Game:Young Xehanort

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Young Xehanort is an optional boss in the North American, PAL, and Final Mix versions of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. His boss battle is unlocked when the player defeats Vanitas Remnant, then returns to the Land of Departure on a save file in which it is still accessible. Despite this odd situation, his scene is within canon, and is considered to occur at the save file's point in the story. Defeating Xehanort grants the player a unique Keyblade named "No Name", but he can be refought by leaving Land of Departure and then returning.

Young Xehanort is also the penultimate boss of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, battled by Riku as he desperately tries to save Sora from Master Xehanort.

Abilities

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Young Xehanort has a variety of powerful attacks, all of which can defeat the player instantly if unprepared. However, nearly all of these attacks can be blocked or dodged with practice.

• Ethereal Blade short combo: Attacks with three quick strikes.
• Ethereal Blade long combo: Attacks with an extended sword combo.
• Dash attack: Transforms his blades into a spear and dashes forward, then flips backward.
• X wave: Jumps back and releases an X-shaped shockwave from his blades that tracks the protagonist.
• Spear orbs: Summons several orbs that fire spears of energy at the protagonist from every direction. This attack can continue during the Unknown's other attacks.
• Sonic attack: Quickly darts around the battlefield, knocking the protagonist high into the air when he hits them.
• Whirlwind: Summons a tornado that scatters the protagonist's deck commands when it hits them.
• Vanish: Becomes invisible, and cannot be locked-on - though it is still possible to track him via his blades, which are only visible when he attacks.
• Raging Storm: Summons three vortexes of flame around himself and hovers around the battlefield. The flames stun the protagonist when they hit them. In later phases of the battle, he will combine raging storm with some of his other abilities, usually his Long Combo.
• Summon copies: Summons four copies of himself to overwhelm the player. Each of them share his abilities, excluding vanish, and there is no set pattern to their attacks. However, the copies can be easily destroyed with a clean hit.
• Mega Flare: Summons a huge sphere of flames that explodes, inflicting massive damage and sometimes igniting the protagonist.
• Meteor: Summons a meteor to fall on the battlefield and explode.
• Doom: Fires a web of energy at the protagonist and starts a five second countdown. The player must rapidly tap to end the attack, and if the countdown reaches zero they are defeated.
• Collision Magnet: Leaps into the air and casts out a lasso of energy that snares the protagonist and pulls them toward him for a quick slash. In the Final Mix version of the game, Xehanort's collision magnet was weakened to make it easier to dodge.
• Renewal Barrier: If the player attacks him head-first without an opening, or attacks constantly with a long combo, he will parry the player's attack and recover a bit of health.
• Time reversal: At any random moment when the player deals damage to him, he could potentially stop and reverse time to the precise moment before the player hit him. As soon as time is restored, he uses one of his other attacks before the player can react.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Xehanort employs two different phases in this fight, both which make use of his time manipulation abilities and fast strikes. If unprepared, each of his attacks are capable of inflicting serious damage and cumbersome status effects.

Phase 1

• Wild Arcanum (ワイルドアルカナム, Wairudo Arukanamu): His first basic attack. He spins his Keyblade in 180° several times, inflicting high chip damage.
• Finish (フィニッシュ, Finisshu): Transforms his Keyblade into a whip, jumps up then swoops down and attacks. Deal low damage, but knocks Riku back.
• Whip Wave (ウィップウェーブ, Wippu Wēbu): Transforms his Keyblade into a whip and attacks three times. Each swipe fires an energy wave, dealing additional damage.
• Flash Liner (フラッシュライナー, Furasshu Rainā): He transforms his Keyblade again into a whip, and changes its shape to something of a cage trapping Riku inside, where if he cannot dodge out of it, is bombarded with spear orbs.
• Guard Impact (ガードインパクト, Gādo Impakuto): Blocks Riku's frontal attacks and retaliates.
• Zero Shot (ゼロショット, Zero Shotto): Scatters a burst of Dark Projectiles. His version always inflicts Riku with a Slow status effect.
• Teleport Lock (テレポロック, Terepo Rokku): Will frequently teleport around the battlefield. He can do this mid-combo as well, causing Riku's attacks to miss while simultaneously acting as attack cancels for him.
• Time reversal: Once his health is reduced to 1, he will stop time and teleport to the center of the area, summoning a large clock. The player has about a one-second window to trigger a Reality Shift to break the spell and continue onto Phase 2. If the attack is not broken, Xehanort resets time - and the battle - back to the start of Phase 1 with 1/3 of his max health.

