Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance Boss Guide By Gameandwatch2 Version 1.00 I. Introduction 2. General Tips 2a. Abilities 2b. Commands 2c. Dream Eaters 2d. Drop Bonuses and Forecast 3. Bosses Tutorial Traverse Town La Cite des Cloches The Grid Prankster's Paradise Country of the Musketeers Symphony of Sorcery The World That Never Was Optional Boss 4. Credits and Legal ---------- I. Introduction ---------- Welcome to my boss guide. Inside, you'll find both general tips and boss specific strategies, along with a detailed list of attacks for each boss, as well as their weaknesses. As this is one of my first guides, it may be a little messy or have errors, so feel free to PM any suggestions or comments to me. In particular, if someone has a source for the official names of the attacks the bosses use, I'd gladly be directed to it, as they're probably far better then the generic names I came up with. ---------- 2. General Tips ---------- These are some bits of advice that will help out at all bosses in general. I haven't included any details of how to get different abilities, commands, and dream eaters, as there are numerous other FAQs providing such information. ---------- 2a. Abilities ---------- There are three major abilities you should make a note of getting as soon as possible, which are Second Chance, Once More, and Leaf Veil. Second Chance allows you survive any one hit that would've normally finished you off with one HP. Once More allows you survive a combo with one HP, and while KH3D is much more strict about what is and isn't considered a combo compared to the previous games, it still helps a lot. Leaf Veil makes you invincible while you're using a healing command, making it practically impossible for your healing to be interrupted. These three abilities together make staying alive much easier, and you'll probably wonder how you survived without them later. Another nice, but dream eater specific ability is Reload Boost, which greatly increases your reload speed when your HP is critical, making it take less time for that precious heal to come off cooldown when you need it the most. The haste abilities also help out in this regard, but they don't stack with Reload Boost. ---------- 2b. Commands ---------- Keeping your commands up to par will go a long way in making bosses easier. Search out all of the large chests in each world and play the Water Barrel minigame with your dream eaters or feed them often to get enough LP to unlock new commands quickly. Flick Rush also has a multitude of good commands for sale once you progress in the story enough, and the Moogle Shop has a much bigger selection on a sale day. Some especially useful commands are: Aerial Recovery: Allows to you act again more quickly after being struck by an attack that knocks you back. For the most part, this loses its usefulness once you have access to Payback Raid/Blast, though there are some situations it can get you out of safely that the previous commands can't. Balloon: Quickly generates a stationary ring of five balloons around you that lingers for about eight seconds for disappearing. Each balloon causes a decent amount of damage and they can stagger small bosses very easily. Better yet, you can stack multiple balloons together to inflict a massive amount of damage to anyone foolish enough to touch them. It also reloads very quickly, due to it being considered a weaker command, despite the damage being very high if all five balloons hit. Works wonders against any boss that likes attacking at close range. Balloonga: Launches a huge, slow homing balloon that bursts into six smaller homing balloons on contact. Like Balloon, this can stagger the small bosses with ease, is quick, and causes an excellent amount of damage. A good command for any boss fight. Counter Rush/Aura: Counter attacks that can be performed after blocking an attack successfully. They also provide a very generous amount of invincibility time, making them a safe way to cause damage. These are a must against any aggressive opponent. Both can be obtained in the Grid, though Sora needs to find Counter Rush in a chest, so be sure not to miss it. Cure/ra/ga: Restores HP. This is good for obvious reasons and there's no harm in sticking more then one in your deck if you have trouble dodging attacks. If you have Cure Boost, you may want to use the weaker cures due to their lower reload times. Dark Barrier: A barrier that shields Riku from all sides and can be used in the air. Make getting this a top priority, as it allows you to guard many attacks that are difficult or impossible to guard normally. Dark Roll: A massively improved Dodge Roll for Riku with greater distance, speed, and invulnerability time. No explanation needed as for why you should get this as soon as possible. Doubleflight: A simple command that lets Riku perform a second jump in midair. It comes in handy for dodging quite a few attacks, but sadly, is only obtained in the very last world. Link Block: A special guard command for Sora that makes him warp in front of one of his dream eaters if they're about to be hit and fills their link gauge if the attack is blocked sucessfully. Assuming you're using dream eaters that like attacking at close range, this will basically just make your guard restore the link gauge, which is always nice. Meteor Crash: An extremely powerful command for Riku that creates a large shockwave and rains down meteors within its radius. This can easily remove over a whole bar of HP from a boss if you get it off, especially ones who can't be knocked back by it. The fact that you levitate in the air while charging it up makes it quite safe to use in a lot of situations, as well. Payback Raid/Blast: Counter abilities that can be used being hit by an attack that knocks you back. They allow you to avoid being trapped in combos in quite a few situations, due to making you invincible while they're being performed. However, use with caution, as they also can result in you getting hit with a combo if performed against certain moves, due to the brief recovery time on the end. Shadow Slide/Strike: A unique counter ability for Riku that can be triggered by guarding just before your target attacks, which will warp you behind them, where you can perform an auto combo. As with Counter Aura, this provides a ton of invincibility while it's being performed, making it a safe way to cause damage in most situations and often leaves you in a safer position, especially against ranged attacks. Sliding/Thunder Dash: Rush forward at a high speed, dealing a single hit. This comes in very handy both for approaching bosses and getting away from them, and typically puts you out of harm's way when used at close range, making it a safe attacking option. Superglide: An excellent movement command for Sora that lets him glide around at a speed high enough to avoid many attacks and provides a convenient method of getting around quickly without Flowmotion. Vanish: Become invisible temporarily, causing bosses who are vulnerable to it to focus on attacking your dream eaters instead (Some attacks will still be aimed at you, however, so be on guard). If your dream eaters aren't around, they'll usually wander around aimlessly or attack in random directions instead. This makes it a lot easier to get attacks off and your dream eaters generally have higher defense and resistances then you (Assuming you made star rank ones), so they can take the abuse. This also has the benefit of making their link gauges increase faster from all the hits they'll be taking and provides tons of opportunities to increase it further with Sora's Link Block. ---------- 2c. Dream Eaters ---------- Don't underestimate how helpful dream eaters can be in assisting you directly, rather then just with their passive abilities and commands they teach. One of the most obvious ways they can help out is with Link Attacks, which make Sora completely invincible, and are essentially a source of free damage. The Hebby Repp/Sudo Neku, Tama Sheep, Escarglow, and Aura Lion have especially devastating link attacks that can easily take off multiple bars of HP if you use them well. Riku's Link Styles are sadly a lot more limited in use, as they provide no such invinciblity and lengthen his combo animations, which leaves him more open to attack against foes that don't stagger. They still make a decent way to deal damage at moments where your target is incapable of fighting back, though. Another big way dream eaters can help is with their buffs, particularly Haste and Spirit Roar, which greatly increase command reload speed and your offensive stats respectively. They may not have access to all of their buffs depending on their level, but they usually have them all by the low to mid 20s range. Some dream eaters/dispositions I've found to be particularly useful in this regard are: Yoggy Ram (Trailblazer) Thunderaffe (Blue Streak or Smasher) Sir Kyroo (Paladin) Wheeflower (Spell Slinger) Lord Kyroo (Populist) Aura Lion (Clear Mind) Lastly, some dream eaters can be surprisingly good at dealing damage to bosses directly and/or making them stagger. As practically all of the bosses focus entirely on you (Barring the use of Vanish), they can usually get off their attacks without fear of being interrupted, especially if they're the large, stagger resistant ones. Some suggestions in that regard are: Ryu Dragon (Tiamat) Tatsu Steed (Show-Off or Tactician) Woeflower (Natural) Tyranto Rex (Roadkiller) Kooma Panda (Wrestler) Also, keep in mind that you can call your dream eaters to you by holding L and R for a moment, which will make them teleport to you as long as they aren't currently staggered, knocked down, or suffering from an incapacitating effect like freeze, stop, or stun. This is good for getting them out of harm's way, or getting them over to a boss faster so they can attack them. ---------- 2d. Drop System and Forecast ---------- If a boss is giving you trouble, try taking advantage of the drop system by giving as many drop bonuses to the appropriate character as possible. They can make a tremendous difference, and it's relatively easy to amass drop points by clearing link portals and destroying every nightmare in sight. Make it a note to go into every boss fight with a full drop gauge, as well. Since Drop-Me-Nots are so inexpensive, there's really no reason not to, and few things will leave you with more of a sour taste then dropping when you're right about to finish a boss off. Also, be sure to avoid fighting bosses during a Risky Winds forecast, as this generally provides them with at least one additional bar of HP and boosts all of their stats, on top of making your drop gauge decrease quickly. The final world's bosses seem be unaffected by the HP and stat boosts, however. ---------- 3. Bosses ---------- The following section lists all of the bosses by world, and is written with the assumption that you're going through each world with Sora first, followed by Riku, and in order of their battle level. Also, note that while playing on Critical Mode, most of the bosses will behave as though they're at low HP from the very start of the fight or will trigger their low HP attacks earlier then normal. ---------- Tutorial ---------- Phantom Ursula =Attacks= Grab: Swipes her hand across the front half of the raft in an attempt to grab you. If she succeeds, you'll take high damage, only to be freed by Riku a few seconds later. Dodge roll or jump over it. It's likely to just miss if you're doing an air combo when it's used. Thunder Beam: Charges energy in her mouth, then blasts a beam down the center of the raft. Just move to the side, then strike while she's winded after the attack ends. Thunder: Raises her hand skyward, causing lightning to strike random spots on the raft. Keep on the move and stay away from the glowing spots that indicate where the lightning is going to hit. Bubble Blast: Moves away from the raft, then blows a swarm of homing bubbles at you. Guard when the bubbles get close, and keep guarding until all of them are gone. =Strategy= This is as simple of a fight as you'd expect from a tutorial. Her attacks still hurt enough that you need to make an effort to avoid them on higher difficulties, though. Just use all