| This article is about the enemy. You may be looking for the character. |
Vexen is fought as a boss in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. First appearing to Riku in hopes of recruiting him to help accomplish his goals, Vexen instead was defeated and obtained valuable combat data he would later use to test Riku and even Sora in the form of the Riku Replica. His "product of pure research" dubbed a failure by Marluxia, Vexen later appeared before Sora to prove himself and his strength to his traitorous fellow Nobody. He then craftily lured Sora to the memory-based Twilight Town for a second battle, hoping to ruin the rebellious Marluxia, Axel, and Larxene's plans to take over the Organization at the same time. This attempt led to Vexen's own elimination, however, at Axel's hand, the Nobody appearing to Sora a year after these events transpired as both an Absent Silhouette and a Data Replica.
Strategies
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
An easy way to defeat Vexen is by using sleights in quick succession. Blitz and Sonic Blade are powerful and do large amounts of damage. The Jafar card is very good to use in this fight, as it will prevent Vexen from breaking your attack cards. Make sure you also leave three or four zero cards at the front of your deck in order to break his sleights, Freeze and Ice Needles. Put some Cure cards at the back of your deck as well to be used in combination.
As for avoiding Vexen, keep moving. When Vexen says, "I shall freeze you!," start dodge rolling so he doesn't catch you in his ice block. When he slams into the ground, keep running to avoid the ice spikes that will follow you around the battlefield.
This battle can be very difficult, so just keep trying. The Jafar card can save you, however, as it will prevent Vexen from his annoying habit of breaking your sleights with his zero cards.
Vexen's deck contains exactly nine zero cards. Another possible strategy is slow but effective, Vexen has a tendency of using sleights and zero cards, but he will often times hold a sleight and the value of his three cards will be availably seen. When this happens, collect cards with a higher value to defeat that sleight and break all of Vexen's cards as to not attack first. This will defeat Vexen's strategy of just breaking your cards. Oogie Boogie's card is also very helpful in the second battle as well.
There is also another slow, but very effective strategy, which is to create a fire-based zero deck. Make a deck full of zeros, three high cards and many Fire cards. Don't attack yet, just evade his physical attacks and when he does a magic attack or sleight, counter with zero and cast Fire. When you are out of cards simply recharge and repeat the process. He will then slowly run out of cards and health. Do this and you will win in no time.
You can also make a Fire Raid (.png){kind=small}
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+ ) deck. Put at least seven Fire Raids, three Ethers and a Potion. Cure cards are also good here. Just stock all the cards except the items and smash 
continually.
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
Vexen appears as an Absent Silhouette and a Data Battle.
In this battle, Vexen wields his shield in front of him, preventing you from damaging him until you deplete the shield's HP bar. Vexen often throws spinning shields at you, which you can get rid of by guarding or reflecting. He will also conjure up pillars of ice, but this is easily avoided by dodge rolling. When you see snowflakes reflecting across the screen, use Reflect, so you don't become frozen and have to break out.
Vexen also has a data circle that follows Sora around; do your best to avoid it. When it gets to one, Vexen summons an Anti Form Sora, and can be troublesome. It then can go to 2, 3, 4, and 5, each time making a more powerful Anti Form. If your magic is high, use Reflect, and you will be able to kill it quickly.
Vexen's weakness is Fire. After you get his shield down, go into Final Form or Wisdom Form and attack repeatedly with Fire, though Master Form's Fire works better because of its thrust, making an easy attack-retreat knockout. It would be useful to use the Keyblade, Bond of Flame, to deal greater damage. When he summons his shield again, repeat the strategy.
Another strategy would be to load yourself, Donald and Goofy with ethers, go into Limit Form (after Final Form) and use the Sonic Blade as much as you can to destroy Vexen's shield and strike him as many times as possible. Doing this at the right moment will severely damage him, and if you're lucky, the Anti Form Sora he creates. But be careful not to leave yourself vulnerable to an attack, or the entire Sonic Blade will be lost.
During the battle with Vexen, it is extremely risky to change into a Drive Form, as it will send Sora into Anti Form. The reason is because Vexen can create his own Anti-Sora to battle for him, and also because this battle takes no attention of the hidden Anti Point counter that leads to Anti-Form.
Data Rematch
The battle against Vexen's Data Replica will flow quite similarly to the battle against his Absent Silhouette. The only differences will be the amount of HP the boss has and the pattern in which he uses his attacks. In short and aside from these minor differences, the battle against this Data Replica should not be difficult. All the player must do is recall the strategy used in the Absent Silhouette. Sora also should be of a relatively high level, using spells such as Curaga and Reflega, as well as Drive Forms and a powerful Keyblade such as the Ultima Weapon. Defeat Vexen's Data Replica, and a Lost Illusion will be obtained.
Deck Statistics
Card types
| Attack Card | Magic Card | Item Card A | Item Card B | Enemy Card A | Enemy Card B | Enemy Card C |
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Card values
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Sleights and attacks
| Attack | Description | Card |
| Shield Blow (シールドブロウ Shīrudo Burou) | Vexen slashes at Sora or Riku with the Frozen Pride, an icicle rising from below to damage them at the combo's end. | |
| Blizzara (ブリザラ Burizara) | Vexen sends a homing ice shard at Sora or Riku. | |
| Elixir (エリックサー Erikkusā) | Reloads all Attack and Magic Cards. | |
| Mega-Ether (メガエーテル Mega Ēteru) | Quickly reloads Magic Cards with no charge time and resets the Reload Counter. Even normally unreloadable cards are restored. | |
| Sleight | Description | Requirements |
| Ice Needle (アイスニードル Aisu Nīdoru) | Vexen channels his power into the ground, creating icicles that shoot up from below and attack Sora or Riku. | + +
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| Freeze (フリーズ Furīzu) | Vexen focuses his power on Sora or Riku, encasing either character in ice and coming in close to attack, dealing additional damage. | + +
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| Slide Break (スライドブレイク Suraido Bureiku) | Vexen elongates the bottom of the Frozen Pride, transforming it into a monstrous ice blade. He then slashes Sora with the empowered weapon numerous times before performing a downward slam, thus shattering the ice blade and reverting his Shield to normal. | + +
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| Diamond Dust (ダイヤモンドダスト Daiamondo Dasuto) | Vexen creates an ice storm that slowly deals damage to Riku and covers the entire battlefield. | + +
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Videos
| Vexen I - Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories | Vexen I - Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories |
| <youtube width="320" height="240">dtACwFWl7jw</youtube> | <youtube width="320" height="240">fHe48aY0pVc</youtube> |
| Vexen II - Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories | Vexen II - Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories |
| <youtube width="320" height="240">7byT_76RQRY</youtube> | <youtube width="320" height="240">N2b-sGMrc_s</youtube> |
| Vexen (Riku) - Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories | Vexen (Riku) - Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories |
| <youtube width="320" height="240">onAEvl0lnpc</youtube> | <youtube width="320" height="240">MpoQSrGAeJI</youtube> |
| Vexen Absent Silhouette - Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix | Vexen Data Battle - Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix |
| <youtube width="320" height="240">xg-sI1Xv5WU</youtube> | <youtube width="320" height="240">aYKKYFFpKjE</youtube> |