KINGDOM HEARTS 2 FINAL MIX:

Defeating The Lingering Spirit (Mission: Ibento Kuesuto) Version 1.20 atm

VERSION HISTORY

(1.00) 05/08/07 - Original FAQ is complete. Farming details are missing, basic
Offense Defense and Overall strategy against the LS. I think it might be a bit
scattered/unclear in some spots however, and some points in the strategy may be
flawed or too presumptuous to be called fact. I'll be continuing to revise and
fine-tune this to be a bit more informative, but for now I'm confident that
people should be capable of at least forming their own personal strategies with
this guide and knocking LS into Desperation, at the very least.

(1.10) 05/10/07 - Added missing header to Synthesis section as well as another
Synthesis material. Revised "Equipment" and "Ability" section. Moved the Version
History to the beginning of the FAQ instead of the end because it's smarter that
way. And most importantly, added a much-needed second Overall Strategy to the
guide, which preys upon the faults of the first strategy by describing an
effective skill-based way to defeat the boss rather than blind luck.

(1.12) 05/11/07 - Forgot what was in Version update 1.11...I think corrections
to the "Thanks" section. At any rate, for this update I've added a few more
On The Defense strategies, including a means to survive the Key to Heart attack
with relatively consistant success. Also made corrections to a few terms.

(1.20) 06/09/07 - Filled in the Synthesis section, expanded slightly on Seal
Attack and Seal Magic strategies.

FOREWARD:

So you've beaten Xemnas, saved clear data, whallopped Organization XIII's data
copies, and have Jiminy's journal completed except for one itty-bitty mission:
destroying the Lingering Spirit that exists through a portal in Disney Castle.
On Critical mode. I'm assuming you're on critical mode. I haven't played any of
the other difficulties in KH2FM but I'm willing to bet a guide isn't really all
that necessary. Maybe it is. But maybe you're not worthy of a guide unless
you're on Critical mode. I don't know!

First off, this is NO simple task, and even with the right strategy may take a
few dozen tries. To start, I'd like to mention that having high stats is really
handy if you're new to this guy. It's not necessary at all once you "get used
to" him but he's the most fearsome task in the franchise to date, so...whatever.

When I first defeated this nigh-unstoppable tyrant, my Strength stat was 110 and
my Defense was 115. There are two ways to raise either of these stats and they
will be discussed in the prep section. (This is actually not all that necessary,
however, if you're skilled enough, and use some of the strategies or advice
found within this guide).

The reward for completing this task is not only the benefit of completing the
most difficult task in the entire Kingdom Hearts series, but a gold crown
(assuming this is your final task) adorned atop Sora's head, and the "Birth By
Sleep" cutscene earned upon completing the game again. Anyway, on to the meat of
the FAQ...

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preparations ... ... ... ... ... XPREPX
    Farming   ... ... ... ... XFARMX
    Power up, farming ... ... XFSTRX
    Power up, Xemnas  ... ... XOSTRX
    Guard up, farming ... ... XFDEFX
    Guard up, OrgXIIIs... ... XODEFX
    Megalixer Synthesis  ... ... XMEGAX
    Equipment needed ... ... ... XEQUPX
    Ability Set  ... ... ... ... XABILX
    Shortcuts... ... ... ... ... XSHRTX

Lingering Spirit ... ... ... ... XLINGX
    On the Defense   ... ... ... XLDEFX
    On the Offense   ... ... ... XLOFFX
    Overall strategy One ... ... XSTRTX
    Overall strategy Two ... ... XSTR2X

Last Notes.. ... ... ... ... ... XLASTX




==================================
Preparations               XPREPX
==================================

As I mentioned in the foreward, I had 110 Strength and 115 Defense when I took
this bad boy on for the first successful time. While this may seem like an
exorbent amount, on Critical I felt it was necessary for my level of skill and
patience. The reason for this is that at 110 Offense, your attacks begin to
penetrate his substantial defense, and start doing more than one damage a hit
(excluding finishers) when his guard is up. As for the defense, it is necessary
for the Final Form strategy I employ as tanking hits makes the battle somewhat
easier. If you feel your stats are high enough, you can skip the levelling up
part and go to equipment needed.

Also, it's common sense that you have your character level, and every Form
level, at max.

This isn't a walk in the park. You need everything you can get.


===================================
Farming       		   XFARMX
===================================

A FOOTNOTE ON FARMING:

If you choose to farm, you may want to invest in Lucky Ring accessories. They
are the ONLY thing in the game that increase your drop rate, and are made via
synthesis only. I am uncertain as to whether the effect stacks only for the
character with the ring(s) equipped, or if it stacks for a collective "drop
rate". So bear that in mind. I prefer to play it safe and give Sora all of my
Lucky Rings.

Lucky Rings are crafted via:

1 Nobody Crystal (Note: This isn't the actual name of the material. I'm not
sure what it is called. But it drops from various Organization XIII Data
copies.)

2 Teal-goo Shards (Cavern of Remembrance has plenty of these, so just slaughter
everything that moves.)

5 Bright Shards (Dropped from Soldiers, Creeper Plants and Rabid Dogs).
The Coliseum (Underworld) is good for these.

3 Bright Stones (Dropped from Wight Knights, Luna Bandits, Silver Rocks and
Cannon Guns). Try Agrabah for these.

2 Bright Gems (Dropped from Tornado Steps, Aerial Knockers and Surveillance
Robots). Another Underworld favourite.

1 Serenity Crystal (crafted, See Strength Up recipe for instructions).

===================================
Strength up, farming       XFSTRX
===================================


It took me am embarassing amount of time to realise that the Serenity Crystals
needed to create Power ups at the Synthesis shop can be made IN the synthesis
shop. Insofar (70 hours of gameplay) I still firmly believe that Serenity
Crystals DO NOT drop from Nobodies in this game.

In order to make a Strength up, you need the following:

Mythrill Crystal, made from synthesis (Two A-grade dense/twilights, and one S-
grade of each material plus a Serenity Stone.)

Lightning, Fire, and Dark Crystals (two of each).

Lightning Crystals are best found in Space Paranoids, dropped from Eraizas
(Erasers) and Taminatas (Terminators)
   -Erasers are yellow bipeds and Terminators are large purple tanks. The
   largest quantity of these are found nearest the Pit Cell, but thanks to the
   three-screen rule, you'll have to do some repetitive travelling.

Fire Crystals, dropped from Crimson Jazz:
   -Red mage heartless found throughout Hollow Bastion and other locales.
   Fire crystals are ALSO dropped from Furea Gurobu (Fire Globes) if that floats
   your boat too.

Dark Crystals, dropped from Neoshadows.
   -Neoshadows used to be abundant in TWTNW: Memory's Skyscraper. Now you need
    to check around Agrabah or The Land of Dragons for 'em.

Serenity Crystal, made from synthesis (Mushroom Crystal, teal-goo thingy
crystal, and five Bright Crystals).

Mushroom Crystals are earned by scoring an S rank objective against one of the
many XII mushrooms (S rank means fireworks upon Mushroom completion). I'd
recommend going to Agrabah's treasure room for this. With sufficient strength,
you can earn one approximately every 15 seconds. Not bad at all, right?

Teal-goo Crystals are farmed from Rekuresu (Recklesses) which are the red and
yellow upgraded form of the Terminator, found in Cavern of Remembrance: Mine
Shaft. They spawn in three locations: along the wall ledges just after the
upper-level conveyor belts, the cliff-side edge of the upper-level conveyor
belts, and by falling off of the upper-layer conveyor belts.

Bright Crystals are dropped by Neoshadows, Strafers and Air Pirates. This one's
up to you.

For the Mythrill Crystals:

1 Dense Crystal dropped by Berserkers in TWTNW and Castle Oblivion (Transport
to Remembrance).

2 Dense Gems, dropped by Samuri in TWTNW and Castle Oblivion (Transport to
Remembrance).

1 Twilight Crystal, dropped by Sorcerers in TWTNW and Castle Oblivion
(Transport to Remembrance).
(Note: These are a real pain to get in KH2FM. I would recommend sticking with
TWTNW, from the two in Naught's Approach, just north of Proof of Existance. You
can respawn them easily by returning to Proof of Existance, and entering both
the tombstone areas where you fought Saix and Luxord.)

1 Serenity Stone, dropped by Living Bones, Terminators and Crimzon Jazz.
Once again, Crimzon Jazz are littered throughout Hollow Bastion, so why not try
that?

===================================
Power up, Xemnas       XOSTRX
===================================

Defeating the data copy of Xemnas (both phases) will net you a complimentary
Power Up, and I prefer this method of powering up because it's faster once
you get the hang of it.

XXXNOTE: I will be adding my personal strategy to this later on. Skipping it;
there's a good guide on GameFAQS on how to do this anyway titled "Organization
XIII Final Cut FAQ" so go find that if you need help, written by Raganook.

===================================
Guard up, farming        XFDEFX
===================================

Same method as Strength up farming, but guess what? You don't need Serenity
Crystals! That will save a bit of time.

===================================
Guard up, OrgXIIIs        XODEFX
===================================

Both Xigbar and Saix are fairly quick to take down and drop Guard Ups to
increase your defense, so whoever you choose to fight is based on your own
preference. Once again, see Raganook's guide on this on GameFAQs.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/935702/48100 is the link if you're
lazy.

===================================
Megalixer Synthesis         XMEGAX
===================================

If you find yourself lacking in the Megalixer department, you'll want to make
some. They're actually quite easy, as you can buy most of the materials needed.
Everything but the Mythrill Stone, which is easy to make. Because you can just
buy all the ingredients less one.

(Sidenote: Megalixers are actually called "Last Elixer"s in KH2FM =O!)

You will need the following:

2 Mythrill Stones, crafted.

1 Power Stone (Dropped by Luna Bandits and Silver Rocks in Agrabah;
purchaseable after 25 drops)

1 Dark Stone (Dropped from Nightwalkers and Assault Riders. Land of Dragons.
Again, purchaseable after 25 drops.)

1 Serenity Gem, dropped from Gamblers, Dancers and Snipers in TWTNW.



Mythrill Stones are crafted via:

1 Dense Stone (Snipers, purchase after 25 drops.)

2 Dense shards (Dragoons and creepers, purchase after 30 drops.)

1 Twilight Stone (Dancers, purchase atfer 25 drops.)

2 Twilight Shards (Dusks, Gamblers, purchase after 30 drops.)

1 Serenity Shard, dropped from Creepers, Toy Soldiers, Graveyards, Assault
Riders. If you want lots of these, I'd recommend paying a visit to Naught's
Skyway in The World That Never Was, at the three ramps. Lots of Creepers there.

