User:Saiucrozier/Zero exp guide Terra

To the moderators of Kingdom Hearts wiki, I apologize for my lack of user name last time I submitted this article. I honestly just forgot to log in.

This guide is a work in progress. Anyone who would like to add, feel free to, but if your information contradicts my own, please do not delete mine. Simply, show your alternative next to my statement so that readers can make their own decisions. Spoilers will not be warned due to the assumption that people do not want to play through the game with zero exp on their first play through.

Quick Summary
If you don't feel like reading the whole guide here are some tips that were very helpful for me throughout the game.
 * The combination of the abilities damage syphon, second chance, once more, and renewal block is amazingly powerful. Several bosses in the game are fairly vulnerable to shotlocks, and the ability to use them repeatedly will help. I have not tested ultima cannon, but I think we can agree that you would need a large amount of help from a friend to obtain it.
 * Dark haze and warp are your friends. There is at least one point in the game that I would argue is impossible without them. It follows typical logic, if I can't deal decent damage, how can I kill quickly.
 * Early in the game, the stop spell and it's higher ranks can give you some much needed extra time.
 * Almost every boss in the game can be hurt by the flame salvo shotlock. The dark volley shotlock cannot hurt many bosses.

The Guide
Both the first fight alongside Ventus and aqua, and the Majority of the first world will be generally the same. You would be about this strength at this time anyways, but the wheel master may give you some trouble. If you max Malificent's d-link, you can utilize her drain ability to bail out of a bad situation. Shotlocks are very helpful against the wheel master even with your current shotlock being sonic shadow.

Your new world choice is castle of dreams and dwarf woodlands. I'll start with castle of dreams.

This is the first world where you will truly feel the lack of power. Even if you can dodge very well, Cinderella cannot and you have to escort her in this world. This is where the stop spells will come in handy, as she will walk past stopped enemies. I suggest having at least one stopga and another stopra or stopga to keep the stop going. The real benefit of utilizing the stop spells here, is the ability to use them against the chorus master. His instruments are susceptible to stop, which allows you to ignore them while you kill the actual boss. This is one of the few bosses I don't advise using shotlocks against if you are using the stop strategy. A shotlock will keep you locked into using it, and if an instrument gets out of stop range, it can sneak up on you and end an almost successful attempt.

Dwarf woodlands is not very difficult. The enemies are especially easy if you used the stop strategy before, because you can stop these enemies as well. The man in the mirror has a very predictable dodge sequence that allows you to emerge nearly unscathed.

Radiant garden is the next major stop. The triple armor will likely cause you some trouble. His dodge sequence is somewhat difficult, but using a well leveled shotlock should make the fight considerably easier. After you defeat the triple armor, if you do not have renewal block, I highly advise you obtain it now. The fight against braig can be won by only blocking, and I advise doing so. Feel free to counter hammer him. The only attack he has that CANNOT be blocked is his charge shot on the ground. Simply slide to dodge this.

You now have access to Disney town, deep space, and Olympus coliseum. Due to the lack of difficulty of Disney town, I will not cover it. I will skip to Olympus coliseum.

If you do not have warp and/or dark haze, I suggest getting them now. The games are timed, and without doom or instant death I don't know how to beat the clock. Having multiples of each ability is advised, as defeating all these enemies in time will take several attempts even with a "perfect build." Zack is not entirely hard as long as you learned how to dodge his super combo. If you have second chance and once more he will be considerably easier.

If you do not have damage syphon, second chance, and once more, I would suggest obtaining them before you finish deep space. Sparky is very difficult, and the best way I have found to kill him is to use a ranged shotlock and cure when he hits you. Once you get used to his attacks and when to shotlock, it should only be a matter of time before he falls.

Neverland's not terribly difficult. At this point you should be able to handle most enemies. Hook is the boss we fight here and the shotlock strategy strikes again. He's relatively easy and it takes nearly no time at all.

Now comes the really hard part of the game. If you don't have a high level melee shotlock I would begin leveling one now. I did not test sonic shadow since Eraqus is immune to dark volley completely and he is who you want this shotlock against. I got lucky and made the lightning melee shotlock. From here on out, it is a good idea to use a command deck with only cure commands. This makes the triangle button simply heal as opposed to maybe heal maybe use a painful attack that leaves you open.

Eraqus has a very predictable, but the majority of his attacks take time to learn. Pay close attention to his magical attacks as he has 4. The first two he has access to the whole fight. His light orb firing attack can be reflect at him helping deal your necessary damage. His flying keyblade attack can be reflect at him, but it is unpredictable and if you are part way through locking on a shotlock, it is not worth dropping it to attempt to reflect this attack. If you are not locking on when he does this, slide through them right as they get next to you, and you can sneak a good melee combo in on him. After he loses a considerable amount of hp, he will start using two other magical attacks. Both darken the sky and one begins with him summoning 3 flying keyblades while the other begins with him summoning several. If he begins by summoning 3, stop everything and get as far away as possible. These keyblades will turn into pillars of flame that will seek you out. Let them clump up as they approach you, then slide through them, then continue sliding around the arena until the attack ends. If it begins with summoning several, he will turn them into large beams of light. This is the perfect time to shotlock him due to the fact that even if you come out of the shotlock and get hit by one of these beams, you can usually find an empty location and cure. I am unsure if he retains his old flying keyblade attack once he begins using these new attacks. He can use his flying orb attack still and it is advised you utilize it.

Now that you have dealt with Eraqus, the keyblade graveyard is your final stop. The tornadoes that force you to fight enemies can be dodged, but I would equip a deck with dark haze and warp just in case. When you actually engage the final fight I suggest using flame salvo, as it hits Venitas and all forms of Xehanort. If you want to equip a few spells to alter your command style, I would advise against it but respect the preference.

The first fight is versus Vanitas and Xehanort. Remember how easy this was the first time through? Sadly this time won't be easy. Concentrate on Vanitas as he is the easier to defeat. This fight will be very frustrating since second chance and once more will often "glitch" due to the other enemy hitting you while the first is combo attacking you. Once you finally down Vanitas, you get to fight Xehanort solo. He is much easier solo. He is surprisingly vulnerable to to melee combos. This is where many people may prefer to use the bladecharge command style, and by using shotlocks during your bladecharge can allow you to keep the command style going and deal large amount of damage, but you may regret doing this to your command deck once Xehanort falls.

Terra-Xehanort is incredibly difficult. Using second chance/once more you can survive the majority of his attacks. His attacks that look like the dark impulse command style hurts, and if you're not spamming slide it will often kill you with the demon hand attack at the end. If you slide away, quickly use a cure as he is about to attack you through the ground. Almost all of his attacks can be blocked except for two. Both of them are used after he has cured several times and has finally stopped. One is a meteor he summons directly above your head which you must spam slide until you are sure he's stopped. The other is ultima cannon, which you can slide through if you time it properly. The most devastating attack is the one where summons several meteors and throws them at you. You can and should attempt to block this attack. It is very common for this attack to stagger itself in such a way that you will get hit by it even with a perfect block. In a slightly rarer circumstance, that staggering not only causes you to get hit, but the game will go so far as to consider some of the meteors as separate attacks causing you to have an uncontrollable death. Overcoming that possibility is part of the challenge, but my most successful attempt had him at about one eighth his final health bar and this meteor gltich caused my death. If you can overcome this, you did better than I did.

At this point I hope you're reading this cause you're done. Congrats! You now have some of the best bragging rights this game has to offer. I hope my guide helped you through a difficult challenge.