Frying Pan (フライパン, Furai Pan, lit. "Fry Pan") is a Formchange in Kingdom Hearts III. It allows the user to transform the Keyblade into a skillet-like shield, allowing for fiery attacks and counters.

Design

Frying Pan transforms the Keyblade into a grey shield resembling a skillet. An image of a rat holding a ladle and wearing a toque is emblazoned into the shield, and it is surrounded by a series of flames.

Mechanics

In Kingdom Hearts III, Frying Pan is the Formchange of the Grand Chef Keyblade, associated with Blitz Form. It has a base duration of 30 seconds and a maximum combo length of 5. It is very similar to Counter Shield in basic execution, with its basic combo involving Sora spinning and throwing the shield around himself, and the finishers consist of a spin attack and a fiery forcefield. Like Counter Shield, Frying Pan's biggest boon is being able to perform devastating fiery counters. Sora can use Shield Charge to charge the shield by blocking and replace the Attack command with a reprisal up to two times, causing the flames on the shield to become more prominent. The first, Flame Torrent, simply spawns a single burst of flame, while the second, Flame Barrage, summons a barrage of flames.

The Formchange's finish command has Sora transform the Keyblade into a massive frying pan before slamming it downwards.

Abilities

Alongside the abilities from Blitz Form, Frying Pan also has access to Shield Charge.

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)		Fire	0.5	0	1	0	O	—	—
Shield Right Swing (盾右振り, Tate Migi-furi)		Physical	1.0	8	1	0.5	X	—	—
		Rightward swing with shield.
Shield Drill Rush (盾きりもみ突進, Tate Kirimomi Tosshin)		Fire	0.4(x5)	3(x5)	1(x5)	0.3(x5)	X	—	—
		Dash forward with spinning shield.
Shield Forward Throw (盾前方投げ, Tate Zenpō Nage)		Fire	1.0	8	1	0.5	X	—	—
		Throw shield forward.
Shield Spin		Physical	0.7(x3)	6(x3)	1(x3)	0.25(x3)	O	—	—
		Spread your arms and spin at foes. (Combo finisher)
Flame Circle		Fire	0.1 + 2.2	1 + 8	1 + 1	0.05 + 0.25	O	—	—
		Raise your shield and scorch the area with fire. (Combo finisher)
Flame Torrent		Fire	6.0	8	50	0	O	—	—
		After charging your shield with Shield Charge, select Attack to scorch foes with a torrent of flame and send them flying.
Flame Barrage		Fire	1.0(x14) + 8.0	8(x15)	1(x14) + 50	0	O	—	—
		After fully charging your shield with Shield Charge, select Attack to scorch foes with a series of flame blasts and send them flying.
Finish (フィニッシュ, Finisshu)		Fire	3.0	0	5	0	O	—	—
		Slam a giant frying pan downward.

Strategy

Frying Pan should be used mostly for Shield Charge, Flame Circle, and Flame Barrage, as its other attacks are weak, have low range, and some like Shield Forward Throw can grant considerable end-lag as to prevent a consistent combo unless it's complemented with item cancel, but the merit of Hidden Potential does ease its further usage if applicable and no other Formchange is available. Since most of its attacks deal Fire damage, it synergizes well with Fire Boost. Counter Shield should be considered for a more defensive build to ease room for error at withstanding attacks if the Magic-inclined traits of Frying Pan and Grand Chef aren't desired, or if dealing with an opponent that noticeably resists the Fire element.

Shield Charge provides an omnidirectional way to block attacks and minimal mobility to ease positioning across the map, but should not be over used as to not waste the Formchange's duration, and its low mobility can become an issue when dealing with attacks that can't be blocked, and so Air Slide should be considered as an alternative for this purpose, but stalling with it as to recharge HP and MP with the included access to HP Walker and MP Walker by Blitz Form is a worthwhile strategy. Making the most of Wizard's Ruse while compensating for Frying Pan's weaker attacks by casting spells is also a fair option, especially with the synergy of Glide as to keep a safer distance from attacks.

Flame Barrage is the strongest attack in Sora's arsenal in terms of innate damage output and amount of hits in a single move (tying with Counter Shield's equivalent move in Wrathful Flurry), and has no Revenge Value, enabling it to be a good way to end a combo as to make the most of Combo Boost, Air Combo Boost, and Magic Galvanizer, but a combo should be built up with another Keyblade first as Flame Barrage being active also prevents the use of Frying Pan's regular attacks.

Flame Barrage can be used and have its charge retained by triggering a Formchange before its full animation ends (bar Rage Form as it'll override Frying Pan), allowing to use it multiple times without recharging it normally, and so it benefits greatly from Formchange Extender, the sheer amount of hits made by the move can allow for strong combo damage multipliers that Grand Magic can make use of, and so Overtime can also prove useful.

The finish command is inconsistent on its own per its sheer start-up and end-lag, and has below average damage for a finish command, but its lack of Revenge Value like every other finish command still makes it worth accounting for, a cast of Aero prior its use is recommended for consistency.

Learning Frying Pan

Kingdom Hearts III

• The Grand Chef has Frying Pan as its Formchange.

See also

• Counter Shield

• Formchanges