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Final Fantasy VII
Limit Breaks - What They Do


See also: Limit Breaks - How To Get Them



All of the playable characters in Final Fantasy 7 have limit breaks, which are powerful attacks used when a character is hurt enough times. Unlike Final Fantasy 8, it does not matter if the characters HP is very low, just how much they've gotten hurt. Every time a character gets attacked, their limit gauge fills up. A small attack will only fill it up slightly, or not even at all, while a very strong attack could fill it up completely. Except for Cait Sith and Vincent, everybody has 4 levels of limit breaks. There are two limit breaks in the first three levels, and one ultimate limit break in the fourth level. As the game progresses, the first and second level limit breaks become obsolete, so it is important to try to get everyone to level 3 and 4.

Cloud's Limit Breaks
Level Limit Description
Level 1 Braver Cloud jumps into the air and chops the enemy with his sword.
Cross-Slash Cloud causes strong damage to an enemy by slices it several times with his sword. More powerful than the Braver, it also paralyzes its enemy, if successful.
Level 2 Blade Beam Cloud makes waves of powerful energy fly out of his sword and collide with an enemy. After striking the first enemy, the energy waves split and lose most of their power, hitting all of the other enemies for less damage. This is a good limit for multiple enemies, one being stronger than the other. You can then hit the strongest one with the first energy wave, and the weaker ones with the weaker ones.
Climhazzard The Climhazzard limit break makes Cloud skewer his enemy, and then jump high into the air to cause even more damage. This attack is useful against a single, powerful enemy, but pretty pointless against weaker, multiple enemies.
Level 3 Meteorain Cloud jumps into the air and hurls a shower of meteors at his opponents, causing six seperate hits. This attack is good against single and multiple enemies, and can pack a lot of damage for your foes.
Finishing Touch Cloud blows away his opponents with a large whirlwind. This usually completely blows away weaker enemies, but bosses and large enemies will come crashing down for massive damage instead. This is a great limit break that should only be used against strong enemies, don't waste it on weak opponents.
Level 4 Omnislash This is the best limit break in the game, and is sometimes more powerful than the Knights of the Round Table summon. Cloud pulverizes his opponents with a flurry of fifteen strikes with his sword, causing incredible damage. This can be used against single or multiple enemies. Only use this in really hard battles, it is wasted on easy enemies.


Barret's Limit Breaks
Level Limit Description
Level 1 Big Shot Barret makes this big ol' fireball fly out of his gun and it looks quite powerful and manly.
Mind Blow Barret attacks somehow and does MP damage (useful).
Level 2 Grenade Bomb Barret totally decides to flip out and just chuck a grenade at whatever monsters he's up against, spelling BIG DAMAGE for Mr. Bad Guys.
Hammerblow Using a well placed punch, Barret hits an enemy completely out of combat. This may sound useful, but it can only be used on small, non-boss enemies. Not only that, but it does no direct damage, so it either works or it doesn't. Add the fact that it only hits one opponent, and Grenade Bomb is typically the second level limit break of choice.
Level 3 Satellite Beam Barret apparently has connections with people in high places, as this limit breaks summons an air strike against all of his enemies. Powerful beams of energy hit all opponents for a decent amount of damage to all opponents. Try to use this attack against multiple enemies, as it is much more effective.
Ungarmax Barret throws a huge amount of ammunition to his enemies, which explodes to cause massive damage with 18 hits. It is difficult to determine is this is better than Satellite Beam. Although it hits enemies more times, the hits are not as strong.
Level 4 Catastrophe Barret jumps over his enemies and lets a plasma blast fly from his gun right into them, causing incredible damage. Although it works great on all kinds and numbers of enemies, it works slightly better against a group. Hits 10 times.


