____ __ __ ___ | |/ _|__| ____ ____ __| _/____ _____ | < | |/ \ / ___\ / __ |/ _ \ / \ | | \| | | \/ /_/ > /_/ ( <_> ) Y Y \ |____|__ \__|___| /\___ /\____ |\____/|__|_| / \/ \//_____/ \/ \/ ___ ___ __ / | \ ____ _____ ________/ |_ ______ __ / ~ \_/ __ \\__ \\_ __ \ __\/ ___/ |__| \ Y /\ ___/ / __ \| | \/| | \___ \ __ \___|_ / \___ >____ /__| |__| /____ > |__| \/ \/ \/ \/ __________ \______ \ ____ __ | _// __ \ |__| | | \ ___/ __ |____|_ /\___ > |__| \/ \/ _________ __ __ _____ \_ ___ \| |__ _____ |__| ____ _____/ ____\ / \ \/| | \\__ \ | |/ \ / _ \ __\ \ \___| Y \/ __ \| | | \ ( <_> ) | \______ /___| (____ /__|___| / \____/|__| \/ \/ \/ \/ _____ __ / \ ____ _____ ___________|__| ____ ______ / \ / \_/ __ \ / \ / _ \_ __ \ |/ __ \ / ___/ / Y \ ___/| Y Y ( <_> ) | \/ \ ___/ \___ \ \____|__ /\___ >__|_| /\____/|__| |__|\___ >____ > \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ DECK BUILDING GUIDE By: Thestalos_07 Date: 12 July 2008 Version: 1.00 /----------\ / \ ( CONTENTS ) \ / \----------/ I) INTRO II) LEGAL BLAH III) VERSION HISTORY IV) THE DECK SYSTEM V) TYPES OF DECKS VI) DECK STAPLES VII) ATTACK DECK BASICS VIII) HOW TO BUILD AN ATTACK DECK IX) SLEIGHT DECK BASICS X) SLEIGHT LIST XI) HOW TO BUILD A SLEIGHT DECK XII) THE UNAPPRECIATED: RAIDS XIII) FINAL POINTERS XIV) FINAL WORD AND THANKS /----------\ ( I) INTRO ) \----------/ Good day all. Welcome to my guide to Re:COM deck building. This guide covers all the basics of standard deck building, along with some useful hints. Along the way, I shall be putting together my own decks for each section, just to give you an idea of how to do it. There are many ways to create a deck; you could stick with the deck you start off with, you could make one that abuses various sleights, or you could go the way of a true button-masher and make one of nothing but level 9 cards. However you do it, keep in mind that there is no �perfect deck�, and while some are definitely better than others, each deck should reflect YOUR playstyle and not someone elses. Just go with whatever works best for you, and you�ll be fine. Ok? Lets begin...but first, a bit of legal yadayadayada. /----------------\ ( II) LEGAL BLAH ) \----------------/ This guide is copyright 2008 by yours truly, Thestalos_07. You may print this off for personal uses, however I withhold the rights to sell it for a profit. If you wish to host the guide on your website, email me at the address listed below and chances are you will get permission. If you host it without permission, I will send you an email requesting that you take it down (along with a threat to sue if you don�t). Put simply, if you really want it, email me and THEN take it, if you put it up without permission and I find out and you take it down and THEN ask for permission, the answer will be no. The current list of sites allowed to host this guide (and will have permission to host anything in the future): http://www.gamefaqs.com http://www.gamespot.com http://www.neoseeker.com http://www.supercheats.com /----------------------\ ( III) VERSION HISTORY ) \----------------------/ CURRENT VERSION: 1.00 First release of this guide. Contains a full list of sleights, basics to making your own deck, pointers on how to improve it etc. PREVIOUS VERSIONS: None. And I think that just about covers it. Lets begin, for real this time. /---------------------\ ( IV) THE DECK SYSTEM ) \---------------------/ Unlike other Kingdom Hearts games (except the original COM), this game uses a deck system. What this means is that instead of just keyblade swinging, you use cards to attack. These cards are compiled into your deck, which you use in battle. You can have up to 3 decks, and each one is completely customizable. Aside from the standard attack