Mushroom Guide KH 1.5

Hey, what can I do for you? I got all you need right here. You looking for Goofy's Dream Shield or rare materials? Perhaps you want to become rich quickly? Maybe you want to power level yourself fast? Or perhaps you want to get powerful potions for your whole party?
Well have no fear I got you covered, just look at what I have to offer.

Introduction

In Kingdom Hearts there are Mushroom Heartless which you can meet randomly in certain areas. Unlike other Heartless they aren't hostile, well except for 1 variant, so you have to deal with them in specific ways if you wish to get the things that they can offer. Now in this guide I will simply show you the most easy methods to deal with each of them, so I'm not going to be very thorough, but that's probably how you prefer it.
There are 4 variations, they are the White Mushroom, Black Fungus, Rare Truffle and Pink Agaricus. Now I will explain how to deal with each in order.

White Mushroom

White Mushroom's are the most common as they appear in almost every world except Hollow Bastion and Neverland. They are the key to obtaining Goofy's Dream Shield. They can also reward you synthesis materials, however, they aren't a reliable source for any of them, especially in FM versions of the game.

Strategy

White Mushroom's do not fight back when you attack them, but they will get angry if you do, after which they will leave and give you nothing. They will also leave on their own if you leave them hanging for too long, so you need to hurry if you wish to satisfy them.
In order to do that you need to use magic on them, each White Mushroom will perform gestures, which correspond to 1 of your 7 spells. If you manage to cast the correct spell on a mushroom 3 times it will reward you for it and then leave. If you cast a wrong spell even once it will get angry and leave without giving you anything. By using the exact same spell 3 times on a Mushroom it will award you an Art which declares you a master of that specific spell.
Each Mushroom performs gestures for Fire, Blizzard and Thunder spells. In latter world's they will perform a 4th gesture, which is unique to a specific world they appear in, and which relates to 1 of the remaining 4 spells i.e. Cure, Gravity, Stop and Aero.
At the End of the World, right outside the Final Rest you can encounter White Mushroom's which perform all 7 gestures. However, using those to obtain Arts is a bad idea, as more gestures means less chance the Mushroom will perform the one you want, so the odds of them leaving before you get a chance to use the same spell 3 times increases greatly.

The rewards

• Arts - these are the key to obtaining the Dream Shield. In order to get it you must obtain all 7 variations. Once you get all 7 go see Merlin and he will reward you the Dream Shield.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Synthesis materials - each time you satisfy a White Mushroom you may be awarded some. These depend on the last spell that was used on the Mushroom and if it was 3 of the same type or not. If it's not then you are awarded a Shard, if it was 3 of the same type then you have a 10% chance to get a Gem. Fire spell awards a Blaze Shard/Gem, Blizzard awards Frost, Thunder awards Thunder, Cure awards Bright, Gravity awards Lucid, Stop awards Power and Aero gives Spirit. They can also award you Mystery Goo, which is a material unique to the Mushroom heartless. However, White Mushroom's only have a 10% chance to drop those or 20% if all 3 spell's were of the same type. But don't fret if you do not get any, as the other Mushroom's are a much better sources of the material.
  
• MP ball's - yes every White Mushroom you satisfy will award you those to restore your lost MP.

The Gestures

• Fire - when it shivers. All White Mushroom's perform the gesture.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Blizzard - when it sit's down and fans itself. All White Mushroom's perform the gesture.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Thunder - when light appears over it's head. All White Mushroom's perform the gesture. Note that thunder can be problematic, being an AOE spell it's likely to hit other Mushroom's so if you mess up with the one you are targeting it's likely the others will be gone too.
  
  
  
  
• Cure - when it's laying on the floor. White Mushroom's found in Deep Jungle outside the tent area perform this gesture. Note that locking on to one is not enough to cast Cure on them, you must stand near it when attempting to use the spell, then apart from your party members a 4th option will appear simply called "Target" which when selected will cast Cure on the Mushroom.
  
  
• Gravity - when it's floating in the air. White Mushroom's found in Agrabah inside the Treasure room perform this gesture. Note that this Gesture may fail even if Gravity is cast, as unlike the others it takes a bit to complete. So the Mushroom may change it's gesture while the spell is still in use which will cause it to fail and annoy it. So it should be cast as soon as it starts performing the gesture to avoid such a situation.
  