of your commands as they come off cooldown to get it over with quickly and don't be shy about using potions, as you'll be ditching them for Cure in the near future. ---------- Traverse Town: Sora ---------- Hockomonkey (Brute) =Weaknesses= Ignite and poison =Attacks= Claws Double Backhand: Swings at you twice in succession. Just guard it. It tends to use it multiple times in a row before pausing, so you might not want to be too hasty in retaliating. Handstand Kick: Stands on its hands and kicks the ground in front of it twice. Slower then the previous attack to the point where you can simply dodge out of range as it's starting and punish it with a ranged command. Guarding also works fine. Charging Smash: Roars and beats its chest before propelling itself off a wall at you and striking at your location as it flies past. Guarding usually works, but it can sometimes hit you in the back if you're too close to the wall it leapt off of, so dodging tends to be safer. Note that when it gets low on HP, it'll leap at you twice in a row. Hocko Bomb: Retracts its head and limbs and chases you around while charging energy, releasing an explosion after a few seconds pass. Oddly, the only thing this move does it put you to sleep if it connects. Can simply be guarded and is only used while it's low on HP. Boxing Gloves Hocko Hook: Throws two pairs of long range punches at you, the second having much greater range then the first. Can be guarded or avoided by simply getting near its feet (This puts you in range of the next attack, however). Hocko Hammer: Turns itself into a hammer and tries smack to you over the head. If it succeeds, you'll be trapped and socked silly for a huge amount of damage before being launched to the back of the arena. If it fails to hit you, it'll be left open to attack for a few seconds. Can be blocked or dodged, but it comes out very quickly, so you'll almost certainly be hit if you're in the middle of an attack when it's used. Rocket Punch: Retracts its arms and starts dancing around, creating boxing gloves near you that will slowly advance on you after a moment. Can be guarded or dodged by simply moving out of the way. Only used if you're not standing on the main building (Which is guaranteed to be the case if you got hit by the previous move). Warp Punch: Used at the same time as Rocket Punch. If you go in front of the windows on the sides of main building or the ones surrounding it, the Hockomonkey's fist will fly out in an attempt to punch you after a moment. Just avoid staying in front of the windows for long and get back on the main building quickly. =Strategy= This beast may be Sora's first real boss in the game, but it's still tough enough to keep you on your toes. It alternates between using its claws and boxing gloves, utilizing a distinct set of moves for each. The former mode of attack tries to get in your face, and will chase you all over the arena, while the latter tries to keep its distance and attacks you from afar, always staying atop the main building. Once you lower its HP enough, it may warp you to the center of the building, and smash the glass, causing you to fall into the garden area that also serves as the arena for Riku's version of the boss. At this point, it stops using its boxing gloves entirely, and sticks to using its claws. If possible, exploit its Poison vulnerability to chip away its HP at a rapid pace while you're on the defensive. Otherwise, just use quick commands or keyblade strikes between each of its attacks. You'll fight it again on your second visit to Traverse Town, where it won't utilize the latter two of its boxing glove attacks, due to the different arena. ---------- Traverse Town: Riku ---------- Hockomonkey (Mage) =Weaknesses= Slow Magic Hands: Magnet, slow, stop, and zero gravity =Attacks= Firaga Ball: Launches a pair of large fireballs that home in on you. Just guard them. Ground Upper: Makes one of its boxing glove arms erupt out from beneath you, launching you into the air. This is usually used multiple times in a row, and is a good reason to spend as much time in the air as possible due to its speed and lack of warning before it occurs. Do an air slide immediately if you get hit to avoid being struck again. Summon Magic Hands: Detaches its hands, then proceeds to create another two before disappearing from the battlefield entirely, only showing itself once all four of the hands have been destroyed. This is its worse attack by far, and can use it as many times as it likes throughout the course of the battle, which can really drag things out if you don't deal as much damage as possible whenever you have the chance. You can interrupt the move by stunning it with enough damage, or by using a Reality Shift on it when it's available. When it does reappear, it'll be stunned, so hit it as hard as you can. Magic Hands Swipe: The hands will approach you and swing at you. Dodge roll or guard, and take care to not get surrounded. Object Toss: The hands will pick up random parts of the environment, then chuck them at you. Guard or dodge it, but if you do the former, make sure you don't get hit in the back by another hand. Palmtree Pound: The hands will uproot the palm trees in the arena, then advance toward you with them, stamping the ground repeatedly as they do so. Just stay away until the attack ends. =Strategy= Riku's version of the previous boss is an annoyance initially, spending most of its time running away instead of attacking. The real threat lies in when it decides to let its hands do the fighting. Unlike the previous fight, Flowmotion is very useful here, Kick Dive allowing you to hit it easily despite its almost constant retreating and Shock Dive being convenient for hitting multiple hands at the same time, due to the long delay between their attacks. Use Slow if you have it to keep up with it easier and to have more time to damage it between hand summons. It's also useful for attacking the hands, as it gives you more time to react to their melee strikes, which can come rather suddenly if you're right near them. It's a good idea to stay near the entrance of the arena during the first hand summon, as only the hands that decide attack directly will pose any real threat to you, due to the others mostly missing with the objects they throw, and the rest being easily guarded against. They'll run out of stuff to throw eventually, at which point using the entire arena is just as safe. ---------- La Cite des Cloches: Sora ---------- Wargoyle (Ground) =Weaknesses= Vanish =Attacks= Ground Punch: Advances towards you and hits the ground where you're standing, often multiple times in succession. Just guard it and use Counter Rush if you have it. It might fall down after it performs a second punch, which gives you a big chance to attack it. It also follows up with the next move at times. Tail Whip: Whirls around to hit you with its tail. It'll hit you in the back if you try to guard it at close range, so dodge roll instead. Flame Rain: Charges up and launches a multitude of fireballs into the air, which will home in on you and explode when they hit the ground. Stay on the move and dodge roll when they get near, as there's a risk of being hit in the back if you try to guard them. At low HP, the fireballs move faster and create larger explosions. Double Punch: Throws its arms back, then slings both of its flails straight at you. Just guard or dodge it, then get off a hit or two while it retracts its flails. Flame Whirl: After twisting up briefly, it'll spin towards you with its flails extended and aflame. Guard it, then punish when it falls over after the move ends. Flame Rise: Used when it gets up from falling down; a circle will appear around its body, and shortly later, anyone in it will be scorched by the column of flame that rises up. Move away or guard and counter if you can. Blast Line: Hits the ground in a fashion identical to Ground Punch, sending a line of explosions across the ground towards you. It's also used multiple times in sucession like the attack it resembles. It can't be reliably guarded, so dodge roll out of the way instead. Used only at low HP, and can easily combo you to death if you get hit by it while you're in the air, so avoid trying to jump over it. =Strategy= An aggressive opponent that can go for quite a while without leaving you much of an opening to attack or heal with commands. Picking up Counter Rush from the Grid beforehand will make this a good deal easier, as it'll let you get some damage in while you defend yourself. Ranged commands are preferable to melee, as its close range attacks are more dangerous then its other ones, and being near it tends to make it more prone to using them. You have ample time to hit it with anything whenever it falls down, though. Flowmotion is best used for evasion. It's actually perfectly viable to just stay airborne with repeated wall jumps until it falls down, as Flame Rain is the only move it can reach you with up there, and it can be avoided by simply dashing away when it gets close. As most of its attacks are fire based, having Fire Screen equipped can help soften its blows. When you fight it again on the second visit to Traverse Town, expect to be dealing with its melee attacks a lot more often due to how tiny the arena is. ---------- La Cite des Cloches: Riku ---------- Queen Buzzerfly =Attacks= Stinger Missile: Fires multiple homing stingers in succession. Just move in a circular fashion around the screen to avoid them. Drone Assault: After pointing at you, its drones will charge you one by one. Stay on the move, and keep track of where the drones flew off the screen, as they'll return from that direction and be vulnerable to attack temporarily. Toxic Dust: Flaps its wings and emits a golden cloud of dust that covers a wide area. Just move out of the way. =Strategy= A simple battle. Moving in a wide circle around the screen will let you avoid most of her attacks, but you need to defeat all four of her drones to make her move close enough to be attacked. You can do so by hitting them in the back as they return from charging you. Once they're gone, just aim for the orb in the queen's head to take her out, preferably before she calls more drones. ---------- Wargoyle (Flying) =Attacks= Crystal Volley: Everything goes dark as it unleashes a barrage of crystals at you which will stick to the ground and walls if they miss and explode a moment later. The easiest way to avoid this is to simply put a wall between you and the Wargoyle if possible. Otherwise, keeping on the move constantly and dodging or air sliding whenever a crystal gets near is your best bet. Ground Punch: Identical to the version used by the ground version of the boss in terms of how it hits, but it's slower. Guard or dodge it. Only used while you're on the roof. Flame Charge: Wreathes itself in flames, then spirals towards you. Guard or air slide to avoid it. Gargoyle Gatling: Unleashes a steady stream of shots from its hands that it sweeps from side to side. Guard or get behind a wall if you're on the roof, and air slide so you're not in front of it if you're in the air. Dark Barrier also works in the latter situation if you have it. Flare Burst: Everything goes dark again as it charges up, then spits a large fireball at you that creates a sizable explosion if it hits the ground. Guard it or simply get out of the way, as it's fairly slow. Dark Charge: Wreathes itself in darkness, then spirals towards you. Can be avoided in the exact same ways as Flame Charge. However, if you get hit by it while you're on the roof, you'll knocked back a huge distance, guarding or not, and most likely off the roof entirely. If you get hit while you're off the roof, you'll be grabbed and slammed back into the roof for a huge amount of damage. Right/Left Hook: Takes a swing at you with its fists, often multiple times in succession. Just air slide or use Dark Barrier. Only used if you're off the roof. Tail Whip: Whirls around to hit you with its tail. Air slide away or use Dark Barrier if you have it. As it remains stationary when it does this, it's a lot easier to avoid then in the other fight. Only used if you're off the roof. =Strategy= This winged version of the Wargoyle is still quite aggressive, but its