All of the Twilight and Dense materials can be found throughout The World
That Never Was.


===================================
Equipment needed       XEQUPX
===================================

As far as gear goes, I would recommend the two Marluxia accessories you have
presumably made through synthesis to boost your Strength by six, and the two
charms that raise your STR and MAG by two each. Basically, all the STR you can
muster from your accessories.

Armour, go for the most DEF-boosting. Simple enough. (This is usually 5,4,4,4).
Keyblades. Well, you really have two choices: Fenrir and Ultima. Which one you
choose should be dependant on your own abilities. LS gives you very little time
to move in on him and start a combo once he's vulnerable, and if you are
hesitant to assume he's vulnerable, go with Fenrir to make all your attacks
finishing moves. (See the abilities section for more on this point.) If you love
to just go in there and hope for the best, or are able to charge him with split
-second reactions and finesse, go with the Ultima keyblade for its MP Hasega
ability.

Items: When I first did this, I was stocked with elixers. However, Megalixers
will be in your best interest because you will find that, since you need both
Donald and Goofy alive at certain points in this fight, odds are, DONALD WILL
ALWAYS BE DEAD. I'm not joking. I revive him, and within seconds, he's dead
again. So, Megalixers.

You can give Donald and Goofy Megalixers/Megapotions as well, if you want. They
never have items when I play, but it will give you an extra edge if you can
spare them.

===================================
Ability Set                 XABILX
===================================

First off, you want all your buff abilities. MP Rages, Last Breaths (Once More),
Item boosters, everything that makes you stronger and doesn't change your
gameplay.

As for combos and finishers, I strongly recommend removing ALL finishing moves
except for Magunesupurashiyu (Costs 3 AP, should be listed in blue right above
all your O-to abilities...if you can read Katakana, your Auto-something
abilities that cost 1 ap...but the top most one costs 4 AP). This is the "Magnet
Burst" aerial finish that draws enemies in and then explodes. This is really
handy for starting a combo against LS, as he is suceptable to being drawn
in, so even if you are not close enough to hit him, this finisher will boost
your attack range.

All combo up abilities should be off, as well as equipping your combo minus
ability.

It should be blatantly obvious that your Last Breath abilities are a necessity.

Also, Aerial Recovery is extremely useful.

All Growth abilities should be equipped and at max level (3).

Goofy should have whatever skills will prolong his life the most.

Donald should have the "Auto Limit" ability, and "Flare Force". Make sure he
doesn't have Fantasia equipped, since you won't be using it. Note that to
perform the Auto-Limit, Donald must be close to you. (Not side by side, but
relatively close.)

===================================
Shortcuts          XSHRTX
===================================

I never used Triangle shortcuts for this the first time. It's based on
preference, but you only actually need two slots for this fight, maybe
three, and four if you have bad luck.

Curaga and your item of choice must be shortcutted to your choice (just make
sure your item slot is not O, as this is needed for using Sonic Dash in Limit
form should an emergency arise). Reflega doesn't hurt to have shortcutted,
either. You may end up using it.

Near the end of this guide I realised the importance of shortcutting a fourth
spell in case LS seals you when he has one combo of life left. I recommend
Blizzaga.

===================================
Lingering Spirit       XLINGX
===================================

Where did this man come from? What is his purpose? Why does he want Sora dead?

Who cares. That's not what this guide is about. This guide is about defeating
him, so let's get on to that. As mentioned before, this is to date the hardest
thing you will ever do in a Kingdom Hearts game. Xemnas in KH1 was a joke
compared to this guy. Even on level 99, some of his attacks will one-hit you to
1 HP. Other attacks can instantly kill you if you're unlucky. Anyway, I'm going
to break it down to being on the defense, and being on the offense.

Keep in mind that it's HIGHLY likely you will need to fight him several times to
turn out the victor, as there is a large amount of luck involved based on how he
acts. Just keep trying. With 110 STR and 115 DEF, I beat him on my fourth
attempt. It might take fourteen, but if you beat him, you beat him! You've come
this far, so why give up now? And besides, it's so much nicer to watch Birth By
Sleep on your TV as opposed to on youtube anyway.

===================================
On The Defense          XLDEFX
===================================

You will find yourself on the Defense (ie LS is invulnerable to attacks) for the
majority of the fight if you choose not to use Overall Strategy Two. But don't
worry, and never forget...

Most of his attacks are fairly easily avoided. Some of them give you excellent
opportunities, others will completely obliterate your chances of survival. So,
here are the attacks, how to avoid them (if possible), and what you can do
during them or after them. Attacks are listed in the order that he used them on
me when writing this guide. Sort of.

NOTE: The defense strategies are written for when you are in Normal Form, and
have access to Block and Double Jump. When in Final Form, MANY of LS's attacks,
such as Dash n Slash and Key Rider can be "blocked" simply by 'hopping' at the
right time. Or flying straight into them via Glide.