  
• Stop - when it freezes in place like a statue. White Mushroom's found in Atlantica inside the Sunken Ship perform this gesture.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Aero - when it spins in place. White Mushroom's found in Halloween Town inside the Graveyard perform this gesture. Note that while it doesn't look like it's spinning in this screenshot I assure you it is. Regardless the same rules apply as with Cure, you have to stand near it and cast Aero on "Target" to use the spell on one.

Black Fungus

Black Fungus' are pretty rare and the earliest place you can encounter them is in Agrabah in the Bazaar. Other places are the Moonlight Hill in Halloween Town and the Dungeon in Hollow Bastion.

The Basics

Black Fungus' are unique as they are hostile and are pretty tough. They can become invulnerable and attack you with poison which does DOT. In order to get their rewards they must be defeated with a Critical Hit, however, even then odds are they won't drop anything. But fear not for there is a very easy method to shake them down, but before we get to that.

The Rewards

Black Fungus' are a way to earn lot's of Munny if you know how. Not only do they drop Munny but they also drop Mystery Mold which can be sold for 3000 each. Apart from that they are a good source of Mystery Goo, if you intend to farm them for the Mold it is inevitable they will drop the Goo as well.
Problem is in FM the chance of them dropping either has been greatly reduced and also the value of the Mold used to be 9999 Munny. In FM a Fungus will only drop the Mold when it drops big Munny ball's, which is only 2% chance, in which case a Mystery Goo will drop as well. If it drops small Munny ball's there is 20% chance the Goo will drop too but the Mold will never drop. Before FM the Mold would have had a 10% chance to drop with small Munny ball's while the Goo would always drop. But no worries if you follow my instructions you will get your Mold regardless.
Tip: Once you farm enough Mold, try not to sell too much of it as some enemies can make you lose Munny quick, most notably the Jet Balloon. However, it cannot make you drop the Mold so only sell the amount you really need and keep the rest for when you actually need Munny again.

Getting preped

Now although you may be tempted to become rich as soon as you reach Agrabah, forget it. Before that you should also complete Monstro which is right after. As then you should have all types of Spell's unlocked, if you also completed Phil Cup, then you can visit Merlin to get the Spellbinder which greatly increases your magic and Summoning power. You will also have High Jump unlocked which will allow you to enter the Bazaar much more easy, by grabbing the ledge below the entrance. Goofy will also learn the Cheer ability which will also increase your Summoning power as long as he is in the party.
So yes, we will be using Summons for our tactic, Simba to be specific. Here is the difference that Spellbinder makes compared to when it's not equipped:


Once you have all that equipped go to Agrabah and swap Donald for Aladdin, as he also has the Cheer ability by default. The entrance to the Bazaar is not far from Aladdin's House so you can use the save point there. You will instantly know if the Fungus has appeared as you will immediately be in combat despite nothing spawning. So when that happens summon Simba and use the strategy below.

The Strategy

Simba allows you to use his Proud Roar ability which has 5 level's of power depending on how much you Charge it. His MP and Charge gauge's increase the more MP Sora has. For every 2 MP Sora has the Charge gauge allows you to use the next level for Proud Roar. So 6 MP allows you to charge it to level 3, while to be able to use level 5 you need 10 MP. However, Cheer effectively works like an additional MP so having 2 party members with Cheer and 8 MP will allow you to use level 5 as well. Gaining more MP and Cheer will continue to increase Simba's MP gauge, thus allowing more uses of Proud Roar but the Charge gauge will not increase past level 5.
MP also icreases the damage of Proud Roar although that might not be important as like other Mushroom's the damage to the Black Fungus' health is likely calculated differently.

Proud Roar is the most effective way to deal with Black Fungus. Level's 3 and 4 will stun them thus preventing them to fight back or turn into stone. As long as you continue to use level 3 or 4 against them they will be helpless. Also Proud Roar does count as a Critical Hit, so every Fungus that dies from it has a chance to drop you something.
Level 5 will instead obliterate them instantly, and although it also count's as a Critical Hit, more often than not they won't drop anything apart from a few Munny ball's if you use level 5 on them.
From my experience level 4 work's best for Black Fungus, so just keep using level 4 until they die. However, if Simba is almost out of MP you may use level 5 to finish off any Fungus remaining, as your odds are still better than trying to dispose of them the traditional way once he leaves.

