Julius

Julius is a vicious artificial monster that appears in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. He first appeared in the Disney animated short film , and can be fought as a boss in Kingdom Hearts 3D once the story has been completed.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Sora and Riku discover Julius while in Traverse Town's Fountain Plaza, where he jumps out of the sewer in the middle of the area and proceeds to attack them. Upon his defeat, Julius scrambles back into the sewer, and Sora and Riku obtain the Ultima Weapon Keyblade. The player can examine the sewer grating any time after the fight and Julius will climb out for another battle.

Design
The hulking Julius resembles a fusion of the and Pete, in both appearance and voice. Julius has dark blue fur, plaque-stained fangs, and bright red hair. He wears a light blue shirt, which is ripped at the sleeves, dark blue pants worn up to his chest, and dirty white gloves. Several parts of his body and clothing are literally stitched together, and one of his legs has been replaced with a pegleg. He also has metal bolts sticking out of his neck.

Abilities
Julius is a powerful opponent, possessing immense physical strength and a devastating combat style similar to commercial wrestling. Julius is very agile despite his large size, and is capable of running swiftly and leaping great distances and heights. His basic attacks include a quick uppercut-like punch, a downward arcing punch, and a basic straight punch. He may perform a combo in which he knocks the player upward using the uppercut twice, then knock them back down to the ground using the arcing punch. Julius may also take off at a run and leap into the air to come crashing down in an elbow drop, and begin to run across the arena at high speed to ram into the current character. His most dangerous attack at first is a barrage of swinging punches as he moves forward, preceded by him punching his fists together in warning. The attack is very difficult to dodge unless the player is a significant distance from Julius when he begins the attack, as he will quickly turn to keep coming at the player. All of these attacks except for the elbow drop and his running around the arena can be blocked, but only Riku can block the barrage of punches using Dark Barrier, as the quick turns Julius performs causes him to attack from other directions other than head-on, which Sora's normal Block command cannot stop. Julius may also perform a slower attack in which he smacks the ground, then unleashes a one-two punch. If the first punch connects, he will grab the character and belch on them, inflicting, , and. His most powerful attack involves him jumping to the tallest building, and then leaping through the air to crash down. The punches can be blocked but the ground smack and aerial crash cannot. The aerial crash is also very difficult to dodge. Using Superglide for Sora is recommended to dodge it safely. Flowmotion for both characters is also an option to dodge it, but is not always reliable, as Julius can break the poles around the arena to limit Flowmotion's effectiveness.

When Julius falls to half his HP, the screen will darken and Julius will summon lightning bolts to bombard the arena, supercharging his fists with electricity. All of Julius's punch attacks now create shockwaves to increase their range, and his elbow drop and aerial crash create shockwaves in his wake, each one now inflicting additional Thunder damage. His lightning-charged aerial crash will also reset the reload bar of the currently selected command while doubling its reload time, signified by the disabled command turning black and red. If the selected command is still reloading, the doubled reload time will take effect for the remainder of the reload time. After a period of time Julius will lose his lightning and his attacks return to normal. However, he will continue to periodically charge himself back up throughout the rest of the fight. If Julius charges himself with the lighting while on his last bar of HP, he will not lose the charge.

Strategy
In order to provide for adequate defense, both Sora and Riku should equip Leaf Bracer, Once More, Second Chance, Poison Block, and Confusion Block. Equipping several Thunder Screen is beneficial too, as it will reduce the damage inflicted by Julius's thunder-enhanced punches, as will be maxing out Magic Haste to lessen the reloading time of Cure commands and spells. Their decks should both have at least Curaga or two Elixir commands; as Elixirs are item commands and have no reload time, they would be unaffected by the reload-slowing effect and would be the best command to have active if it is inflicted. Increasing the Max HP of both characters is important, so make sure to clear both characters' Secret Portals for another boost. Although the character's Spirits will not be able to assist them directly, all active abilities will remain enabled during the battle.

Side: Sora
Sora should be at least level 60 and equipped with every evasive ability he has; Slide Roll and Double Impact are especially important. The End of Pain is the best Keyblade to equip, although the Counterpoint, Divewing and Unbound Keyblades will work as well. Sora's deck should have two or three Balloon-type commands, as well as either Sonic Blade or Ars Arcanum. Sliding Block is recommended for the player's block command. When Riku drops, purchase the highest Attack Gain, Magic Gain, Defense Gain, and Drop Decelerator bonuses that are affordable to prepare for the fight.

Immediately dodge away from Julius when the battle begins. Once his first combo is over, cast a Balloon-type spell, and then return to dodging. Repeat this technique, and rather than risking it all to fight while at low HP, make sure to immediately find a safe spot and use Curaga or an Elixir. Whenever Julius appears vulnerable, such as after a body slam, use either Sonic Blade or Ars Arcanum to deal large amounts of damage to him. These commands leave Sora open for damage afterward, however, so make sure to dodge out of the way as soon as the attack ends. If Julius jumps up to the tallest building and jumps off of it, watch the map on the bottom screen to avoid the attack. If it lands, it will do great damage to Sora. A good way to dodge this attack is by using Superglide to fly around the arena. If Sora should get grabbed by Julius and belched upon, he will be affected by up to three different status effects at a time, such as Blind, Poison, and Confuse. However, after a certain number of Sora's attacks hit Julius, he will falter for a few seconds. As such, if Sora is grabbed right after casting a Balloon command and it causes Julius to falter, Sora will be released, allowing for an escape. Julius also can stand still after several attacks in a row, allowing more damage.

