Kingdom Hearts Gold Match - Ice Titan
A. How To Get Where
First of all, the secret bosses are only accessible after the level
Hollow Bastion is locked. There are, in the game, two trips to Hollow
Bastion. It will be locked on the second trip there. Afterwards,
certain options will be available that will eventually lead to
unlocking all four bosses. How to unlock the Ice Titan follows.
The Ice Titan
After Hollow Bastion is locked return to the Coliseum World. The Hades
Cup will be available. You must complete it, battling through all 50
seeds until the Rock Titan falls to your knees. After you are
victorious at the Hades Cup, a "???" will appear on Phil's menu of
Cups. This will be the Gold Match in which you fight the Ice Titan.
II. The Ice Titan
A. Attacks
First of all, we need to get down the basics of what the Ice Titan will
actually do to you. He is, unlike his brother the Rock Titan, a
horrific opponent. His hit point system works as follows:
The Ice Titan has five health bars: a purple, a pink, an orange, a
light green, and a dark green. They are each layered one on top of
another so that only the purple is visible until you begin to hurt it.
I have based the Ice Titan's stages off of how many times he is
stunned. Basically, each time you knock a certain number of icicles
back at the Ice Titan his current health bar will drop three-fourths
and he will become stunned. (All this will be explained later in more
depth.) When he recovers from his stun he enters his next stage.
Stage 1
The Ice Titan will use all of these attacks throughout Stage 1. Icicle
Blast will be used the most.
Hand Swipe
The Titan will, while casting its attacks, swing its hands. Should you
come in contact with its hands Sora will be injured. The easiest way to
avoid this attack is not to jump directly towards the Titan.
Icicle Blast
The Ice Titan sweeps his hand through the air to unleash a barrage of
icicle arrows. Obviously, he normally aims for Sora. The Ice Titan will
use this attack for the entire battle, but it will grow more lethal as
he progresses through his stages. The attack comes in many forms, which
are below.
The Fan
The icicles move away from the Titan's hands in a fan-like
manner, meaning that only 1 or 2 will wind up near Sora and the others
will fly on either side of Sora's flanks. If 1 or 2 icicles should hit
Sora, he will receive minimal damage. However, if Sora attempts to run
left or right he will pass through the rest of the fan and be exposed
to 4 if not 5 icicles instead of the mere 2 he would have had to deal
with by standing still. This attack can be dodged most easily by simply
jumping.
The Straight Shot
The icicles are shot in a straight line at Sora. If
one hits him he is hit by them all. This attack can be dodged very
easily by running left, right, or by jumping. Because of the fact that
if it is successful in hitting more icicles will contact Sora it deals
more damage than the Fan.
Great Icicle Blast
All versions of Icicle Blast come in this form. Great Icicle Blast can
never be blocked or deflected and deals at least twice as much damage
as Icicle Blast. However, the Titan will never use this attack if you
do not cast a form of Aero on Sora during the battle.
Freezing Shockwave
The Ice Titan will occasionally pick up his feet and stomp the ground,
creating a shockwave of ice that hurts badly. The easiest way to avoid
this is to jump or simply stand on the stadium seats where the
shockwave cannot reach you.
Glacial Spikes
The Ice Titan will wave his hand to trigger this attack. During it
spikes of ice will shoot up from the ground around where Sora is
standing. It is, however, very inaccurate, and though around 10 spikes
will shoot up throughout the attack Sora is normally only hit by 2 or 3
if he remains standing still. This attack will affect all areas of the
arena including the stadium seats. The easiest way to avoid it is by
stepping short distances left, right, forwards, or backwards. The
spikes are tall enough to hit Sora even if he jumps, however. It does
not inflict heavy damage though, so taking a few hits by it will not
really matter.
Between Stage 1 and 2
Once the Ice Titan is damaged enough from its deflected icicles (which
will be explained later), it will kneel to the ground stunned. You can
glide to its head and smack it with the Keyblade, but will find that
doing so won't effect the health bars much. Still, a few extra hits are
ideal in such a battle so don't feel discouraged. Once the Titan stands
up again be prepared for the most hectic wave of assaults in the game.
Stage 2
The Ice Titan will instantly unleash this attack when it stands:
The Icicle Barrage
A portal will open between the Titan's legs, and it will shoot endless
icicles for nearly ten seconds. They are shot randomly, though, with no
pattern, and that makes them harder to dodge than normal Icicle Blasts.
Each icicle causes little damage, but impact with many could result in
instant death. Eventually the portal will disappear. You won't see it
again until the Titan enters Stage 3.
Afterwards, the Titan will revert to its normal Stage 2 attacks. They
are:
- Hand Swipe - explained above.
- Icicle Blast - explained above.
- The Fan - explained above.
- The Straight Shot - explained above.