cards, there are combinations you can create called �sleights�, but more on that later. Your decks should reflect your playstyle, and as there are so many different people in the world, there are many different playstyles. As such, there is no �perfect deck�. Its also important to remember that it is possible to break enemy cards, by �breaking� them. Breaking is done by either playing a card with a level of 0, or by playing a card or sleight with a higher level than that used by your enemy. As such, 0 cards are a must-have in every deck that doesn�t use high-level sleights. /-------------------\ ( V) TYPES OF DECKS ) \-------------------/ For the most part, there are 2 kinds of decks which all the various archetypes fall under: Attack and Sleight. Attack decks are simply a series of high-level cards used to create Sora�s standard 3-hit combo. Sleight decks use just that: Sleights. But then the generic term of �sleight deck� fall into 4 sub-catagories: Attack, Magic, Summon and Friend, but more on that later. Whatever type of deck you choose to build, just go with what works for you. And that concludes a short section. /------------------\ ( VI) DECK STAPLES ) \------------------/ Anybody who plays a TCG in a competitive state is aware of staples. A staple is basically a card(s) that is must have in a certain deck type. An example would be an Oppression Gadget deck in YuGiOh. The point of the deck is to prevent Special Summons, so the card Royal Oppression is used. Without that, the deck is pointless. Do you see what I mean? A staple is simply a card that makes a deck work better, more efficiently, more powerful. A staple is what makes a deck what it is. For the most part, Re:COM staples are simply enemy cards. There isn�t a whole lot you can use to make a deck anything other than more powerful with a staple. The main staples are the boss cards, though some regular enemy cards can be useful. Here is a complete list of each one, how much CP they take, how long they last, where to get them and what they do: SHADOW: ???? (25 CP, 2 reloads, Traverse Town) Incrementor: Adds 1 to all card numbers SOLDIER: ????? (15 CP, 3 reloads, Traverse Town) Combo Plus: Do 1 more attack before each finishing move POWER WILD: ??????? (30 CP, 1 reload, Olympus Coliseum) Retrograde: Low cards now break high cards, rather than vice-versa; 0's are unaffected BOUNCY WILD: ????????? (10 CP, 5 reloads, Olympus Coliseum) Draw: Attracts cards and EXP drops to Sora. LARGE BODY: ?????? (40 CP, 1 reload, Wonderland) Guard: Nullifies physical frontal attacks FAT BANDIT: ?????????? (40 CP, 2 reloads, Agrabah) Back Attack: Do more damage when hitting enemies from behind SEA NEON: ????? (20 CP, 1 reload, Atlantica) Random Values: Card numbers are randomized BANDIT: ?????? (30 CP, 1 reload, Agrabah) Combo Finish: All attacks become finishing moves PIRATE: ????? (30 CP, 1 reload, Neverland) All Zeroes: All cards become zeroes RED NOCTURNE: ???????? (20 CP, 1 reload, Traverse Town) Fire Boost: Increases fire damage BLUE RHAPSODY: ???????? (20 CP, 1 reload, Traverse Town) Blizzard Boost: Increases blizzard/ice damage YELLOW OPERA: ??????? (20 CP, 1 reload, Agrabah) Thunder Boost: Increases thunder damage GREEN REQUIEM: ????????? (20 CP, 1 reload, Agrabah) Cure Boost: Increases cure amount WIZARD: ????? (30 CP, 1 reload, Hollow Bastion) Magic Boost: Forfeits summon cards to power up magic cards AIR SOLDIER: ??????? (30 CP, 3 reloads, Agrabah) Reload Kinesis: Allows reloading to be done while moving BARREL SPIDER: ???????? (30 CP, 3 reloads, Olympus Coliseum) Quick Reload: Decreases reloading time WIGHT KNIGHT: ?????? (15 CP, 3 reloads, Halloween Town) Levitate: Increases jumping height AIR PIRATE: ??????? (30 CP, 3 reloads, Neverland) Item