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. Its 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 regular combat, Frost Serpents have two modes: a flying mode and a grounded mode. Once grounded, Frost Serpents cannot re-enter their flying mode. In flying mode, their attacks have much longer range, but the Serpents themselves are more vulnerable as their wings and tails can be targeted separately and will stagger the Serpent when destroyed. Keep an eye out for when light begins forming at their mouths for their laser or when they start spinning to create a tornado; block these attacks and follow with a counterattack when the attack has subsided. Their wings and tails will drop prizes when destroyed, and when both wings have been destroyed the Frost Serpent will immediately enter its grounded mode.

In grounded mode, Frost Serpents will change tactics and focus on close-range attacks. They will either attempt to charge forward across the snow while spinning their arms like a drill, which can be blocked and countered, or attempt to hit Sora from beneath the snow with their tails (when only one is left alive, it will stab its tail upward multiple times) before emerging from the ground with their entire body, where they will then be vulnerable. Due to their now limited damage potential from range, a good tactic with sufficient MP is to jump in the air and begin barraging a given Frost Serpent with Fire magic. Otherwise, evade their attacks and wait until they have concluded to counterattack.

Regardless of which mode, in addition to dealing 50% more damage, hitting a Frost Serpent with any attacks imbued with the element will invariably make it flinch and cancel whatever action it was currently performing.