KH: CoM Any% (Sora's Story) Guide

= Introduction =

IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to recent discoveries and route changes, this page is slightly outdated. An update will be completed shortly.

Running Sora's Story requires a fair bit of improvisation, micromanagment, and good judgement. By running the game often and practicing, you can get a helpful sense for what kind of map card spreads and decks you can expect to get, but no two runs of this category will ever be identical in these respects. It is the purpose of this guide to outline general and specific strategies for gaining control of the random aspects of this game. For a number of reasons, explained below, the route we will use is:


 * Traverse Town (TT)


 * Olympus Coliseum (OC)


 * Monstro (MO)


 * Agrabah (AG)


 * Halloween Town (HT)


 * Wonderland (WL)


 * Atlantica (AT)


 * Neverland (NL)


 * Hollow Bastion (HB)


 * Twilight Town (TwT)


 * Destiny Islands (DI)


 * Castle Oblivion (CO)

Hundred Acre Wood is often placed before Atlantica or after Hollow Bastion, depending on your deck composition. Finally to bring up a common misconception, the cutscenes in this game are skippable by holding start. Any of the few FMVs throughout the game, however, are not.

The plot door requirements are below. It is essential that you either memorize this list or keep it on hand, as wasting a key map card is an easy way to throw away a run.

= Farming =

Over the course of the run, you will need to acquire ~150 map cards from random encounters to progress through the game. Traverse town's enemy composition makes it the quickest place to farm by far. Most of the ~150 can be accounted for by an average distribution of cards from Traverse Town's encounters, with a few exceptions. Because you cannot find blue cards as map card drops in Traverse Town, the following cards need to be found in other worlds:


 * 3 Calm Bounties (or other treasure providing cards) - You will need to learn sleights from treasure chests in Olympus Coliseum, Monstro, and Destiny Islands.


 * 2-3 Moogle Rooms (Route Dependent) - The first Moogle Room fills out the Raids Deck, the second fills out the Endgame Deck, and the optional third may be used to learn Thundaga after Larxene I


 * 2-3 Other Blue Cards (Route Dependent) - Door requirements for 7F, 10F, and 11F. 7F and 10F are often skipped using the Hundered Acre Wood, but should neither of these be skipped, you will need to hold onto 3 spare blue cards


 * The =1 Blue (The 1B) - At the very last Key to Beginnings Door in the game (often dubbed "The Gates of Hell"), you will be asked to provide a =1 Blue,an =3 red, and a sum of 99 value of cards. The 1B is the rarest card in the entire game, and one of the largest random factors. It should not be used in any situation other than opening the Gates of Hell.

In short, the easiest way to get blue cards is by farming enemies in the first world set with various elemental raids. Barrel Spiders, found in Olympus Coliseum, Monstro, Agrabah, Neverland, Twilight Town, and Destiny Islands by breaking barrels, are by far the easiest to eliminate quickly and consistently. Should you be pressed for blue cards late in the game, Twilight Town has the highest probability of dropping them.

The Consistent Route
Advantages:


 * Recommended for Beginners


 * Will often produce a decent deck for fighting future bosses


 * Produces a larger ball of map cards in the beginning of the game, which allows for easier decision making in the first few worlds

The single convincing disadvantage is this route's inability to get the 1B early on, which means a run can have wasted time fishing for it, or crash late game when one isn't found. The current SDA run uses the consistent route. Here are the steps:


 * Farm Traverse Town until you have ~80 map cards (Stop when you've cleared out the room in which you've gained your 80th card)


 * Farm Olypmus Coliseum until you get a Calm Bounty, then farm Olympus or Monstro until you get a 2nd Calm Bounty and a Moogle Room


 * Continue to farm barrel spiders in Monstro and Agrabah to hopefully get the rest of the blue cards you need.


 * If at any point you have the required blue cards and you need to farm, go back to Traverse Town to get more cards


 * If you find yourself strapped for blue cards, continue farming in Neverland and eventually Twilight Town until you have what you need.

The Risky Route
Advantages:


 * Potentially Faster


 * Potential to find the 1B in the first 30 minutes

Disadvantages:


 * Often sketchy deck coming out of Traverse Town (You shouldn't leave without blizzards, and you often leave without proper enemy card support)


 * New reset point about 45 minutes into the game if the 1B isn't found (harder to finish a run)


 * Needs a third Moogle Room

The current fastest time uses this route, and it should probably be used for serious record attempts. Here are the steps:


 * Farm ~30 map cards in Traverse Town (About 5 rooms of Teeming Darkness)


 * Farm Olympus until you get a Calm Bounty, defeat the bosses, and remain there. Farm Barrels for about 15 minutes and attempt to get the 1B (and the Moogle Room + Calm bounty you need for Monstro). If you don't find it, reset.


 * A runner that gets past this point can breathe a sigh of relief and finish collecting the remaining required blue cards (shouldn't take long)


 * Make your way through the first world set without using any important cards. Should you find yourself at a shortage of cards, farm Wonderland's enounters using blizzard raid rather than taking the time to go back to Traverse Town


 * After defeating Larxene I, go down to Wonderland, create a moogle room, and get 2 thunders from it. Then head to Traverse Town and use Thundaga to obtain the cards you need for the rest of the game

Tackling Traverse Town
Traverse Town is a huge section of the game, encompassing about 1/3 of the run's ideal time. Any small but consistent mistakes in your farming strategy will cause you to bleed a disproportionately large amount of time over the course of the run. The first step to an endeavor like this is knowing your enemy, so what follows is an in depth explanation of the types of encounters that appear, with my name for each of them for future reference.

Encounters that appear in Teeming Darkness Rooms:


 * "Solider-N": One Soldier spawns, followed by two red nocturnes which flank it. Based on your position (and rarely based on luck) the nocturnes can spawn on the opposite side of the field as a the soldier. The the soldier spawns on the left side of the field, you will often get this encounter. This is the only encounter where you often kill nocturnes last.


 * "Soldier-S": Similar in every way to Soldier-N except that the nocturnes are replaced with shadows. If the soldier spawns on the right, you have a high chance of getting this encounter


 * "Soldier-R": The last encounter that starts with an initial spawn of one soldier, and has an equal chance of appearing with a soldier start on either side. A second soldier will spawn, followed by a later spawn of two blue rhapsodies.


 * "Mad Magic": Initial spawn of two nocturnes, followed by a spawn of 2 rhapsodies in one of two possible positions.


 * "The Sandwich": Initial spawn of two shadows sandwiching you as the name suggests, followed by a soldier on either side of you, followed by a second soldier which spawns on either side of you.

Encounters exclusively found outside Teeming Darkness:


 * "Lucky": This encounter only has one spawn, and it's 3 nicely arranged shadows.


 * "Shadow-N": A nocturne spawns, followed by 2 shadows. These spawns are geometrically identical to Soldier-S


 * "Shadow-R": Two shadows spawn, one at the top of the screen, one at the bottom, followed by two rhapsodies spawning similarly.


