Enemy Skills
WARNING: This page contains SPOILERS for Final Fantasy VII.
What are the skills and where can I learn them?
Angel Whisper: 50 MP. It will fully revive and/or cure the target, and it cures some status effects too. It can only be learned from Pollensalta enemies in the Crater. You will have to Manipulate the enemy to cast the spell on yourself.
Aqualung: 34 MP. This is one of the few water-elemental attacks in the game (hits all enemies). The first place you can learn it is in the Gold Saucer area on disc one from Harpy enemies. Jenova LIFE in the Forgotten Capital and Serpent enemies in the Gelnika will also teach this skill.
Bad Breath: 58 MP. Casts a lot of status effects, including Frog, Sleep, and Confusion. Pretty useless, since most strong enemies will be uneffected. You can learn this from Malboro enemies in the snowy parts of Gaea's Cliff and in the Right path of the Crater.
Beta: 35 MP. This is a powerful fire-elemental attack that hits all enemies. The only way to learn it is from the Midgar Zolom near the Chocobo Farm.
Big Guard: 56 MP. This casts Haste, Barrier, and MBarrier in one spell. This is only useful if you are playing some sort of challenge game (like a low-level game) or if you suck. Other than that, it's completely unnecessary and gives you an unstoppable advantage. You can learn it from an enemy called Beach Plug on the beaches by Costa del Sol and the beaches around the Gold Saucer. You will have to manipulate the enemy to cast it on yourself.
Chocobuckle: 3 MP. This will do damage to all enemies on the screen equal to the number of battles that you have fled from throughout the game, regardless of the target's defensive power. (As in, it will do Zero damage if you've never escaped from a battle, one damage if you've run from one battle, and so on.) This skill is only useful if you run from a lot of battles, or if you run from 1111 or 2222 battles. Then you'll be able to use it to do the Lucky Sevens trick very easily. You can learn this from chocobos that have levels that are multiples of four (like 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and so on). To learn the skill, feed a properly leveled chocobo some Mimett Greens and then hit it with L4 Suicide (or reduce its HP to 1/32 of its max. It's easier to use L4 Suicide, trust me). All chocobos in the Mideel area are multiples of four, as are some of the chocobos in the Chocobo Farm area.
Death Force: 3 MP. This will prevent the target from being killed by an instant death attack. It's useful if you want to fight with a Curse Ring equipped. You can learn this from Adamantaimai enemies on the beaches near Wutai. You will have to manipulate the enemy to cast the spell on yourself.
Death Sentence: 10 MP. This will put a counter on the target. When the counter runs out, the enemy will die. This skill is pretty damn useless, seeing as you can easily kill just about any enemy with normal attacks in a lot less time. Plus, a lot of things are immune to it. You can learn this skill from Specter enemies in the Gi caves of Cosmo Canyon, as well as from other enemies in that area. You can also learn it from Boundfat enemies on the path to the Forgotten Capital.
Dragon Force: 19 MP. Supposedly this will raise your defensive capabilities by fifty percent, including your MDefense. I've heard several opposing pieces of testimony as to whether it works properly or not, and I haven't gotten around to testing it myself yet. Either way, it's just another unnecessary skill that you should never really need to use. You can learn it by manipulating Dark Dragon enemies in the Crater area and casting it on yourself.
Flame Thrower: 10 MP. This is a fire-elemental attack. It's pretty useless because of how weak it is, but it can be great in the battle area early on in the game. The first time you can learn it is from the Arc Dragon enemies on the Right half of the Mythril Mines. Later on you can learn it from Dragon enemies on Mount Nibel.
Frog Song: 5 MP. Casts Sleep and Frog. Again, this is pretty damn useless. You can first learn it from Touch Me enemies near Gongaga. Later on, you can learn it from Toxic Frog enemies in the Temple of the Ancients and from Christopher enemies in the Crater.
Goblin Punch: Zero MP. That's right, it's free to use. It does physical damage, but I'm not sure how it's calculated. It might just be your Magic stat. The only reason I suspect that is because Cloud always does a lot more damage with it than anyone else, and I always have the Magic Plus materia on him. You can learn this from Goblin enemies on the islands in the far north east area of the overworld (you'll need the Highwind to get there).
L4 Suicide: 10 MP. This will hit any enemy with a level that is a multiple of four for 31/32s of their maximum HP. Pretty much the only decent use for this is getting the Chocobuckle enemy skill, since many enemies are not a multiple of four, and most (if not all...) bosses cannot be affected by it. You can learn this skill from Mu enemies in the Chocobo Farm area and from Trickplay enemies.
L5 Death: 22 MP. This will cast the Death spell at any enemy with a level that is a multiple of five. This is yet another spell that rarely works, and has no decent use. You can learn it from Parasite enemies in the Crater.
Laser: 16 MP. This will take fifty percent of the target's HP. Again, it's pretty useless, since most things are immune to it. You can first learn it from Death Claw enemies on the screen directly below Dyne in the Desert Prison. Later on, you can learn it from Dark Dragon enemies in the Crater.
