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vaincreuxVanitas is a Keyblade Wielder, a warrior that intermingles swordsmanship, magic, and acrobatics. Having been trained by the nigh-unparalleled Master Xehanort, Vanitas is a very accomplished and extremely aggressive opponent, showing fluid mastery in casting dark magic and wielding the Keyblade, a magical key-like sword. Vanitas usually wields his personal Keyblade, the Void Gear, but when fused with Ventus, he gains the ability to wield the most powerful Keyblade of all, the χ-blade.
In combat, Vanitas’ prowess in using his weapon comes through stringing physical combos and magic together, both simultaneously and in succession, to viciously overwhelm his opponents. He possesses inhuman swiftness, speed, and agility, able to perform complicated and nearly impossible acrobatic feats, and is especially dangerous and formidable in close combat. Vanitas augments his formidable battle style with tricky maneuvers including teleporting behind opponents to dodge attacks at high speeds, launching counterattacks immediately after leaving afterimages of himself to confuse them his enemies, and levitating to avoid attacks and keep a high advantage in mobility over his foes.
Vanitas’ nature as a being of the purest form of darkness gives him complete control over the element. This not only gives him a near-immunity to the darkness’ corrupting influence, but also allows him to use dark magic to teleport, infuse his Keyblade with dark energy, and surround himself in darkness as a defensive shield and offensive enhancement. Vanitas’ arguably most dangerous and destructive ability, however, is his power to create and control the Unversed. Not only can he manipulate his negative emotions and spawn them as Unversed, but if an Unversed is destroyed, he can simply reabsorb the negativity left behind to empower himself. The negative emotion then respawns another Unversed he can summon at will, starting the cycle over again and giving him a limitless army of pawns.
𝓟𝓱𝔂𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵
𝓚𝓮𝔂𝓫𝓵𝓪𝓭𝓮
𝓜𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓬
𝓓𝓪𝓻𝓴𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼
𝓣𝓮𝓬𝓱𝓷𝓲𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼
𝓤𝓷𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓮𝓭
Vanitas is a powerful and dangerous opponent to face in battle due to his vicious offense and vexing defense. Because of his arrogance and sadistic tendencies, he prefers to mercilessly beat down his opponents alone to prove his superiority. To this end, Vanitas can emit a strange aura of darkness that prevents other Keyblade wielders from using D-Links when battling him, something Terra, Ventus, and Aqua found out when battling him. Outside of Birth by Sleep, this means that opponents facing him should be prepared to rely only on their own power; he rarely permits his adversaries’ friends to interfere and aid in the fight. However, the Keyblade wielders still have access to powerful attacks such as Command Styles and Shotlocks. Outside of Birth by Sleep, this means that opponents can still utilize “ultimate attacks” and other powerful techniques (often seen as ‘cinematic’ skills in fighting and action games). Even though Vanitas can avoid most of the damage Shotlocks and other “ultimate attacks” cause, the brief invulnerability these techniques grant makes them useful for enduring his boss-level attacks.
Different adversaries have different styles of battle, some of which are more effective against Vanitas than others. Battle styles and weapons that focus on or grant their users high strength and attack are useful to slam past his insane resilience and delay his assault. Physical fighters are best advised to use short-but-powerful combos, fast-paced aerial attacks, and long-range strikes. Battle styles and weapons that that are magically-oriented are effective against him if an opponent opts to use a magical “zoning” strategy. A prime example consists of explosives, such as the user surrounding themselves with a barrier of mines while tracking Vanitas with seeking mines. Getting into his space and laying down explosives is a good method for initially attacking him, due to his propensity for moving into the mines in the name of keeping up his offense. Notably, Vanitas has an exploitable weakness to gravity-based spells or wind-based magics, the former suspending him in the air and leaving him open to attacks (if he doesn’t teleport) and the latter interrupting his combo-based offense. However, good timing is needed to land these attacks without being brutally countered.
While other offensives outside these styles can clash with him, he tends to overpower them with his skills. Attempting long attack strings, flashy dodging, offensive evading techniques, or trading physical blows with him is highly discouraged, due to Vanitas’ tendency to escape his opponents by teleporting and counterattacking while the opponent is in mid-attack. Conversely, the most basic forms of dodging techniques and gliding are advised due to their larger windows of invincibility avoiding his close-range attacks and long-range magic. Utilizing a hit-and-run strategy is a good option, but these attacks need to be powerful and well-timed, else he’ll catch on and counterattack or simply shrug off the damage. When it comes to prolonged battles, opponents should stick to using healing items or physical techniques that heal on contact to recover from injuries; attempting to use healing spells gives Vanitas plenty of time to rejuvenate himself and/or steal the magic’s healing efforts.
