Kingdom Hearts 3: Final Boss Guide

[Grotesquery 603]

Note: The following guide is for the standard mode difficulty boss.

 

Preparation:

 

This is a four phase fight, with each phase ramping up exceedingly in difficulty as the fight wears on. There are many elements I suggest/command you to make sure you possess before even attempting this fight.

 

First off, you must raise every party member to level 100(yes, the level cap was raised back up to 100. That’s how hard this fight is.) Considering that you have 10 party members to level, and you can only have 2 out at a time whilst leveling, this process should take you about 3 weeks. (5 depending on how long you hopelessly try the boss before realizing that you’re out of your league.)

 

Secondly, you need to acquire every character’s ultimate weapon. This involves countless hours of winding side-quests that span every world and contain immeasurable amounts of character development. Except for Sora and Riku because they’ve literally had 3 games dedicated to them.

 

For Sora, I recommend the weapon obtained from defeating the secret boss in the optional world “Death Star”, Darth Vader. Doing so will take a lot of effort, but not as much as the final boss, ironically. Defeating the secret boss rewards you with the “Gorge of Lucas”, some lightsaber looking doo dad that’s the strongest weapon in the entire game. It gives +32 strength, and +50 The Force magic.

 

While both Sora and Riku can equip the weapon, I recommend giving it to Sora, as Riku’s AI in this fight will be especially useless(He’ll pretty much just be a cliché heal spammer. Yeah, THAT kind of useless.)

 

You’ll also want to equip Terra with the Crown of Ner Rgae, which can be found in the bottomless kidney zone of the Continent Elephant found in the pride lands: second visit. Don’t question why you’re having him wear this, just trust me. It will be imperative later on.

 

Once the proper preparations have been made, and you have every party member loaded up on max-elixirs, you are ready to start the fight. Travel to the final world, End of Destiny(Nomura’s fanciful take on a destroyed Destiny Islands. Well played, Nomura. Well played.), and enter the final door. Yes, we are doing the whole door thing again.

PHASE 1: CLASSIC BALD MAN NEVER SOURS

 

This phase is actually ridiculously easy. So easy you might have even been able to do it at level 99. Xehanort will DO things, but they won’t actually DO anything to you. It’s very reminiscent of Terra’s final battle in birth by sleep, as Xehanort, again, is a total pansy. It’s actually really satisfying, seeing 10 youngsters beat the stuffing out of an aging old man. To make things even better Xehanort has oodles of health, so you and your friends can pretty much wack him for just long enough before your attention span runs out.

 

Unfortunately, this will be your only respite throughout the entire battle. Everything from this point on is serious business, piled on stinky business, piled on just plain dog dumps.

PHASE 2: GOTHIC NEC-NORT

 

Xehanort will say something along the lines of “darkness cannot be destroyed”, and transform into his second form. This is where things get straight up nasty, where dreams are crushed and children are traumatized.

 

For a well prepared player, this phase will only be a few leaps harder than the last one. This is primarily a magic based fight, as Xehanort will never actually touch the ground nor use his Keyblade. Xehanort’s attacks are as follows(yes, you do actually need to know them now ): <- Very appropriate frowny face.

 

Purge of Darkness: An ice attack that causes large spheres of ice to appear. If a party member is hit by this attack, the sphere will detonate, freezing the member and any other nearby characters. Avoid as much as possible.

 

Dirge of Darkness: Will summon large pools of fire that will hurt whoever stands in them. So, basically…Don’t stand in the fire.

 

Purge of Periwinkle: A large white laser that is aimed at a specific party member. This attack will hurt anyone who gets caught in it, and if the person that’s being attack isn’t healed, they’ll die in seconds.

 

Dirge of Cerberus: Xehanort vomits into the ground and large geysers of darkness erupt from all around. Have you experienced this kind of thing before? If you have, I recommend calling a doctor.

 

Lower the Roof: Xehanort, instead of causing the ground beneath you to rise up like before, instead causes the ground ABOVE you to rise down. This doesn’t make much sense, but you need to get used to that in this fight. And this is a good warm-up.

 

Xehanort’s health will double in comparison to the last fight, so expect this one to last long, but not too long. His health bar will break the usual record set by the Lingering sentiment, so it will now loop around and form two rows of health segments.

 

If you take extra care to evade Xehanort’s magic attacks, then you should be alright for a majority of the fight. Fortunately, Xehanort’s tactics don’t differ at all throughout this phase. The only thing you need to be careful about is making sure that no one is dead before Xehanort’s health reaches Zero, because of they are, Xehanort will absorb them and become much stronger, and they’ll also become unusable for the remainder of the battle. You DO NOT want that, so again, be cautious.

 

Once Xehanort’s health disappears, he will enter phase three.

PHASE 3: X-MAS

 

This is where things take a turn for the worst. The environment you fight Xehanort in will change for the first time, and you’ll now battle him on top of a huge European Skyscraper made of stained glass floating in the middle of endless oblivion. Xehanort’s HP will triple in comparison to before, giving him enough health to cover almost a quarter of the screen. His attacks will now do so much damage you could die instantly if you’re not careful. So be on the lookout, as this will undeniably be one of the hardest fights of your life.

