Pandora's Box (Final Fantasy VII)

Pandora's Box is an enemy skill in Final Fantasy VII that deals great non-elemental damage against one target bypassing their Magic Defense. The skill is notorious for there being only one chance to learn it on the Enemy Skill Materia. It is worth learning even if obtained so late, as it is very strong to use in battle.
==Obtained==
The spell is only learned from Dragon Zombie at the Northern Cave, and it is only cast as a final attack by the first Dragon Zombie the player defeats. If the Dragon Zombie does not have enough MP to cast it, then Pandora's Box will be lost forever. However, if the battle is won by petrification, then the Pandora's Box will be used on the next encounter with the foe.
If the player does not learn Pandora's Box upon the first casting, it is usually impossible to obtain. The global variable for Pandora's Box is also used in the Jenova∙SYNTHESIS battle, meaning that after triggering this battle, if one were to fight another Dragon Zombie, it would again use Pandora's Box. Jenova∙SYNTHESIS is past the point of no return, however, and the only way to get back from that point is by triggering a glitch. It can be done in the original PC version by switching the CD just before the beginning of a battle triggering a fight with a êúô0(äñ) (a debug room enemy). Upon either killing it or by running away, the player will return to the world map at the point they left it the last time. If the player performs this trick when the battle with Bizarro∙Sephiroth is about to start, they will be ported to the world map and can thus fight another Dragon Zombie and get it to use Pandora's Box for a second time. Another way is to use the Yuffie warping glitch.
As being able to trigger Pandora's Box more than once is so cumbersome, before going into Northern Cave, the player may want to equip all Enemy Skill Materia they have. The player can set up Reflect to learn the ability without taking damage, or just make sure they have high HP when the Dragon Zombie perishes.
==Stats==
Command Materia	Enemy Skill Materia
Effect 	Defense-ignoring non-elemental damage to all targets.
MP cost 	110
Reflect 	Yes
Pandora's Box deals damage in the following formula:
:(60 / 16) \times [ (Level + Magical~Attack) \times 6 ]
where "Level" is the caster's current level and "Magical Attack" is their Magic atk stat.
==Use==
Pandora's Box deals heavy magical damage to all enemies and ignores their Magic Defense. At 110 MP is the most expensive Enemy Skill. Pandora's Box's spell power is equal to 3.75x the base magic damage, and ignores the enemies' defenses. It can be reflected. It is not as powerful as Shadow Flare, but hits all targets and ignores their Magic Defense. 
Good enemies to use Pandora's Box against include the Movers, Iron Man, Jenova∙SYNTHESIS and the final bosses. Because Pandora's Box ignores the enemy's Magic Defense, it can do moderate damage against Ruby Weapon; the player can then boost the caster's Magic Power with min-maxing and Hero Drinks to have it do more damage.
Casting Pandora's Box on Proud Clod at the Battle Square with a party member and the enemy both having Reflect can result in an infinite loop reflecting back and forth between the party and the enemy. Using Pandora's Box on certain enemies—such as Scissors, Lost Number, Grangalan, Jenova∙SYNTHESIS, and Bizarro∙Sephiroth—may duplicate their models. Also, using it after a Chocobo has fled the battle will result in a transparent Chocobo model after the spell has finished. These oddities have no effect on the battle.
==Etymology and origin==
The ability may have been named as such in the English localization because the enemy who has it only ever uses it once per save file: once Pandora's Box has been opened, one cannot return to the state where it was closed ever again. However, the ability has a completely different name in Japanese, simply expressing bafflement on what is happening, reflected in the large question mark in the ability animation.
Category:Enemy Skills in Final Fantasy VII