How to fight Barren Swamp boss?

[Tyler McRae]

Like, I don't know how to handle this thing. The biggest gripe is that I have no clue how to avoid it's first attack. You can't dodge it because he just... turns. And parrying it seems to have no point becasue he just keeps barreling through you. LIke, what do we even do?

[Washing Machine]

The red attack? Oddly found it very generous to parry, if you perfect parry the first hit he bounces back and stops.

[SteelaiRizel]

Originally posted by Tyler McRae:

Like, I don't know how to handle this thing. The biggest gripe is that I have no clue how to avoid it's first attack. You can't dodge it because he just... turns. And parrying it seems to have no point becasue he just keeps barreling through you. LIke, what do we even do?

Like washing mentioned it's a relatively easy to perfect guard. And opens them up for strikes.

But you need to keep moving, 1st and second phase.

[Scraps]

First phase will require you to be aggressive. Chase him around until he wiggles his tentacles, then roll back since it's his get-off-me attack, then get back in. He also likes to scream and do a 4-hit combo. I like to dodge the first attack and roll behind him, as his tracking isn't the best for this attack. Mind the red portion. Second phase I find doing the opposite works best for me; play more defensively and let him control the fight. Perfect Guard, dodge, and retaliate as needed. I find Aegis in particular very good in this fight.

Unsure what you mean by his "first attack" because he can open with a couple things. If it's the burrowing attack, frankly I find dodge rolling best, and even then I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be. I think you gotta finesse it in a way where you're running and then dodging. Otherwise it's his red-move or his charge, which as stated by others, there isn't much else you can do outside of perfect guards.

His charges are worth learning to perfect guard in both phases, as it always stuns him and forces him to stop what he's doing, which could net you a few hits.

[Baron01]

I assume the first attack means his running/charging attack (not Fury one) where he tries smash through you, turn around and do it again and then one more time with sort of barrel roll at the end. If it is that attack that gives you trouble, I suggest you hold guard and dodge to inside of his path (it usually has slightly curved path), once you dodge rest of its hits it will go past you and turn to come back, you immediately start running to inside his turn and guard + dodge at the end. It will do some guard damage but you can regain it by follow up attacks. Be careful not to engage it too early as it often does 3 runs and the barrel roll at the end, do not get caught in the roll.

I think this boss asks you to constantly change your position and distance from the boss. You need to get in and out of reach often, which means your stamina management is important. Some of his attack can be outranged, guarding them is not advised, but some can also be avoided by being close to him (his tentacle stab from left and right can be avoided in this way). You will have to learn, which attacks are to be guarded or dodged and which are better out-paced. Its Fury attack in phase 2 is delayed a lot and it can be tricky to get the timing right. My suggestion is to wait longer before pressing guard than it seems safe.

Save Fire special grindstone for 2nd phase so you can speed up the kill. The boss should be weak to Fire and Electricity should work well too.

[earniebert]

His 2nd phase is hard for me to. I'm also using technique which is actually just terrible ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[Raptor85]

Originally posted by Tyler McRae:

Like, I don't know how to handle this thing. The biggest gripe is that I have no clue how to avoid it's first attack. You can't dodge it because he just... turns. And parrying it seems to have no point becasue he just keeps barreling through you. LIke, what do we even do?

like every other boss in the game just chuck everything in your pockets at it until it dies, throwing items is incredibly OP in this game, especially vs bosses.

[SteelaiRizel]

Originally posted by Earniebert:

His 2nd phase is hard for me to. I'm also using technique which is actually just terrible ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Technique is not terrible at all, coming from someone who beat the game with it. If you think it's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ then you probably have little idea what you are doing weapon wise.

[Poyzo]

The attack where it splurts out black goo? Either run away or run to his BACK, not his side. He will turn and hit you with it if you're on his side.

[mayhem523]

If he does the red charge attack right at the start you can just take a couple steps back and he will stop right in front of you for free hits. If you are going to perfect block then walk toward him to make the timing easier.

[Tyler McRae]

I must have parried it wrong, lmao. I also started abusing the Cube to give my specter health again, and suddenly he was easy lol. I think I was just getting unlucky and getting -really- bad attack patterns or just screwing upt he dodges/parries by a single frame.

[Gay Frog]

if you time it right, parrying the charge move does stop him in his tracks. if you mean the tunneling move, I found that dodging perpendicular to the tunnel direction at the last moment was pretty consistent.