Game:Riku











Riku is a recurring boss in the series, and is also the final boss of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

Riku (Duel)
Sora may fight Riku on Destiny Islands before reporting to Kairi for the first time. Riku is the most difficult challenge on the island. Riku's attacks are similar to other battles with his normal strikes. He has two special attacks. If Sora knocks Riku down Riku will jump back up kicking Sora if the player does not have Sora jump out of the way. His other comes if Sora hits him while he is guarding three times he will unleash a powerful strike though this can be countered or dodged. The difficulty of this battle comes from falling off the small battle arena (if the player goes out of bounds, the player will lose.) Riku is worth 5 EXP.

Riku (Soul Eater)
Here, you will be reunited with Donald and Goofy (after playing with only one party member, the Beast, for quite a while). The Beast will not join you in this party, so make sure your Strength and Defense are up. Riku can’t be hurt by magic, so use Dodge Roll to avoid lunging attacks, then counterattack him from behind.

His moveset is about the same as the battle in Destiny Islands, but now that he has the Soul Eater with him, they can be very damaging. He moves very fast too, so Dodge Roll out of harm's way. Melee attacks are recommended for this battle - and like all other boss battles, heal when necessary. Good evasion, good timing, lots of physical attacks - these are sure to get Riku down rather quickly. If your stats are rather low, however, this can be a tiresome fight.

You may consider summoning Tinker Bell to restore your HP periodically.

Riku (Keyblade)
Here, you'll be fighting a possessed Riku. Before approaching him, re-stock Sora's items and make sure that he is in top notch condition. You are alone in this boss battle. It is strongly recommended that you equip Guard, Dodge Roll, Glide, and Counterattack. Also, it is highly recommended that you beat the 3 cups at Olympus Coliseum and get the Olympia Keyblade, and if you don't mind losing some magic, the Metal Chocobo can be useful as well. Riku's HP is made up of several bars. In his first HP bar, he'll attempt to toy with you, passing around you and executing his standard two-hit combo; just simply dodge and attack him. Whatever combo that you use, try to refrain from executing the combo finisher (unless you equip Blitz); Riku has fast recovery and can unleash devastating counterattacks. If you have equipped Ars Arcanum, save it for later. Also beware: magic only makes this boss counterattack with Dark Firaga.

When you drain his first life bar away, Riku will start using a new attack, he'll spin around while swinging his Keyblade, similar to Sora's vortex. He uses this attack very often, mostly to break your combos. During this time, try keeping yourself from a safe distance, by not too far, or Riku will make a high leap and attempt stab you with his Keyblade, creating shockwaves that move sideways from his position. Now it will be a good time to use Ars Arcanum, just use it a few times, and try saving your MP, you'll be needing it later.

Eventually Riku will invoke himself with darkness, and a purple aura will surround him. During this period, his speed and agility increases, and he gains two new attacks, one involves throwing his Keyblade at you, similar to Strike Raid(careful if you counter this attack and it hit Riku he will use Dark Firaga), and his infamous Dark Aura. Fortunately, his thrown Keyblade can be deflected either by guarding or striking with perfect timing; for each successful deflects, Riku will receive damage and be momentarily stunned. Seize this opportunity and bash him with all you've got.

When Riku's health bar drops to his final one, he'll become more and more aggressive, he no longer taunts you and uses Dark Aura very often (watch out for the phrases "Behold the power of darkness!" and "Open your heart to darkness!"). Riku's Dark Aura is a predictable move, but it can be difficult to dodge. When you see him floating and charging, keep you distance from him and High Jump right befor he starts shooting around. Immediately execute Glide move around in a circular fashion. Near the end of his assault you'll have to repeat the phrase and start Gliding again. Riku's finisher covers about 60% of the arena, so it'll be pretty hard to evade it. Alternatively, when he charges to one particular end of the arena (he usually starts with the top left corner), jump and stay there: Riku will not charge into the same area twice. Stay there until the finisher is executed (because he will not hit that area).

Attacking and counterattacking are good tactics while Riku is in this form, just pay attention to what he says and heal occasionally and you should be fine.

Note also that aside from the first hit, he cannot use Dark Aura when you stand RIGHT next to the computer/desk/worktop. However, he will Strike Raid and combo you IMMEDIATELY afterwards.