 * "Bad": It is only possible to see this in meeting ground rooms, but there are at least 4 spawns and it contains every type of enemy. This is the number one reason to avoid farming in meeting ground rooms. Doing so is so easy, however, that I won't discuss strategies for beating this encounter.


 * "4 Shadows": This is another meeting ground exclusive. Its not so optimal either, so it's merely another reason to avoid farming there.

Most of your farming should be done in teeming darkness rooms for a number of reasons:


 * Each fully farmed Teeming Darkness room nets you 7 map cards when completed (not taking enemy cards into account), which is more than the net 4 other room types can boast.


 * The rate of enemy card drops in Teeming darkness rooms is double the normal rate of ~5%. The shadow, blue rhapsody, and red nocturne enemy cards are useful throughout the run. In any room, the enemy card that drops will always be of the same type as the last enemy you kill in an encounter.


 * Teeming Darkness rooms have a ton of objects which you can trigger for points and possible cards for your deck.


 * The encounter spread of these rooms is pretty good, and the sandwich is the only one you never want to see.

Dealing with Lucky, Soldier-N, Soldier-S, and Shadow-N:

You only need blizzara to deal with these. Move slightly down and 1 step toward the initial spawn, stock a blizzara, and wait for the second spawn. If it is one of these, fire off the blizzara and kill everything in one stroke. In the case of lucky, you don't have to move or wait, just stock the blizzara and shoot.

Dealing with Soldier-R:

This is why you wait in the previous case. If a second soldier appears after the first try and group them together. if they are already grouped, (50%) fire a blizzara and kill them both. Otherwise, hold you position, and one of the soldiers will try to attack you. Walk upward out of the way, and that soldier will overshoot, flinging himself right next to the other one (most of the time). Then fire the blizzara. Your goal is to kill them before the rhapsodies spawn. Once they do, combo them.

Dealing with the Sandwich:

You will have two blizzards, but ideally, you'll want to have a blue rhapsody enemy card or a third blizzard:


 * With Rhapsody: Activate the enemy card, and wait for the first soldier. Fire a blizzard at the one that spawns, and simultaneously kill the shadow on that side. Combo the other shadow before the second soldier spawns. When the second soldier spawns, kill it with the second blizzard. You may have to sleight it with 2 attack card to ensure your blizzard resolves if it has value 0-2.


 * With Blizzaga: Combo a shadow before the soldier spawns, then move in a circular motion around the group, bunching them together and stocking a blizzaga. When the third soldier spawns, attempt to hit both the soldiers with the same blizzaga. The shadow will likely go down as well, but if it doesn't, combo it.


 * If you have neither of these, use the blizzaga strategy, stocking a blizzara instead. This is suboptimal because it is much more difficult to get all the enemies with the smaller area of effect, and a main reason finding improvements to your deck early can be a boon.

Dealing with Shadow-R:


 * With Blizzaga: Take a step or two back and fire a blizzaga at the center. It will hit both of them simultaneously. Combo the rhapsodies.


 * Without Blizzaga: Use a blizzard on the bottom shadow, then move up and use one on the top and combo the rhapsodies. Alternatively, you can bet on the rhapsody spawn; there is a 50% chance that the rhapsodies will spawn such that one is in the same place as the top shadow. if you wait for the spawn and this is the case you can take the top shadow and rhapsody with the same combo and save a small amount of time.

Dealing with ANY Traverse Town encounter when you have thundaga:

Stock thundaga, wait for everything to spawn, then use it. It is possible to save a second on each encounter by risking missing the thundaga and anticipating the last spawn. If an enemy is slated to spawn during the time when the cards are moving from the stocked position to the field, they will. The will not spawn while thundaga is in effect, however.

This concludes the farming section. After a few runs, you'll have had enough practice with this that it will be automatic.

= Deck Editing =

The next important aspect of this game is the dynamic deck of abilities and attacks under your command. The route that speedrunners use thankfully takes a ton of card points upon leveling up, so you have almost unlimited freedom to build a powerful deck. The best defense in Chain of Memories is a solid offense, so good planning is required to avoid damage and time loss.

Quick Menuing
It can be a bit daunting to attempt a deck edit when you often have no idea what to expect from your spread. First, you should always pay attention to the cards you come across and remember exactly what you want to have. You will never be fast if you both don't know what you want and where you can find it in the stack. Oftentimes the fastest solution to radically changing a deck is making a new one. Remember to equip it, and don't make mistakes loading it up, otherwise you'll have to waste time changing things around. Sometimes the situation will call for a deck edit that isn't large. In this case, start by removing the cards you don't want, then make holes corresponding exactly to the cards you want to put in. Be diligent, and be sure not to make a mistake when loading your cards. Remember:


 * You can select a card twice to make blank space to the left of it, and select a blank space twice to remove it.


 * You can switch cards with blank spaces


 * Keep in mind that your deck is often multiple reloads long, build it with the second or third reload in mind.


 * Mixing enemy cards in with the rest of your deck can be confusing


 * Well built combos: Avoid using kingdom keys to attack when you can. Second and third world set keys are in general better than first world set ones. Crabclaw, Three Wishes, and Olympia (slower swing speed than Three Wishes) are combo finishers, Oathkeeper is second hit, Divine Rose is first hit, and everything else can go in either of the first two hits.

Your First Deck
What you have:


 * A random blizzard (from the first barrel, not in your deck)


 * 7, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 0 Kingdom Keys


 * 5 Blizzard


 * 6 Potion


 * 7 Cure

Your first edit: (must be done ASAP!)


 * Double select the 7 twice to move it over two slots


 * Press R, and add the blizzard you just got


 * Press L and move down to remove the 2, 1, 1 from the deck. Getting cardbroken is not a good idea


 * Press B, Move the 5 blizzard to the front, move the 0 to the back, and fill in the remaining 5 spaces by double selecting them.

What you want to edit in over the course of the first farming session:


 * Any Kingdom Key above 4 should replace the lowest card in your deck when you get it


 * Any 0 Kingdom key you get should be added to the back before you fight Gurad Armor


 * Add the first blue rhapsody in when you get it. The rest should be added in before you fight Guard Armor


 * Any blizzard you get should be added when you get it

What you want to leave Traverse Town with:


 * 3-4 (Preferably 4) Blizzards


 * Your 8 highest attack cards


 * The same potion and cure


 * Whatever 0s you have (you don't ever need more than 3)


 * An Elemental Boost Enemy Card (Preferably a Rhapsody)

What to do in Olympus Coliseum:


 * When you obtain blizzard raid, move your blizzards to the first column, switching them with the attack cards that are there.


