Curse of the Dead Gods: How to Beat The Witch (Boss Guide)
Going up against all the different dangers that the player is presented with in Curse of the Dead Gods can be a pretty overwhelming experience. There are varied and dangerous enemies throughout each temple, deadly traps that are capable of knocking out huge amounts of health, and even the chance that the player will pick up several debilitating curses on their journey. Making it through a temple is not an easy feat.
To make things even more complicated though at certain points of a temple players also have to go up against champions and bosses. These enemies are much more powerful than standard monsters and force the player to employ specific strategies to bring them down. One such enemy is Xucat' The Witch, the first champion of the Serpent Temple. Those who want to bring her down will need to stay on their toes, so this guide shows players how to defeat The Witch.
The fight against the witch requires that players be quick on their feet and be prepared for anything that she is able to throw at them. Those who want to defeat here though will want to make sure they bring the best gear possible with them. Here are the weapons that players should bring:
- Main Weapon - Blazing Blade: Players will only have a few moments to rush in and hit The Witch at a time, so they will want to make every hit count. This blade is fast but has enough reach that the player will be able to get hits pretty easily. It also deals fire damage on both charged attacks and combo finishers, which will ensure that she takes damage even when the player is recovering.
- Off-Hand Weapon - Storm Lash: This weapon is useful due to the fact that the player can use it from a short distance away. This means that even if the player is unable to get super close they will still be able to deal a solid amount of damage to The Witch. This weapon also deals lightning damage to The Witch over time as well.
- Two-Handed Weapon - Jaguar Hammer: The player may not always have the opportunity to use this weapon, but if they are able to land a hit with it they can actually stun The Witch momentarily, interrupt her attacks, and deal a huge amount of damage. It also deals out fire damage every time that it makes contact.
Here are a couple of blessings that the player will probably want to try and bring with them in this fight:
- Storm's Focus - With this equipped the player will be able to completely restore their stamina every single time that they complete a perfect parry against The Witch. The player won't be able to parry very often in this fight, but it is nice in a pinch if they need the extra stamina.
- Gust of Agility - This will grant the player five points of dexterity right at the beginning of a run. Even better though is that every time the player completes a successful perfect dodge they will trigger Haste which increases their movement speed for five seconds.
On top of all of this players will also want to ensure that they upgrade their abilities and stats at every point they get in order to make themselves stronger for this fight. Dexterity and Constitution are great stats to increase as they will grant the player more damage and health. The player will also want to get their hands on a few select relics as well like Serpent Skin Coat (one additional stamina regen when perfect dodging) and Jaguar Claw (random increase to fire damage).
The issue with fighting The Witch in this game is that her fight almost feels a little bit like a bullet hell shooter at times due to how many projectiles she is able to put on screen at once. If the player had infinite stamina this wouldn't be much of an issue, but if they run out they will find themselves taking a massive amount of damage from this boss. Players should also keep in mind that any damage taken from her will harm the player, but will also increase the corruption gauge. Here are her two attacks:
- Mine Summoning - Right at the beginning of the fight The Witch will summon five mines near the player. If the player gets close to these mines they will explode and deal damage and corruption to the player.
- Dark Projectiles - The Witch's main attack is her dark projectile. She will fire these bullets at the player in a range of different patterns that are each very difficult to avoid. Getting hit by these will injure the player, but also momentarily stun them.
In order to bring The Witch down, the player will need to be able to manage the number of mines on screen at once as well as be able to dodge the projectiles efficiently. The thing is though that while the projectiles look pretty scary, the player can actually dodge through them if they time it correctly. By doing this right the player can actually dodge through them and get up close to attack The Witch really easily.
The best strategy is when she summons mines players should try and destroy them as quickly as possible. By standing near them and running away, the player can actually blow these mines up and greatly reduce the number of them in the arena. They then can wait until The Witch fires projectiles at them and dodge straight through them towards her. With Gust of Agility and Serpent Skin Coat equipped this will trigger haste and regenerate the player's stamina, and then allow them to quickly charge up and release a heavy attack with their two-handed weapon to stun her.
This will in turn open The Witch up to a few combos using the player's main weapon, which then has the chance to catch her on fire to deal higher amounts of damage. If the player doesn't want to risk dodging through the projectiles they can also dodge left or right and use their whip to attack her from a distance. Players should keep in mind that any time they deal damage to The Witch she will also drop a mine that can harm the player. Keep this pattern of dodge, unleash a couple combos, and dodge again up and The Witch will go down in no time at all.
If players want to unlock a special weapon though they can also fulfill a certain condition during this fight. By using a fire weapon the player will need to set The Witch ablaze. They will then need to kill her while she is on fire in order to fulfill the criteria to receive her weapon. By doing this there will be a 20% chance that the player will acquire her Witch's Crook weapon, which allows the player to fire dark projectiles similar to the ones that The Witch herself uses.
Curse of the Dead Gods can be played on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.