Bracer: Item cards cannot be broken GARGOYLE: ????? (30 CP, 1 reload, Halloween Town) Vanish: Makes you invisible and harder to hit SEARCH GHOST: ??????? (35 CP, 1 reload, Atlantica) Drain: Gain health with physical attacks but enemies drop fewer items AQUA TANK: ?????? (30 CP, 1 reload, Atlantica) Auto-Reload: Reloads automatically once all cards are used SCREW DIVER: ????????? (15 CP, 1 reload, Atlantica) Decrementor: Subtracts 1 from all card numbers WYVERN: ????? (20 CP, 3 reloads, Hollow Bastion) Reload Lock: Prevents the reload counter from increasing during reloads DEFENDER: ??????? (30 CP, 1 reload, Hollow Bastion) Protect: Decreases damage taken from physical attacks WHITE MUSHROOM: ??????????? (40 CP, 3 reloads, White Room) Hyper Healing: Restores HP every time a friend card is used BLACK FUNGUS: ????????? (40 CP, Black Room) Random Flush: Activates a random enemy card effect CREEPER PLANT: ???????? (35 CP, 1 reload, Halloween Town) Leaf Bracer: Healing cards cannot be broken TORNADO STEP: ????????? (30 CP, 2 reloads, Monstro) Reload Haste: Resets the reload counter to 1 CRESCENDO: ????? (30 CP, 1 reload, Destiny Islands) Summon Boost: Forfeits magic cards to power up summon cards NEOSHADOW: ?????? (30 CP, 1 reload, Castle Oblivion) Bio: Causes enemy HP to decrease over time DARK BALL: ?????? (N/A, 1 reload, N/A) Duel Trigger: All cards trigger duels, regardless of values GUARD ARMOR: ??????? (30 CP, 30 attacks) Wide Attack: Increases the area hit by sword swings HADES: ??? (40 CP, 30 attacks, resistant to fire, stunned by ice) Berserk: Boosts the power of attack cards when in critical health TRICKMASTER: ???????? (25 CP, 10 breaks from an enemy) Value Break: When you get broken, the enemy's card value is permanently reduced by your value JAFAR: ????? (65 CP, 20 attacks) Attack Bracer: Attack cards cannot be broken (except with zeroes) URSULA: ???? (50 CP, 5 hits) Shell: Halves the damage taken from magical attacks OOGIE BOOGIE: ??? (40 CP, 10 uses) Regen: Heals you over time PARASITE CAGE: ???????? (60 CP, 1 use) Dispel: Breaks the opponent's enemy card HOOK: ??? (35 CP, 3 times, resistant to thunder, stunned by fire) Second Chance: Stay at 1 HP after being hit by a death blow DRAGON MALEFICENT: ??????????? (70 CP, 30 attack) Overdrive: Sacrifices reload speed to power up attack cards DARK SIDE: ?????? (99 CP, 1 use) Mimic: Copies the opponent's enemy card RIKU: ?? (80 CP, 5 sleights, resistant to fire, blizzard, and thunder) Sleight Lock: Keep non-item cards available for reloading while doing sleights CARD SOLDIER: ????? (55 CP, 30 attacks) Attack Haste: Increases the swing speed of attack cards ANSEM: ???? (40 CP, 10 sleights, resistant to fire, blizzard, and thunder) Sleightblind: Conceals your stocked cards from opponents XEMNAS: ???? (65 CP, 3 reloads, resistant to all) Quick Guard: Blocks all hits after the first from a combo attack XIGBAR: ????? (80 CP, 2 reloads, resistant to all) Shot Charge: Increases damage for ranged attacks, including both magic and sleights (e.g. Strike Raid) XALDIN: ????? (65 CP, 3 hits taken, resistant to all) Wind Guard: Damages nearby enemies with a wind shield VEXEN: ????? (60 CP, 1 use, immune to ice, stunned by fire) Auto-Life: Brings you back to life with critical health after dying LEXAEUS: ????? (99 CP, 50 attacks, immune to ice, resistant to physical, weak against special) Warp Break: Finishing moves have a chance of instantly killing an enemy ZEXION: ????? (65 CP, 50 attacks, resistant to all) Confuse Strike: Attacks have a chance of confusing enemies SAIX: ???? (80 CP, 20 attacks, resistant to all) Combo Boost: Do cumulative extra damage on each hit, but the damage is reset if you get card-broken AXEL: ???? (75 CP, 10 hits taken, immune