Boss Revenge - Andrealphus Guide

A guide to Andrealphus which covers his move sets, ability details, and strategies against the hunters.

Introduction

Andrealphus is a boss in both Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night as well as Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. In RotN, defeating him yields the double jump shard. His moveset consists of the same moves during the boss fight. In Boss Revenge he is an agile fighter able to quickly move around the field, with strong up close attacks as well as a powerful ranged multi-shot. As with all bosses, he has 2000HP, with 100MP.

Moveset and Mobility

General

All attacks have a chance to do a critical hit, doing 50% more damage.
Base MP generation is about 3MP every 1 second, with two other moves recovering MP.

Mobility

His standard movement to the other bosses is faster on average. His first step is a walk, but afterwards will quickly run. He has a fairly high jump, and is able to double jump per his trait in RotN. Unfortunately his moving jump is at the same speed as his walk and not his run.

He can crouch, but cannot perform any unique crouching attacks.

His backdash is fast, allowing you to quickly avoid attacks while moving you a fair distance away. This can be cancelled into a number of moves quickly. The backdash also allows you to move through your opponent as well.

Kick (1MP)

Damage: 3 x 20 (30 crit)
MP Restore: 3 x ~3MP
The kick does 3 kicks in a row and can be done on the ground as well as in the air. A full set of hits will give you about ~10MP with MP regeneration.
You cannot cancel the move on the ground except for a backdash. In the air, you can double jump to cancel the animation. It has pretty decent range for melee, and can be decent at regenerating MP in certain circumstances.
There is an abusive technique with kicking that will beat any hunter that I've added at the end of the guide.

Circle Edge (40MP)

Damage: 180 (270 crit)
Special: Stagger
This attack hits around your starting from the front and ending behind. It does a solid amount of damage. It can be done in both the air and the ground. While the range isn't good, it does have good coverage around you. The MP usage is quite high for the damage.
If you hit your opponent from the front and they get knocked behind you, there's a chance that you can hit them twice with one execution, although this is quite rare.

Slash Kick (40MP)

Damage: 130 (195 crit)
Special: Stagger, Invincibility during dash
This attack has a small windup before dashing forward with a slashing kick. It does
bad damage for the MP, but staggers as well as is invincible during the dashing portion of the attack. Useful if you need to close the gap and interrupt your opponent. While the invincibility is useful, the MP usage mixed with the low damage and windup has me avoiding this move.

Rocket Dive (1MP)

Damage: 30 (45 crit)
MP Restore: ~5MP
A fast moving dash attack at a 45 degree angle, the rocket dive can only be done at the end of a double jump. Upon hitting the enemy, you will bounce, and need to double jump again before you can execute it once more. It's a safe move that can be generally fired quickly to regen MP while dodging.

Feather Arrow (50MP)

Damage: Up to 4 hits x 100 (150 crit)
Special: Full screen range, location hit based on moment of execution
Firing this holds Andrealphus in position, launching a quick barrage of missiles away from the enemy that then curve around and target the exactly location the enemy was in when initially fired. This can miss if the enemy moves out of the way unless they move into the the arrow path. If the enemy is directly further back from their original location, there is still a good chance the missiles will hit.
I find this his best MP for damage move. It's a relatively fast ranged attack with location targeting, and can hit them anywhere on the screen provided they are not dodging.

Hunters

I'll give a general strategy on approaching each of the hunters.

Zangetsu

The first hunter is the easiest of the 3 as most of his moves have him stationary or on the ground. He is frequently vulnerable to both kicks and rocket dives for MP regen. As most of his moves are stationary, wait until starts a stationary attack or finishes a mobility attack before launching feather arrows at him. You don't need to interrupt most of his attacks as you can dodge out of the way or use your superior mobility

Notable attacks:
Zangetsu Projectiles: Excellent time for feather arrow.
Change Stance: Good for Feather arrow, or rapid kicks.

Dominique

The second hunter, Dominique is pretty fast but typically must be stationary to do any serious harm to you. Her melee attacks are slower compared to your speed, and any spell allows a punish with feather arrow. Be careful when kicking her as doing this for too long may have her hit you with her elbow attack. I find this happens only after being on the ground for too long.

Notable attacks:
Any long casting spell: Excellent for feather arrow.
When she tries to melee you with slow hits: Good chance for kicks
If you're caught by a powerful spell you can't avoid: Slash kick once started will grant you invulnerability, bypassing all her spells.

