Enemy abilities Enemy abilities are abilities that are usable by enemies and are a recurring feature in the " Final Fantasy " series . Several abilities can be learned as Blue Magic while others can only be learned by methods such as Controlling , confusing , or even giving MP to the monster . Appearances . " Final Fantasy " . Enemy abilities cannot be used by the player in the original installment . The majority of spells and skills used by enemies are the renamed or reanimated version of spells and skills used by the characters . Several attacks were renamed in the original versions , such as Holy originally being named FADE due to censorship issues , and Temper being named TMPR due to space issues . Very few attacks were of elemental nature in this installment as well , mainly focusing on non - elemental damage and the Poison status . " Final Fantasy II " . As with the original Final Fantasy , most of the enemy abilities exhibited in the second game in the series are renamed , remodeled , or reanimated versions of spells the player may obtain . The skill / spell " Enemy Ability " does not appear in this game . Many of these attacks are also non - elemental in nature , with few exceptions , and vary greatly from one version to another , such as Fire V and Fire VIII . " Final Fantasy III " . Several enemy abilities in the game , if not half of them , are elemental in nature , and all have unique animations to separate them from player spells in both versions . However , not all enemy abilities have animations in the NES version , such as Mind Blast and Barrier Shift . " Final Fantasy IV " . Many of the attacks used by enemies in this installment are of non - elemental nature , with their names changing greatly from one version to another , despite being the same in the Japanese version of the game . It is interesting to note that many attacks here are the first attacks to actually focus on dealing percentile damage , such as Blitz dealing damage equal to 1 / 10 of a character ' s Max HP each time it hits . The game puts a heavy emphasis on physical attacks over special attacks as well . " Final Fantasy IV - Interlude - " . Many of the same abilities return for the sequel to " Final Fantasy IV " . All abilities appearing in this game have the same function as the previous game . " Final Fantasy V " . " Final Fantasy V " marks the first time enemy abilities can be used by the player with the introduction of the Blue Mage . Blue Magic has appeared as a feature in many of the later installments . There are several attacks that are not named when used , such as ? ? ? ? and Strong Attack , even when controlling a monster . Poison remains the most common status ailment in monster attacks . " Final Fantasy VI " . Some enemy abilities can be learned as Rages by Gau . Strago can also learn several enemy abilities as Lore . Final Fantasy VI added many " special " or magic attacks to the physical attacks that were dominant in previous installments . Imp is often used as enemy attacks , as with Poison . Several enemies now prefer using elemental and status attacks over non - elemental attacks . The Lore Rippler has the effect of exchanging statuses between the caster and the target . However , there were some mistakes in the coding that caused Trance , Dance , KO , Rage , Near Fatal , Freeze , Control , Hidden , Interceptor , Petrify , and Magitek to be able to be switched . A second bug caused Rippler to hit with 100 % accuracy even when it claimed to miss . This was fixed in the " Advance " port . " Final Fantasy VII " . Enemy Abilities can only be made usable through the use of the Enemy Skill Materia . In " Final Fantasy VII " , a total of 24 Enemy Skills are available . Some skills are only used by certain bosses , and thus there is limited opportunity to obtain some skills . Several attacks are not named until an enemy with that ability is Manipulated . The Enemy Skill Pandora ' s Box is only used as a Final Attack by the first Dragon Zombie the player encounters and thus there is only one opportunity to obtain it . Elemental attacks continue to increase in number along non - elemental attacks , though physical attacks are the most common . Poison , Blind , and Confuse are the most common status - related enemy skills in this installment . Final Fantasy VII contains several enemy ability - related bugs . Adamantaimai tries to use Cure when buffed with both Barrier and MBarrier , despite not having the spell , resulting in a glitch . In another instance , Tonberry ' s Time Damage , which deals damage equivalent to playing time . Due to Time Damage being only a counter attack to the third attack after Tonberry ' s last turn , the conditions for this move usually can ' t be met when fighting Tonberry on the Battle Square with just one party member , and therefore the ability is very difficult to obtain . " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " . Most of the enemy abilities ' names can be seen when the enemy uses them . However , most normal physical attacks ' names are not revealed to the player . Many attacks are taken from the original " Final Fantasy VII " , although they are always slightly different due to a completely different battle system in " Crisis Core " . In " Crisis Core " , the player may dodge and block all enemy abilities with careful timing . " Final Fantasy VIII " . In " Final Fantasy VIII " , every attack an enemy makes is an enemy ability except for its basic physical attack . These abilities include both physical and magical attacks . When an enemy ability is used , its name will appear on - screen . Some can be used by the player through Quistis ' s Limit Break Blue Magic , though certain items must be used on Quistis first . This also marks the first time attacks can hit the player more than once , as seen by Omega Weapon ' s Terra Break attack . Physical attacks are used more often than the enemy ' s special attacks , though several special attacks are deadlier than in previous installments , such as Death . Due to " Final Fantasy VIII " ' s battle system , where enemies ' level s depend on the player ' s party , the enemies possess different skills and abilities depending on what level they are fought . Tonberry ' s LV Down / Up skill can further affect the enemy ' s AI . The enemies also have hidden conditions for certain attacks , such as Ruby Dragon ' s Breath attack , which it won ' t use if the player ' s party has only two active members ( third party member is not present or is knocked out ) . Ruby Dragon will also cast Reflect on itself and casts magic on itself to reflect back to the player , but only if the player casts Reflect on themselves first . " Final Fantasy IX " . All abilities used by enemies in " Final Fantasy IX " are each given names , including