Game:Roxas

Roxas is a boss in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix at The World That Never Was.

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
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, buffering 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.

After the initial attack, he will run behind Sora and use either Aerial Spin Swing, Whirlwind Swing, or Continuous Swing. Watch for the Continuous Swing attack, as 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. When his retaliation point is met, Roxas may counterattack with Continuous Swing or Keyblade Throw on the ground, or Aerial Spin Swing in the air.

Roxas may use Duel Attack every now and again, and when caught by it, a cinematic duel between Sora and Roxas begins, 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.

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.

After reaching 75% HP, 40% HP, and then randomly thereafter, Roxas will use his Keyblade Release attack. 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. Also after being reduced to 75% HP, Roxas will begin using Spot Beam during his other attacks.

Once he is down to 40% of his HP, Roxas enters 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.

Data Rematch
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 Attack 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 because it puts Sora in a stationary position and has inconsistent invincibility frames; 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.

Kingdom Hearts coded
Main Article: Game:Data-Roxas