Pronounces death sentence on any one opponent
Description
Death Sentence is an enemy skill in Final Fantasy VII that instantly kills targets when the timer on them expires. The player can learn it on the Enemy Skill Materia from Boundfat, Gi Spector, and Sneaky Step. The skill does not work on bosses. It is not very useful to cast directly on enemies. Its primary practical purpose is to cast it on Tifa when she has Powersoul equipped to greatly multiply the physical damage she deals.
Obtained[]
If obtaining all enemy skills the earliest they are available, Death Sentence is the eleventh Enemy Skill the player learns, learned from the Sneaky Step or Gi Spector in the Cave of the Gi. Cave of the Gi is an unrevisitable location, but Death Sentence is also available later from the Boundfat in Corel Valley. Boundfat will counter with Death Sentence when killed by a spell from the Magic or Summon commands.
It should be easy enough to win the battles against these enemies within the Death-sentence time limit, but against the Boundfat, the player also can already have the Death Force E.Skill that immunizes one against Instant Death.
Stats[]
| Command Materia | Enemy Skill Materia |
|---|---|
| Effect | Inflicts Death-sentence status on one target. |
| MP cost | 10 |
| Reflect | No |
Use[]
The spell graphic is a skull appearing over the target's head.
Death Sentence inflicts the Death-sentence status, where a timer appears over the victim's head (60 seconds normally, 30 seconds if under Haste), and once the timer hits zero, the spell will inflict instant death. The timer is unaffected by Battle Speed. It costs 10 MP to cast. Any enemy that is immune to Instant Death, is also immune to Death-sentence.
Death Sentence is available before Death from the Destruct Materia and the Odin summon. However, once the player has either of these, Death Sentence will fall short in effectiveness for being locked to being a single-target ability, and needing to wait out the timer.
Death Sentence's greatest utility is not to cast it directly on an enemy, but rather to cast it on Tifa when she has Powersoul equipped. This quadruples the physical damage she does. Similarly, when Tifa has the Master Fist equipped, using Death Sentence on her will triple her damage.
Because battle speed does not affect Death Sentence's timer, its victim gets fewer chances to attack with slower battle speeds and more chances with faster battle speeds. The player should use maximum battle speed when casting Death Sentence on Tifa.