Final Fantasy 7 - How to get the "beta" enemy skill early

[jay42k]

Got beta enemy skill earliest point in the game,took four tries because the character equipped with enemy skill kept getting knocked off screen. Beat at lvl 15 Cloud,13 Aeris and 15 Red. I had fire + elemental materia equipped on armor of one character and enemy skill. Cast Bio and kept healing until he finally cast Beta on me, wiped everyone out but thankfully the elemental + fire character took less damage and with a quick elixer I managed to wait out the next bio hit which took out the enemy.

[ulillillia]

If I recall, if someone gets knocked out (eliminated from battle) and the others die, it's not exactly game over.

[jay42k]

@ulillillia Nope it's not, they will start you off at the edge of the swamp to try again or go on about your business lol

[ulillillia]

You're contradicting yourself. It's not game over if someone gets knocked out and yet you're saying it is in the first 3 words. Then you mention that you start back at the back of the swamp, as if you never crossed it, of which is the correct case.

[jay42k]

@ulillillia Where exactly did I say it was game over? I said I had to TRY four times to get the beta enemy skill. I never said I died and had to reload my game. I only had to face the zorm 4 times until he used it on the character equipped with enemy skill materia. If you read what I wrote correctly you would see that is all I have said. Or are you just trying to provoke a pointless argument?

[ulillillia]

Ah, a triple negative (meaning only one negative applies, "not game over"). I apparently misunderstood something, my fault.

[jay42k]

@ulillillia No worries, it happens. Thanks for the vid though it helped.

[ulillillia]

Sadness status and back row help as well. Those are omitted and make it survivable with almost game-starting HP and stats.

[jay42k]

@ulillillia Just to further clarify. In my second response I wrote "Nope it's not." Which was me agreeing to you saying "It's not exactly game over" so if that is what confused you there is your clarification.

[IisPAD]

I got it at level 25 when I had like each party member with 1000-1100hp. I used fire ring on cloud who had the enemy skill materia equipped and equipped long range onto weakest party member (tifa)

And when the battle started I used the big guard enemy skill for barrier/m barrier/haste. Then used a T/S Bomb for gravity (depleting 1/2 hp)

Barret got taken out by the zolom after using his limit break and then the zolom used beta which killed tifa leaving cloud to take out the zolom! =)

[spoon149]

where did u get that e.skill im all the way at shinra mansion and i dont have it >.>

[TigerLikesTail]

With the fire ring & long range I was able to disregard the 1300 hp method

I was about level 21-22 when I beat him.

It was great to use Beta Against Reno & win both items.

:-)

[TigerLikesTail]

When you arrive in Costa Del Sol

Find the fire ring Shinra Villa in the basement.

You will pair this long range which you found at the Mythril Mine.

After winning the chocobo race you have the buggy

go back to costa del sol.

Take the ship to Junon. Talk to the man standing on the road

& ride a helicopter outside of Junon.

Take the buggy back to the cave & walk through there is the bastid.

Equip the fire ring & long range. 0 damage from fire & 1/2 from physical.

use summons & 2x & follow above

[ulillillia]

Try going after beta before you first enter the mine. That's as early as you can get it. You're also forgetting sadness status as well, of which helps considerably.

[pyrotekniks63]

Is the Zolom that strong defensively? I thought you're attacks were quite weak against it especially from Red's Limit Break. I'm about level 30 and was planning on going back to get Beta, but with the damage I'm doing I figured it'd be a walk in the park.

[karlff7]

Cloud at level 18 is fine, you don't need to be this high leveled

[Chansmart95]

I got my beta when i was 20 ..

[GamesDudeL27]

I can ussually get the Beta E-Skill at around level 15-20 without using Bio at all; I use the chocobo to go across, pick up a fire ring in Junon (I think? don't quite remember), put it on the person who has E-Skill equipped, and have at it. When it uses Beta, the fire ring nullifies it's damage, and I cast it back for the kill.

[Ninjamonkeypirates]

I wouldn't say lvl 30 is really early :P

[ulillillia]

This is early in the game's story. Storywise, I haven't yet visited the marsh cave, across the marsh.

[Ninjamonkeypirates]

Lol well done and getting Stardust Ray so early :p

[Kettudemoni]

I've been leveling up my characters, Aeris is now lvl 23, Cloud has all the limits, and I'm supposed to get a chocobo to get past Midgar Zolom. I have tried, but 1100 damage is too much, even with Elemental-Fire. Just have to grind, grind, grind, grind! :D

[ulillillia]

The beta attack should only do 700 to 800 damage with elemental-fire equipped. Unless you have a piece of armor that causes a weakness to fire, you shouldn't be taking 1100. Sadness status (either use tranquilizers until you get it or let that blue elephant around the same area use that one special attack) will cut damage by 25% which makes the 750ish drop to around 570. It's mostly surviving the attacks afterwards - have everyone in the back row to help with that.