===Seal Attack===

Description: LS jumps at you and strikes the ground near you, creating crystal
pillars around you and a glowing orange glyph appears on the ground.

Damage: Minimal. About 18 damage to me (And 115 DEF). If you're hit, an orange
orb floats above your head, orange crystals follow LS, and you can't use
attacks.

Severity: I'd say second worst attack, because you're not screwed, but it will
cost you Drive points to recover from it.

Well. This is certainly bad luck. The seal attacks are, in my personal opinion,
the worst. However, you can save yourself once being Seal Attack'd. Transform
into Limit Form and begin Sonic Dashing LS (L1 + O). I'd recommend waiting for
an opening; in Limit form all you have is dodge roll, which doesn't always
make the Evasion Grade once you're hit, but many attacks can be avoided with
it if you're on the ground. This tactic is rather effective but only if LS has
not used his Desperation Move at least once yet.

If you're getting HIT after LS's DM, you're doing something wrong, and I'd
recommend reading Overall Strategy Two to avoid this scenario entirely.

===Seal Magic===

Description: LS jumps at you and strikes the ground near you, creating crystal
pillars around you and a glowing blue glyph appears on the ground.

Damage: Minimal. About 18 damage to me (And 115 DEF). If you're hit, a blue orb
floats above your head, blue crystals follow LS, and you can't use magic/items.

Severity: I would rank this as the worst attack because it's needlessly
difficult to free yourself from it...unless you're in Final Form. If either
Donald or Goofy are dead, this one can be nasty because it forces you to use
Normal Form dodging and countering. It's ESPECIALLY nasty if he's already used
his Desperation Move at least once. If LS has used his DM already and Donald
and/or Goofy are dead, you have to just hope that they are both alive at the
same time at some point in the near future, otherwise you're screwed.

If you're in Final Form, it's not too bad. A number of standard melee attacks
will render Sora invulnerable to non-AOE damage, so stay on the defense until
LS opens himself, and dive in. If LS has used his DM, I'd personally just stay
on his case and swing like a maniac. It MIGHT work. But if you're getting HIT
after LS's DM, you're doing something wrong, and I'd recommend reading Overall
Strategy Two to avoid this scenario entirely.

===Key Cannon===

Description: LS turns his keyblade imitation into a giant cannon and fires an
enormous ball of energy at you. If you're too close to him when he initiates
this attack, you will be blown back really far and take like 8 damage.

Damage: I am not sure but it's in the ballpark of one hundred and forty billion.
Even at 115 DEF, this brings me from 100% to 1 HP.

Severity: As it turns out, this is not a severe attack at all, so long as you're
paying attention. If you're close to him when he starts charging this attack,
jump for joy (well, double jump maybe) because if you deflect this attack into
him, he will be thrown into the air, paralyzed, and his guard will be down,
which means you will do full damage to him when he lands and you start wailing
on him, as opposed to the usual 4 damage finishing moves that you get to do in
regular form. NOTE that occasionally, he tanks the hit, meaning, runs out of the
explosion and tries to do you harm. Nothing you can really do about it.

If you're far away from him, or even SORT OF far away, well, shoot. You can
deflect this attack all you want, and it will head toward the LS's instantaneous
position, but only goes for about a second and a half before turning around and
heading back for you. You can reflect it at him as many times as you like, but
keep one thing in mind: he's not a patient fellow. He'll keep coming for you,
and odds are he will smack you into it or something. The best bet here is to
Dodge Roll directly into it, because the attack will explode and you will be
unharmed.

===Key Rider===

Description: Oh, this is just cool. LS turns his wannabe keyblade into a
jet-ski hovercraft thingy and drives around on it, trying to run into you.
He normally makes about  eight passes at you before reverting it.

Damage: About 20 to 25 damage. Not severe by one hit, but with three hits
you'll be singing the critical HP siren blues.

Severity: Eh, not really. This is like Dash n Slash, just slightly more
annoying. You can dodge this move by using Glide Level 3, however I would only
recommend Glide if you're in Final Form.

Another method is to always face him, and just block him as he goes
by, because it'll be a few seconds before he's back around.

If you're not a Blocking sort of person, I would recommend Dodge rolling into
the attack every time he swings by. You're invulnerable to attacks while
performing Dodge Roll, and there's enough of a pause between each of his
passes to prepare for another dodge roll.

If you are struck during this attack and have a considerable amount of HP left
that you do not want to go to waste, you can recover from this and continue
dodging. Just takes timing. Wait until LS turns around and comes to hit you
again, and press Aerial Recovery right before he hits you. You're invincible for
a second when doing this, and when performing a glide right after an aerial
recovery, you jump to full speed immediately, so Glide right after recovering
and start circling again.

Due to the unpredictability of where LS ends up after attacking you, this attack
generally does not leave a good opener via Glide. If you're a fan of the block
method, keep an eye on him, and you should have a good chance to dive in for a
strike.

===Gatling Punch===

Description: LS will punch you a couple times, doing negligeable damage, and
then take a step forward and punch furiously, turning his keyblade into what
looks like clockwork gears or something.

Damage: It's actually quite small. Like, 6 or 7 damage a hit. However, it hits
around ten times, so if you take the full of it, you're probably going to be in
critical. With 115 DEF I survived with about 6 HP, but it still packs a whallop.