to fire, stunned by ice) Quick Recovery: Can play cards even while stunned DEMYX: ????? (80 CP, 2 reloads, resistant to thunder and special) Water Boost: Increases damage from water attacks (Aqua Splash, Blizzard, etc.) LUXORD: ????? (99 CP, 15 cards, resistant to thunder and special) All Break: All cards played break all enemy cards MARLUXIA: ?????? (99 CP, 3 sleights, resistant to all, weak against phys.) Double Sleight: Perform each sleight twice in succession LARXENE: ????? (65 CP, 15 cards played, immune to thunder, weak against spcl.) Dash: Increases running speed ROXAS: ???? (99 CP, 20 attacks) Double Damage: Attacks do twice as much damage As we can see from that list, there are cards to benefit pretty much every kind of deck. Xigbar increases most Magic decks, Roxas is great in most attack-based decks, Demyx makes Water decks a contender. There are also cards that are splashable anywhere; that is, they can be used in most decks effectively. Larxene and Card Soldier are good examples of these. /-----------------------\ / \ ( VII) ATTACK DECK BASICS ) \ / \-----------------------/ A pure attack deck is simply 3-hit combos, over and over and over. If its your first time playing the game, this is probably the deck that you should use for the first set of world cards, just until you get the hang of the battle system. While attack decks are quite good, they WILL fail against any boss that uses sleights. Boss sleights will consistently have a level higher than whatever card you use, so unless like 10 cards in your deck are 0�s, or you use the Luxord card, its best to switch to another deck for these bosses. Feel free to switch back to the attack deck when you�re fighting anything else though. /-----------------------------------\ ( VIII) HOW TO BUILD AN ATTACK DECK ) \-----------------------------------/ At first glance, attack decks are the simplest decks to build: They consist mostly of level 9 cards. However there are many important factors to think about, namely: Damage and recovery. Damage is simply how much damage the card causes, and recovery (IIRC) is how long it takes to recover if you are broken. The deck in this example is a bit like this to start off with: 3x Lv9 Divine Rose 3x Lv9 Olympia 3x Lv9 Diamond Dust 3x Lv9 Metal Chocobo 3x Lv9 Fairy Harp 3x Lv9 Oathkeeper 3x Lv9 Monochrome 3x Lv9 Potion 3x Lv9 Cure As we can see, this deck has reloading potions and healing cures, along with a bunch of combos. Now, we take into consideration the damage caused by these cards. The idea of this kind of deck is to deal as much damage as possible via combos, so weak cards are useless to us. So we go from that to: 3x Lv9 Olympia 3x Lv9 Diamond Dust 3x Lv9 Oathkeeper 3x Lv9 Monochrome 3x Lv9 Potion 3x Lv9 Cure This deck is much shorter now, seeing as we have taken out the Divine Rose, Metal Chocobo, and Fairy Harp combos. Unfortunately, that takes us down to 4 short combos, so we need to find something to replace them. If we pull up a list of cards, we can see that there are some good replacements such as Ultima Weapon and Oblivion. So, with that in mind, we now have: 3x Lv9 Ultima Weapon 3x Lv9 Oblivion 3x Lv9 Crab Claw 3x Lv9 Star Seeker 3x Lv9 Olympia 3x Lv9 Diamond Dust 3x Lv9 Oathkeeper 3x Lv9 Monochrome 3x Lv9 Potion 3x Lv9 Cure If we check this out, we will see that the lowest damage any of these does is B-rated, which is quite good. Not as good as A, but not to shabby at all. We still have our reloads and cures, and we can dish out 8 full combos before needing to use one of said reloads. Now we focus on the next area: Recovery. Most of these cards have a good recovery time, so the deck won�t change too much. If we bring out our list again, and go through, we can eliminate the softer