Hardest Kingdom Hearts Bosses In The Franchise (2024)

There are so many games that have truly tested my abilities as a gamer when it comes to tough boss encounters. Various Souls games have tested my mettle. Boss Gauntlets like Furi and Cuphead were a mountainous task to complete too. But I never thought that one of those games in this category would be a game where you explore Disney-themed worlds with Donald Duck and Goofy alongside you.

The child-like whimsy that Disney promises is alive and well in Kingdom Hearts, but don't let it fool you: this game has tonnes of bosses that will knock you back time and time again. So, with that in mind, let's take a look at the meanest, toughest, nastiest bosses this series has to offer.

10 Roxas Data Battle

Nobody Knows You Like You're Own Nobody

We begin with the fast-paced and relentless Kingdom Hearts 2 Data Battle with Roxas. The base game fight was already challenging, but the data fight really ups the ante, having Roxas hit so much harder. This fight is all about learning attack patterns and adapting on the fly, as Roxas has multiple strategies he can throw at you.

They have fast-charging attacks, they have projectile and beam attacks that are hard to get out of the way of, wide range AOE spin attacks and quick reaction commands that you need to hit or it's pretty much lights out. You'll need to use dodge rolls to close the space and not get too greedy because he can counter with a vengeance. All the KH2 Data Battles are a challenge, but Roxas is the toughest of the lot by some distance.

9 Data Master Xehanort

The Old Man's Still Got Some Moves

While the vast majority of base game KH3 bosses were a little on the easy side, the one exception was Master Xehanort, who at least offered a decent challenge. In Re: Mind, KH3's final boss, however, shows that what came before was merely practice for the real thing, and this data battle throws you into the deep end in a fight that is dynamic and demands precise movement and timing.

He has a wide range of huge AOE attacks that are tough to avoid and he's good at maintaining his distance. Generally speaking, if you can pin him down, he's not all that capable of countering and retaliating, but that's easier said than done, making him a formidable foe indeed.

8 Data Xion

A Fight To Be Remembered

See Also

Predecessor hero tier list: All playable heroes in Predecessor, rankedSample Trials - Rules - Archives of Nethys: Pathfinder RPG Database

There are a lot of battles in KH3 where being dynamic and using all the space is the name of the game, but that isn't going to get you far in your fight against Data Xion. You don't quite know what to expect from her, considering in the entire series you'll have only fought her in 358/2 Days -- if you had a Nintendo DS back in the day to do so, that is.

Well, what you get here is a fight where you need to be patient and time your blocks with precision to avoid her attacks and Laser beams. Then, when an opportunity presents itself, you can unleash a combo of your own. It requires near mastery, as being hit once will pretty much ruin your rhythm, and even with Second Chance, there's no guarantee of survival. So study her attacks and keep your guard up!

7 Sephiroth

Descend Heartless Angel

Let me be specific here, as Kingdom Hearts 2 Sephiroth is actually pretty easy, relatively speaking. KH1 Sephiroth, whom you encounter in the Olympus Colosseum, however, is a truly difficult boss. While the differences between the two, in principle, are minimal, the issue for the player in KH1 is that Sora is much less mobile and capable in battle, meaning Sephiroth can easily make mince meat of you if you aren't careful.

Strike Raid is a massive help in the fight, as is Pumpkin Head for added range. But due to the small arena, insane attacks like Sin Harvest and the fact that you have no aerial recovery in KH1, this serves as the toughest Sephiroth encounter, and by extension, one of the hardest KH fights ever.

6 Vanitas Remnant

One Health Bar, But That's All They Need

'He only has one health bar. Ha, this will be easy.' These were the naive adolescent words I uttered that would ensure my downfall when I fought Vanitas for the first time in Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. This fight against Vanitas' Lingering Will is a fight that will have you spamming that dodge button like someone possessed to avoid the flurry of attacks they have at their disposal.

They move at blistering speeds, can summon clones to land multiple attacks and also have dirty little tricks like narrowing your field of vision to make dodging their attacks exceptionally hard. Second Chance and Once More really do save the day in this fight, but even with these fallbacks, Vanitas will prove to be one of the hardest fights you'll encounter across all KH entries.

