Optional Bosses

Kingdom Hearts Guide - Sidequests

Optional Bosses

Optional Bosses

Optional Bosses are, well, bosses that are optional. You don't have to fight them, and that's probably a good thing, as most are WAY WAY harder then any other enemy or boss in the game.

None of them appear until after at least Hollow Bastion, and several are pretty well hidden even then, to the point that you almost have to know what you're looking for.

We'll take a look at all of them, where they are, and how to defeat them!

Now, in Final Mix, there is one other optional boss fight. It takes place where you fought Dragon Maleficent. Your opponent is Unknown, and appears to be a member of Organization 13 from KHII. Like all of Final Mix's changes, this better sets the stage for KHII, as the original Kingdom Hearts has no mention of the Nobodies, but clearly they would have and did exist during that time.

=======================================================================
Kurt Zisa
=======================================================================

Kurt Zisa

HP    ATK   DEF   MPr   EXP
1500  42    34    64    20000

Item Drops: None

Resistance:
Weapon  Fire   Blizzard   Thunder   Gravity   Stop   Finish
* 1     * .5   * .5       * 1       * .04     * 0    * .5

Kurt Zisa, the monster of the desert. He was actually named after the winner of Square's “Kingdom Hearts: Name-in-game” sweepstakes.

A lot of people don't even know of this bosses existence, mainly because of where he is. Unlike the ?????? matches in the Coliseum or the fact that you cant land at the Clocktower in Neverland anymore, Kurt Zisa hangs out in the Desert of Agrabah. The only way to get there is to land at Aladdin's House and talk to Carpet.

--== When To Fight The Kurt Zisa ==--

Level 60-70 is usually pretty good. I was at level 65 and had a slightly hard time, mainly because I didn't prepare my party properly.

--== Where He Appears ==--

Kurt appears after you seal Hollow Bastion. Land at Aladdin's House in Agrabah and talk to Carpet. You'll be taken into a LARGE open area in the desert and dropped off.

==============
Preparing For The Fight
==============

--== Party ==--
Sora, Donald, Goofy. You don't want Aladdin. Donald's magic and Goofy's MP Gift is vital. 

--== Equipment ==--
Sora: Ultima Weapon, Crystal Crown, Omega Arts, Titan Chain, ect. You want everything and anything that increases your HP, STR, DEF and reach. MP isn't a problem for the most part.

Donald: Wizards Relic and every high-level MP equipment (Atlas Armlet, Ray of Light)

Goofy: His equipment doesn't matter as much. You do want a good attack shield (Defender, Herc's Shield) and any of your leftover HP/DEF/STR equipment.

--== Items ==--
Everyone should be stocked with high-level items for both HP and MP. Elixir's and Megalixirs might be a little overkill, but it wouldn't hurt to stock a few.

--== Abilities ==--
Sora: Dodge Roll, Second Chance, Jackpot, Combo Plus (all), Aerial Sweep, Air Combo Plus (all), Critical Plus (all), Treasure Magnet (all), MP Haste/Rage (all), Ragnarok

Donald: MP Haste/Rage (all). DO NOT equip Treasure Magnet. When he drops HP and MP orbs, you are the only one that REALLY needs them.

Goofy: MP Gift, MP Haste/Rage (all). DO NOT equip Treasure Magnet. When he drops HP and MP orbs, you are the only one that REALLY needs them.

--== Customize ==--
Sora: Thunder, Aero, Cure. Not negotiable.

Donald: regular attacks low, offensive magic high, defensive magic high, advanced magic low, items medium

Goofy: regular attacks high, special medium, shield medium, support high, items medium

==============
Fight!
==============

Kurt Zisa

Kurt has two attack phases: Orbs and Magic Shield. He cycles between them after you bash his head a bit. Unlike the other optional bosses however, there isn't a glaring “trick” to this fight. It plays out like most other boss fights in the game, with one major weakness you have to exploit in each phase.

Phase 1: Orbs
He always starts in this phase. It consists of him sealing your magic attacks with these two orbs he holds in his hands. The orbs are also his only weakness. You have to bash the orbs until they explode, dropping many HP balls.

His attacks are pretty standard during this phase, consisting of jumping around the field (use glide to catch up) and some basic slashes when you're close. Beware when the blades on his back start to spin, it means he's going to lunge forward a bit and hit you with them. This is the only attack in this phase that really hurts. Dodge roll away or behind him to dodge it. He does have one devastating attack during this phase: Cutter.

