Berserk Charge + Horizontal Slash
General Idea
The Berserk Charge and Horizontal Slash abilities can be used together to great effect against bosses. This combination allows Horizontal Slash to be used repeatedly against airborn or tall bosses. It requires very precise timing but is the best strategy to deal with certain bosses. When paired with Duck Flare, it deals even more damage.
Required
- Berserk Charge
- Horizontal Slash
- An attack the empties MP (Cure or a Limit)
Optional
- Duck Flare
- Additional Berserk Charge
Berserk Charge
Berserk Charge is an ability that only has an effect when Sora's MP is recharging. During this time, Sora's Combo Finishers are disabled and his strength is increased by 2. As you do not have access to Combo Finishers, finishing bosses requires waiting for MP to finish recharging or using techniques such as Horizontal Slash or Upper Slash.
Horizontal Slash
Horizontal Slash is an ability that gives Sora access to a unique aerial finisher that strikes from left to right by pressing the square button in the middle of an aerial combo.
Execution
To do this, you first need to drain Sora's MP. The preferred method to do this is Duck Flare, but other methods such as Cure work as well. Once that has been done, jump in the air and perform one normal regular attack. Once that attack connects, begin pressing the square button with precise timing to continually attack using Horizontal Slash. The timing is tricky to get right, but if you do, the boss will be stunlocked and unable to escape. Continue pressing square with good timing until the boss is defeated. Note that as Horizontal Slash is a finisher, it is capable of finishing off the boss without regaining your MP.
Timing
The timing for chaining Horizontal Slash against a boss is very precise. It needs to be hit roughly in time with 91 bpm (pretty close to the beat of Johnny Cash's Hurt). The window for each press is only a couple frames, so it is pretty easy for bosses to escape the combo, but it is usually not to difficult to set it up to try again.
Tips
- Remember that if the boss escapes the stunlock and you are still recharging MP, you will not be able to finish off the boss with your normal attacks as those do not count as finishers while your MP recharges.
- This is one of the more difficult stunlocks and takes a lot of practice. Don't get too discouraged.
- Consider using a metronome at 91 BPM to help you learn the timing.
- The extra damage from Berserk Charge stacks, so it can be worthwhile to equip both Berserk Charge abilities if you have them.
- If you are using Duck Flare and you are very good at keeping the timing, you can deal a lot of damage using Duck Flare and horizontal slash at the same time.
Uses
- Xigbar
- Xaldin
- Hades