KKKKK KKKKK HHHHH HHHHH 333333333 DDDDDDDDDD KKK KKK HHH HHH 3333 DD DDD KKK KKK HHH HHH 3333 DD DDD KKK KKK HHH HHH 333 DD DDD KKK KKK HHH HHH 3333 DD DDD KKKKKKKK HHHHHHHHHHHHHH 33333333 DD DDD KKK KKKK HHH HHH 3333 DD DDD KKK KKKKK HHH HHH 333 DD DDD KKK KKKKK HHH HHH 3333 DD DDD KKK KKKKK HHH HHH 333 DD DDD KKK KKKKK HHH HHH 333 DD DDD KKKKK KKKKKK HHHHH HHHHH 33333333 DDDDDDDDD Kingdom Hearts : Dream Drop Distance Guide to Julius Version 1.0.0 By : Amplifier92 ============================================================================== 1.Legals & Introduction ============================================================================== Ok guys, first things first, this is my first ever guide so please understand. This guide is composed solely to help all of you KH fans and is made by yours truly, me of course. If any of you actually have any comment about this guide then feel free to contact me at apajalahah@hotmail.com and if you have any question (concerning this Julius stuff) i will gladly answer up to my current knowledge. And also, if any of you have any relevant information regarding battling Julius that i think will go well in accordance to what i have written then also feel free to tell me. Don’t worry because you will be rightfully credited for your contribution. Lastly, anyone who wants to post this guide to their websites would have to ask me for it and wait for my confirmation, beacuse any act of posting without permission would be categorized as stealing, now we don’t want that right? This guide is not to be used for personal profits, and the act of selling it for profit would be illegal. Trademarks including everything in this game is copyright to their respective owners, and i do not own any part of it. ============================================================================== 2.Table of contents ============================================================================== 1. Legals & Introduction 2. Table of Contents 3. A little Sneak Peek Into the Target : Julius i. Who on earth is he? ii. Why should we fight him? iii. Where can we find him? 4. Getting Started 5. Battle Strategy i. Boss' in depth explanation ii. Fighting back iii. If all else fails 6. End credit ============================================================================== 3.A little sneak peek into the target : Julius ============================================================================== 3.i. Who on earth is he? When you first heard the name Julius, you would probably have no idea who he was and why you should know about him. Well guess what, he is actually the secret boss in this game. He has this Franken-Pete look if you know what i mean. And as we all know, secret bosses in the KH series screams a must. 3.ii. Why should we fight him? Now why should we even bother fighting this handful boss while he is strong and hard to beat? Well let me give you a reason to fight here fellas; - First of all by beating him, a.k.a the secret boss in this game, you will get an extra feel of accomplishment. - If the first reason doesn't push you that much then this second one definitely will. After you beat Julius, you will have the right to wield the best keyblade in the entire game which is............ (wait for it) THE ULTIMA WEAPON! Now that's more like it, huh? 3.iii. Where can we find him? To find Julius, you have to beat the game first (sorry but that's just how it is). After the credit screen rolls, load up your end game save file and head towards traverse town. Land on the fourth district, then go up the stairs and head towards fountain plaza. Be warned, cause the hard part is just starting. ============================================================================== 4.Getting Started ============================================================================== Ok, here comes the important part. Before you even think about fighting Julius, you have to make sure you are well prepared for it. Here is the list of what you'll need to have: - A level 40++ character (the more the better, you'll need it) - A decent keyblade with high magic boost (End of Pain/Dive wing) Counterpoint is ok but try getting the other two. - Level 3 drop bonuses (deaccelerator, defense and magic boost) - As many magic haste you can get (max it out if you can) - As many HP boost you can get (max it out if you can) - As many thunder screen you can get - As many fire boost you can get (more important than thunder screen and you'll see why) - Confusion block, poison block and blindness block - Leaf bracer (this is a must, no option) - Max defense boost - Max magic boost - Reload boost (not necessary but helps you big time) - Defender (same as the latter) - And the 2 most IMPORTANT and NECESSARY ability; second chance and once more, without this two, there's almost no hope to win. and other important stuff like scan, which you will have all the time in your equipped ability list. Optional : Cure boost can help but won't do much so yeah... And now for the commands, we are going to utilize one magic command which is totally brilliant that is Firaga Burst. The layout of the deck would be: 1 Balloonga/Curaga 2 Firaga burst 3 (Firaga Burst second slot) 4 Curaga ------> shortcut set to this curaga 5 Curaga 6 curaga 7 Curaga 8 Curaga Note : You can have either balloonga to fill in the attack while firaga burst is reloading or you can have curaga instead to have the extra "oomph" in healing. Your choice. This arrangement