attacks are slower then those of its grounded counterpart. You have the choice of fighting it on the roof or in the air by riding the heat drafts rising from below. The former is the safer option, due to giving you more defensive options, while the latter puts you in a better position to hit it with your keyblade combos and commands. Ranged commands like Fire are preferable if you decide to stay on the roof, as having to jump in the air to perform melee commands leaves you open to attack. While off the roof, either works just as well. Your dream eaters might jump off the roof to the ground below, and they won't be able to aid you in any fashion while they're down there, so recall them to the roof if this happens. Don't bother doing this if you're fighting it in the air, though, as they'll just keep trying to follow the Wargoyle off the edge repeatedly. The abundance of fire attacks once again makes Fire Screen helpful. ---------- The Grid: Sora ---------- Brawlamari =Attacks= Rock Shatter: A boulder will appear in front of it, and it'll smash it to bits, scattering smaller rocks everywhere. Avoid the large pieces and attack the smaller, targetable pieces if you wish to reveal HP orbs. Tentacle Slash: Extends its tentacles to your sides, then slashes directly at you with both of them. Use a dodging deflect to get out of the way. Beam Swarm: Spews a huge swarm of homing projectiles at you. Just perform a dodging deflect into a place that isn't occupied by them. Destruction Field: Catches itself on some passing boulders with its tentacles, then projects a huge energy field in front itself, hoping you'll fall into it. Brake the moment the field is formed, and keeping mashing on it until the field is gone. It'll be open to attack if you successfully avoid this. =Strategy= This squid doesn't pose much of a threat. As long as you don't fail to avoid its Destruction Field, and pick up all of the points it drops upon defeat, an A rank is practically guaranteed. ---------- Rinzler =Weaknesses= Vanish =Attacks= Jab: Simply runs up to you and punches once with one of his discs. Just guard and counter. Two-step Combo: Runs up to you, punches, enters a prone position briefly, then punches again. Can be stopped in the exact same fashion as the previous move. Leaping Strike: Jumps in the air and swings a disc down on you. It's slower then his previous moves, so don't guard too early. Disc Throw: Throws a disc straight at you. You can't block this, so avoid it by running to the side and dodge rolling if needed. Generally used only when he's in the distance or if you're in the air. This and his other disc attacks hurt a lot compared to his melee attacks, so do your best to avoid them. Double Disc Throw: Throws both of his discs to his sides, where they'll curve around the edges of the arena before converging on you. Can be avoided in the same fashion as his previous move. Rather rare compared to his other disc attacks. Disc Drop: Throws a disc into the air, where it'll proceed to land directly on you a moment later if you aren't moving to the side. Like the previous move, it can't be blocked, and is mainly used when he's far away. Gravity Flip: Not really an attack per say, but periodically, the gravity will be reversed, forcing you to fight on the ceiling temporarily. This reverses your controls, which can be very disorienting, so it might be better go entirely on the defensive until things go back to normal. He won't use his disc attacks while it's active, though. Shock Impact: When the gravity flip ends, he'll attempt to jump on your head. Unblockable, so get out of the way with an air slide or dodge roll, then retaliate while he recovers. =Strategy= Rinzler is extremely aggressive and attacks very quickly to boot, making it difficult to use most commands safely and practically impossible to do any keyblade combos. He's also not very easy to stagger, either. On the other hand, he's very predictable and provides the perfect opportunity to use your Counter Rush ability to the fullest. You can basically just spam guard and Counter Rush when he's close to you, as he'll generally try to attack you again immediately after you've countered his previous attack. When he runs away to use his disc attacks, you can get some quick commands off between each dodged attack. It's very rare, but if you manage to trigger a Reality Shift against him, he won't be able to attack you for a lengthy period of time and will run away from you until the effect wears off. Use this chance to hit him with every single command you've got. ---------- The Grid: Riku ---------- Commantis (Light Cycle battle) =Attacks= Claw Strike: After lingering behind or in front of you long enough, it'll starting hitting the ground in front of it repeatedly. Just keep on the move constantly and it should miss. Claw Disc: Launches some energy discs at you, which either fly forward, or ricochet between the sides of the track. In either case, just jump over them. =Strategy= There really aren't any tricks to this other then making sure you avoid taking much damage in the previous segment so you have enough HP to survive, and moving constantly to keep it from hitting you with its claws. You might not be able to cause as much damage if you don't stay in front of it much or at all, but better safe then sorry, since it can take a long time to take it down, especially on higher difficulties. ---------- Commantis (Ground battle) =Weaknesses= Ice and slow =Attacks= Claw Disc: Swings an arm to launch a homing disc at you. Sometimes follows up with the other arm and/or the next attack. Guard it. Spread Disc: Launches multiple discs out from its back that will all home in on you. Once again, just guard it. Ground Disc: Drops a multitude of discs that travel across the ground. Guard them or just stay in the air as much as possible to avoid getting hit by them. Tends to hurt a lot more then the previous moves due to the sheer number of discs and can combo you easily. Mine Shower: Leaps high into the air and releases numerous beams aimed at your general location. If they hit the ground, they become mines that will induce sleep in anyone who touches them. Try your best to guard it if you're on the ground, and air slide away the moment you see it jump if you're airborne. Gyro Slice: Makes a short lunge at you while spinning its legs/disc. Can be guarded, but is too quick to really be done on reaction. It doesn't hurt that much, so don't let it deter you from attacking it up close. Gyro Wheel: Speeds around the grinding rail on the edge of the arena using its legs/disc, causing heavy damage to anyone it touches. Just don't spend too much time on or near the grinding rail and this attack won't be an issue. =Strategy= This mantis loves spamming ranged attacks at you, usually unleashing three volleys in a row before pausing briefly. It alternates between circling around the edge of the arena on the grinding rail and leaping into the center of the arena and remaining there for a while. The safest place is up in front of its face, as most of its projectiles will whiff at that range, so keep the aerial combos and commands coming. However, be ready to air slide away (Or guard if you have Dark Barrier) if it uses Mine Shower. The Kick Dive flowmotion attack is a good way to damage it, but don't get too carried away with it, lest you get run over. Slow helps a ton by reducing its rate of attack and making it much easier to hit while it's moving on the rail. Once you reduce its HP by about a third, it'll become immune to damage and start draining energy from the floor, so use a reality shift to stop it, or else it'll regain a third of its HP. It'll do this again when it gets down to one-third of its HP and when you reduce it to one HP, but it's not much of an issue due to the sheer amount of time you have to trigger the reality shift. ---------- Prankster's Paradise: Sora ---------- Chill Clawbster =Weaknesses= Thunder, ignite, and vanish =Attacks= Frost Wall: Projects a wall of ice from its claws and advances on you slowly with it. Guard it and counter. Frost Grenade: Used while you're at a distance, it'll fire a cluster of blue spheres that will bounce a few times then explode in a small radius. They'll also explode if they hit you directly. Just move/dodge away from them. Clawbster Stomp: Used when you're close to it, it simply hops in the air and stomps the ground, hitting anyone who's standing near it. Guard and counter, but be aware that it likes to use this move multiple times in a row. Overheat Mode Rolling Laser: Fires a pair of beams at the ground that transform into wheels of energy that will roll after you. Guard or dodge. Claw Stab: Hovers forward, repeatedly stabbing the ground with its claws. It won't chase you, so just move out of the way and keep attacking. Clawbster Crush: Flies high into the air, then attempts to fall on you, changing the level of the ice blocks in the arena in the process. It takes a while to fall, and signals it by emitting a sound, so just move out of the way. Laser Sweep: Charges up, then fires a laser beam from both claws, sweeping them inward and outward repeatedly. Can be avoided by simply being at a different elevation from it. Just make sure your dream eaters don't get hit, because it hurts a lot. =Strategy= A real breather compared to the previous world bosses. Its attacks are slow and easy to avoid or guard. It doesn't move very much initially and is generally content to sit in one place using Clawbster Stomp repeatedly, occasionally attempting to get some distance so it can use its grenades. Just go at it with whatever commands you feel like using between stomps, but note that only its backside and face can be struck. After it's damaged enough, it'll overheat, glowing green and using a new set of attacks. At this point, it'll mostly stay in the air and pursue you, tying to make sure you're neither too close nor too far, save for when it attempts to land on you. It uses the first three attacks at random, but will eventually fire its lasers and return to normal afterward. Once you get it down to its last bar of HP, it'll flee, leaving you to use a Reality Shift on Monstro and pursue it by bubble. It'll attempt to shake you off with Rolling Laser, but simply moving from side to side will keep you safe until you get close enough to finish it off. This only occurs in the first battle against it, however. ---------- Prankster's Paradise: Riku ---------- Char Clawbster =Weaknesses= Water, poison, and vanish =Attacks= Flame Grenade: Launches numerous multi-colored bombs in your direction that will bounce a few times before exploding and will also explode if you touch them. Just stay on the move and dodge roll if necessary. Chasing Blaze: Points its claws upwards and launches numerous flaming crescents that upon hitting the ground will become circular flame patches that will pursue you to a limited degree. If you don't have Dark Barrier, you're best off getting in the air with Flowmotion and waiting them out. Otherwise, just guard them. This hurts a lot compared to its other moves. Fire Wall: Launches a large fireball that splits into two walls of flame that move outwards into the sides of the arena. This rarely ever lands in a place where it has a chance of hitting you, and can easily be guarded or dodged if it does. Used at the same time as Chasing Blaze. Claw Swing: Simply swings its claws at you twice. Guard it if you can, though note that it likes to do this multiple times in a row. Sleep Gas: Rears up and sprays sleep gas onto a circular area in front of it. Just get behind it and give it a beating while wastes its time doing this. Overheat Mode Flame Grenade Mk-II: Launches green bombs in a fashion identical to its normal mode, only these ones detonate the moment they hit anything. Stay on the move to avoid these, preferaby with Flowmotion. Guarding isn't advisable unless you have Dark Barrier. Clawbster Eraser: Fires a pair of beams from its claws at the ground in front of it, which generate a large column of energy a moment later. Just avoid standing in front of it and dodge away if you happen to be in range. Laser Sweep: Moves to the side of the room opposite of you, charges up, then fires lasers from both claws that