Theseus and Minotaur take hardly any damage?

[Erra]

Made it to these guys like 7 times now. they are the official roadblock to my progress in this game.

Seems like no matter what weapon i use, they just barely scratch them. I'm able to do about 1/4th of their life in damage before i exhaust both lives, and have to restart the game again... what gives?

[Suzaku]

They're a bit tanky, and there's two of them, so it can take some time to bring them down. Most people recommend drawing the bull away and solo him while keeping a pillar between you and Theseus so he can't pester you with spear throws.

It's definitely one of, if not the, toughest fights in the game.

[babycakes]

It looks like you have about 10 hours in the game, so this is normal. You won't be doing decent damage against them until you've at least unlocked & upgraded mirror talents lvl 2. There is a skill that increases damage considerably in that tier. Although it's not necessary, playing without it extends my escape attempt by about 10 mins.

Knowing how to pick and utilize boons is also a factor separate from the mirror. This takes time. You're still becoming familiar with different combos and seeing what works/doesn't for you. By the time you unlock mirror talents lvl 3, you will be more flexible in building for damage with random boon options.

[Nibbie]

They are the second hardest fight in the game (some have argued hardest), and besides the final boss was my biggest hurdle for beating the game. How your DPS works out will vary wildly from run to run, but dodging will always be the same, so you can always focus on learning how to take less damage, even if the fight takes a while.

As was mentioned, pulling the bull away from the dude is a good idea, since you can use the pillars to block the spear throws, and you don't have to worry about the dude's spin attack. Then it is a matter of learning the bull's attacks and taking him down. For example, if he jumps three times, you have an opening to attack. If he jumps once but not again, he is going to turn around and swipe twice, so you should stay away for a moment, then punish after. The charging attack can be dodged by leading him into a wall or pillar. As you get more confident you can lay down more constant dps, but while you are learning you may want to focus more on punishing openings after attacks than constant aggression.

Once the bull goes down, you just the dude. He only has two moves, and a long cooldown after each one. Bait one out, dodge, then punish, he is super easy if you just take your time. I generally have my greater call by this point to nuke him down after he gets below half health or so.

[Erra]

I appreciate all the answers. It mostly just sounds like i'm wayyyy too early in having a shot at beating him.

Thanks for all the tips.

[rollin340]

One advice is if you have not, get the Mirror upgrade that increases damage on enemies that has ta Cast in them, and make sure you don't get something like Ares' or Dionysus' Cast where it can't be lodged in enemies. It helps a lot for anything tanky.

[Sifer2]

It's not you really. Both the third and final boss have way too much health IMO. I'm always praying for any kind of good damage boons I can get, and nothing else just for the sole purpose of being able to kill them. Nothing else in the game is even difficult once your used to it but these two boss fights because they are such damage sponges while having hard to avoid attacks.

[ZeroKelvin]

I'd recommend the Aegis with attack power and attack speed bonuses. Twinky and the Pain don't have rez mechanics, so once you get either dead, they stay dead.

Each also has a half health bonus, so don't get both of them to half at the same time.

Focus down the minotaur first. He comes to you.

You can block Theseus' spear with the pillars.

The charged rush on the Aegis will block literally anything that comes at you. You can just sit there while the minotaur whacks you, slams you, and charges into you, and it will all do absolutely nothing.

Also try to get any bonuses to dash you can find. The Athena dash is especially useful. If you really just need to tank stuff, spec into the Death Defy in the mirror and bring as many as you can into the fight. If you give some nectar to Skelly, you can get one additional use of it via his trinket.

Good luck!

[Sticky White Stuff]

Chaos Shield and GG IMO. Yes, they are tanky, and yes, they are the hardest boss in the game, even harder than the main boss. The only reason why the end-game boss would be harder is because you have zero resources while trying clearing 4 rooms with no health upgrades other than the last room with half a health upgrade then facing him. Even if you didn't blow up your Death Defiance at any rate, you are sure to do to it on the 4 Floor with the Poison and Rats and Styxs even before Hades.

I always focus on the Minotaur first, even tho it can be a big mistake, because Theseus buffs a lot after the Minotaur is down. Summoning god powers and having a blasted shield.

[Boink]

AoE attacks / Boons + good mobility (+dash #) are your friend.

Consistently easy to beat if you're using the rail with special upgrade or any of the AoE special boons. Same goes for Hades, you can easily use pillars + chip away using AoEs without fear of dying.

[TommyEV]

If it makes you feel any better, after several wins I still consider them way harder than the final boss.

[pi73r]

Spam dash and just ball them up to kill em both fast. The only thing u need to watch for in basic version of the fight is theesus spear throw and aoe slash. Other than that once you get good this fight will take 15 seconds with semi decent build.
And no they ain't really harder than the last boss.

[SMJSMOK]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

Most people recommend drawing the bull away and solo him while keeping a pillar between you and Theseus so he can't pester you with spear throws.

I would say learn to reliably dodge the spear while you fight Asterius (Theseus gives audio telegraphs so it's not that hard). Keeping a pillar between yourself and Theseus IMO isn't that reliable and requires you to keep track of Theseus' position more closely relative to yours and the pillar's, which can be overwhelming with all the other things you need to keep track of in this fight. But maybe it's just me.

[pi73r]

@up: using the pillar is the most effective and laziest way. Also what else do you need to track of during the fight? Minotaur on vanilla fight is so slow there is no way he can hit a semi decent player. Theseus telegraphed attacks are literally the only threat during the fight.

[The Devil]

The Bull is predictable but when his jumps clip the pillars sub 50% man that ♥♥♥♥ can get annoying fast.

Edit. Dash through the bull on all his attacks and you can immediately start hitting him over and over

[Bo^slim]

It took so many tries for me. But now I "usually" beat them. Got easy at around 25 hours in. Most of the mirror unlocks.