Final Fantasy VII/Characters/Limit Breaks

Final Fantasy VII characters
Overview | Limit Breaks | Training

Limit breaks are powerful attacks, or other handy status boosts, that can be performed once the limit bar is full. The limit bar is slowly filled as enemies attack the character. Fury status makes limit bar fill quicker and Sadness status makes the limit bar fill slower.

Most characters have 4 levels of limits; these characters can only learn the 4th limit once all other limits are learned. The 4th level limit is hidden, and comes in form of a "manual" to the limit. Once all other limits are learned, simply use this manual object on the character to learn the level 4 limit.

Most of the first limits on each level are learned by killing more and more enemies. This means that the character has to be the one that deals the killing blow; it doesn't matter if other characters damage the enemy as well. Most second limits on each level are simply gained by using the first limit on the level enough times.

These tables below list the number of times you have to use the first limit break of each level to get second limit breaks, as well as the number of kills needed to gain the first limit break of the next level. These numbers aren't conclusive because there is an amount of randomness to the system, they should be used as guidelines

Cloud

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Name Level Effect How to unlock
Braver Level 1 Damages one enemy Cloud starts with it
Cross Slash Level 1 Damages one enemy, inflicts stop Use Braver 8 times
Blade Beam Level 2 Damages one enemy, splash damage to all others Kill 80 enemies
Climhazzard Level 2 Damages one enemy Use Blade Beam 8 times
Meteorain Level 3 Damages random enemies Kill 80 more enemies
Finishing Touch Level 3 May remove enemies from battle Use Meteorain 8 times
Omnislash Level 4 15 slash attack Buy the Omnislash manual from the Battle Arena in the Gold Saucer. It costs 64,000 Battle Points in Disk 1 and 32,000 Battle Points in Disk 2 and 3.

Tifa

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Tifa's limit breaks are chained. When a limit break is used, she will do all of the attacks in the following order, up to the maximum limit of the level currently selected. The slots system is used to pick how well the limits in question are handled: "Hit" means normal damage, "Yeah!" gives extra damage, and "Miss" will mean the limit is not going to be used. Too many misses will break the chain and the limits that follow aren't used. If a "Miss" occurs for a certain limit break, the count for that limit break doesn't go up. Also only the first limit break of the Level Tifa is set on will accumlate uses. For example, if Tifa has her first limit breaks of Level 1 and Level 2 and is set on the Level 2 limit. Then no matter how many times she gets a "Hit" or "Yeah!" on the Beat Rush portion of the slot, her count for Beat Rush will not improve.

Name Level Effect How to unlock
Beat Rush Level 1 Damages one enemy Tifa starts with it
Somersault Level 1 Damages one enemy Use Beat Rush 8 times
Waterkick Level 2 Damages one enemy, water elemental Kill 80 enemies
Meteodrive Level 2 Damages one enemy Use Waterkick 8 times
Dolphin Blow Level 3 Damages one enemy Kill 80 more enemies
Meteor Strike Level 3 Damages one enemy Use Dolphin Blow 8 times
Final Heaven Level 4 Damages all enemies On Disc 2 or 3, after Cloud is rescued, play the piano in Tifa's house in Nibelheim to get the manual.

In game, there's one way of learning the melody - during Cloud's story in Kalm. You can get the limit break even if you don't find the melody out then, however, just play the melody normally.

File:FF7-Tifa-Limit-Piano.png

(Listen to MIDI version)
Melody: Do Re Mi Ti La Do Re Mi So Fa Do Re Do
Keys: [Cancel], [Switch], [Menu], [Pgup]+[Menu], [Pgup]+[Switch], [Cancel], [Switch], [Menu], [Pgup]+[Cancel], [OK], [Cancel], [Switch], [Cancel]
Playstation version: X, S, T, R1+T, R1+S, X, S, T, R1+X, O, X, S, X
PC version: Ins Del Plus 9+Plus 9+Del Ins Del Plus 9+Ins Enter Ins Del Ins

Note: Tifa must be in your party when you play the song to get the limit break.

See also Separate module about Tifa's piano.

Barret

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Name Level Effect How to unlock
Big Shot Level 1 Damages one enemy Barret starts with it
Mindblow Level 1 Damages one enemy's MP Use Big Shot 8 times
Grenade Bomb Level 2 Damages all enemies Kill 80 enemies
Hammer Blow Level 2 May instantly kill an enemy Use Grenade Bomb 8 times
Satellite Beam Level 3 Damages all enemies Kill 80 more enemies
Angermax Level 3 18 attacks on random enemies Use Satellite Beam 8 times
Catastrophe Level 4 20 attacks on random enemies Save North Corel from the runaway train, and an old lady in a hut will give the manual to you.

