BOSS STRATEGIES With Minimalist/Specialized Tactics (No big spoilers)

[Taisetsu na Miko]

(Refer to posts below for other bosses.)

This game seems to have impossiblly difficult bosses. However, there are tricks to beating each one. I wish to know which techniques can be used to win against them. I know about the challenge run videos on YouTube which display how to fight against each boss with minimal equipment, and there are probably other videos on there that would help, but I think we should have a guide right in this community forum.

Weaknesses I have discovered:

Amphisbaena - Keep alternating between heads. Usually, you will have to jump from one head to the one that has just finished breathing fire. In hard mode, it will be impossible to win with lesser equipment and health unless you are moving constantly and focusing on evasion when the heads start going faster.

Bahamut - For an easy (non-minimal victory) use the caultrops. They damage Bahamut three times almost every time if you move away from where it is diving while tossing them behind you. This works very effectively (I went from fearing Bahamut to thinking he was one of the easiest bosses as long as you learn the strategy).
As for beating him with just a whip or other big restrictions, you must focus on striking only once each time you get splashed up. To hit the diving Bahamut, you actually have a large window of attack that allows for pretty much any weapon to hit after you move yourself out of the way (no jumps).
When he moves to the head of the stream and fires the buoys, you must get used to trying both short and high jumps, or else it will be very hard to consistently dodge the random obstacles. Try to stay where you can easily read the position and timing from being spit out to getting in your way.

Viy (What a leap in difficulty!!!) - Viy must be known intimately, just like most bosses that follow. To attack Viy, it seems like hitting his distended eye (very phallic) is the only reliable way to damage him without the Earth Spears (which are not usually reliable enough).
You should learn first how to dodge the fire spritz which occurs when Viy's eye distends. Learning how to do this without the Silver Shield is very difficult, but necessary to really know how to defeat him.
You should always start each phase of attack by standing at the edgeward platforms because Viy's minions will usually collide with you if you do not. The last thing you want is to fall onto Viy (of course).
When the flames rain down, you should always try to move toward the eye as much as possible and avoiding the flames (which requires very cognizant movements) rather than trying to attack them. Usually, you should move into a spot where you can see that the flame will definitely land on you and whip it out of the way. If you have more freedom, just choose a spot that is safe and then jump when no flames are in your way.
Now that you can finally attack Viy, prioritize doing so as quickly as possible. In the perfect situation, you can attack before the flames even descend. However, you must carefully control for a neutral jump that allows you to return to the platform. In Viy's critical phase, you must descend forward on a neutral jump, neutral jump for attack and then descend back (unless you can move to the opposite, intact platforms).

Argus - You must rush to him as soon as possible and do a neutral jump (straight up) so that you can dodge the next stomp. After your first successful jump attack, jump as soon as you land or you will not be able to consecutively attack him with the whip. You need to be able to hit him twice on most jumps with the standard whip.

Zu (The White Lion-headed Beast that flies in the Twin Labyrinths above the Inferno Caverns) - Stay on middle-right platform. Dodge any attacks and remain on your platform until Zu travels to where you. Attack with the back wind of the whip as soon as possible and hit twice. When you do, Zu will only attempt to freeze time, but fail if your attacks damaged him at the same time his wings spread.
Zu really is no threat from long distance - just jump straight up when the feathers are nearby and go in toward their direction.

Pazuzu (rock-tossing boss in Inferno Caverns) - Stand behind his flying point and wait for him to toss the rocks at you. They move slowly enough and can always be evaded with a simple walk toward the attack. Afterward, you need to be very patient and wait until his flying swoops him down to near-ground level. Then you hit him with your whip. The hit-box is very poor, so you have to be very patient, but the battle is exceedingly safe as long as you are patient.

Chi You- Much respect. Keep hitting him once or twice and then backing off a safe amount. When you hit the shield enough, Chi You becomes immobile for a moment. His other attacks are tricky to dodge when they pile up but otherwise, there is no need to focus on anything but dodging what you see when you see it. Depending on your proximity to Chi You, he will use various attacks. You must keep careful track of how many hits you need to give the shield.

Ba - Very difficult to me. Does anyone have a good strategy? I always use the pistol or chakram on that boss, but it seems like mapping out his movement points on paper is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, you have to be extremely patient and observant because one moment of relaxation can force you to start the battle again.

Tiamat - Not as difficult as Palenque in my opinion. She is patterns based. However, I did not try with minimalist strategy, so I can't say too much. It seems like moving from one side to the other every time you jump avoids the lasers most of the time. When the multi-beam attack comes out, it is best to whip step back and forth to both destroy the purple lasers and dodge green ones. If you strike with the whip using perfect timing (which is rather slow and very precise) you can land two hits on her with the whip most of the time. (I know that Time Attack allows for the Axe, but this is close to absolute minimalist and the Axe is non-essential).

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Does shuriken spam work on Amphisbaena on this version?

[Rusher]

Impossible bosses? WHAT?

The bosses are extremely easy, except the last guardian. That one is the only exception, and yet he has a fast way to kill, used by speedruners btw..

On Amphisbaena btw, its extremely easy to see a pattern where to move and never get hit, being able to hit both heads. I killed it the very first time I fought it, with 32hp and the starting whip, without getting hit once. And no, you don't feel proud, you feel you're playing a ♥♥♥♥ boss-based game.

The only exception could be Tiamat, and the strategy is sit on the shoulder and mass wipe all the phases out (you can use bombs to self-inflict damage boosts too). Also on this and all the other bosses, use caultrops to evade any-damage (THIS is the most broken aspect on the game, way more broken than the lamp of time itself..)

