'Kingdom Hearts 3' Keyblade List - Best, Worst, How to Get Ultima Weapon & More
Kingdom Hearts 3 has about a dozen different Keyblade options available, and we want to make sure you're using the right one. In this guide, we'll explain the basics of Keyblade stats and reveal what you can do to create a weapon that best suits your play style.
The Basics of Keyblades in Kingdom Hearts 3
The Keyblade is your primary weapon in Kingdom Hearts 3, which means selecting the right one for the situation is critical to your success throughout the game. Each Keyblade has these unique stats.
- Strength: The damage your blade does with every melee strike.
- Magic: How much damage the blade does with Magic attacks.
- Formchanges: Formchanges are special attacks that you can use after doing enough sustained damage with your blade. Press triangle or Y to trigger them. The visuals are different for each blade, but the impact boils down to powerful charge attacks that inflict heavy damage. For more details about Formchanges, read our combat guide.
- Ability: Each Keyblade also has an ability. With that Keyblade equipped, you don't have to consume AP in your inventory to get the benefit.
Throughout Kingdom Hearts 3, the Keyblades you earn prioritize Strength, Magic or balanced stats. The one you decide to main could depend on the choices you made at the start of your game.
- Wisdom: If you chose Wisdom, Sora's skill tree unfolds in a way that prioritizes Magic.
- Vitality: If you chose Vitality, Strength-based Keyblades may be more effective.
- Balance: With this skill tree, Sora's abilities unfold in a balanced fashion. As such, a balanced Keyblade may best compliment your loadout.
With these qualifications in mind, we've broken up our Keyblade list into three categories.
Strength Keyblades in Kingdom Hearts 3
Here's a list of all the strength-based Keyblades ranked from least to most powerful.
Hero's Origin: You'll need to beat the Olympus Coliseum to unlock it. Its Formchange is called Counter Shield and it comes with the Defender ability that increases defense at critical damage.
Favorite Deputy: Beat the Toy Box world to unlock this. Its Formchanges are Hyper Hammer and Drill Punch. Its ability is Lucky Strike, which increases the drop rate of precious items. The impact of this ability can stack if you also have it manually equipped.
Happy Gear: Beat Monsteropolis to unlock this Keyblade. Its Formchanges are Agile Claws and Twin Yo-Yos. Focus Converter is its ability.
Wheel of Fate: Beat the Caribbean world to unlock this. Its Formchanges include Highwind and Storm Flag.
Magic Keyblades in Kingdom Hearts 3
These are all the Magic-based Keyblades, listed from least to most powerful.
Shooting Star: Beat Twilight Town to unlock this Keyblade. It has Double Arrowguns, Magic Launcher and the Magic Treasure Magnet ability. It attracts Magic-based items to Sora.
Ever After: Beat the Kingdom of Corona world to unlock it. It features a Mirage Staff Formchange and Leaf Bracer ability. It ensures you can't be interrupted while using Cure.
Crystal Snow: Unlock this by beating the Arendelle world. It has the Blizzard Claws and Blizzard Blades Formchanges. Its ability, Freeze Protection, prevents Sora from getting frozen by ice enemies.
- Midnight Blue: This is a pre-order bonus exclusive to PS4. It essentially unlocks the Blizzaga spell early.
- Phantom Green: This is a pre-order bonus for Xbox One that essentially unlocks the Thundaga spell early.
- Dawn Till Dusk: This is a pre-order bonus from Amazon. It essentially unlocks the Firaga spell early.
Balanced Keyblades in Kingdom Hearts 3
These are your balanced Keyblade options, ranked from least to most powerful.
Hunny Spout: Beat the 100 Acre Wood world. Its Formchanges include Hunny Blasters and Hunny Launcher with the Harvester ability. Get an extra cooking ingredient every time you harvest.
Nano Gear: Beat the San Fransokyo World. Its Formchange is called Nano Arms, and its Stun Protection ability stops Sora from getting stunned.
Starlight: Beat the first wave of bosses at the Keyblade Graveyard. Its Formchange is called Second Form S, and its MP Haste ability helps Sora recover MP faster.
Ultima Weapon: This is the end-all best base Keyblade in the game, but it requires Synthesis to unlock. It's basically a buffed version of Starlight. For more info on how Synthesis works in Kingdom Hearts 3, check out our guide.
- Get 50 unique Synthesis Materials to unlock the Ultima Recipe.
- Requires two Suffusive Gems, two Power Crystals two Lucid Crystals and seven Orichalcum.
Orichalcum+ is only obtainable from seven locations, which means you need to do all of these things.
- Find 80 Lucky Emblems. Read our Lucky Emblem locations guide for more details.
- Earn a high score of three fruits from all of the Flantastic Seven missions that unlock in all worlds after you beat their core story. Read our Flantastic Seven guide for more details.
- Find all 10 Treasures in the Frozen Slider mini-game. It's available after you beat Arendelle from the Mountain Ridge spawn.
- From the Omega Machine Gummi Boss in the Eclipse Galaxy. Defeat high-level ships to eventually reveal the fight.
- In a Treasure Chest on Exile Island in the Caribbean. It's a small island southwest from the center of the map.
- There's a chest by the Battlegate spawn in the Final World that has it.
- Earned by mailing in shop postcards at the Post Office in Twilight Town.
In other words, getting the Ultima Weapon is very difficult but rewarding.
Upgrading your Keyblade
If you really like the perks of a certain Keyblade, you can upgrade it to make it stronger using Synthesis parts. Just go to any Save Point, select Workshop and look at the Keyblade Forge. Depending on how much you level your individual Keyblade, it's possible for early-game keys to become more powerful than base late-game ones.
That's all you need to know about Keyblades in Kingdom Hearts 3.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is available now on PS4 and Xbox One.
What are your thoughts on the Keyblades in Kingdom Hearts 3? Which one is the best in your inventory? Tell us in the comments section!
