How to defeat Chrysaloid in Outriders

The Outriders Chrysaloid boss fight is one of the trickiest battles in People Can Fly's looter-shooter. This ghastly shark-adjacent beast appears in the Forest Enclave, relatively early in the Outriders campaign. The specific node to choose in the Forest Enclave story point is ‘Track down the Chrysaloid’ if you wish to revisit this tough battle. 

From there, you’ll interact with a pile of rocks and be thrown into combat. In this Outriders Chrysaloid boss guide, I'm going to run through its major attacks and how to avoid them, show you how to use your arena to your advantage, and make the most of your chosen Outriders class.

Phase 1

Outriders Chrysaloid boss fight: How to overcome the Forest Enclave beast

In the first phase, the Chrysaloid fires a beam from its mouth that spans the entire combat field. Dodge it by taking cover behind one of the rocks in front of you, but bear in mind that this cover will eventually break if the Chrysaloid damages it. The only other type of attack during this phase is an area-of-effect claw slam or rock drop, both of which are quite obviously choreographed. If you spot the red circle as it’s coming in, quickly roll out of the way to evade it. 

Now, pump the monster full of bullets, focusing particularly on its yellow eyes and mouth to rip its first health bar to shreds. You want a weapon with decent range here: Shotguns are particularly useless given the boss' distance from you, so pack an assault or burst rifle to make short work of the Chrysaloid.

Phase 2

Once the shark beast pulls you into a cutscene and the next phase, refill your ammo with the box behind you and get ready for more of the same. The Chrysaloid’s attacks are fairly similar to the first phase, so stick to the plan and be patient. There is a sustained, field-spanning spit attack and a lot of rock hurling. Just make sure you’re dodging the red circles and bars and you’ll be fine. Aim for the hanging open wound below the Chrysaloid’s chin to deal extra weak point damage, too.

The only other attack to worry about in the second phase is when the Chrysaloid retreats and summons a trio of Strix bugs, which can poison you. The poison absolutely melts your health bar, so get rid of them as fast as you can. Interrupting abilities are very useful here to stop them from mounting the damage over time. As a team, communicate and focus on one Strix at a time to limit the amount of damage they can deal as a group.

Tips and rewards

The main problems with this fight are your distance from the boss and the lack of weak critters for HP-leeching. As a result, the Technomancer’s healing ability and ranged turrets are lifesavers. Every other class should try to equip mods on their weapons and gear that add leeching traits to their skills and weapon damage. This means you’ll get health back just for shooting the Chrysaloid or damaging it with abilities, even from afar. 

Abilities don’t get much play in this battle, but the Trickster’s Temporal skills such as the paralysing blade and the bouncing knife will make short work of the Strix gank, especially if you combine this with some Slow Traps. As for the Pyromancer, your immobilizing Ash abilities like Ash Blast and Feed the Flames can stop the Strix in their tracks. 

If you’re playing the Devastator, only a few of your attacks are going to work against the Chrysaloid. Tremor can damage the Chrysaloid from afar, and will give you useful damage fortification, and Endless Mass can freeze the Chrysaloid in place, which counters its lumbering attacks. Generally, abilities that imbue weapon rounds with extra effects are very useful here in the absence of proximity-based abilities.

Once the Chrysaloid is defeated, a set of items should spill out of its body. The rarity of these items is random, but anecdotally, they often seem to be at least epic in their rarity, so it seems like a good boss to run multiple times if you want to potentially farm Outriders' legendary weapons.