spots. As such, the deck goes from what we see above to: 3x Lv9 Ultima Weapon 3x Lv9 Oblivion 3x Lv9 Crab Claw 3x Lv9 Star Seeker 3x Lv9 Olympia 3x Lv9 Diamond Dust 3x Lv9 Oathkeeper 3x Lv9 Hidden Dragon 3x Lv9 Potion 3x Lv9 Cure The only change here is Monochrome. The damage was good, but the swing speed was a lowly C. So, we switched it out for the Hidden Dragon. Hidden Dragon does the same amount of damage, but the speed is A. So our deck has gone from this: 3x Lv9 Divine Rose 3x Lv9 Olympia 3x Lv9 Diamond Dust 3x Lv9 Metal Chocobo 3x Lv9 Fairy Harp 3x Lv9 Oathkeeper 3x Lv9 Monochrome 3x Lv9 Potion 3x Lv9 Cure to this: 3x Lv9 Ultima Weapon 3x Lv9 Oblivion 3x Lv9 Crab Claw 3x Lv9 Star Seeker 3x Lv9 Olympia 3x Lv9 Diamond Dust 3x Lv9 Oathkeeper 3x Lv9 Hidden Dragon 3x Lv9 Potion 3x Lv9 Cure With these changes, we can put out 1 more combo, and aside from that, the combos are much stronger as well. Also keep in mind that the order of the cards is very important. All the cards deal a different amount of damage based on what number hit they were in the combo: 1,2 or 3, the finisher. All the cards I�ve included here are based on their finisher strength, so its up to you to properly utilise all the cards you have to make an ultimate beatdown. Now, we most of the things out of the way here. We just need to add a few 0 cards, and a staple or 2. If you�ve read this guide from the start, you would remember me talking about 0 cards and its uses early on. If you didn�t, then here it is again: Breaking is done by either playing a card with a level of 0, or by playing a card or sleight with a higher level than that used by your enemy. As such, 0 cards are a must-have in every deck that doesn�t use high-level sleights. Now, our staples. Being nothing but attacks, we are going to want powerups and anything else that�s useful. If we refer to the list above, these should stick out to us: Roxas Axel Saix Xemnas Lexaeus Card Soldier Dragon Maleficent Jafar Hades Guard Armor Search Ghost Soldier Fat Bandit Bandit For all practicality purposes, it would be stupid to include all these in our staple deck. So we must choose which would work best, and cut down this list to a MAXIMUM of 5. Roxas is perhaps the best card we could use, as it doubles all damage done by this deck. Therefore it is a must, and takes up one of our 5 slots. Saix is also useful, but its basically a more conditional version of Roxas. It�ll go on the �maybe pile�. Axel is nice, but not necessary. He gets the no. Same for Xemnas, Fat Bandit, and Bandit. That brings the list down to: Roxas Lexaeus Card Soldier Dragon Maleficent Jafar Hades Guard Armor Search Ghost Soldier Saix Guard Armor is also useful, as is Jafar. Increased range and less chance of break are very nice. Search Ghost is basically a stall card. Very nice, but again, doesn�t benefit the deck so it�s a no. Soldier gives a 2-for-1 benefit, so that�s in. Now its basically down to Card Solder, Saix and Dragon Maleficent. Card Soldier increases the swing speed, though if the deck is properly made, they will all have at least B+ so that�s not necessary. Maleficent fits right in with the theme of dealing as much damage via combos as possible, so that gets the thumbs up. As for Saix, he has been surpassed and so gets a no-go. We now have: Roxas Solder Maleficent Lexaeus Guard Armor So now we have a finished deck. The final decklist is as follows: 3x Lv9 Ultima Weapon Staple Deck: 3x Lv9 Oblivion Roxas 3x Lv9 Crab Claw Soldier 3x Lv9 Star Seeker Maleficent 3x Lv9 Olympia Lexaeus 3x Lv9 Diamond Dust Guard Armor 3x Lv9 Oathkeeper 3x Lv9 Hidden Dragon 3x Lv9 Potion 3x Lv9 Cure 6x Lv0 Kingdom Key There we go. High power combos, reloads and heals, 0 cards and our powerup staples. That�s one deck