Shadow Flare (Final Fantasy VII)

Shadow Flare is an enemy skill in Final Fantasy VII that deals supreme non-elemental damage against one target. The player can learn it on the Enemy Skill Materia from select tough opponents, many of them optional bosses. Though tough to learn, it is worth collecting as it is very strong to use in battle.
==Obtained==
If obtaining all enemy skills the earliest they are available, Shadow Flare is learned on the latter quarter through mastering the Materia from Ultimate Weapon's final attack in Cosmo Area after defeating Diamond Weapon as part of the story. Upon death, Ultimate Weapon will cast Shadow Flare on the character who dealt the killing blow, dealing about 7,546 damage before taking damage randomization and character magical defense into account. Shadow Flare is strong, and if the character dies when it hits, the enemy skill will still be learned. However, if the spell is reflected, it can be learned without taking damage. The player should thus stack their Enemy Skill Materia on one character, and use them to kill Ultimate Weapon.
The other enemies that use Shadow Flare are Dragon Zombie in the final dungeon, and Ruby Weapon in the Gold Saucer Area, and the final boss, Safer∙Sephiroth (Post-JORG). Learning Shadow Flare from the Dragon Zombie can be done by inflicting the character with the Enemy Skill Materia with Paralyzed status to make the enemy use it (the player can use Dazers for this). 
==Stats==
Command Materia	Enemy Skill Materia
Effect 	Non-elemental damage to one target.
MP cost 	100
Reflect 	Yes
Shadow Flare deals damage in the following formula:
:(125 / 16) \times [ (Level + Magical~Attack) \times 6 ]
where "Level" is the caster's current level and "Magical Attack" is their Magic atk stat.
==Use==
Shadow Flare is an Enemy Skill learned from Dragon Zombie, Safer∙Sephiroth, Ruby Weapon, and Ultimate Weapon. It deals massive non-elemental damage to one enemy and costs 100 MP to cast. Shadow Flare's spell power is equal to 7.8125x the base magic damage. Other than gravity-type attacks, Shadow Flare is the most powerful spell.
Shadow Flare, as the most powerful spell, is useful for bosses and other strong enemies, such as Hojo's forms, the enemies in the final dungeon, and the final bosses.
==Etymology==
Category:Enemy Skills in Final Fantasy VII