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The First Berserker: Khazanoffers many challenging encounters, making any soulslike fan feel at home, forcing you to learn their patterns and strike at the right moment. While your bout with the Yetuga was a taste of things to come, the Blade Phantom will serve as your first skill check, so be prepared.
Squaring off against the Blade Phantom isn’t too complex, but it will be a noticeable step up from anything you’ve defeated. The tempo is much faster, he hits harder, and you must utilize everything at your disposal to come out on top, which can be very difficult to adapt to at first!
Blade Phantom Overview
Blade Phantomserves as the first significant skill check in The First Berserker: Khazan, forcing you to use all your newly acquired Skills to overcome him in combat. Despite being thesecond bossin the game, your work will be cut out for you in thismulti-phased encounter.
Prior to dissecting his moves and how to counter them, let’s dive intoall the rewards you will receivewhen finally defeating the Blade Phantom for the first time!
How To Defeat Blade Phantom
Due to the Phantom Blade being thesecond bossin the game, you may expect awide range of moves, two phases, and massive damage,making it a substantially more formidable encounter than the first boss fight. Still, with proper execution and matchup knowledge, you will overcome this obstacle in no time!
Blade Phantom: Punch Combo
When the encounter starts, the Blade Phantom will always do ashort Punch Combothatends with a devastating Axe Kick.This istelegraphedwith himreeling his arm back before tossing out the first punch,which isswiftly followed up with another punch,then with himraising his leg high above his head before swinging it downwardwith great force.
For this attack string, you will want totry to perfectly Reflect all three actions,which isn’t as hard as it sounds. When yousee him pull his arm back, wait until he throws it forward,thenguard to Reflectthe first punch. Then,release the guard button for a brief moment,thenpress it again.From here,wait for him to lift his leg up,and the moment yousee him move it downward, guard againto get another perfect Reflection.
After he performs these actions,he will always wait a little while before attacking,so you will be able toland several attackson him before having to go back on the defensive!
Blade Phantom: Kick Combo
Another combo he likes tossing out is hisKick Combo,having him start things off with adevastating Roundhouse Kick,followed instantly by a Dive Kick.When yousee him turn his body slightlyto the side, thefirst kick is about to comeout. Themoment you see his back leg swingforward,hit the guard buttonto Reflect the attack.
From here, he willleap into the air and perform a devastating Dive Kick.Thiscan be tricky to Reflect,butwaiting until you see him begin to descendtoward the ground will be the key to guard, allowing you toland a perfect Reflection if timed correctly.If you perfectReflect both attacks,you should be able toget a hit or two inafterward!
Blade Phantom: Heavy Punch
A common, yet simple, attack in Blade Phantom’s repertoire is a standardHeavy Punch,having himcock his arm back and unleash a potent right hookthat has some heat behind it. When yousee him pull his arm back, prepare yourselffor what’s to come.
Whenever hethrows his first forward, guard to land a perfect Reflection,which will deal substantial damage to his Stamina Gauge. If you have a decent amount of Stamina yourself, you canland a quick hit or twoon him afterward!
Blade Phantom: Hammer Spikes
Throughout the encounter, Blade Phantom will oftenmaterialize an enormous Hammerbefore slamming it into the blood-filled ground, generating anexplosion of Blood Spikes in multiple directions.You caneither perfectly Reflect this attack or evade it;it doesn’t matter too much.
Werecommend evadingit if you have the Stamina available, as it’s much easier. Themoment you see him begin slamming the Hammerinto the ground,evading to the left or rightwill have you avoid it altogether. Since thisattack takes a lot out of him,he will be left open, allowing you toland several attacksof your own!
Blade Phantom: Spear Toss
Next up is hisSpear Toss,where he willmaterialize a Spearthat he willthrow at you with tremendous force and velocity.This movecan be tricky to deal withinitially, butsince it’s so fast, you may deal with it a few waysand make it much more manageable.
Perfectly Reflectingit will be yourbest bet,and thecloser you are, the easier it is to do,as themoment it leaves his hands,you essentially just have toguard to land it.However,evading to the left or right will be better if you’re further away.If you’reclose enough to him,you’re able to getabout two hits on himif you manage to Reflect it!
Blade Phantom: Claw Rampage
Following that, another common action of Blade Phantom’s is hisClaw Rampage,which has himwield a pair of extremely sharp and long Claws,having himquickly dash in front of youbeforeunleashing a barrage of slashesthat will ultimately leave himexhausted if you manage to perfect Reflectthem.
He willcreate distance between you twobeforepulling out the Claws,giving you time to prepare yourself. As soon as hedashes forward, wait for him to begin swinging his armsand quicklyguard to land a perfect Reflection.From here,release the guard buttonandpress it again the instant you see him begin to swing again for another perfect Reflection.
Repeat this process until he winds up for the last slash.As helunges forward,hit theguardbutton once more to land anotherperfect Reflection,draining his Stamina Gauge and allowing you tounleash a barrage of attacks of your ownfor massive damage!
Blade Phantom: Swift Grab
An action that’svery potent but not super common,thankfully, is hisSwift Grab,having himpull his arm back as it illuminates with a bright red light,alerting you that he’s about to attempt to Grab you.Grabs cannot be guarded or Reflectedin The First Berserker: Khazan, so youmust evadeit.
