Another reason it’s used a lot is probably that you don’t fight Sephiroph or collect a lot of synth materials in the Any% run, so you’re not going to even get Fenrir or Ultima Weapon. Decisive Pumpkin has the highest strength stat out of the Keyblades you get in a normal Any% run. That’s why I always used it as a kid. It felt so weird being in the dark and gloomy World That Never Was with a bright white and red Keyblade,
@@scoob4636 Sephiroph is fun. But I think Lingering Will is better. Because if you’re at a high level, you can just brute force Sephy, making him not as fun to fight. Lingering Will is brutal regardless of your stats. He’s like a puzzle. You have to figure out the best way to respond to each of his attacks. He’s one of my favorite bosses in the series.
@@inazumarai7690 Yeah KH2 Sephy is easy at like level 75 or higher. I like bosses that are hard regardless of your stats. Though KH1 Sephy is still easy at level 100 with the Ultima Weapon. But if you switch to the Kingdom Key and get rid of accessories and he’s hard again.
I recently played through KH2 because my gf had a copy hidden in her belongings. Got to level 50 and saw sephiroth was available to fight. Got smoked in two hits 😭😂😭 beat the game at level 70. Might go back and try to beat him just to say I did.
Personally, I just used that keyblade because it was Power 6. All I need to see was "number go up" and that was enough for 13 year-old me to equip it. I didn't realize it was this strong!
I use Decisive Pumpkin for a very simple reason: It makes me feel more secure during tense moments. Because of that, I ain't gonna let it get to me I'm just gonna creep down to Pumpkin Hill I got to find my lost piece, I know that it's here, I can sense it in my feet, the Great Emerald's power allows me to feel
Having some more stats really isn't a bad thing to have, but since they give a static amount, this means that the higher your own stats are, the less of an impact the stats on a Keyblade have. If you have 5 strength and equip a 5 strength Keyblade, that's enormous. If you have 30 strength and equip a 5 strength Keyblade, not so much.
the google doc in the vid description covers this, and it doesn't exactly have to do with that (i slightly altered the variable names for clarity): Sora's DMG = Max(8, STR - DEF) * power of move * elemental multiplier * difficulty modifier you can see there's a wacky woohoo fun part of the formula where Sora's base damage is never less than 8. so enemy defenses that are higher than your attack aren't always going to matter and strength increases aren't always going to matter. presumably the lack of this is why BBS PSP low level feels so awful to play - you quickly reach 1 damage and it feels awful now looking at the gamefaqs guide for OG KH2 by darkhelmet543 you can see that Sword Sora has 26 str exactly at level 40, which presumably is roughly when you're going to finish the game endgame world that never was enemies have 26 def, the final Olympus cup enemies and Lingering Will have 51 def since the minimum base value for Sora is 8, you won't notice any differences until you hit 35 str, at which point your damage will increase by 12.5% per point of strength with no upper limit on regular enemies. which is pretty powerful, but decisive pumpkin gives you 6 and fenrir gives you 7, and you won't notice an actual increase because str - def will still be under 8. that said, if there were no sora-specific minimum and you dealt 1 damage if enemy def was equal to or higher than yours, that +5 would be massive in the case of a lv.40 sora in TWTNW. he'd jump up from 1 damage to 5 damage with +5 strength, a 5x improvement. if we also gave him a Power Boost since you probably had at least one by this point, it'd be 1 to 6, a 6x improvement. because the formula is linear, the fact that you already have a lot of strength doesn't actually inherently matter because enemies' defense also scales up with battle level to match. in a proportional system (DMG = 8 * STR/DEF) +5 being increasingly less would indeed hold and tbh i'm not sure why they didn't just go with that instead since it'd make the damage floor more or less unnecessary all of this obviously doesn't account for bosses also having their own quirks with damage taken, but in the case of mob-clearing, a big stat advantage is pretty impactful
An often overlooked stat tjat keyblades have is reach, keyblades can be physically longer or shorter. Heros crest is a shorter keyblade, kingdom key is normal length and DP is one of the longest if jot the longest keyblade in the game. This gives you more reliability to your hits and more forgiving in your positioning when doing combos
I'm not sure that matters anywhere near as much as KH1, given you get a ton of gap-closer abilities in 2. It does feel good to use a gigantic Keyblade, though.
@@UltimaKeyMasterit makes a heck of a difference tho. Just try it out yourself. DP vs something like Sweet Memories. You have to get closer to the enemy to deal damage
I think DP is *generally* the best while playing on Critical mode, especially at level 1. One reason for this is because the Critical mode setting literally gives the player a Finishing Plus, so the player does not have to strategize with Rumbling Rose to get that Finishing Plus. You don't get it on other difficulty modes so IMO Rumbling Rose is the better option on anything that isnt Critical. And even then, using Rumbling Rose will be better than DP for the dangerous mob fights in Cavern Rememberance. Having the ability to throw up a Magnega, Explosion, and Thundaga in the same string of combo finishers can absolutely brutalize your enemies, but DP can't make this happen if youre playing at level 1.