Phase 2

• Wild Dance of Twin Blades (2刀流乱舞, 2 Katana-ryū Ranbu): Every single one of his attacks is executed via two clones attacking simultaneously (the real Xehanort being inside the clock).
• X Blade (Xブレード, X Burēdo): The clones simultaneously fire an X-shaped shockwave that track Riku.
• Raging storm (レイジングストーム, Reijingu Sutōmu): The clones surround themselves in three vortexes of flame and chase down Riku.
• Time reversal: The player must destroy defeat Xehanort within the clock at the center of the area, which is continually counting down. The time allotted is dependent on both game difficulty and damage dealt. If the clock isn't destroyed before the time is up, Xehanort resets time - and the battle - back to the start of Phase 1.

Strategy

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Young Xehanort is a powerful boss and one of the strongest enemies in the game. His attacks are varied and hard to predict, similar to those of the Lingering Will. Not only is he immune to all status effects, but he has a great deal of HP as well. The boss is very swift, with his attacks generally reducing the protagonist's HP to 1. Xehanort is also adept in defense; he can turn mostly invisible, although he can still take damage and can be located due to his faint shimmer, and he sometimes rewinds time after taking damage, allowing him to recover some of his lost HP.

As Xehanort's HP dwindles, he goes even further on the offensive. He will often start one of his long-duration techniques, then continue to attack with different techniques while the first one is playing out. Xehanort will also clone himself, creating four copies that can attack and move independently of the Xehanort. His most frustrating tactic is to snare the protagonist with his Collision Magnet, then immediately follow it up with another Collision Magnet, a sword combo, or a Whirlwind to the Void, none of which he/she is given the chance to avoid, resulting in an immediate game over (although there are very rare occasions in which the protagonist can escape before Xehanort strings together another attack). Collision Magnet can be avoided easily by simply dashing towards Xehanort when he jumps in the air, and also seems to be canceled if Xehanort pulls the protagonist up against a wall.

Xehanort will attack whenever an opening to do so presents itself, but it is easy to heal safely by simply dashing far away from him first with either Slide, Dodge Roll, or Cartwheel. It is also somewhat easy to guard against his attacks by mashing , so the protagonist can also heal by using Renewal Block or Renewal Barrier. Because Xehanort leaves little time for the protagonist to act, it is unwise to use any advanced or ultimate commands, as they take too long to fire and reload. Shotlocks are also good options, but Xehanort likes to evade the targeting reticule, and can often evade damage midway through by using its Renewal Block, which will also heal him. If the protagonist decides to rely on Shotlocks, they should stock many Elixirs in order to make sure their Focus Gauge never runs out. D-Link's are also ill advised, as Xehanort may turn invisible in response. Finally, the Keyblade and Finish Command equipped are not very important, as Xehanort leaves no time for Keyblade strikes. The protagonist's Keyblade should be chosen only for its stat boosts, preferably towards the Attack stat.

The safest and simplest way to defeat Young Xehanort is to simply use a deck of 2-4 Cure-type commands, and fill the rest with Thunder Surge commands. Although Fire Surge is equally effective as a command, the Thunderbolt Command Style, triggered by the Thunder Surges, has an easier time hitting Xehanort than Firestorm does. A good way to set the deck is to have Thunder Surge, Cure, Thunder Surge, Cure and so on, so that both commands are easily accessible and it also helps with not needing to cycle through commands that are reloading. With this deck, the protagonist can basically use Thunder Surge over and over, even when Xehanort is invisible, damaging Xehanort if they hit him and often knocking him out of his combos. The protagonist should make sure to use Thunder Surge so that he goes through Xehanort and winds up a short distance past him, rather than next to him, but should dash away instead if Xehanort is right next to the protagonist, as Thunder Surge has a tiny but noticeable start-up lag. Thunder Surge can even be used as a pseudo-dash in order to avoid Xehanort's techniques, like his Collision Magnet. If the protagonist is ever hit by an attack, he should immediately start dashing away, normally, and heal with Cure as soon as he is clear from Xehanort. Ventus can also use Wingblade, which allows him to hit Xehanort with a combo of Keyblade attacks that he can't easily break out of. Even after setting up a working deck and overall strategy, victory against Xehanort relies primarily on luck, due to his penchant for using unavoidable, instant-death combos.

In the HD 2.5 ReMIX version, the difficulty of the boss fight is slightly toned down. Though he is still as lethal as in the original version, the major difference is that the player can now escape after being ensnared by the Collision Magnet attack by air dodging before the second attack, therefore avoiding the aforementioned lethal combos that previously had no escape in the original version.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

To provide for defense, Riku should equip Dark Barrier, Dark Roll, Counter Aura, Leaf Bracer, Second Chance, Once More, and Slow Block. His Command Deck should include homing attacks like Balloonga, Firaga Burst and Dark Firaga, as well as powerful attacks like Dark Aura, Dark Splicer, Meteor Crash and Shadowbreaker, and healing commands like Curaga. Also, make sure to have two Spirits that have healing commands, like a Meow Wow, a Komory Bat or even a Lord Kyroo.

