Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - "Terranort" (Final Boss, Terra's Story) - *Strategy*

Note: This was posted because I couldn't fit it in the description for the video. Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vvYC6j93Wc

The problem with this fight is going in for an attack at any time can get you killed. His Ars Solum attack (the multi-hit combo) will fully connect with you if any of it touches you. However, other than that and his Dark Firaga spam, nothing else will OHKO you for now. Here are a list of his basic attacks for the first part of the fight:

1. Dark Haze, he usually dashes with it twice. He's fully invincible during it and can chain them. Your best bet is to wait it out. Guarding this won't help, and in fact can get you hit if he stops too close to you. You can get him to stop this by spacing perfectly from the second dash so that he does another attack! This is important to know, you can sometimes force his Ars combo out of him this way so that you can Stun Guard + punish!

2. Dark Firaga Combo. He spams a bunch of these at once. You can dodge it with Sliding sideways. You can Guard them back at him for static damage no matter what your level is (immensely useful at LV1). However, if you Guard it he may Dark Haze right at you and hit you (this is only a problem if you're doing No Damage, otherwise it's fine). To fix this, you can use Aerial Slam (learned from another YT user about this). Aerial Slam has invincibility frames (not sure if it's only for projectiles). You can safely use Aerial Slam during this to slam the projectiles back at him while being fully invincible. However, I think there is a small chance you can get hit afterwards depending on how Terranort reacts.

3. Ars Solum. Not sure of the name, but it's a major multi-hit attack. If you get caught in any of it, the rest hits you. It can easily OHKO you without Second Chance/Once More at LV30 or lower. You can dodge this by moving away. Guard can stun him where you can Counter Hammer it for good damage. I'm not 100% sure, but Stun Guard may be needed to stun him all the time. Otherwise sometimes he will just keep going. He only uses this move if you are close enough to him. If you are always at a distance, he won't use this.

4. 3 Hit Combo. Randomly instead of Ars he'll use this. Just a simple 3 hit combo, can be Guard + Counter Hammer'd.

5. Quake. This one is a little weird. I can't seem to consistently guard it, so Sliding away may be best option. Only problem is if you're guarding in hopes of Ars Solum you may get hit by this instead. It does crap damage, but launches you.

Now that you know his basic attacks you can come up with some strats. Terranort CAN be hit with Mine Square, which launches him, but it's tough to get him to land on one. His Dark Haze goes right past it since he's invincible. However, if his Dark Haze finishes right on top of one, he'll get hit. If he gets hit, he's open to a fully aerial combo most of the time. Aerial Slam is great here, it does big damage, but it's tricky to land sometimes. Terranort is only open during the launch. Whenever he touches the ground, he's immediately out of the stun.

Baiting his Ars Solum combo to Stun Guard + Counter Hammer him is a great strat as well. You just have to be careful you don't get hit by Dark Firaga/Dark Haze being so close. If he's running towards you, then you can probably expect Ars Solum.

Shotlocks do pretty big damage to him if you're using a good one. However, he's also not open to these often and it can be tough to lock on him with him Dark Hazing at you constantly. I'd recommend bringing Ethers for when your Shotlocks miss due to his invincibility.

After you take off a bar of HP, he'll start using new moves. Here are the new moves:

1. Dark Firaga 2. This ones like the first, but there are a lot more. He shoots out a few at a time that home in on you then shoots out a bunch at once. It's tricky to Slide away, but it's the best method to damage him because if you Guard back the last wave they'll do big damage at any level. Otherwise you can just Guard normally. Be careful of your position though, sometimes one or two can still hit you.

2. Dark Impulse Combo. A similar combo to Terra's Dark Impulse Command Style. It looks close to Ars Solum, but this one cannot be fully guarded successfully. Your best bet is to just dodge it with Slide. The last hit is the same as Terra's, where he goes underground and quickly zones in on you to come out of the ground. Slide towards him during this to avoid it best. Be VERY careful if you're at 1HP. Unlike Ars Solum, the second to last hit in this combo ignores Second Chance/Once More for some reason.

3. Curaga. He starts using this about 2-2.5 bars of HP left. It heals a good amount, and is pretty annoying. It has nothing to do with you equipping Curaga either.

4. Meteor. This is the most ridiculous attack. I cannot consistently dodge it without Shotlocks. A bunch of meteors come out of the ground at random spots. Slide around the outer edge to best avoid them. After all of them are up in the air, they will launch towards you one after another. There are multiple ways to attempt dodging. Shotlock is the safest option. Second best option is to use Vanish (get it in Mirage Arena for about 700 points). Vanish won't work 100% of the time, but most of the time the meteors will not home in on you this way. You can Slide away from them best you can, but it's really random whether or not you get hit. You can Guard them, but some will bypass Guard. This is the worst option.

If you get hit by one Meteor, you'll get hit by the rest most likely. So wait it out so you can heal after. If you don't have Second Chance/Once More then you're probably dead at this point. Oh, and Xehanort is 100% invincible during this. In fact if you even so much as target him during this attack, he teleports away. This makes it tough to Shotlock him, but if you're on the outer edges you should fully lock on him if the Shotlock is maxed.

5. Ultima Cannon. Dodge it by sliding as far away as possible. You can also Aerial Slam it back into Terra for major damage. Don't forget you're invincible during Aerial Slam.

That's about it I believe. The second half of the fight is MUCH harder than the first, especially to no damage. Best forms of dealing damage is Aerial Slamming his Ultima Cannon back at him and Guarding/Aerial Slamming his Dark Firaga 2 move back at him. For the first form, Aerial Slamming Dark Firaga and Stun Guarding his Ars Solum attack back at him are the best methods.

And there you have it. Don't give up if you're having trouble, this fight is VERY difficult. You can always level up more or get Second Chance/Once More to make this more manageable.

Random Notes:

- Terranort is rarely able to be stunned after Ars Solum or the 3 hit combo. Stun Guarding + Counter Hammer is still best option.
- Sometimes if he gets launched (by a Mine move most likely) he will get out of the stun and teleport next to you for most likely Ars Solum combo. Be careful of this! It may be just because you did too much damage too fast.
- Dark Impulse Combo comes out fast, it's almost impossible to react to.
- Dark Firaga cannot be bully Guarded too close. Make sure he's targeted as well so they aim back at him.
- For his Dark Haze, you can still get hit even with Guard if he starts it right next to you.