Luxord/Gameplay

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Luxord(ルクソード)
Type	Organization XIII
Romaji	Rukusōdo
Games	Kingdom Hearts II Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix Kingdom Hearts III Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind

Luxord is fought as a boss in Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts III, and Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind.

In the former games, he battles Sora alone at Havoc's Divide, a balcony overlooked by Kingdom Hearts in the Castle That Never Was. In Kingdom Hearts III, Luxord fights alongside Larxene and Marluxia in the Trail of Valediction section of the Skein of Severance in the Keyblade Graveyard.

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind, a replica data version of Luxord can be fought at the Garden of Assemblage.

Strategies

Kingdom Hearts II

Attacks

• Luxord leaps around the arena, his cards spinning and floating on their own to strike Sora.
• Luxord stops and summons an orb of dark energy that creates tendrils of energy around Sora, striking him no matter where he is.
• Luxord transforms himself into a card and summon more cards. Sora must find the card with Luxord's image on it and Flip it to dispel the cards and make Luxord reappear.
• Luxord covers the arena in his cards, and rises from the cards behind Sora to attack him rapidly.
• Luxord spins around the arena with his cards.

As the Gambler of Fate, the battle with Luxord is not so much a battle, but a timed game. Luxord does not have an HP bar, rather, both he and Sora have a time bar. The time bars decrease as the battle progresses. Also, when either of them is hit with an attack, the time bar decreases even more. As Luxord himself states, "The first to run out of time is the loser". Thus, Sora must watch both his HP and his time.

When the battle begins, Sora is transformed into a die — there is no way to avoid this. When the Drive Gauge depletes, he changes back, so simply avoid Luxord until then. Luxord frequently leaps around the arena, his cards spinning and floating on their own to strike Sora. The cards can be destroyed by attacking them (which results in them dropping magic orbs), or using the Reaction Command "Flip". Using "Flip" will also trigger a booby trap, assuming the card has one (signified by the fireball symbol on one side of the card).

Luxord will also stop and say "a challenge is it", at which point he summons an orb of dark energy that creates tendrils of energy around Sora, striking him no matter where he is. This can be avoided by attacking Luxord before he finishes summoning the orb of energy, or by triggering the Reaction Command "Begin Game".

As his Gambler Nobodies tend to do, Luxord will frequently give Sora the chance to use the "Begin Game" Reaction Command. When this command is used, Sora's command window is filled with "X" symbols, and a "O" symbol flashes by the command window. Pressing when the "O" symbol is highlighted will stun Luxord and cause him to drop HP balls. Failing to "catch" the "O" symbol will cause Sora to transform into a card or die.

When Luxord's time bar is a little more than half-depleted, he will transform himself into a card and summon more cards. The cards shuffle themselves around on the ground, then flip up and circle Sora. Sora must find the card with Luxord's image on it and Flip it to dispel the cards and make Luxord reappear. The other cards contain traps that are set off when the card is Flipped. Luxord will do this several times, mixing his own card among more and more trap cards each time. After being found three times, Luxord resumes his normal attack patterns, but summons more cards to attack Sora than before.

When his time bar is almost depleted, Luxord will cover the arena in his cards, and rise from the cards behind Sora to attack him rapidly, attacking him with his cards and throwing them around the arena. He will also spin around the arena with his cards. It is difficult to anticipate Luxord's attacks at this time, but his attacks can be defended with quick timing. Luxord ends this sequence by summoning giant versions of his cards to surround him and Sora, and begin another game. The player must now "catch" four "O" symbols, one in each slot in the command window as the symbols cycle. Once four symbols are caught, Sora attacks Luxord with his own cards, reducing his time bar to nearly zero. If the player fails, Sora is transformed into a card or die.

After this, Luxord resumes his normal attack pattern. The player must ultimately strike Luxord with a finishing move once his time bar is depleted to win. When Luxord's time bar is nearly depleted, either because of the aforementioned giant cards or simply because of basic attacks, he will completely stop attacking, instead staying in one spot and repeating the phrase "Don't squander your time". His time bar will not drop anymore after this point, and Sora must deliver a finishing combo to end the fight.