I feel like both of the Halloween Town keyblades (Kh1's pumpkin head and kh2's decisive pumpkin) both felt like pretty strong keyblades lol. Decisive pumpkin in particular I remember using a lot
I remember in my run I was doing with my friend, Decisive Pumpkin was so silly looking that we never used it, and our endgame Keyblade was Two Become One I believe. Not the best in terms of ability, but it was good for the stats, and it didn't look ridiculous. We were just playing casually on either Beginner or Standard (I can't remember which), and I'm something of a veteran player, so it wasn't too hard.
@@NoobsUnited9000 Veteran player as in I've been playing for a fucking long time. I wanted to do a casual run so my friend wouldn't be forced to watch me die over and over again. Not all veteran players feel like being fucked in the ass everytime they wanna watch the story unfold.
@@joshtheryuk I know, but I didn't need the extra pain; I still died to some bosses just because they're hard. I wasn't looking for a challenge, just wanted to do the story.
I did a crit lv1 run for the first time, and honestly hero’s crest is the goat for me. You get it relatively early and it’s awesome for air combos. Especially when you get master form which is super underrated imo
That's why I avoid this keyblade unless I equip it when visiting halloween town. I just enjoy the boss fights so I don't want to use a keyblade that can literally eat two whole health bars from one combo. But yeh, if you're having trouble with a boss, you could always use that keyblade to improve your chances of winning.
Decisive pumpkin can literally get you out of the most butt clenching situations too, like finishing a boss on its last bar of hp when there’s half or less than half of it left
I would call that an underrated perk considering the really stupid 1 HP Boss rule that it needs to be a finisher. A good enough Combo Boost can act like a get out of jail free card for the awkward moment that your last finisher doesn't actually finish them, so you need to scramble for a quick Square button modifier or jet out of there and just Thunder them.
I can't help but see a broken car muffler when I use Decisive Pumpkin. Like, Sora just got into a really bad car wreck and has lost his mind swinging his muffler at Heartless in a frenzy.
Honestly it was so broken he made the ultimate weapon in 3 literally steal from decisive pumpkin and hero's crest, so its the only keyblade with naturally built combo boost
checked out your videos and theyre both super fun! subscribed and am excited to see where you go next! (i've never even played kingdom hearts tho lol. your heartless avatar is cute tho.)
I don't like it much. Pratical or not, I prefer Sleeping Lion and later on Ultima Weapon. I can see why Decisive Pumpkin would be considered the best, if you are doing a lv 1 critical run, but outside of that, it's not that impressive and looks ugly.
Yeah I'm glad to learn how to PROPERLY pronounce it since I came from Final Fantasy before fully getting into the Kingdom Hearts series since Hastega is one of my most favorite used status buffs in Final Fantasy 10 and 5
@@UltimaKeyMaster some people may so "oh but just use items to heal yourself" when using items doesn't protect you from hits from using them like you can with using cure with leaf bracer equipped
I once told a streamer the best option isn't always the best weapon, and they went from a bigger stat sword to this weapon... I don't think either of us knew about this being the widely considered best weapon
I try to avoid it, honestly. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s OP, but it is definitely consistent and reliable for mid-game difficulty spikes.I’m confident in my strings, damage, and timing with any keyblade really, so I personally put more stock in keys that boost magic attacks. It encourages my combo creativity.
Expanding the scope of combat in KH2 had its ups and downs. Keyblade stats (visible and hidden ones alike) function but they don't really matter much, all that does is their abilities. With KH3 making styles tied to keyblades at least there's more variety now, but that felt like a step sideways to me, not a step forward...
It's kind of funny that KH1 and 2 are so opposite in combat, even the usefulness of ground versus aerials gets flipped. KH1's more lowkey combat makes aerial attacks super viable and magic comes out just as fast as ground magic, but more mobile as long as you don't do it right before touching the ground to cancel it. That, and Hurricane Slash is outright disgusting damage output if you're playing Final Mix. KH2 meanwhile, aerial combat gets gradually less and less mobile compared to ground combat the further you get, between Growth Abilities and combo Abilities. And there's the gigantic nerf to aerial magic that you're insanely vulnerable from the extra wind-up and slower than KH1, while ground spells are way faster than KH1. Basically, in KH1 aerial combat is high risk high reward with giving up Dodge Roll i-frames but having exponentially faster damage output. While in KH2 you're playing two *entirely different games* between those situations and you have to decide accordingly, one style slowly winning out over the other when you get to late game one on one fights.
