Whether you’re completing a regular playthrough, or taking the leap and playing on Critical Mode, you may have wondered what the best loadout to have would be. This article will go into detail about the best builds, what situations they can be used in, and how to obtain the weapons, accessories, and/or abilities that make them up.
5. Beginner's Build
This build is perfect for those who are just starting out in the game and want to maximize their damage and abilities as early-on as possible. Chances are, if you’ve already started the game, you’ve made it to (or past) the point where you choose your Desire and Power. Below is what we recommend for the best beginner’s build.
Beginner Build Details:
- For your starting Desire, you’re going to want to choose Vitality. This ensures that you have lots of health from the start—allowing you to take some of the heavier hits without suffering much of the repercussions.
- For your Power, you’ll want to go with Guardian. Like Vitality, this will negate some of the heavy hits from mobs and bosses.
- In terms of skills, the best to have under your belt is Once More (earned at Lv. 4) and Second Chance (lv. 30).
- The rest, like weapons and accessories, is going to be very fluid depending on which area you’re in. Pay extra attention to the buffs that different accessories give you, and use them accordingly!
What's great about the Beginner's Build:
- Easier progression using aforementioned Desire and Power
- Perfect for those who are just starting out—or who want to re-do their first try with more efficient choices
- If you prefer enjoying the story rather than struggling through mob and boss fights, this is the build to use!
4. Progression Build
Whether you’ve followed the build above and now want to speed things up even further, or if you’re a completionist, look no further! The Progression Build is one that will help you slice through Heartless and Nobodies like, well, nobody’s business. This is basically an upgraded form of the Beginner’s Build, once you’ve gotten the hang of the ropes!
Progression Build details:
- The three most important keyblades for this build are:
- Hero's Origin
- The counters on this weapon are totally OP.
- Ever After
- Leaf Bracer and Aerosa? Count me in.
- Favorite Deputy
- Equipped ability Lucky Strike will speed up material gathering, allowing you to synthesize and craft like crazy!
- Hero's Origin
- Accessory-wise, you’re going to want ones that prioritize giving you AP. The more AP you have, the more abilities you’ll have under your belt!
- Otherwise, you can go with the following for their default abilities:
- Wisdom Ring (Wizard’s Ruse, which recovers HP from casting skills)
- Rune Ring
- Laughter Pin
What's great about the Progression Build:
- Good for quickly discovering and gathering materials for crafting/synthesizing
- Perfect for those who want to speed up their gameplay
- Completionists will love this build!
3. End-Game Build
Congratulations, you’ve made it to (or near) KH3’s endgame! Whether you want to re-experience boss fights, or take on some Data bosses, this build will be the most OP for you.
End-Game Build details:
- The top 3 Keyblades to use for endgame are the following:
- Ultima Weapon
- Oathkeeper
- Oblivion
- These aren’t really ordered in any sort of way–as in, they’d all be fantastic to use! We all know the Ultima Weapon is the best Keyblade in general, but they’re absolutely interchangeable depending on your needs. All of the above have great shotlocks, passive abilities, and formchanges.
- Gear-wise, you might already have an idea of what your loadout is:
- Royal Ribbon
- Ribbon
- Petite Ribbon
- Having these equipped will provide you with more than enough negation effects, as well as 66% resistance to every element in the game. And you get +9 Defense on top of it all! It’s irresistible!
- For accessories, you’ll want to have the following:
- Crystal Regalia+
- Flanniversary Badge
- Mickey Clasp
- You’ll have Endless Magic, 80% MP Recovery, and Magic Combo Thrift with these accessories. Say goodbye to MP worries, and hello to essentially-endless Damage Spell casting!
Why the End-Game Build is great:
- 66% Resistance to all Elements in the game
- Extremely high defense
- Endless Magic + Magic Combo Thrift makes for insane spellcasting
- Lots of damage mitigation
- An absolutely OP build!
2. The Supermage Build
Ever wanted to be akin to Sorcerer Mickey? Here’s your chance! These other builds—while they have had a little bit of focus on magic skills—have otherwise prioritized combos and melee-type attacks. With the Supermage build, you’ll be blasting enemies with all the spells under the moon—you’ll be absolutely unstoppable!
Supermage Build Details:
- Depending on your knowledge of the game, you might have an idea of what might be here. Here’s your weapon loadout:
- Fully-leveled Classic Tone (you’ll get 3 MP Hastes!)
- Ultima Weapon (of course)
- Ever After (a magic-focused keyblade, of course!)
- These Keyblades maximize MP outputs, giving you the optimal magic loadout!
- Armor-wise, here’s the best way to go about it:
- Ribbon
- Royal Ribbon
- Cosmic Chain
- Here, you’re getting 66% resistance to all elements (except dark, which rests at a solid 58%)
- On top of that, you get +12 defense, so you’re still getting that tankiness!
- And last but not least, we’ve got accessories!
- Flanniversary Badge
- Crystal Regalia
- Mickey Clasp
- Truthfully, this may look very similar to other builds in this list—but that’s because the other builds are trying to maximize MP and MP recovery while maintaining a tanky/warrior-like build.
- With these accessories, you’re getting that same maximization, except you already have all the MP abilities! You’ll have +12 strength, and +14 magic with these equipped
- Talk about OP!
1. Critical Mode Build
Beating Critical Mode is a huge feat, and while many people have different concepts for what the best Critical Mode Build is, here’s what we’ve found to be the best and most efficient!
Critical Mode Build details:
- For your starting Desire and Power, Wisdom and Guardian are great choices.
- Wisdom provides you with ample MP
- Guardian unlocks extremely useful abilities for keeping Sora alive (Once More and Second Chance, as was mentioned in the Beginner Build as well).
- Keyblade-wise, it’s a bit of a hot debate between Ultima Weapon and Ever After.
- Ultima Weapon has a base magic stat of 3, while Ever After has +6. Ultima Weapon has some crazy combos and finishers, while Ever After prioritizes spells (Leaf Bracer could definitely come in handy!).
- In the end, the decision between the two comes down to how comfortable you are with the mobs/bosses you’re fighting.
- Armor-wise, here’s what you’ll want to have on you:
- Power Weight x2
- These will give you a much-needed boost in Strength, so that you can quickly take down bosses and smaller enemies.
- Cosmic Belt+
Compared to the Master Belt, Cosmic Belt+ provides nearly the same buff in Defense, but also gives you a solid boost in elemental resistances (10% resistance to all elements). For Critical Mode, this one is definitely the best.
- Power Weight x2
- This is everything you’ll need when running the hardest mode in the game
- Provides enough stats to boost Sora’s limited abilities over the top
- Solid boost in strength and elemental resistances, while also giving Sora enough defensive stats and skills to survive heavy-hitters with what little HP you’re given
That sums up the Top 5 OP KH3 builds! Regardless of what number or type of playthrough you’re on, there’s a build here for everyone’s wants and needs. Hopefully, you now have better insight of what loadouts are best for wherever you are in the game, newbie or veteran!