 * Continue updating your attack cards if you can

The Raids Deck
This is the deck you create after your first trip to the moogle room. Depending on how much you edited the first deck and moogle pack luck, you may fin that the attack cards in deck one are horribly out of date. If so, make a new deck. Otherwise, it may be faster to make 3 spaces before the first card, remove the blizzards from your deck, and make 4 new rows before the potion

What you should have:


 * 3 or more Cloud


 * Some assortment of Blizzard and Fire cards


 * Some assortment of usually high value Kingdom Keys and usually low value Wishing Stars and Olympias


 * The same (or a higher value) potion and cure


 * Some number of enemy cards, hopefully at least one Elemental Boost

Deck Structure:


 * Up to 8 raids, and hopefully that many. Fire raids should come first to strike at Parasite Cage, Hook, and Vexen's Weaknesses.


 * Keep the ratio of Fire to Blizzard raids 1:1 if you have fire and blizzard boost, ~1:3 or 1:7 if you only have blizzard boost and ~3:1 or 7:1 if you only have fire boost.


 * Keep the raid value sums as high as possible and always keep them above 10. That said, it is better to have a few really good raids and a few with a sum of 11 or 10 than to keep all of them at around 15, say.


 * Value is more important than attack card type!


 * Order the raids from highest to lowest sum


 * Keep the potion and cure in if you can, but if CP is tight, ditch the cure


 * As many clouds as you can throw in such that each omnislash you use is above 10. (incrementor can help with this if you've got it!) More Clouds will save you time.


 * As many 0s as you can throw in


 * Hopefully a nocturne, followed by hopefully a rhapsody, followed by optionally shadows.

The Berserk Deck
Make a new deck for this one. What you have is the same as for the raids deck You make and equip this right before fighting Jafar

Deck Structure:


 * Your 3 highest Blizzards (for getting Jafar's trick card)


 * Your most well built combos. You'll probably have enough for 1-2 decent ones. Use the best attack cards regardless of value.


 * Your highest kingdom keys. You'll probably want to have a total of 4 combos in your deck.


 * 2-3 Potions (one is ok too)


 * An omnislash above 10


 * The 7 cure (not higher!)


 * whatever 0s you have


 * The Hades Enemy Card

The Halloween Town Edit:


 * Take out the blizzards and clouds


 * If your front 2 combos are very good, it may be useful to move the potions up


 * make sure last 3 cards can break 7s (The 7 cure and 2 0s should suffice)

The Raids Deck: MkII
Immediately after you level up, switch back to your raids deck. At some point before you fight Ursula, you should make these changes. Editing the deck before Larxene I can save time on her depending on your composition(more clouds, higher value magic cards), but depending on your route, you might want to

hold out until after you open up the moogle room right after Larxene and get more attack cards from it. You might skip 9F and get the elixir. If you do, then make this deck edit then.

Here's what you do:


 * Take out the clouds, make space at the top, and throw them in when you put the attack cards in.


 * Prioritize Attack card type over value, but don't drag your raid sums below 10. Delete enough cards at the front to build 1-3 good combos.


 * If your back end raids are suffering, replace them with the high cards you just took out (in the same edit of course)


 * Make sure you have at least one cure at the a back of your deck. If you have the elixir, this is where it goes, followed by 2 cures.


 * Ideally, 2-3 0s


 * (Incrementor if needed) followed by elemental boosts, followed by parasite cage, followed by hades

Before Vexen, take out all of your blizzards, and put in as many fires as you can, no matter how low they are. Adjust attack cards to compensate if need be.

The Endgame Deck
This is the deck you make after your second moogle room, taken in Destiny Islands. It is strong against the next few bosses.

Deck Structure:


 * Your highest Omnislash (hopefully it's 13+)


 * 2-4 high valued (15+) Judgments (Aero + Attack + Attack)


 * Elixir + 2 highest cures


 * Mega Ether + highest Potion + next highest cure


 * If you somehow found more elixirs and mega ethers in barrels or something, put them here (appropriately sleighted)


 * Whatever Clouds you have left


 * Around 3 0s


 * One blank slot, followed by 1-2 incrementor, followed by Parasite cage

Before Riku IV, put Darkside in the blank slot.

Before Larxene II, remove Darkside and put in Riku Replica.

Before Axel II, if you have 3-4 very high value judgments (~17+) take out the aeros and incrementors and put in an equal number of blizzards and as many rhapsodies as you can. (max of 1+elixirs+mega ethers.

It is often faster to make a new deck with:


 * 3-4 of your highes valued blizzard raids


 * the same elixir/mega ether/0 base as before


 * a few rhapsodies followed by Riku Replica

Then revert (one way or another) back to the old endgame deck when the fight is finished.

The Berserk Deck: MkII
This is the deck you use to kill Marluxia II

Deck Structure:


 * 3-5 Attack cards that can break an 8 (0s and 8s are acceptable)


 * Your 2 most well built combos. Remember, you have an Oathkeeper to use for a second strike. Divine rose is the best first strike, followed by Oblivion, followed by Fairy's Harp, followed by Lady Luck. Crabclaw is the best combo finisher, followed by Three Wishes, followed by Olympia. If you can fit more, great! But don't put lackluster combos in, it's not worth it.


 * Your 3 highest potions


 * 2-3 cures (preferably ones that can break an 8


 * Genie Jafar


 * Hades


 * Card Soldier


 * Dragon Maleficent


 * Hook

= General/Boss Strategies =

This section will go over the overall route and your plan for each boss. It will assume you are using the risky route outlined above (the casual speedrunning section will touch on the consistent route and it's differences) I will touch on the map card management strategies here as well, but that will be explained in more depth in the game mechanics section

Level up plan:


 * Take exactly 1 HP upgrade before Agrabah (doesn't matter when)


 * Other than this, you should only take CP before Ursula


 * After defeating Ursula, Use the ~2 levels you get before Hook to level HP (so you can survive a sleight)


 * After this, resume taking CP until you hit ~850, then alternate between HP and CP (adjust as needed if your deck is particularly expensive)


 * Finally, when your CP hits 1000, you can comfortably take HP the rest of the way

Traverse Town
Map Card management:


 * Try to use as many Teeming Darknesses as possible without trapping yourself or wasting cards


 * Don't open the Key to Beginnings door before you're confident in your deck composition. Adding Simba to the possible card pool can cut into the number of blizzards you obtain from object triggers.

Boss: Guard Armor


 * Trick Cards can be obtained by cardbreaking (CBing) him, with a random drop chance per break. The effect of the trick card is to make him collapse for about 10 seconds. Often, the arms land in a position that will allow you to hit 2-3 at a time, and the torso will land in a place where you can hit it with magic/goofy


 * You can fire a blizzaga at all 4 limbs without a trickcard if you stand facing the torso and are confident he wont move (CBing helps)


 * 2 blizzard boosted blizzagas will take out all 4 of the limbs. It is thus recommended to leave TT with a rhapsody and at least 4 blizzards


 * Comboing the torso is often the best strategy, but if you get a trick card and have at least a blizzara, using the trick could be worth your time.


 * Guard Armor's cards rarely go above 6, but he's been known to use 7s. With your average deck, you shouldn't worry about a CB.