done! Onwards to the next section! /-----------------------\ / \ ( IX) SLEIGHT DECK BASICS ) \ / \-----------------------/ Ah, the humble sleight. A very powerful and extremely useful set of attacks. A sleight is a combination of 2-3 cards arranged in the correct order. Most sleights have various parameters, such as a total level of 20-23. If the sleight has a total of 24+ or 19-, then the sleight won�t execute. As such, sleights are best in a deck specifically designed to use them. As mentioned earlier, there are 4 main types of sleight decks. They are: Attack Magic Summon Friend Attack decks use the first set of sleights, the one set on a red background. All these sleights are attack-based, and so benefit from most of the staples that benefit regular attack decks. Magic decks are my favourite. They are set on a blue background, and for the most part are extremely powerful. A lot of them are ranged attacks, so don�t benefit from the staples that go with attack decks. Magic decks can again be broken down, into Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, Gravity and Stop decks, along with other types. Thunder has like 2 sleights, so isn�t viable. Still, if you want to try it, go ahead. Summon decks......lets just say they have potential. Some summons are good, like Cloud and Mushu, but for the most part really take a lot of effort to put together nicely. They CAN work no doubt, but the time and energy you�ll be putting in to achieve that makes it not really worth it. Friend decks are absolute pieces of ****. Don�t EVER try these. Basically you get 1 friend card every 20 seconds or so, so that�s like 2-3 sleights per minute, which are really not worth it and so should NEVER be used as a decktype. Seriously, don�t even bother trying one of these, it�s not worth it. /-----------------\ ( X) SLEIGHT LIST ) \-----------------/ SLIDING DASH: ???????? (three same-type attack cards, total value 10-15) Slide towards distant targets for a close-range attack STUN IMPACT: ???????? (three same-type attack cards, total value 20-23) Stun surrounding enemies with a single aura attack STRIKE RAID: ???????? (three attack cards, total value 24-26) Hurl the Keyblade forwards, stunning and damaging enemies BLITZ: ????????? (three varied-type attack cards, total value 10-15) Powerful two-hit combo using the Triangle button ZANTETSUKEN: ?????? (three attack cards, total value 0 or 27) Break a card and prevent it from being reloaded for the rest of the fight SONIC BLADE: ??????? (three varied-type attack cards, total value 20-23) Rocket across the field, striking enemies with the Triangle button ARS ARCANUM: ???????? (three attack cards, total value 1-6) Rain a flurry of blows on the enemy with the Triangle button RAGNAROK: ????? (three attack cards, total value 7-9) Leap into the air and fire a stream of lasers TRINITY LIMIT: ????????? (attack + Donald + Goofy) Inflict heavy damage on all visible enemies FIRA: ???? (Fire x2) FIRAGA: ???? (Fire x3) BLIZZARA: ???? (Blizzard x2) BLIZZAGA: ???? (Blizzard x3) THUNDARA: ???? (Thunder x2) THUNDAGA: ???? (Thunder x3) CURA: ???? (Cure x2) CURAGA: ???? (Cure x3) GRAVIRA: ???? (Gravity x2) GRAVIGA: ???? (Gravity x3) STOPRA: ???? (Stop x2) STOPGA: ???? (Stop x3) AERORA: ???? (Aero x2) AEROGA: ???? (Aero x3) WARPINATOR: ??????? (Stop + Gravity + Aero) Instantly kill the closest enemy, but no EXP is gained WARP: ???? (Stop + Aero x2) Instantly kill all enemies in sight, but no EXP is gained BLIZZARD RAID: ??????? (Blizzard + attack x2) Hurl the Keyblade forwards, inflicting blizzard damage SYNCHRO: ???? (Cure + Gravity + Aero) Set surrounding enemies' HP to that of the target FIRE RAID: ??????? (Fire + attack x2) Hurl the Keyblade forwards, inflicting fire damage AQUA SPLASH: ????????? (Blizzard + Fire + Aero) Spray melted ice for a period of time, inflicting ice damage TERROR: ??? (summon x2 + Jack or Simba + Mushu + item) Strike fear into enemies so that they no longer approach MIRACLE GIFT: ??????? (summon + magic + Jack or Bambi + Blizzard + item) Reload cards and reset counter while restoring HP to Sora and to all enemies BIND: ???? (Gravity + Stop + magic) Hold enemies in place, although they can still attack SHOCK IMPACT: ????????? (Simba + attack x2) Send enemies flying and trigger Stop HOMING BLIZZARA: ????????? (Aero + Blizzard + magic) Cast Blizzara that seeks out the targeted enemy QUAKE: ???? (Gravity + Simba + magic) Inflict damage on all ground enemies with a violent tremor TELEPORT: ??? (magic x2 + Peter Pan or Stop + Aero + item) Teleport behind the targeted enemy, stunning it THUNDER RAID: ??????? (Thunder + attack x2) Hurl the Keyblade forwards, inflicting thunder damage CONFUSE: ???? (Genie + Tinker Bell + summon) Confuse enemies so they attack less often FIRAGA BURST: ???????? (Fire x2 + Gravity) Shoot a fireball into the sky which rains blasts across the battle field REFLECT RAID: ???????? (Cloud + attack x2) Hurl the Keyblade forwards and make it ricochet to hit several enemies MAGNET: ???????? (Gravity x2 + attack) Gather enemies together and then hit them away STOP BLADE: ???????? (Stop + attack x2) Cast Stop, then run and slash an enemy, also causing damage over time TORNADO: ???? (Aero + Gravity + summon) Envelope enemies in a tornado, damaging and incapacitating them FREEZE: ???? (Blizzard x2 + Stop) Freeze enemies in blocks of ice - enemies take extra damage if the blocks are shattered JUDGMENT: ??????? (Aero + attack x2) Hurl the Keyblade forwards for a direct hit following by a spinning attack HOLY: ???? (Mega-Ether + Megalixir + item) Inflict damage on targeted enemy and on all surrounding enemies BLAZING STORM: ????????? (Aero + Fire x2) Temporarily surround Sora with flaming tornadoes MEGA FLARE: ????? (Mushu + Fire x2) Incinerate all enemies in a wide area PROUD ROAR: ?????? (Simba x2 or Simba x3) SHOWTIME: ?????? (Genie x2 or Genie x3) CROSS-SLASH: ??? (Cloud x2) CROSS-SLASH+: ????? (Cloud + Stop + attack) Cloud teleports to an enemy and does a triple attack OMNISLASH: ?????? (Cloud x3) Cloud flies around attacking enemies (use Triangle) SPLASH: ?????? (Dumbo x2 or Dumbo x3) TWINKLE: ????? (Tinker Bell x2 or + Tinker Bell x3) PARADISE: ????? (Bambi x2 or Bambi x3) IDYLL ROMP: ????????? (Bambi + attack x2) Bambi confuses the enemy FLARE BREATH: ?????? (Mushu x2 or Mushu x3) MAGIC: ???? (Donald x2 or Donald x3) BLAZING DONALD: ?????????? (Donald + Fire) Donald shoots a fireball into the air that can be redirected into enemies with Triangle GOOFY TORNADO: ????????? (Goofy x2 or Goofy x3) GOOFY SMASH: ?????????? (Goofy + attack) Aerial combo an enemy with Goofy using Triangle WILD CRUSHER: ?????????? (Goofy + Donald + attack) Rush at enemies, using Goofy as a battering ram LUCKY BOUNTY: ????????? (Pluto x2 or Pluto x3) SANDSTORM: ???????? (Aladdin x2 or Aladdin x3) SURPRISE!: ????? (Jack x2 or Jack x3) SPIRAL WAVE: ????????? (Ariel x2 or Ariel x3) HUMMINGBIRD: ???????? (Peter Pan x2 or Peter Pan x3) FEROCIOUS LUNGE: ???????? (Beast x2 or Beast x3) /---------------------------------\ ( XI) HOW TO BUILD A SLEIGHT DECK ) \---------------------------------/ Building a sleight deck is actually quite easy: Just choose what decktype you want, and find all sleights that use it. Then trim it to fit into your current CP, and go test it out. I will build a fire deck, and test it in the Destiny Islands opening area. So, to start off, I find all the Fire sleights: Firaga Fire Raid Mega Flare Blazing Storm Firaga Burst Now I fit it into my current