[Kettudemoni]

@ulillillia I beat it today. It was easy because when it used Beta Cloud got a Limit Break and I killed it with Meteorain.

[jurgemaister]

@ulillillia If you don't fancy wasting time leveling your characters in that are, just go on, and you'll find the fire ring, after a while. You basicly can't lose, if you have fire ring and restore on one of your characters.

[fVc4FACE]

If you equip the fire ring it nulifies beta. making this challenging battle quite easy.

[Nickthelich]

At this point in the game I only have one enemy skill were can I find more?

[ulillillia]

If you're referring to the materia, there's one in Junon in the learner's area, if I recall. There was another in Midgar's Shinra building. A third is where chocobo sage is - check the green chocobo.

[liddy85]

equip with: manipulate+enemy skill and use their turn to learn their skill. later though when manipulate becomes available

[xMBxDougyfresh]

when learning emeny skill is there something you have do do like defend your self to learn it cuase i benn getting hit with ton of magic on disc two and my guys are not learning it can someone please help me on this thank you

[ulillillia]

You have to have it equipped in order for enemy skills to be obtained. Magic spells like fire 2, toad, and sleep don't do anything - there's other materia for these spells.

[iamstormtrooper]

You can get the move the first time(lvl 17+) you're around here:

You need-

1. Fire-Elemental linked in the armor of the character with Enemy Skill.

2. Talisman on character with Enemy Skill. (on a char. w/ highest hp and spirit)

3. Poison materia on a second character & cure on third

4. All characters in back row.

5. All characters in Sadness status.

6. All characters Limit Break Bar full.

your level should be 17 maybe 16+. if you dont have the C bangle, it will be harder to survive the attack

[xRaize9593x]

thanks for this Strategy, I wanted to fight this thing and win when i was little, but that was nearly impossible with my logic level. I used this Strategy on my psp go. Freakin feels good :) 5 stars

[maslada]

TBH its probably quicker to play forward till you get the fire ring from costa del sol then go back. GarlandG has a video that shows you how to get beta with a lowerst level party btw, though that is very luck based.

[dragonkurt1]

Lol here's how I did it easy. Just put your character with the E. Skill in the back row with elemental materia with fire. Then use tranquelizers on everyone and start the battle. Bash away with spells and graviballs using anyone except the character with the E. Skill. You can use the person with E. Skill to cure everyone. Once you get it to use Beta, the person with the E. Skill should survive, just use the Beta back on the monster and it will die. :p

[jabakowoooh]

how do i get e.skill and what do you mean backrow?

[ulillillia]

There are 3 "enemy skill" materia that I'm aware of. One is during the first Midgar visit though I don't recall when or where (most likely in or just before the Shinra Building visit). The Chocobo Sage's chocobo has one. The third is in the learner's hall in Junon (the intermediate one). The game explains what front row and back row are. In the back row, physical damage is halved both ways (except if ranged attacks are used).

[jabakowoooh]

can i get it after getting vincent or is it to late?

[ulillillia]

You can get 2 of the "enemy skill" materia at any time. The one from the first Midgar event is, as far as I know, inaccessible beyond the first 1/3 of disk 1. Although you can access the Shinra Building at the end of disk 2, I'm not sure if you can get it there. If you can't, then you may still be able to get it using Bone Village (this can take several tries).

[jabakowoooh]

where is learners hall i can't find it

[ulillillia]

I'm assuming you mean the intermediate area, which is found in Junon in the upper level. I don't recall exactly where, but, enter a building and go down.

[jabakowoooh]

Thanks a lot man!!:p

[captaintrips83]

@ulillillia The first enemy skill is in the shinra building after you fight the boss in hojo's lab, where you first meet Red XIII when he's in the container with Aeris. I love this game, ive just downloaded it for the PS3 and am reliving my youth. They dont make em like they used to.

[slaughtermouth11]

@captaintrips83 Amen!

[takashy87]

oh my lvl 30... thats gonna take so long to get.. (-_-)

I hate level grinding after beating FF9... :x

[ulillillia]

You don't need level 30. You need either a fire ring or elemental materia with at least 800 HP. Defeating the snake can be done with game starting stats - sadness and back row are needed.

