Boss guide

How every boss works

Each chapter ends with a boss built from separate parts. A boss has a main health bar and three phases, and every phase changes its shape and its attacks. A few rules hold for all seven:

• Phases change at 66% and 33% health, and on most bosses breaking every armoured part also forces the next phase early. During the change the boss cannot be damaged for a second or two, so stop firing and reposition.
• Breakable parts (pods, cannons, claws, plates) have their own small health bars. Damage to them only partly reaches the main bar, but breaking them removes attacks for the rest of the fight.
• Every attack shows a tell of at least 0.8 seconds: a warning line, a red lane, a target ring or a glow. Learn the tell and you can dodge anything.
• Weak points take bonus damage. When the damage numbers on a boss turn gold, you are hitting one.
• Ram damage hurts. Touching the hull shoves you off and costs hull, so keep some distance.

The regular enemy waves stop during a boss fight; the only other ships are the ones the boss calls in. Hold the mouse to aim at the part you want; see Ship, weapons and upgrades for why.

SENTINEL-9: Lockdown, Prism, Overload

Lockdown. The core is sealed behind a crystal barrier and takes no damage at all. Break the two shield pods on the wings (1,600 each). Twin rail lasers show a warning line for a second before firing, and the pods glow for 0.8 seconds before each burst. Breaking both pods starts the next phase.

Prism. The wings open and the cabin splits its laser into three rotating prism beams. It drops crystal mirrors that bounce the beams; shoot a mirror (260) to break its reflection. Wing tips flash before each fan of shards.

Overload (at 25%). A crystal wall closes in around the fight; touching it hurts and pushes you back. Sentinel dashes three times along warning lanes, leaving shard mines that burst into six shots after 0.7 seconds. After the third dash it rests, and the cracked core takes 50% more damage for nearly three seconds. That is your window.

DREADMAW: Broadside, The Jaw, Ramming Speed

Broadside. Two side cannons (3,000 each) and two wing pods guard the skull ship. Each cannon lobs shells: a red ring marks where each lands a second ahead, and the spot burns for five seconds after. It also fires gatling bursts and calls in raiders. Break both cannons, as ORA advises.

The Jaw (at 66%, or when both cannons are gone). The jaw opens and a tractor beam pulls you toward the mouth: burn away from the beam. Harpoons drag raiders back on chains and swing them like flails, and it breathes flame.

Ramming Speed (at 33%). The wings come off and the engine overheats. It aims down a lane for a second, charges, then has to swing round slowly. Get behind it during the swing: the engine glow takes triple damage.

ASHFALL: the stolen tanker

Phase 1. Break the two gun pods (3,600 each). They lob flak at where you are heading, and the tanker vents gas behind it as it turns. Light that gas while ASHFALL is inside it: a burning pocket deals a heavy 700-point hit to one boss part. Never fly in its wake yourself.

Ashfall Dumps Its Fuel (at 66%, or both pods gone). It makes burning passes along a warning lane, leaving fire behind, and lobs fuel barrels onto marked circles that burst into fire pools.

The Tank Is Breached (at 33%). It drips burning fuel wherever it flies. When it vents, the seam on its hull glows and takes 2.5x damage, but fire rings burst close around it. Hit the seam from range.

The Hush Queen: The Crown, She Sheds Her Claws, The Shell Breaks

The Crown. Six claws slash in marked arcs. Every claw you break now (1,300 each) is one fewer hunting you later, so spend this phase on claws, not the body.

She Sheds Her Claws (at 66%, or every claw gone). The claws she has left tear off and hunt you on their own. The dark comes down and she charges whatever is brightest. Light a starshell: she goes for it instead, it sears her, and she is stunned for a moment.

The Shell Breaks (at 33%). Her shell splits into plates that drift as cover and block shots both ways. The shell itself barely takes damage now. Her two halves open and close on a beat, and the throat inside takes 2.5x damage only while open. Song rings come on every beat; hide behind a plate or fly through the gap.

The Revenant: Flagship, the Bridge, the Graveyard

The Flagship. It turns its broadside to you. Two batteries (5,200 each) walk shells across you, and the bow hangar launches rebuilt fighters. A broken battery falls off and starts knitting into a drone gun: shoot it while it knits (700) or it becomes a tougher battery drone.

The Bridge Tears Loose (at 66%, or both batteries gone). The bridge flies free and hunts you with a sweeping beam and a dash. The hull is only cover now; shoot the bridge.

The Graveyard Comes to Her (at 33%). Wrecks are dragged in to orbit her open heart as an armour ring with two gaps. She throws plates along marked lanes. Circle with the ring and shoot through the gaps.

The Hollow: Rises, Sheds Itself, the Bare Throat

The Hollow Rises. Four jaw plates (2,600 each) guard the mouth. When it breathes in, either burn away or shoot straight into the open mouth: those shots curve down its throat. It also dives and breaches where a violet ring closes, so leave the ring early.

It Sheds Itself (at 66%). Body segments tear loose and swim on their own, charging down marked lanes. After a charge a segment stalls and takes 80% more damage. The shorter body moves faster and its tail thrashes.

The Bare Throat (at 33%). Only the head remains. ORA flares the core and the Hollow lunges at the light down a marked lane. Dodge it, and when it misses it stalls with its throat open for bonus damage.

The Choir: the Chorus, the Hand, the Last Note

The Chorus. Four dead hulls (2,400 each) turn on a ring around the core, each singing the attack it had in life: a freighter's beacon ring with a gap, fans from a skull ship, launched drones, and vented fire. A broken hull falls silent and drifts as cover. If grips tore any cargo pods away at the Gate, they hang here too: break one (900) and it drops a repair.

It Builds a Hand (at 66%, or all hulls broken). An arm of wrecks reaches for the Meridian down a marked lane. If the hand gets a grip it drains her hull and heals itself. Break the hand (1,600) to make it let go; it builds a new one with one fewer wreck. It also sweeps the arm across a marked arc.

The Last Note (at 33%). The bare core sings a note that drinks every light. When it charges, get into the shadow of the Meridian or a wreck before it lands, then turn on the core.

General boss tips

• Bring a Deflector into late chapters. One blocked hit during a phase change is often the difference.
• Save Overdrive and Rocket Storm for weak-point windows: Sentinel's rest, Dreadmaw's swing, Ashfall's vent.
• A death in a boss fight restarts the chapter, so in chapters 1 to 6 take the Repair Dock route before the last sector if your hull is low. See routes and medals.