Dragon's Dogma 2 Guardian Gigantus boss fight and trophy guide

The Dragon's Dogma 2 Guardian Gigantus boss fight is one of the game's biggest challenges - but it's actually an optional one (though still worth doing). Also known as Talos, the Gigantus is a huge stone statue that drags itself out of the sea to chase down Phaesus just after you open the Dragon's Dogma 2 Flamebearer Palace Spellseal Door, but taking it out isn't easy. Not only that, but there's a Dragon's Dogma 2 achievement / trophy called "Gigantus, I Hardly Knew Ye", for taking it out incredibly quickly. If you're feeling ambitious, I'll lay out how to do that below, but otherwise we've also just got general advice on how to take out the Guardian Gigantus in DD2.

How to beat the Guardian Gigantus boss fight in Dragon's Dogma 2

The Guardian Gigantus in Dragon's Dogma 2 is, as mentioned previously, actually an optional boss fight. If you ignore it, it wanders through the Volcanic Island Region before being killed by NPCs working for Phaesus. However, killing it grants you all sorts of rewards and a lot of experience, not to mention the achievement that's on the line, as well as your reputation as a monster slayer. 

Here's some things to know before the Gigantus boss fight starts.

• You want to have Pawns who specialise in ranged attacks - Archers and Sorcerers are good here.
• If you're playing an Arisen without much ranged power, bring a lot of Stamina regen consumables. This is a fight where you'll spend a lot of time climbing over the statue, and falling is often lethal.
• Make sure you rest at an inn just before the fight, so you have a checkpoint to go from if you want to reload a save later.

Once you go through the Spellseal Door, you'll see the Gigantus emerge from the ocean in the distance. The guardian is not actually chasing you, but Phaesus - and will pursue him for the entire fight. You'll have to keep up with the Gigantus for the whole encounter.

• Early on, the Gigantus will walk through the ocean past a cliff. You might be tempted to try and leap the gap to grab onto it - but don't. Ranged attacks are fine, but there's a ninety percent chance you just end up drowning - not to mention that some idiot Pawn will likely end up doing the same. Instead, follow the road around to the beach where it emerges onto land - this is where the fight starts proper.
• The goal is to damage all the spikes stuck into its body until they fall out. They're very obvious, and you can either target them with ranged attacks or climb onto the Gigantus and stab at them (you'll know if you're doing damage because the crystalline substance around them will glow purple). Repeat until the spike detaches.
• Loot the spikes. It's a little annoying to have to stop fighting the colossus, but these drop Wakestone shards! You can either use those during the fight or save them for later, it's your call.
• Look out for harpies. These enemies swarm around the Guardian, and while they're generally likely to leave you alone, keep an eye on them just in case.
• Use the environment. Throughout the fight, there's all manner of cliffs and bridges that players can climb onto so they can get a better angle on Talos, leaping down onto him. It's worth doing, though you'll have to run ahead to time it right.
• Use the ballistas. The locals have a lot of siege weapons lined up and will help you fight, though they're not especially powerful. Still through, you'll do more damage with a ballista than with most normal attacks, but again, you need to get ahead of the Gigantus to set them up and get the most out of them.
• Keep stamina in mind. If you're climbing about on the Guardian, you'll run out of stamina sooner or later. Either use outcroppings on his design to stand and get stamina back, or save those stamina consumables we mentioned earlier for a boost of energy. If you're above his waistline and you fall, you're probably going to die.

Eventually, all the spikes will have fallen out, but the battle isn't over. At this point, it seems as though hitting Gigantus anywhere will do damage - keep up the assault in a manner of your choosing, and he should fall within the next minute or so, earning you a lot of XP.

Gigantus, I Hardly Knew Ye achievement / trophy guide

If you want the Gigantus, I Hardly Knew Ye achievement or trophy, the description only says "Defeat the gigantus in a short span of time." Hardly useful, but it seems as though that means "before he reaches the Volcanic Island Camp".

To do that, you either need to specialise in incredibly powerful magick archer builds, using homing arrows to hit the spikes from the very first opportunity when it passes land for the first time before blowing up the bridge, or use the Unmaking Arrow, the one-shot kill arrows that can only be obtained either by completing the Dragon’s Dogma 2 Sphinx riddles or purchased from the Dragonforged merchant North of Bakbattahl for 8 Wyrmslife Crystals.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission