Status effect

Status Effects are ailments which can affect Sora, his allies, or even enemies. Status effects can be caused by enemy attacks, magic, or sleights.

Magic Caused Status Effects
Stop - This is caused by the spell Stop. The spell causes an enemy to freeze for a certain duration of time. This effect is especially useful in the Phantom fight. In Kingdom Hearts, by using stop on the clock hand, the hand freezes for a while so that your teammates do not die as quickly.

Burn - Caused by some Fire-type enemies, this will cause Sora and company to take damage at an increasing rate for a duration of time. This is very similar to a poisonous effect.

Flat - This is caused by Gravity magic. It inflicts damage and gathers the enemies together for a certain amount of time. This is represented highly in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

Doom - This can only be inflicted upon Sora and his party members and only in the Phantom boss fight. The Phantom will cast Doom and a timer will appear over a character's head. Once the timer runs out, the character will be KO'd and cannot be brought back into the battle. It normally gets rid of your party members before finally affecting Sora. The only way to avoid this effect is to cast Stop on the Clock Tower which will keep the counter from going down for one minute real time. Eventually, the spell will wear off and the timer will resume, forcing the player to cast Stop again.

Enemy Effects
Confusion - Confusion is caused by Sora and occasionally the enemies in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. It reverses the controls, making it more difficult to move and avoid attacks. In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, some Room cards that have statues that will attack Sora and cause him to be confused. An example of this are the cherub statues in Olympus Coliseum.

Certain attacks and abilities also cause this. One is Zexion's Enemy Card, Confu-Strike, which has a chance of causing confusion. A combo with King Mickey, Dark Burst, also may also induce confusion upon the enemy. The combo finisher of Dark Aura also has this effect, confusing those the flames hit, should the enemies survive the attack. It should be noted that most bosses are immune to this status effect.

Poison - Mainly caused by Black Fungus Heartless. It causes the player to take damage at an increasing rate even while moving away from the enemy. This lasts for about 5 seconds after the initial strike.

Stun - Stunning an enemy is a way of gaining an advantage in battle, yet can also be used by the enemy as a threat. While stunned, one cannot move for a short amount of time, usually until attacked. Strike Raid causes this effect in Sora's story, and Riku's second hit in his Dark Mode's three-hit combo also causes it. Holy Burst can stun as well. While bosses are typically immune to this effect, and rarely use it, Larxene's various Thunder abilities and Riku Replica's second hit in his three-hit combo also cause stunning.

Positive Effects
Air Shield - Caused by the Aero spell, this effect will shield a player for a set amount of time. Some enemies will cast this, and party members can cast this as well. This only appears in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. However, Xaldin can use a similar ability in Kingdom Hearts II.

Invincibility - An ability that can be obtained in all Kingdom Hearts games by allies and enemies alike. It casts a "No Damage" sort of skill on the invincible character, meaning that he does not take damage from any kind of attack. Quite often, players and foes become invincible throughout the course of a battle when that character's desperation attack is used, though there are several exceptions when Invincibility can be cast outside of an attack. For example, in Olympus Coliseum, Hercules is Invincible until acted on by a force outside of the regular attack command.

Kingdom Hearts
In this game, almost all special abilities make Sora impervious to enemy attacks. Party Members also become Invincible when they faint, as to not suffer any more damage past zero HP.
 * Sora- Becomes invincible during Sonic Blade, Strike Raid, the first half of Ars Arcanum, Ragnarok, and Trinity Limit. Some Summons also negate harm to Sora, like Dumbo.
 * Hercules - Is thrown into a demi-god state of Invincibility when fought until hit with a barrel. Periodically, he can switch back to his Invincible state. Denoted by a yellow glow surrounding his body.
 * Riku- When using Dark Aura.
 * Summons - All Summons cannot take damage.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Some terms, like Guard or Recover, are confused for invincibility. However, this status is defined as not being harmed while an attack makes contact with the user.
 * Sora - Cannot be damaged while Dodge Rolling. Cannot be damaged during Sleight execution unless Cards are broken.
 * Riku - Cannot be damaged while using Dodge Roll. Cannot be damaged during Sleight execution unless Cards are broken. Also cannot be damaged during a Card Duel in Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories.
 * Organization XIII - Cannot be damaged during Sleight execution unless Cards are broken.
 * Riku Replica - Cannot take damage during Sleight execution unless Cards are broken.

