Stage12 Boss Fight: Guardian
The Guardian is a boss that seems extremely tough when you first try to take it on, but becomes much easier once you figure out its key weak point. When you first try and attack the Guardian, your strikes will do absolutely pitiful damage against it, leaving you thinking this will be a fight where you'll have to tough it out for a long stretch, just chipping away at its HP when you can. This is because the Guardian's weak points, its back and head, are not where you'd normally be attacking. Once you know where you need to aim for the big damage, the battle becomes significantly easier.
He's got a few attacks he'll try to use on you. They're pretty easy to avoid with a bit of practice.
LASERS: the Guardian's primary distance attack. You've seen other enemies use this sort of sweeping laser before, and the Guardian's functions in much the same way. Just jump over it as it crosses your path. Once you get close to the Guardian, it will have a much harder time aiming these at you.
WING ATTACK: The Guardian will rear back and attack with a fierce blast of energy from its wings in a small radius surrounding it. Standing as far as you can directly to its left or right will put you out of its range and leave you in a good spot to rush in and resume your attacks.
FOOT STOMP: An attack at very close range. If Hayabusa is attacking the creature's feet, it will likely retaliate with this. It's quite damaging, but fortunately, you have pretty fair warning before it hits. Roll or jump backwards as soon as you see it coming.
Start out by slashing at the Guardian's feet and body. This won't do much damage, but it does hurt him. You can also try and roll around to its back if you'd like, since it takes more damage when it is hit there. Normal strikes as well as jumping/dash-through slashes both work well - just make sure to avoid the wing blasts and the foot stomps. After the Guardian takes enough weapon hits, it'll be knocked out for a few seconds, bringing its head to the ground. Now's your chance! Rush in and aim from the very front of its big, white head to do massive damage. You'll wind up doing most of your damage like this.
Every now and then, the Guardian will hop up to the platforms on the left and right sides of the arena and try to attack you from there. This puts it out of range of your melee attacks. Fortunately, all of your projectiles still work. Jump and throw your windmill shurikens at it for a few small hits, or if you're willing to take a bit of a risk, take the time to aim some explosive arrows at its head. Just don't try to hide beneath the ledges the Guardian is roosting on - it knows you're there, and it will try to stab you with its wings.
As we mentioned before, this looks like a tough fight at first, but once you know that your main goal is to get the Guardian to lower its head enough for you to easily attack, it becomes far less of a struggle.
You've managed to make your way through the Vigoorian sewers. Where to now?
The Guardian is a boss that seems extremely tough when you first try to take it on, but becomes much easier once you figure out its key weak point. When you first try and attack the Guardian, your strikes will do absolutely pitiful damage against it, leaving you thinking this will be a fight where you'll have to tough it out for a long stretch, just chipping away at its HP when you can. This is because the Guardian's weak points, its back and head, are not where you'd normally be attacking. Once you know where you need to aim for the big damage, the battle becomes significantly easier.
He's got a few attacks he'll try to use on you. They're pretty easy to avoid with a bit of practice.
LASERS: the Guardian's primary distance attack. You've seen other enemies use this sort of sweeping laser before, and the Guardian's functions in much the same way. Just jump over it as it crosses your path. Once you get close to the Guardian, it will have a much harder time aiming these at you.
WING ATTACK: The Guardian will rear back and attack with a fierce blast of energy from its wings in a small radius surrounding it. Standing as far as you can directly to its left or right will put you out of its range and leave you in a good spot to rush in and resume your attacks.
FOOT STOMP: An attack at very close range. If Hayabusa is attacking the creature's feet, it will likely retaliate with this. It's quite damaging, but fortunately, you have pretty fair warning before it hits. Roll or jump backwards as soon as you see it coming.
Start out by slashing at the Guardian's feet and body. This won't do much damage, but it does hurt him. You can also try and roll around to its back if you'd like, since it takes more damage when it is hit there. Normal strikes as well as jumping/dash-through slashes both work well - just make sure to avoid the wing blasts and the foot stomps. After the Guardian takes enough weapon hits, it'll be knocked out for a few seconds, bringing its head to the ground. Now's your chance! Rush in and aim from the very front of its big, white head to do massive damage. You'll wind up doing most of your damage like this.
Every now and then, the Guardian will hop up to the platforms on the left and right sides of the arena and try to attack you from there. This puts it out of range of your melee attacks. Fortunately, all of your projectiles still work. Jump and throw your windmill shurikens at it for a few small hits, or if you're willing to take a bit of a risk, take the time to aim some explosive arrows at its head. Just don't try to hide beneath the ledges the Guardian is roosting on - it knows you're there, and it will try to stab you with its wings.
As we mentioned before, this looks like a tough fight at first, but once you know that your main goal is to get the Guardian to lower its head enough for you to easily attack, it becomes far less of a struggle.
You've managed to make your way through the Vigoorian sewers. Where to now?