The cutter attack consists of him jumping into the air and spinning rapidly with his blades out. He then swoops down and rams you before flying back up and turning around to do it again. He spins either horizontal to the ground or vertical. The vertical one is easier to dodge by dodge rolling to the side. The horizontal spin is a bit harder, though you still just have to dodge roll and hope you're just barely out of range.

After the orbs are destroyed, he collapses to the ground, dazed. Target his head and attack. His head will move a bit, so watch out. Ragnarok comes in handy here to deal the most damage in the shortest period of time.

Phase 2: Magic Shield
During this phase, he surrounds himself with a magic shield. And, in the words of Uncle Chan, magic must defeat magic! The only way to bring down the shield, and the phase, is to hit it with magic spells. The most effective spell is Thunder, due to it having the highest power and being the easiest to hit him with. As much as he moves around, Blizzard and Fire often miss. If the shield takes some damage, it will drop some much needed MP balls.

His attacks in this phase are really nothing to be afraid of. He'll summon some fire orb randomly near him that explode after a second or two (just don't be near one), some tornadoes appear out of nowhere and home in on you (usually totally miss, and even if they hit they don't do much damage), and finally some magic orbs that tunnel underground and pop out at you. They do the most damage of any of these, and there's really nothing you can do about them.

Once the shield goes down, he becomes dazed again.

Repeat several times until he goes down.

End

=======================================================================
Phantom
=======================================================================

Phantom

HP    ATK   DEF   MPr   EXP
1200  42    34    100   9999

Item Drops: None

Resistance:
Weapon  Fire   Blizzard   Thunder   Gravity   Stop   Finish
* 1     * 1    * 1        * 1       * 0       * 0    * 1

The Phantom is one of the hardest fights in the game because of it's special conditions. He can only be hurt by a certain attack, depending on the color of the orb under his robe.

Red: Fire
Blue: Blizzard
Yellow: Thunder
White: Melee

And though he doesn't have many regular attacks (really just two), he is the only enemy in the game that can cast the Judgment spell (thank goodness). When cast, a countdown clock will appear above a characters head, and count down from 12. When it reaches zero, that character isn't just KOed but actually killed to the point you cant revive him till after the battle. The only way to stop this attack is to cast Stop on the clock tower itself, as the spell is bound to the clock hands.

The combination of these means you'll want to have as much MP as possible for this fight.

--== When To Fight The Phantom ==--

My recommended level for the Phantom fight would be at least level 70. I was on level 80 and still almost died a few times (it was my first time though, so I would assume with some practice you could get it down to level 70 or even 60).

The Phantom does not appear until after you seal Hollow Bastion, at which point you should be at level 50 or so anyway.

--== Where He Appears ==--

The Phantom appears at the Clock Tower in Neverland. You have to land in the Ship: Cabin and have Peter Pan in your party to talk to Tinkerbell in the corner. She'll ask you to go to the Clock Tower.

==============
Preparing For The Fight
==============

--== Party ==--
Your party should consist of Sora, Goofy and Peter Pan. Peter Pan is not an option, but I wouldn't take Donald anyway.

The reason you want Goofy is for his MP Gift ability, which we will customize so that he only uses it on you. The problem with Donald is he will spam all the wrong magic attacks, and Goofy wouldn't be in your party to use MP Gift.

--== Equipment ==--
Your equipment should maximize your parties MP.

Sora: Have the Ultima Weapon if you can. If not, then use Lady Luck. Use accessories that increase your MP as much as possible as well (Atlas Armlet, Rune Armlet, Crystal Crown, Ray of Light).

Goofy: Dream Shield as a weapon. Give him any of your left over MP equipment. You want his as high as possible as well, but for different reasons.

Peter Pan: Don't worry about him. He's just here to keep Donald away from your party.

--== Items ==--
Sora: At least equip all Mega-Ethers. I would also at least mix in a couple Elixirs if not Megalixirs.

Goofy: Set him with roughly the same as yours, only more Megalixirs for maximum effect, and so you don't have to worry about HP as much.

Peter Pan: Same as Goofy.