As you can see on the left screenshot there is some Mystery Goo lying around after using this tactic. On the right you can see big Munny ball's and the Mystery Mold, you can also see another Black Fungus further which is stunned due to being hit with Proud Roar level 4. Another thing you can notice is that Simba's gauge's are larger than in the previous screenshots, which is due to Goofey's and Aladdin's Cheer abilities.
As I mentioned before the drop rate and value of Mystery Mold is lower than in the original Kingdom Hearts but with a bit of luck and patience you can still become rich quickly by using this tactic.










Obviously later on it becomes more easy to use this strategy by pumping Sora's MP to it's absolute limits thus allowing to use Proud Roar much more during one session.

Speculative Tips

Yes this is speculation as I am not certain if any of this is true, but you may see for yourself if it actually works. However, from my experience Black Fungus' have better chance of dying from Proud Roar level 4 if you keep your distance and don't even look in their direction. This may have something to do with their health bars like when you can see them the game calculates damage differently than when you can't see it. For example if you lock on to a Fungus chances are it won't die no matter how many times you use Proud Roar on it unless it's level 5. I noticed that removing Scan increases the odds too as it prevents you from seeing their health bars altogether. However, you need to take these tips with a grain of salt, but I have noticed that if I just stand in a corner facing it then use Proud Roar level 4 Black Fungus' tend to die more often even on first try. But like I said I may just be imagining it

Rare Truffle

Rare Truffle's are well rare, earliest encounter is in Monstro's Throat. Other locations are the Bridge in Halloween Town and the Pirate Ship Deck in Neverland.
Rare Truffle's like to jump so to get their rewards you must keep them in the air for as long as it's possible without it landing on the ground. Every attack bumps them into the air, even the gravity spell despite it's illogical.

The Rewards

• Rare Truffle's are the way to go to power level yourself. As they give experience using the 1+2+3+4+......+X formula for each bump.
  Which can be calculated like this: Y=X(X+1)/2
  The maximum amount of times you can bump a Rare Truffle is 100 so if we apply that to the formula:
  Y=100(100+1)/2;
  Y=10100/2;
  Y=5050
  So yes 4 Truffles can give you more experience than beating Sephiroth while wearing only +30% EXP accessories. And it only takes around 1:30 sec to bump one a 100 times.
  Note: The experience you earn from bumping Truffles is NOT AFFECTED by EXP accessories.
  
  
• Rare Truffle's are also an easy way to farm powerful potions as you earn an Elixir when you bump it 50 times and a Megalixir when you bump it 100 times.
  
  
• They will also award you "proof" of your accomplishment, when you bump them 50 times you are awarded the Shiitake Rank and the Matsutake Rank when you bump them 100 times. They don't have any real use but can be sold for 200 and 300 Munny respectively.
  
  
• Last but not least they are the best way to farm Mystery Goo as they have a 20% chance to drop it when bumped 10 times, 40% when 50 times and 100% when 100 times.

Getting preped

Satisfying a Rare Truffle can be tough or easy depending on where and how you do it. Best idea is to do it when you complete Neverland, as there you can fly which makes it easy to do it.
Another method is to use Aerora (Aero won't work) to have it constantly bounce of your shield but Aerora cannot be earned prior to completing Neverland anyway and this method requires a lot of MP as the spell must constantly be renewed. So you may need to use potions to do that and the flying method is still more easy.

Now the only thing you really need for the flying method is a long Keyblade, all other stats are irrelevant. So the best one would obviously be the Ultima as it's the longest. However, that's obviously out of the picture for a while, so you need to use the next best thing which is the Metal Chocobo, which is the 2nd longest Keyblade after the Ultima. You can earn the Metal Chocobo by defeating Cloud in the Hercules Cup which is available right after you complete Neverland, unless you didn't complete Halloween Town. Alternatively you can use the Pumpkinhead for completing Halloween Town.