Boss: Axel I


 * Sleights, Fire Wall: Axel yells ha-HA, and produces a very slow wall of fire. Not only is this his only sleight, but it is also extremely easy to detect and set up on. You want this to resolve, so it is advised so stay below Axel. Once he uses it, move out of the way and stock blizzards if you've got them. If you are above him, the fire wall spawns in front of you, then dissipates.


 * If you're feeling risky, you can try just CBing his normal attacks with a blizzaga/ra. He can be jumpy, though, and annoyingly only moves in teleports.


 * He doesn't have much health, so if need be, whacking at him with physical attacks isn't so much of a time loss. The blizzards from TT are more important for Guard Armor


 * Two appropriately boosted Blizzard sleights usually kills him or comes close. With good luck, the fight can be under 30 seconds in length.

Olympus Coliseum
Map Card Management:


 * This world is small, so use multiples here if possible


 * You don't need to open the topmost room, you spawn there after Cloud's fight.


 * Don't restrict your options too much, as you will have to spawn a Calm Bounty


 * Use sleeping darkness, stagnant space, and other barrel producing rooms for the maximum chance at optimal encounters and deck improvements


 * Open the Key of Beginnings room after clearing the opening barrels, then clear them again


 * Open the other two Plot Doors only after you've learned Blizzard Raid

Boss: Cloud


 * Sleights, Cross Slash and Omnislash: The former is a long 3 hit combo, the latter, an epic 3 hit diving combo. Both take a while to execute and you should have 0s ready (especially for omnislash). If you dodge roll away from Cross Slash quickly enough, you may be able to break it with an optimal raid.


 * Depending on how many hits your raids connect with, Cloud will die in 2-4 raids


 * Act fast and cardbreak often, as many of Cloud's attacks will force him to move closer to you.

Boss: Hades


 * Sleight, Temper Flare: This sleight turns hades into "berserk" Hades, who flares red, has altered attacks, and access to the firaga ball sleight. This is a VERY quick to execute sleight. Get your trigger finger on your 0s or raids, because if you don't break this within a half second of its cast, then you're in for a world of hurt


 * Sleight, Firaga Ball: Only available in "Berserk" mode, firaga ball will not hit you if you're close to Hades. If you're far away, however, it is easy to break this with a raid if you're quick


 * Most of this fight is using blizzard raid to shred through his health. It takes ~8 total raid hits to kill him. This means that 4 hit raids are optimal, but if he's not cooperating and letting you get a decent distance from him, fire a couple of close ones to get the free 2 hits. It is preferable to throw them at a close wall when you do this, so the raid doesn't take a long time to return.


 * Good opportunities to gain distance include use of temper flare, firaga ball, and the "berserk" yellow attack (Hades shoots fire continuously from his hands) assuming you don't get caught in the blast

Monstro
Map Card Managment:


 * Use a low card for the first room so that you can backtrack to the entrance with a moogle room


 * You'll need to use a Calm Bounty as well, so again, try to make your run of 4 cards low to prevent a future waste of cards or travel time.


 * Obviously, you life is made easier by entering the world with an extra Calm Bounty or Moogle Room. If you have the Bounty, try to put it in the last room if possible.


 * Again, sleeping darkness is preferred here, as barrels are present in Monstro. optimally placed, you should naturally be breaking 8 rooms worth of barrels with all the backtracking you have to do.

The first moogle room can cause a lot of grief because of the randomness of a pack's contents. Open your free attack card pack, and if it contains at least 2 cards worth using, save your progress to simultaneously keep the pack's rewards and save time on future resets. If you need to sell cards to get 800 moogle points, this is the time for that was well. Your primary goal here is to acquire the 2 clouds you need for an omnislash; secondary to this is the need for enough raw magic and attack cards to supply 8 decent raids. Its up to your standards how long you're willing to reset here, but a single omnislash can save a ton of time throughout the rest of the game (up to a minute on many upcoming bosses) improve farming consistency, and set you up nicely for a good endgame deck (which can save 10 minutes on its own!) so don't feel that you have to get it on the first try.

Boss: Parasite Cage


 * Trick Card: The requirement for this boss is to hit it with its mouth open. To open its mouth, use a fire attack on the boss. A well timed fire raid should open the mouth on the forward arc and hit it again when it returns, rewarding you with a trick card from a single attack. The trick card temporarily gives you freedom of movement over the acid, which can be very helpful in lining up and firing a few raids.


 * The Parasite Cage can commonly bust out some high valued cards,(it is not uncommon to see a few 8s and 6s ruin your day) and its attacks change based on your position. When you're close, the tendril slam attack is fast enough that a cardbreak will almost always result in you getting hit. When you're far away, the laser charging attack is optimal, as it allows you to set up. The long range body slam, though uncommon, is fast and high damaging. For these reasons, it is often not very profitable to attack with physical attacks.


 * Your main source of damage is boosted fire and blizzard and raids. It is very important to land more than two hits with a few raids to kill him before you run out of resources. However, PC's hitbox is very oddly shaped and finicky, and finding where to stand can be troublesome. Again, the trick card helps here, and if you find a good spot, time a jump well to land on the back stone when it reappears, then quickly throw a raid. if done correctly, you will have kept your good footing.

Key to Truth Room: Keep your potion for this. The whale gauge increases per enemy killed in an attack, up to a low maximum value. It is important to stay near the center and throw raids at the closest wall, so that it hits a few enemies, hits the wall, and quickly rebounds. Aim is not as important as speed, as long as you keep the gauge from dropping by clipping one enemy, you should be ok. Your Cloud cards at the end are more useful as singletons than as an omnislash. When you run out of raids, use the Clouds and your potion to finish strong. if you're using regular attacks, try to keep a rhythm going. Make sure that the killing blow to an enemy brings the next one to half health.

Agrabah
Map Card managment:


 * This world is very similar to Olympus in shape and also contains barrels, so sleeping darkness rooms, preferably multiples, are best.


 * Don't worry if you're running out of barrel producing rooms here. Starting to use Feeble Darkness rooms here is better than dipping into your 0s, high cards, or saved cards.


 * Open the Key to Beginnings door right away, but be sure you're set up to take damage before the Key of Guidance door.

Preparing for the Berserk gauntlet:

You will usually be level 15 upon entering Agrabah. You should farm here, running from encounters with too many green requiems, and keep track of your experience. Once you gain a level, don't collect any more experience! Run away from the fight and open the key of guidance door. Kill the shadows right away, and launch a raid or two to thin the rest of the encounter. The fat bandit will usually be left alive, as it barely survives 2 hits of a boosted raid. Ideally, fewer than 2 bandits are also alive. Anticipate their attacks and take as much damage as quickly as you can while stocking a raid or omnislash. The fat bandit's fireball is stronger than its sideswipe, and the bandit's ground slash is stronger than its spinslash. Once you are on flashing red, kill the rest of the encounter with your stocked sleight. Avoid as much of the experience as you can, then proceed directly to Jafar.