I just got into kh pretty hard, and while I love the first game a lot, I think the combat in 2 is way more deep and interesting. Still like kh1 more tho, maybe it'll change once I beat the second game
As a longtime fan who's played (almost) every game multiple times, welcome to Kingdom Hearts! KH1 beats KH2 in my eyes, too, but honestly both have their merits lmao so either way, you're in for a good time B)
@@The_OPNquestion: i have played proud KH1 twice and both times i suck a lot. I cant play without being too dependant on aero to keep me alive, having full uptime. Is there really no other way? I feel like KH1 proud is too unforgiving... I have beaten KH2+3 on crit so far, doing a re-playthrough through all games on hardest difficulty now. I also can do some re:mind bosses but I always struggle in KH1 combat. Overall, I want to learn to love it as much as I do KH2 😢
@Asakedia I never had the much trouble with it, the only thing I might say is the mindset. Kh1 from what I can gather requires a much more dodgy, defensive playstyle than 2 on the count that it's a slower game. Think smarter not faster is my advice
The *Winner’s Proof* ability isn’t useless if you know how *EXP Zero* works and is actually one of the stronger Keys you can get, just make sure you’re already lvl99 when you use it. Also, SWEET MOTHER OF GOD, if you thought Reflega was strong before 👀
Eh I’ve never seen the appeal of this keyblade and people ovethyping it only made me not want to use it more. I guess it makes the speed runners happy but I find the whole concept of that and level 1 runs to be stupid frankly.
I'd argue that MP Hastega is always very good. Most players spam reflect and heal. A lot of players use magic. There's never a situation in which faster recharge isn't incredibly valuable.
Hands down the most dps with combo boost. It will smite the mushroom in agraba in 6 secs super easy to farm drive recoverys and tranquil materials. ( i had to farm drive recoverys at end game bc i didnt use drives most of the game smh.)
Some people say Kairi is best girl Some say Namine is best girl Some say Aqua is best girl But deep down we all know that Decisive Pumpkin is best girl
I only used Keyblade standard until Ultima and the only time I use this Keyblade is when I’m in Valor form cause it’s my second Keyblade equipped to that form.
The reason I don't use Decisive Pumpkin as much is that I just really like magic. Combo boost doesn't affect spells and MP Hastera allows me to use more spells, more often. So Ultima Weapon is just better for me personally, not to mention it also has a better magic stat. And while KH2's Ultima is the one I like the least in the series, it still looks better than Decisive Pumpkin in my eyes because I'm a bit too emo for the silly candy cane looking design.
Does an Ars Arcanum from limit form increase the combo counter at all? I would think (as long as Ars doesn't count as a finisher) Ars would either increase the counter by one, or by sevenish if you count all the reaction commands, but I'm not sure.
Ars counts as a limit and isn't affected by combo boost unfortunately. The attacks' damage is only based on Sora's strength stat. The game doesn't recognize any of the hits as being a combo affected by combo boost.
Oh shit i was boutta grind to get ultima weapon but i didnt realise it had the same attack as decisive pumpkin, i dont use magic much so i dont really need it ill maybe get it for the final form tho
I've never actually watched any KH speedruns. But I'm guessing the Ultimate Strat is to get Decisive Pumpkin. And then keep your Drive as filled up as much as possible, so you can Dual Decisive Pumpkin and Hero's Crest? That way it doesn't matter if you're in the air or not, you'll be getting the most damage you can.
i never cared about stats because if you git good it doesnt matter. i used the KH@FM keyblades(Especially winners proof) and ultima because theyre COOL
Does KH2 have softcaps for stats like KH1 does? I always figured that even on a file where Sora is level 99 that it wouldn't really matter that Ultima has higher stats because your stats would be so high that some sort of soft/hardcap would be in effect.
Yep, every enemy has it's own damage ceiling. A neat thing is that the 'Boost' abilities can technically make you go over it. So a physical combo has it's damage ceiling, but with combo boost it applies the multiplier to the ceiling damage, doing more than that. That applies to magic specific boosts too (thunder/fire/blizzard boost).
This is why I don't use Decisive Pumpkin that much. It's too popular, the ability is way too good, Sora gets the same ability, and I just like using varied amount of Keyblades for fun. I still use it though, but again I would think if a fight/situation where a certain Keyblade is needed, I would use it over DP. Still it's a fairly strong Keyblade, I won't argue with that.
i just realized in the kingdom hearts reddit sub people elected decisive pupkin as the ugliest keyblade in the series... it´s one of my tattoos hahahaha
Unfortunately not. With berserk charge the game sees your combos as being the same length as before, it just removes the finisher. So the n-value resets resets whenever there would normally be a finisher, and the finisher you do after berserk charge would deal the same damage as a normal combo.
The keyblade was bad looking to me growing up. It was bad fashion. And usually by the time I got it, I had decent equipment and stats that I could be suboptimal with the blade because it looked so ugly.