Severity: This attack isn't all that severe. If it hits you, you'll likely need
to heal. But if you're able to avoid it, get behind him and keep a couple feet
of distance. It may seem silly, but touching his back while he's attacking will
still suck you into a painful combo, so wait until he reverts his keyblade
before you make your move.

===Dash n Slash===

Description: LS flies through the air toward you, pausing when he's close to
dash at you and slash you in multiples of three.

Damage: Moderate. About 18 to 22 damage per hit, and it often combos unless you
break.

Severity: Low. This attack is really easy to dodge via Gliding, and there's a
sufficient pause before he starts hitting you. Should you find yourself struck
by this,  it's quite easy to escape the combo. Wait until he's about to strike
you again, and aerial recovery into it, making some satisfying deflection
sounds, and proceed to glide. Once again, you are gliding in circles to avoid
this.

Blocking and Dodge Rolling are also effective means to dodge this attack.
Ground-dodging is better for this if the option is available because it is much
easier to open a combo on him if you're already on the ground. He attacks in
multiples of three, which means on his third strike of each multiple, Dodge
Roll WITH him, not INTO him. He moves fast enough to pass right through you,
and he should land directly in front of you unless he's starting another round
of attacks.

This attack is probably one of the best for opening a combo on him. However, it
can be tricky, and you often get hit in the process. While he does his attacks
in multiples of three, it's almost impossible to tell whether he is striking 3,
6, or 9 times. However, if he is striking nine times, it is almost always
followed up by a Whip Key attack, and there's your opportunity to strike him
(unless he gets you with the Whip Key =( )

===Whip Key===

Description: LS is floating in the air and whips his key around in circles and a
chain whip extends from it, flashing occasionally to sort of draw a sphere of
light around him.

Damage: Each hit does a moderate amount of damage (around 18) and this move
often juggles. If you're pretty far away from it and wondering how he is even
hitting you, aerial dodging away from it can often free you from his torment and
counter attack when he's done.

Severity: Medium, depending. If you have MP, you'll be fine, even if you ARE hit
with it. If you don't and need to use an item, it's a bit of a problem because
you're  thrown pretty high into the air when it's done.

If you manage to avoid this attack like a good little keyblade master, just wait
a fair distance away and watch him swing it. As he's swinging away, jump and
hover on the spot, as close to the ground as possible. He swings for about four
seconds. You'll know when to move in, because his whip key combo ends with him
rising into the sky about ten feet.

===Key to Heart===

Description: After pulling out a compound bow, LS paralyzes you and your
commands become dashes. After a moment, your health will begin to drain and your
command menu will change to three options of "Die" and one option of "Break
free". The Break Free option will randomly jump all over the place, but the rate
at which it jumps all over the place will get slower with each jump. You have
about three to five seconds before LS decides to stop gawking at you and start
trying to kill you again. Sometimes, he just goes right for you. Dead.

Damage: KO. This move will either kill you, or do a very negligeable amount of
damage. Still, the fact that it can kill you in an instant...

Severity: I'd formerly ranked this as the worst because you have about a 25%
chance of sometimes turning the tables and getting some easy hits on LS. But,
you have a 75% chance of dying instantly. Thats kind of annoying.

I'd like to thank Brincamian specifically for mentioning that during this
attack, YOU CAN MOVE. I don't know why I didn't think of that, but this tidbit
of information makes this attack VERY easy to avoid, so long as you have more
than 10 HP.

Once hit with this attack, watch for Sora to hit the ground. When he does,
double-jump and then begin flying around aimlessly, watching your command menu.
The rate at which the "Break free" option jumps around slows with each jump,
and eventually it will jump into the top slot with enough reaction time for you
to break the attack.

Of course if you're critically low on HP when he starts this move on you,
you're boned.

===Sentry===

Description: Sometimes, three to six tripod-type laser things begin floating
around you, shooting at you occasionally.

Damage: Not really. The damage per hit is only like 6 or something, and they
don't hit you repetitively.

Severity: I did not find this too severe, but it's pretty bad. The lasers
themselves are just a nuisance, but one little nick from a laser can pause your
movements for a moment, giving LS a good opportunity to nail you.

These usually go away after a while, but double jumping into them is a good way
to destroy them one at a time (Note: This is useless since they respawn
instantly). Shortly after they appear, LS will disappear for several seconds
(unless he uses Key Rider), letting you take the lasers on mono-a-mono briefly,
and when he reappears, they are likely to disappear.

Suggestion submitted by Brincamian: Another means to destroy this is to glide
in tight circles around the rock formations. When the Sentry laser cannons fly
into the rocks, they explode, which is a cheap and lazy way to deal with them.
Since they respawn, I often don't bother with this, but if you want to keep
your HP as high as possible, this may come in handy.

However, this usually means he's onto his next attack...

===I can attack you endlessly and there's nothing you can do about it===

Description: Ah, LS's Desperation Move. This won't catch you off guard, but he
can do this move as early as 6 and a half life bars left, (and possibly more).
LS will stand, raise his keyblade to the sky, and all sorts of flashy stuff
surrounds him, and lightning starts to strike around him. The screen also
darkens. This is really just him powering up.

Damage: If you get hit, you're going to 1HP.

