How to Get the Energy Stone in KINGDOM HEARTS FINAL MIX

• Where can you get it? Hollow Bastion
• When should you farm it? Second Hollow Bastion visit or postgame (preferably)

The Energy Stone is one of the two end-game stones that you can only acquire when you arrive at the end of the game. It's one of the drops I found the most irksome and surprisingly difficult, but don't let it discourage you — you don't have to farm that many, and getting them is pretty straightforward.

The Energy Stone drops from Stealth Soldiers that spawn in Hollow Bastion. These little guys are essentially Soldier Heartless, except they do a lot more damage, are invisible, and have a penchant for running away when the fight goes on too long. For this reason, I recommend farming the Energy Stone last of all of them — the stronger you are, the less of a hassle this whole ordeal is going to be.

There are various places where the Stealth Soldiers spawn, but the most lucrative one you'll find is in Grand Hall. If you don't know where that is, follow these steps:

• Teleport to the Castle Chapel in Hollow Bastion
• Go through the large gates right beside the Save Point that leads to the Lift Stop
• Continue down the upper path (don't jump down)

This is where the Grand Hall is, and it is the best place to farm the Stealth Soldiers and the Energy Stone, even though they do spawn in other areas. Walk forward and fight the first wave of Heartless that spawns — this will always be one Large Body and three Wizards. Once defeated, the second wave will spawn, and there are two options for this one. If regular Soldier Heartless spawn, then you're going to need to leave and come back until the second spawn consists of only two Large Body Heartless.

To this end, I'd suggest you have the Encounter Plus ability, and due to the fact that you'll be fighting the first wave continuously, you'll want to be strong enough to actually get through the fights without struggles, which is why I recommend farming this last (or second to last, right beside the Stormy Stone).

Leave, come back, fight the first wave again, and once the two Large Body Heartless spawn, there will be a Stealth Soldier in the mix. Ideally, you should be strong enough to dispatch both of the Large Body quickly and then target again until you have caught the Stealth Soldier.

This is where your approach will likely differ depending on your build. Regardless of what you do, you're going to want to cast Stop (or equivalent spells) on the Stealth Soldier and do as much damage as you can — these guys are squirrelly, hit hard, and have a lot of health! But depending on your MP, items, and build, your approach might differ.

Energy Stone is easiest to farm on an MP-heavy build, where you'll have a lengthy Stop duration, giving you the opportunity to do a lot of damage before the second cast, then the third, and so on until it becomes visible. It can be a bit arduous, so try to have as much MP and STR as possible to ensure that your combos are at least doing something to it!

Contrariwise, the STR builds will struggle a bit more with the Energy Stone, but what I did was stunlock the Stealth Soldier against the wall. Find the correct angle to hit it against a corner and do an aerial combo (bonus points if you have Hurricane Winder/Blast/Period). Then, whilst it's flying mid-air from your combo, do it again; this stunlock makes it easier to deal with the Heartless, but finding the right angle is the difficult part.

Once you deal enough damage, they should become visible and it should be much easier to kill them, but if you fail to deal enough damage and dispatch them, they'll disappear. If they do, don't fret: if you continue forward and walk up the stairs, there are three other Stealth Soldiers waiting for you. You likely won't be able to kill all three of them, but at least it gives you the opportunity to try again without having to restart.

After you've finished, you can go out and restart the process from the top. Each Stealth Soldier has a 35% chance to drop the Energy Stone, and there's no way to increase this aside from Lucky Strike, so it'll be an endurance battle. Find the right strategy for you — if you prefer MP, it's never a bad idea to swipe some of those items from Donald and give them to yourself to have a longer Stop duration. If you prefer STR, go for a crit-heavy build focused on Olympia and watch their life chunk; at the end of the day, the best way to farm this will be what you find most comfortable, especially as this is the most irksome of them all.