You may also equip the Treasure Magnet ability to make it easy to grab the rewards they drop. However, the Ship has invisible wall's which prevent the Truffle's to be moved from under it. So even if you fail to grab your rewards they are sure to drop somewhere on the Deck to pick up later. However, that may require a bit of searching, so having Treasure Magnet equipped will mostly prevent it.

The Truffle's obviously don't always spawn, even more so in FM as the Jet Balloon may also spawn there. So a fast way to change the spawn is to enter the Captain's Cabin then jump down the hatch into the Cabin where the Green Trinity mark was, next exit it and take the door upfront to return to the deck (note that this door will be locked until it's opened from the decks side first).

The Strategy

Rare Truffle's appear on the Pirate Ship Deck and when they do, make sure you are already flying before you hit them.










Next Lock on to a Truffle and make sure they are positioned away from any wall and other such things so you don't hit them with your Keyblade.
Once you hit them just keep hitting them again when they fall back around your level. Only use single hits each time there is no need to do any combos. However, that alone is not enough as the Truffle will start gaining distance from you and eventually you will miss it with your Keyblade no matter how long it is, so to avoid that after each hit fly a bit closer to the Truffle so it doesn't stray away from you too much.
With each hit you will gain a bit more altitude, which is good, but not at the very beginning, as eventually you will reach the masts which you may hit accidently or the Truffle may land on them. You can avoid that by navigating your Truffle away from them mid air. Simply if you wish to move the Truffle more to the right then fly a bit more to the left of it between hits, or vice versa if you want to move it to the left. After 30+ hits you should be high enough to be clear of the masts at which point it's very easy.
The timing for each hit will change when you reach the altitude limit but not much, with a bit of practice you should be able to do it almost every time.



Additional Notes

• A Rare Truffle appears in the Hercules Cup so if you have the Choose Opponent option unlocked you may bump it there as well. While you will not be awarded any of the rewards it has to offer you will still earn the experience if that is the only thing you are after. You obviously cannot use the flying strategy there, but you may use the Aerora method instead. While this may seem pointless it is worth mentioning as it doesn't rely on luck for the Truffle's to appear.
  
• The best time to do this is in fact after completing Neverland. You see the Clocktower has doors that open every real life hour each offering a different reward. Thus it takes 12 hours to open all of them, so if you intend to pick up everything it's best to do it then. Because after completing Hollow Bastion it will be haunted by the Phantom so if you are not ready to fight it you may lock yourself out of it for a while and then wait several more hours to pick up whatever you missed. So since you are already waiting why not level up and get powerful potions while at it?
  
• Because you will earn a lot of Elixir's and Megalixir's this tactic can also be used to farm some Frost Stone's. As the Grand Ghost can only be defeated by using items on it, with the Megalixir being an instant kill attack.

Pink Agaricus

The Pink Agaricus is a FM exclusive Mushroom and it's the rarest one which appears only in worlds which previously had 2 locations where White Mushroom's spawn. To put it simply both had one of these locations altered to instead be the place where the Pink Agaricus appears.
The locations are the Tree House in Deep Jungle and the Undersea Cave in Atlantica.

The Rewards

• For every 10 hits the Pink Agaricus will give a reward, most importantly you can earn the Serenity Power sythesis item, which cannot be earned anywhere else. Bad news is fully satisfying the Pink Agaricus is pretty much impossible for most of the game, good news is you do not need to do it to earn Serenity Power, in fact a Pink Agaricus can drop up to 7 of them in 1 session.
  
• At 10, 20, 30 hits you are awarded a Potion.
  
• At 40, 50, 60 a Hi-Potion and have 10% to earn a Serenity Power each time.
  
• At 70, 80, 90 an Ether and 20% to earn a Serenity Power.
  
• At 100 the Serenity Power is guaranteed, you will also earn a Mystery Goo and the Prime Cap which is an accessory.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Each tier you will also be awarded some Munny and experience using the same formula as the Rare Truffle, so if you manage to get 100 hits you will earn 5050 experience in total.