Kingdom Hearts II
In this game, all characters are impervious to damage during Limit execution and desperation attacks alike. Some regular enemies also are impervious to damage for some brief instances.
 * All Party Members - During any Limit, these characters cannot be harmed.
 * Dusk - Cannot be attacked in Roxas's storyline until he obtains the Keyblade.
 * Undead Pirates - Cannot be attacked physically or with Magic unless in the moonlight.
 * Organization XIII - When using their respective Desperation Attacks. Axel also cannot be harmed as an ally when he fights with Sora in Betwixt and Between.
 * Hercules - As an ally, as opposed to a party member, he cannot be attacked.
 * Leon, Tifa, Yuffie, and Cloud - As allies in Hollow Bastion (Radiant Garden), none of these characters can be harmed.
 * Summons - As in past games, all Summons cannot be harmed.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

 * All Playable Characters - Cannot take damage during activation of their Limit Break.
 * Heartless - Some Heartless are invulnerable unless their weak points are attacked. When paired with a Barrier Master, all enemies are protected from all damage until it is defeated.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

 * Terra, Ventus, and Aqua - Cannot be damaged during execution of Shoot Locks.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, there are many status effects in the game that have not appeared in the previous games. Each one corresponds to an Organization member's respective element, and each member is resistant to their own element's status effect. Furthermore, there is a special accessory for each status effect that renders the player immune to it. The effects are usually shown by different icons to represent different ailments, which appear over the affected characters' heads. Many enemies are capable of these attacks that can inflict status impairments that reduce or negate combat and movement abilities. All effects subside after a brief time or can be cured by using a Panacea.


 * Ignited: When the character catches on fire, he continues to lose HP until the fire goes out. Identical to the Burn effect listed above. Caused by Flame attacks.


 * Frozen: When ice forms around a character's feet, he becomes incapable of action. Press any button rapidly to break free of the ice. Caused by Ice attacks.


 * Jolted: When a character is surrounded by electricity, he is damaged when coming into contact with any ally, enemy, or even walls or environment objects. Caused by Thunder attacks.


 * Air-tossed: When a green tornado appears over the character's head, he becomes incapable of action or recovery while in midair, and also take more damage if hit. The effect only last until the character lands on the ground. Caused by Wind attacks.


 * Radar Zapped: The map displayed on the lower touch screen disappears for a short time. Caused by Light attacks.


 * Blinded: When sunglasses appear over the character's head, attacks attempted are more likely to miss. Caused by Flower attacks.


 * Shoe-glued: When a "1 Ton" icon appears over the character's head, he or she becomes unable to jump over or perform aerial combos. Caused by Space attacks,


 * Flip-footed: When question marks (??) appear above the character's head, movement controls become reversed. Identical to the Confusion effect listed above. Caused by Illusion attacks.


 * Silenced: When a speech bubble with an ellipsis ("...") appears over the character's head, he or she become incapable of casting magic. Caused by Moon attacks.


 * Rewound Defense: When a blue shield with "Lv. 1" appears over the character's head, his or her defense is lowered to Lv.1 for a short period of time. Caused by Time attacks.


 * Nulled Defense: Certain enemies can attack or have attacks without regard in the character's defense. Certain rings can protect against this. Caused by Nil attacks.


 * HP Halved: Certain enemies are capable of attacks that reduce a character's attacks by half of his or her max HP. Certain rings can protect against this. Caused by Earth attacks.


 * Damage Drained: The ability of some enemies to continually draw HP out of a character, replenishing their own. Certain rings can protect against this. Caused by Water attacks.