span the length of the entire arena. It'll start circling from the floor to the ceiling repeatedly shortly after. Quickly Flowmotion dash behind it when you see it getting into position and call your dream eaters so they don't get destroyed by this. =Strategy= This boss is MUCH more annoying then Sora's version, due to it retreating from you very frequently and at a very high speed. It even goes on the ceiling sometimes, forcing you to either flip the room with one of the "switches", or wait for it to come down before you can do much damage to it again. Use Flowmotion to chase it down when it flees and to attack while it's on the ceiling. With how much running it does, using Poison to whittle down its HP can be quite helpful. If you happen to have them, Dark Aura and Dark Splicer will let you skip chasing it around entirely, as they'll teleport you to it as long as it's targeted. It'll overheat once it takes enough damage just like its blue cousin and becomes even flightier in the process, to the point where it's almost not even worth chasing it down until it cools off from firing its lasers. Overall, it's more time consuming then difficult, Chasing Blaze being its only move that poses much of a threat. It shows up again as a boss for Sora on his second visit to Traverse Town, and is much easier due to the arena being too tiny for it to retreat very far. It also won't overheat. ---------- Country of the Musketeers: Sora ---------- Giant Tyranto Rex =Weaknesses= Ice =Attacks= Dino Bite: Bites at the carriage, damaging it and you if you're close enough. It only uses this if it stays up close for a prolonged period of time, so make it back off by hitting it. Dino Charge: Charges into the carriage at high speed, damaging it and you as well if you're standing on the edge. This is by far its most annoying attack, as it comes with no warning, can be used whenever it's not right next to the carriage and is very fast. It can be stopped by hitting it before it collides with the carriage, though this isn't very easy to do without certain commands. Blast Orb: Spits a fireball that either travels in an arc or straight towards you. Guard it to bounce it back into its face, but note that it launches multiple fireballs in a row at times, especially when it's low on HP. Sonic Roar: Roars and launches a slow moving sound wave at you. Unblockable, so jump over it. You really don't want to get hit by this, as it'll stun you, giving it freedom to attack the carriage. =Strategy= For the most part, you'll be more concerned with the carriage's safety then your own, as most of the Rex's attacks can't hit you if you're in the back. As it spends most of its time in the distance, having multiple ranged commands to hit it with will help a lot, as you're otherwise forced to wait until it runs up to the carriage or spits fireballs to cause damage. Attacking it also will make it stagger after a few hits, which will slow it down. With enough ranged commands, it's possible to keep it from ever getting close enough to attack the carriage, especially with multi-hitters like Balloonga or Firaga Burst. The main thing you're going to have to worry about is its charge, which is best stopped with pre-emptive use of slow moving projectiles like Blizzaga and Balloonga. ---------- Beagle Boys =Weaknesses= Everything but stun =Attacks= Double Slash: A simple two slash combo that can be guarded and countered easily. Triple Slash: Essentially the same as the previous move, but with a third, more damaging slash that's slow enough to guard even if you got hit by the previous two. Do note that it can hit you even if you're standing behind them when they use it, though. =Strategy= These guys are about as tough as they look, which is not very. The only thing they have going for them is that they're difficult to stagger with keyblade combos, but you can get around this by hitting them with Sliding Sidewinder or Shock Dive to knock them down or by abusing one of their many status vulnerabilities. Zero Gravity is your best bet in that regard. Just don't let them gang up on you, though the fact they'll actively target your dream eaters without the use of Vanish makes this uncommon. ---------- Pete =Weaknesses= Blind, ignite, poison, slow, stun, and vanish =Attacks= Bomb Toss: Will start lobbing a single bomb at you periodically once you've used a reality shift on one of the Beagle Boys. Once they're gone, he'll toss three of them at you if he's far away. Dodge them, as the explosions can often hit you in the back, especially when he's throwing three at a time. Double Slash: Slashes at you twice with his rapier. Guard and counter it. Tends to do this constantly as long as he's close to you. Slash n' Smash: Advances towards you, performing two slashes, then hitting the ground with his fists, making a shockwave. He rarely ever hits with the last part, which is fortunate, because it hurts a lot. Guard and counter, though dodging can work as well, as he tends to start this move from a greater distance then the previous one. Stageprop Swing: Leaps off into the back of the stage, then comes down on the sun stageprop, and tries to swing into you numerous times, causing damage constantly as long as he's in contact. The moon stageprop will also be swinging at this time and will aim for you if you get near it. This move can be downright deadly if you're not in the right place when it starts, which ideally, is off in the left corner of the stage where you entered it from. The reason is that Pete's stageprop will stop causing damage once it swings into this corner a few times, evident by its glow going away. Until then, keep Pete targeted and dodge or guard whenever he's about to make contact; preferably the former, as it can hit you even if you're guarding sometimes. Be sure to call your dream eaters over, as well, as they'll often get wrecked by the moon if you don't, especially if they're of a large variety. =Strategy= The battle will begin with you facing off against the Beagle Boys again. They haven't changed in any way from the previous fight aside from having a bit more HP, so just beat them up, then use a Reality Shift to launch them into Pete. It may be a good idea to wait until all three are KO'd before doing this, due to Pete starting to throw bombs after one has been launched, but note that they'll revive with a fourth of their HP if you don't launch them within about a minute or so. Once all three are gone, Pete will come down and fight you directly. He mostly stays put, using the attacks appropriate for his range, but will close the distance between the two of you periodically. He doesn't stagger too easily, so ranged attacks are safer unless you use Slow, which basically turns him into a punching bag until it wears off. You can also abuse his stun weakness with the Balloon commands. His only really threatening move is his Stageprop Swing, which can actually be interrupted by stunning or staggering him before he reaches the back right part of the stage and jumps away. This is obviously much easier to do if he's affected by Slow. Keeping some Baloon commands set up in between him and the part of the stage he'll try to reach also works well. Otherwise, just get into the aforementioned corner the moment you see him jumping. Once you deplete his HP, you'll get to launch him with a Reality Shift as an amusing finisher. He'll revive like the Beagle Boys if you take too long in doing this, but you'd have to let it happen on purpose. ---------- Country of the Musketeers: Riku ---------- Brawlamari II =Attacks= Phase I Rock Shatter: A boulder will appear in front of it, and it'll smash it to bits, scattering smaller rocks everywhere. Avoid the large pieces and attack the smaller, targetable pieces if you wish to reveal HP orbs. Tentacle Slash: Extends its tentacles to your sides, then slashes directly at you with both of them. Use a dodging deflect to get out of the way. Beam Swarm: Spews a huge swarm of homing projectiles at you. Just perform a dodging deflect into a place that isn't occupied by them. Destruction Field: Catches itself on some passing boulders with its tentacles, then projects a huge energy field in front itself, hoping you'll fall into it. Brake the moment the field is formed, and keeping mashing on it until the field is gone. It'll be open to attack if you successfully avoid this. Phase II Tentacle Laser: Fires two laser beams that move about the screen erratically, but generally in your direction. When its HP is low, it'll shoot four instead. Move around the screen in a circular fashion, making adjustments as needed to avoid the lasers. Tentacle Stab: Sends its tentacles flying straight at you. When it's low on HP, it'll do this twice, then use Tentacle Slash. Use Dodging Deflect to get out of the way. Superlaser: Boulders will move in front of you as it charges up then fires a gigantic beam that hits the entire screen, save for behind the boulders. Just get behind a boulder and stay there, though note that when its HP is low, the boulders will move slightly while the beam is being fired. It'll be vulnerable to attack once this move ends. =Strategy= The first part of this fight is identical to Sora's version. However, once you deplete its HP, it'll enter a second phase, where the attacks will be used in a cycle in the exact order they're listed in. As long as you can survive until the Superlaser ends, there's very little risk of you dying, thanks to multitude of HP orbs that come out of the boulders. If you want an A rank, the first form will need to be defeated in two attack rounds and the second in three. ---------- Holey Moley =Attacks= Carrot Missile: Waves its arms and creates a multitude of carrots near it that will fly straight towards you. Guard or dodge them. Delayed Carrot Missile: Waves its arms and creates a multitude of stationry carrots around you that will constantly turn to face you for a few seconds before they rush you. Just stay on the move or guard them. Pot Toss: Waves its arms and creates some pots overhead that will fly down at you. Guard or dodge them. Stump Sling: Waves its arms and creates a row of tree stumps in front of it that will fly up at you. Only used if you stay airborne near it, and can be avoided in an identical fashion to Pot Toss. Dimensional Claw: Disappears from the battlefield, leaving six of its claws behind which will attempt to get near you and swing at you. As with the mage Hockomonkey, it'll reappear once they've all been destroyed, but they'll also just disappear with time, causing the same result. Waiting them out is by far the better choice, as it's difficult to get rid of all of them in time anyways, and it's also very easy, as the claws can only move along the ground and there's numerous platforms to hide on. Once the claws are gone, it'll poke its head out of a random spot and look around briefly. At this point, if you can reach it and air slide into it before it retreats, you'll yank it out of the ground and stun it for a lengthy period of time. =Strategy= Like the Char Clawbster before it, this mole will annoy you with its frequent retreating. It can appear in many different spots in the room, including out of the walls and the undersides of the platforms. Keep your map zoomed out to see where it is easily. Ranged commands are preferable for the most part, as its swarms of projectiles will interrupt your melee attacks rather easily, plus it often retreats shortly after emerging, so you may not even have enough time to get to it. You can get some of the faster melee commands between each volley of projectiles, though. Dark Aura and Dark Splicer again can be useful here, due to their ability to get you to it as long as it's targeted. Meteor Crash also works wonders thanks to its large size and can be used safely if you use it as soon as the Holey Moley emergs from the ground. Overall, it's not very tough at all. ---------- Symphony of Sorcery: Sora ---------- Spellican =Weaknesses= Dark, magnet, and zero gravity =Attacks= Chase Phase Magic Bubbles: Shakes its broom, sending a volley of purple bubbles your way. Use a Kick Dive before they connect to protect yourself. While this makes you 
stop moving briefly, it slows you down way less then getting hit will.