Boss: Jafar


 * Trick Card: To obtain a trick card, shoot a blizzard at his chest. A blizzaga has an amazing vertical area of effect, and will reach his chest from the bottom level platforms, lower levels of blizzard magic must be shot from the mid level, but will hit if a clear shot can be made from the center. You open the fight on the ground facing Jafar, so the first thing to do is break his attack with a blizzaga, then watch for where the platforms move.


 * Iago always starts on the left, and there is a good chance you'll be brought up there with him after the first attack. Activate Berserk and whale on him. If after two combos, your following kingdom keys are high enough, you can keep up the assault and hope Jafar runs a pitiful attack into your higher cards. If you can prevent a card of his from hitting the field, then you can keep the good platforms around for a little while longer.


 * Zeros and Clouds are a failsafe. Sometimes Jafar's attack gets through, and you need to be quick on the draw. Omnislash will always hit exactly twice, and can help you get the last chunk of damage in witout have to wait for platforms.


 * Don't be itchy on the trigger finger with your tick card. Use it if you get trapped on the ground or worse, in a pit. Once you resolve one in the second half of the fight, you will probably have enough time to finish it.


 * Don't heal, and be wary of Jafar's laser attack: it's probably the only attack of his that can kill you. Like with every other boss, you can't let the experience despawn, so pick it up and hopefully you won't gain a level. This is critical for the next world.

Halloween Town
The first encounter: Tension is high because you are on low health, but fear not. Use an omnislash or 2 blizzard raids to dispose of the four enemies. Be sure as well to keep a very close eye on your experience. You do not want to level up and be restored to full health.

Map Card Management:


 * For avoiding encounters and moving through rooms quickly, feeble darkness is often your best bet.


 * You'll need 2 semi long runs for the next world; keep this in mind when planning your route.


 * At the first juncture, go up. Corners from bottom to right are faster than corners from right to top.

Boss: Oogie Boogie


 * Trick Card: A trick card lowers the gates, and can save a lot of time. You get trick cards by hitting the dice he throws. This can with skill be done using the same card you used to break the dice. If this doesn't work for you, it could be good to set aside 3 attack card to use on the dice. If you get one in the first set, use it. If you get one in the set or 3rd set, save it and use it on the next cycle.


 * As long as you do what the Deck Editing section tells you and put 3 7 breaking cards at the end of your deck, you will never take damage. His attacks all come from rolling the dice, but the dice roll can be broken, nullifying the effect and lowing the gate one third of the way.


 * Once you have access to the stage, go nuts. Don't use time consuming attacks like Raids or Cloud, just use berserked physical attacks and potions if need be. The once cycle kill is possible if your attack cards are good enough, but most of the time you'll have to settle with being one combo away, getting a consistent two cycle.

Wonderland
Map Card Management:


 * Your map cards are probably running a little low, so be sure to keep door requirements in mind. Don't be afraid to fight an encounter or two here if you need to.


 * As always, keep room topography in mind when you can.

Card soldiers:

As long as you've changed back to the raids deck, you should have no problem with this fight. Try and hit 2 or 3 at a time, and you'll clear it optimally

Boss: Trickmaster


 * Trick Card: This fight is luck based. You need to break his cards to give yourself a chance at a trick card. Start by using your zeros, then stock an omnislash and use it. Finally use your potion and cure. If this doesn't work, start dipping into the attack cards used in your raids. If you have to do this, you will need to reload after getting the trick card.


 * Once you have the trick card, spawn the table and spam raids at him. He won't have a chance to break the table and you can probably kill him with what you have.


 * If he tries to traverse the room, and you stop him by cardbreaking him, he will always respond by using an 8

Boss: Larxene I


 * Sleights, Lightning Bolt: This one is a real pain. It's her only sleight at this point, but if used, you get one opportunity for a very tight dodge roll, which is easier if you're close enough to her to get on the other side. If you don't make it, you will be stunned and left vulnerable for a significant amount of time, and allow her to approach you to combo you further. This sleight and trick card farming make it imperative to put 0s in your deck. Of course, seeing as this sleight has a bit of a windup and can be executed from a distance, don't be afraid to use this as a raid setup.


 * Omnislash is your best bet for damage, but you likely won't have it in spades. Either cardbreak her when she has no stocked cards or when her completed sleight has a lower value than omnislash. Every missed hit with Cloud wastes a significant amount of time, so make it count!


 * Once you've run out of Cloud, you can use four hit boosted raids to deal the most damage, assuming you can keep up with the pace of the fight. Larxene is fast and spastic, so the only way you can expect to hit is by cardbreaking one of three attacks: Lightning Bolt, Thundara, and the foudre throw. In all cases, the window for a cardbreak is pretty tight, so be on your toes!


 * Most of Larxexe's physical attacks, including the foudre throw, will not hit you if you are slightly below her on the ground, but your raids will. Find the distance that works for you.


 * Card soldier and attack bracer help to make physical attacks work, though they're still slower than raids with good luck. Getting close to Larxene also provokes possibly long and high values combos, so only get in to brawl if absolutely necessary. Cross Slash is often a good finisher, taking out about a quarter of her health if timed properly.

Here is where you will get Thundaga if you have the blue cards needed for the rest of the game. Go to Wonderland, spawn a moogle room, and reset to get 2 thunder cards in one pack. Alternatively, if you're swimming in moogle points(1000+) you can open two packs.

Hundred Acre Wood: Which Floor?
The benefits of going to the Hundred Acre Wood are twofold: the elixir is hidden with Roo in a hole and this gimmicky world overwrites the map of a real floor. Going to the Hundred Acre Wood earlier lets you pick up the elixir earlier and use it on more bosses, and going later lets you overwrite more map card intensive floors. There is no good reason to skip 8F, as the map is pretty tame and you generally have enough ammunition for Hook if you had it for Larxene or Ursula. 7F costs 8 map cards, 8F costs 12, 9F costs 10 and has about 1 minute of backtracking, depending on the room sizes you need to backtrack through, and 10F costs a whopping 14 map cards and has a comparable amount of backtracking. Here is the plan:


 * Skip any floor you don't have the requirements for (e.g., 9F requires a 1= and a 9=). Alternatively, you can take a farming brak before the second world set.


 * Having the elixir for 2 more forms of Riku and possibly Ursula can save a lot of time. If you don't have the damage in sleights required to kill Maleficent, either, getting the early elixir sweetens the deal. Most of the time, you will feel safer taking the 7F elixir.


 * If for some reason your deck is Cloud heavy, but not raid heavy, then you might consider skipping 9F. This allows you to ensure the kill on Maleficent and avoid backtracking to put the elixir in your deck before Vexen. Even better, 9F is map card intensive and time consuming.


 * If you feel your deck is good enough to lose minimal time on bosses, and especially if you feel you can take Vexen I without the elixir, then skip 10F. On map cards and backtracking, you probably save 3 minutes by doing this.

The Wood Itself: Get Pooh To See Roo


 * This is Press R: The Game. Often, moving forward and spamming the call button is the best tactic. You are at the mercy of the game, now.


