Whirlwind Swing: Assumes an offensive stance by hunching over and pulling back his Keyblades; after about a full second of anticipation and a high-pitched sound cue, Roxas performs a dual outward-swinging slash, unleashing a cyclone of light and dark streams that covers his circular vicinity at mid-range. Roxas always begins the battle with this attack, and buffers the beginning animation while the cinematic camera is still craning behind Sora, slightly before the player gains control. This attack can be fairly easily circumvented by any normal means once you learn the timing; guarding, dodging, Reflect, and even jumping. If improperly evaded and assuming the attack is not lethal, the late hitboxes cause very short hitstun, but will push Sora very far back, making it nearly impossible to counterattack.
Continuous Swing: After a long-range darting stab, Roxas swings his Keyblades wildly in a string of sweeping left-and-right attacks, and then dashes straight ahead with a powerful dual-outward strike after a delay, leaving a shockwave trail behind in the process. Guarding the final dash attack causes Roxas to stagger back and stake his Keyblades in the ground in order to regain his balance, during which Sora has multiple seconds to start attacking. Roxas will always use this move to counterattack if he is on the ground when his normal retaliation point occurs.
Counterattack: Dashes straight ahead. This attack is only used if Roxas is staggered after a Continuous Swing and Sora fails to hit him when he is vulnerable.
Aerial Spin Swing: Roxas spins vertically in midair and plunges forward and downward onto Sora's location; if not in midair already, he will begin by jumping straight up. This is his primary forced retaliation attack for when he is knocked into the air.
Duel Attack: Initiates a cinematic duel between Sora and Roxas, which is very similar to the Samurai's Duel Stance Reaction Command; once the duel has begun, the command menu will go blank, after which "The End" will appear in a random slot. This must be selected within the extremely stringent time limit of 0.8 seconds (24 frames on PS2/3, 48 frames on PS4). If successful, Sora strikes first, sending Roxas into the air and stealing his Keyblades, which then deal additional hits during both regular hits and after a finisher in following combos. If failed, Roxas cleaves downward through Sora, who takes significant damage. Roxas initiates this sequence by dashing toward Sora, and it will automatically occur if he touches him. Regardless, the duel can be avoided by repeatedly Reflecting, or by jumping and staying afloat for a few seconds with Air Dodge or Glide, after which Roxas will switch tactics. This occurrence does not technically count as a Reaction Command, since you do not choose whether to opt into it with , and in fact must actively avoid it, making it just as akin to Duel Stance as Lexaeus's cinematic grab attacks. "Duel Attack" is the name of the attack that occurs if you fail.
Arranged Beam: Roxas summons multiple vertical lasers of light around himself, which he then fires outward across the battlefield. The lasers are thin and relatively easy to dodge, or even to walk between once they spread out, but are far too tall to jump over.
Spot Beam: Roxas projects a wall of lasers near Sora, which then close in on him.
Instant Recapture Attack: Roxas dashes toward and behind Sora to steals back his Keyblades; damage can be prevented with the "Reversal" Reaction Command, but Roxas will always get his Keyblades back. Like the duel instance itself, this can be circumvented by Reflecting or evading Roxas when he attempts to make contact. Although it is extremely difficult due to his nearly constant onslaught of vertical lasers, which are far too tall to jump over, you can defeat Roxas without him ever getting his Keyblades back.
Keyblade Release: Roxas' desperation move when he reaches a certain amount of HP. He dashes to the middle of the battlefield, rises several feet into the air (illuminating the background in the process), and unleashes fourteen orbs of light that home in on Sora. This attack is used after reaching 75% HP, 40% HP, and then randomly thereafter; it is unblockable with the standard Guard, and must be either Reflected or dodged in some way, most reliably by moving along the edge of the arena in a circle. For the duration of the attack, an array of short lasers circle underneath Roxas like a protective cage, and he is also completely intangible. This attack is observably the visual inspiration for his Limit Break in 358/2 Days, Magic Hour.
Keyblade Throw: While hovering in the air, Roxas telekinetically spins both his Keyblades in front of himself like horizontal buzzsaws up to five times, and afterwards unleashes a spiraling burst of darkness around his body that draws Sora in. If above 40% HP, he will only use two throws and never the finishing move. He can also use this as an instant counter upon reaching his forced retaliation point (especially in the Data Rematch), where merely getting clipped by this attack can lead into a full combo against Sora without any invincible bypass against it. Roxas only uses this attack after using his desperation move for the first time.