and shortcut placing is also counted in the battle plan, because putting firaga burst next to the curaga spell shortcut would ease you in both attacking needs and defending needs. You can find curaga and balloonga easily available in shops by this point of the game and as for firaga burst you can find it in Tyranto Rex's or Ryu Dragon's ability link, or grab it in flick rush shop for 2000 medals. After seeing this set up you would probably understand why there is the need of putting fire boost in, and why there is no mention of attack boost or attack haste. Yes, it is because we are going to use only magic commands against this guy. And why thunder screen and those 3 blocks you say? I'll go to it in the next section so be patient. For the action commands, you will need: Sora Riku - Slide roll (upgraded dodge roll) - Dark roll ( buy it in flick rush get it from a chest in musketeer world shop for 700 medals). in the dungeon area, its hard to miss. - Dark Barrier (750 medals) - super glide (from ryu dragon's ability) - High jump - High jump - Air slide - Air slide - Double impact - Double impact - Aerial recovery - Aerial recovery - Doubleflight (Get in a chest in TWTNW first riku area in the middle of the area protected by the barrier) and others such as counter aura and stuff because you will already have them equipped anyway. Dark roll and super glide is really needed even though you can still dodge with the usual dodge roll but it's going to be painful. Get them, you won't regret it. **A little extra tip; bring toximander as it has the 3 necessary blocks you need, or a halbird as it has both attack and magic haste (x4). Handy. ============================================================================== 5.Battle Strategy ============================================================================== Alas, it's the main part of the guide. The battle strategy. Okay then, first things first. 5.i. Boss' in depth explanation ___________________________________________________________________________ |Name : Julius | |Location : Fountain Plaza | |HP : 12 bars (oh yeah, that's a lot of hp to deplet) | |Level needed : 40++ | |Element used : Thunder (that's why we need thunder screen) | |Strength : ??? | |Defense : ??? | |___________________________________________________________________________| Julius has a few attack movements. Here they are: 1.Low punch : He'd spin his right hand and swing it heavily towards you, and thus punching you once with his hand. Blockable, easily dodged. Strength : medium low, inflicts about a 1/4 to 1/3 of your hp bar (assuming you play in proud or critical mode with a character at level 40-45). 2.Uppercut : One nasty move, may seem harmless in damage view but he would chain it into many uppercuts. this time he uses his left hand so you can tell which punch he is doing by looking at which hand he is going to use. Better to dodge away. Strength : medium low 3.Elbow slam : He will jump and try to slam you down with his elbow. It is unblockable so the moment you see him jump, dodge away. Strength : medium high, inflicts around half of your hp bar so evade the moment he uses it. 4.Body slam : Usually, this is a follow up attack he uses once he is able to trap you with his uppercut combo, and once you are down on the ground with low hp, BAM! He'll drop his body and slamming you into smithereens. It is unblockable but still dodgable. Strength : medium high. 5.Rushing tackle : He will rush towards you in high speed and tackle you with his huge body. Better dodge than sorry. Strength : medium high, especially if he manage to hit you the second time with his after move in which he faces backwards from the direction he rushed and tries to brake. 6.Spinning punch : Okay here is one of the most annoying move he uses. First combo he claps his hands and then he'll begin to launch a storm of jabs and spinning punches. And to top it off, he can do this many times in a row to his heart's content. Blockable, but don't! Don't hesitate to dodge. Strength : high!! (may reduce your hp to 1 considering you equipped once more, or else it would be game over screen flash for you). 7.Climb & stomp : Okay, honestly i've got no other way to think of a name to describe this move but keep reading. This move sends the word annoying to a whole new level. He will start jumping high towards the top of the tower and then jumps down and starts butt-stomping you continuously. Unblockable obviously, so dodge like crazy. Strength : high (if he manages to get you with all the stomping he's doing). 8.Toxic grab : Okay, now forget what i said about the previous move. This move is a one way ticket to the game over screen. he will swing his right arm at a high speed towards you and grab you, then lift you up to the level of his face, and without any hesitation, he will start blowing poisonous breath towards your character. Once he releases you, you will either be poisoned, blinded, or confused, and that's not the worst part. the status effect your character is experiencing will have 2 possibilities when it ends; either it stops and your character turns normal, or you will be afflicted with the other ones of the two other possible status condition. For example, your character gets blinded and after it ends he may be back to normal or he may as well be inflicted with either poison or confusion. And say he got confused next. After the confusion ends he may be back to normal or poisoned. Now this