Game:Marluxia

Marluxia appears as a boss in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, its remake, and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Full Bloom: Marluxia will attack Sora with multiple strikes from his scythe. Petal Blade: Marluxia attacks from far away by creating shockwaves from his scythe. Flower Storm: Marluxia will create three petal whirlwinds that spread out around the area in a circular motion. If Sora is caught in one he will receive extensive damage. Then while Sora is trapped Marluxia will strike with his scythe.
 * Attacks

Blossom Shower: Marluxia rushes at Sora from above encased in an atom of blades three times before impacting on the ground and simultaneously launching a shockwave and unleashing energy petals that rain down on Sora. Deathscythe: Marluxia launches waves from his scythe to cause a shockwave to erupt from below Sora three times. Drop Shot: Marluxia drops from above, slamming his scythe onto the floor, causing a massive fissure.
 * Sleights

This fight is the first of the Marluxia final battles in Chain of Memories. Here, Marluxia's normal attacks consist of: Crescent Wave, an energy blade shot from his scythe, Phantom Saber, a forward slash attack, and Circle Reject, a shockwave attack. These are the attacks that you have to watch out for. A good tactic for Phantom Cyber is to use a 0 attack card to break the attack and deal damage. The other attacks can be dodged by jumping over them. His two sleights, Deathscythe and Blossom Shower, on the other hand, are easy to dodge. For Deathscythe, all you have to do is head up or down towards the wall after he swings the scythe. If timed well, this can allow you to dodge the attack. Blossom Shower can also be dodged. If you use Dodge Roll at the right moment, you can nullify the damage the sleight would have otherwise caused. Dodging Marluxia's attacks as often as possible is the key to victory.

Marluxia (Second Form)
This battle is the first time the real Marluxia is fought. Marluxia fuses with the giant Spectre. Out of the two battles, this one is most likely the easiest due to the lack of sleights. The Second Form is fought largely in two stages. In the first stage, the objective is to destroy the scythe hands. The main attack it uses in this stage is a minor version of Deathscythe. It is possible to damage the main body in this stage but Marluxia is only vulnerable after a card break. Once the blades are destroyed, Marluxia takes on a different strategy. He uses floating flowers that shoot lasers first, which can be easily destroyed simply by card breaking them. At regular intervals during the battle, he fires 2-5 slicer waves which can be dodged by jumping and heading to the foreground/background. He also occasionally uses Blossom Shower, which can be dodged with a well-timed Dodge Roll. After this, Marluxia hovers above Sora and slams the mechanical vehicle down, creating a shockwave that can be avoided by jumping at the right time. He does this three times in succession, and it is important to note that as his HP get lower, the succession becomes faster and harder to dodge. After this attack Marluxia rears back and shoots across the screen. Card breaking this is important, as doing so puts Marluxia in his most vulnerable position. Once you break the attack, Sora is placed on the back of the mech and Marluxia sends out three more shot buds to protect him. It's important to note is that the longer Sora stays on, the harder it is to remain on the mech, as Sora is constantly forced backwards away from Marluxia. A good strategy is to use high level Cloud cards (Around 7-9) in succession (one at a time, not in a sleight) while in front of Marluxia. Doing so deals a lot of damage in a short amount of time, and can also deal with the shot buds when card breaking them. Eventually, Sora is forced off, and the whole process begins again. This attack pattern repeats until Marluxia is defeated.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Marluxia has a much different arsenal of attacks than in the GameBoy Advance version. For example, Blossom Shower has changed completely from being just a Rose Petal Shower, to a long, virtually unavoidable Sleight, and the Deathscythe  Sleight has gone from one strike to three, much faster strikes.

When the battle begins, Sora should be ready to Dodge Roll, or Card Break, because as soon as Marluxia plays an attack card, he takes no time in attacking. In Full Bloom, Marluxia will dash towards Sora and immediately start striking, so you should always keep a good distance from Marluxia in case he pulls this card. In Petal Blade, you have a little bit more time to react, but not much more, and Sora should either have a higher card ready or should just Dodge Roll towards Marluxia.

When Marluxia uses Flower Storm, it is always a good thing to be as far away as possible before he plays it, as with all attacks, that way you have time to run and find a card to break it.

The only positive way to survive Marluxia's Blossom Shower is to have the Auto-Life Vexen Card or have a 0 Card in place before the Sleight is played. In Deathscythe, if you don't break it, you should wait until you no longer hear his scythe spinning, and immediately Dodge Roll to the left or right of him, but you should not try to Dodge Roll endlessly. In Drop Shot, you should either try to Dodge Roll and keep yourself a moving target, Gliding takes too long to activate and the shockwave will hit you, but this sleight should give you enough time to pull a 0 Card.

You can also create a deck containing only cards with a value of 0, as well as three Cures of a high value.

Another strategy is to create a Firaga deck, as strong as possible, and add a Curaga and Elixirs at the end. Keep spamming the Firaga cards and you will see they deal a lot of damage, enough to defeat him pretty quickly. This works with pretty much every boss except Axel, where you substitute Homing Blizzara for the Firaga.

Marluxia (Second Form)
The battle in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories is very similar to the battle in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, although Marluxia spends much more time on the field and vulnerable to attack, the field is much larger, and Marluxia will often glide away from Sora. He keeps many of his attacks from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, including the shot buds, the slicing waves, and the drop-down shockwave attack. Marluxia still uses only one card at a time, but his new attacks are more like sleights. The first of which is when he engulfs the field in darkness, preventing you from seeing your cards (except for the Reload Card), and the second is when he creates a massive Blossom Shower. The perspective in these attacks changes to Marluxia, which can make it difficult to dodge these attacks. There's a way around the card seeing, but you need a proper sleight. Stock your cards, and when you know what cards you've got, keep using sleights and removing when you got them memorized.

