Frost Serpent

The Frost Serpent is an Emblem Heartless that appears in Kingdom Hearts III.

Kingdom Hearts III
After being expelled from the top of the mountain by Larxene's gust of wind, Sora, Donald, and Goofy soon find themselves trying to out-sled an avalanche coming after them. Three Frost Serpents chase after them and are destroyed. New Frost Serpents then appear, knocking the heroes down the mountain.

Design
The Frost Serpent is a large icy dragon-like Heartless. It's body is colored white and primarily made up of by its large tail, which is covered in icy spikes. The tail ends in a cluster of spiky ice crystals which are formed into a snowflake shape. It has two flat, jagged wings which extend outward in an icy pattern resembling with diamond shaped spikes at the tip of each segment of the wing. Its head contains two icy horns, a set of swirly yellow eyes, and a Heartless emblem on its forehead.

Strategy
During the first encounter with the Frost Serpents, the battle is locked into the usage of the Trinity Sled Team Attack as the party is chased down the mountain. The gameplay in this segment is relatively simple; the Frost Serpents will only use their Blizzard Breath attack with the ray firing along the party's direction. If the ray was fired close to the party, simply move in the other direction. If the party is near one of the edges, consider jumping to the side to avoid getting pinned against the attack. Over time, two other Frost Serpents will join in, so pay close attention to the direction each one is firing. After a while, the party will fall off a cliff, thus ending the Frost Serpents' chase.

In normal combat, Frost Serpents have two modes; flying mode and ground mode. In flying mode, their attacks are more dangerous at a longer range, but they also are more vulnerable as their wings and tails take double damage from Fire magic. Watch for when light begins forming at its mouth or when it starts spinning and then guard, followed by a counterattack when the attack has cleared. The wings and tail will drop prizes when destroyed, and when both have been destroyed the Frost Serpent will enter its ground mode.

In ground mode, the Frost Serpent will switch its tactics to close range attacks. It will either attempt to charge forward across the snow, which can be blocked and countered after it stops, or attempt to hit Sora from beneath the snow with its tail several times before emerging its entire body, where it will then be vulnerable. Due to its now limited long range potential, a good tactic with sufficient MP is to jump in the air and begin barraging it with Fire magic. Otherwise, evade its attacks and wait until it is once again vulnerable.