CP (1100): 1x Firaga 1x Fire Raid 1x Mega Flare 2x Blazing Storm 2x Firaga Burst 3x Hi Potion + Mega Ether + Cure sleight Now I test it. *tests* Well I must say, this deck PWNS!!!! Damage is amazing, range is excellent, the whole deck is made of win! No doubt Fire is one of the better archetypes. Now I will try a regular Attack Sleight deck. So, I find all the possible sleights: Slide Dash Stun Impact Zantetsuken Strike Raid Sonic Blade Ars Arcanum Ragnarok Blitz Now I fit it to my CP of 1100: 2x Slide Dash 1x Strike Raid 2x Sonic Blade 2x Blitz 3x Hi Potion + Cure + Cure sleight And now I test it. *tests* Eh, not so bad. Could use some further refining, but on the whole it should meet your needs. And that, good sirs/ma�ams, are the basic steps to building your very own sleight deck. Don�t forget to add your staples, but I can�t be bother to go through that stuff all over again. Refer to section VIII if you need clarification. /-----------------------------\ / \ ( XII) THE UNAPPRECIATED: RAIDS ) \ / \-----------------------------/ Now I know that I�m going to cop a LOT of backlash for this, but I really do believe that Raids are the ultimate archetype. Just leave out Blizzard and perhaps Fire Raid, and this deck can beat absolutely anything (with the exception of Castle Oblivion floor). Of all your raids, you have: Fire/Blizzard/Thunder/Gravity/Reflect Raid and Judgment. Judgment is exactly what it sounds like: An extremely powerful and versatile attack. What it does is it hits the target, then loops around and hits it again, and again, and again, all the while damaging absolutely EVERYTHING else it comes into contact with. And I include it as a raid because it has all the same properties, just doesn�t include the word �raid� in the name. I recently went head to head with Marluxia using a deck of 3x Judgment, 3x Reflect Raid and 3x HiPotion+MegaEther+Cure sleights, and it absolutely pwned. Reflect Raid has got to be the strongest attack in the game when used right, and using Xigbar it managed to rip off roughly 3/4 of a bar per hit. On the FINAL VERSION of Marluxia no less. Yes, the raids are quite simply an extremely dominating set of sleights. Though I will admit that Raids do have their weaknesses. They fly in a straight line, so if your target moves too much, the attack will miss. Its also very rare for them to hit anything above Sora�s head height, so flying enemies will be a ***** to take down. Still, Judgment just needs to connect once and its pretty much all over. *puts up flame shield* /--------------------\ / \ ( XIII) FINAL POINTERS ) \ / \--------------------/ - Go with whatever suits your playstyle. - Test out your deck thoroughly before saying its > all - The key to making a good deck is simply through levelling up. - If you�re stuck on a boss, don�t be afraid to change your deck around. Different bosses require different strategies. - And finally, have fun with the game. There is no pressure whatsoever to have the ultimate deck, because you can�t even pit it against another deck. /---------------------------\ / \ ( XIII) FINAL WORD AND THANKS ) \ / \---------------------------/ Alright, so we�ve reached the end of this guide. I had a good time writing this, so if you have anything you want to say, send it to me at this address: pea_soup_owns_you(at)hotmail(dot)com Feel free to send in your own tips to deck building, as right now this only shows my point of view. If you�re going to flame me for saying raids are the best archetype, I�ll flame you right back for saying they aren�t. As for thanks, here they are: My parents for getting me this awesome game CJayC for starting GameFAQs SBAllah for continuing it after Ceejus� departure And any of my readers. Till next time! --- EOF ---