--== Abilities ==--
Sora: Unequipped anything that uses MP (Strike Raid, Ragnarok, ect) and any Combo Pluses you have. This is because the only time you can hit him with a melee attack is when his orb is white. Usually, when his orb is white, it will be white three times in a row. Your standard combo length is three hits, and your finisher on the third hit does twice the damage, if you have a Combo Plus, you wont ever hit him with a finisher.

Goofy: Equip MP Gift, and unequipped any MP consuming attacks (Rocket, Charge, ect). You don't want him using his MP on anything but MP Gift. You'll also want any MP Rage and Haste.

Peter Pan: Unequipped pretty much all of his abilities, but mainly the ones that use up MP. Again, you want MP Gift to be focused on you.

--== Customize ==--
Sora: You want Cure to be a magic shortcut. I would also put Blizzard and Thunder as a shortcut, as Fire is the closest to the top of the Magic Menu list, and isn't that hard to manually select. But, if you're used to another combination that involves this four spells, it might be better to use that instead, so you aren't fumbling and wasting MP.

Goofy: Set Regular Attacks to Frequently, Support Actions to Constantly, MP Items to Constantly, and everything else to Only in Emergency.

Peter Pan: HP and MP Items to Constantly, everything else doesn't matter.

==============
Fight!
==============

**Read this before the fight starts!**

Phantom

Strategy:
The Phantom attacks in rounds. Each round consists of you hitting his orb with the proper attack about three times. During each round, he will attack with standard slashing attacks that consist of charging you and slashing, jumping behind you and slashing, and circling around you suddenly stopping then slashing. During each attack, you can normally hit him with at least one counterattack of your own. Thunder is the easiest to hit with, provided he is close to you, Blizzard is easy if he charges, and Fire is the hardest because of it's finite spread, Melee consists of YOU charging HIM. It'll take a few tries to get the timing down.

Seeker Magic

Safe Place

After every two or so rounds, he'll fly to the clock tower and start a magic spell. When this happens, fly as fast as you can around the corner from him! He'll cast a seeker magic attack that will do a large amount of damage if it hits. The easiest way to dodge it is to be around the corner when he casts it, as it will run into the wall. The other way is riskier and consists of you attacking at the perfect moment to deflect it. If this attack REALLY gets to you, Aeroga can deflect it, but it will cost you MP which is why I advise against it. While you're hiding around the corner is a good time to cast Stop on the tower again. After two rounds, it's probably about to run out anyway.

STOP!

The last thing to worry about is his Judgment spell. At the start of the fight, immediately target the clock tower and fly down close to it. Select your Spot spell and wait. He'll cast Judgment very early on, so just sit and wait for the hands on the clock to start spinning rapidly. That's your cue to cast Stop. Keep an eye on the clock throughout the battle. Stop should last roughly two or three rounds, depending on how fast you are able to hit him. If you cant see the clock tower, then at least watch the partners head that had it cast on him, and as soon as you see the number move, rush to the tower and cast stop again.

Don't try to rush this fight. It's going to take some time, so just bare with it. 

End

=======================================================================
Ice Titan
=======================================================================

Ice Titan

HP    ATK   DEF   MPr   EXP
1500  46    46    70    5000

Item Drops: None

Resistance:
Weapon  Fire   Blizzard   Thunder   Gravity   Stop   Finish
* 1     * 2    * 0        * .5      * .04     * 0    * .5

The Ice Titan may look menacing, and he may be menacing the first time you fight him. He is definitely more menacing then his brother the Rock Titan, but is still a pushover once you know the trick. 

You don't win anything from beating the Ice Titan, and rightfully so honestly, it's not really an accomplishment. But, if this were Final Mix, you'd get a pretty cool Keychain:

Diamond Dust

--== When to Fight the Ice Titan ==--

You should be at level 50 or above. Any higher then 60 and it becomes ridiculously easy. By the time this match in unlocked, you should have every Keychain except for the Ultima Weapon, which really isn't needed. You just need something of reasonable size that is good at deflecting things, which means really any Keychain will do.

--== Where He Appears ==--

Ice Titan takes place in the Coliseum under the Gold Match. It is the first ??????? match after the Hades Cup. You fight him with Sora alone, Donald and Goofy do not come with. There is no other round in the Platinum match, no other enemy, and no time trial option.

==============
Preparing for the Fight
==============

Sora:
- Abilities don't really matter other then Guard. You MUST(!!!!!) have Guard equipped. Everything else doesn't matter. Aerial Sweep might be nice, but meh.