I really like how even with the existence of the Ultima Weapon in KH2, there are still multiple different keyblades that are argue to be the best while in KH1, Ultima Weapon was far away the best
The damage formula and multiplier for combo boost wasn't changed from KH2 to Final Mix, so in the original game is would still have higher damage output with standard keyblade attacks. Magic damage was overall buffed in final mix, so there may be some situations in the original with magic combos where another keyblade could compete with its damage, since it has a low Magic stat. That's an interesting idea I'll have to look more into. TLDR: still probably the best for melee combos but might have competition for magic damage.
The n-value for how many hits are in your combo is actually entirely determined by the abilities you have equipped. So if you have a basic 3 hit combo normally that would make the bonus 1.3x, even if you do 20 hits with berserk charge before going into the finisher it will unfortunately still do the 1.3x damage. This is also why if you equip the Finishing Plus ability, all of the finishers will have the same multiplier despite them "technically" being part of the combo and extending it.
@@caldw615Boss health doesn't scale, your damage scales to a damage floor. For bosses, there is generally a soft cap for your stats to provide a damage ceiling as well (a little under 80 points for superbosses)
@@eratinuwu1952 Yeah that's more what I meant, either their health scaled or the damage was mitigated past a certain point but couldn't remember which exactly.
Another reason it’s used a lot is probably that you don’t fight Sephiroph or collect a lot of synth materials in the Any% run, so you’re not going to even get Fenrir or Ultima Weapon.
Decisive Pumpkin has the highest strength stat out of the Keyblades you get in a normal Any% run. That’s why I always used it as a kid. It felt so weird being in the dark and gloomy World That Never Was with a bright white and red Keyblade,
damn bro sephiroph is the best.. better then dingering bill
@@scoob4636 Sephiroph is fun. But I think Lingering Will is better. Because if you’re at a high level, you can just brute force Sephy, making him not as fun to fight. Lingering Will is brutal regardless of your stats. He’s like a puzzle. You have to figure out the best way to respond to each of his attacks. He’s one of my favorite bosses in the series.
@@ezekielanderson9055not to mention he's actually not that hard this time round.
in kh1 that guy was in my nightmares
@@inazumarai7690 Yeah KH2 Sephy is easy at like level 75 or higher. I like bosses that are hard regardless of your stats. Though KH1 Sephy is still easy at level 100 with the Ultima Weapon. But if you switch to the Kingdom Key and get rid of accessories and he’s hard again.
I recently played through KH2 because my gf had a copy hidden in her belongings. Got to level 50 and saw sephiroth was available to fight. Got smoked in two hits 😭😂😭 beat the game at level 70. Might go back and try to beat him just to say I did.
Personally, I just used that keyblade because it was Power 6. All I need to see was "number go up" and that was enough for 13 year-old me to equip it. I didn't realize it was this strong!
I use Decisive Pumpkin for a very simple reason: It makes me feel more secure during tense moments. Because of that, I ain't gonna let it get to me I'm just gonna creep down to Pumpkin Hill I got to find my lost piece, I know that it's here, I can sense it in my feet, the Great Emerald's power allows me to feel
I can't see a thing but it's around somewhere.
HE HAS NO FEAR
This probably seems crazy, crazy, a graveyard theory
A ghost tried to approach me and got leery
@@authurstretchygreenthing8464 Asked him a question and he vanished in a second.
I'm hearing someone saying 'You a chicken, don't be scared!'
It had to be the wind, cause nobody wasn't there
This is what the internet was made for.
No. No it’s not.
@@Nanobot1989yes, yes it is
Yup 😢
I thought that the internet was for porn? (Let's see who gets this)
@@keirgaleineveryone you even said the word 😑
I adore the jingle sound it makes when you smack things!
I'm no power player but I remember using this blade a lot back in the day
Having some more stats really isn't a bad thing to have, but since they give a static amount, this means that the higher your own stats are, the less of an impact the stats on a Keyblade have.
If you have 5 strength and equip a 5 strength Keyblade, that's enormous.
If you have 30 strength and equip a 5 strength Keyblade, not so much.
And stats actually have an invisible cap against most bosses, so after a certain point, the stats on keyblades don't mean anything
the google doc in the vid description covers this, and it doesn't exactly have to do with that (i slightly altered the variable names for clarity):
Sora's DMG = Max(8, STR - DEF) * power of move * elemental multiplier * difficulty modifier
you can see there's a wacky woohoo fun part of the formula where Sora's base damage is never less than 8.
so enemy defenses that are higher than your attack aren't always going to matter and strength increases aren't always going to matter.
presumably the lack of this is why BBS PSP low level feels so awful to play - you quickly reach 1 damage and it feels awful
now looking at the gamefaqs guide for OG KH2 by darkhelmet543 you can see that Sword Sora has 26 str exactly at level 40, which presumably is roughly when you're going to finish the game
endgame world that never was enemies have 26 def, the final Olympus cup enemies and Lingering Will have 51 def
since the minimum base value for Sora is 8, you won't notice any differences until you hit 35 str, at which point your damage will increase by 12.5% per point of strength with no upper limit on regular enemies.
