Game:Ansem, Seeker of Darkness

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness is a boss in  and Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. He is the Heartless of Terra-Xehanort, and leader of the Heartless. In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Ansem serves as the game's antepenultimate boss. In Kingdom Hearts III, Ansem is fought in the Keyblade Graveyard, initially alongside Xigbar and Dark Riku, although he retreats not long into the battle, and later fights alongside Xemnas and Young Xehanort.

First Battle
Ansem's first fight is a battle against Sora, Donald, and Goofy at the End of the World's simulation of Destiny Islands. While his attacks are few, they are devastating.
 * Attacks
 * Ansem attacks with energy disks resembling Strike Raid.
 * Ansem's guardian physically attacks.
 * Ansem sics the guardian on Sora while he creates an energy shield around himself.
 * Ansem's guardian protects him from frontal attacks.

During the fight, Ansem attacks with energy disks as he laughs, which can be blocked with Guard. He can also make his guardian swipe at the party, or defend himself with it. However, with the right timing, Sora can just end up behind Ansem and deal damage to him. Special attacks like Ragnarok can pierce through the guardian's defenses.

Ansem's most infamous attack is when he has his guardian dash at Sora and swipe at him twice. He always yells, "Submit!" as he does this, so Dodge Roll at the right time to evade the guardian. If any one of these hits connects, the guardian possesses Sora, and Ansem will begin to surround himself with an energy barrier to attack Sora. While Sora is possessed by the Guardian, the Attack command is replaced with "Freeze." Pressing it causes the guardian to hold Sora in place for a brief moment leaving him open for Ansem's energy barrier to damage him; otherwise, the guardian will damage Sora from within. While the guardian will eventually be called back to Ansem's side, Sora can shorten the time the guardian is possessing him by attacking Ansem, either with simple combos or with special attacks like Strike Raid.

It is actually possible for the guardian to possess Donald or Goofy instead of Sora. While this means that Sora is free to attack at any time, keep in mind that Ansem can still summon his barrier.

Second Battle

 * Attacks
 * Ansem shoots back and forth across the arena with a shield over his front side.
 * The guardian dives into the ground, creating dark pools underneath Sora which shoot out of the ground. The attack ends with the guardian striking the ground, creating a shockwave.
 * Ansem sics the guardian on Sora while he creates an energy barrier around himself.
 * Ansem yells, "Come, guardian!" and the guardian blocks all frontal attacks.

In the second battle against Ansem, Sora fights solo, so remember to heal with Curaga. Ansem debuts two new attacks to eliminate Sora: one resembles Riku's Dark Aura attack, in which he shoots back and forth across the arena with a shield over his front side. This inflicts heavy damage if it connects, so try to High Jump or cast Aeroga.

When Ansem says "My strength returns!" his guardian will dive into the ground, creating dark pools underneath Sora which shoot out of the ground. During this time, Ansem is invincible and the attack must be avoided, either by dodging or guarding. Failing to evade this attack can be highly damaging or even fatal, depending on the amount of HP Sora has at the time. The attack ends with the guardian striking the ground, creating a shockwave.

Like in the last battle, Ansem still has a habit of siccing the guardian on Sora. However, he will do this much more frequently than in the first battle. Ansem is especially vulnerable when he calls his guardian to return to him, so unleash combos at this time for massive damage.

The third fight with Ansem involves the World of Chaos.

Attacks
Riku's first fight with Ansem is meant to act as a tutorial on basic combat, and is very short.
 * First battle

In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Ansem will also use the "Shock Slash" technique, which can be easily dodged. The tutorial has been narrowed down to focus on the new Rapid Break and the new Duel System mechanics, and ends as soon as Riku successfully performs them.

