Midgar Zolom The Midgar Zolom is a species of giant serpent in " Final Fantasy VII " that dwells within the marshlands leading to the Mythril Mine . It uses and can bestow the Beta Enemy Skill . The Midgar Zolom appears as a gray serpentine shadow gliding across the marsh . Riding a chocobo makes the party fast enough to outrun it , although this can also be done on foot if the player is precise . After traversing the swamp for the first time , the player enters a one - time field location , named Marshes , where a Midgar Zolom is impaled on a tree , leading the party to speculate the feat was done by Sephiroth . If the player enters the menu the moment the scene is about to play they can skip it . Midgar Zolom will respawn endlessly . Avoiding . If the party battles Midgar Zolom , they must kill it to proceed . If they flee , they are transported back to the edge of the swamp . Midgar Zolom can eject someone out of battle ; this will not flag them as defeated , and because that person is still alive , it is not Game Over even if the other characters die , and the current party leader will appear on the edge of the swamp . Even if killed , the Midgar Zolom quickly respawns to begin chasing the party again . Due to the configuration of the marsh area , it is possible , though difficult , to outrun the creature on foot in either direction . From the Chocobo Farm side , it can be done starting from the point furthest out into the marsh , with the Midgar Zolom to the left and slightly behind the player . From the Mythril Mine side , the player must wait until the Midgar Zolom is moving away and towards the far right side of the swamp ( from the point of view of having exited the mine ) . If timed well , the player can avoid the Midgar Zolom and run past it . The player can also use a save game exploit by starting to cross the swamp , and when the Zolom ' s shadow is about to attack , the player can save the game , exit and reload , and Midgar Zolom will spawn on the other side of the swamp . Battle . When the battle begins , Midgar Zolom only uses its physical attack , Bite . The attacks are powerful and can kill or severely weaken a character , but they can fill a character ' s Limit Break meter fast . Midgar Zolom has three other abilities it will begin using when its HP drops to certain thresholds , two of which it will perform as counterattacks in response to direct attacks . If it takes damage when below 3 / 4 HP , it will use Change and uncoil , rising into the air . In this state it can use Blown Away to remove a party member from battle , and can use it twice per battle . If it takes damage when below 3 / 8 HP , it will use the powerful Beta attack inflicting approximately 1 , 000 – 1 , 200 Fire - elemental damage on the entire party . It uses Beta once per battle . Using the Sense Materia is recommended for determining Midgar Zolom ' s current HP if Midgar Zolom is poisoned , as the damage display may be off - screen during attack animations , and Poison may hit twice per round . If damaged only by poison , Midgar Zolom will not use Beta , and may not eject the party or stand up either . Strategy . Elemental Materia connected to a Fire Materia in armor will halve Beta ' s damage . Fighting in the back row and using Defend each halve Bite ' s physical damage ; both together bring it down to 80 or so . Using a Tranquilizer to put characters in Sadness reduces both physical and magic damage by 30 % . The Spirit stat ( and thus the Talisman ) reduces the magic damage from Beta ( the Magic Defense stat does nothing in " Final Fantasy VII " ) ; armor Defense and the Vitality stat ( and therefore Protect Vest ) reduce physical damage . Characters ' HP gain at level up is random within a given range ; given his HP rises high enough each level , Barret can survive Beta at level 11 , using the above tactics . The Poison damage from Bio or Deadly Waste gives the player plenty of time to time attacks ; Midgar Zolom takes 125 HP of poison damage per round . Dealing Gravity damage is even faster . If Gravity or Laser are unavailable , the party can use any Graviballs they may have won from Deenglow s in the Train Graveyard in the Midgar Slums to do heavy damage . Poison damage can kill the Midgar Zolom immediately after using Beta if the provoking strike is carefully timed to knock it below 125 HP . Poison status , and the three attacks , at 3 , 000 HP , 2 , 000 HP and low HP , are all that is required to both kill the Midgar Zolom and make it cast Beta . This sequence is recommended for low level parties , as it can Push ( eject a character ) twice , Push then Beta , Push then Bite , not cast Beta at all , and all manner of other inconvenient combinations , if other sequences of attacks are used . If the player wishes only to kill Midgar Zolom and prevent it from casting Beta , poisoning it only , with no further attacks , will ensure it does not cast it . Barret can also drain Midgar Zolom ' s MP with his Mindblow Limit Break to prevent Midgar Zolom from using Beta . Surviving Beta at the lowest possible level relies on it missing altogether . Given enough attempts , this can be achieved by giving a character a command to use a Hyper and confusing them with Loco Weed before the Hyper is used , whereupon they have a chance of using Hyper ( which cannot normally be used against enemies ) on the Midgar Zolom , inflicting Fury . This gives a 15 . 37 % chance of Beta missing altogether . Due to its respawning and automatic attack , Midgar Zolom can become a target of automated leveling for high level parties , with an auto - fire controller and Final Attack — Revive or — Phoenix combinations , limited only by available MP . Characters that are pushed out of the battle will have the Fury and Sadness status effects removed . Learning Beta . If the player is trying to obtain the Beta as Enemy Skill , they must ensure the character who holds the Enemy Skill Materia both survives the attack and wins the battle . The simplest way to do this at low levels is to equip an Elemental Materia in a linked slot with a Fire Materia to reduce Beta ' s damage to approximately 600 , allowing a character with high enough HP to survive it . The character can then cast Beta to kill the Midgar Zolom and end the battle with Beta learned . The player must be sure , however , that the character with this set - up does not attack once the Midgar Zolom rises into the air , so it is less likely to eject them , and focus on the other two characters for offense . Aeris ' s level 3 Limit Break , Planet Protector , makes the party invincible ; using this at the right time can ensure the party survives Beta . The Fire Ring from Costa del Sol , equipped on the character holding the Enemy Skill Materia , nullifies all damage from Beta ( and potentially allows the player to counterattack with Beta ) . Etymology . " Midgar Zolom " is an artifact of " Final Fantasy VII ' s " spotty localization . " Midgardsormr " is usually rendered in the series and elsewhere correctly as ; however , as - column katakana , along with and for / t / and / d / , are used to transliterate bare consonants in other languages , the translator working on this section of the game likely did not realize the mythological connotation and attempted to transliterate the name directly from the kana without further context . The serpent being found near the city of Midgar ( which , in Japanese , is meant to be part of the pun and reference ) likely led to the final result . " Midgar Zolom " is further in error as , even if setting aside ミドガルズオルム being correctly translated as Midgardsormr in other games , the original Japanese word does not possess the , which is necessary to indicate that the proper noun being transliterated is two separate words ; i . e . , " Midgar Zolom " should be ミドガル ・ ズオルム in Japanese , with the interpunct in between the words .