which is pretty powerful, but decisive pumpkin gives you 6 and fenrir gives you 7, and you won't notice an actual increase because str - def will still be under 8.
that said, if there were no sora-specific minimum and you dealt 1 damage if enemy def was equal to or higher than yours,
that +5 would be massive in the case of a lv.40 sora in TWTNW.
he'd jump up from 1 damage to 5 damage with +5 strength, a 5x improvement.
if we also gave him a Power Boost since you probably had at least one by this point, it'd be 1 to 6, a 6x improvement.
because the formula is linear, the fact that you already have a lot of strength doesn't actually inherently matter because enemies' defense also scales up with battle level to match.
in a proportional system (DMG = 8 * STR/DEF) +5 being increasingly less would indeed hold and tbh i'm not sure why they didn't just go with that instead since it'd make the damage floor more or less unnecessary
all of this obviously doesn't account for bosses also having their own quirks with damage taken, but in the case of mob-clearing, a big stat advantage is pretty impactful
Tldr str matters, and sometimes doesn't @@heeho8929
This is why in KH3 the only Keyblade with that Ability is the Ultimate Weapon. They recognize it as the true best ability
Frankly it's a matter of availability too. Didn't even know what the keyblade ability was for, just felt right using it.
I like your cool short informative KH videos. Subbed!
i dont need no combo boost, im a kingdom key loyalist 😤
I really like the design as well
I agree
YES, I also super love Nightmare Before Christmas 💜
An often overlooked stat tjat keyblades have is reach, keyblades can be physically longer or shorter. Heros crest is a shorter keyblade, kingdom key is normal length and DP is one of the longest if jot the longest keyblade in the game. This gives you more reliability to your hits and more forgiving in your positioning when doing combos
I'm not sure that matters anywhere near as much as KH1, given you get a ton of gap-closer abilities in 2. It does feel good to use a gigantic Keyblade, though.
@@UltimaKeyMasterit makes a heck of a difference tho. Just try it out yourself. DP vs something like Sweet Memories. You have to get closer to the enemy to deal damage
Dodge Slash finds yet another way to disappiont
Well that was surprisingly concise and informative.
Aaaaand now I wanna set my PS2 up and play some KH2.
You mean you don't have the switch cloud version of the KH collection?!?!?!?!1!1!1
I play that on Xbox one X
@@tumultuousvew switch kingdom hearts 🤮🤢
@@TimothyGod that was the joke lol
@@tumultuousv ye
I don’t play this game but i wish for your channel to blow up :3
Have a comment sir the algorithm demands it
I think DP is *generally* the best while playing on Critical mode, especially at level 1. One reason for this is because the Critical mode setting literally gives the player a Finishing Plus, so the player does not have to strategize with Rumbling Rose to get that Finishing Plus. You don't get it on other difficulty modes so IMO Rumbling Rose is the better option on anything that isnt Critical.
And even then, using Rumbling Rose will be better than DP for the dangerous mob fights in Cavern Rememberance. Having the ability to throw up a Magnega, Explosion, and Thundaga in the same string of combo finishers can absolutely brutalize your enemies, but DP can't make this happen if youre playing at level 1.
Jesus, I never thought about Finisher Plus for magic for that absolute bitch of a final room in the cavern.
@@UltimaKeyMaster rumbling rose's extra finisher plus is a good send for those mob fights bro. I recommend experimenting with it
@@insertnamehere2746 I tended to run Rumbling Rose until I got Ultima/the natural Finishing Plus before I played Critical, actually.
Neat analysis video! Thanks for uploading!
I feel like both of the Halloween Town keyblades (Kh1's pumpkin head and kh2's decisive pumpkin) both felt like pretty strong keyblades lol. Decisive pumpkin in particular I remember using a lot
I just like Jack Skelington a lot
I remember in my run I was doing with my friend, Decisive Pumpkin was so silly looking that we never used it, and our endgame Keyblade was Two Become One I believe. Not the best in terms of ability, but it was good for the stats, and it didn't look ridiculous. We were just playing casually on either Beginner or Standard (I can't remember which), and I'm something of a veteran player, so it wasn't too hard.
"Im something or a veteran player"
"It was on beginner or standard"
💀
@@NoobsUnited9000 Veteran player as in I've been playing for a fucking long time. I wanted to do a casual run so my friend wouldn't be forced to watch me die over and over again. Not all veteran players feel like being fucked in the ass everytime they wanna watch the story unfold.
@@thenagitoTbf Proud Mode is a joke as well. Only Critical is a decent challenge.
@@thenagito blud hasn't improved enough to beat critical easily over the last 20 years 💀 what a gimp
@@joshtheryuk I know, but I didn't need the extra pain; I still died to some bosses just because they're hard. I wasn't looking for a challenge, just wanted to do the story.