Asteroid: Places an asteroid ahead of you on the grinding rail. Just jump over
it.


Battle Phase

Shooting Stars: Creates a multitude of stars overhead, which will fly straight
at you after a moment. Dodge them, as they can't be guarded reliably. You can
also just get behind a rock.

Energy Blade: Turns its broom into a huge blade of light, then uses an
overhead swing, followed by a spin attack. Guard it and counter.

Broom Summon: Scatters small bubbles around that will turn into tiny living
brooms, then disappears. After a while, they'll start hitting you with bolts of 
lightning that can reach you anywhere in the arena, so try to destroy them 
before then. 

In the rematch, however, they have so much HP that it's better to just hit 
them with Zero Graviga, then hit each of them so they'll be confused once it 
ends (Thundaga is an easy way to do this quickly), which will keep their 
lightning from harming you until they disappear on their own.

Once the brooms are gone, the Spellican will reappear and immediately start
acting again, so don't let it catch you off guard.

Meteor: Moves to one of the top platforms and starts dancing around, making
everything go dark while meteors crash down in your vicinity, igniting you if 
they hit. Just give it a good beating to put a stop to this, as it'll linger on 
one of the platforms for a moment before it actually starts dancing. 
Alternatively, it'll stop the attack if you stand under the platform it's on.


=Strategy=

Yet another annoying boss that loves to run away. Fortunately, its status
vulnerabilities do a good job of dealing with that problem.

Initially, you'll be chasing it along a grinding rail, so just hit Y rapidly
to catch up to it faster, but be ready to dodge the aforementioned attacks.
Once you ram into it, you'll be able to fight it proper. Note that if the 
fight drags on long enough, it'll repeat this phase again, so make sure your 
HP is topped off often, as you can't heal until it's over.

It mostly uses Shooting Stars, only using Energy Blade if it gets close. As
it's difficult to approach it during the former attack, you should hit it with
ranged attacks before the stars start heading your way.

It moves very quickly and tends to teleport away after you hit it just a few
times. However, you can use Zero Gravity to buy yourself more time to attack
whenever you get close. If you really want to make the fight a breeze, though,
you should use Collision Magnet. Not only can this move yank it out of its
teleport, it'll knock it down, giving you a good amount of time to attack it,
and you can use it right after it's freed from Zero Gravity to keep immoblized
even longer.


----------

Symphony of Sorcery: Riku

----------

Chernabog


=Attacks=

Fireball: He'll throw some swirling fireballs your way that home in slightly.
Just move out of the way.

Flame Pillar: Numerous pillars of flame rise from the ground to get in your
way. Once again, just avoid them, though this can be easier said then done
when used in conjunction with the previous move.

Flaming V: Creates a stationary V formation of fireballs in front of you. Just
move out of the way as usual and grab the HP orb in the center if you need 
it.

Ghosts: A swarm of ghosts will head your way, latching onto you and draining
your HP if they get close. Dodging Deflect towards the opening in the swarm
as you get near to avoid them, and use the same action to shake them off if
they do get you. They really don't hurt that much, nor do they knock you back, 
so prioritize dodging the other moves. Note that the white ghosts move faster 
then the black ones.


=Strategy=

You simply need to reach and attack him three times to win the fight.

You should be attacking whenever there isn't anyting harmful in front of you
to get to him as quickly as possible, as you'll deal with less attacks that
way. Getting hit knocks you back a considerable distance, though, so be
careful.

With each hit you land, the frequency of his attacks will increase, and things
will get pretty hectic before the last hit. Overall, it's still not a very
difficult fight, as all dive mode battles are.


----------

The World That Never Was: Sora

----------

Queen Buzzerfly II


=Attacks=

Stinger Missile: Fires multiple homing stingers in succession. Just move in a
circular fashion around the screen to avoid them. Fires more then the original
version and their homing ability is stronger, too.

Drone Laser: The drones will pair off and project a laser between the two of
them. Just move out of the way and attack the drones once their backs are
turned towards you.

Drone Assault: After pointing at you, her drones will charge you one by one.
Stay on the move, and keep track of where the drones flew off the screen, as 
they'll return from that direction and be vulnerable to attack temporarily.

Toxic Dust: Flaps her wings and emits a golden cloud of dust that covers a
wide area. Just move out of the way.


=Strategy=

She hasn't changed nearly as much as the Brawlamari did for Riku.

It actually takes less time to make her vulnerable to attack now thanks to the
new move her drones use. This is because you now also have to break a trio
of orbs on her back on top of the one on her head, which can be rather
difficult due to how erractically she moves while they're exposed. Just do
your best to line yourself up and attack them.


----------

Xemnas


=Attacks=

Building Toss: Used as his opening move, he'll throw multiple buildings, which
will bounce and slide across the arena. They'll hurt you only if they fall on
you, and you can perform Flowmotion off them while they're sliding. It's best
to just run or Superglide under them with good timing, as while you can guard 
them, it's not reliable. He'll use this again when his HP is at half.

Whirling Slash: Spins towards you, taking a swing at you after a moment. Just
guard and counter. Usually used at close range.

Pinwheel Slash: Somersaults towards you with his beam swords. Guard and counter 
yet again. Usually used at close range.

Charging Slice: Appears in the distance and rushes you, performing a two hit
combo when he gets near. Guard and counter.

