How to Defeat Xaldin in Kingdom Hearts 2

Being Prepared (Items and Abilities)

Equip the right Armor, Accessories, and Items. More important than physical defense is Sora's ability to withstand Xaldin's wind-based attacks. Equip any Armor that reduces Dark damage. Why? Since Xaldin's attacks do not fall under Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder type damage, his "wind" attacks (any non-physical attacks and/or anything that Sora can't block with Guard) are actually classified into the broad category known as "Dark" damage. For Accessories, try to raise AP as much as possible; Strength and Magic should be ignored since damage output is less important than the Abilities you must have available to succeed. Bring plenty of Hi-Potions and Ethers, or if you're really desperate, Elixirs. Striking the balance between HP and MP restoration relies on how much you expect to take damage and expend your Magic respectively. Finally, pick a good Keyblade. Hero's Crest or Rumbling Rose are good Keyblades for damage output, while Circle of Life, Monochrome, and Oathkeeper are good for enhancing your other resources. Kingdom Key should be something you equip when you want to increase your survivability. While there are better options, don't even be shy about equipping Hidden Dragon; If you can admit to taking a lot of damage in this fight, the MP Rage attached can definitely help.

Equip the proper Abilities. What abilities should you focus on? Prioritize defensive capabilities more than anything. While making the most out of every attack opening is important for getting through the fight with as little trouble as possible, you want to actually survive when its Xaldin's turn to attack, right? Guard is a must-have of course, and Abilities like the movement-based Growth Abilities you get from leveling up your Drive Forms are great for controlling the battlefield and giving you more options for both escaping Xaldin and moving in to attack him. If by chance you have Second Chance or Once More this far into the game, absolutely equip those. You then have to figure out what offensive playstyle you gravitate towards: Since you'll be using more air combos than ground combos against Xaldin, Air Combo Boost, Air Combo Plus, and Horizontal Slash will enhance your physical damage immensely. If you like to throw in some Magic here and there, MP Rage, MP Haste, and Fire/Blizzard/Thunder Boosts are also useful. Finishing Plus can't hurt either, no matter what you decide to use. From Drive Forms, Summons, and Limits, how you utilize your options in the fight is ultimately up to you, but you have to know which Abilities will compliment your way of dealing damage.

Customize your Shortcuts. The Magic and Items you can pull out at in an instant are the ones you'll fall back on in the heat of the moment. Reflect Magic will carry you through the fight as both a superior defensive option and an amazing offensive option, and should be the highest priority. Next is Cure, then Items, for obvious convenience. If you have an extra shortcut slot leftover, you're free to fill it in with whatever you want handy.

Handling the Fight (First and Second Phases)

Let the battle begin. Opening with the line "Where's the fun in this?", Xaldin's first move is to cast an Aero shield that protects his body, preventing Sora from getting too close without taking damage and getting repelled. This becomes a major factor in the battle flow by itself, since it controls when Sora can or cannot physically attack Xaldin, and later on, if Xaldin's movements alone are part of an attack. Magic and Limits are still an option against him for much of the fight, but that doesn't mean you can spend your MP haphazardly. Most of the battle and your decisions as a player will revolve around the presence of Xaldin's Aero shield and Sora's ability to collect the "Jump" attack via the "Learn" Reaction Command from Xaldin's own attacks, used to break his shield wide open and briefly allows for physical combos to connect.

Don't just Attack -- Counterattack. In the first phase, Xaldin walks calmly through the air towards Sora, and will perform one of only two attacks once he gets close enough: A spear thrust that comes out fast and a sweeping attack with a very large range that will knock Sora away. While side-stepping is an option for the spear thrust attack, blocking it completely staggers Xaldin for a few seconds, breaking open his Aero shield for an attack opening. The sweeping attack, while it can be Guarded, cannot be stopped; jumping over it is the recommended option, since the attack leaves Xaldin vulnerable while he retrieves his spears after using it. Both of these attacks allow Sora to use the "Learn" Reaction Command on Xaldin and collect Jumps while they are being performed. This first phase is naturally easy and has a lot of openings, but what you, the player, must learn from it is that trying to mindlessly mash the Attack command in Xaldin's presence with no clear strategy in mind is exactly what's allowed him to have caused so much avoidable frustration for so many people; Not only is the Aero shield virtually an anti-mash mechanic, if you don't know how to properly respond to and defend against his own attacks, you will most certainly not survive, not even on Beginner Mode!