Yeah! So real. I have always loved this one because im a big fan of combos AND halloween town is probably my favorite world.
Now this is the kind of video I needed to see
I dont use decisive pumpkin after getting oblivion or an endgame keyblade cause its hit noise actually starts to get grating
I did a crit lv1 run for the first time, and honestly hero’s crest is the goat for me. You get it relatively early and it’s awesome for air combos. Especially when you get master form which is super underrated imo
Its truly the best keyblade. Abilities are the key to win the fights I can tell. 😅
Great explanation 🔥
That's why I avoid this keyblade unless I equip it when visiting halloween town.
I just enjoy the boss fights so I don't want to use a keyblade that can literally eat two whole health bars from one combo. But yeh, if you're having trouble with a boss, you could always use that keyblade to improve your chances of winning.
Decisive pumpkin can literally get you out of the most butt clenching situations too, like finishing a boss on its last bar of hp when there’s half or less than half of it left
I would call that an underrated perk considering the really stupid 1 HP Boss rule that it needs to be a finisher.
A good enough Combo Boost can act like a get out of jail free card for the awkward moment that your last finisher doesn't actually finish them, so you need to scramble for a quick Square button modifier or jet out of there and just Thunder them.
I can't help but see a broken car muffler when I use Decisive Pumpkin. Like, Sora just got into a really bad car wreck and has lost his mind swinging his muffler at Heartless in a frenzy.
Honestly it was so broken he made the ultimate weapon in 3 literally steal from decisive pumpkin and hero's crest, so its the only keyblade with naturally built combo boost
Best keyblade for level 1 runs, the combo boost is just the best thing ever
checked out your videos and theyre both super fun! subscribed and am excited to see where you go next! (i've never even played kingdom hearts tho lol. your heartless avatar is cute tho.)
I don't like it much. Pratical or not, I prefer Sleeping Lion and later on Ultima Weapon. I can see why Decisive Pumpkin would be considered the best, if you are doing a lv 1 critical run, but outside of that, it's not that impressive and looks ugly.
Did you just say HA-STEY-JUH
Yeah I'm glad to learn how to PROPERLY pronounce it since I came from Final Fantasy before fully getting into the Kingdom Hearts series since Hastega is one of my most favorite used status buffs in Final Fantasy 10 and 5
got to the point no bs, very nice
I’m a fan of the reach and mphaste from Ultima weapon, but pumpkin is probably better.
I don't remember focusing on that one, but I only played that game once when it was brand new.
That keyblade is gonna be my main forever
I didn't use this Keyblade once back in the PS2 days, running Level 1 on critical... I understood why
I still use Ultima Weapon for MP Hastega because I get hit alot.
Saaaaaaaaame. I may have beaten these games so many times, but when I need Cure, I NEED Cure.
@@UltimaKeyMaster some people may so "oh but just use items to heal yourself" when using items doesn't protect you from hits from using them like you can with using cure with leaf bracer equipped
I once told a streamer the best option isn't always the best weapon, and they went from a bigger stat sword to this weapon...
I don't think either of us knew about this being the widely considered best weapon
I think dp is used over ultima in speed runs is dp is a set location but ultima is a grind.
Good point! I had meant that it is used over the others in the data org speedrun and boss fights, but I definitely should've clarified that more.
Dp would be better in speed runs regardless of if ultima were easier to obtain. It just does more damage
I try to avoid it, honestly. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s OP, but it is definitely consistent and reliable for mid-game difficulty spikes.I’m confident in my strings, damage, and timing with any keyblade really, so I personally put more stock in keys that boost magic attacks. It encourages my combo creativity.
Really cool little video!
No i use ultima weapon for cool factor and completionist spirit
Expanding the scope of combat in KH2 had its ups and downs. Keyblade stats (visible and hidden ones alike) function but they don't really matter much, all that does is their abilities.
With KH3 making styles tied to keyblades at least there's more variety now, but that felt like a step sideways to me, not a step forward...
It's kind of funny that KH1 and 2 are so opposite in combat, even the usefulness of ground versus aerials gets flipped.
KH1's more lowkey combat makes aerial attacks super viable and magic comes out just as fast as ground magic, but more mobile as long as you don't do it right before touching the ground to cancel it. That, and Hurricane Slash is outright disgusting damage output if you're playing Final Mix.
KH2 meanwhile, aerial combat gets gradually less and less mobile compared to ground combat the further you get, between Growth Abilities and combo Abilities. And there's the gigantic nerf to aerial magic that you're insanely vulnerable from the extra wind-up and slower than KH1, while ground spells are way faster than KH1.
Basically, in KH1 aerial combat is high risk high reward with giving up Dodge Roll i-frames but having exponentially faster damage output. While in KH2 you're playing two *entirely different games* between those situations and you have to decide accordingly, one style slowly winning out over the other when you get to late game one on one fights.