Overall, Luxord can be a tricky and frustrating opponent. The key is to learn the rules of the game he has turned the battle into, and follow them. Every game he uses has a chance for Sora to win, and the games Luxord plays with him during the battle are no different. As long as the player wins Luxord's games and heals when needed, he should not be too difficult to defeat. Defeat him, and he will "congratulate" you by saying, "You played the game quite well."

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix

Attacks

• Luxord leaps around the arena, his cards spinning and floating on their own to strike Sora.
• Luxord stops and summons an orb of dark energy that creates tendrils of energy around Sora, striking him no matter where he is.
• Luxord transforms himself into a card and summon more cards. Sora must find the card with Luxord's image on it and Flip it to dispel the cards and make Luxord reappear.
• Luxord covers the arena in his cards, and rises from the cards behind Sora to attack him rapidly.
• Luxord spins around the arena with his cards.

Unlike the previous battle against Luxord, Sora will not be turned into a die at the beginning of the battle against the Replica Data.

A good strategy is to move away from Luxord as fast as possible when he changes Sora into a die or card. The player should move around, away from Luxord's reach, until the "Drive" empties. When Sora returns to normal, attack whenever there is an opening. When Luxord transforms himself into a card and shuffles around, the player should manipulate the camera quickly to see which card Luxord is in, then lock their eyes on that same card until the cards stop shuffling.

Kingdom Hearts III

Attacks

• Luxord summons an orb of energy, creating four cards to surround and then attack either Sora or Mickey.
• Luxord teleports short distances as a card.

Luxord is fought along with Marluxia and Larxene, although Luxord has significantly lower health than the others. However, he has the highest defense of the group until he is given a power boost by Xemnas. With this power boost, Luxord is able to summon a large ring of cards that appear on the outer edge of the arena, facing away towards the walls. Luxord traps Mickey in a smaller card, leaving Sora alone. Luxord then starts spinning the cards clockwise before snapping his fingers, causing him to vanish and hide among the ring of cards. The player must now find Luxord among his ring of cards while fighting off Marluxia and Larxene. When the player finds Luxord's card, which can be identified as a card shaking unlike the others, or if the player uses the camera to see Luxord on the back of one of the cards, the player can attack it, causing the other cards to disappear, along with Marluxia and Larxene temporarily. The player can now attack Luxord until he teleports away and summons another card ring. While he summons another card ring, he is nigh-invulnerable. Should the player not attack Luxord's card within a certain amount of time, Luxord will reveal himself, teleport away, and reshuffle the cards like normal. Defeat him, and he will announce "I fold".

Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind

Attacks

• Luxord summons an orb of energy, creating four cards to surround and then attack Sora.
• Luxord creates two large cards on either side of him. He will vanish while sending them out, the back of the cards each displaying a corresponding element they are weak to. When they reach Sora, they will turn red and attempt to converge onto him. These cards are unblockable.
• Luxord throws slow traveling cards in a certain pattern towards Sora, each will speed up after a short time. At the end of the attack, he will launch three cards at once.
• Luxord launches himself upwards in a spiral of cards, which will launch several other cards from the spiral towards Sora.
• Luxord teleports to the center of the arena and encases himself in a protective barrier. Five cards will encircle the barrier, one of which can be be safely removed while the others will explode if destroyed. After removing the safe card, the number of cards will dwindle down until there are none left, leaving Luxord open to attack.
• Luxord teleports to the center of the arena and turns himself into a card, shuffling himself with the cards that are left from the ground from previous attacks if they are not successfully blocked. After assembling in the center, the cards will shuffle again until they all stand up, facing away from Sora. Over time, some of the fake-out cards will return back onto the ground and home onto Sora and explode.
• Luxord begins his ultimate game, sending hundreds of cards around the arena while hiding himself in one of them.
• On the third round of his ultimate game, Luxord's card will sometimes stop and spin, causing the two cards beside him to launch projectiles towards Sora.

Like his fight in Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Luxord's battle is a timed-based game.