Counter Slash

Retaliating Slash in-game.

Retaliating Slash (リベンジスラッシュ, Ribenji Surasshu, lit. "Revenge Slash") is an ability that appears in Kingdom Hearts II. It allows the user to regain their balance and attack after being knocked down. In Sora's Lion Form, the ability is dubbed Retaliating Smash.

Mechanics

In Kingdom Hearts II, Retaliating Slash is an action ability that costs 3 AP to equip, while Retaliating Smash is an action ability that is automatically equipped. It is used by pressing after being knocked into the air. Sora will immediately upright himself in midair by unleashing a forward-moving string of three slashes, the first of which comes out the same frame the move is inputted, making Retaliating Slash one of the fastest attacks available to him. However, contrasting the defense-focused Aerial Recovery, using it will not grant Sora invincibility when recovering, leaving him potentially very vulnerable. Also, as a recovery-type action, it will remove the effects of abilities such as Second Chance and Once More on activation, possibly leading to a Game Over if the ability is not used wisely.

When executed in Valor Form or Wisdom Form, Sora will simply perform the basic aerial attack of those respective forms.

Learning Retaliating Slash

Kingdom Hearts II

• Sora learns Retaliating Slash after defeating the Dark Thorn.
• Valor Form has Retaliating Slash as a default ability.
• Wisdom Form has Retaliating Slash as a default ability.
• Lion Form has Retaliating Smash as a default ability.

See also

• Aerial Payback
• Payback Fang
• Payback Raid
• Payback Surge
• Command Payback
• Payback Blast