To learn Enemy Skills in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, you’ll need to equip the Enemy Skill Materia on a character. To learn the skill, they’ll need to actually absorb one of these enemy abilities — but once that happens, the skill is unlocked permanently. The skills are stuck on the Enemy Skill Materia, so anyone that equips it will gain any of the enemy skills you’ve unlocked.
The tricky part is finding all the enemies that actually give you skills. There are only four Enemy Skills total, but they’re useful for one simple reason — Enemy Skills are abilities, so they don’t cost any MP! Powers like Algid Aura give your weapons an Ice Elemental attack, while Soul Siphon can help you absorb HP from nearby enemies. There are some pretty good skills, and the best one is also the hardest to acquire.
Learn how to find them all and earn the ‘Master of Mimicry’ trophy with the complete text guide below.
More Final Fantasy 7 Remake guides:
Tips & Tricks Beginner’s Guide | How To Unlock Level 2 Limit Breaks | All Weapon Locations & Proficiency Abilities | All Rare Materia Locations | How To Unlock All Summon Materia | All Jukebox Music Tracks Locations | ‘Heavenly Dart Player’ Trophy Guide | ‘Sultan of Squat’ Trophy Guide | PSA: 3 Very Useful Button Inputs | How To Get 200% Or 300% Stagger Bonus | How To Beat Roche, Crab Warden & Air Buster | How To Beat Reno, Rude & Hell House | How To Beat Abzu, Ghoul & Eligor | How To Beat Reno & Rude, Failed Experiment & Abzu (Rematch) | How To Beat Jenova, Rufus & Arsenal | How To Beat The Final Boss | All Side-Quests Guide & Rewards List | Post-Game Unlockables Guide
To learn an Enemy Skill, a character in your party must equip the Enemy Skill Materia and take damage from the specific enemy / skill listed below. This materia can be unlocked by completing Battle Intel Report #16 and purchasing it from Chadley. You can only get one, and only the character holding the materia can use these abilities once they’re unlocked.
- Algid Aura: Gives your weapon an ice aura.
- How To Learn: Can be learned from Cerulean Drakes. You’ll encounter them in Chapter 15, on the Collapsed Sector 7 Plate – Distillation Tower 2 – 4F.
- Spirit Siphon: Drains HP from nearby enemies. Costs 2 ATB.
- How To Learn: Can be learned from Phantoms that appear in a side-quest to the Sector 6 Slums – Public Graveyard. Phantoms also appear in Chapter 11.
- Self Destruct: Deals a large amount of damage to enemies in the surrounding area while incapacitating self. Costs 2 ATB.
- How To Learn: Can be learned from Smoggers found in Chapter 14 – Collapsed Expressway, or from Varghidpolis in the Underground Test Site – B1.
- Bad Breath: A rancid breath attack that causes poison, sleep and silence.
- How To Learn: Can only be learned from Marlboro, a special enemy that appears in Round 5 of the top-tier Chapter 17 Hojo’s Lab Shinra Combat Simulator challenges. These battles are locked to Hard Mode.
Get all four skills, and you’ll earn the ‘Master of Mimicry’ trophy. Only the last ability is hard to get — and it’s also one of the best skills in the game. With it, you can debuff enemies and bosses without using any MP.