When Riku's health hits critical, be sure to finish him as fast as you can, he'll pull Dark Aura very often, thus prolonging the fight. Aside from that, he'll start to keep his distance from you, so track him down and continue hacking him and you'll eventually win. Suggested Keyblades to use other are the Olympia and Metal Chocobo - but ultimately, no matter what Keyblade you use, fight Riku tactically and you will take him down.

Kingdom Hearts II
Sora battles the hooded Riku in the form of Xehanort's Heartless in a one-on-one match in the Land of Dragons. While not a full-fledged battle, Riku attacks with slashing combos and the Dark Firaga attack. Both attacks can be dodged rather easily. He remains silent and can be damaged with the Reaction Command provided by the Rapid Thrusters that surround him. If you bring many Ethers into the battle, a good way to damage Riku is by using Trinity Limit. The battle ends when Sora deals enough damage to Riku. You could just battle the Rapid Thrusters since they are endless and try to level up.

Mission 74
Riku will block almost all of Roxas's attacks, so the point is to simply attack with Keyblades or area spells like Aeroga in order to herd him to the southern tunnels. While several Heartless will appear throughout the area, just ignore them and focus on Riku. Once Riku is chased into the southernmost tunnel, he will escape through a Dark Corridor and the mission will end.

Mission 93
First of all, you have to admire how good Riku is fighting. When you fight him here, he will do it blind-folded. Although you start out with Duel-Wield Roxas, holding both Oblivion and Oathkeeper, you will only have Oathkeeper when facing him. Instead of Riku using Way to the Dawn or Soul Eater, he will use the Oblivion keyblade. Riku will start the battle using only a few attacks, most of which are predictable but some are hard to dodge or block. When you beat him down to about half life, he will use his dark energy to power up his weapon, encasing it in a large white aura which forms a new, larger shape; extends his reach and power; and gives him a new attack.

Riku's main close combat attack is a 3-step combo where he will spin, swing, and then lunge. If you block this attack before the last strike, he will be stunned and stop the combo. However, he will continue the combo when his weapon is transformed. You know he will attack with this attack if you are relatively close to Riku; close enough for him you reach you by his lunge.

Riku has two long distance attacks. One is the Dark Firaga, which will follow you around the stage. Unless you have a high lvl Haste equipped or Glide away, it will out-speed you and hit you. If you avoid it for long enough, it will explode and the explosion can still hurt you. If you block it, it will also explode, but cause you no damage because of your block. The second long range attack is another ball of dark energy, which in this case will travel straight and then crash onto the ground, making a small shock wave (I think this was called Helm Break). Since you will be moving around most of the battle, there's not a big chance you will be hit by this. The differences in these are that, besides attacking pattern, the Dark Firaga is larger and moves slower. He will use one of these when you are at a range not to far away or too close to his keyblade's reach. Before he uses one of these, he will jump back and gather dark energy into his hand. If you hit him with magic or a combo finisher before he shoots it, he will cancel the attack.

Riku can use his Dark Break when you are too far away to chase. He will gather some energy and then appear almost instantly above you and smash down on the ground, making shock waves. He will do this 3 times total. If you have at least a lvl 2 Haste, you can simply out run the shock waves and his attack. Otherwise, jump or roll out of the way since you can't block this.

Riku has a counterattack he will use about half the battle: about 1/4 of the time in his normal state and then 3/4 of the time in his weapon transformed state. He can only use this if you hit him on the front or the sides. He will usually use this attack right after he blocks an attack. You can tell he blocks an attack by the sound and spark made by it, as well as you getting pushed back. Almost always, he will then raise his arm and a clear shield made of multiple hexagons will appear in front of him. For the time that it is up and a little bit afterwards, any attack sent upon him (even from behind) will be blocked and will attack you with a lunge faster than you can block.

When Riku's weapon is transformed, he will then use a version of the the Kingdom Hearts: CoM Dark Aura. First, he will gather up an aura of light around him and point his sword up. Then, he will appear close to you without warning and lunge straight through you and then disappear again and do this again from a different direction. He does this 4-5 times. Then, he will appear above you and smash onto the ground, causing pillars of light to erupt. All of those moves in Dark Aura can be blocked but it's hard to block all of them. It's relatively hard to dodge or block all of the lunges but the dive and pillars are easy to predict.

Riku (Ennemi)