Young Xehanort is an aggressive fighter and it can be difficult to score hits on him as he can trap Riku in a flurry of combo attacks that rapidly drain his health. Dark Barrier followed by Counter Aura is an effective way of damaging him, although keep in mind that some of his attacks are not easy to block and should be evaded using Dark Roll or Shadow Slide. He can do, in Critical Mode, run to Riku (or not) and do a violent combo followed with an aerial combo which can rapidly put Riku to 1 HP and Game Over if not blocked or evaded in time. If Xehanort tends to warp away from projectiles and attack commands but it is possible to use them against him when he pauses to launch his own ranged attacks, leaving him open for a combo. If he teleports away from you, he will shoot dark projectiles at Riku, therefore, defend with Dark Barrier near or far away from him, or dodge continually. If they hit Riku, they will inflict Slow, so quickly cure it with Esuna (your spirits can have this command) or a Panacea if Slow Block is not equipped. He can also summon giant ice blocks that must be blocked or dodged. Get ready to move closer to him when he prepares the attack, block the ice blocks and use Counter Aura in front of him. Make sure to watch how he warps around the arena, because it will signal which attack he'll use, and it gives Riku enough time to use a powerful attack such as Dark Aura. If timed carefully, Dark Aura will keep hitting Xehanort and stops his movements for a while, dealing heavy damage, you can also continue with Firaga Burst, Baloonga, etc which can, with your spirit's attacks, stick Xehanort for a while and do massive damage. But if Xehanort is too much damaged, he will transform his Keyblade into a shield and if Riku hits it, Xehanort will use a counter attack. If he teleports up and falls, he will whip Riku multiple times. Get ready to block or to Shadow Slide when he reaches the ground. If Xehanort teleports constantly from right to left, he's about to charge at Riku. He will teleport like this twice, and once he warps the fourth time, get ready to block or use Shadow Slide. But if he's a fair distance away, he'll start teleporting from side to side again, but gradually getting closer. When he does that, get close to him as he does. After he teleports the third time in this manner, use Dark Barrier near him to block the lasers and use Counter Aura in front of him or, if possible, Shadow Slide and Shadow Strike to attack and stop Xehanort's attack.

Once Xehanort's health has been depleted to 1, he will freeze time and warp into the giant Clock that appears in the centre of the arena. Wait until the option to perform a Mirage Split Reality Shift appears. This will trigger the final stage of the battle. But the symbol for activate the Reality Shift will be there only less than one second and if Riku misses it, then Xehanort will rewind time to the beginning of the fight and regain some of his health (approximately two and a half life bars). His health will have to be depleted again in order to have another chance to perform the Reality Shift, but this next time, the symbol will be there longer than previously.

In the final stage of the fight, Xehanort remains inside the Clock which is now vulnerable to attack. Whilst he doesn't attack Riku directly, he creates clones of himself to defend the Clock. These clones are invincible but some of these can disappear if they are attacked and will attempt to swarm Riku with attacks that he used in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, including ethereal blade combos, launching X shape projectiles, and turning into fire tornadoes (Raging Storm-like). Whilst it is possible to block these attacks, it is safer to evade them, because blocking the latter two attacks will lock-out the clock. During the brief moments when no clones appear, the Clock is open to attack. If too much time passes (both of the hands on the clock strike 12), and Riku fails to destroy the Clock, Xehanort will rewind time to the start of the fight, therefore, hurry up when he definitively stops attacking you, because that means he will rewind time soon. You can also, if you are sure you can't do enough damage to finish him off in time, wait until he rewinds time because when Riku once again performs Mirage Split to trap Xehanort in the Clock, Xehanort will have less HP in this form as well. Multi-hit warping attacks such as Dark Splicer and Dark Aura can bypass the clones and take multiple health bars off of the clock, or even finishing it off if it's in its less HP form, but Riku can be attacked and projected by the next coming clones, especially those which use combos and fire tornadoes.

Due to the relentless assault of the clones, leaving little to no window of opportunity, another method would be using powerful commands like Firaga Burst while in midair. Releasing the commands at the apex of Riku's high jump will allow Riku to avoid most of the clones' attacks without interruption, with the exception of the "X" projectiles.

Video

Unknown—(Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Terra)	Unknown—(Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Aqua)	Unknown—(Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Ventus)
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Young Xehanort—(Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance)

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