The Kingdom Hearts franchise, which combines the worlds of Disney and Square Enix, is known for the many creative worlds and characters it brings to life with each entry. Each game has handled things differently than the last in an ongoing effort to keep the gameplay evolving with the story.
Kingdom Hearts III was the most long-awaited entry in the series for fans that brought the next step forward in both the story and gameplay of the series. One of the elements fans most enjoy is the challenging bosses that players would find themselves at odds with while attempting to help Sora save the various worlds.
10 The Wind Titan Presented A Unique Early Challenge
The Titans from Hercules aren't foes Sora hasn't faced before; in the first Kingdom Hearts game, he took on two of these mighty giants. In this game, he faces off against not only the two from before but the remaining Titans he never got to face before. While the other three Titans don't pose too drastic of a challenge for Sora and friends, the last one proves to be the most troubling.
The Wind Titan will launch Sora high into the air where he has to dodge projectiles fired up at him before he's able to land a successful dive attack on the Titan. Once that challenging attack is passed, the rest of the fight is fairly straightforward. What makes this fight more of a challenge is the restrictions early-game Sora has.
9 The Jumpyness Of Angelic Amber Made Her Hard To Keep Up With
One of the more uniquely designed enemies Sora runs into early on is this creepy possessed doll in the Toybox world. The creepy way Angelic Amber moves around is only the tip of the iceberg for what makes this boss a challenge.
Most of her attacks are guardable and telegraphed. What makes her a challenge to face is keeping up with her uncanny way of moving and trying to get hits in before she lets out another slow and heavy-hitting attack. The Hero's Origin Keyblade's transformation helps quicken this fight immensely with well-timed blocks and counters.
8 Skoll's Design Wasn't The Only Thing Terrifying About It
What's worse than a scary-looking possessed doll? A nightmarishly large wolf that can run circles around Sora and the team. Skoll is the final boss of Arendelle and goes after Sora with a wide array of vicious attacks ranging from claw swipes to fireballs, and even summoning up a giant ball of ice to crush Sora and his friends. Area-Of-Effect attacks can help keep Skoll's spawned smaller counterparts at bay, and well-timed blocks can stagger this beast, but this battle isn't one a player can just breeze through.
7 The Super Armor Of Lump Of Horror Was A Difficult Obstacle To Counter
The final fight of Monstropolis is the Lump of Horror Unversed that Randall helps summon. This blob of a monster can charge Sora with attacks, inflict the rain cloud status effect and be an overall pain to contend with.
What makes this boss even more of a challenge is how little damage it takes outside of its other form that it won't go into until halfway through the fight. This other form will constantly knock Sora back with a powerful gust of wind, but takes an increased amount of damage if Sora's able to stay near.
6 Ansem, Xemnas, And Young Xehanort Were Three Bosses In One
Of all of the late-game encounters Sora has to contend with in the Keyblade Graveyard, the battle between the three incarnations of Xehanort he's had to fight in prior games is among the more difficult ones. In this fight, Sora is given some help in the form of Riku and King Mickey, but they'll often get blasted away by a tornado of Keyblades that Master Xehanort summons.
The chronological order of beating this fight is Ansem, Xemnas, then Young Xehanort, but between the three versions of Xehanort, Young Xehanort has the least amount of health, making him the ideal one to get rid of first. The one of these three that is glowing with a red aura will be the one that targets Sora more aggressively.
5 The Status Affecting Spells Of The Lich Are Annoying To Contend With
As the first true boss that Sora contends with during Kingdom Hearts III's final act, the Lich is a rather unique heartless. It's unique both in its purpose, which is collecting the hearts of the fallen keyblade wielders, and in how the player fights it. This enemy is fought in multiple stages, each stage it gains a new trick it can utilize, a new spell it uses to afflict Sora with a status effect. This lich heartless also breaks out of Sora's combos easily and leaves behind an explosive clone that can catch newer, unaware players off guard.
4 Dark Inferno's Greatest Strength Is Its Large Amount Of Health
The Dark Inferno is an optional foe that can be found at one of the two battle gates near the starting area of the Keyblade Graveyard. This powered-up version of the Invisible heartless has a massive amount of health and a challenging pattern to learn.
Where this fight gets harder is with every few health bars, it adjusts its attacks to allow for fewer openings, and if a player isn't careful, they'll find themselves having to restart the fight. The best way to handle this fight is with some patience in learning the Dark Inferno's openings, just be warned, a slightly weaker version of this boss is the first foe that Sora has to fight in the Re: Mind portion of the game's DLC.
3 The Aggressive Attacks Of Dark Riku's Data Barely Leave Any Time For Planning
One of the most aggressive battles in the Limit Cut Episode is against Dark Riku's Data. Here, he ruthlessly lunges forward for attacks, does multiple fakeouts, and casts a reflect barrier over himself that makes him immune to damage if attacked at the wrong timing.
The openings in this fight are tougher to learn as his aggressiveness can easily catch unprepared players off guard, but once his patterns are learned, they can be managed. There's even a way to counter his reflect barrier by attacking it and backing away once it detonates.
2 Master Xehanort's Data Hits Sora With All Of His Power
Master Xehanort likely held back during his initial final boss fight in Kingdom Hearts III if this fight is anything to go off. Here he pulls out all the stops, utilizing the X-Blade to its maximum potential. His attacks involve firing out projectiles that detonate, leaving Sora afflicted with a status ailment, firing out unblockable lasers that cover the majority of the arena, and surrounding the arena with light pillars. Plenty of perseverance and learning unconventional openings can help ensure that Xehanort's Data goes down.
1 The Mysterious Yozora Is Kingdom Hearts III's Ultimate Challenge
The most challenging boss of all in this game comes from the secret episode where Sora finds himself pitted against Yozora from the Verum Rex game that was first seen in Toybox. Yozora claims he's there to "save" Sora, what he means by that is still yet to be learned. If Sora loses this fight, he gets crystalized and Yozora again repeats his vow to "Save" Sora.
Despite what Yozora claims about never losing, he's not an impossible foe to defeat. Not much advice is offered from the game when it comes to learning his patterns and countering his attacks, although the tip that suggests studying his attack patterns is probably more helpful than it may seem.