I only use kingdom key in every game. I just love this one
I just got into kh pretty hard, and while I love the first game a lot, I think the combat in 2 is way more deep and interesting. Still like kh1 more tho, maybe it'll change once I beat the second game
As a longtime fan who's played (almost) every game multiple times, welcome to Kingdom Hearts! KH1 beats KH2 in my eyes, too, but honestly both have their merits lmao so either way, you're in for a good time B)
@@The_OPNquestion: i have played proud KH1 twice and both times i suck a lot. I cant play without being too dependant on aero to keep me alive, having full uptime. Is there really no other way? I feel like KH1 proud is too unforgiving...
I have beaten KH2+3 on crit so far, doing a re-playthrough through all games on hardest difficulty now. I also can do some re:mind bosses but I always struggle in KH1 combat. Overall, I want to learn to love it as much as I do KH2 😢
@Asakedia I never had the much trouble with it, the only thing I might say is the mindset. Kh1 from what I can gather requires a much more dodgy, defensive playstyle than 2 on the count that it's a slower game. Think smarter not faster is my advice
@@Asakedia oh also use damage storage lol
@@kalypsothefreak9717 thank you, I will try a slower approach the next time I'm booting the game up 🥰
I speedrun nightmare before Christmas. That’s the only reason I Stan DP
To the point, I like it.
it may be one of the best but i HATE how it looks. the candy cane looks so ugly against soras outfit so i never used it 😭
The *Winner’s Proof* ability isn’t useless if you know how *EXP Zero* works and is actually one of the stronger Keys you can get, just make sure you’re already lvl99 when you use it.
Also, SWEET MOTHER OF GOD, if you thought Reflega was strong before 👀
Also also, Decisive Pumpkin + Explosion is 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼
KH2FM's EXP Zero ability has absolutely no hidden effects beyond what it says on the tin, you're thinking of KH1FM's EXP Zero, which is very busted
I love the winners proof keyblade based on looks tbh and magic stat. I love magic in kh2 and I always loved the mushroom type heartless
Winner’s Proof is my Final form Keyblade with my Primary Ultima
The sound effects it makes
Eh I’ve never seen the appeal of this keyblade and people ovethyping it only made me not want to use it more. I guess it makes the speed runners happy but I find the whole concept of that and level 1 runs to be stupid frankly.
I'd argue that MP Hastega is always very good. Most players spam reflect and heal. A lot of players use magic. There's never a situation in which faster recharge isn't incredibly valuable.
Hands down the most dps with combo boost. It will smite the mushroom in agraba in 6 secs super easy to farm drive recoverys and tranquil materials. ( i had to farm drive recoverys at end game bc i didnt use drives most of the game smh.)
Personally, had I known this as a kid, I would’ve put this thing on Valor. Gives me a reason to use that form.
Same with Hero’s Crest on Master.
As an everyone, I can confirm that I use the pumpkin which is of decisive quality.
I use it becuase it makes the sleigh bell sounds.
Some people say Kairi is best girl
Some say Namine is best girl
Some say Aqua is best girl
But deep down we all know that Decisive Pumpkin is best girl
Also it jingles.
woo i love decisive pumpkin yeah
And it does a good amount of damage too without going out of the way for side missions
I'm genuinely surprised at how many people don't know about Combo Boost in these comments...
I only used Keyblade standard until Ultima and the only time I use this Keyblade is when I’m in Valor form cause it’s my second Keyblade equipped to that form.
That outro is kinda funny. Not gonna lie lol
The reason I don't use Decisive Pumpkin as much is that I just really like magic.
Combo boost doesn't affect spells and MP Hastera allows me to use more spells, more often.
So Ultima Weapon is just better for me personally, not to mention it also has a better magic stat.
And while KH2's Ultima is the one I like the least in the series, it still looks better than Decisive Pumpkin in my eyes because I'm a bit too emo for the silly candy cane looking design.
Cool vid, thanks.
Does an Ars Arcanum from limit form increase the combo counter at all? I would think (as long as Ars doesn't count as a finisher) Ars would either increase the counter by one, or by sevenish if you count all the reaction commands, but I'm not sure.
Ars counts as a limit and isn't affected by combo boost unfortunately. The attacks' damage is only based on Sora's strength stat. The game doesn't recognize any of the hits as being a combo affected by combo boost.
It's strong, but overhyped too because people understand that it fits a broad playstyle, but still a playstyle choice.
Oh shit i was boutta grind to get ultima weapon but i didnt realise it had the same attack as decisive pumpkin, i dont use magic much so i dont really need it ill maybe get it for the final form tho
W splatoon music
Strong, long and pretty!
How does Berzerk affect the ability? If you do a ton of attacks with Berzerk and end with a combo finisher, does it still stack or is there a cap?