The second time Ansem is fought is during the final battle of Riku's Story. This time around, Ansem brings into play some of his attacks from the first game, such as the sleights Dark Rush (where he zooms back and forth across the arena) and Dark Shadow (when he sends his guardian into the floor, creating pools of darkness that the guardian rises out of, fist raised). It's best to use 0 cards to break Dark Rush, although it can be jumped over with perfect timing, but Dark Shadow can be avoided easily by dodging. There is one unorthodox strategy that involves losing all of Riku's cards (from sleights) except one 0 card. If he gets left with one 0 card, immediately reload after (because Riku has instant reload, unlike Sora) and continue a combo. This works because the zero will always break Ansem's next card and if he breaks Riku's, reloading will give Riku a zero card.
 * Second battle

In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, start with the Maleficent Dragon Enemy Card and attack Ansem with combos. Make a Card Break every time to gain Dark Points and after Riku transform into Dark Mode, use the Jafar-Genie enemy card and use Sleights like Dark Break, Dark Firaga and Dark Aura to inflict heavy damage. After taking three (or more) King Mickey Friend Cards, use the MM Miracle Lv. 2 or MM Miracle Lv. 3 sleights to recover HP, reload cards, and damage Ansem. Break Ansem's sleights every time and continue the attacks. If Riku transforms into his normal form again, keep attacking and use the Item Card Hi-Potion to reload his Attack Cards. Win the Card Duels for heavy damage to Ansem. Never attack Ansem with his guardian in its front, only use that time to reload Riku's cards or use MM Miracle Lv. 3 to recover cards and HP. Use the Oogie Boogie Enemy Card to help keep up Riku's HP in the battle. Watch out for certain sleights used by Ansem, some can deal heavy damage to Riku. With a high level, deft dodging, and good use of the enemy cards, Ansem should fall eventually.

It should be noted that Ansem's Sleights tend to be reserved for later, and he initially just bothers with single card attacks. Once he loses 1.5-2 bars of HP he will start using his Sleights more regularly and attempt to break the player's. He will always start using his own card to hide his Sleight's value, but the Parasite Cage card can dispel this. A good idea is to use simple Sleights at the beginning to hit Ansem quick and for high damage all the while accumulating DP. Following this the player should have Dark Mode and Ansem will start using his own Sleights so having a few 0 cards nearby is advisable. Otherwise assaulting Ansem with Sleights like Dark Break or Dark Aura is helpful specially the latter as it can prevent Ansem from using his cards during the assault, although special care should be placed during the execution as he can break it with a 0 card of his own so it is advisable (for the entire battle) to use this Sleights instantly after Ansem attempts to use his own cards to Card Break him thus leaving him vulnerable to the attacks.

First Form
The battle starts with both parties in midair in Darkness's Call, where Ansem has an advantage. His Shock Slash has been upgraded and now homes in on Riku, and he has a habit of chaining them together for combos. His Rush is slightly different from other versions of Dark Rush, and cannot be blocked. In order to evade it, Riku can either just fly in a circle when Ansem is about to charge at him or Air Slide out of the way at each charge.

Simply slide around him and use Sliding Crescent in conjunction with the aforementioned attacks and possibly Balloonga. Ansem can't see Riku when he uses Vanish, so this can be used so Ansem can't attack him. If Riku does enough damage, the Reality Shift marker will appear and he can use Mirage Split to damage Ansem and make a platform appear. Luckily, Reality Shift can reappear a second time after the first one.

Now the battle is on the ground of Darkness's Call. His guardian now absorbs all damage aimed at Ansem. When the latter happens, use Flowmotion on the guardian as if it's a wall, and attack Ansem with it. The guardian can also attack with swipes and a new, vicious double overhand that can hit Riku even if he is airborne. As soon as the platform begins to fade away, he uses his old lightning bolt ability which is now slower, but more powerful and cannot be blocked. The fight itself is relatively straightforward and the same strategies from before can defeat the Heartless once more.

