Drive Forms

Valor Form:
Drive With: Goofy
Gauges Used: 3
Advantages: Dual Wielding, Attack Boost
Ability: High Jump
Obtained: Yen Sid's Tower

Earned with Sora's new costume from the three fairies in Twilight Town's tower wardrobe, go on the offensive with this two-Keyblade battle form! By combining strength with Goofy, Sora brandishes two Keyblades for rapid-slash action. Excellent in most boss fights, get in close and bash away to do heavy damage in a short amount of time. The Valor Form gains experience every time you strike an enemy, not just by beating them. Bear in mind that Sora is robbed of his magic spells (this includes Cure!) while in Valor form!

High Jump: Sora's not a bad jumper at the beginning, but by increasing the High Jump level, he can really catch some major air, making dodging enemy moves and reaching high foes easier! Of course, the higher he jumps just going straight up, the further he also jumps when running.

Wisdom Form:
Drive With: Donald
Gauges Used: 3
Advantages: Sliding, Magic Boost
Ability: Quick Dash
Obtained: After Timeless River

This magic-heavy Form is earned after you've completed Timeless River and restored Disney Castle to peace. By combining strength with Donald, Sora gains the ability to blast his foes from afar with magic bullets, while floating across the ground effortlessly. Magic abilities are also amped up! Unlike the Valor Form, Wisdom gains experience with the defeat of every Heartless--Nobodies and other enemies (such as bosses) don't count!

Quick Run: If you need to cover some ground fast, Quick Run is excellent. Simply press the [Square] button while running to put on a burst of speed, perfect for evading enemy attacks. The distance of each dash is rated against the distance of Sora's normal (non-Ability-augmented) jump on a level surface.

Master Form:
Drive With: Two Party Members
Gauges Used: 4
Advantages: Dual Wielding, Attack & Magic Boost
Ability: Aerial Dodge
Obtained: In Hollow Bastion, from King Mickey

Earned when you reunite with King Mickey, Master Form combines the abilities of Valor and Wisdom, providing powerful two-Keyblade physical attacks with powerful magic! The second Keyblade floats on its own as well for needed attack reach. Leveling up the Master Form is a little tricky, since you do so by gathering Drive Orbs. Enemies that drop a lot of these should be your targets, though destructible items on maps that give up Drive Orbs (like the fireworks and carts in the Land of Dragons) aren't bad either. Be sure to have the Jackpot ability equipped to up the orbs' drop rate!

Aerial Dodge: Aerial Dodge is effectively a double-jump, letting Sora take another leap while in midair. While this is useful for dodging airborne threats, it's also handy for reaching high areas and enemies. The second leap is also considerably faster! The Aerial Dodge is rated against Sora's normal jump standing on a level surface.

Final Form:
Drive With: Two Party Members
Gauges Used: 5
Advantages: Dual Wielding, Attack & Magic Boost, Levitation
Ability: Glide
Obtained: Randomly After Battle With Roxas

This Form is earned a little differently from the others. When changing Form, you may randomly emerge into Final Form. Once you've gained it in this fashion, you can then change into it anytime you like. Similar to Master Form, Final wields two Keyblades, but also emphasizes aerial maneuvers, as Sora glides along the ground like in Wisdom Form, plus the added aerial mobility provided by Glide. Both Keyblades also float independently for maximum range and swing. This Form gains Experience only with the destruction of Nobodies, so building it up is tricky until very late in the game.

Glide: This ability is extremely useful! When airborne and not attacking, simply press [Square] to go into a glide that carries Sora quickly through the air on a gradual descent. Since the glide is faster than running, combine this with a High Jump and Air Dodge and you can zip through long maps quicker than skateboarding. Not only that, but if you jump high enough, you don't even trigger enemy appearances. While at LV1, Glide cuts short once you get close to the ground. At higher levels, you skim the ground instead, continuing to glide along, plus your angle of descent gets more and more horizontal.

Anti Form:
Drive With: Two Party Members
Gauges Used: All
Advantages: Aggresive & Quick Attacks
Ability: None
Obtained: Randomly

Every time Sora changes into Valor, Wisdom, or Master Form, there is a chance that he will instead transform into the dark Anti-Form. In fact, the more Sora changes form (Oathy's Note: ...or the more hits he takes while in any other Form before transforming into this form), the greater the odds become of taking on Anti-Form. In this mode, all of Sora's commands are disabled except for Attack and Revert to normal. Sora moves at double-speed, but this too comes at quite a few costs. Not only does he take 150% normal damage (in other words, he takes full damage + half of that hit, combined), but he also can't pick up HP orbs, use magic, or use items to regain HP. Sora also doesn't gain EXP from defeated foes. In addition, the Form Gauge will actually deplete faster upon picking up Drive Orbs.

Anti Form cannot be voluntarily entered, does not level up, and does not earn you any new abilities for normal Sora. Also, you cannot enter Anti Form with an unconscious ally on the field or by changing into Final Form.

Leveling Up your Forms + Quick Drive Gauge Recovery

Building up your Forms makes all battles easier, but can be an extremely time-consuming process, especially with the amount of time it takes to re-charge your Drive Gauge. However, there are some shortcut strategies you can take.

Have an empty or only partially-full Drive Gauge? Simply head over to Olympus Coliseum and enter in a cup Tournament. As soon as the first battle begins, select [Start] and Quit the tournament. Your gauge will be completely refilled!

Once you have a full Gauge, it's time to do some strategic enemy hunting. Using the above tips, find a good location that is full of the proper enemies you need to level up your Form (for instance, if you want to level up Wisdom, find a place full of Heartless with few Nobodies). Once you're in that world, find an area with a Save Point or a "conversation pit"--an area where your party members or NPCs are walking around and can be talked to (like the Interceptor's deck in Port Royal, where Jack, Will, and Elizabeth are wandering the deck). Make sure the enemy area is immediately adjacent to the "conversation pit" or an area with a Save Point. Go into enemy territory, change Form, and hack away--just make sure that you get back into the conversation pit or leave the world via a Save Point BEFORE your Drive Gauge depletes! Your gauge will be completely refilled, plus you still have all the EXP earned from the battle. This also works with in-world gates such as the portal to Timeless River or the book in Merlin's house.