In combat, Vanitas’ prowess in using his weapon comes through stringing physical combos and magic together, both simultaneously and in succession, to viciously overwhelm his opponents. He possesses inhuman swiftness, speed, and agility, able to perform complicated and nearly impossible acrobatic feats, and is especially dangerous and formidable in close combat. Vanitas augments his formidable battle style with tricky maneuvers including teleporting behind opponents to dodge attacks at high speeds, launching counterattacks immediately after leaving afterimages of himself to confuse them his enemies, and levitating to avoid attacks and keep a high advantage in mobility over his foes.
Vanitas’ nature as a being of the purest form of darkness gives him complete control over the element. This not only gives him a near-immunity to the darkness’ corrupting influence, but also allows him to use dark magic to teleport, infuse his Keyblade with dark energy, and surround himself in darkness as a defensive shield and offensive enhancement. Vanitas’ arguably most dangerous and destructive ability, however, is his power to create and control the Unversed. Not only can he manipulate his negative emotions and spawn them as Unversed, but if an Unversed is destroyed, he can simply reabsorb the negativity left behind to empower himself. The negative emotion then respawns another Unversed he can summon at will, starting the cycle over again and giving him a limitless army of pawns.
𝓟𝓱𝔂𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵
𝓚𝓮𝔂𝓫𝓵𝓪𝓭𝓮
𝓜𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓬
𝓓𝓪𝓻𝓴𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼
𝓣𝓮𝓬𝓱𝓷𝓲𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼
𝓤𝓷𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓮𝓭
Vanitas is a powerful and dangerous opponent to face in battle due to his vicious offense and vexing defense. Because of his arrogance and sadistic tendencies, he prefers to mercilessly beat down his opponents alone to prove his superiority. To this end, Vanitas can emit a strange aura of darkness that prevents other Keyblade wielders from using D-Links when battling him, something Terra, Ventus, and Aqua found out when battling him. Outside of Birth by Sleep, this means that opponents facing him should be prepared to rely only on their own power; he rarely permits his adversaries’ friends to interfere and aid in the fight. However, the Keyblade wielders still have access to powerful attacks such as Command Styles and Shotlocks. Outside of Birth by Sleep, this means that opponents can still utilize “ultimate attacks” and other powerful techniques (often seen as ‘cinematic’ skills in fighting and action games). Even though Vanitas can avoid most of the damage Shotlocks and other “ultimate attacks” cause, the brief invulnerability these techniques grant makes them useful for enduring his boss-level attacks.
Different adversaries have different styles of battle, some of which are more effective against Vanitas than others. Battle styles and weapons that focus on or grant their users high strength and attack are useful to slam past his insane resilience and delay his assault. Physical fighters are best advised to use short-but-powerful combos, fast-paced aerial attacks, and long-range strikes. Battle styles and weapons that that are magically-oriented are effective against him if an opponent opts to use a magical “zoning” strategy. A prime example consists of explosives, such as the user surrounding themselves with a barrier of mines while tracking Vanitas with seeking mines. Getting into his space and laying down explosives is a good method for initially attacking him, due to his propensity for moving into the mines in the name of keeping up his offense. Notably, Vanitas has an exploitable weakness to gravity-based spells or wind-based magics, the former suspending him in the air and leaving him open to attacks (if he doesn’t teleport) and the latter interrupting his combo-based offense. However, good timing is needed to land these attacks without being brutally countered.
While other offensives outside these styles can clash with him, he tends to overpower them with his skills. Attempting long attack strings, flashy dodging, offensive evading techniques, or trading physical blows with him is highly discouraged, due to Vanitas’ tendency to escape his opponents by teleporting and counterattacking while the opponent is in mid-attack. Conversely, the most basic forms of dodging techniques and gliding are advised due to their larger windows of invincibility avoiding his close-range attacks and long-range magic. Utilizing a hit-and-run strategy is a good option, but these attacks need to be powerful and well-timed, else he’ll catch on and counterattack or simply shrug off the damage. When it comes to prolonged battles, opponents should stick to using healing items or physical techniques that heal on contact to recover from injuries; attempting to use healing spells gives Vanitas plenty of time to rejuvenate himself and/or steal the magic’s healing efforts.