Severity: Well, it's not really all THAT severe. It's pretty tough to dodge
(unless you're in Final Form) but on the plus side, if you get hit, he's just
gonna keep on hittin' you. You will likely at one point touch the ground and be
able to move, so cure. If magic isn't available, throw an item up and double
jump asap, then start gliding.

If you want to dodge this move, split-second reaction timing is key. For the
first combo of this attack, just fly straight. Make sure you have a good
distance ahead of you and that LS is behind you. He'll zip up to you, and start
swinging. If you keep Gliding at level 3 or MAX, he'll miss you. There's combo
one. Now for combo two.

He teleports behind you for another attack. There are two ways to dodge this.
If you're already flying at top speed and have plenty of room ahead, keep doing
so. If you have the room, he will fall behind like he did the first time. The
other method just requires a bit of timing. When you see that distortion from
his teleporting behind you, you've got about a second to make your next move
and dodge it. Double jump away from it as fast as you can, and glide for a
little bit until you're far enough away from the attack.

For his last combo, Glide aimlessly if you're in Final Form. If you're not in
Final Form, you can still completely defend this attack, but if you screw up
even once, it is going to hurt. To defend this in Normal Form, wait until he
appears (usually in front of you, but press R1 until you lock onto him just in
case) and block with Square. If your first block is successful, mash that
Square button like crazy and you should block the rest of his attacks. If,
however, the rascal gets you from behind, let him have his fun and dice you up.
Just cure when he's done.

This attack does not last too long (three combos) however, after it is
complete, you have a decent chance to strike him (if you're not too high up). It
can be risky if you have no HP.

Note: You can tell when this attack ends, because the dark shadow over the
screen goes away, as it does with pretty much all other bosses.

===================================
On The Offense          XLOFFX
===================================

Well, you're RARELY on the offense (in Normal Form), because while LS is
attacking you, he is invulnerable. Completely invulnerable. No damage, no
flinching, invulnerable. (Though, during some split second instances during
LS's attacks, you CAN damage him. But that's just asking for trouble.)

Anyway, after many of his attacks, he will slowly land on the ground and stand
still for a second or two. That is most often your chance to strike. However,
bear in mind one thing: if you're in your regular form, you will do very little
damage. That is to say, at 110 STR, you can open a combo on him with
Magunesupurashiyu (Magnet Burst Aerial finish) and then perform two sets of
three finishing moves, but it will only do about one life bar. Why two combos
of three? Well, you can find out the hard way, or you can just read on that,
after about six finishers, you can hit him a seventh, but he will counter with
Whip Key.

This can actually be used to your advantage. If you just give him a poke to
entice him to use this move, you can quickly dash away and let him Whip Key in
retaliation. If you're not getting whipped (lol pun?), then you can wait for him
to finish the attack, dive in, and do it again. I wouldn't recommend this,
however, because it's just not worth it. You can easily slip up and die when
doing this, and the cost isn't worth the reward.

Note that when opening a combo on him in Normal Form, if his guard is up you
will be doing one or two damage a hit. Avoid finishers for a little while,
because the more you hit him, the lower his guard becomes. After a few ground
attacks, you'll start doing large chunks of damage, which means it's time to
cash in.

If you (or most of the time, Goofy) reflect his Key Cannon energy ball back into
him and pop him in the air, now it's REALLY time to give him everything you've
got. A full seven finisher combo (it goes against what I was saying, but is kind
of worth it IN THIS CASE) can knock about four of his lifebars off. If you're
able to pull this miracle off twice during the battle against him, two combos in
regular form can encourage him to start his Desperation Move and send you an
invitation for potential victory.

The third Offensive tactic is my favourite (and also the most reckless/
dangerous tactic) which is to abuse your Final Form. If you're able to open a
combo against LS while in Final Form, relentlessly attacking him without regard
to consequense can do a healthy five or six life bars of damage to him, WITH
his guard up. Having Blizzaga shortcutted is essential if you take this
approach, because you can move toward LS while shooting it, and not only does
it do a nice little slice of damage, it works as a good combo opener/preserver
if you are far away from him after he opens himself up to attack.

The fourth Offensive tactic is to abuse Limits and just constantly attack LS,
even when he's invulnerable, since when you are doing a Combination attack, you
are ALSO invulnerable. This is, of course, explained in greater detail in
Overall Strategy Two.

===================================
Overall Strategy One       XSTRTX
===================================

This is the first strategy I devised when defeating LS. I wouldn't personally
recommend using it religiously, as the tail end of the battle is very luck-
oriented. So here it is:

Immediately, dash away from him. While writing this guide, my brother was
screwing around at LS, and 4 out of 5 times, LS opened with a Seal attack. I
just hate those. Dashing out of the way immediately provides several benefits;
if he's performing a Seal attack, you sometimes get away unharmed. If he's using
his Key Rider attack, you'll see it coming before it hits you (Donald's a goner
though). If he's using Gatling Punch, you either make it off scot free, or will
take about 10 damage, which is nothing, and if your timing is good enough, you
can open a combo right off the bat. And if he opens with a Key Cannon, which he
DOES tend to do pretty often, then you can charge right back at him via dodge
rolling (dashing is suicide) and then double jumping into the energy charge to
send it right back at him immediately. Of course, should you be so lucky, hammer
away at him.