[standuporshutup]

is there a way that you leveled up quickly, or did you really go through the incredibly slow levelling process of hanging around the kalm/midgar area?

[ulillillia]

Yep, I hanged around the Kalm area (see my "third leveling ground" video). I do reach level 99 while still on disk 1 though - see my sixth leveling ground video for details on this.

[TJ5897]

this isnt hard well all u have to do is (if u didnt guess the pass right the first time) anyways once your done with the ship part you go to the basement in the first house you see u will get a fire ring makeing u immuned to fire then when u go back to the serpient u kill him cause he dose a major 0 damage to who ever has the fire ring :)

[ulillillia]

Where is this at? The password guessing thing is with the Shin-ra Building's first visit. All you get from that is the "elemental" materia. The ship part comes considerably later, after you've crossed the marsh. I'm referring to when you'd normally be crossing it (using chocobos).

[TobiasEnder]

I just did this, with my characters having 800 health . Teach Aeris her first level 3 limit break, and enter the battle with her ready to use the limit break. It will make you invincible, it uses beta, no one dies, and then finish it off. Don't use her limit until it gets on it's tail though.

[ShinenAkuma]

Actually, you can get this skill EVEN earlier, around level 14 or 13, as LONG AS you have the Elemental materia and the Fire materia.  You approach this in about the same manner, except YOU MUST HAVE AERITH'S LIMIT GAUGE FULL. Equip Aeirth with the Talisman accessory, put Sadness and move everyone tot he back row, and Fire/Elemental on Aerith's armor. She should have at least 450-500 hp. *Continued*

[ShinenAkuma]

Once all that is done, have cure on a separate party member. Just pound the Zolom with Quake and whatever other spells you have, until he stands up. At this point, Aerith should NOT be attacking, but instead be idling. If the Zolom bites Aerith, HEAL HER. SHE MUST BE ON FULL HP FOR THIS TO WORK. When he casts Beta, react FAST by casting Aerith's Helaing Wind limit. Then, just pound the Zolom with your newly learned Beta, and you should be able to kill him. Fire-Elemental = a 450 damage Beta hit

[ulillillia]

It's spelled as "Aeris", not "Aerith".

[winnrar]

On some versions of the game her name is Aerith instead of Aeris.

[ulillillia]

The computer version? It's the only one I know of outside the PS1 version.

[ShinenAkuma]

No, the actual translation is Aerith, which is what I spell it by. If you prefer Aeris, sure, but Aerith is the correct translation. Since the Japanese name they derived Aerith from means Earth, and they thougth that Aerith wouldn't be a real name, so they changed it to Aeris.

[zeroknight55]

I also read online that a good way to get beta is to have Aeris know a lvl 3 limit (the one that gives invincibility for a short time) and use that before the 1500 health mark. I'm pretty sure you get it just by having her get kills, so it would probably go hand-in-hand with the lvl 25 thing.

[benomius]

hey all I REALY NEED help :)

I dont have E skill and I wanna to elarn beta skill :( how can I learn or find to train E skill I m in par to unlock vincent pls help me :)

[ulillillia]

There are 3 places for enemy skill materia that I'm aware of (listed in reverse story order). One is given by Chocobo Sage's chocobo. Another is in Junon, and a third is somewhere is Midgar (I don't recall where).

[benomius]

ty man I will try :)

[otothex1]

It´s in the Shin-ra building, the room where Hojo kept Aerith and Nanaki in the glass chamber.

Walk up to the room and go right, then pick up the yellow materia Enemy skill.

[FireEmblemHelper]

Think you have a way on how to get Beta when someone doesnt have the Elemental Materia?

[ulillillia]

There's two ways - an item (which reduces or nullifies fire damage), or simply having enough HP in the first place, about 1400 (may be 1120 with sadness active).

[FireEmblemHelper]

OK would it be possible of telling me the name of this item as i don't have enough hp

[ulillillia]

I don't know the name of it. I think it's called "fire ring" or something.

[ShinenAkuma]

You won't get an item like this until way later in the game. It's pointless to wait until then, since at that point you can EASILY kill the Zolom, and that means that you'll have Aqualung, an equally powerful Water elemental spell that costs 1 point of MP less. Plus, Aqualung > Beta.

[FireEmblemHelper]

pfft to bad I never get the damn monster with Aqualung

[hugepwner]

bah, I got this at lvl 14. tranqs, back row, and anticipating beta.. wallah.

