If it wasn't for the fact I am still using the same file I recorded all of my pre-ReMind videos on and I don't have it unlocked, this would have easily been all Pro Codes. I tried various strategies but the lucky thing is I find this fight easier with restrictions since doing anything but your basic combos throws the entire pattern off.

Vanitas seems to function around a mechanic where the game pulls from a list of patterns and he will follow that pattern exactly until his phase changes, then he will pull for another pattern. Anyone familiar with Lingering Will in KH2 will understand what this means. It means so long as you know which attack pattern was chosen, you can easily predict his every move. From my time doing this fight, there appears to be 2 patterns for first phase and 2 for second phase. If you more or less do the fight the same every time, you always see 2 of those 4 patterns every attempt.

Most of Vanitas' attacks are quite slow and can be reacted to so knowing the pattern is not a big deal here. The major exceptions are his teleport combo and his 2 "mini-DMs" in the second phase but I will get to those later. Because of the nature of this fight, your best of not watching Vanitas but watching very closely at Sora. Since the only really fast attack he has causes him to appear next to you, just close it on Sora and react when he appears next to you. Note that he will always do this attack once before his keyblade surf and he always does it after too so you need to watch for two in quick succession.

Speaking of keyblade surfing, but his normal and DM versions are completely skippable if you hit him right at the start. At first I thought it was HP based but actually the first surf is cycle based so you can predict it based on where in his pattern he is. The DM version will typically happen around 7.5 bars and he will always do it as his first action after escaping unlike the normal version which he can do right after a teleport combo.

Can I just say I am unbelievably happy this DM is skippable? Data Vanitas has arguably one of the hardest DMs in the entire series to dodge and to this day I still can't come even close to avoiding the whole thing. The only other DM that scares me to this level is Data Master Xehanort.

In the second phase the fight becomes way more obvious and controlled. His two phases are signaled by his first move. If he does a triple slam, it's Pattern A which which will follow up immediately follow up with his Firaga combo mini-DM. You need to block almost immediately after the Firaga but then take the blocks slow until the second beam slash. He will delay the third to throw you off and then follow with a triple beam which is easy to counter.

Pattern B; as seen in this video; is signaled by a triple beam slash. His phase will act like normal until he does the beam slash a second time which will be followed by his other mini-DM, the keyblade throws. This mini-DM is way easier to block then the other but be warned that he will end this move with a triple slam and then go right into his other mini-DM as mentioned above. Knowing how to properly block these two mini-DMs and when they come out are the key to winning this right

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