Berserk Charge dowsn't affect Combo Boost the game consoders it as starting a new combo whenever there would be a finisher.
I've never actually watched any KH speedruns.
But I'm guessing the Ultimate Strat is to get Decisive Pumpkin. And then keep your Drive as filled up as much as possible, so you can Dual Decisive Pumpkin and Hero's Crest?
That way it doesn't matter if you're in the air or not, you'll be getting the most damage you can.
0:33 did you just call it "mp esteja"
i never cared about stats because if you git good it doesnt matter. i used the KH@FM keyblades(Especially winners proof) and ultima because theyre COOL
because it hit hard, that why
I always ended up using Oblivion just because it looked cool but realistically it doesn’t do much
You know what I do? Get its ability on its own and get ultimate weapon or fenrir cuz it’s high damage
Does KH2 have softcaps for stats like KH1 does? I always figured that even on a file where Sora is level 99 that it wouldn't really matter that Ultima has higher stats because your stats would be so high that some sort of soft/hardcap would be in effect.
Yep, every enemy has it's own damage ceiling. A neat thing is that the 'Boost' abilities can technically make you go over it. So a physical combo has it's damage ceiling, but with combo boost it applies the multiplier to the ceiling damage, doing more than that. That applies to magic specific boosts too (thunder/fire/blizzard boost).
Listen just like kh i rather u a different blade cause i perfer to LOOK MAX then Stats max
Finally someone speaks logic.
I always kinda didnt like we work so hard to get the ultimate keyblade in kh2 but it's not really the best keyblade gllad kh3 fixed that
This is why I don't use Decisive Pumpkin that much. It's too popular, the ability is way too good, Sora gets the same ability, and I just like using varied amount of Keyblades for fun. I still use it though, but again I would think if a fight/situation where a certain Keyblade is needed, I would use it over DP.
Still it's a fairly strong Keyblade, I won't argue with that.
It's just really good.
i just realized in the kingdom hearts reddit sub people elected decisive pupkin as the ugliest keyblade in the series... it´s one of my tattoos hahahaha
They're correct
So does that mean a low magic stat and berserk is actually goated? If it based on attacks( roughly each Button press), then it should ad More right??
Unfortunately not. With berserk charge the game sees your combos as being the same length as before, it just removes the finisher. So the n-value resets resets whenever there would normally be a finisher, and the finisher you do after berserk charge would deal the same damage as a normal combo.
The keyblade was bad looking to me growing up. It was bad fashion. And usually by the time I got it, I had decent equipment and stats that I could be suboptimal with the blade because it looked so ugly.
I really like how even with the existence of the Ultima Weapon in KH2, there are still multiple different keyblades that are argue to be the best while in KH1, Ultima Weapon was far away the best
Unless you count Diamond Dust in KH1FM for magic focus build players
What about Strength Outputs?
I'm pretty sure most people used it because it looked cool when we were 12
Never played kingdom hearts but I agree
I guess it’s really not that “decisive” on wether or not to use it
what about og kh2
The damage formula and multiplier for combo boost wasn't changed from KH2 to Final Mix, so in the original game is would still have higher damage output with standard keyblade attacks.
Magic damage was overall buffed in final mix, so there may be some situations in the original with magic combos where another keyblade could compete with its damage, since it has a low Magic stat. That's an interesting idea I'll have to look more into.
TLDR: still probably the best for melee combos but might have competition for magic damage.
@@elbow_juice oh cool. im stuck on my ps2 btw so yeah
I dislike it’s design. I liked the KH1 Halloween Town Keyblade design better.
Stat wise… I respect it.
I have a question.
How does berserk factor into it? Since it allows endless combos as long as magic is recharging
The n-value for how many hits are in your combo is actually entirely determined by the abilities you have equipped. So if you have a basic 3 hit combo normally that would make the bonus 1.3x, even if you do 20 hits with berserk charge before going into the finisher it will unfortunately still do the 1.3x damage.
This is also why if you equip the Finishing Plus ability, all of the finishers will have the same multiplier despite them "technically" being part of the combo and extending it.
@elbow_juice man that sucks. It'd be cool if berserk combos would add to that but I understand that would be absolutely over-fucking-powered
What's the music used?
This is Cap'n Cuttlefish's Theme from Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion
I moded the Ultima Weapon to have 99 STR and 99 MGC with the Combo Boost Ability. PC Master Race!
Doesn't boss health scale anyway to allow Level 1 playthroughs, meaning a 99 Strength stat won't actually do that much more damage?
@@caldw615Boss health doesn't scale, your damage scales to a damage floor.
For bosses, there is generally a soft cap for your stats to provide a damage ceiling as well (a little under 80 points for superbosses)
@@eratinuwu1952 Yeah that's more what I meant, either their health scaled or the damage was mitigated past a certain point but couldn't remember which exactly.