Tifa's Limit Breaks
Level Limit Description
Level 1 Beat Rush Tifa punches her opponent for her first combo.
Somersault Tifa flips, kicking her opponent as she does it.
Level 2 Waterkick Tifa makes a wave wash over an enemy.
Meteordrive Tifa backdrops her enemy.
Level 3 Dolphin Blow Tifa summons a dolphin to attack an enemy.
Meteor Strike Tifa grabs an enemy, jumps into the air with it, and slams it down hard on the ground.
Level 4 Final Heaven Tifa focuses massive energy into her fist and slams it into an enemy to cause a huge explosion.
Tifa's limit breaks are not like the other character's. Instead of just using one limit breaks, she chains all of them together that she has learned so far. So obviously, it pays to learn them all, as she will do a total of 7 attacks to her enemies, all in 1 turn! Before performing one of her combos, a spinning wheel will appear that has the words 'normal,' 'yeah!,' and 'miss' on them. Normal makes her perform her attack regularly, yeah causes her to do extra damage on that attack, and miss makes her miss the attack completely. Although you should usually try to stop the spinning wheel on yeah, the final few attacks have the 'yeah!' surrounded by misses. So if you don't have good timing, it may be wise to just do a normal attack instead, since there is less risk of missing it completely.


Aeris' Limit Breaks
Level Limit Description
Level 1 Healing Wind Aeris restores half of each party member's maximum HP.
Seal Evil Aeris silences and stops all of her enemies (if successful).
Level 2 Breath of the Earth Aeris cures the party all negative status effects.
Fury Brand Aeris give the other two character's in her party their limit breaks by sacrificing hers. This is a good way to learn the second limit break in a level for the other two characters.
Level 3 Planet Protector Aeris makes a barrier that makes her party invulnerable for a certain period of time.
Pulse of Life Aeris completely restores the party to life with full HP and MP with no status effects.
Level 4 Great Gospel This limit break simply rules. Not only does it completely revive all characters with full HP and MP, along with restoring all negative status effects, but it makes the whole party temporarily invincible as well! In FF8 that is the equivalent of a Magalixir and a Holy War, and anyone who knows FF8 will know that is darn good! Too bad you won't have it for too long....


Red XIII's Limit Breaks
Level Limit Description
Level 1 Sled Fang Red XIII runs into his opponent causes a decent amount of physical damage.
Lunatic High Red XIII casts Haste on the whole party. This is great for boss battles. It should also give everyone in the party a nice ol' defensive bonus, too, but since Square were slacking off and let a bug slip through their fingers, it only affects our furry red friend +50% for each other character alive.
Level 2 Blood Fang This is just like Sled Fang, but it is more powerful, and Red XIII gains a small amount of HP and MP.
Stardust Ray Red XIII calls a cluster of 10 stars to fall on his enemies. This causes more damage than Blood Fang, and unless you desperately need HP, is the better of the two.
Level 3 Howling Moon The full moon causes Red XIII to go crazy. For the rest of the battle, he will have the Haste and Berserk status' in addition to a 60% attack bonus. This is decent most of the time, but definitely not good for boss fights, as he can't use any magic or items.
Earth Rave Red XIII attacks his enemies five times with strong pysical attacks. This is a much better limit break than Howling Moon.
Level 4 Cosmo Memory Red XIII releases a physical attack that engulfs his enemies for incredible damage.


Yuffie's Limit Breaks
Level Limit Description
Level 1 Greased Lightning Yuffie does a quick attack on an opponent that causes a strong amount of physical damage.
Clear Tranquil Just like Healing Wind, Clear Tranquil restores half of each party member's max HP.
Level 2 Landscaper Yuffie makes a tremor that explodes beneath her enemies. This is best used against groups of enemies.
Bloodfest Yuffie strikes her opponents ten times. This is better against small groups or bosses than large clusters of monsters.
Level 3 Gauntlet Yuffie summons a blue vortex below her opponents, damaging all of her enemies. Like Landscaper, this is best against large groups of enemies.
Doom of the Living This is just like the Bloodfest limit break, except it works against groups and single enemies equally, and hits 15 times for more damage.
Level 4 All Creation Yuffie toasts her enemies with a huge blast of energy.


Cait Sith's Limit Breaks
Level Limit Description
Level 1 Dice Cait Sith throws dice on the ground, which determines how much damage is done to an opponent. This limit breaks grows stronger over time.
Level 2 Slots Slots is like a slot machine. Sometimes the results are fixed no matter when you stop each slot, sometimes they are not.

