Magic Breath (Final Fantasy VII)

Fire/Ice/Lightning damage on all opponents

Description

Magic Breath is an attack spell in Final Fantasy VII. It is an enemy skill used by Stilva and Parasite. Magic Breath can be learned on the Enemy Skill Materia for the player to use. It is immensely powerful but many enemies can absorb its damage.

Obtained[]

If learning each enemy skill the earliest they are available, Magic Breath is learned on the latter half through mastering the Materia, from the enemy Stilva in the Gaea's Cliff caverns. Magic Breath is powerful and can do upwards of 2,000 damage, so surviving it can be difficult without preparation. Guarding the party against either Fire, Ice, or Lightning will protect them, as well as Big Guard.

After the events there, the player can't return to Gaea's Cliff. The next chance to learn Magic Breath is in the final dungeon by manipulating the Parasite, and so it would be good to learn it from the Stilva in the Gaea's Cliff to get more chances to use it, as it is a good skill to use against the right target.

Stats[]

Magic Breath deals damage in the following formula:

${\displaystyle (77 / 16) * [ (Level + Magical Attack) * 6 ]}$

where "Level" is the caster's current level and "Magical Attack" is their Magic atk stat. Magic Breath attacks the entire enemy party, but does not split the damage (1/3 reduction in power) unlike Magic spells do with All Materia.

Use[]

Magic Breath deals tri-elemental (Fire, Ice, Lightning) magic damage to all opponents at the cost of 75 MP and it cannot be reflected. It is strong, its spell power being equal to 4.8125x the base magic damage. If an enemy can absorb any of its three elements, however, they will absorb all damage. Magic Breath is one of the strongest Enemy Skills and thus deals great damage against enemies that don't absorb it.

Magic Breath is similar in effect to the multi-elemental Summons Kjata and Typhon. It is weaker than the summons, but also costs less MP and with a much shorter animation, making it more convenient to use often. Magic Breath surpasses its single-element counterparts on the Enemy Skill Materia, Beta, Aqualung and Trine.

Good times to use Magic Breath include against the enemies SOLDIER:2nd in Junon, Sea Worms on the Mideel Area beaches, Tonberry in the Battle Square, Bad Rap and Serpent in the sunken Sunken Gelnika; as well as the bosses Jenova∙DEATH in the Whirlwind Maze, Carry Armor in Underwater Reactor, Ultimate Weapon in Mideel and beyond, Diamond Weapon in the Midgar Area, the Turks in the Midgar train tunnels, and Proud Clod and Hojo's boss forms.