Aeris

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Name Level Effect How to unlock
Healing Wind Level 1 Heals the party for half their HP Aerith starts with it
Seal Evil Level 1 May stop and silence an enemy Use Healing Wind 8 times
Breath of the Earth Level 2 Cures all party members' status ailments Kill 80 enemies
Fury Brand Level 2 Fills all party members' limit bars Use Breath of the Earth 7 times
Planet Protector Level 3 Makes all party members invincible for a period of time Kill 80 more enemies
Pulse of Life Level 3 Completely heals party Use Planet Protector 6 times
Great Gospel Level 4 Planet Protector + Pulse of Life From the weapon store on peninsula.

To make it easier to get Aerith's 2nd and 3rd limit breaks just do the following. After you escape from the Church give Aerith some Materia (I gave her Fire, Ice, and Restore Materia) and get into some random battles. Fight only with Aerith using her magic (this should instantly kill most enemies) and use Cloud for healing. Do this until you have her 2nd limit break (If you don't have Seal Evil limit break by the time this is done...you can do it now if you want). Seems like it'll take forever? It only took me a little more than a half an hour. Take a break from playing, (Unless you want to continue of course!) and repeat to get her 3rd limit break. This'll make it easier when you want to get her last limit break.

To get the Level 4 manual, you need to talk to the sleeping man in a cave near Junon. He'll tell how many battles you've been in. When the two last digits of the battle count are same and odd, he'll give you a piece of Mythril. This can then be traded for the Great Gospel manual at the blacksmith on the peninsula south of Gongaga. The blacksmith will give you two boxes to choose from, the "big one" and the "small one", choose the "small one". The small box is located up the stairs in a grey safe.

You can do this any time after getting out of the Corel Desert prison and before going to the Temple of the Ancients. Take the buggy given from Dio, go to Costa de Sol, and take the boat back to Junon. It will allow you to cross the river to get to the cave. You can also get there by following the coasts and going up the river with the Tiny Bronco.

Red XIII

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Name Level Effect How to unlock
Sled Fang Level 1 Damages one enemy Red XIII starts with it
Lunatic High Level 1 Casts haste on the party Use Sled Fang 8 times
Blood Fang Level 2 Drains HP and MP from one enemy Kill 80 enemies
Stardust Ray Level 2 10 random attacks Use Blood Fang 8 times
Howling Moon Level 3 Casts haste, berserk and increses power for Red XIII Kill 80 more enemies
Earth Rave Level 3 5 random attacks Use Howling Moon 8 times
Cosmo Memory Level 4 Damages all enemies Defeat Lost Number in the Shinra Mansion to obtain the manual.

Cait Sith

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Cait Sith only has two limit breaks.

Name Level Effect How to unlock
Dice Level 1 Damages one enemy for 100 times the sum of the dice Cait Sith starts with it
Slots Level 2 Random effects Kill 40 enemies
Name Level Effect How to unlock
Boost Jump Level 1 Damages one enemy Cid starts with it
Dynamite Level 1 Damages all enemies Use Boost Jump 8 times
Hyper Jump Level 2 Damages all enemies Kill 80 enemies
Dragon Level 2 Drains HP and MP from one enemy Use Hyper Jump 8 times
Dragon Dive Level 3 6 random attacks Kill 80 more enemies
Big Brawl Level 3 8 random attacks Use Dragon Dive 8 times
Highwind Level 4 18 random attacks Use the submarine to reach the sunken Gelnika (airplane wreck found in one of the bays). The manual can be found in the cargo hold.

Yuffie

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Name Level Effect How to unlock
Greased Lightning Level 1 Damages one enemy Yuffie starts with it
Clear Tranquil Level 1 Heals party Use Greased Lightning 8 times
Landscaper Level 2 Damages all enemies Kill 80 enemies
Bloodfest Level 2 10 random attacks Use Landscaper 8 times
Gauntlet Level 3 Damages all enemies Kill 80 more enemies
Doom of the Living Level 3 15 random attacks Use Gauntlet 8 times
All Creation Level 4 Damages all enemies Defeat Godo at the top of the Wutai Pagoda and finish Yuffie's subquest to obtain the manual.

Vincent

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Vincent, unlike all the others, has only one limit break per limit level, and his limit breaks involve morphing into another creature. You cannot control Vincent while he is morphed.

Name Level Effect 1 Effect 2 How to unlock
Galian Beast Level 1 Berserk Dance: Damages one enemy Beast Flare: Fire damage to all enemies Vincent starts with it
Death Gigas Level 2 Giga Dunk: Damages one enemy Livewire: Lightning damage to all enemies Kill 60 enemies
Hellmasker Level 3 Splattercombo: 5 attacks to one enemy Nightmare: Status ailments to one enemy Kill 60 more enemies
Chaos Level 4 Chaos Saber: Fire damage to all enemies Satan Slam: Attempts instant death, then does fire damage to all enemies Waterfall by the lake.

To get the lvl4 manual, go to the waterfall on the northern side of the round lake on the second continent. You need a either a colored chocobo or the submarine to reach it.

If you go to the waterfall with Vincent in your party, a cutscene follows. Return to the waterfall after approximately one hour of play time, and you will get both the manual and Vincent's best weapon.