Double Roundhouse: Approaches you while performing two spin kicks in 
succession. Guard and counter. Usually used at close range.

Kick Combo: Warps next to you and performs a kick, followed by a spin kick.
Guard and counter. This move is a lot faster then his other ones, and he likes 
to use it repeatedly if the first one connects. Typically used at close range.

Heel Drop: Does a flip and brings his heel down on you. Just guard and counter
again. Used at close range.

Laser Volley: Suddenly fires multiple lasers straight at you. Just block them.
Typically used from mid range, though he tends to stop and go into a melee
attack if you approach him while they're being fired.

Converging Lasers: Flies in a circle around you, creating a ring of lasers
that will rush you once the ring is complete. Easiest to avoid by jumping just
before the ring is fully formed, though dodge rolling works, too. Usually used
at close range. He might warp up to you to perform a melee attack after you
jump, so be ready to air slide away.

Void Barrier: Shoves a square barrier into you, knocking you back if it hits. 
Just guard it like almost everything else. As he lingers behind the barrier 
briefly after he creates it, you can hit him with something like Thunder that 
can bypass it. Used at close range.

Laser Trap: Creates barriers around you, then fires a volley of unblockable 
lasers at you after a few seconds. Jump out and air slide to the side the 
moment the first laser is fired or just use Superglide if you have it. Usually 
used at mid range.


=Strategy=

Xemnas is very aggressive, spending most of his time teleporting up to you and 
trying to hit you with various melee attacks. He also doesn't stagger easily, 
which combined with the previous fact means you'll be using Counter Rush to 
cause most of your damage, as with Rinzler.

You can frequently tell what attack he's going to use just by watching where 
he teleports, though he's aware of this and will try to fake you out by 
teleporting multiple times before materializing. You should still play it
safe by guarding whenever he comes close, though. It should also be noted that
he has two types of teleportation, the aforementioned slow one which has him
dissipate into an invincible mass of darkness, and another where he simply 
warps from one place to another instantaneously, so be ready to guard at all
times.

You can use ranged commands on him whenever he decides to walk towards you
slowly. The best chance for melee commands is when he staggers after getting 
hit by one of your dream eaters, as approaching him while he's walking may
provoke him into attacking. He also might just warp up to you then stand there
looking at you, which typically provides a safe chance to get some hits in.

This is one fight in particular that Balloon turns into a total joke, as the 
balloons will almost always stagger him whenever he materializes near you in 
an attempt to attack, and spamming them constantly makes it almost impossible
for him to hit you with anything other then his lasers.

After you get him to around half HP, he'll move out of the arena, and start
tossing buildings at you again, eventually smacking the arena out from under
you. At this point, you'll get a Reality Shift prompt, which will stun him
for about 15 seconds if you're successful, though you'll need to get over to
him using some grinding rails before you can start attacking. Make sure you
hit him with everything you've got at this point, as once he recovers, he'll
become almost impossible to stagger and even more aggressive then before, 
mostly utilizing his instant teleports to unleash an almost constant barrage 
of melee attacks.

Just keep up the guarding and countering and eventually, he'll fall.


----------

The World That Never Was: Riku

----------

Anti Black Coat Nightmare


=Attacks=

Sword Combo: A basic two-step combo, consisting of a spinning slash and a stab
follow-up. Just guard it and counter. It'll either approach you slowly or
teleport next to you before it uses this.

Nightmare Clutch: Launches a homing Nightmare symbol that will try to wrap 
around you when it gets close. Guarding or simply using Doubleflight are the 
easiest ways to avoid this, as it won't follow you into the air. The Black 
Coat will emit a red aura from its body when it's preparing to use this.

Nightmare Pool: A red pool forms beneath you, and tendrils of dark energy will
erupt out of it a moment later, causing a high amount of damage. Guard it. Has 
the same tell as the previous move.

Nightmare Impaler: Shoots a red line across the ground which will erupt out 
from beneath you as a spear when it reaches you. If it hits, your HP will be 
reduced to one and HP orbs will be scattered everywhere, which the Black Coat 
can pick up to restore around a fifth of a HP bar each. To make things worse, 
there's nothing keeping the Black Coat from simply finishing you off with 
another attack before you get a chance to do anything once you're released.

Fortunately, this move can be guarded. It also helps to have Treasure Magnet 
to minimize the amount of HP recovery the Black Coat might receive by 
gathering the orbs before it does. Dodging isn't advisable, as the line will 
constantly turn towards you as it approaches, making it require very precise
timing.

Poison Volley: Launches a multitude of homing projectiles which will poison
anyone they hit. It's easiest to just guard this. If you're in the air when 
it's used, a simple air slide to the side will usually get you out of harm's
way.


=Strategy=

A very slippery opponent who can teleport away at virtually any moment, even
while in the middle of an attack. It mostly keeps its distance, only coming
close for its melee combo.

It has a major flaw in that all of its attacks other then Poison Volley can't 
reach you if you use Doubleflight. As such, spending as much time in the air 
as possible while using homing ranged commands like Dark Firaga and Triple 
Plasma will allow you to safely damage it. If you feel at risk of falling into 
an attack, increasing your air time by using Dark Barrier or an air slide will
usually keep you safe.

Using melee attacks on it can be risky, as it frequently will teleport away 
and can hit you with a counterattack while you're still stuck in the lag of 
the attack; Nightmare Impaler in particular being fast enough to do this very 
easily. If you do decide to use them, just make sure you hit it only once or 
twice before backing off.

This is just the first battle in a sequence of three, so make sure you're 
prepared. All three of these bosses largely favor dark attacks, so Dark Screen
can help out a lot. You also have no excuse for not having Dark Barrier at 
this point and it's practically required for this fight and the following 
ones.


----------

Ansem


=Weaknesses=

Vanish


=Attacks=

Air Phase

Rockbreaker: His guardian will move in front of him, then both of them will 
charge you at high speed, turning back in your direction every second or so. 
He'll turn a total of four times before he stops and it's unblockable, so you
need to avoid it by air sliding out of the way multiple times. Start following
him once he makes his last pass if you want to land some close range attacks.

Make sure you stay away from the edges of the arena while you're trying to 
dodge this, as if Ansem gets stuck on the border, it'll mess up the timing 
required for your dodges.

Dark Slicer: His guardian throws out a multitude of slow projectiles that will
home in on you for a limited amount of time. Simply keep moving to the side to 
avoid them. You can also guard them, but if you're too close to him, you'll be
forced to guard any following volleys he launches. 

He also might decide to use Rockbreaker while you're still blocking a volley, 
in which case you'll need to use Counter Aura just before he hits you to 
escape unscathed.


Ground Phase

Guardian Strike: His guardian will take a wide swing at you. Just guard it and
counter.

Guardian Smash: His guardian increases in size and brings both of its fists
down on you. Guard it or dodge it. 

Dark Slicer: Identical to the air phase version, only you don't need to worry
about him trying to nail you with anything else while you're blocking it.

Guardian Shield: His guardian moves in front of him to block your attacks. 
This is typically used if he's receiving a lot of abuse, and can be canceled 
out by air sliding into the guardian, which will push it out of the way and
buy enough time to use a quick command.

Ground Spark: He'll move outside of the arena, then after charging up for a
few seconds, his guardian will throw a very quick moving wave of electricity
along the ground towards you. Unblockable, so dodge roll to the side to avoid
it. He uses it multiple times in sucession, and the last use will destroy the
platform, starting the air phase again.

Note that you can interrupt this move with ranged commands, and doing so will
cause Ansem to move back into the arena briefly, before attempting to do it 
again.


=Strategy=

This fight starts off with you floating in the air and your dream eaters 
nowhere in sight. Your best bet is to wait for Ansem to use Rockbreaker, then 
attack him as soon as it finishes. Note that hitting him with Sliding Crescent 
will make him stagger and buy you more time to attack, though this is mostly
useful you want to hit him with melee commands or keyblade combos. Trying to 
attack him during Dark Slicer generally isn't worth it, unless you're really 
far away and have a command like Firaga that can actually reach him.

After dealing enough damage, you'll eventually receive a Reality Shift chance,
which upon being used, will create a platform and bring your dream eaters into
the fight.  Ansem will then switch to his second set of attacks. There's no
real tricks to this part, as all of his attacks are fairly easy to avoid and
not nearly as deadly as Rockbreaker.

If you REALLY want to make the fight easy, however, there's a glitch you can
trigger by activating the Reality Shift from a distance where it'll miss him
completely. This will make it so he'll stagger from everything you hit him
with so long as you start attacking before he does, and as long the hits are 
delivered in quick succession. It's possible to keep him staggered until he's 
dead, especially if you use Aerial Slam, which keeps him staggered for an 
extra long time.

He'll also occasionally taunt you, during which time you're free to attack him
for a few seconds, so listen for it, and take advantage of it.

The next battle isn't quite as simple, however...


----------

Ansem II


=Weaknesses=

Light


=Attacks=

Double Dark Firaga: His guardian will launch a Dark Firaga from both hands,
which behaves exactly like your version, homing in and splitting when it get
close. Guard it.

Dark Firaga Spread: His guardian spreads its arms, and makes dark fire rain
everywhere. Once again, guarding is your best bet.