is what i call genocide. Don't even think about blocking. Dodge! Strength : Almost no direct damage but what it can do to you can not be measured. It helps him land all of his other attacks. A lot. 9.Thunder rage : Okay now when you manage to deplet his health down to half or less, he will then start summoning thunder which will almost definitely hit you. And when it ends, he will get his attack damage upgraded and his punches will now raise the gound in front of him with the chance of hitting you with it. And another annoyance in his arsenal is that when he is in rage mode, his attack has a chance of ultimately slowing down the reload time of one of your commands so be really careful not to let him hit you even once. This is the reason why you need loads of curagas (5 minimum). When he does slow one of your commands down, it will be indicated with a red color in the reload gauge. Nearly impossible to not hit you even if you dodge. Strength : high, considering it's continual damage. Fortunately for you, he has no means to heal himself so as long as you have that lvl 3 deaccelerator with you, you can take your time. 5.ii. Fighting back After reading all that stuff above, you will now definitely wonder, "how am i going to beat this guy?" Well fear not, that is why i'm here. Before you even go into his place, makes sure you have all those drop bonuses i mentioned in the previous chapter, and also make sure your drop gauge is at max (blue in color) and has the number 0.4 on it (lvl 3 drop deaccel). Now take a look at your command deck. If you follow exactly what i wrote, you will always have to be prepared to press the shortcut button (which is the left directional button for those who didn't know) as it helps you to quickly heal and attack when needed. When you first enter the battle field, you will automatically be taken into a cutscene. After the cutscene ends you will notice that YOUR SPIRIT IS NOT THERE, so forget thinking about link-attacking or auto-healing. But don't worry, because their ability is still with you during the battle. #Playing as Sora when you choose to beat this guy with Sora, you have to be prepared to accept that he has a much lamer dodge and blocking mechanism than Riku's (no offense there). So in other words, dodge rolling and blocking with Sora would be a total hassle but he totally makes up for it with one of his signature move called "super glide". If you don't have super glide, then you can manage with slide roll but it will be a lot tougher because that means you will need to mash that Y button big time. - Defending : Well the ideal way to play against this monster is not to block, but to dodge and find an opening, and once the opportunity rises, do not hesitate to use firaga burst or balloonga, which ever is ready. In order to evade properly, i would explain in detail how to dodge each and every move he does. 1.Low punch : easy. Just dodge away from where he is attacking with Y button. 2.Uppercut : double dodge away using double impact (pressing the Y button twice) because it can be really dangerous if it hits and chains. 3.Elbow slam : the moment you see him jumping towards you, double dodge away to the side and not opposite of where he is coming from. So either double dodge right or left when this happens. 4.Body slam : first jump, and then slide away with the Y button pressed twice. normal dodge on the ground would not have that much of chance of escaping. 5.Rushing tackle : double dodge towards the side just like elbow slam but keep your distance because it has this after attack i previously mentioned. 6.Spinning punch : now this is the tricky bit. when he starts clapping his combo hands, run to the opposite direction and when he starts to get near, dodge/super glide out of harms way. 7.Climb & stomp : when you see him jumping to the tower, start super-gliding and just spin around the battle field while locking on to him during your flight so you can see where he lands. 8.Toxic grab : just dodge because it has the range of a low punch, but if you bring those 3 blocks (toximander) then have nothing to fear. He uses his right hand just like low punch but you can see that in low punch, he spins his hand near his head a bit but in toxic grab, he directly swing his hand with no hesitation. 9.Thunder rage : stay put. Trust me, i'll explain later. Just make sure you are as far away from him as possible when this happens, as you can see the animation when he is about to start. It's hard to miss. Do not worry about him slowing down your reload as it only happens if his other attacks in rage mode hits you afterwards. Note: when he is attacking in rage mode, use super glide instead because his attacks will raise the ground you're standing on. Just glide around the battle field. DO NOT go up to high grounds because it will only trigger his climb & stomp attack. IF he manages to slow your firaga burst's reload time then don't attempt to attack until it turns normal. Relying solely on balloonga is totally risky. - Attacking : Now the fun part. After running away from his relentless attacks, i can't blame you for wanting to have revenge on him. It's time to give this beast the lesson that he deserves. First of all, there is rarely an opening for you to cast that burst to damage him. The best time to attack him is after his elbow slam attack, rushing tackle attack, and right after you manage to get away from his spinning combo and climb & stomp. Fortunately for