Miriam

The last hunter, Miriam is the toughest one by far. Her overhead slash can catch you during a dive, and she has pretty good range of attacks. She has 3 phases.
Phase 1 is vulnerable typically to dive kicks for MP regen. Be careful when launching feather arrows as she has a lot of moves which move her or make her invulnerable, such as her Reflector Ray.
Phase 2 when she inverts is difficult as it's an awkward angle for feather arrow and rocket dive. She will double jump and slash against you, which can be avoided by double jumping and hitting her with a rocket dive or other attacks. Be careful when she is on the ceiling as she can catch you with a sword swing or a fire breathing summon. Typically, I move to the corner and then position her where her back is to the wall. When she jumps to attack, you can repeatedly rocket dive for MP regen. Be careful on keeping this up after she lands from her strike.
The safest way to beat Phase 2 in my experience is to wait for the jump, then counter and perform 2 rocket dives on her, then dive away. I've tried other combinations and there's a window to get caught in an attack. Excess mana can be used on circle edge.
Phase 3 is similar to her first form except she is more aggressive and has different attacks. Be careful for the addition of flying projectiles, and her dashing shield attack. This requires more dodging to not be caught off guard. This is a tougher battle as scythes will occasionally spawn and damage you.
The easiest way I've done this battle is to have sufficient MP and HP, with Miriam to drop against the wall. When she lands, let lose with feather arrow, and rapid kicks. Basically keep hammering her with kicks and feather arrow to win it.
If you're caught dodging around, be careful and rocket dive against her to build MP. Rocket dive the scythes, and launch feather arrow when you think you can catch her.
Or see the final attack section for a better, less strategic way.

Notable attacks:
Reflector Ray: Avoid the beam, and she'll typically land on the other side of where she is. Get ready to counter attack depending on her distance.
Invert: See above. Hit with 2 x Rocket dive. Circle edge for excess mana when close to max MP.
Vespar: Be careful to not slash kick her, as the tentacles are pretty meaty and may catch you afterwards.

Kick-Cancelling

The most damaging strategy against any boss is kick-cancelling, and works against everyone except Miriam's Phase 2. This has amazing DPS, causes slow down as each hit freezes their frame momentarily, and also recover your MP at an amazing rate, allowing for more feather arrows or circle edges.

To perform this, simply mash the kick button while mashing backdash. You'll perform the initial kick (of the triple kick), then cancel and perform the first kick again in rapid sequence. Excess mana should be used for feather arrow, or whatever you choose.

Regular Kick vs Kick-Cancelling


Against Zangetsu, switch between this and feather arrows. If you feel like avoiding an attack, you'll be able to see his animation from further away as he'll be slowed down.

Against Dominique, she'll try more melee attacks up close which gives openings for feather arrows with the excess mana. You can dodge her attacks easier too with the slow down.

Against Miriam, this works great against form 1 and 3. The mana can be used for more feather arrows for damage, or staggering her with a circle edge.

Note that this is strong enough to make most other strategies trivial.

Closing

Thanks for reading my guide.

There's a few other items I want to add. Feel free to leave feedback or to ask for anything I haven't covered. I can add a speedrunning tips area if people are interested, or include a video with other strategies. Andrealphus has an extreme high DPS kick-cancelling and feather arrows, with solid mobility and stagger hits.

[SamuelHans]

Added the extra sections, including kick-cancelling which pretty much beats any hunter. You don't need to use it against Miriam Phase 3, but last time I did she only got off 1 hit on me before she was defeated.

Let me know if a video would help. This is my first guide so I'm playing around with what is most useful.

[SamuelHans]

Sure thing, I'll edit it now.
I think with my style of play, I try to take minimal damage prior to the Phase 3 so that I can go full attack and burn her down before she can beat me. Typically this includes kicking rapidly in the corner while launching feather arrow.
I'll also add in another mode of attack that works to really down any boss.

[Okay]

Can you expand on what you do against Miriam phase 3? It seems like phase 1 except with far fewer vulnerabilities and far more aggression that makes it hard to survive.

[Okay]

I've been playing almost entirely Andrealphus in Boss Revenge so far, and I have Zangetsu and Dominique pretty much figured out. They were fun at first, but now pretty boring since I consistently get past them with 90% health and the only interesting bit is successfully backstepping Zangetsu's blade or Dominique's whip last-second.

Miriam on the other hand I've been having a hard time figuring out what to do in Phase 3 and has been kicking my ass. Rocket Dive is almost impossible to use considering if I hit her or one of her projectiles, she usually slashes me. Using Feather Arrow usually means I get hit by projectiles or some other attack. At this point I might have to see if I can kick+backstep through this phase because I don't know what else to try. It seems like going all out damage to try to keep her from using Bloodsteal is close to if not completely impossible.