Drill Punch (ドリルパンチ, Doriru Panchi) is a Formchange in Kingdom Hearts III. It allows the user to transform the Keyblade into a drill and rush into enemies.

Mechanics

In Kingdom Hearts III, Drill Punch is the second Formchange of the Favorite Deputy Keyblade, following Hyper Hammer and associated with Strike Form. It has a base duration of 25 seconds and a maximum combo length of 5. Its attacks have Sora spin the drill forward and piercing the ground with it. The ground combo finisher has Sora dig into the ground and emerge forward with an uppercut, while the air combo finisher is a stronger spinning charge. When surrounded by enemies, Sora can also call up an armada of drills from underneath for the finisher. Drill Punch uses Artillery-style Magic.

The Finish command has Sora transform the Keyblade into a claw that grabs nearby enemies before slamming them into the ground four times.

Abilities

Alongside the abilities from Strike Form, Drill Punch also has access to Guardbreaker.

Form Actions
Attack		Attribute	Power Multiplier	Form Value	Reaction Value	Revenge Value	Guard?	Repel LV	Status Effect
Keyblade Transformation Attack (キーブレード変形演出中の攻撃, Kīburēdo Henkei Enshutsu-chū no Kōgeki)		Neutral	0.5	0	1	0	O	—	—
Drill Forward Rush (ドリル前方突進, Doriru Zenpō Tosshin)		Physical	0.2(x9)	1(x9)	1(x9)	0.1(x9)	O	—	—
		First ground combo, first and third aerial combos.
Drill Under Rush (ドリル真下突進, Doriru Mashita Tosshin)		Physical	0.4(x4)	3(x4)	1(x4)	0.3(x4)	O	—	—
		Second ground combo.
Drill Rush Upper (ドリル突進アッパー, Doriru Tosshin Appā)		Physical	0.3(x3)+0.5	2(x3)+4	1(x4)	0.2(x3)+0.4	O	—	—
		Third ground combo, second and fourth aerial combos.
Drill Falling Thrust (ドリル落下突き, Doriru Rakka Tsuki)		Physical	1.2+1.2	8+8	1+1	0.5+0.5	O	—	—
		Fourth ground combo.
Corkscrew Uppercut		Physical	0.6(x6)	6(x6)	1(x6)	0.25(x6)	O	—	—
		Launch foes into the air with a giant drill. (Ground combo finisher)
Drill Rising Rush (ドリル上昇突進, Doriru Jōshō Tosshin)		Physical	0.4+0.4	3+3	1+1	0.3+0.3	O	—	—
		Used when the target is in the air.
Drill Jumping Ground Thrust (ドリル跳び地面突き, Doriru Tobi Jimen Tsuki)		Physical	1.6	8	1	0.5	O	—	—
		First ground combo when surrounded.
Drill Ground Thrust (ドリル地面突き, Doriru Jimen Tsuki)		Physical	0.6	6	1	0.5	O	—	—
		Second ground combo when surrounded.
Drill Pillars		Physical	0.6(x7)	6(x7)	1(x7)	0.25(x7)	O	—	—
		Call forth countless drills from beneath the enemy's feet. (Ground combo finisher when surrounded)
Dire Drill		Physical	0.3(x10)	2(x10)	1(x10)	0.1(x10)	O	—	—
		Lunge toward foes with a giant drill. (Aerial combo finisher)
Drill Swoop Rush (ドリル急降下突進, Doriru Kyūkōka Tosshin)		Physical	1.2+1.2	8+8	1+1	0.5	O	—	—
		Used during a Superjump near the enemy or when above the target.
Diving Dodge		Physical	1.0	8	1	0.5	O	—	—
		Tilt and press to dive beneath the ground and evade in that direction. Only works while in combat.
Finish (フィニッシュ, Finisshu)		Physical	0.1+0.25(x4)+6.0	0	1(x5)+5	0	O	—	—
		Transforms weapon into an arm-like model, grabs the target with it, and throws them violently around 5 times. This technique can also strike surrounding enemies.

Strategy

Drill Punch provides a strong blend of offensive and defensive qualities to find use in mob and individual fights alike. While Clock Drill does have some advantages due to Classic Tone's MP Hastes and stats also supporting its Shotlock options and magic, Drill Punch does have its own advantages due to Strike Form's Omega Finale, Favorite Deputy's Lucky Strike, and different finish command.

Diving Dodge has the highest amount of invulnerability frames of all dodge actions Sora can do, and so should be the default way to reposition across the field or to simply evade attacks, it can also be used on the air if is barely tilted so Sora would walk if he was grounded, providing a safe way to fall to the floor too.

Corkscrew Uppercut has plenty of invulnerability frames while used, and so it's often a safe way to finish a grounded combo, especially due to Omega Finale allowing an early use in a pinch. It can also support Formchanges with more unreliable combo finisher options like Nano Arms and Second Form, even more so given the low Keyblade swap time for such moves compared to its other attacks. Item cancel is recommended when using Drill Punch outside of combo finishers, as the transition lag as to follow up with another Keyblade can grant too much of an opening for the opponent to escape the combo, or even as to combo with itself as its regular attack sequence is relatively slow.

As a Strike Form, it can follow up Grand Magic with Omega Finale attacks, in particular being more consistent on the air as Dire Drill has better range and hitstun than Corkscrew Uppercut. Each use of Omega Finale counts as a combo reset, and so while Dire Drill and Grand Magic can chain nicely, doing so multiple times in a row is situational unless abilities like Combo Boost aren't a factor, and so in such cases it's recommended to keep Omega Finale after every cast of Grand Magic over using it after each one. Even though Drill Punch has relatively high Revenge Value on its attacks, its high damage output and access to Guardbreaker makes it optimal to quickly overwhelm the Armor Mode of certain bosses, in addition to damaging opponents like Large Body and Helmed Body Heartless regardless of positioning.

Sora can't move while using Artillery-style Magic, and thus should be a good distance away from opponents to use spells effectively. If an area gets too crowded with enemies, that is a great opportunity to charge and use Drill Dive, providing a lot of safe damage while repositioning Sora back where the Shotlock was started afterwards.

The finish command deals an impressive amount of damage against bosses that are using clones like Young Xehanort and Larxene, as then it's possible to stack the damage of the grab attack with the following ground impacts on the clones. As the initial grab travels in a straight line, Sora should be grounded for consistency as such action is likely to miss otherwise, and in individual fights this is crucial to ensure hitstun across the its whole duration, as to enable a follow-up attack. This is a common event to account for given its lack of Revenge Value like any other finish command.

Learning Drill Punch

Kingdom Hearts III

• Favorite Deputy has Drill Punch as its second Formchange.

See also

• Hyper Hammer
• Clock Drill

• Formchanges