not from what's in others guide.. I didn't look really. When it comes to chasing the Ultimate Weapon to the final battle with him, I'm not the best guide at all ^_^ Though I do have some fun chasing the guy..

** Please Note - If you're doing this skill during disc 2, be careful when flying nearby Midgar. A scene will be triggered, and you'll be finishing off the second disc before you know it **

Anyway, again this whole thing cannot be triggered until you've battled the Diamond Weapon (the one with an immunity to physical attacks). You'll see another weapon hanging around the new crater near Junon. Best get prepared before doing the next bit. You'll need Long Range materia to hit him, Barret, Vincent and/or Yuffie in the team, and/or some good spells/summons equipped (non elemental to be safe, Ultima and Meteor works well here). I wasn't prepared the last time I did this as I was mastering summons and the last few of my spells, and I did not want to sort through my stuff again (man I'm lazy ^_^), Bahamut Zero was total ownage here.. though Cloud was the one using it and he was in his 70's I think.

When you're sorted, ram the airship into him and a battle starts. You can't beat him yet, once his HP gets so far (or after a certain time goes by.. not sure), he'll fly away. This is the tricky part, and the part I'm not 100% on. My way works, so I assume it's right.

Weapon will fly around aimlessly for a while, keep following and ramming it, and it'll decide to go somewhere. Once it stops to attack the place, you can ram it again for another battle.

I've found it stopped, about to fire at reactors and whatnot. Here's the places I've seen it go to: Nibelheim (twice he tried the last time), Corel, Mideel, the Northern Crater, and Gongaga (I think..). I can't remember anymore, but I'm sure there's at least one more. In my early FFVII days I seen it fly aimlessly around Wutai and the Northern continent near the Bone Village. So if you lose it, try flying around anywhere.. It's a b**ch to find if you lose it.

 Now you'll have to rinse and repeat this a few times, depending on how much damage you do to it. One time I only had two battles with it before it went off to the final place.

The final place is hovering nearby Cosmo Canyon, near the optional area The Ancient Forest. You can only get to the forest once you have defeated the Weapon, or if you got the right Chocobo before hand (Black, Gold.. and Green I think). That's not important right now. Now make sure you get prepared again.

The person you are equipping all your enemy skills too needs to be full health, and needs a lot of it (the move does about 7000 damage). Equip HP plusses and everything on your strongest attacker, that'll probably be Cloud, so yeah you'll need Long Range equipped if that's the case. I tend to make sure he's reached his limit before battle. You don't have to, it's just so you're guaranteed to get the skill on the right person (well to be fair Cloud's always got Omnislash by this time, so.. ^_^ guaranteed kill). Weapon uses the skill on you as a finishing blow, to the person who killed him.

Other players have cast Reflect on themselves before laying the final blow, it still counts apparently. I'm not a user of Reflect (my memory sucks, so I tend to do daft things like healing the enemy lol) so I'm not sure. The obvious thing is to cast Big Guard to half the horrific damage, so you don't really need to get his HP too high. Though if you don't have Omnislash ready or something almost as good, you may still need to just in case Weapon damages you a fair bit before using the move. This one is quite faffy to get, especially cos like my earlier Zolom battles if the person who learns Shadow Flare is killed in the process, he wont remember it afterwards. Sigh.. Good luck.

When you can get it
As I said, as soon as you weaken/defeat the Diamond Weapon that's attacking Midgar. It's always around, so you can do it at anytime after that. There's also a creature in the crater on Disc 3 who does it, but it's quite a rare beast if I remember right.

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Disc Three Ahoy..

Now you're on to the final disc *sniff* we can finally finish off this task. Now this one I'm less descriptive of as I haven't got a system for it yet, I've done the earlier points in the game a lot of times, just not Disc 3 (three times so far, four soon, and the first I wasn't doing much side quest stuff at all).

Here's what you need to get.

All four materia: Angel Whisperer, Dragon Force, Roulette, Level 5 Death, and Pandora's Box
Third and Fourth together: Laser
Just the fourth solo: Magic Breath and Bad Breath

My last playthrough of the crater I was trying to come up with a workable system, and failed a fair bit, so what I'm writing now is what I learned from it. The best thing to do is get the third and fourth one caught up so you can just keep all four equipped without a worry. So lets start with that.

Laser (3/4)

Now you can get this one on your first walk down the crater. What you're looking for is the Dark Dragon. He tends to appear on the first few screens. The problem with this guy is that he has a new skill for you as well. It's best to leave it for the moment, and concentrate on Laser. Equip the two materia's that are missing it, as well as manipulate.. and hang around the first area (which is the spiral path).

When you can get it
Anytime once you reach the crater.

This thing is an annoying one to battle, even at a high level it hits you hard. I suggest Manipulate because it should be quicker. Once you've gotten that, take off your third materia and move on..