- Random - The icicles are shot off randomly as they are during the
Icicle Barrage. There is no clear way to dodge them. Jumping, running,
anything goes. Fortunately this attack does not last long at all.
The Homing Fan - the icicles begin to move away from the Titan in a
fan-like manner. But do not be deceived! They will, in mid course, turn
and head straight towards Sora. Each and every one homes in on its
target. Basically, this is the Straight Shot disguised as the Fan. It
does as much damage as the straight shot and can be dodged by jumping
or running left or right.
- Great Icicle Blast - explained above.
- Glacial Spikes - explained above.
- Freezing Shockwave - explained above.
- Ice Breath - The Titan apparently isn't content with its arsenal of moves, so adds
one on. This attack can be devastating, but is easily avoided. The
Titan bends over and sprays a mist of ice across the arena from its
mouth. If hit with it Sora will be frozen for around 2 or 3 seconds.
The Ice Breath only inflicts a small amount of damage by itself, but
normally the Titan follows it with an attack of Glacial Spikes or an
Icicle Blast. Sora will be defenseless against any attack made towards
him when he is frozen. However, if Sora is standing at the top of the
stadium seats the Ice Breath attack will not even reach him. The
easiest way to avoid it is to run to the top of the stadium seats. But
wait! It's not over yet. Even if the attack is dodged and the Titan
stops breathing ice, the area of the floor and seats that the attack
did hit will be coated in frost for around 5 seconds. If Sora should
touch this frost coating he will be injured and become immobile for a
short instant.
- Ice Drop -
With this attack the Ice Titan will cause balls of ice to drop from the
sky onto Sora. They are not easily avoided, but do not deal much
damage. Normally they come in sets of three, but sometimes a solitary
ice ball will be dropped. Running away dodges them best.
Between Stage 2 and 3
The Ice Titan will again be stunned. Hit it in the head then retreat.
Stage 3
The Ice Titan will instantly cast these two spells when it stands up:
- The Icicle Barrage - explained above.
- Ice Drop - explained above.
Basically, everything gets more hectic than it was before. The Titan
will cast Ice Drop over and over again until the Icicle Barrage is
complete. Fun, huh?
After this initial assault on poor little Sora, the Titan will move to
its normal Stage 3 attacks. They are:
- Hand Swipe - explained above.
- Icicle Blast - explained above.
- The Fan - explained above.
- The Straight Shot - explained above.
- Random - explained above.
- The Homing Fan - explained above.
- Homing - The icicles will flat out home in on Sora from the second they
leave the Titan's hand. This pattern is easy to spot and should be
dealt with in the same manner as the Homing Fan.
- Great Icicle Blast - explained above.
- Glacial Spikes - explained above.
- Freezing Shockwave - explained above.
- Ice Drop - explained above.
- Ice Breath - explained above.
- Ice Spread - This is the Ice Titan's most lethal and astonishingly powerful attack.
The Titan will extend its hands and blast the arena with an icy mist
filled with floating hunks of ice. If Sora contacts the mist he will be
frozen for 2 or 3 seconds. However, if while frozen he is hit by the
floating ice inside of the mist he will be damaged badly. The Ice
Spread attack deals light damage just as the Ice Breath, and the Titan
enjoys casting Glacial Spikes, Icicle Blasts, and Ice Drops while Sora
is frozen and being bombarded with floating ice chunks. There is no way
to avoid this other than by running away. Again, this attack cannot
reach the very top of the stadium's seats. Go there when you see the
Titan spread its palms.
Between Stage 3 and 4
The Titan will be stunned and lower its head. Attack it and retreat.
Stage 4
The Titan will, once more, begin its attack as follows:
- The Icicle Barrage - explained above.
- Ice Drop - explained above.
Once the Icicle Barrage ends, the Titan will move on to its normal
Stage 4 attacks. They are:
- Hand Swipe - explained above.
- Icicle Blast - explained above.
- The Fan - explained above.
- The Straight Shot - explained above.
- Random - explained above.
- The Homing Fan - explained above.
- Homing - explained above.
- Glacial Spikes - explained above.
- Freezing Shockwave - explained above.
- Ice Breath - explained above.
- Ice Spread - explained above.
- Ice Drop - During Stage 4 the Ice Titan seems to only drop 1 ball
of ice for each attack rather than the usual 3. The Titan will occasionally
drop 3 at a time but this is rare, and this attack is much less dangerous
because of its lowered amount.
The Rest of the Battle
The rest of the battle with the Ice Titan is like a repeat of Stage 4.
When the Titan is stunned, hit it. When it wakes up it will cast its
beginning Stage 4 assault. It will use Stage 4 attacks until it is
killed. It will use the Stage 4 beginning assault each time it wakes up
from being stunned.