 * Moogle point balls are only worth 1 point here, and lag the game more than they are worth


 * Run Pooh into holes and balloons(not the big cluster) on the way, they will transport him a relatively long distance


 * Pooh gets distracted by hunny, so the best way to avoid this is to get him as far away from it as possible. Stand diagonally opposite the hunny, and hope for the best. Pooh will never be nice, but it helps to be closer to him.


 * Your target is the hole with footprints leading to it. After you get the 1 elixir, leave Pooh behind and be on your merry way.


 * You may want to put the elixir in your deck, or edit it before the boss. Beware of the fact that you cannot edit your deck in the Hundred Acre Wood itself, and you won't have the chance before the 7,8 and 10F bosses. So edit the deck before you go in, or if you need to put the elixir in, run back and edit, then run through the level again without Pooh.

The Second World Set
Map Card Management for the second world set:


 * Don't be afraid to go back to Traverse Town to get more cards. You should have Thundaga and the rest of your blue cards by this point, so you can farm Traverse Town optimally (barring warp, of course). This is much better than wasting high cards, zeros, or burning through door requirements like the Destiny Islands 2= and 8=.


 * If you're going through 10F, prepare to make two runs of small rooms. Otherwise, everything is mostly straightforward if you know the map.


 * Neverland has barrels, so try and get Aero from them, and make rooms which spawn plenty.


 * Any second world set rooms should be burned as quickly as possible unless they can be useful later as 7-9s/0s/door requirements. By having fewer stacks of cards, it is easier to keep track of all of them. Big rooms such as Lasting Daze should only be used as plot door requirements, while tame rooms such as Premium Room may be used on the map.

Boss: Ursula


 * Trick Card: Ursula's trick card has a random chance of dropping whenever you fell a tentacle. Each time a tentacle drops, it becomes easier to kill when it respawns. The first 1-2 times you kill the tentacles, you require 2 raids; after this, one raid is sufficient. The trick card itself stops Ursula and brings the platform up to her face for a short time.


 * Use raids, and get the trick card. Reload while she recovers, and activate berserk. Sit there, and wait for her to use thunder 3 times. If you are on 95 HP, you should be in critical health. Activate the trick card and use quick cycling to move past your magic when you get to it and make fluid, well built combos. She should fall after 2-3 rounds of berserk punishment


 * You can supplement this assault with Omnislash. If used after a raid, it will likely hit her in the face 3 times, and incidentally take out a tentacle or two. It could save you a round of berserk, especially if you have the elixir.


 * You may want to heal up to full health between berserk rounds. Your reload counter is probably at 3, and she is probably at low enough health to be very aggressive. Often, not healing will cost you your life during the reload. For this reason, bringing your potion is recommended, as it may be able to save you time if you are feeling risky.

Boss: Riku I


 * Riku I cannot sleight, but will rarely use zeros. You can feel comfortable cardbreaking him with a 10+ value sleight.


 * Often because of the way he dodges, however, Omnislash is more likely to hit all three times if you don't cardbreak him. This is your main source of damage, as Riku resists all elements.


 * 4 hit boosted raids can still work here, but keep in mind that all of Riku I's attacks are close range, and you won't be able to setup the raid by cardbraking him from a distance. When Riku is closer to you than about half a screen, he will jump toward you in response to the attack and force a sub-optimal 2 hit raid. There is a magic distance where Riku will not be tempted to jump toward you, but away at just the right distance to fall into a 4-5 hit raid. Any farther than this magic distance, and Riku will dodge the raid completely. This can be tricky and takes practice.


 * If you run out of gas toward the end of the fight, the physical attack strategies you would use against Larxene in the same situation are about as effective here.

Boss: Hook


 * Sleights: Captain Hook has two mean sleights, worth taking at least 110 HP for. Rush and Present is more tame. If you can dodge the initial barrage of lethal presents, you can often run far enough to set up a 4-5 hit raid, especially because during sleights, hook isn't affected by the motion of the ship. Combo and Present is something you never want to see. Not only does he both rush and stun lock you, wasting your effort to set up raids, he also dishes out a ton of damage. It is worth wasting a raid for the sole purpose of breaking this sleight.


 * Hook is weak to fire, and he is one of the reasons to put fire raids before blizzard raids in your deck.


 * Watch the motion of the ship, as it moves the same way every time. Use the opening when Hook slides backwards to hit him with a raid against the wall. Even if you are closer than usual, the wall can help you score extra hits. Waiting for the ship is often more fruitful than frantically trying to change sides and catch up to its movement.


 * Hook dodges similar to Riku, in that he can jump forward very rapidly. Avoid this by cardbreaking present tosses with your raids.


 * Beware of the All Zeros enemy card. He'll never leave it out for long and you can usually power through it, but it is very risky to throw raids with this effect out. You should have Parasite Cage in your deck. Use it immediately if you don't have an enemy card out, and assess the situation if you have an elemental boost out. Usually, with a 50-50 chance of raid resolution, leaving the boost out is a good idea.


 * This fight is very fast paced. Killing Hook quickly is the key to survival, so your first priority (over taking time to line up raids) is keeping the pressure on him and making sure he is always taking some kind of damage.

Boss: Riku II


 * Sleights, Dark Firaga: This is the only difference that you will notice between this fight and the last one. Dark Firaga is easy to dodge by rolling toward Riku as the small ball heads toward you. Dark Firaga makes raid setup easier, as you finally have a ranged attack to cardbreak. However, it is harder to resolve your (likely low) omnislash sleights, as he finally has the ability to stock cards. It is hence now preferable to cardbreak with omnislash so he has a smaller of window of time with which to stock cards. Otherwise, this fight is identical.

Boss: Dragon Maleficent


 * Stand in the starting position and spam the stock buttons. You will throw 3 hit raids at her face, which will always remain at the lowest level, either because you just broke an attack or didn't let her try one. Continue to shred through her defenses and you'll be fine.


 * Running out of Sleights is very, very bad. Maleficent may be a heartless type boss (no ability to form sleights), but she often puts forth high valued, fast, and damaging attacks. The stomp attack in particular is blazing fast and lethal, as are her bite attacks. Summoning fire is more tame, but don't underestimate the damage the fire can deal. Destroying the flames can net you trick cards, which let you summon three rocks to stand on. Should you find yourself in a dire situation, attempt to whittle her down with physical attacks. If you have incrementor, use it, as it will be invaluable in keeping up the offensive. Maleficent loves to stop combos with her attacks and you will lose time, but if you're lucky, you will walk away with your life and a chance to make up for it later. If you kept a deck that couldn't kill Maleficent, there was probably a very good reason for it.

Boss: Vexen I


 * Sleights, Freeze: The ultimate raid setup. Vexen will wind up for a long time before creating an iceberg at your feet which can be easily dodged by walking. If this somehow hits you, shake the control stick.