Before going on with your enemy skill hunt I suggest going to the meet up point in this crater ^^, splitting the team up to follow the three paths, and finally rendezvousing at the end.. then going back to that first meetup point and sticking your save crystal there. That way you don't have to worry as much about getting killed or anything.. Don't forget, if you're an item hunter you can stall the last meet up if you just turn back right away (before anyone arrives) and go down the other two routes, collecting everything.. you'll get doubles of a few things.

Magic Breath (4)

Anyway back to Magic Breath. You get this from a creature called Parasite. It also has another skill that you need later. Again it'll have to wait until you get Magic Breath. The creature appears often in the early points in the crater, and you'd need to manipulate it.

When you can get it
Anytime once you reach the crater.

Bad Breath (4)

For this one we need to have another Malboro battle. As you can't go back to Gaea's Cliff, you'll have to take on the Malboro in the crater. Now from where I told you to put the save point, go right and you'll appear on another spiral like path. Malboro's can appear there, but so can the creatures that have other skills you need later. Which is why I recommended you save Bad Breath to last. I have heard a rumour that the Dragon Zombie who gives you Pandora's Box only ever uses it once, but I don't know for sure.. maybe it means per battle, it seems odd otherwise. I just ended up resetting when I got into a battle with that instead of a Malboro, I wasn't taking the chance lol.

Now make sure you have some Ribbons attached before taking this thing on. Again you have to wait for it to use the move, you can't manipulate it.

When you can get it
Anytime once you reach the crater.

Now you should have the same thing on each materia, though in my last experience my third/fourth materia's have acquired new skills during the above process (Level 5 Death for example..). Nevertheless, you're caught up. Lets finish this.

Roulette

Oh boy this one's a pain in the butt. This move casts death on whoever the roulette lands on, the thing is could be anyone.. friend or foe. You can manipulate this, but it ain't going to help matters. As usual make sure you equip any Enemy Skills that don't have this (just in case your fourth got it earlier), and when you're in battle cast Death Force on the person with the Enemy Skills, I usually have a Safety Bit (immune to death) so there's that option instead. Now be aware that the Death Dealers can kill themselves with this move, so if they both die in the process you'll have to get into another battle with them, sigh.

In the save I mentioned I haven't gone to get this move yet, but I have an idea how to handle it. Cast Death Force on one of the Death Dealers, and have Safety Bit equipped to my Enemy Skiller. If it lands on the right character, great.. but worst case scenario it'll land on other team members and the other enemy.. all it'll do is give me higher odds of it landing on the right person. If you want all the experience and AP, revive them before killing the remaining Death Dealer.

Edit: What a shock, I get prepared.. cast Death Force on all needed.. and then use Roulette. It lands on Vincent (my Enemy Skiller) on the first go. Sigh.. There you go.

When you can get it
Anytime once you reach the crater.

Pandora's Box

We're still in the same area as we were for the Malboro and Death Dealers.. it's probably a good idea to save if you're struggling. Anyway the next thing we need in this part of the crater is the Dragon Zombie. It will use Pandora's Box on you, probably only once per battle (again I'm assuming.. though after getting it, I haven't been in a battle with it since :/ ). This is an incredibly powerful move, you can't not get it.. ^_^

It's just a matter of surviving until it uses the move, and well.. that's it. Nothing fancy after the Roulette struggle. You'll probably need to do quite a bit of healing after being hit though.. phew.

Three more to go..

When you can get it
This I'm not sure on. Obviously you can get it as soon as you reach the area in the crater, but I'm not sure if the move is ever used again.

Angel Whisperer

Again we're still hanging around the right path, this is the last one I promise. You should get into a battle with one of those "monsters" who look like women trying to seduce the guys (well she does use a very odd special move that confuses them.. lol).. this time it's/she's called the Pollensalta. You'll need to manipulate her to get it. It's a very useful healing move to have, so don't forget it. (and yes the second screenshot is crap.. the move itself occurs above the character.. so it's hard to capture the full moment)

When you can get it
Anytime once you reach the crater.

Level 5 Death

Lets leave the crossroads area, and retrace our steps back. You need to find the Parasites again. Remember if you got Level 5 death used on your Enemy Skiller during your Magic Breath task, you'll have to take off that enemy skill before doing this. It shouldn't take long at all, manipulate is your friend.

When you can get it
Anytime once you reach the crater.

and last but not least.. Dragon Force

Head back to the first area, and get into another battle with the Dark Dragon. This is a move you have to manipulate, as it's a move that ups your defence and magic defence. You'll see it use it on itself often.

When you can get it
Anytime once you reach the crater.

After you get this, smile or whatever in victory. Your Enemy Skills are complete. Now don't forget to use them in the rest of your quest, as soon as I complete it I hardly ever use it lol.. I just wanted to "master" them all ^_^ I hope this guide helped you :D 

Oh btw..

:D look at my hacked.. er handy work. Ok I didn't cheat with the Enemy Skills, lol, just look at his pic and health. I just wanted to show him off, the enemy skills were on Vincent before.