 

Xehanort will start the fight, again, by saying something along the lines of “Darkness cannot be destroyed”. I don’t know why, but it’s definitely something to be curious about.

 

Xehanort will have all of the abilities he had last time, in addition to new abilities if anyone was dead before starting this phase. I won’t list any of them, as you should probably just let yourself die before even attempting him in the case that he absorbed anyone.

 

Xehanort will now use the Keyblade, and deal massive physical damage. One of his attacks is so powerful that it actually ignores the buffer-zone of Second Chance and Once More. The only one who even has a chance of surviving a single hit from him is Terra, equipped with the crown of Ner Rgae, which reduces all damage he takes from Xehanort by 1%. Oddly specific.

 

I’ll also talk a bit about your other party members, as it actually matters who you keep alive now. Kairi and Aqua MUST stay alive throughout the fight. This is because they both have the highest magic in the game AND infinite MP when equipped with their ultimate weapons. If they die, you’ll have to go at least a minute without their insane healing, which could prove disastrous. For their action patterns, I recommend the pre-made setting: “don’t take damage”.

 

Terra will be your main damage sponge, and you should have everyone who can heal the best healing him. Everyone else, Sora, Xion, Roxas, Ventus, Lea, and everyone I didn’t specifically mention by name will be doing damage to Xehanort.

 

Xehanort, oddly, only has 2 new moves not counting his ability to hit you. They are):

 

By Darkness be Purged: Launches a powerful dark sphere at the party member farthest away from Xehanort, damaging the character for like 99% of their health. Also summons a large Darkside heartless, in the shape of whoever was hit by the attack. This thing must go down IMMEADIATELY. If you allow it to live too long, it will become more powerful and start hitting even harder than Xehanort.  Once this thing is killed, whoever had the original attack cast on them will do twice as much damage to Xehanort. For this reason, it’s important to make sure that neither Kairi nor Aqua get hit by the attack, as you want them available healing as much as possible. (Although I must admit, their darksides are rather cute.)

 

Where is your Sunset now?: Yes, he actually says this when he uses it. I’m dead serious.

 

… Anyways, this attack is a super one hit kill. It will always kill whoever gets hit by it, no exceptions. Although the amount of damage done by this attack strangely lessens the further it travels from Xehanort after being used, it’s all superficial. Not even Terra is Safe. The only one who can even possibly survive this attack is Lea, if he stands as far away as possible from Xehanort and takes the hit from there. Realistically, though, you won’t have enough time to set this situation up, so you’ll just have to bite the bullet and hope that no one important dies.

 

Once Xehanort’s health reaches 1, he’ll finish the phase by using one last attack, The Soundless Song. I’m not sure if the name is supposed to mean anything yet, I’ll keep researching and let you know.

 

Basically, this is one last one hit kill, aimed at Sora. You might be thinking that’s unfair, because if Sora dies, won’t the game be over? Well, here’s the catch.

 

Whoever is closest to Sora at the time this attack is used, will push Sora out of the way and take the attack for him. This will instantly kill the party member, and they will be unavailable for the next and final phase.

 

For reasons previously elaborated on, Aqua and Kairi should never make the sacrifice. No, I don’t care what you ship. It is for the greater good.

 

The only person who should ever die to this attack, is Terra. Why, you may ask? Because later, a scripted event will occur in the final fight where Terra gains super powers. If he’s dead, he’ll also resurrect at that very moment. For that reason, you should make sure you let him die, as it will bypass the usual rule that prevents the person hit by this attack from coming back to life.

 

Now that that’s all out of the way, let us move on to the final phase. But, first, let me take a moment to say something. If you have not started this fight, then take a good, long look at your life and ask yourself if you really want to go through with this.

 

Remember, if you die here, you’ll have to do the entire fight all over again. Yes, I am dead serious.

 

You good? Said your goodbyes? Well, then, let’s wrap this up.

PHASE 4: THE FINAL VISAGE OF COUNTLESS VICES

 

This phase is literally insane. You have no idea how many people have been rendered mad by this encounter, and how many more have been driven to a life of destruction through its very taunting existence. All under the banner of the little mouse.

 

Before you even begin this phase, I recommend pausing on Xehanort's third phase and taking a few days to rest up. There are reports of this battle literally lasting more than 12 hours, with some people passing out on the final stretch. Compounded with the fact that during the actual battle, you are also unable to pause the game due to built-in game design, I don’t suggest making any immediate plans, either.

 

Xehanort will absorb the true Kingdom Hearts, then shout, “Darkness cannot be destroyed” one last time, which honestly made me laugh a little. I think I’m finally starting to get it.

 

But the next sight will take away any color your face may have had left. Xehanort’s final form, and the most difficult boss ever designed.

 

Congratulations, you have officially peeved the Devil and all you have to defend yourself are some teenagers and a few metal poles. And Mickey Mouse.

 

Xehanort’s health will go through the roof and out the door at the same time. He now has so much health that his health bars literally take up the entire right-hand half of the screen. This is a part of the fight, as Xehanort will constantly stick to the right side of the screen and try to blind-shot you with one hit-kill attacks. Yes, that’s right, he’s using the game itself to his advantage. From this point out, you will be playing by his rules.

