How to Beat Luxord (Data Battle) in Kingdom Hearts II

Last Updated: March 28, 2019

Luxord, the Gambler of Fate. As his title implies, the boss battle against him doesn't feel like a boss battle, more like a card game with your life as compensation. This boss battle will focus on your reaction time more than your battle capabilities.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Prepare Your Equipments

1
Obtain Decisive Pumpkin. You'll want to deal more damage on Luxord; he doesn't have a lot of strong attacks that you'll need Reflega for, so stick with Decisive Pumpkin.
- You can get the Decisive Pumpkin if you defeat the Experiment in Halloween Town.
2
Obtain Highest Ribbon. The Highest Ribbon grants 25% damage reduction for all elements, including physical damage.
- Complete the Twilight puzzle to obtain this accessory.
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3
Get Ribbon. Ribbon grants damage reduction for all elements, including physical damage.
- Sora should start out with a Ribbon.
- If you don’t have a Ribbon, you can synthesize one with 5 Blaze Gem, 5 Frost Gem, 5 Thunder Gem, 5 Bright Gem, and 3 Gale.
4
Get Full Bloom+. This accessory grants the highest bonus strength as well as MP Haste, which directly affects the speed of your MP recovery.
- Full Bloom+ is an upgrade of Full Bloom. You can synthesize both. Find the recipes at http://www.khwiki.com/Full_Bloom+.
5
Collect Elixirs. This is for emergency HP and MP recovery.
6
Collect Ethers. This is for emergency MP recovery.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Learn the Keywords for Each of Luxord's Attacks

1
Be prepared when he says "A challenge, is it?" If you press ? when he says this, your command attack will be changed into 3 Xs and an O.
- Hit the O in order to win; winning will lower Luxord’s time bar and give you a lot of HP bubbles
- If you lose, Sora will turn into a die or a card.
2
Be careful when he says "Watch closely." Luxord will turn into a card and mix in with other cards; you must choose which card Luxord is.
- When done correctly, Luxord will be momentarily open for a combo. He'll then turn into a card for 2 more turns, each time increasing the number of dummy cards he mixes in with.
- Dummy cards can either be a blank, a bomb, or a Stop spell.
- Hitting the Stop spell will momentarily let you damage Luxord in his card version.
- Hitting a bomb will cause damage to Sora.
- Manipulate the camera angle in order to peek at the shuffled cards.
3
Watch for his physical card attack. This comes in two forms: a long range attack, where he sends three cards spinning toward you, and a melee attack, where he extends the cards in order to hit you.
- Both are easily blockable with a well-timed Guard or Reflect.
4
Prepare for his Desperation attack. Luxord will use this once his time is down to 1/5 of his original time bar. You'll immediately know that it's coming - the sky will go dark, and cards will be scattered everywhere.
- Luxord will attack you with cards, then he'll ultimately use a variation of his "A challenge, is it?" attack, but this time, you'll have to fill each attack panel with either Xs or Os.
- When the screen goes dark, immediately double jump then glide (press ? while in the air) around the arena in a circular motion.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Battle with Luxord

1
Challenge Luxord to his card game as soon as the battle starts. Make sure you're already good at doing his mini games. You can either practice on his gambler nobodies or just practice on the boss battle itself.
2
Hit Luxord with a combo as soon as you win. Immediately glide (while in the air, press ?) away to avoid getting hit by his counterattack. At this point Luxord will send some cards after you.
3
Avoid the cards and use the Reaction command (?) to destroy them. They won't be hard to deal with, but Luxord will probably send some more after you.
4
Wait for a chance to attack, especially every time he challenges you to a duel. These duels will be your main damage dealer until he uses his second challenge.
5
Manipulate the in game camera as soon as he says "Watch closely." You can either target Luxord or target the clock card.
- Destroying the clock card will cause the surrounding cards to stop moving, including Luxord's card, and will let you damage Luxord in his card form.
6
Pick out Luxord's card from the pile of cards moving around you. After successfully picking him out, he'll be momentarily stunned, giving you a chance to land a combo on him until turns back into a card.
7
Watch the attack panel closely during his Desperation move. After going around the arena, he'll pull you closer and force you to play a card game. This move is not only unavoidable, it's also necessary in order for you to beat Luxord.
- You must arrange the symbols on your attack panel to either all Xs or all Os; there's no easy way to do this.
- With each symbol you match up, the attack panel will move faster.
8
Land a finishing move on Luxord after winning his Desperation move. But don't wait too long or he'll pull you into another Desperation move.
- You can use Limit form to land a finishing blow quickly.