 * Vexen must be hit exclusively by fire raid. Any other attack method will take a very long time because his shield is a nuisance. While he is slow to move (he floats in a deliberate zigzag pattern every few seconds) he is quick to turn around and deflect your attacks.


 * Luckily, you don't need to cardbreak him to be successful with 4 hit raids. Just wait until the inevitable pause right after he moves, and 80% of the time, your raid will connect exactly how you want it to. Following up with raids right after you've hit with one is also a good idea.


 * Be aware of item bracer. You won't be able to break his elixirs if he has it out, and he likes to use them when he's far away. This is the easiest way to waste a raid.

Twilight Town
Map Card Managment:


 * This world is small. Farm for the 1 Blue if need be, get Warp if you can, and leave ASAP.

Boss: Vexen II


 * Sleights, Iceburn: Makes puddles that can be a hindrance when setting up a raid. If you can't set up on this, you'll just have to deal with it or keep a zero ready.


 * Sleights, Ice needles: This attack is the main source any damage you'll probably take in this fight, mostly because if you can't set up a raid, the best way to stop the attack is to let it hit you. Alternatively, use the opportunity to get some distance and use a zero.


 * Watch out for Auto Life. Use Parasite Cage before the last raid to make sure he doesn't gain 1/3 of his health back. Leaving fire boost on and powering through if you don't want to lose tempo is acceptable as well, as Auto Life will only cause you to use 1-2 more raids.


 * Otherwise, this fight is identical to Vexen I

Boss: Riku III


 * There are no significant differences between this fight and Riku II

Destiny Islands
Map Card Managment:


 * Make sure to spawn a moogle room and a treasure chest room.


 * Don't worry about farming barrels here, even though there are plenty. At this point, they won't help much and have a lot of hp.


 * Don't waste anything important. It is often a good idea to go to Traverse town and build up before coming here.


 * Keep track of the cards you have left after the 50 total value you have to spend. This will make counting for the Gates of Hell easier.

In this final Moogle room, you will reset until you have a decent endgame deck. Often, you will only have enough points to open 2 packs. Start with the black belt pack, as it has the highest chance of giving you more Aero cards. Try to leave the world with 3. To get more Aeros from your second pack, open the brown belt. To go for a high valued Cloud, open the moogle face pack.

Boss: Darkside


 * Darkside attacks in strict sequence at regular intervals, and will never use a card above 8. To deal with him, spam the stock buttons and use sleights on his vulnerable face. Any other method of dealing with him will simply take too long, as he has an exceptionally large heath bar and gives you limited opening at his face.

Boss: Riku IV


 * Sleights, Dark Aura: This is practically lethal; never let this resolve. Keep 2-3 zeros on hand, and use Judgment or Omnislash to break it when you can.


 * During your first reload, use your sleights strategically, and watch his enemy card. Dispel Incrementor with Parasite Cage and copy Sleight Lock with Darkside. By the Second Reload (using an item card) you should have Sleight Lock.


 * Sleight Lock will let you keep the first card used in sleights as long as it is active, and will only decrement if your sleight resolves fully. This means if your sleight gets cardbroken, you can keep sleight lock around for longer. Against the upcoming bosses, it is very important to time your sleights such that they will resolve as much a possible before being cardbroken just before the cards disappear.


 * Against Riku, most of your Omnislashes will be cardbroken, so you need to use the safest strategy and cardbreak him while he has no card stocked. If he has a lower value sleight ready, you will often fully resolve the Omnislash, which against Riku is worth decrementing Sleight Lock for.


 * Keep a mostly Omnislash offensive while Sleight Lock is in effect. It's better to reload and keep trying Cloud than to use Judgment in this phase. Use Judgment as a measure against high value sleights.


 * To score up to twice as many Judgment hits as expected, attempt to throw the keyblade when it is directly below him (the spot is pretty precise here). To do this, he will need to jump, jump attack, or use dark aura. Your goal is to get the keyblade to move in vertical ovals rather than slow figure 8s. This is not easy, but it can pay off when Sleight Lock runs out.


 * Otherwise, this fight is identical to Riku III in the way Riku moves, attacks, and takes damage from physical attacks.

Boss: Larxene II


 * Sleights, Teleport Dash: This attack is a nuisance, and will almost certainly hit you once or twice, but is not as damaging as lightning bolt or an extended normal combo. Just use a zero here.


 * Larxene moves and darts like she did before and has the basic set of attacks. While you don't have raids, you should still be fighting to stay just below her on the ground. You should be in the window of vertical distance where it would be possible to hit her with a raid, but she will miss with her close range attacks and foudre throws. Too far, and she'll dart up to you. Just right, and not only will she stand there flailing her arms, but shell also set herself up perfectly for extra judgment hits.


 * The same rules of fighting with your Sleight Lock deck apply here. Start with Omnislash as a main source of damage and use judgment when needed to get more damage in and simultaneously remove an annoying attack. With good sleight usage as outlined in the last fight, you shouldn't run out of resources before the fight ends.


 * Never get close to Larxene if you can avoid it. By far her most lethal attack is a stunlocking combo that extends for an arbitrarily long amount of time and offers you no room for a break to use a zero, heal, or respond offensively with Judgment.


 * Larxene's floaty nature lends well to getting extra hits with Judgment. Again, the goal is to throw the keyblade such that it is right below her when it spawns. This is most easily done when you are the right distance below her and she misses a close range attack. You can break this attack with judgment to often get the oval pattern you are looking for. Additionally, if she darts into a corner while Judgment is active, the corner will dirupt the figure 8 and cause you to get extra hits off. These hits are crucial in the second half of the fight, when you don't have sleight lock.


 * Keep your health up. Sleight Locking for extended periods of time can lead to a lot of residual damage piling up. Don't be afraid to use one of your sleights on the 3 cures you should have, but be careful not to use the item cards prematurely.

Castle Oblivion
Map Card Management:


 * You should save your 0s for this point if you can. Knowing how many you have makes finding your 15 lowest map cards easier. Additionally, you can be less afraid of trapping yourself in the castle or wasting cards that would be useful for the 99 door.


 * Every map card you have at the end of the game is about 20-30 seconds wasted, so be sure you're close to the right amount before heading in. Falling short, however, can waste minutes, so be careful.


 * A decent strategy to see if you can make it through involves a 30 second check of your map cards. Count the number of cards below 5, and sum all the cards you have that are greater than or equal to 5. The number of low cards should be at least 15 and the sum of high cards should be 99. Do not include the 1 Blue or 3 Red in your calculations.

Boss: Axel II


 * Sleights, Firetooth and Fire Wall: Your raid setup. Be below Axel at all times to make sure Fire Wall resolves, and use the windup he has on both attacks to throw the blizzard raids from a sweet spot. Your source of damage is the 4-5 hit raids you throw by cardbreaking these specific attacks. Even if you weren't setting up raids, you wouldn't want Firetooth to resolve, especially in the second half of the fight when the chakrams move more erratically. On lower health, Firetooth can put you in a bad position.