- You shouldn't really need items either, considering you'll save up a lot of your MP from not casting spell to use on Cure (you wont even use Aero).

- Equipment should maximize your Ice resistance. Don't worry about your STR stat, as you wont actually be attacking him much. It's a very defensive fight.

- Magic shortcuts should be set to Cure and MAYBE Fire if you feel like. It's not that big a deal. DO NOT (NOT) use Aero! Casting Aero will actually make him, not you, invincible.

==============
Fight!
==============

Ice Titan

Here we go. As soon as the battle starts, jump and run up into the stands. Lock on to the Ice Titan so the camera is always facing him. Now, find yourself a back corner and sit. Whenever he shoots icicles at you, block and send them back at him. That's all there is to this fight.

The reason for sitting up in the last row of the stands is such: Up in the stands, the shockwaves from his feet wont hit you, the ice spikes that come out of the ground are VERY inaccurate, and, most importantly, the ice blasts he shoots from his mouth (and later his hands) wont reach you all the way in the top row. The reason behind sitting in the corner is that sit anywhere else and the camera wont allow you to see the icicles coming.

Sure, the spikes will hit you from time to time, and later he'll start materializing ice balls to fall on you, but the damage they'll do is negligible to what you WOULD be getting hit with if you were to move. Cast cure occasionally to keep up.

After a few icicles hit him, he'll be dazed and bend down. You CAN glide over to him and get a few hits in, but it's not required and not recommended later on, as he'll recover to fast and will immediately use his ice breath. Just remember to NOT EVER cast Aero. His icicles will become larger and impossible to deflect, making this strategy and the entire battle impossible.

That, literally, is all there is to this fight. It is that simple. Don't you feel silly now for losing earlier? :P

End

=======================================================================
Sephiroth
=======================================================================

Sephiroth

HP    ATK   DEF   MPr   EXP
1800  46    46    70    18000

Item Drops: None

Resistance:
Weapon  Fire   Blizzard   Thunder   Gravity   Stop   Finish
* 1     * 0    * 0        * 0       * 0       * 0    * .5

Are you ready to fight the Soldier Commander?

Sephiroth IS the hardest boss in the game until you get his attack patterns down. Even then he ranks up there. This fight is hard because it requires actual thought and strategy, unlike the entire rest of the game which consists of “mash the X button -> heal -> mash the X button.”

You don't win anything from this fight. Now, if this were Final Mix, you would get a new Ansem's Report, and this awesome Keychain:

One Winged Angel

--== When to Fight Sephiroth ==--

The first time I fought him, and won, I was on level 90. That's a little bit of overkill, but it worked. In reality level 70-80 would probably be ok, and once you get the fight down you should be able to do it even at level 40-50.

--== Where He Appears ==--

Sephiroth appears at the Coliseum under the Platinum match. It is the second ?????? match after the Hades Cup. It will come available after sealing Hollow Bastion and completing the Hades Cup. You fight him with Sora alone, Donald and Goofy do not come with. There is no other round in the Platinum match, no other enemy, and no time trial option.

==============
Preparing for the Fight
==============

Sora:
- You want HP, DEF, and STR boosting equipment (Crystal Crown, Omega Arts, Gaia Bangle, Titan Chain).

- Your Keyblade should be no less then the Ultima Weapon, as you'll need something with the highest STR, longest reach, and it doesn't lower your MP.

- Item slots should be filled with Elixirs and, if you don't have enough, Megalixirs. Accept no less, because when you need to use one of these, you'll NEED to use one of these, mainly do to Descend Heartless Angel.

- Magic Shortcuts should include Curaga and Aeroga. He is immune to all magic-based attacks, so nothing else matters.

- Abilities: MP Rage, MP Haste, 1 (only 1) Combo Plus, 1 (only 1) Air Combo Plus, Ars Arcanum, Strike Raid, Critical Plus, Scan, Second Chance, Counterattack, Vortex, Blitz, Aerial Sweep, Glide. Except no less then this!

==============
Fight!
==============

Sephiroth

When you're ready, SAVE and choose the Platinum Match. Sephiroth fights in phases, unlike any other boss in the game, as his attack patterns change almost completely from phase to phase, without any real visual change. Because of this, it is very important that you pay attention to the bar color:

Bar colors: Invisible -> Purple -> Red -> Yellow -> Green

Sephiroth also has an “invisible” bar, that is, his HP is higher then there are bar colors, so your first several attacks appear to do nothing. He IS NOT invincible, so don't think so.