For the first part of the battle, the objective is the same as in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories: destroy the scythes. Marluxia will swing at you with his scythes in a manner similar to Deathscythe. This can be avoided by dodge rolling around the machine he rides. It is possible to attack Marluxia directly, but destroying the scythe blades first makes this easier. When destroyed, each of the blades releases a few HP orbs. After both are destroyed, Marluxia will rocket across the field in an attempt to ram into you, though this can easily be dodged with a well-timed Dodge Roll. After that, he will summon three shot buds. These can be disposed of easily by simply card breaking them. Afterwards, he will create a rotating ring of five "X"-shaped flower waves and fire them at you. He does this faster as his HP gets lower. At regular intervals, he will use his sleight-like attacks: the mega Blossom Shower and the "dark void". As previously mentioned, the "dark void" attack turns all your cards completely black (with the exception of the Reload Card), preventing you from seeing them. He repeats this attack pattern until his HP almost reaches halfway, then he begins using the drop down shockwave attack. Marluxia does this three times in a row, then repeats the previous attack pattern. This continues until Marluxia is defeated.

Marluxia (Third Form)
Marluxia also has three regular attacks, the first of which are the shot buds from the second battle which have higher accuracy and card value than last time, the second attack is Marluxia's mega blossom shower which has not changed from the last battle, and the third attack is a blast of energy similar to Deathscythe.

As this fight takes place as soon as you defeat Marluxia's second form, you'll have no chances to modify your deck. So what will work well on both of Marluxia's final forms is before you fight Marluxia, put in at least 12 attack cards, three or six of which are zeroes as Marluxia uses all of his attacks three times, except for the shot buds. Put in several Cure and Thunder cards and if possible put in some Cloud and Stop cards to use Cross Slash+. If you do use the aforementioned sleight put in more attack cards so you can use it more often and several item cards as well. Finally, put in the Vexen, Oogie Boogie, Jafar, Shadow, Trickmaster, Barrel Spider, and Air Soldier enemy cards. Guard Armor and Axel are also useful as Guard Armor lets you attack Marluxia from a greater distance and Axel gives you a slightly better chance of escaping Omni Laser.

When the battle begins use either the Jafar or Trickmaster cards so you can make your attack cards invincible or decrease the value of Marluxia's cards, respectively; these are pretty strategic as Marluxia uses high value cards at the start of the battle. You should follow with the Shadow card to boost your card values and even try to activate Ars Arcanum, Blitz or Strike Raid to deal more damage to Marluxia; Ars Arcanum (three 1s) and Blitz (two 1s and a 9) become possible due to Shadow's effect. Marluxia's sleights have a maximum value of 24, so take advantage of Shadow to top this and deal some damage. When your Shadow is burned, reload with an item card or let Marluxia use Gale of Severance so you can reload without interruption. Omni Laser is likely to follow, so use the Vexen card to increase your chances of survival; if you're revived, follow up with Oogie Boogie to heal. Afterwards attack Marluxia like a normal enemy; use the Air Solider card to dodge Marluxia's attacks and reload at the same time, and then use the Barrel spider card for faster reloading from here on out. Use your own tactics (granted you have any cards left!) to finish off Marluxia if he still has HP left.

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
Marluxia appears as an Absent Silhouette and is also featured in the Cavern of Remembrance.

The Guardian Soul Keyblade is very useful in this battle, as Reaction Boost is very useful with the amount of Reaction Commands that Marluxia provides. As soon as the battle starts, Marluxia will whisper in Sora's ear, starting a countdown timer (the number above Sora's head represents his current level). Whenever he hits you with his scythe, the countdown goes down by one. When it goes down to zero, Sora loses the battle.

Marluxia will use a wide number of attacks. He will conjure a black volley of vines around Sora, and will explode in a few seconds, dealing damage. To avoid this, Dodge Roll, Glide around or Quick Run right before the vines explode. Marluxia will also knock Sora into the air, and attack Sora over and over until parried (with Aerial Recovery/Retaliating Slash). He will also use an attack where he spins his scythe into the air and attracts Sora into it and unleashes a spinning scythe attack, of which the last hit knocks Sora into the air. If this attack is guarded or dodged, you may use one of two Reaction Commands, the first being Rob Count, by standing near his scythe and hurling it at him (which restores the hit counter by thirteen points) and the second command, Air Trample, by standing near Marluxia, and damaging him. He also uses some regular attacks, and if the last one is guarded, he will be left vulnerable. Also, It is possible to interrupt these attacks by using Counterguard. He will conjure black circles on the floor, which will damage Sora greatly if Sora lands on them.

Marluxia will also turn into a wheel and head towards Sora. This can be blocked by Guarding or Dodge Rolling. Just after he returns to normal, it will be open for attacks. Marluxia uses a move where he begins to levitate over Sora, and summon pillars to deal damage. To avoid being hit, Glide or Dodge Roll around until he lifts up his scythe, and then use Reflect/Guard.

Marluxia is also one of the faster Organization members, and he warps around quite a lot.

Data Rematch
As aforementioned above, Marluxia is also available as a data replica boss. He, like other data bosses, has more health but his attacks and the strategy for defeating him remain the same. It should be noted that Marluxia's scythe attacks cannot harm Sora, but can reduce the counter. The only attacks in his arsenal that can hurt Sora are the black circles, the vine bomb, and the dark pillars of energy.

Sleights

 * First Battle