 * Start by using blizzard boost until you have one item card left (which can restore cards used in sleights) and get as much damage as possible in. You shouldn't need sleight lock, but it will be in your deck as a safety measure. Should things turn dire, know that sleight lock at least gives you fire resistance.


 * Axel's enemy card, Quick Hit Recovery, turns all raids you throw into 2 hit raids by changing the way Axel's invincibility frames work. Either use dispel on it between reloads, or hit him 10 times with normal attacks to get rid of it. You cannot afford to waste more ammunition than you have to on 2 hit raids.


 * Watch out for his repeated slashing attack. This can take out half of your health at this point in the game.

Boss: Marluxia I


 * Sleights, Deathscythe: This is when you reload. This sleight is easy to dodge by walking in any direction, and rather than leaving yourself open by wasting a 0, take the time to charge the reload card as much as you can without actually using it. Of course, breaking this sleight and the next one with one of your own is a good idea too.


 * Sleights, Blossom Shower: You'll have about a second to react here; when this is used, dodge roll just before the ascending sound effect ends, and you'll avoid all damage from this attack. This as a good way to gain distance.


 * Marluxia I's deck is insane, chock full of 0s and cards above 7. He is extremely aggressive in that if you get close to him, you will find that an onslaught of high valued, high damaging cards stands between you and your opponent. Though he's weak to physical attacks, with just about any expected single segment card spread, you will never find this strategy to be optimal.


 * Marluxia is also very defensive, in that he has a very high chance of cradbreaking your attacks. You have about as much time as it takes to resolve a cure before your card gets broken (you typically will just fall short of using a healing spell). Therefore, it is ideal to cardbreak Marluxia if you wish to attack with a 3 hit combo, use a healing spell, or an offensive sleight


 * Speaking of which, your offensive sleights and Sleight Lock strategies are probably the most efficient ones here. If you partially resolve every 2 out of 3 sleights, you should keep the pressure going at a faster pace than anything else at your disposal. As Marluxia has 4 health bars and resists your attacks, it is very important to keep Sleight Lock up as long as possible, your goal being 2 bars of damage. Fighting him without resources takes about 5 times as long because of his solid defense and your likely need to heal more often.


 * Marluxia has 3 normal attacks, all of which do decent damage. the worst is by far the yellow attack, which will hit you if you are cardbroken, and will deal a ton of damage. What's worse, as the fight drags on, he loses his blue and red cards to sleights, so his deck becomes more yellow dense. Definitely keep this in mind as you dodge him toward the end.

Boss: Marluxia II


 * Marluxia II has a set pattern, and will not play a card above 8. This is abused throughout the fight.


 * Turn on Attack Bracer and use well built combos on the scythes. Try to take the damage you need to get to critical in this phase. If you need to, use Hook to survive.


 * Once you're in critical, use berserk when you're on his back, hit with 2 well built combos. Use a potion, and hit with 2 more during his attacking phase by hitting him right after cardbreaking an attack. Break the flowers (hopefully with a combo after braking the last), reload, get on the back, and try and hit with 2-4 more berserked combos.


 * After this, reload most of the way, turn on Maleficent and repeat. You should be fine with a reload counter of 3, but a Mega Potion or more regular potions can increase your safety. You may heal during this portion of the fight, and Marluxia II gives you time to do so.


 * If he doesn't fall here, use Card Soldier to finish him off.

Unexpected Boons
While there are many possible situations that can go poorly in a run due to the random nature of the way you collect map cards and deck-building cards, there are, thankfully, some rare game changing possible occurrences which are usually only feasible in a segmented run or a specific situation that could only result from a freak single segment spread. This section will discuss how to recognize a good thing when you see it, and how to work it into your general plan.

Warp:

Warp is, simply put, the best way to farm enemies. You already have an elixir and an mega ether by the time you get it, so a single copy of Stop + Aero + Aero is enough to eradicate 3 spawns of enemies without allowing them to drop experience. Remember, experience is bad because you have to pick it up to finish the fight and it often bounces randomly and lags the game. Warp is found in the Twilight Town Key to Rewards Room, and requires a 1= Red, an 8= blue, and 20 total value of green cards. You also have to open a treasure chest in Wonderland to obtain Stop. Finding a key to rewards is incredibly rare on first world set floors, but a reasonable ~5% on second world set floors, and a common find in Twilight Town. You will never find a second Key to Rewards if you have one, so don't try to stock up. This is the single best way to burn one if you've got it. The limiting factor is usually the 8= blue, so if you find one, start saving your 1 red and high green cards, and break a few barrels in Neverland. Its regular encounters are not bad if you have raids, especially the ones without air pirates. Finding warp will only save time, however, if you skip thundaga and believe in the Key to Rewards, so going for Warp is a risk.

Retrograde:

Retrograde is Powerwild's enemy card, and a rare find indeed. It has a nice use in that it has the potential to replace incrementor in situations where your Omnislash sum is low enough. It will not replace Elemental boosts in usefulness when firing raids, however.

Summon Boost:

Summon Boost is often found in Wonderland and Neverland, as the Crescendo enemy card. It is much more useful as a find pre Laxene I, because it is a convincing motivation to skip the 7F elixir. For 1 reload, you forfeit the use of magic cards (you cannot stock or use magic cards with this card in effect; simply overwrite the effect with an elemental boost or another enemy card to fix this) to increase the damage of summons by about 1.3. This obviously makes Omnislash more useful. While this is tempting to use late in the game, it is important to use Sleight Lock first, then use Summon Boost during the first reload in which Sleight Lock is not in effect.

Back Attack:

Fat Bandit's enemy card is a rare find in Agrabah, and increases the power of attacks (about the same increase as berserk) dealt to enemies from behind for 2 reloads. This is most useful in possibly being superior to berserk in that you do not need to set up by being in critical health. This could speed up the Jafar, Oogie Boogie, Trickmaster, Ursula, Larxene, and Riku fights, the last two only to a small extent dependent on the deck.

Thunder Boost:

If a Yellow Opera enemy card is found in Monstro or Agrabah, you will likely need one extra thunder instead of two to optimally farm traverse town.

Item Bracer:

Air Pirate's enemy card drop. This is useful in your endgame deck; you won't have to sleight your low valued elixirs and mega ethers to ensure their resolution. After the Sleight Lock phase, this is helpful for a bit of security.

Attack Cards:

In the optimal situation, a physical based attack deck can often be as fast or faster than a magic/raids based deck. The problem is that in a single segment run, acquiring even 1/10th of the necessary high valued attack cards of favorable varieties is a chore not worth the time. If for some reason you find yourself with a spread of ~6 Lady Luck Keyblades and ~3 Three Wishes, all at high values (7+), consider being more daring with Overdrive, Berserk, Attack Haste, and Attack Bracer. You will save time on Marluxia I, and find yourself mostly able to do without the raids deck. You will need to use standard strategies for Hook, Maleficent, and most of the endgame bosses, but with a few well built combos, you can deal a lot of damage, especially if the second world set is generous as well.