3 stars - Mog Dance: A small Mog restores the party's HP and MP.
3 kings - Toy Soldier: Six toy soldiers appear and attack all enemies.
3 bars - Summon: Cait Sith uses a spell at random.
3 Mog - Transform: Cait Sith turns into a giant, and his teammates disappear for the rest of the battle. Only Cait Sith gets experience from this battle.

His HP and MP is based the average of the party.
His attack is the party average x2.
His Def, Mag, and MDef are the party average x1.2.
His Def% is the party average x0.8
His MDef% and Luck are the party average x0.5
His luck is the average of the party.
3 Hearts - Lucky Girl: All physical attacks are critical hits.
3 Cait Sith - Game Over: This incredibly rare slot combination kills all enemies on the screen. This works even for bosses, but is very hard to get.
2 Cait Sith and a bar - Death Joker: The party is instantly killed. Don't worry, much like Instant Victory, this is very rare.
Anything else - Toy Box: A toy box will appear and do a small amount of damage to enemies.
Cait Sith, unlike the other characters, has only two limit break levels. Not only that, but there is only one limit break in each level. Although he only has 2 limit breaks, he makes up for it with the variety in each one. For example, his second limit break can do 8 different things.


Vincent's Limit Breaks
Level Limit Description
Level 1 Galian Beast Vincent turns into a purple beast that does fire based attacks. Galian Beast gains 20% Defense, 50% Dexterity, and an additional 30% max HP beyond Vincent's normal stats.

Beast Flare: Vincent throws orbs which explode to damage to all enemies with fire magic.
Berserk Dance: Vincent does a combo attack on an enemy.
Level 2 Death Gigas Vincent transforms into a monster that bears a striking resemblance to Frankenstein. He uses physical and lightning attacks in this form. Death Gigas gains 50% Defense and an additional 100% max HP beyond Vincent's normal stats, but suffers -70% Magic Defense and -20% Dexterity penalties.

Gigadunk: Vincent punches an enemy.
Livewire: Vincent attacks all enemies with an electrical charge.
Level 3 Hellmasker Vincent turns into a lunatic with a chainsaw. Hellmasker gains bonuses of an additional 50% Defense and 50% Defense% beyond Vincent's normal stats.

Splattercombo: Vincent hits an enemy with his chainsaw five times.
Nightmare: This is a great attack that gives an enemy the Confusion, Poison, Mute, Sleep, Frog, and Mini effects all at the same time.
Level 4 Chaos Vincent transforms into a winged demon and uses powerful, non-elemental attacks. Chaos receives bonuses of 100% Defense and 100% Magic Defense beyond Vincent's normal stats.

Chaos Saber: This is just like Slash-All, but doesn't use Vincent's weapon.
Satan Slam: This powerful attack creates a large skull that causes massive damage to all opponents, randomly adding in 'Death' status to your enemies. Not only that, but any survivors are hit afterwards by flaming skulls.
Vincent only has one limit break in each level, but each has two variations. All four of his limit breaks turn his into some kind of beast for the rest of battle, and you will have no control over what he does. This is sometimes bad for long fights, but his limit breaks are still great for regular enemies or easy bosses.


Cid's Limit Breaks
Level Limit Description
Level 1 Boost Jump Cid jumps into the air and lands on an enemy with his spear.
Dynamite Cid throws some dynamite at his enemies. Unlike Boost Jump, it effects all enemies, and is probably the better of the two.
Level 2 Hyper Jump Cid jumps high into the air and comes down with his spear embedded in the ground. This causes a large blue explosion that hurts all enemies. If you're lucky, it'll also add Death.
Dragon Cid absorbs both HP and MP from a single target.
Level 3 Dragon Dive Cid jumps up and down on his opponents, making an explosion each time. This causes strong damage to a single opponent and possible death.
Big Brawl Cid jumps into the enemies and starts hitting them with his spear. This does about the same amount of damage as the Dragon Dive.
Level 4 Highwind Cid calls his trusty airship to drop a barrage of bombs onto all enemies, hitting 18 total times. This is great against a single enemy or a group, as it is culmulative and inflicts a huge amount of damage.


See also: Limit Breaks - How To Get Them