Berserker

The Berserker (バーサーカー) is a Nobody enemy in Kingdom Hearts II and first appears in Twilight Town when Sora attempts to meet Kairi.

The Berserker is very bulky and wields giant claymore-like hammers (bearing much resemblance to the weapon of their master Saïx) which it uses to attack and defend. It is the biggest of the lesser Nobodies, and is very powerful. Berserkers are controlled by Saïx, with whom they bear a resemblance in various ways.

Kingdom Hearts II
''A berserker. A high-ranking Nobody. Its attacks are hard to read as it is dragged around by a cursed hammer.''

''Attacks from the front will only be parried by its hammer. Knock it down to make it let go of the hammer. Then pick up the hammer to unleash a flurry of attacks with Berserk.''

Anatomy
It seems to wear heavy armor that covers its body. Unlike other Nobodies, it does not have silver on it, but instead has bronze-like coloring. Its arms and legs are small at near the torso and hips, but the hands and feet are gigantic. Due to its armor, the only parts that can be seen of its "skin" are the hands and part of the neck/face, which are ink-black. When using a special attack (which is like the "Berserk" reaction command), it becomes small in size, hanging from its claymore-like weapons with its small hands. The mark of Organization XIII is marked on their heads

Strategy
The Berserker has very strong attacks and has an equally strong defense. Moving in for a head-on attack can be risky although the proper strategy is needed. First you attack with a combo. Then grab the Claymore and combo. Continue this until dead. Otherwise if in The World That Never Was use Riku's Limit to finish the job. Otherwise a good way to deal with them is to come in close, reflect its attacks, and wait for the reaction command to show up. Using it will greatly diminish the Berserker's health as well as any other enemies that you capture with it.

When Berserkers appear some of them might appear without their Claymore. The Claymore would materialize right in front of them, and if any character is between the Claymore and the Berserker, damage would be dealt. When the Berserker holds its hand out the Claymore will rush to it and damage anything in its way.

A good alternative is using Thunder or Blizzard at a distance to help preserve HP or using Magnet followed by a limit or Thunder to finish the job.

Another strategy would be to use Wisdom Form, for its MP-free long range attacks and accuracy. Its attacks can hit a shrunken Berserker from far away, which takes away the risk of being parried and countered. When it gets small limits like the solo Trinity Limit can still attack it and possibly kill it.

Appearances

 * Twilight Town
 * Olympus Coliseum
 * The World That Never Was

Etymology

 * The word Berserker comes from the viking warriors called "berserkers" (shortening of 'bear serk', the name of the clothing they wore) who were infamous for fighting in a violent rage, recklessly charging at their enemies without armor or any other protection, and seemingly without concern for their own health.