basic physical attacks . This game ' s Enemy Ability user is the Blue Mage Quina who may cast Blue Magic after Eating or Cooking the enemies that cast them . " Final Fantasy X " . Many abilities in this game are stronger versions of the game ' s weaker abilities , such as 10 , 000 Needles being a stronger version of 1000 Needles , and 99 , 999 Needles being the strongest version of 1000 Needles . Stronger versions of abilities tend to be more powerful than weaker versions . All enemy abilities are named in this version , and many can be learned by Kimahri by using the Lancet skill on specific enemies . " Final Fantasy X - 2 " . As the same fiend - genera reappeared in this game , a lot of the enemy abilities are shared with those in the preceding game . As with " Final Fantasy X " , many abilities have stronger and weaker counterparts , which are more and less powerful , respectively . Many attacks in this game are also percentile - based , dealing damage based on usually either 25 % , 50 % , or 75 % of a character ' s max HP . Multiple hits return as a feature for some attacks , such as Angra Mainyu ' s Perdition ' s Flame attack . " Final Fantasy X - 2 " introduced the Gun Mage dressphere , which allows the character to learn enemy abilities when hit by them . The Gun Mage can then use said abilities from the Blue Bullet list in battle . Some abilities can only be learned under certain conditions ; for example , Mega Tonberry will only use Cry in the Night when in Oversoul , and Baralai must be attacked ten times before he will unleash Drill Shot . " Final Fantasy XII " . This game has a very large amount of Enemy Magick s and Technicks . The player can ' t learn Blue Magic , but enemies often use the same spells the party can obtain . The enemies are also capable of attacking in combos , but the chance of this depends on the enemy in question . Yiazmat can manage combos up to 12 hits . The computer scripted actions are called Gambits . Although the enemies ' gambits are invisible to the player , one can often detect a pattern to their actions , such as an enemy always attacking the party member closest to it . The ability to erect a paling is exclusive to certain enemies , making them invulnerable to either magickal attacks , physical attacks , or both . Certain enemy attacks can also knock the player back , preventing them from counterattacking . While all enemy Yarhi have the same abilities as the ones the player summons , monsters and enemy sky pirates have their own special abilities . However , leader sky pirates may have abilities available or similar to player characters ' abilities . Enemy monsters ' abilities are generally exclusive to them . Many commonly recurring abilities from the series can only be used by enemy sky pirates in " Revenant Wings " . " Final Fantasy XIII " . Enemy abilities in " Final Fantasy XIII " can ' t be learned by the party . The enemies execute commands in chains like the party does , although the only opponent who can paradigm shift is Cid Raines . Some enemy abilities can launch party members into the air . If the enemy itself is launched , it is unable to take action . Regular physical attacks aren ' t named , but whenever an enemy is using a special attack its name is displayed on the screen . Ultima , a recurring spell in the series , is an enemy attack in " Final Fantasy XIII " only used by the toughest of foes . " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 . All enemy attacks have names and are displayed on - screen before being executed , giving player cue when to use guard or evade abilities . Enemy attacks cannot be learned by player . Some enemy attacks can interrupt the player ' s actions , or launch Lightning . " Final Fantasy Tactics " . Unlike most other games , enemy abilities are divided by race , generic monsters , and the Lucavi . Human opponents use skills available to their respective job classes , although there are special enemy opponents who have unique job classes unattainable to the player , and thus can use abilities the player can ' t learn . There is no Blue Magic , although certain spells and summons can be learned by being hit with the spell . Bio magic is enemy exclusive in " Tactics " , although a character with the Magic Counter can still counterattack with a Bio spell . The player can gain access to the enemies attacks by taming monsters and breeding them and then using them in battle . " Final Fantasy Tactics Advance " . " Tactics Advance " monsters have their own exclusive skillsets which are different according to the monster ' s type . They can be used by Beastmasters when controlling the enemies , and some of the abilities from those skillsets can be learned by any Hume equipped with the Blue Mage passive ability Learning . Bosses such as the Totema have skillsets that are exclusive to themselves and unusable by the player in any way . Those skillsets may , however , hold abilities learnable by some of the five races . Like in " Tactics Advance " , monsters have their own abilities and Beastmasters can use them by controlling monsters . Humes can also learn some of them via the Blue Mage Learn ability . Bosses have exclusive abilities that are not accessible to the player . " Final Fantasy Mystic Quest " . Unlike the other games in the series , " Final Fantasy Mystic Quest " has a special battle mechanic where every enemy attack is associated with an element . Physical attacks are also considered a type of elemental attack , and those that do not fit within these 8 are considered non - elemental . " Final Fantasy Adventure " . Enemy abilities are mostly compose of projectiles with only a few melee attacks . If Sumo collides with the enemy or the enemy collides with him , Sumo will take damage . " The Final Fantasy Legend " . Enemy abilities can be used by allied monsters who have learned an ability by eating monster meat and transforming . A few enemy abilities are enemy exclusive and cannot be learned by the player or the players ' monsters , however . " Final Fantasy Legend II " . Like in the previous game , enemy abilities can be used by allied monsters who have learned an ability by eating monster meat and transforming . A few enemy abilities are enemy exclusive and cannot be learned by the player or the players ' monsters , however . " Final Fantasy Legend III " . Enemy abilities can also be used by allies who have transformed into specific monsters . These monster skills are located in the Talent menu . A few enemy abilities are enemy exclusive and cannot be used by the player . " Final Fantasy All the Bravest " . Unlike other games in the series , all abilities will knock - out a party member in one hit , regardless of the type of attack . Several abilities may even target more than one character .