There are generally two strategies that you can employ to get him down to
Desperation.

===Method one, Patience===
The safer, patient method is to remain in your regular form, constantly taking
evasive action, and waiting patiently for an opportunity to dive in at him, and
hammer a life bar away, over and over, until he summons those laser tripod
things and goes into Desperation.

Personally, I prefer the more reckless, suicidal, faster method of throwing
Final Form on immediately after his first couple attacks, and chewing away his
life with dual-keyblade action. In Final Form, you only need to combo him as
much as you can twice. Generally, as much as you can involves getting smucked
around by his whip (if you're as reckless as I am), but you've always got a cure
handy, right? The length of time you're hammering him is enough to recover your
MP in general anyhow. The real trick is being fast enough to pull off two full
combos on him, because as you're wailing on him, your form gauge depletes
rapidly. Mine's sitting at 3.5 after clobbering him something fierce just now.

The advantage of using Final Form to hammer the life out of him is that he will
perform less attacks before his Desperation Move...and that means less chance of
him using something dreadful like Key to Heart. I hate that move.

Regardless of the path you chose, his desperation move is the deciding moment of
the battle. If you chose to be patient and have your drive gauge 5 or more, you
have a very real chance of beating him. If you're still in Final Form, I'm
willing to bet you've got about a second of it left. Revert if this is the case.

You need him to hammer you during his Desperation Move to recover your drive
gauge back up to five.

Mid way into the combo, you get a bit of a break. Take this opportunity to
aerial recovery out of stun, and cure. It seems like a stupid idea, but you only
recover Drive Gauge when you have health to lose. (Note that if you have plenty
of Drive Gauge already, enough for a Final Form transformation, then don't
bother.) After the combo is over, I'd recommend hitting the ground as fast as
you can and throwing a potion.

After he performs his Desperation Move, which involves flying around really fast
and hitting you really hard (it is avoidable, but quite difficult to do so), his
patterns will change.

This includes altering the length or succession of some of his attacks.

Let him power down and start another combo on you. In fact, go ahead and let it
hit you.

Just make sure Donald and Goofy are alive.

It's better to get hit, assuming D and G are still kicking around. When the
combo LS is performing on you is almost done, go into Final Form. You're
invulnerable during this transformation, and his combo should end in the middle
of it. Drop in on him, and HAMMER AWAY.

One full-out Final Form combo rarely kills him after his Desperation Move. If
you have rotten luck (like I did five minutes ago) he'll have a few hits left.

Pray his next move isn't to seal your attack (as it did to me). If your attack
is sealed, you better have a good spell slotted somewhere to spam on him when
you get the chance.

Note that sometimes LS is just not co-operative, and will attack endlessly
without an opportunity for you to counter attack until he has performed a second
Desperation Move.

There is an immense amount of luck involved in the final third/quarter of the
fight, but you should have no problem getting him to this phase. Try, try again.

Eventually, you'll get lucky and that delightful little "Drive up" message will
appear in the corner of your screen.

Because you stomped him.

===================================
Overall Strategy Two       XSTR2X
===================================

While the above strategy is quite formidable for bringing LS into his
Desperation Move, the final breaths of the battle are based primarily
on luck.

There is something I overlooked that is, in fact, quite critical.

You're completely invulnerable when using limits.

First off, I'd like to thank one of our readers for a link to a video on Youtube
by a "TheGoldCrow", pointing this out to me, capitalizing on where my strategy
was weakest. The finish.

This strategy focuses more on what to do AFTER LS uses his Desperation Move.
So, if you can get him to use his Desperation Move regularly with items to
spare, you're in good shape. But just for the sake of it, I'll cover the Overall
Strategy from the get-go, since it's in the header.

At the start of the battle, mash triangle immediately. Not only is it an easier
way to dodge (you're invincible), it will keep Donald alive. You need Donald
alive (and preferably nearby) at all times.

While Flare Force-ing him you're completely invulnerable, which means walk into
his attacks to prevent him from going all over the place. The first time you use
Flare Force, make sure Donald is attacking him via Triangle and throw a
megalixer to replenish your MP.

The plan is this: when LS becomes vulnerable, Donald's fireworks may not be able
to hit him immediately, so open a combo on him and pop him in the air. Keep him
in the air. When the finishing attack of Flare Force hits LS, it will shatter
his guard as if you sent a Key Cannon energy ball into him, thanks to the number
of times it hits. When Flare Force is finished, LS will be really high in the
air (assuming you actually hit him with it). Let him land, then perform your
combos for full damage. I would recommend sending him into the air while you
combo him, because the number of times you can hit him will be unpredictable
thanks to Flare Force, and if he strikes you while in the air it's easier to
slip away.

For those of you with a fancy-pants graphical browser, here is a youtube video
that demonstrates Flare Force-ing LS (though, with the "Berserk" abilitiy
equipped...I personally wouldn't recommend Berserk for this, but to each his
own).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EgrpdDa2zxI (No, I didn't make this video. I trust
the guy who submitted it was the one who made it.)

(At this point in time I suspect that Fantasia may be an alternative to Flare
Force, and a potentially BETTER one at that, but it is untested at this time.)

