The First Berserker: Khazan Guide | How To Beat Blade Phantom (Second Boss)

Blade Phantom is the second boss in The First Berserker: Khazan, and it's a real step up in terms of difficulty from the first boss, the Yetuga. Not only does Blade Phantom have five or six different combos within his unarmed move set, but each weapon he uses, of which there are about five, has its own move set. 

There are just a lot of variations and combos to learn, and realistically, most players can't absorb that much. This guide will still break down his move set and combos and share a technique for beating Blade Phantom.

General Strategy for Beating Blade Phantom

So, what is the game plan? You are going to abuse the fact that he has a few different combos that attack very quickly, many times in a row, and you are going to Brink guard those to easily break his stamina bar and get brutal attacks so that you can play very aggressively and offensively. 

If you try and play defensively against an opponent like this, the fight lasts forever, and it's too hard to dodge everything consistently. You are better off being very offensive and bursting him down as much as possible. 

First, a few critical skills will help a lot with this. For the Great SW and Jewel Blades, you will want to take Avenger and Blowback; both do the same thing—they deal extra damage to enemies when you do a Brink guard. If you don't know, Brink Guard and Brink Dodge just mean perfectly timed dodges or guards. 

Brink guard is a perfectly timed guard, and you'll do a bit of damage to him with that. For Spear, you want to take Breakdown; this won't do extra damage, but you will do more stamina damage with Brink guards, which means you'll break his stance even quicker. The other skill that is highly recommended is taking a Command Mobility or Gap Closer command. 

The command is a key binding that you must press an ability for, and the Gap Closer will move you to the boss quickly, probably doing a lot of damage as well. You might use Furious Swipe for the Great Sword, Breeze Dash for the Jewel Blades, and Spiral Thrust for the Spear. Anything that will get you to the boss quickly is essential; you'll see why in a minute.

Strategy Demo Kill

For Blade Phantom’s first phase, before you get to 60% health, you will be fighting in the water and playing a very neutral, very defensive game. 

Blade Phantom is using mostly unarmed attacks at the moment, and there are a lot of variations that all pretty much start with a right punch, though they all end differently—one of them is even a grab attack. 

So, play very defensively, be conservative, and focus on dodging and getting one or two poke trades back. The objective of this phase is to wait until you trigger the attack, which is when he gets both dual swords out. 

When he does, he will do six attacks quickly, and you want to Brink guard as many of them as you can. Ideally, the last one does a tremendous amount of stamina damage when you do this, and you will guarantee a brutal strike. 

Don't use brutal strikes immediately when you stagger the boss like this. You have to wait until that little red bar dial goes away; then you want to use whatever stamina you have left to do an attack or two, and then use the brutal strike right at the last moment, or as close as you can to that moment. 

You don't want to leave too short because the brutal strike will return all your stamina, and you can attack him again. At that moment, you want to use your Gap Closer to quickly get even more damage in while he is still staggering from the brutal strike. 

At normal speed, as he gets those dual blades out, you will guard break as best as you can. Once you trigger the brutal attack, do an attack first, follow up with your brutal attack, use your command skill to Gap Close, do a bit more damage, and keep attacking. Don't be afraid to be reckless and trade some health—this is why you played conservatively at the start. 

Soon enough, you'll see he is down to around 60% or 50% health, and even almost finished. Once you're in this phase, he will make a very similar attack with claws—three or four attacks very quickly—and you want to Brink strike those. He will jump up in the air, and you want to dash forward and escape the area where Spear lands because it does a big AA on the ground. 

That is also a good time to use your mobility skills to close the gap quickly and keep hitting him. If you keep hitting him, he will not regenerate stamina. You will break his stamina bar again and go straight back into the same pattern: minor damage, a brutal attack, and then Gap Close to keep the pressure on so that he can't regenerate his stamina. 

It is worth noting that his spear thrusts and hammer slams; if you can guard Brink as well, you do a huge chunk of his stamina, too. If you are bold and know how to do the Brink guard timing right, the fight will go much faster and easier than if you tried to play the long game. 

Blade Phantom Boss Combos and Abilities

Now, look at a breakdown of his isolated abilities, or at least most of them. There is a lot, and while some people like to study this in detail, the overall strategy is easier to apply than assimilating every attack. 

The most basic version is his right punch—a single right punch. Most of his unarmed attacks start with a right punch. The next variation is a single punch into a single downward slash. 

There is another version with essentially the exact timing—a punch followed by a roundhouse kick or a side kick, which is equivalent to the downward slash. Then, you move into a three-part combo: right punch, sidekick, and drop or down kick. It gets even longer again, starting with a right punch and then three alternating punches, followed by a delayed kick. 

The last punch combo, the only one that begins with the left fist, goes into multiple punches and then a grab attack. You know what is coming when he starts with the left punch because he is the only one who does so. 

It also includes a few blink attacks, where he blinks away and then comes back with a right punch, followed by two very delayed kicks, and then a similar one where he blinks in, does a swipe, and then a very delayed single kick. 

He also has hammer slams that finish with an area-of-effect pulse; you want to use a mobility skill or guard because the big AOE pulse can sometimes catch you off guard. He can also throw the Spear—he will blink on top of you and perform another slam. Thankfully, these hammer and spear attacks are well-telegraphed and relatively easy to react to when you see them.

You get some new claw attacks and significant sword attacks in the second phase. The claw attack you have already seen: three slashes, then he will jump back up and throw the Spear at you; you dodge that and then get out of the AOE pulse before it follows up. Another claw attack happens when he blinks at you, performs four claw swipes, then jumps back and does a spear thrust. 

All five of those are excellent for Brink guarding, letting you do a tremendous amount of stamina damage if you are ready. He still performs standalone spear thrusts in phase two as well. Perhaps the peskiest new ability is the great sword attack: he dashes in and then does four very slow, very powerful, and delayed significant sword slashes, followed by a hammer strike. 

You want to dodge that hammer strike because it hurts. As mentioned, he has a lot of combos and variations—five different weapons plus his unarmed attacks, which you still use in phase two. It is a lot to remember, and most people probably won't assimilate every detail for slower fights with fewer attacks. But if you are quick and mean, those Brink guards are the best against claw and sword attacks. 

Final Notes

For Blade Phantom, you will use aggression, precise timing, and mobility skills to keep the pressure on and repeatedly break his stamina. Follow the strategy by playing defensively during phase one, transitioning into aggressive attacks with Brink guards and brutal strikes once his guard is broken. 

Maintain your rhythm with timed blocks and taps during repeated attacks, and use your gap closers to ensure you stay close enough to keep up the pressure. This approach will help you overcome the challenges posed by his diverse attack sets and variations, allowing you to defeat him efficiently.

Also, check our The First Berserker: Khazan Review and other guides below:

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