Bright Crystals

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The only Heartless that drops Bright Crystals are Defenders. These tanky terrors first appear in Hollow Bastion, but can more easily be found in Traverse Town afterwards.

Since Defenders appear all over, you have a lot of choices where to farm them, but the best spot by far is Traverse Town’s Third District.

Six Defenders spawn there (in a few waves) and can easily be reset by exiting and re-entering the zone.

What makes the Third District even better is that Traverse Town has a save point and shops, so you can refuel whenever you need to. This is especially handy when you’re lower level and just starting your farming frenzy.

Let’s take a closer look at Defenders and how to bring them down.

Farming Defenders

Defenders wield giant beast-themed shields that pretty much negate all direct attacks. Of course, the easiest way around this is to be indirect–aim for the back!

Striking the body will deal damage, though that may be easier said than done, especially if there’s more than one Defender on the field.

Defenders also rarely come alone, most of the time being accompanied by Shadow Balls or Wizards, which can turn an already annoying encounter into a truly frustrating one if you’re not prepared.

Sora’s Dodge Roll ability helps a lot in avoiding the Defender’s attacks, though the best bet is to put a lot of space between you & them. Then close the space only when you’re sure you can hit it from behind.

The big fireballs they launch from their shields can be bounced back with your Keyblade or deflected by a higher-level Aero spell.

Finally, Gravity magic also works wonders against Defenders. It only removes a portion of their HP and can’t defeat them, but it can do a lot of the heavy lifting.

Using Bright Crystals

You’ll need 4 Bright Crystals to make one of everything in the Moogle Shop. That may not seem like a lot, but remember: it’s only a 2% drop rate.

Elixirs are always handy, but the real prizes here are the Heartguard and Cosmic Arts.

The Heartguard gets better the more you equip, so making a few extra wouldn’t hurt.

The Cosmic Arts gives a huge boost to HP and is super precious because of it. If you chose a more magically-inclined build for Sora, then you’ll absolutely love that extra bit of health.