Game:Lingering Will

• Lingering Will
• Gameplay
• Quotes

Template:Enemy The Lingering Will is an unlockable secret boss featured in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. His boss battle is unlocked when the player unlocks The Gathering, then returns to Disney Castle's Hall of the Cornerstone, where a portal to the Keyblade Graveyard has appeared. Defeating the Lingering Will grants the player the Connection Proof, and the Lingering Will can be refought by leaving the Keyblade Graveyard and then returning.

Strategy

Basically, all the player would have to do is to dodge the Will's attacks by using Dodge Roll or Guard, specifically for when it swings his Keyblade around or turns into Terra's Keyblade Glider. When starting to attack the Lingering Will, the attacks will be an insignificant amount of damage and the only ways to stop this effect is to land a combo on it or having the Ultima Cannon's bomb deflected back at the boss, and the damage it takes will be normal. It will mostly use the whip technique after it has been hurt badly a few times, particularly by a powerful finishing move, so use the Quick Run to avoid this after striking him hard twice. If it transforms into the floating guns, just deactivate Lock-On and fly as far away as possible, and turn around stone pillars to make the guns destroy themselves. For the cannon, just deflect the bomb back at it using Guard, and if it isn't possible, just Dodge Roll through it (it will explode without hurting Sora, but be careful with Donald and Goofy). Once it goes into the berserk state, Guard as much as possible and when it strikes the ground, fly for it. Once it gets ready to strike again, cast Reflect as much as possible until its attack finishes, where the player should strike it with Thundaga to leave the boss vulnerable to a good retaliation.

Make sure to load Sora, Donald and Goofy with Ethers in case the Will casts the spell on Sora which stops him from using Magic. Be extremely careful when it gets ready to tranform its Keyblade into a Bow to trap Sora in a energy-draining triangle when shot, replacing his commands with "Fall" (which will do extra damage for each input), and "Escape", which will make the trap disappear (the Escape command will appear along the command list in a shuffling manner, requiring some good timing all while avoiding any situation that would lead to too much damage and instant death). A good indication is when his Keyblade makes a gun-loading noise. Once you hear it, get ready to Dodge Roll at a specific timing rate or spam Reflect Magic to prevent the beam from hitting. At the start of the battle, it will shoot three times, but later on, four, so be on the lookout. If the shot is successful the Will always attacks with an Ultima Cannon, so the player can retreat and wait for the shuffling to slow down and then press escape and avoid the Ultima Cannon by using Quick Roll or Dodge Roll on it. When this happens the Will tends to use its energy drill combo. If one is successful after blocking the last shot, strike the Lingering Will hard.

At times, the Will will start running towards Sora. If he is too far away, it will jump towards him and maybe land near Sora, giving the player a striking chance. If the boss is running near you, it will either use a basic but powerful Keyblade move that ends in a drill of energy, similar to Sora's Guard Break, or it will throw his Keyblade into the ground and create a vortex of energy that if it hits Sora, it will take away his ability to either attack or use magic. A small lifebar will appear for the Will and the player will have to drain this in order to regain the lost ability. The best magic to use is either Fire or Thunder, but be sure to equip only one of these with Reflect and Cure. If the player can't use magic, be extremely careful, as Sora will not be able to heal himself. To avoid the drill, just stay in the air above the Will and hit it once it puts it away. In the case of the vortex, be sure to observe the boss and either use Dodge Roll or Reflect at the precise moment, and Sora will escape, but do not try to hit the boss, as it will still be invulnerable.

Watch out for lethal combinations, though, such as the boss trapping Sora in the triangle or, going into the berserk state while he can't Attack or use Magic; or it summoning two guns to aid itself while it flies around on his Keyblade Glider. If the player has Once More and Second Chance equipped and Sora gets hit by one of these combinations, just let the boss keep hitting Sora while he's in the air, and the last bit of energy will stay with him. Once it's over, one should heal if they can.

It should be noted that the Will has a tendency to repeat its attacks for a couple of rounds. That is to say that if it uses its air thrust attack, it is expected for him to repeat this attack for a while, unless a considerable amount of time has passed or he takes a lot of damage. When this happens one should pay attention as his "attack of choice" becomes more aggressive as his HP falls down, often repeating the attack several times before being susceptible to damage, or unleashing a whip attack at the end of the combo. In the case of the Slider this can become fairly frustrating as he can often unleash to light guns, making it difficult to avoid and find room to attack although spamming Reflect Magic can help with the guns somewhat, or much worse, attack with chunks of ice as he dashes, which can be fatal since the Ice magic is considered a separate attack so even with Second Chance or Once More, the combination of both can kill the player. A way to defeat the Will is to fight with him and get used to the timing and methods of his attacks as he repeats them, which will considerably reduce the difficulty of the first part of the battle.

The second phase of the battle (when he goes berserk) is always signaled by two things: 1) When his HP is slightly less than 7 bars and 2) He will always turn itself into several guns of light that will dispel as soon as he goes berserk. The second phase of the battle can be difficult, as his berserk attack can last for quite a while and failure to block or evade the entire attack can result in missing an attack opportunity which during this phase can be fatal, as the Will becomes completelly unpredictable and can unleash any of his attacks in rapid succession leaving almost no room for offensive or sometimes healing. This is made worse as the Will uses his command lock attacks such as the vortex or his bow attack much more often. However there is a catch during this phase to bypass this entirely. If the Will is attacked right after his berserk combo by ANY means, then he will repeat the berserk combo again and maintain this pattern for the remainder of the battle so as long as he is hit after his combo. If the player fails to evade or block the entire attack an extremely easy way to ensure the Will is hit is to cast Thunder magic as soon as the combo ends. This will launch the Will into the air giving the player precious time to either heal or attack the Will with a combo of its own, and most importantly, preventing the Will from mauling Sora with an unpredictable mashing of attacks, since the only requirement to keep him locked into repeating his berserk combo is to hit him in any way after the combo ends. Rinse and repeat and even this phase of the battle can become relatively easy to conquer.

Despite being one of the weakest, the recommended Keyblade is the Kingdom Key (given Sora is at level 99), because it gives the Damage Control ability. One can use Fenrir or Rumbling Rose if they please, but Fenrir has the disadvantage of Negative Combo and Rumbling Rose has the Finishing Plus, which will make the Will angry quite quickly and force it to use the whip attack when Sora is not ready to guard. Oblivion would be quite useful as well, but as the Kingdom Key is weaker, it will take the Will more time to get angry. At first, striking it takes little health away, but gradually, the longer the combo, the more health the boss will lose and the more powerful the finishing move will be. The Ultima Weapon is also a viable option if one uses a lot of magic to either defend itself or to stun the Will with Thunder. Although the Will gets angrier easier if one takes a bar and a bit more during each opening they should be fine however.

Occasionally, in times of desperation, one can quickly use Limit Form to regenerate health and MP if they are almost out of both and Donald and Goofy are out cold, but be careful to do it in the right place, as the Will may unleash an attack that will hurt Sora immediately after he transforms, or he might be sent into Anti-Form. If wanted, go into Final Form at the start of the battle and immediately revert back once Sora has the chance. It wastes Drive bars, but it's a 100% guarantee that Sora won't go into Anti-Form when trying Limit Form. Do not try to use any special Limit Form moves on the Will, as they will do it little damage. Whenever healing, try to be as close to Donald and Goofy as possible so they can use their Ethers on Sora.

Video

Lingering Will—Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix

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