you, he does the elbow slam and the spinning combo LOADS of time. Most of the time you will be able to dodge the elbow, but as for the spin, you will mostly get hit and be sent flying behind him, and when you do, quickly land and cast, but take precaution of your hp because you can still be saved by once more and second chance only if you have more than 1 hp. A firaga burst with full fire boost and magic boost can deplet a single bar of his health (or more), while balloonga gives around 1/3 hp damage if it all hits. Pretty neat huh? By the time you decrease his bar to 6 he starts thunder raging. Dodge his thunder imbued attacks until the rage stops and continue the routine. Once he has only 2 bar or less of hp, he will stay almost forever in his rage mode now this is where it gets tricky. Not only he stays long in rage mode, he will often use the climb & stomp attack making it hard to attack. If this happens, wait until he is above the tower, then cast. - Healing : Last but not least, the healing mechanism. The trickiest part of this whole strategy is how to heal properly without wasting curagas. Everytime your hp deplets, you will obviously have the urge to heal immediately. Now i'm here to tell you to hold your horses. I will remind you that you have the 3 great abilities that will help you through this, they are second chance, once more and leaf bracer. With second chance and once more, if you happen to have more than 1 hp left, say 2, you will still be able to withstand even the strongest move Julius has in store for you, as long as you DO NOT try to push any button when you are down to 1 hp and he is still pummeling you. Be patient, wait for his attacks to stop, then you press X. If you do it correctly you will survive. Now why am i telling you this? It is simply because when you cast firaga burst, you CAN NOT move at all. This ultimately means in the middle of your cast, he will hit you around. But fear not, your firaga burst will still be active and while he is busy hitting you, he will be hit back at the same time. After he has had enough hitting you at that moment, he will stop into a delay for a while in which you can heal. Then if you'll get hit anyway, why should you find an opening to cast? Good question! The answer is because with no opening, there's no chance your spell will come out because he will cancel your cast whe you try to use it in the middle of his attacks. As simple as that. One more interesting thing about healing is your other ability, the leaf bracer. Using the leaf bracer, you will be temporarily immune to any attack while you heal (for about 0.5 second) and you can use this to your advantage. Not only curaga heals, it protects you from seemingly tight situation where dodging/blocking is futile. The best example will be when he uses his finisher (a.k.a body slam) after his uppercut combos. The moment he stops uppercutting you, he will most likely slam you down, and when you're about to land after being pummelled by uppercuts, be ready to touch the X button (curaga) and directly press it when you touch the ground.This will heal you + protect you from his finishing slam. This is a very important technique and thus you have to practice to master the timing and with a few tries you'll get it eventually. To summarize how the curaga technique work, here's a simple chart to illustrate: get hit --(if hp is still more than 1)--> continue dodging/attacking | '--(if hp goes down to 1 point)--> HEAL!! (mash the X button until you successfully heal) | immediately dodge to regain control of the situation <---' | '---> once back on you're feet, find an opening and cast away Rinse lather repeat. Simple right? With a little few tries you'll master this in no time and you'll beat this guy down. I know getting hit on purpose sounds weird, but hey, it'll work if you know how to do it right. #Playing as Riku While playing as Riku, we will use the exact same strategy but instead of slide rolls and super glides, we use dark rolls instead. It's fast, long distanced, and higher immunity (longer and faster movement). Just mash the Y button when you need to dodge and you'll be fine. Doubleflight helps evade loads off low attacks as well, just don't forget to dodge when you're already airborne. When he starts summoning thunder to hit you, you can try blocking with Riku's dark barrier but if it fails just stay put until it's over and like before, stay as far away from him as possible. 5.iii. If all else fails OKay, i really hate going into this section, but it does happen sometime. If you have tried this and fails, i suggest you train your caharacter's level a bit until you feel it to be adequate, and don't forget to keep trying because maybe you just need to practice on your timing and reflexes. Trust me, with a little hard work and determination, you are bound to succeed. Once you are done beating the life out of him, he will escape in agony back to where he belongs, and tadaaaa, you have obtained the Ultima Weapon. Congratulations! ============================================================================== 6.End Credit ============================================================================== In the end of this guide i would like to thank: - God - Mr.Nomura for making such a great game - Square enix and Disney interactive - And of course all of you in GameFaqs Once again, any question or comment is welcomed at apajalahah@hotmail.com Thank you for reading; Amplifier92