King Calvus is when the game goes from “kinda tough” to “really hard”(for me, at least). He’s gonna be the TRUE skill check for a lot of players instead of Elias, so, I wanna make a brief, somewhat flawed guide on how to fight him from the hour+ I spent trying(and failing, but eventually succeeding) to kill him. Hopefully, you can get something out of this.
This advice will not be build-dependent, and will therefore be extremely general. If you know how to use your build, you’ll understand what to do. A lot of this advice is for his first phase; second phase is slightly different, with the attack speeds/timing & whatnot being slightly changed, however the general tactics could still be applied.
Also, I probably missed one or more of his attacks. If anybody wants to add to this(ie. phase 2 info), or I remember, you’ll probably see more info in the replies of this post.
So, King Calvus has quite a few attacks. I’m not going to give them specific names, just what to do in response to them.
- Charged blast attack / charged triple blast attack
Generally, what you’ll want to do for this is hard target him, doing as much damage as you can in about 3 or 4 seconds. Then, either focus on dodging his projectile(s), or try to block/parry them for minimal damage. This attack seems intimidating, but can be very easily punished if you take advantage of it.
- Charged triple pillars of DOOM
This attack has Calvus charging a big explosion pillar attack, that, if fully charged for ~8 to 12 seconds, does INSANE damage. However, if you do a bit of damage to him while he’s charging it, it’ll do much less. The main advice I can give for you here is to do a quick, one-hitter that has low commital, because right after you damage him, he’ll drop the pillars down on you. It’s really tough to dodge them, but you can block them pretty easily if you get the timing down.
- Tiny 5 or 7 shot pepper shots
This attack is really annoying as it can basically activate whenever; I’ve found myself getting hit by it quite a few times whenever he’s charging up another attack, which’ll screw up my timing and cause me to take a lot of damage. I don’t know exactly when he does it, but he’ll put a few small light orbs around his head that’ll sit there for a while. Just remain on your guard, if you’re paying attention and he’s not attacking you, they probably won’t do much. If you are being attacked by something else while these go off, basically just ignore them, as you most likely won’t die to them and will be better off avoiding or blocking the big attacks.
- Slam Jam, Thank You Ma’am
An interesting attack he does sometimes is just slamming into the ground after doing a jump. What I’ve found is to just generally keep your distance when not punishing the vulnerabilities of his attacks.
- Trident Stab → Launch Combo
Calvus’ll stab you with his trident, and launch you in the air. If you get hit by this, you can’t really dodge it, so the best thing you can do is try to parry it. If you block or parry the trident stab, you’ll still have to deal with the launch, though you can also block or parry that. Basically, carry a shield on you.
There’s also a trident throwing move that I’ve seen him do. That could be this, or something else. Either way, make sure to keep moving and keep your distance when not punishing his attacks.
- Light Beam
This attack is more of a nuisance than an actual threat, as it’ll do a fairly minimal amount of damage. Just stay on the move so you’ll avoid getting hit by it.
- Melee Shenanigans
Calvus does have raw weapon/melee options that he can whip out at close range, so be sure to be on your guard and try to avoid his attacks if you’re not confident enough in living whatever he could throw at you(which sould basically be always, as his attacks hurt a lot). If he uses one of those more punishable moves while close, though, feel free to go ham on him with any close-range options of your choosing, if you have any.
Again, I’m definitely missing something, and certain aspects of his attacks change for phase 2, the main being his blast attacks move faster, and he can also do a really insane flurry barrage one. Another general tip is that, if you’re not good at dodging or blocking, you can always hide behind the pillars or even Calvus’ throne to tank the ranged attacks for you. Just be sure to keep your guard up.
That’s all I got. This boss was fun, but a real pain in the neck. Hopefully this’ll help you out, even if only a little bit. Again, I probably missed something, or am misremembering/interpreting something from the fight. General advice is to just keep moving and keep your distance, to block or try for a parry if your sense of timing is good enough, and to punish his attacks with the best of your ability while making sure to not put yourself into too much risk.