 

Terra will be dead for most of the fight, so you don’t have anyone to soak up damage. Fortunately, Xehanort won’t attack normally, instead, all he’ll do is throw one hit kills at you. These cannot even be dodge rolled, as they simply cover too wide a range. The only way to avoid them is to stay as far away from Xehanort as possible.

 

Xehanort will only be attacking Sora throughout the fight, so your party members will be slightly safer. Although since every one of Xehanort’s attack is an insta-kill it really doesn’t even matter anymore. The only hope you have is to spam dodge roll with all your heart and soul as Xehanort relentlessly chases you down, and hope that your friends have enough A.I. to actually attack him.

The second problem with this fight is that Xehanort’s defenses are other-worldly, a single combo will only lower his health by 1 micro-meter(Yes, I measured.) Factoring in all of the damage outputted by your teammates, I’ve calculated that the first half of this fight should last about 8 hours, at the least.

 

This is all there is, too. Xehanort doesn’t gain any abilities, all he has are various different kinds of attacks that can instantly kill you. The only hope you have is that you somehow manage to stay alive long enough for Terra to come back to life.

 

After Xehanort reaches half health, the scripted event mentioned earlier will finally take place, and Terra will resurrect. After this happens, he will easily become your strongest party member. He’s so powerful, a single one of his attacks will hit Xehanort for *10* micrometers of damage! Wow!

 

Factoring in this massive damage increase, making it to the final leg of this fight should only take you about 5 more hours. If you manage to live that long, then you’ll be faced with the most challenging part of the fight, Xehanort’s last stand, if you will.

 

HOWEVER, it is IMPERATIVE that you make sure every member of your party is alive before this last stretch begins. Once Xehanort reaches 13% health, he will enter his last phase, and if even a single member of your party is dead, all hope will be lost. It can be difficult to determine where Xehanort’s 13% mark is when given the fact that he has so much health, but I’ve calculated that it should be somewhere around the 25 ¾ bars of health mark.

 

Once Xehanort reaches that point, he will go completely crazy on the party. He will stop following Sora, and will now throw one hit kills at everyone else in the vicinity. The first to die will be Xion because apparently she has the fewest fans. Then Kairi, then Terra, then Ventus, then Roxas, then Aqua, then Riku, then Lea, then Mickey.

 

Sora will be the last one standing. However, the catch here is that for each party member that falls, Sora’s power will actually increase. This is why you need to make sure that each member of the party is alive before entering this phase, as you will need all the power you can get from them as possible. Truly, this is what Sora meant when he said his friends are his power.

 

With every party member dead, Sora will now be the strongest character ever. Xehanort’s attacks will only take away about a quarter of Sora’s Health, and Sora’s attacks will take away inconceivable chunks of Xehanort’s(if you thought 10 micrometers was insane then OHHH boy).

 

However, you cannot waste time or magic healing yourself, as this phase is timed. You only have 30 seconds to get Xehanort down to his last bar of health before he casts black hole and destroys you. From here on out, there’s nothing else I can do to make sure you succeed. This fight is between you and God now.

 

If you somehow manage to make it to Xehanort’s last bar of health, don’t pass out just yet. There’s one final quick-time event you must complete, where Xehanort winds up all the power of Kingdom Hearts and throws a black-hole ball at Sora. After which, Sora hits it out of the park in a home-run, shattering his Keyblade and creating a black hole that sucks Xehanort in, thus gifting him the endless darkness he so sought after for all his life (This is Nomura’s version of poetic justice.)

 

After that, the battle will finally be over. Cosmos will show up and bring everyone back to life, saying that they need to work for her from now on but everyone is so happy to be rid of Xehanort’s balding scalp that they don’t even care. Then, the ending rolls. And by ending, I mean a montage of Sora kissing Kairi, Roxas kissing Namine, Riku kissing Xion, Terra kissing Aqua, Ventus kissing some random girl who’s less important, Lea saying he’s too hot for love, and Yen Sid playing them out on the keyboard while singing a duet with Utada Hikaru alongside Voltron playing the drums whilst Chaos rocks the bass in the background. All in front of a sunset.

 

A.K.A, the greatest ending ever.

 

Edit: A recent purchasable DLC patch nerfed the boss considerably.

 

Namely, Xehanort’s attacks no longer cause siege damage.

[Ruby Rose 8,591]

My body is ready

[Sikota Urinakano 878]

Um... I was in testing earlier this month.

The final stage only took me 11.5 hours. 

 

WITHOUT the Terra event.

 

It isn't THAT hard.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Sikota Urinakano

[Emrys 3,192]

just mash x and occasionally dodge 

[Grotesquery 603]

My body is ready

Your mind submits, your heart succumbs...

 

So why is your body READY!?

[Kittenz 4,281]

I came here because it mention sora and kairi kissing

[Guest]

ChristopherNort

[Xian Cano 78]

The best guide ever

[Yumei 282]

teh greatust guide eva ,Nya~

10000/10