Advice is going to get flimsier from here on out. Ailing Loran onwards is where self-doubt and despair can kick in, and any amount of guidance can be more annoying. Telling you ‘you just have to’ or ‘just practice x’ or ‘git gud’ and so on just fuels frustration.
Whilst my guide won’t frustrate you by being complicated, or a lot to remember, or assuming you have any skill whatsoever… at this level of dungeon my advice is more of a confident shrug than a confident nod. I know I beat this dungeon and I can kind of explain how I managed it, but it’s kind of the opposite of an over-detailed, comprehensive guide.
On the plus side, you’ve fought two of these bosses before. More than once. So the best advise is essentially “do the same again but be more careful”. Oh, I’ll elaborate, but still.
[Confident shrug]
Beast-possessed Soul
Preparation
We’ve been here before. Read the previous post for advice on his low-health version. Get some Bolt Paper too. Also, ignore me chucking daggers in the video, I was trying them out, they were underwhelming.
Tactics
The main difference here is that you can’t use the pillars to get cheeky hits off this time. These pillars don’t stand up to pressure. The other difference I found was that this guy was standoffish and the larger room made it harder to pin him down. He will charge forward occasionally, but if you’re pursuing he likes backstepping.
Main advice here is to keep him in front, at a range where the very tip of your weapon is in range of the very tip of his nose. This gives you range to avoid the swing of his slash combos, and if you swing as he’s stepping in, he is going to stagger.
Always be of the mind that you want an extra swing but with the hand over the dodge button. You don’t have to be so cautious – if you can get him with a combo he will keep staggering, so you only want to dodge away if he dodges and goes in for an attack. And if he backs up into a wall you should go beast mode on him.
If you’ve moved back to heal or recharge your paper, he’ll use fire which you can dodge as before. He might do a pounce but it’s easy to read. It also fizzles out at medium range.
The main thing is to come back in to the same swords-width distance. You don’t need to run and fling yourself around. Just look for the moments where you can smack his nose, and be ready to swing again if he doesn’t back up.
Watch Out For
He can dodge a hit, like you do, so there’s a chance you’re in full combo mode and suddenly he’s left/right rather than back and about to swing. This can happen if he’s pinned. Don’t panic, just swing again. You’ll probably hit each other but his stagger will let you get back to heal.
In Other Words
- Either be outside of fireball range (heals) or at sword length from his nose.
- Be confident with swings, he’ll stagger.
Blood-starved Beast
Preparation
We’ve been here before, too. He’s been a story boss, a final dungeon boss, and now he’s the second dungeon boss, but it’s a tougher Dungeon so it’s not a demotion.
Tactics
At this point I found myself in a groove with this guy. Not enough to beat him first time, but still. And it’s a groove that actually needed less skill than I realised.
Other than being patient, working your way through that health bar, knowing where to stand is key. Similar to last time, but in this room it’s easier to keep at the right spot.
Looking at him, you want to be just in front, slightly off to your left/his right. Level with his elbow. Most of the time he will raise that right arm and go into either a big lunge or a combo. Either way, dodge forward as he moves forward. He will miss you. I realised after a while that walking forwards works too, but a dodge always feels safer.
After the first attack, go after him. If he’s combo-ing you just want to keep at his haunch. He might hit you (in which case move away) or he will continue shadow boxing whilst you go get him. If he launched forwards, charge and give him a little hit. After both options, move back to position A.
Watch Out For
The poison can be more heartbreaking here, as its going to happen more than once. But as I said last time, I did not find it worth switching my inventory around to cure it. Just play through the pain. Just mind out for that blast building up.
In Other Words
- Find the groove in front and to the left.
- Let him tire himself out.
Abhorrent Beast
Preparation
Jury’s still out on most summons, but this time I feel more confident in saying they are worthwile, as long as you’re not planning on being too standoffish. The summon is needed for the aggro, or rather to split their concentration, but if you aren’t pursuing the ally will dissolve.
Fire good. Bring fire.
Tactics
So this guy doesn’t let up. He’s doing a lot close up, and likes to come find you pretty quick. The summon is there to give Abhorrent something to turn to, and you want to be in the practice of smacking him as soon as he’s turned.
Now the risk here is that when Abhorrent turns, he can hit like a truck. You can’t rely on him immediately going back to the summon, so you need to hit once or twice then be ready to back up a bit regardless of who he is attacking. Let the focus either stay with or return to the summon, then smack him again.
There are instances where he seemed confused, and I got offer multiple strikes. You can be greedy too, but remember I said two hits was enough so you can’t blame me if the greed gets you.
If you can find this rhythm, that’s the game. I know it’s not a lot. Cue the confident shrug I mentioned. This is hard to do, for sure, but this is what worked for me. He is a brick wall with mag-train fists. There’s no sensible method for dodging. You need to let the summon distract him so you can get off little smacks and retreat just enough to confuse Abhorrent. And you have to do it a lot.
Watch Out For
Of course, this won’t work all the time. Sometimes… a lot of the time… he will just come for you relentlessly. Get away, back up, and let the summon get some cheap shots off. Hopefully the boss will be swayed.
If he keeps coming and gets to you, best course of action is to dodge forward and through the attacks. I didn’t do this all the time, but looking back, this beat trying to read his moves and stand against him.
If he’s still facing away, get an attack off from behind. If he’s already turned, back up again. Hopefully Abhorrent has seen enough to change targets, but if not, continue moving away until you have to dodge forward.
Just by the nature of this tactic, I got him in the face a few times unexpectedly. This did stun him at one point, and I think a visceral could have happened, but I missed the window/spot. Regardless, I wouldn’t go fishing for this. Trying to stay always in front of Abhorrent Beast seems much to risky to me.
In Other Words
- Let the summon bait him.
- Swing a couple of times then retreat.
- Back up if he pursues only you.
- Dodge through attacks if he’s on you.
Keep on Hunting!
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Gamer Peak 