Dark Missile: His guardian spreads its arms, and launches three homing
projectiles from both sides of its body. There's a dead zone slightly to the
side of him where the projectiles will miss, and simply circle around you 
harmlessly. If you're not in it, though, just guard.

Focused Dark Missile: His guardian streches one arm forward, and launches the
same projectiles as the previous move in a cluster. It won't miss like the 
previous move, so try to guard it if you see it coming.

Dark Slicer: His guardian moves back, then launches six disc projectiles across
the width of the corridor. You can guard them, or if you're close enough, 
Doubleflight over them and retaliate with a command. Note that after traveling 
a short distance, the discs will curve up to hit you, so don't try to jump them 
unless you're right in front of him.

Triple Punch: His guardian will punch the ground in front of itself three
times. You can guard it to cancel it out or just dodge out of the way. He only 
uses this while you're right in front of him.

Repulsion: His guardian pushes you to the very back of the arena. At this 
point, he switches to a new set of attacks temporarily.

Dark Burst: Everything goes dark as countless bursts of dark energy erupt from
random parts of the arena. About halfway through the attack, Ansem will drag
both you and your dream eaters in front of him. Guard or dodge during the
first part, and guard during the second part. This attack is very random and
hard to get out of without taking any damage, but only used while he's low on
HP. He'll push you away and use the following attack once it ends, however.

Chaos Sphere: His guardian sends numerous large explosive spheres down the
corridor at you, which will home in if they get close and cause confusion if
they connect. Get to the very side of the corridor, and guard whenever you see
one of the orbs headed your way. These can easily combo you to death if you
get hit while you're in the center, so get in position immediately.


Dark Orb Phase

Dark Orb: His guardian will create two of these orbs in front of him shortly 
after pushing you away. If you touch them at any point, you'll be trapped 
inside, and blasted for a massive amount of non-lethal damage. Once they go
away, whether as a result of you being trapped in one, staggering Ansem, or 
them being launched down the corridor after a while, Ansem will revert to his 
usual attacks.

Dark Laser: His guardian thrusts its right arm forward, causing dark lines of
energy to creep across the aforementioned orbs. Once they meet, the orbs will 
fire six extremely quick, unblockable laser beams at you. Dodge roll to the 
side a split second before the lines meet or Flowmotion dash straight to the 
side with the same timing to avoid this. 

Dark Deluge: His guardian creates four orbs of dark energy, which burst into
purple droplets that scatter all over the lower part of the corridor. Stay
high in the air to dodge this or just dodge roll through the mess, since it
doesn't hurt that much.

Dark Bubbles: Sends a swarm of purple bubbles rushing through lower part of 
the corridor, causing random status effects if they connect. Guard them or
simply stay high in the air with flowmotion.

Dark Snare: Used only while you're near the orbs, his guardian summons some
tendrils of dark energy which will drag you into the orbs if you don't guard 
them. Don't use Counter Aura too early, or you'll get caught.

Triple Punch: Same as it is in the standard phase. Uses only this or Dark 
Snare when you're up close.


=Strategy=

The first indicator that this is going to be a rough fight is Ansem's massive
amount of HP, which is only beaten by the optional boss. More so then any 
other fight in the game, you should have Dark Barrier, as many of his attacks 
will be virtually impossible to avoid without it.

He's now stationary and almost constantly bombards you with a huge variety of
projectiles. The safest place to fight him is just to the side of him, which 
is out of range of both his Triple Punch and Dark Missile.

You should mostly rely on quick commands like Thunder Dash. However, a 
well-timed Meteor Crash can take off over an entire bar of HP and you have a 
perfect chance to use it after jumping over Dark Slicer.

Dark Aura and Dark Splicer can be a tremendous help for the Dark Orb phase, as 
they'll teleport you straight to Ansem and potentially cancel out the orbs 
without you taking much/any damage if you activate them just before you stop 
being pushed back by Repulsion. Just make sure he's targeted when you do so.

You should also pay attention to his vocal cues, as while you can't always
see what his guardian is doing while you're close, you can hear him grunt just
before he releases most of his attacks.

Your dream eaters will likely be getting wrecked unlike any other boss prior 
to this, so keep an eye on their HP. They also can be kind of dumb about going
back to Ansem after being pushed back, so call them over once you reach him.

With this fight out of the way, you've dealt with what I found to be the most
difficult story boss in the game.


----------

Young Xehanort


=Attacks=

Triple Combo: Performs a spin slash, a stab, then another spin slash in
succession. Guard it and don't counter until the second hit has connected. 
Often has the obvious tell of him teleporting four times in a row while near
you. Note that he'll teleport to you for each step of the move, on top of
launching a projectile with his spin slashes.

Blindside Combo: Teleports directly behind you and performs two spin slashes. 
Just guard it and counter, but note that he might use the previous combo for 
this attack when his HP is lower.

Leaping Combo: Appears slightly above you, then performs two leaping strikes, 
both swings sending a projectile along the ground. Guard the moment you see him 
appear and counter after the second swing.

Spiral Combo: Performs a lengthy air combo consisting of numerous spinning
strikes, launching multiple projectiles with each spin. Guard it and counter as 
he performs the last delayed swing of it. Seemingly used only in Critical Mode, 
and sometimes has the tell of him running away from you or up to you before 
using Triple Combo, then following up with it. He may also yell "Prepare!" 
prior to using this, which is the best indicator that it might be used when 
he's at close range.

Twisting Blade: Thrusts his keyblade whip forward, instantly making it twist 
and zig-zag over a wide area. Guard it. Has the tell of him teleporting three 
times while far away from you.

Triple Lash: Swings his keyblade whip three times, sending projectiles at you 
with each swing and hitting you directly if you're too close. Guard it if
you're close, but run to side and dodge if necessary if you're far. Has the 
tell of him dropping from the sky in the distance.

Temporal Volley: Launches numerous homing projectiles at you, inflicting slow
if any of them hit. Due to how the projectiles are spaced, it's difficult to
to guard it, so running to the side and dodging whenever a projectile nears you
tends to be safer. It's very likely you'll get hit by this, so having Slow 
Block handy can be a lifesaver. Frequently follows up with Triple Lash after.

Blizzaga Swarm: Raises numerous chunks of ice from the ground near him, then 
everything will go white, only for you to be surrounded by the ice when things 
clear up. It'll shortly converge on you, so dodge away,.

Temporal Barrier: Projects a barrier in front of him for a few seconds, which
if struck, will cause him to counterattack with Triple Lash. Typically used if
he gets hit enough times in quick succession.


Clock Phase

Clone Combo: Two clones will come rushing out of the clock at you and perform
a combo when they get near. Dodge roll to the side while running around the
clock from a distance to avoid it reliably and don't use Payback Blast if you 
get hit, or you'll just get hit again before you can move. You can also guard
and counter it if you're right next to the clock, but your timing needs to be
spot on, or else you'll get hit.

Raging Storm: Two clones will appear near the clock, generate swirling pillars
of flame around themselves, then rush you. Guard it and counter if you're near
the clock to deal some damage.

X-Strike: Two clones appear, then both will leap into the air and fire a homing 
X of flame at you. Just guard it, as there isn't enough time to safely counter 
this.


=Strategy=

Young Xehanort is fairly challenging for a final boss, but made easier by the 
fact that he can be staggered very easily compared to any other boss, to the 
point where you can get full keyblade combos off reliably. Hitting him pretty 
much any time he's not attacking will make him stagger and even your dream 
eaters can get him to stagger quite easily.

While he does use tells for a lot of his attacks, he can still use them 
unpredictably at times, especially if you keep staggering him before he can
get them off. He tends to repeat each of his attacks at least twice in a
row before using something else, so be ready for that, as well.  

While not common, he also may try to fake you out by switching to another 
attack in middle of using the tell for a different one. For instance, he could
teleport near you twice, as if preparing to use his Triple Combo, then switch
to teleporting three times at a distance, then use Twisting Blade.

Since he staggers so easily, practically any command works here with the proper
timing. The best time to strike is while he's teleporting around in preparation
for Triple Combo, as he rarely doesn't stagger when hit at this time. He also
presents a rather large opening after using Blizzaga Swarm. Still, you may
want to use mostly ranged commands, as they're better for the next part of the
fight.

Once you run his HP down, he'll move to the center of the arena and attempt to
reverse time to the start of the fight. Unless you quickly approach him and 
use the Reality Shift prompt within a few seconds, he'll succeed. However, 
he'll only have about a third of the HP he originally had.

If you get the Reality Shift off, you'll enter the second phase of the fight, 
where you'll have until the hour hand reaches 12:00 to destroy the clock in 
the center of the arena before he reverses time anyways. All the while, he'll 
be using one of the aforementioned clone attacks many times in a row, 
occasionally pausing to give you a breather before switching a different 
attack. While you can destroy the clones by hitting them enough times, they're
too durable for this to be done reliably, and since they vanish after each
attack, it's kind of pointless.

Commands like Firaga Burst that suspend you in the air are a good way to deal 
damage while keeping yourself out of reach of his attacks, though the X-strike
can still hit you. Meteor Crash also does a massive amount of damage and can 
be gotten off easily between each wave of clones.