The first time you finish your combo and he counterattacks, Flare Force again
IMMEDIATELY. Every second you waste is another chance for Donald to die. Don't
let Donald die =(

While Flare Force-ing him the second time, keep a close eye on it. You DON'T
need to use one of your precious Megalixers if both Donald and Goofy are alive
(which they should be) and the final attack of Flare Force is hitting LS. If
the final attack of Flare Force is NOT hitting him, (as in, he's invincible)
then it's time to replenish that MP with a Megalixer.

When the second Flare Force combo runs out, get Final Form ready. Once in
Final Form, defend his attacks as necessary and get another combo in on him,
attacking relentlessly. By the time you manage to spaz out on him in
Final Form, he should vanish and use Sentry on you.

It's good news.

You'll want to start gliding to your heart's content everywhere. The Sentry
lasers will eventually go away and he'll start his Desperation Move. Keep
gliding. From personal experience, if you keep gliding in every which direction
you'll be invincible for the whole thing. He CAN hit you, but it's pretty rare.
Should you get hit and have the HP to spare, Aerial Recovery and Glide again.

When you see the darkness from his Desperation Move go away, revert out of
Final Form and start mashing Triangle to auto-limit with Donald. Throw a
megalixer to replenish your MP, and stay on LS. You'll be using the basic
strategy you used from the opening of the battle, but you'll notice some of
his moves are a bit more deadly this time around. It's okay, you're
invincible. Make sure you're always invincible, from here to the end of
the fight (Unless you're performing the second last combo).

Stay on LS as closely as possible. There is a good chance there is at least ONE
opener for a combo before he uses his Desperation Move again. You know what to
do. Your MP should always be full while performing Flare Force. If the final
attack of Flare Force hits LS, wait for him to fall, then perform a few combos
on him. If he falls within two lifebars remaining, use Flare Force again. He'll
break free of damage via Whip Key and then, he will probably do his Desperation
Move again. Keep Flare Force going via triangle mashing and Megalixering, and
eventually, once the attack is over, you should get another opporunity. It
might not come until he attacks with something else.

In order to defeat LS, you will need to do two combos on him after he uses his
Desperation Move for the first time. However, if you're constantly on his tail,
you should have enough Megalixers to stay invulnerable (apart from Keyblade
comboing him) until he is defeated. Note that when you've opened the final combo
on him, you must finish him off with a finishing attack. That usually means you
don't have to wait for Flare Force to finish hitting him, because you should be
able to give him the coup de gras before Flare Force finishes. It doesn't really
matter at this point though. He'll have been defeated.

And, if you're lucky, you'll have a couple Megalixers left over.

At any rate, with a couple rounds of practice, stomping him should come
naturally with this method.


===================================
Last Notes          XLASTX
===================================

Submitting it before it's perfectly polished for two reasons: This way, anyone
has the opportunity to revise this FAQ. The second, and more important reason,
is I haven't seen one on GameFAQs yet, and I couldn't have been the only one
frustrated with LS and sought a guide on him. (Once I triumphed, this want was
of course alleviated, but for the masses.)

Thanks: At this point in time, the only person to thank (Apart from Squenix and
Mr. Tetsuya Nomura for KH in general) would be "Kouli", who wrote the FAQ /
Walkthrough on KH2FM+Re:CoM.

I didn't actually read it/use it, but it was from there that I took the term
"Lingering Spirit". I'd formerly been calling him "Akuazen" because that's the
name he mentions before rambling on and on about XEHANORT in the opening scene.
I don't know if it's his name, or the name of the Seeker, or whatever. Nobody
would recognize it anyway.

Additional Thanks goes out to Youtube user "TheGoldCrow" for inadvertantly
reminding me that you're invulnerable during Limit Combination attacks.

Round Three of thanks goes to Brincamian for various additional evasion
strategies via Dodge Roll as well as providing a way to handle the Key to Heart
attack. I found his advise on destroying Key Cannon energy balls also
particularly useful.

I guess since this guide is getting some exposure, I should seize the
opportunity to plug my overlooked 17-minute Kingdom Hearts movie on youtube.
Note that it IS vulgar at times...but everybody who has seen it seems to have
really enjoyed it. So here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeE74CTvr8Y (Note that it's in two parts.)

Other FAQs: I've only written one other guide, found at
http://www.twinkfish.com/misc/KH2ajj.txt
It's a Journal Completion guide for the original KH2. Naturally, outdated.
I have used some portions of this guide when writing the Synthesis material
farming location section. But don't worry; I got permission from myself to use
the guide beforehand.

Contact: I can be emailed at lordgarvar [at] twinkfish.com, but if you want to
email questions and comments, please start the subject title with "Kingdom
Hearts" so I don't just immediately delete it. I'm open to questions and
comments, and anyone with useful information will be credited appropriately.

Also I don't know if this part is actually needed but yeah...

Replicating this FAQ without permission: wtf gtfo (Ask me before copying any
portion of this guide for any reason ever.) Which means this guide is copyright
Garrett Varrin, which is me.



I'd like to thank everyone who has sent in their comments and advice. I hope
this FAQ helps all of you as much as it has helped me; by Version 1.12 I was
able to begin toying with Lingering Spirit as if he were another Sephiroth.



Never give up.

Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that.