If yousee him pull his arm back and it glows red,wait for him to begin charging forwardandevadeto theleft or right just before he reaches youto avoid the attack altogether. The hitbox can be a bit… rough, so if he manages to get you, just shake it off and prepare for what’s next!
Blade Phantom: Exhausted/Second Phase
You willessentially repeat everything above until you get his health down roughly halfway,causing the Blade Phantom to begin emitting a strange dark aura around himself, triggering the start of thesecond phase,which is amix of things you’ve dealt with hereand awhole lot of new movesfor you to learn how to deal with!
Blade Phantom - Second Phase: Claw Barrage
Typically,but not always, Blade Phantom willkick off the second phaseby wielding hisClawsagain; this time, he issubstantially faster and deals much more damage.He willperform four slashes in rapid successionand will almost alwaystop it off with the Leaping Spear Toss.
Again,these moves are quick,so as soon as heteleports in front of you, begin guarding the moment he starts to attack.Youcannot just guardthese actions, as you willneed Stamina to avoid the following action,so you must get the timing of theperfect Reflectionsdown.
While they are fast, there will be abrief delay between all four attacks,so afterlanding one Reflection,release the guard button and then press it again when you see him begin attackingagain. Youwon’t be able to attack himafter this, sojust try and get the timing downto a science!
Blade Phantom - Second Phase: Leaping Spear Toss
As mentioned above, theprevious attack almost always leads to this one.The Blade Phantomleaps backward high into the air,and anenormous eye of blood appears behind himas hematerializes a Spear.After a brief pause, he willhurl the Spear at youwith immense speed and precision.
If youhave enough Stamina,youcan evadethis attack, butReflecting it is easier in our experience.When he throws the Spear, youmust wait just before it reaches you to guardto get theperfect Reflectandsave your Stamina.Youcan’t attack himafterward, so however you want to deal with it is up to you. We just prefer saving our Stamina, especially during this phase!
Blade Phantom - Second Phase: Greatsword Slashes
During this phase, Blade Phantom will constantly be switching to new weapons, and theGreatswordis one of his go-to’s. When yousee him begin materializing his Greatsword,be prepared for adevastating downward slashthat will befollowed by another onein quick succession.
Since theGreatsword is a bit cumbersome,you will be able tosee him load this attack up from a mile away,so it won’t be terribly challenging to Reflect. As theGreatsword is coming downward, guard just before it hits you,thendo that once morefor the second attack. From here, you should be able tohit him two to three times!
Blade Phantom - Second Phase: Hammer Spikes
Surprise, theenormous Hammer is back,and theattack is pretty much the sameas before, except itdeals more damage and covers a broader area.Fortunately, it ishandled the same way.When he pulls the Hammer out,wait for him to swing it downward,thenevade or Reflectjust before it hitsthe ground.
Dodging or Reflecting the Blood Spikeswillleave him vulnerablefor a brief moment, allowing you torun up and land several hitsof your own on him, which is massive in this phase!
Blade Phantom - Second Phase: Spear Lunges
Reaching into his bag of weapons once more, Blade Phantom will oftenmaterialize a Spear,which issurprisingly trickyto deal within the second phase.He is FAST with this weaponand will performtwo quick Lunge Attackswith itbefore throwing itat you.
TheLunge Attacks are by far the hardestto deal with, as you have toguard the moment you see him moveto get aperfect Reflection.Missing the timing even slightly will cause you to receivemassive damage,andhe will do this back-to-back,so be prepared.
Following the second Lunge Attack,he willcock the Spear behind his head and chuck it at youwith great speed, having you either evade or Reflect it.Like the first phase,if you’reclose, Reflecting it will be easierand will allow you toget a hit or twoin afterward!
Blade Phantom - Second Phase: Exhausted
Around this pointof the encounter, theBlade Phantom will likely be close to being placed in an exhausted state,so focus on draining the rest of his Stamina Gauge bygoing for perfect Reflections and well-placed hits.Once he’s exhausted,unleash a barrage of attackson him for substantial damage!
Blade Phantom - Second Phase: Greatsword Burst Attack
Finally, thelast trick up the Blade Phantom’s sleeveis adevastating chain of attacks with his Greatsword.He will materialize the Greatsword and instantlyteleport high into the air,leaving a trail of darkness behind. From here, he willperform a Plunging Slashbeforeteleporting away and blinking back into the arena with another devastating slashfrom his Greatsword.
When heteleports into the air, wait until he starts his descentandguard the moment you see him start swingingthe Greatsword to land theperfect Reflection.Then,wait for him to teleport away,and when heblinks back into the arena, guard the moment he swings againto land yet anotherperfect Reflection.
From here,he will perform a Burst Attackthatcan only be Counteredby pressingL1+Circle/LB+B as the attack hitsyou. If youland this Counter,he will betemporarily staggered,allowing you todeal tremendous amounts of damageto him, so it’s worth going for. You can alsoevade it by running away when you see the icon appear on Khazan,but westrongly recommend Counteringit.
Now, you mustsimply rinse and repeat everything covered abovein the second phase until the Blade Phantom is defeated, allowing you to finally access The Crevice!