In the event you fail to destroy the clock, it'll only have a third of its 
original HP the next time around, making the second attempt much easier.


Note, though, that if you're playing on Critical Mode, he's a LOT tougher, and 
for reasons other then the increased damage common to all bosses. 

Firstly, he's much more aggressive, meaning you'll be spending most of your 
time guarding and countering his attacks to deal damage, as he leaves shorter
openings and he chains his attacks together much more often. 

Second, he has higher stagger resistance, meaning it's best to use ranged 
commands instead of trying to close the distance when he warps away to use 
Triple Lash, Temporal Volley, or Blizzaga Swarm, as this will generally just 
result in you getting hit. 

Third, he's more unpredictable then before, using some of his attacks in new 
ways, such as teleporting directly up to you with Triple Lash, and starting 
Triple Combo from a distance using the projectiles it launches.


----------

Armored Ventus Nightmare


=Weaknesses=

Vanish


=Attacks=

Keyblade Strike: Performs a simple whirling keyblade slash towards you from
close or mid range. Just guard and counter it. If it connects, it might follow
up with the next move.

Fever Pitch: Performs a very lengthy combo that can shave off a lot of your 
HP. It usually starts this while you're at close range, in which case, 
guarding is your best bet. If it's at a distance, though, just stay away from
it until it's finished and dodge roll away whenever it moves up to you.

Dark Wave: Leaps into the air and floats there for a few seconds before 
throwing out numerous unblockable waves of darkness that will chase after you.
Doubleflight over it and watch out for any waves that might be turning around
for a second pass. Alternatively, you can try to interrupt it with ranged
commands or by using Shadow Slide/Strike.

Payback Raid: If you knock it back, it'll counter by throwing its keyblade at
you, so dodge out of the way or guard. As with Sora's version, it's invincible
until it finishes, so don't bother trying to retaliate.

Dark Globule: Moves to the center of the arena, and floats in the air briefly
before gathering all of the darkness in the arena into four inky globs that
will chase you around for a while before dispersing. Scale the walls with
Flowmotion, and keep hopping in circles around the arena until everything goes
dark again. You can't attack the Nightmare during this move, so just wait
until it ends.

Dark Spiral: Moves to you while beneath the ground, creating a purple pool
under you shortly before erupting out with an ascending spin attack. 
Unblockable, so dodge out of the way quickly. The darkness in the arena will 
dissipate temporarily after this move, during which time the Nightmare will 
become a lot more aggressive. Only used at low HP.

Dark Tornado: Whirls around, creating an unblockable purple tornado that hits
anyone near it. This move is very quick, but is only used while it's at low HP, 
so it might be better to simply dodge away when it approaches you instead of 
guarding. It also uses it as Fever Pitch's finisher sometimes, which makes 
dodging said move a safer option then guarding.

Sonic Shadow: Once you reduce the Nightmare's HP to 1, it'll move to the 
center of the arena, starting a cutscene where it prepares to unleash a
shotlock, Riku dual linking with his dream eaters in response. After a brief
standoff, the Nightmare will rush you, which is your cue to hit A to strike 
it and avoid taking damage. Pressing A before it starts moving will result in
you trading hits, while pressing it too late while just result in you taking 
damage. The Nightmare will appear elsewhere and charge you again just a moment
later, so be ready to hit A again.

This will continue until either you or the Nightmare runs out of HP or you run 
out of link gauge, which will cause the Nightmare to reduce your likely already 
critical HP to one before forcing you to retry the sequence.


=Strategy=

This battle is easier then the previous ones in the world, largely due to the 
Nightmare's low HP. Many of its attacks pack quite a punch, but it's not too
aggressive for the most part and can be staggered rather easily.

It moves by traveling under the ground and is completely invincible while 
doing so, so save your commands for when it's staying still. Pretty much 
everything works fine due to how much time it tends to spend idling between
attacks. 

Balloonga makes an especially good choice for this fight, due to the fact that 
it'll just hover around above the Nightmare if it's moving, and will hit it
the moment it surfaces, often denying it a chance to attack.

Whenever it uses Dark Globule or Dark Tornado, the arena will light up 
temporarily, causing your dream eaters to disappear. However, if you're linked 
with one of them when this happens, the other will remain to assist you.

Perhaps the most crucial part of the battle is the finale. Make sure you've 
got your HP topped off before you reduce the Nightmare to one HP, as you won't
be able to heal during the Sonic Shadow sequence. Having HP Boost abilities 
and Dark Screen will make this part easier by allowing you to take more hits.

Once it's over with, sit back and enjoy the game's ending.


----------

Optional Boss

----------

Julius


=Attacks=

Punch: Winds up and punches forward at you. Just dodge away. Launches a 
projectile forward when he's charged up, necessitating a sideward dodge.

Punch Combo: Punches his fists together, then comes at you swinging. He'll 
follow you for about the first half of the move, then continue straight in
whatever direction he was facing for the rest of it. 

Riku can just guard this with Dark Barrier, while Sora needs to guard and 
Counter Rush after the first few swings to come out unscathed, as Julius will 
curve around behind him and hit him in the back if you try to guard it for too 
long, though countering too early will get you hit as well. 

If possible, it's better to run away from this with Dark Roll, Superglide, or
a flowmotion dash, as you'll be able to hit him with some ranged attacks once
he stops following you. This is only possible if he starts it at a distance, 
though. Also, if you manage to interrupt this by staggering him, he'll almost 
always attempt to do it again when he recovers, for better or worse.

Uppercut: Performs a simple uppercut. Dodge away again. If this connects, he 
can potentially juggle you by repeating it over and over again, and there's
not much you can do about it. Launches a projectile while he's charged up,
again necessitating a sideward dodge.

Downward Swing: Swings his right hand downward, spiking you into the ground
if it hits you while you're airborne. Just dodge as with the previous moves,
but dodge to the side if he's charged up.

Ground Slam: Brings both of his fists down to smash the ground in front of
him, making a shockwave. Once again, just dodge away, but do a sideward dodge 
if he's charged up. He also might hesitate for a long while before acting 
again after this, so take advantage of it if he does.

Double Swipe: Swings his hands low at you twice. Dodge away.

Grab: The main reason why it's better to dodge most of his previous moves. 
If you stay near him, he may attempt to grab you, which can't be blocked,
and will inflict poison, blind, or confuse before throwing you onto the ground,
leaving you open to a follow-up. It looks very similar to his other attacks,
but dodging protects you from it just as well as everything else.

Charge: After bracing himself briefly, he'll charge straight at you, changing
his direction once before it ends. Unblockable, so dodge it. Note that it gets 
faster while he's charged up. This also provides a good opportunity to hit
him with ranged commands once he misses.

Elbow Drop: Leaps at you in an attempt to hit you with an unblockable elbow
drop. Dodge out of the way and take advantage of the time it takes for him to
get up to get some hits in. Creates a shockwave around the point of impact
when he's charged.

Ground Bounce: Leaps off the side of the building in front of the fountain, 
then attempts to land on you, bouncing after you on his rear for a while after
he hits the ground. He normally only uses this if you get up on the ledges 
surrounding the arena, but uses it randomly while he's charged up. It'll also
disable your currently selected command for a long while if it hits while he's 
charged up.

Superglide away from him with Sora and Dark Roll away repeatedly with Riku, 
as it's unblockable, but be careful to not let the camera throw you off.

Electric Charge: Everything goes dark as he begins to surge with electricity,
making lightning bolts strike your location and random parts of the arena.
Guard the moment you see him start surging, and keep guarding until he stops.
Once this ends, his moves will be powered up temporarily. Only starts using 
this at half HP.


=Strategy=

Julius's fighting style is about as straightforward as you might expect from
his brutish appearance, attacking almost constantly with a variety of simple,
but painful moves and chasing you all over the battlefield.

While practically everything he does can simply be dodged, do note that during 
most of his attacks, he'll constantly turn to face you during the start-up, 
preventing you from dodging behind him and making it necessary to dodge away
from him or to the side if he's charged up, due to the projectiles that will
be launched.

Only a few of his attacks have much of an opening to take advantage of once
they end, but he does occasionally pause after performing enough attacks,
which is identifiable by him not immediately turning to face you like he
usually does.

Ranged commands are preferable due to the speed of his attacks and keeping
your distance will give you more time to react to whatever he throws at you.
He'll also stagger whenever you hit him enough times, which can make 
multi-hitting commands like Dark Firaga and Balloonga especially useful.

Perhaps the best command you could possibly use on him is Balloon, as his
large size almost ensures that he'll hit all of them, and you can simply start 
stacking them together whenever you're not in danger of being hit, resulting
in a massive amount of damage once he does come charging through them.

Overall, he's not terribly challenging for an optional boss, but still tougher
then the other fights in the game.


----------

4. Credits

Thanks to Disney and Square Enix for making another great game.

Thanks to the people of GameFAQs for giving me the inspiration to write a guide 
of my own. 

Thanks to whoever's reading this, for taking the time to actually read this
far into the guide. 

----------