Getting preped

You need to pump your MP to it's absolute limit to make the Stop spell last as long as it can, so use accessories and a Keyblade which increases it. You will also need the Aerora or Aeroga spell and the Ragnarok ability which is obtained after the first visit to Hollow Bastion, in order to maximize the amount of hits you can do in minimum time. Even so it probably won't be enough to earn the Prime Cap until you craft more accessories that boost MP by 2 and the Ultima Keyblade. Still you must be able to at least go over 40 hits to get some Serenity Power in order to get there.
The Diamond Dust will boost MP even further, however, Ultima has the ability to hit the Pink Agaricus twice per swing due to it's much greater length.
When you are finally aiming to get the Prime Cap your equipment should look more or less like this:







You should also make sure Goofy has MP Gift equipped so he can restore Sora's MP should it get too low. Also it's best to deactivate all Air Combo Plus abilities to have shorter air combos. And obviously any other technique abilities like Strike Raid etc so you don't accidently use any of them instead of Ragnarok.
Another thing is, you should practice the use of Ragnarok, as it's final attack Impact must be activated at the right time in order to release as many beams of energy as possible. Best idea is to go to Merlin's practice area and pick stationary objects as practice dummies. MP will restore itself on it's own there so you can try as many times as you wish until you get the hang of it. The secret is the use Impact when the ball of energy is fully charged, but obviously not too late or you will miss your chance to use it.

The Strategy

You cannot use Ragnarok in Atlantica, so the only place reaching 100 hits is possible is in Deep Jungle. So go to the Tree House and see if the Pink Agaricus has spawned. Well truth is it won't immediately regardless, you will, however, find some White Mushroom's constantly performing the gesture for the Stop spell instead. There will always be 3 of them hiding around the area, so first you must find all 3 of them and use Stop on each. When that is done each will give you some MP ball's then leave and when all 3 leave the Pink Agaricus will appear. If, however, you hit or use a different spell on any of them they will all leave and the Pink Agaricus will not spawn.
The Pink Agaricus will not care if you hit it or use any other spell against it prior to using Stop. So in theory you can use this to restore MP slowly before moving on to the real thing.

Now once you are ready first cast Aerora or Aeroga on yourself and lock on to the Agaricus's head, not the stomach. Then use Stop on the Pink Agaricus and immediately follow up with Ragnarok and Impact when fully charged. Then perform a single air combo on it, as Ragnarok need's a bit of time to complete before you can use it again. After that you should be able to use Ragnarok and Impact again. With 16 MP you should be able to use Ragnarok and Impact up to 3 times before Stop ends. When performed correctly Ragnarok and Impact can deal around 25 hits alone so times 3 thats 75, combined with all the other hits that land should get you to 100.

Obviously using Stop again to give you more time is not going to work, in fact it won't even count as an additional hit if you do.

FAQ's

Q: Couldn't I use the Pink Agaricus to power level myself instead of the Rare Truffle?
A: Well yes but it's much harder to get 100 hits as it requires a lot more preparation. Rare Truffle's don't really need anything apart from the longest Keyblade available equipped and even that is not a necessity, as it only makes it less likely you will miss it. Also the potion's you get from it aren't as good and even slightly less hits greatly reduces the experience you earn. At 90 hits you will earn 4095 experience, so it's almost 20% less and it's unlikely you will get 100 each time.

Q: I can't get 100 hits yet so how can I get Serenity Power to craft the gear I need?
A: You don't need to, at 100 it's just guaranteed to drop. But you can get it already at 40 hits, only then it's chance based.

Q: Is the Prime Cap worth it?
A: Not really it's an additional accomplishment at best.

Q: We all know this so why are you actually doing this?
A: I doubt it, why else would you be here then? But the reason is the Mystery Mold strategy to be exact. You see I may in fact be the original inventor of it. Back when I played KH on my PS2 I got it to drop for me when fighting some Black Fungus and when I saw it was worth 9999 Munny I just had to find a way to get more. So I tried using Simba among other things to get them to drop which worked wonders. However, even though today using Simba is not unheard of back then I couldn't find a single FAQ, guide or video which suggested using Simba as a solution. I did at one time write it on the KH wiki, but they removed it so screw you KH wiki.

Q: I did what you suggested with the Rare Truffle's and power leveled myself, while trying to get all rewards from the Clocktower, but now I reached level 100 too early and wasted a lot of experience from the Bosses I fought later.
A: um your welcome....