Additional Lasers: After losing 25% HP, Continuous Swing, Whirlwind Swing and Aerial Spin Swing are supplemented by arrays of light lasers. Like all of Roxas's lasers, these pillars are unblockable, but possible to dodge; Continuous Swing's lasers home in on Sora, which makes them much trickier to avoid without using Glide.
Roxas possess extraordinarily high magic defense, and as such, Sora should not rely on offensive magic other than Reflect in this fight for defensive purposes. Even if Reflect deals damage to Roxas, it will only deal roughly 1/10th worth of damage to one of Roxas's HP bar. Roxas has two movement speeds: a slow guarded trot with his Keyblades up, and gliding across the battlefield in a trail of light at extremely high speeds, equitable to Larxene's dash.
The battle will always begin with Sora directly in his attack range. Just as the battle commences, Roxas will immediately use a variation of Whirlwind Swing that covers a large portion of the field. He will then run behind Sora and use either Aerial Spin Swing, Whirlwind Swing, or Continuous Swing. Roxas may use Duel Attack every now and again, and should Sora win, will start using Spot Beams and Arranged Beams relentlessly until he gets the chance to close in and use Instant Recapture Attack.
When Duel Attack is completed successfully, several of Sora's actions (not just his attacks) all have Roxas's stolen Keyblades react each in a special manner dependent on the type of move Sora performs (such as spiraling around him during ground combos or piercing through Roxas from multiple directions if he gets launched into the air). However, this may also cause Roxas to retaliate sooner as more specific types of hits are landed on him, so be wary of totally letting your guard down. Eventually, he'll perform his Instant Recapture Attack and inevitability reacquire his stolen Keyblades, so while Sora has Roxas's Keyblades in his possession take advantage of the situation in a careful and quick manner, dealing as much damage on him as possible while avoiding retaliation. When Roxas attempts to retake his Keyblades, Sora can quickly use Reversal to escape his counterattack, but failure will result in Roxas knocking Sora away for heavy damage. Either way, both results will end up with Roxas's Keyblades back in his hands.
After a quarter of his health is gone, Roxas gets even more aggressive. Duel Attack is used less frequently, and Roxas also adds several light-based elements and extra beams during several of his actions, causing him to have a more erratic attack range. Be on guard and do not try to block on misjudgment if possible (due to the light beams being unblockable), as Roxas's physical moves can still be blocked and countered normally.
However, regarding moves that come with the beams, it's possible to have Roxas turn around if Sora ends up behind him, altering the locations of the beams and allowing for easier room to block his physical attacks. Blocking any of his physical moves will at least always allow Sora to bypass his beams with Guard's invincibility from successful blocking.
Once he is down to 40% of his HP, Roxas enter his desperation state will use his "Keyblade Release" attack frequently, and light beams will even be launched simply from him dashing around.
If Roxas is knocked into the air during his retaliation point, he will retaliate with an Aerial Spin Swing. However, on ground he'll retaliate with random moves if Sora lets up on his assault somehow, especially during the later phases after using his desperation move, Keyblade Release.
In the data rematch, Sora should use exactly the same strategy he used when taking down his Nobody in the World that Never Was, but there are some differences, apart from Roxas's higher HP.
Roxas retaliates sooner from Sora's combos, and can now retaliate after just one finisher, though it may be hard to tell if Sora has Finishing Pluses and uses them on his Nobody. The projectiles in Keyblade Release now fly at faster speeds, requiring Sora to use Glide (Quick Run and Dodge Roll are not as advised due to the recovery on such movement options) to evade them.
Furthermore, said retaliations can now involve Roxas's Keyblade Throw under certain circumstances, which tends to be near-instant and can allow Roxas to extend into a full combo if he even merely clips Sora with this attack. This can easily lead to a huge chunk of damage if not foreseen with a well-timed invincibility option.
The best strategy is to activate (and win) his Duel Assault whenever possible to steal the Oathkeeper and Oblivion and bombard Roxas continuously, preventing him from using his best retaliation attacks as often as possible. As long as Sora heals when necessary, the battle can be cleared with few problems.
Another method is to use Limit Form and use Sonic Rave constantly; Sora will heal back the bits of damage he is dealt in between the limits, and do decent damage. Strike Raid is not advised due to the inconsistent invincibility frames, and as it puts Sora in a stationary position; Infinity and Last Arcanum however, work wonders provided if Sora can connect onto Roxas properly, with the latter being exceptionally solid if Sora drops the extra Reaction Commands to prevent Roxas from reaching his retaliation point sooner than usual.
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, and in fact must actively avoid it, making it just as akin to Duel Stance as Lexaeus's cinematic grab attacks. "Duel Attack" is the name of the attack that occurs if you fail.