5 Dark Riku Data Fight

Light Vs Darkness

There are quite a few fights with Riku within KH that could easily feature on this list, but if I have to pick one, the Data Fight with Dark Riku is the toughest of the bunch. The difficulty here comes through the sheer relentlessness of his attacks, where he will constantly try to pin you into small arenas, cast ranged attacks, and then close the gap for a physical smackdown, and it all seems to happen in the blink of an eye.

There's practically no time to heal in this fight, and you can't just spam block as precise timing is needed to get through a lot of his attacks. Not to mention, he often has a barrier, making him invulnerable and limiting your windows to attack. In short, he's as tough as you would expect Riku to be in data form, and if you want to defeat them in a fight, you'll need to be at your best.

4 Unknown (Xemnas)

Ansem... That Name Rings Familiar

Back in the days of KH1 FM, we didn't know who this lightsaber-welding dude was, but with hindsight, we now know that Unknown was foreshadowing, introducing us to the big boss of Organization XIII, Xemnas. Much like Sephiroth in KH1, this proves to be a hard fight due to Sora's limitations in KH1 in general, as he's often not agile enough to avoid Xemnas' fast attacks or his devastating grab attack that forces you to pick the right reaction command or die if you fail.

The key to this one is to make use of Graviga to slow him down and limit his attack variety. Plus, using Tinkerbell can help keep you alive, as there isn't a lot of time to heal in this fight. Even with these little nuggets of info, however, you'll still find that Xemnas is more than capable of breaking through your defenses and showcasing his true power.

3 Mysterious Figure (Young Xehanort)

Thunder Surge, Thunder Surge, Thunder Surge!

Unlike a lot of the genuinely fair and fun fights included on this list, I reluctantly include Mysterious Figure on this list purely because this boss is hard due to the fact that it's just not a well-designed fight. The Mysterious Figure has a series of attacks that just aren't avoidable, leading to you having to spam heals just to make it possible to get through his Mega Flare or Meteor sections, and if they happen to coincide, you can forget about it.

This fight is more manageable with Aqua and Ventus, as their dodge abilities offer more consistent periods of invincibility. But with Terra, this fight is essentially a roll of the dice to see if you can get through certain sections with a slither of health left. You just need to spam Thunder Surge and hope for the best. But it won't be skill that gets you through this one, so I just pray that your luck is in. In short, it's not a fair fight, and that's why it's so high on this list.

2 Lingering Will

Terra, You Look A Little Different

I'm not ashamed to say that I've never legitimately beaten this guy before. I've used a negative critical and Fenrir combo to cheese him, and honestly, I was happy to walk away with an undeserving victory, because, without those strats, The Lingering Will is a killing machine. Firstly, unlike most enemies in the game, he can only be attacked when he's not attacking, meaning the window to pounce is short, and what makes this worse is that he often combos his attacks meaning you can be running around avoiding his attacks for what seems like an age.

Then the attacks themselves are precise, fast and devastating if you miss a beat. The best way to describe this fight is The Mysterious Figure fight, but with infinitely better design. Everything that The Lingering Will does is hard to counter, but with enough skill, you can do it consistently. I may never beat him without cheating a little, but regardless, he has my respect.

1 Yozora

The Ultimate Test Of Your Keyblade Mastery

I had my doubts that Re: Mind would be able to deliver on the tough bosses front, mainly because the KH3 base game was so lacking in that regard. But as you have seen from other entries on this list, I regard quite a few as some of the toughest bosses across all KH games, and for those who have played Re: Mind in full, it will come as no shock that we have Yosora in the top spot as the toughest boss of all.

His first phase is dynamic, forcing you to move at pace, block and dodge with precision, and chances are you'll still need a Curaga or two to weather the storm. But it's the second half of the fight where he brings in his laser Disco ball, uses his mech wave attacks and he'll even steal your Keyblade. This is the ultimate test of your Kingdom Hearts mastery, and without any hesitation, I would say that Yozora is one of the hardest, and perhaps the hardest, video game bosses of all time.

Kingdom Hearts 3

Franchise

Kingdom Hearts

Platform(s)

PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch

Released

January 25, 2019

Developer(s)

Square Enix

Publisher(s)

Square Enix

Genre(s)

Action, Adventure

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

ESRB

E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Alcohol Reference, Fantasy Violence

How Long To Beat

30 Hours