Second Form
Ansem merges with his guardian as he transports both himself and Riku to the Darkest End area. Ansem is now sealed inside a massive organic sphere with his guardian attached to the top. The creature will try to smash Riku or throw dark magical crests at him. It will also shoot a massive number of Dark Firaga orbs that can possibly home in on Riku and send waves of Shock Slash-like attacks towards him that can make dealing solid blows on Ansem difficult. After a while, Ansem launches Riku across the arena's pathway, forcing Riku to run back to him. After that, press LR to return the spirits back to Riku's side (two times if LR unlocks the target) so they will be able to help.

Ansem won't make it any easier for Riku—he forms two balls of darkness which can shoot incredibly quick lasers at Riku which have to be dodged and can't be blocked. He also unleashes a rain of blasts that can afflict Poison on Riku and waves of darkness that, if it catches him, drags Riku into one of the spheres of darkness and leaves Ansem free to deal massive non-lethal damage. If Riku has Dark Splicer, Dark Aura or Zantetsuken equipped or access to the Ghost Drive Dual Style, use it the moment Riku reaches the end of the pathway to warp right up to Ansem and deal damage. This is a risky tactic, as Riku can easily be captured into the spheres of darkness, or Ansem's guardian will attack with no chance to escape.

Riku can also use Ice Barrage to damage Ansem even at the end of the pathway, but he must be locked-on. It is, however, possible to predict what move he's going to use as Riku are running towards him: if he begins forming the light purple blasts of darkness in front of himself, he is about to shoot the lasers. The moment this happens, wait until they submerge into one spot before dodging to evade the attack; if he begins forming the Dark Firaga orbs, if he sends them upward, he is going release a rain of energy blasts that can poison Riku—but they are not that easy to dodge/block and as Riku is blocking them, Ansem can follow easily with the lasers as Riku can't dodge while blocking, or if he sends the Dark Firagas straightforward, he is going to release a multitude of purple and white orbs that can inflict Poison, Blind, Slow, or Confuse—but are easy to evade by simply guarding or dodge rolling straightforward. As the latter can inflict Confuse, which if inflicted on Riku's own spirits, can cause them to attack him because of this status ailment. If Ansem releases the energy crests, he's going to summon the waves of darkness that suck Riku in. Use Flowmotion to evade this by staying airborne, as they last for quite a while; or use Firaga Burst with Double Jump to stay in the air so he won't be able to drag Riku in and deal damage. Then use Flowmotion with Sonic Impact, if possible, by going backwards to the walls.

As soon as he has lost at least four bars of health, the next phase starts. Ansem turns the surrounding area black and starts summoning torrents of darkness from the floor drawing Riku to him, which Riku must evade and block. Once he finishes this, he sends Riku flying across the pathway again, but this time he summons rows of large '8-ball bombs' which can easily defeat Riku if he touches even one of them. As they sometimes home in on Riku, he must carefully dodge these, but they can also be blocked. Riku can't use Flowmotion at this point—Ansem prevents the walls from being used here, so rapid dodging and blocking are Riku's only tactics. Fortunately, Riku can dodge roll near the walls and return to Ansem without the Flowmotion activates, so can avoid the balls easily. He can also use Dark Splicer as the ball bombs reach him to go near Ansem and deal some damage without being knocked back by the attack, but he should have Second Chance/Once More equipped to survive the attack and as Dark Splicer lasts long enough until the end of the Heartless's attack, therefore, there shouldn't be any risks for Riku to be knocked back, but he should immediately heal after this. Whenever Riku returns to Ansem, press LR to make the spirits come back to him. After this, just repeat the cycle of pounding Ansem and running back to him and he'll go down.

If Riku does a lot of damage in a short time, the Mirage Split Reality Shift icon can appear (but it can't during the beginning of the second phase of the battle) and after using it, Ansem will be unable to do anything for a moment. If Riku attacks him right away with, Ansem will keep flinching while Riku does combos and can attack permanently until his defeat (even if he retains 1 HP at the end). After some time, while hitting him again and again, the Reality Shift can reappear, so Riku will be able to finish him off with it.