Get ready for things to escalate. Upon reaching his second phase at little over four health bars, Xaldin starts to get really irritated. Instead of just walking calmly towards Sora, he begins spinning and floating through the air faster than Sora can run in his base form; this combines with his Aero shield to let him deal damage via simple contact. Xaldin can now use the spear thrust from any range, and when he does the sweeping attack, he can now repeat it up to two more times, catching Sora in a combo and making the general area unsafe. Either get close enough to use Learn and then escape or Guard, or just move away if you don't feel the opportunity is present. Above all that, he adds two new attacks to his arsenal: The first is a set of up to three spinning wind projectiles that follow you slowly but precisely enough that there is no dodging them. They can be blocked or will simply disperse if you can outrun all three for long enough. You can also jump at Xaldin while he's charging any of them and use Reflect to turn the damage on him! This also interrupts the attack and stops him from releasing any more projectiles for a while. The second, more potent attack is what can be called Xaldin's own "Jump" attack: Disappearing into the sky, Xaldin sends his lances down onto Sora's location five times, before using them to help guide a final, diving attack. All you have to do to avoid the spears is jump. Not Jump as in the attack, but simply jumping; the spears send out small shockwaves that make it look like the attacks have a lot of range and accuracy, but the reality is that jumping forward makes both the spears and the shockwaves miss you by a decent margin. Learn the rhythm of the attack, and time your jumps accordingly. Quick Run, the Growth Ability you get from Wisdom Form, also trivializes the attack by letting you dash away and leave the moving target-zone far behind. Remember that Sora can use Learn on the spears to collect Jumps as well. The final part of the attack where Xaldin returns can even be countered with a well-timed Guard to create an opening, or even Reflected to damage him on the spot if you're intimidated by it. Because Xaldin temporarily sacrifices his Aero shield to perform the attack, keep in mind that he is always vulnerable once the attack concludes.

Conquering the Final Phase and Desperation Move

Prepare for the worst. When Xaldin's health drops to a little under three bars, he will now unleash his ultimate attack! This climactic attack is usually called a "Desperation Move", or "DM" for short. The screen will darken, and he will start by glowing green and becoming invincible while unleashing a flurry of spinning, twirling attacks with all of his lances. If you're not prepared to Guard it or escape its range, the lengthy attack combo is likely to shave off most of Sora's HP if not kill him outright at higher difficulties. After that, Xaldin will then teleport above and connect his lances together into a dragon-like structure, ride them off to the side, then face them towards the bridge. He'll exclaim "You will wear the face of despair!" before generating a tunneling blast of wind, sweeping across a good portion of the bridge to shred anyone unlucky enough to get caught. To survive this infamously lethal attack, Sora can expend one Jump attack to clear the blast, activate a Limit for invincibility, or simply just Reflect. He can also escape the attack's range by leading Xaldin and his lances to one side of the bridge, then using a Growth Ability like Quick Run to swiftly move to the other side once you hear the attack begin to charge. With that, you've now survived the most powerful attack Xaldin has to offer, but that's still not the end of it.

Reflect to stop a moving assault! Now that he's in his final phase, Xaldin is now more aggressive than ever before, and can hurt you by just moving. He uses the wind to teleport and rapidly close in on Sora, meaning that creating distance is no longer an option. If his Aero shield is active, the teleportation then becomes a ramming attack where Sora is body-checked by the rapidly-moving Xaldin. This "attack", while it deals heavy damage and is capable of killing Sora from half-health, is surprisingly short. Reflect through it once or dodge it with High Jump, and Xaldin temporarily dispels his Aero shield before switching to his other attacks, giving an almost-immediate opportunity to attack. From then on, whenever Xaldin moves, he will always teleport towards Sora. If you see him with his Aero shield up when he does so, Reflect once or twice, and he will predictably drop his guard. Do remember that he is still dangerous without his Aero shield active. In his final phase, his main mode of attacking while the shield is down will be to teleport in circles around Sora, trying to scare you into Guarding at the wrong angle/timing before unleashing any attack.

Keep it up until Xaldin is finished. While in his final phase, he uses his full arsenal of attacks, even periodically unleashing his DM again. He will sweep his lances up to six times if he connects with Sora just once, and will rely more heavily on his Jump assault too. Just remember to Reflect when needed, learn to recognize and counter his individual moves, and grab any and all Jumps you can to whittle him down, and victory is yours!