[sorakh2643]

i got that the first time i was got to the chocobo ranch i followed a walktrough

just cast sadness to all the characters and put them all in the backrow then cast bio summon and limit breaks plus keep on casting spells on it

[SyriusBelsferg]

Pardon my ignorance. I haven't played the game in 10 years. Once I get Beta, what is it good for? Thanks.

[ulillillia]

It's a powerful fire-elemental attack that strikes every enemy without the need of "all" materia. If you get it early, it'll have a very strong effect on many enemies, making quick work of them, even bosses. It's the most powerful attack for a while too!

[xcbassman1]

The way I did it was to level up Aeris' limit to Level 3. The "Planet Protector" makes all party members invincible. By using it right before Zolom uses the Beta, it does zero damage and you can learn it

[ulillillia]

Despite playing the game through 4 times, I haven't seen Aeris' limits beyond level 1....

[carling445]

oh if you want i could load one of my games and show you her 4th limit break "Great Gospel"

[ComradeSephiroth]

Just get Fire+Elemental on Cloud's armor and give him the Enemy Skill, move everyone to the back row and use Tranquilizers (to reduce received damage) and attack with magic. Make sure Cloud also can cast Cure and you should be okay as long as it isn't Cloud who gets thrown out of battle. If the Zolom follows up Beta with a quick bite on Cloud, well, just reset and try again.

No need to level up if you do it this way.

[ulillillia]

I forgot about the back row, which cuts damage by half. Getting the "sadness" status effect cuts damage by 25% resulting in 37.5% of the normal damage, from 430 to about 160. This makes defeating it possible even with game-starting stats.

[PlagueCrawlerHUNK]

Nice one man... i might make a new game to test this out... +1 to you (no sarcasm intended) cheers

[bbgirl314]

I've gotten it a little earlier.

Cloud= level 21

Aeris= level 16

Barret= level 20

all's you would need is a couple of fire rings and beta would hit a 0. that's how i just now got it.

[ulillillia]

I always forget about using the back row. You'd then, only need at least 900 HP. As soon as you leave Midgar is when you can get this, but where you get fire rings before this, I don't know.

[wellmellgell]

you do realise you could have the hardege by this piont yeah? course you do your the pro

[ulillillia]

I'm not sure. I'm not exactly a pro since there are many things I don't yet know about this game.

[wellmellgell]

come on man you got to level 99 on disk 1 you is a pro!

steal it from a soldier before you fight that weird hojo creation thing

[werboweckjybahamut]

For instance you can steal the "atomic scissors" weapon from the custom sweepers in the midgar area which is a far superior weapon when compared to cannonball...

[philmarchant]

Yeah to get hardedge u gotta steal it from shinra soldier (3rd class i think) after you'v gotten out of the cells in the shinra building

[sick00]

Just did it! It's the first time I get it so early, although I've played the game a lot of times before... I was on lv 14-16 (leaving Kalm with cloud, aerith, red xiii) and used graviball, limit breaks, poison and restore, plus fire-elemental in armor. I just got very lucky because Midgar Zolom pushed out of battle my last character alive which was red xiii holding e. skill with beta learned. Good luck for those trying!

[sick00]

Sorry I forgot, also did the back-row and sadness thing (caused with tranquilizers) and summoned choco-mog.

[madaskueuchiha]

The Midgar Zolom supposedly casts Beta when it's HP is low. It has 4000 HP.

[EniesLobby]

No need to train to Lv25. Putting everyone in the back row under Sadness will make his physical attacks easily survivable, and Healing Wind can cover any minor damages. Enemy Skill and Elem.=Fire on the armor of the same character, you've got yourself a Beta.

[ulillillia]

At the time, I didn't know that sadness cut damage by 25% and I always forget about using the back row. I did know about Enemy Skill and elem+fire (the latter in the armor), however. I also thought it did 700 damage per hit instead of about 430. Back row halves it and sadness takes out 25% more. This makes 430 become about 170 and is easily manageable even at game start. It doesn't do any criticals, which doubles the damage, so that helps too. 500 HP is all you need (850 for beta).

[MathiasXII]

You don't need 1300 hp and to train much if you equip el.base with fire on an armor. The way I did it is equip those on barret (which had the highest HP...800), equip poison on aeris and recover on cloud. To make things much easier, it's recommended to use graviball at the start of the battle (-1500hp), then use the limit breaks, then cast bio and attack with cloud till it casts beta. It should take out 500 hp but barret should still be a live. Cast beta back and you're done ! I was lvl 15ish.

[TheLittleCuteThing]

Meteorain this early?

Hax!