[Vil]

Baphomet honestly gives me more trouble than Tiamat, these days. Even without the speedrunner shoulder strategy, it's pretty easy to:

- Double jump axe (with a few flares thrown in) for most of the damage
- Hide under a platform (on the side if you're unsure of exact positioning) to dodge waterfall
- Caltrops invincibility through hair laser

Now, Tiamat without sub-weapons on the other hand? Yeaaaaaah. Palenque without sub-weapons is also much much meaner.

[Rusher]

WIthout sub-weapons, Palenque is the worst by far.

Baphomet is ridiculously easy too, you just need software combination and axe and spam hits like no tomorrow, no brain required. If you add the software for double-invincible-time after being hit... where the hell is the challenge?

Tiamat on the other hand is the only BOSS in this game. You can't win with any weapon+software spam tech (unless you add stuff like shoulders placement and grenade boost, plus hiding placement/caultrops). You got to think, move, hit in time and try to dodge all the ♥♥♥♥ she throws... not a single other boss in the game requires this (maybe Zu, even being a miniboss its the 2nd hardest fight in the game.. ).

[Taisetsu na Miko]

Yes, I just figured out the caultrops invicibility by myself a few days ago. I am surprised they would overlook something so exploitable.

[Traysandor]

If all else fails, money grind and use the Pistol or the Lamp of Time. Guardians are immune to the Lamp of Time, but you can use it on just about everything else and recharge it ad nauseam to kill most of the later Sub-bosses easily.

A few sub-bosses don't have invincibility frames. Most notably the Ghost (Guards the Rolling Shuriken), the Surface Giant (Guards the Feather), and Kamatachi (The OP Sub-boss who guards the Bombs), so you can spam Caltrops or mash with Flail Whip to kill them.

The Axe with the software combo is good for most stuff, but if you get the Flail Whip it does more damage (And the damage combo makes it OP as heck).

The Pistol should be used as a last resort only, It works on everything except Sakit (Face mask protects it, but once it falls off, you can shoot it) and Tiamat (You can't shoot her like the other bosses, her hair is bulletproof ;p)

[Taisetsu na Miko]

Originally posted by Traysandor:

If all else fails, money grind and use the Pistol or the Lamp of Time. Guardians are immune to the Lamp of Time, but you can use it on just about everything else and recharge it ad nauseam to kill most of the later Sub-bosses easily.

A few sub-bosses don't have invincibility frames. Most notably the Ghost (Guards the Rolling Shuriken), the Surface Giant (Guards the Feather), and Kamatachi (The OP Sub-boss who guards the Bombs), so you can spam Caltrops or mash with Flail Whip to kill them.

The Axe with the software combo is good for most stuff, but if you get the Flail Whip it does more damage (And the damage combo makes it OP as heck).

The Pistol should be used as a last resort only, It works on everything except Sakit (Face mask protects it, but once it falls off, you can shoot it) and Tiamat (You can't shoot her like the other bosses, her hair is bulletproof ;p)

Thank you. I should have realized that the pistol was definitely something meant to make the game easier. I did not know about the Lamp of Time because I still have not gotten that far.

But still, this guide is meant to help in the boss runs. I'll be putting that at the heading now.

Isn't the giant on the surface called the Algol? That's what the guy says one screen over from the boss's position.

[Vil]

Argus, I believe. It's a Greek mythological reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_Panoptes

[Tked]

What is the strategy for palenque minions? They make the whole bossfight hard and random. (they matter if you have 36 HP)

[Vil]

Kill them? They die in like one hit.

[Ginjjii]

get the axe asap. travel ahead and come back to fight bosses

[Tked]

I can't because I am doing the game with the least items. I killed Viy and such, but the minions of palenque make the fight troublesome

Here are my items:
http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/3299189016738567497/2664CB133B61B09F9E5ABBD713865CCE4253FCF3/

[Cute Goth Snek :3]

Originally posted by Traysandor:

The Pistol should be used as a last resort only, It works on everything except Sakit (Face mask protects it, but once it falls off, you can shoot it)

The mask doesn't protect it, it take 4 bullets to destroy it in fact (on normal mode, dunno on hard mode)

[Ginjjii]

bullets r expensive , just fight him till u clear the mask, then its one shot kill. u can kinda land on that guys shoulder. i liked usen the axe on him though

[Taisetsu na Miko]

Okay, I have beaten the first four bosses with only the standard whip.

For Sakit: Jump before he shoots anything and fall forward while it is coming to evade it every time. When he is going to use his fist anchor, always jump forward as soon as possible. When he is in critical mode, you must jump dangerously forward or you will get hit by the flame. There is just no safe approach it seems, which is pretty messed up. However, you can hit him whipping in either direction when you are near the face in critical mode.

For Ellimat: Only hit Ellimat safely. Getting hit by her shots is the best way to survive because they give a lot lower damage. However, I did this in easy mode, so that was all I had to do.

For Bahamut: It requires a lot of practice. However, you probably should just remain as safe as possible when he knocks you high up in the air and allows you to hit him. When he dives in, you have to make sure to avoid as much as possible, but strike when it is possible to cause damage. Each of those attacks should only allow for a single whip to succeed. I survived the fight with 100 or so health on Easy, but that took quite a bit of practice. When the balls are being shot out of his mouth, you need to learn how to use both short and tall jumps and you also usually should stay at an area where you can usually predict when and where each ball will land. This is usually just right or left of the mouth.