Beware of his ridiculous sword reach. His melee range is at least twice that of any other enemy in the game. This makes getting close to him very very hard.

Phase 1: Invisible -> Red

He uses his most basic attacks here: a simple horizontal swing, a charging swing, and one where he leaps forward, swings, then leaps back a few feet behind where he started. To get your blows in, jump up and glide to him. When he swings, continue gliding past him in anticipation that he will jump back to where he was, that's when he's most vulnerable. If he does, you should be in the perfect spot to attack. If he doesn't, at least you dodged the attack.

After he swings 3-5 times, he'll teleport away to somewhere on the field and use Flame Pillar. He summons three giant flame pillars around himself. If you hit him during the spell, he will re-cast it.

If you hit him after a regular sword swing, one of two things happens:
Hitting him once or twice will result in him casting Flame Pillar right there. Hitting him with 3 or more times, he'll teleport away in the middle of your combo, reappear behind you and swing. Once you see him teleport, JUMP to dodge the resulting counterattack.

Phase 2: Red -> Half-Yellow Call: Come On!

This is the hardest part of the fight, and the part most people never make it past. His attacks become more speed-based, moving so fast that even your lock-on has a hard time keeping up. His sword attacks remain mostly the same, only he likes charging you more and teleporting for no reason other then to get behind you. He still uses Flame Pillar occasionally, but not much. His primary attack, however, is Descend Heartless Angel (AKA Sin Harvest). He teleports to a corner of the arena, and draws an hourglass with his hand. A second later, a pink bubble appears around you and explodes, killing you. Literally. It drains all HP and MP. The only way to survive the attack is with Second Chance.

The trick to DHA is to hit him before he casts it. To do this, you use Strike Raid. As soon as he teleports, lock-on immediately. If, at that time, you hear “Sin” CAST STRIKE RAID! Too late, and the spell will go through anyway and you'll die. Timing it right, you can hit him with all the Raids and Judgment, which will do a lot of damage in a phase that's otherwise very hard to hit him. If you're too far away to use Strike Raid, get as far away as possible and be ready with an Elixir. As soon as you see the pink orb around you, use the Elixir a half-second later. What this will do is, DHA will nearly kill you, and the Elixir will then come out of the air and heal you almost instantly. If you wait too long to use the Elixir, it wont take effect until after Sephiroth comes up at light speed and cuts in half.

Another attack he adds is Omnislash. Omnislash consists of him leaping/gliding around the field doing 360 degree slashes like a mad man, and finishes with him pounding the ground and creating a string of geyser shockwaves. You'll see it coming when the stage turns dark. Cast Aero and dodge roll repeatedly away from him, being carful not to run into a wall.

During this phase, he also gives you some free shots every now and again by saying “come on!” and standing still for a second.

Phase 3: Half-Yellow -> Black Call: I will lead you to the promised land!

He teleports A LOT now, giving you very few chances to hit him, but his overall attacks seem weaker and he often appears right in front of you. His attacks are more spin-based, but though they have 360 degree range, he hold the sword close to him which cuts back on his horizontal range.

In addition to teleporting a lot, he leaves circles of dark energy balls wherever he appears. This balls hurt if you touch them, and more so can break a combo if you're about to hit him. There are so many that appear so fast, it's really hard to come up with a definite way to dodge them.

He does still use an upgraded, faster, longer version of Omnislash. Cast Aero when you see it coming (the stage darkens) and dodge roll repeatedly away from him.

It's also during this phase that he uses his most famous attack: Meteor Shower. Meteor Shower starts with him crouching in the middle of the arena with a black aurora around him. Several meteors will then come crashing down on the field. Dodge rolling usually gets you out of the way. As he raises up, the meteors will start to circle around him. Again, dodge rolling will avoid them for the most part, they don't do much damage anyway. Finally, in case you haven't noticed, he is forming a giant energy ball above his head. The small meteors will be sucked into a black hole thing, and he'll throw the energy ball at you. Dodge roll quickly behind him to avoid it, as it DOES hurt A LOT.

BE CAREFUL during this phase still, as it is rare, but he does still use DHA, and whats more he doesn't announce it anymore, you just have to be paying attention.

End