When Julius begins to summon lightning from the sky, make sure that Sora's health is more than half full, and block the bolts coming down on you. Julius will now have a lot more range to his attacks, so be sure to keep a distance and dodge away, or Block from any lightning that comes in Sora's direction. If he manages to make Julius flinch while he's charging up, the charging effects won't be canceled. If Julius does his jump attack while charged, getting hit will cause the current selected command on the deck to be disabled and enter a super-slow recharge time, making it even more important that the player uses Superglide to dodge this attack, or have their Attack and Magic Haste abilities maxed out before the fight. Make sure that a healing command is not selected when Julius begins this attack, as losing them often leads to the end of the battle if you are unfortunate to not have any items.

Continue dodging Julius's combos and attack when possible, and eventually he will be defeated, unlocking the Ultima Weapon.

Side: Riku
In order to provide for adequate defense, Riku should equip Dark Barrier and Dark Roll. To boost his strength, he should also equip the Unbound Keyblade and purchase Attack Gain LV3, Magic Gain LV3, and Drop Decelerator LV3 when Sora drops. His Command Deck should be filled with several Balloon-type commands, as well as Dark Firaga or Meteor Crash.

Immediately chain multiple Dark Rolls together to avoid the physical attacks Julius uses to open the battle. Cast Balloon-type spells or Dark Firaga if it is safe to do so between the towering monster's combos, and with any luck, he will head straight into the path of Riku's attacks as he attempts to hit him. Julius's standard left-to-right slap attacks and single punches are relatively weak, but the series of punches he unleashes after clapping his fists together must be watched for. Each of these can be countered with Dark Barrier and Counter Aura, but it's usually safer to just use Dark Roll to dodge.

Julius's leaping body-slam cannot be countered, so Riku must dodge to avoid it. However, it provides a good window for Riku to use Meteor Crash or launch a barrage of Balloons and Dark Firagas. If Julius begins to run around the battlefield, skidding to a stop every few seconds as he changes direction, chain multiple Dark Rolls together and get as far away from him as possible, as even his skidding deals damage. If Julius leaps onto the tall building at the end of the Fountain Plaza, disengage the Lock-On feature so that the camera focuses on Riku and the area in front of him rather than Julius and the area behind Riku, and chain multiple Dark Rolls together away from the building to avoid the deadly shockwaves triggered by Julius's landing. Lastly, should Julius grab Riku and breathe on him, he will dish out several status ailments such as Blind, Poison and Confuse that cannot be extinguished without a Panacea. Because these only last for a few seconds, however, it is recommended to simply restore Riku back to full health and let Poison do its dirty work, healing again once the status ailment has dissipated.

After about six of Julius's HP bars have been depleted, the battlefield grows dark and Julius surrounds his fists with electricity. Carefully time Dark Rolls to avoid the lightning bolts that come crashing down on Riku, or chain several Dark Barriers together to defend against them. If he manages to make Julius flinch while he's charging up, the charging effects won't be canceled. Because Julius's attacks are much more powerful in his charged-up state(Adding Thunder damage on top of physical) and come more frequently with greater range (and also have a chance of slowing down command reload times), the player should disregard offense for the time being and merely chain Dark Rolls together to avoid the boss (be extremely careful not to accidentally trigger Flowmotion, as this leaves Riku vulnerable). Julius leaps off of the building more often in this state, so always remember to disengage Lock-On and get as far away from him as possible when this happens. When Julius's fists cease to glow, resume the previous strategy of dodging his attacks and following up with Balloon-type spells or Dark Firaga. Julius will enter this more powerful state at random intervals from this point onward as his HP continues to dwindle, but once he is on his last couple of bars, his last charge will remain until the end, so continue using Balloon and Dark Firaga from a distance until his HP finally hits 0.

Origin
Julius first appeared in the Disney animated short film . He is the monster of mad scientist Dr. Frankenollie, who Mickey Mouse applied to work for "a mindless day's work" in order to pay for a trip to Hawaii that he and Minnie were taking. Frankenollie decides to perform an experiment which successfully switches Mickey's brain with the brain of his monster, leaving the two swapped in each other's bodies, though at the cost of Frankenollie's life. In Mickey's body, Julius finds himself infatuated with Minnie and tries to kidnap her. However, Mickey, in the body of Julius, manages to stop him and reverse the brain swap once more. Now back in his own body, Mickey manages to incarcerate Julius by trapping him in rope leaving him being pulled up and down like a yo-yo off of a skyscraper's billboard. In the end, Mickey and Minnie use Julius as transportation to get them to Hawaii by boat, comically by hanging a photo of Minnie in front of him to make him try to swim and reach the photo, unwittingly rowing the boat.

Trivia

 * It has been reported and shown that during Julius's drop from the building while he is charged, your chosen command will still be disabled even if he hits a pole and not you specifically. This has not yet been fixed.