[ulillillia]

It's easy to get: have Cloud defeat 80 enemies in limit level 1, then 80 more in limit level 2. I could have meteorain far, far earlier, back in my second leveling grounds area even and that's essentially the beginning of the story. This is the fourth time I've played the game, the third completion.

[Yoshi0]

... Good job... Although there's a much easier way to get it... and without any trouble at a low level. I got beta at around the early lvl 20's. I only had about 1000 hp too. How did I get beta without dying? Well, the method I found definitely does not take as long as you had to lvl you're characters... All you have to do is get Aerith's 3rd limit break where it makes your characters invulnerable to all attacks and then use it at the right time so that beta only does 0!!! dmg to you. GG man GG.

[ulillillia]

Others have posted better ways. I pretty much never use Aeris, knowing the story. In fact, I've never seen her level 2 limits (or higher) as a result. Using the back row (of which I often don't) and the usual elemental-fire in the armor is the method (perhaps with a fire ring, but I haven't seen those before you leave Midgar...).

[Yoshi0]

I haven't seen those either...

[kaytubesc997]

I was happy to see the title of this video. Howeveer I was dissapointed at both how late in the game he got it, and especially how he got it. There is a simpler way of getting Beta the VERY FIRST time you can fight the Midgar Zolom. All you have to do is have the person who is equipped with the Enemy Skill to equip a fire ring accessory

as well. The beta will than cause 0 hp damage and you will learn the spell. Just kill the snake after, avoid hitting him directly with your main character.

[ulillillia]

I couldn't reproduce it at will and it took over an hour's worth of attempts to get it. I was already at a very high level in the first place anyway - see the "third leveling grounds" and especially the "second leveling grounds" videos. I reach level 99 on disk 1 (see my "sixth leveling grounds" video for this - my fifth ones were my original first ones).

[discordantconsonance]

This really isn't that early on. It's not that hard to get Beta while in lvl 10-12 especially with the Elemental-Fire combo. It's all about timing.

[ulillillia]

It is the earliest possible ya know. That is, unless some enemy in Midgar unknowingly has it.

[discordantconsonance]

I've actually managed to get it with my whole party being at lvl 12 or so (don't remember exactly). And, no, I'm not talking about any other enemy. Doubt any other enemy has Beta that early on.

[SweetZombiJesus]

I don't recall using the elemental materia to get beta early, but it does take a bit more HP than you would normally have if you are only following the storyline. Usually after the segment at Fort Condor you can just backtrack and get this skill. Not as hard as it would seem. A player's second run through the game and they should have the skills to get it early on.

[s2Trigga]

yo just to give more ideas, use the spiderweb to slow down the snake that way when you get it to cast beta u have more time to heal

also use tranquilizers, so u can b high in def

cast bio to weaken the snake

spiderweb to slow it down

and that elemental combo with fire in the armor

should b able to do at around 13-16, i just did it yesterday after not playing the game for the longest time.

[Novametalstar]

One thing that I read is that the character that does the most damage to the Zolom is the one it knocks out first. So if you want to gaurantee the character with the enemy skill materia isn't knocked out of battle, never attack with him/her. I've done some minor testing and this seems to be accurate.

[ulillillia]

Yeah, even watching this video provides clues. Note how the others attack it, but the other takes on a support role, casting cure?

[nightelf345]

Can't remember or not but when you have the Enemy Skill materia on you, do you automaticaly get the skill from the boss/enemy?

[ulillillia]

If a character with enemy skill materia is hit with a certain enemy attack, they will obtain that attack. Nothing happens if enemy skill is not equipped, that action is not one obtainable, or the enemy skill materia already has the action.

[zzcorey1234]

You can get beta right out of midgar if you junction fire to an elemental and put your team on far away, then use beta to kill the snake afterwards once you aquire it.

[darkvegeta4]

I have a quick question. I have a materia called Enemy Skill. What does it do? When I have it equipped, there is a button for it but it's greyed out. Any ideas? Thanks in advanced for any responses.

[ulillillia]

You need to obtain enemy skills by getting hit by them. An example is "flame thrower" and, as in the case of this video, "beta". If you have nothing in the list for that piece of materia, then you can't use it until that character who is equipped with it is hit with it. This snake, the Midgar Zolom, carries the "beta" one. Watch the video carefully and you'll see how it works.

[darkvegeta4]

Thanks. As soon as I sent the message I figured it out. I keep killing it before it uses "beta". I'm using your videos for this because it's my first play through. As always thanks for a speedy response.

[ulillillia]

This is my fourth time through so I'm very familiar with every twist and turn there is, one of the reasons why I thought of making these videos. I'm always after battles.