Groundshaker

The Groundshaker is an Emblem Heartless that is found in Kingdom Hearts II. It is one of the bosses at Pride Lands.

Kingdom Hearts II
''A giant Heartless that appeared in the Pride Land. He was created by the many illusions of Scar.''

The main body on the back of the creature controlled its bones, creating chaos in the savannah.

Kingdom Hearts II
After Simba finally confronted his doubts and weaknesses about being the ruler of Pride Land, the many Scar's Ghosts which had been haunting him flew to the Savannah and coalesced into a giant Heartless which resembled the Living Bone-Shaman symbiote. After a battle which raged all across the Savannah, Sora and Simba managed to defeat the Heartless and bring peace back to the Pride Land.

Strategy
The main thing to remember is that the only available targets are its eyes and the shaman-like Heartless on its back. At the start of the battle a series of reaction commands become available helping Sora jump from the ground stomps of the Groundshaker's feet. The computer controls your movements, so you don't get confused. With the last reaction command you will eventually jump up and parry one of its stomps by pressing rapidly, when you do this it will fall and become stunned. Now is your chance to unload the most damage you can to its main head's eyes. Magic, melee, Simba's limit, anything that deals damage.

When the Groundshaker recovers it jump high onto the air. Make sure it doesn't squash you on the way down. Now, the shaman emerges, so you can jump on its back using the reaction command "jump" twice. There is a shaman monkey-like Heartless here that is the hardest part of the fight. At high health you can attack any of the two heads to take off HP while it casts mild magic that you don't have to worry about if your within melee range. A tip for taking this down, while attacking in the air, press to perform Finishing Blast, this will knock its two heads off on the ground for a short period. At this point the two heartless unite, allowing Groundshaker to summon fire. Beware, the fire will track you if you are too far away! Eventually, Groundshaker warps to the other side of the gorge surrounding the battlefield. It will leap over, damaging you if you are nearby, then it will run away. If it runs away then repeat the process of reaction commands from the beginning to get back on its back.

When it is upright again on the Groundshaker's back the witch-doctor can become invisible. When the witch doctor's double-mask rotates, Groundshaker's head would also rotate. One side uses volcanic fire attacks, while the other side uses eerie electric magic. During this time it is advisable to run clockwise around the boss' back until it is visible again, then try and stun it with the air combo just mentioned. The duration of invisibility and the intensity of magic attacks becomes more frequent as its HP drops lower. As with all boss battles heal well, for this boss never lets your HP go down to less than about half of the first circle around Sora's portrait, it can kill you with 1 shot if your health is any lower than that in Proud Mode.

When you fall off the back jump up the leg or the head to get back on. Don't stay on the ground when the Shaman is on its back. You will get bombarded by magic attacks and this makes it almost impossible for Sora to survive (good time to use Reflect), let alone get back up.

Trivia

 * The Groundshaker is one of the largest Heartless which appear in the series, rivaling the World of Chaos itself.


 * The Groundshaker has more Heartless Emblems than any Heartless: on top of its head, on its chin, and on the being controlling it.


 * It is unknown whether the beast or the witch doctor is the Heartless named Groundshaker. Timon hints that the witch controls the beast. It is entirely possible that they are one in the same, as the witch doctor sometimes merges with the beast. However when it dies the Shaman is the only one seen to vanish and a heart pop out.

Duo Sismique