B. Strategy
What You Want To Enter The Battle With:
Level
For an Easy Victory - level 60 and above
For a Challenge - around level 50
For a Suicide Attempt - level 40 and below
Abilities to Equip
» Guard
»
Scan
»
Second Chance
»
MP Rage
»
MP Haste
»
Do Not Equip Dodge/Roll!
Keyblade
Any of these will work fine.
» The Divine Rose
»
The Oathkeeper
»
The Lionheart
»
The Oblivion
»
The Ultima Weapon
Items
» All High-Potions
Shortcut Spells
Any level of the Cure spell is all you need.
A Fire shortcut may prove useful, but is not by any means needed.
Do Not Shortcut Any Level Of Aero!
How To Carry Out The Battle
As soon as you are able to, take Sora and run to the very top of the
stadium seats. You will be staying here most of the time so as to
render Freezing Shockwave, Ice Breath, and Ice Spread harmless. None of
those three attacks can reach the top corners of the stadium seats, but
if you stray just a little from the highest point in the seats Ice
Breath and Ice Spread can and will hit you if the Titan uses them. So
therefore, no matter how convenient it may seem, Do Not run down from
the top of the stadium seats! The only exception to this rule is when
the Titan is stunned. Then, after all attacks cease, it is safe to walk
down into the arena and whack the Titan's head a few times. However,
when the Titan shows the slightest hit of waking up you should run back
to the top of the stadium seats.
When you arrive at the top of the stadium seats you will be ready to
duke it out with the Ice Titan. The key to this battle is deflecting
the Titan's own attacks back at it, and that is why the Guard ability
is vital. To use the Guard ability press the square button. This will
cause Sora to lift his keyblade into the air and block or deflect
oncoming attacks. Now, the attacks that you want to deflect are the
Icicle Blasts, or the small arrows of ice that the Titan will
constantly shoot. In order to do so simply wait until a cluster of ice
arrows is close to Sora and then press the square button. Sora will
raise his keyblade and deflect the icicles. They will then fly
backwards and hit the Ice Titan, damaging it. Icicle Blasts when in the
Straight or Homing forms are easiest to deflect. You need to hit square
only once to deflect them all. Icicle Blasts in a Fan or Random form
are nearly impossible to deflect because of their wide range. Avoid
deflecting these types of attack. You will need to use this one
maneuver of deflecting Straight and Homing Ice Blasts through the
entire battle, as deflecting icicles is three-fourths of beating the
Ice Titan.
For healing during this battle you should rely highly on your Cure
spell. Because the Ice Titan never stops throwing attacks at you it is
impossible to avoid them all. If you have MP Rage equipped these
frequent attacks will always keep your MP filled for the entire battle.
In this way you should allow yourself to be hit every so often and
continuously cast Cure on Sora with the shortcut command. Do not use
High-Potions unless necessary; you will need to heal yourself much more
often than the small amount of High-Potions Sora can carry would allow.
Also, MP Haste allows your MP to refill very quickly when you finally
go down to the arena and hit the Ice Titan's head. It is always good to
have extra MP from MP Haste when the Titan unleashes its Icicle Barrage
on awakening. High-Potions should only be used in dire emergencies, and
are really not of use if you deploy the Cure spell correctly.
Ok, back to the battle. When you deflect enough icicles back to the Ice
Titan it will become stunned. Normally this happens after three-fourths
of one health bar are taken away. When the Ice Titan is stunned it
kneels to the ground and lowers its head to the arena floor. This is
your chance to run down and slash at it. Superglide and Glide are most
effective, but normal running will suffice. Whack away at it until it
begins to wake up, then instantly retreat back to the top of the
stadium seats. Do not expect your attacks on the Titan's head with your
keyblade to do a lot of damage, because they won't. In fact, you can
avoid the entire process of hitting the Titan on the head altogether.
If you prefer staying at the top of the stadium seats then simply wait
there until the Titan wakes up and then continue deflecting its
icicles. As has been said before, the Titan's icicles deflected back at
it are the main source of damage it will take.
Defense in this battle is not very important. All versions of the
Icicle Blast should be reflected or jumped over. The Ice Breath,
Freezing Shockwave, and Ice Spread will not need to be defended against
if you keep Sora at the top of the stadium seats. Ice Drop can be
avoided by running, but if it hits Sora it will quickly fill his MP,
allowing you to heal him directly afterwards. Glacial Spike will do the
same.
So basically, deflect as many icicles as you can and always be ready to
use the Cure spell.
A Note About Aero And Why It Is Lethal
Aero can also deflect attacks
as Guard can. However, when you cast Aero on Sora the Ice Titan will
stop using normal Icicle Blast and begin using Great Icicle Blast. The
icicles will be twice as large, twice and deadly, and unable to be
deflected or blocked in any way. So don't cast Aero and save yourself a
world of trouble. |
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