Magic Breath: 75 MP. It's a multi-elemental attack. Be careful with it though, since enemies are often healed by it if they absorb one of the elements (be careful with the Kjata summon materia too...).
Magic Hammer: 3 MP. This will absorb 100 MP from the target and give it to the caster. This is one of the Enemy Skills that people praise like it's God or something. Personally, I've never used it except for novelty purposes. Still, it has its uses, which I note in the Walkthrough for various battles. You can learn this from Razor Weed enemies in the grass by Wutai.
Matra Magic: 8 MP. This shoots some missile-things out at all targets on the screen and does a small amount of damage. This can also be very useful in the battle arena early on, along with Flamethrower. This is the first Enemy Skill that you'll be able to get. You can learn it from Custom Sweeper enemies right outside of Midgar, and you can also learn it from several enemies in the Desert Prison on the screen below Dyne. You can also learn it from Death Machine enemies in Junon.
Pandora's Box: 120 MP. This is some sort of magic-based attack that will hit all enemies on the screen. Due to how late in the game you learn it, it's not very useful. The animation is also quite long, so meh. You can learn it from Dragon Zombie enemies in the Crater. Be careful though: Many people have problems with this spell only being cast once in a game. If you're trying to get all of the skills on all four materia, make sure you have all four of them on when you get hit by this. It'll save you some possible frustration.
Roulette: 6 MP. A roulette thing will select a target (enemies and allies) and cast Death on it. Pointless. You can learn this from Death Dealer enemies in the Crater.
Shadow Flare: 100 MP. This is a very powerful magic attack that will only hit a single target. You can learn it from Dragon Zombie enemies in the Crater. You can also learn it from Ultimate WEAPON, Ruby WEAPON, and Safer Sephiroth.
Trine: 20 MP. This is a lightning-elemental attack that hits all enemies. Very useful. You can first learn it from Materia Keeper on Mount Nibel. Later, you can learn it from Stilva enemies on Gaea's Cliff, and then from Godo on the top floor of the Wutai Pagoda.
White Wind: 34 MP. This will cast a healing spell that will heal all of your allies for the amount of HP that the caster currently has. For example, if you have a maximum of 2000 HP, and you cast the spell with a current HP of 1038, you will heal all party members for 1038 HP. It also cures a lot of status effect (good and bad ones, so be careful). This spell is very useful in the battle arena, especially if you don't have a Ribbon or if your green materia/items are broken. You can learn this from Zemzelett enemies around the Junon area. You can also learn it from Wind Wings in the Whirlwind Maze, although you have to be insanely lucky to get them to use it on you. It's not on their manipulate list, so you have to confuse them and pray.
???: 3 MP. This does damage based on the caster's maximum HP minus their current HP. For example, if your max is 4590 and you have 1276 when you cast it, you will do 3314 damage. This spell is only useful in certain situations when you happen to be low on HP and are alert enough to think about using it. You can learn it from Jersey enemies in the Shinra Mansion and from Behemoth enemies in the Midgar Underground during the parachute mission.
Where are the Enemy Skill materia?
First One: In the sample container after you beat Sample: H0152 in the Shinra Building. If you forget to grab this one, it's gone forever.
Second One: Intermediate Hall, the tutorial room in Junon. In the barracks, talk to the soldier that's under the stairs. He'll let you into a lower room. At the bottom of this room, there is an Enemy Skill materia on the ground.
Third One: In the Forgotten Capital. On the right side, there is a house where you can sleep. Behind these three beds, you will find the third Enemy Skill materia.
Fourth One: Talk to the Chocobo Sage's chocobo after you get the Highwind. You can find the Sage's house surrounded by mountains on the northern continent.
How do I learn a skill?
You must have an Enemy Skill materia equipped on someone when an enemy casts a skill at you. Here are some conditions that can affect whether you will learn a skill or not:
I) If you escape or are ejected from the battle after learning the skill, you will not learn the skill.
II) If you have more than one Enemy Skill materia on the same character, that character will learn the skill on all of the materia, assuming that none of them have the skill already, in which case you will not learn the skill on the others.
III) If the skill misses you, you will still learn it.
IV) If the skill is reflected from you, you will still learn it.
V) If the skill kills you, you will still learn it, even if the character remains dead until the end of the battle.
VI) If the skill is ineffective or you somehow absorb it, you will still learn the skill.
VII) If you cast the skill from a materia onto one of your own characters, they will NOT learn the skill.
VIII) You can NOT learn Enemy Skills in the battle arena.
How do I Manipulate an enemy?
You'll need a Manipulate Materia. Cait Sith comes equipped with one, and you can buy more of them in Rocket Town later in the game. Equip the materia and use the command on the enemy. Your character will then be able to use that enemy's skills until you attack it. Select the skill you want, and then cast it on someone with an Enemy Skill materia equipped.
Are any of the Enemy Skills missable?
The only one that is missable is Trine. Godo, the final enemy on the top floor of the Wutai Pagoda, is the only enemy that will be able to teach this skill to you after you get the fourth Enemy Skill materia. So as long as you wait until after you have all four materia before you do the quest, you can get Trine on all four of them.