The Hand of the King Boss in Dead Cells Dead Cells Guide
Last update: 21 August 2018
The chapter below presents information and tips regarding the fight with the final boss of Dead Cells - The Hand of the King. The subsequent sections let you learn the location of the enemy, the range of his attacks and ways that will let you defeat him.
- Where to find The Hand of the King - the last boss of Dead Cells?
- How to choose the equipment and mutations to match The Hand of the King?
- How to defeat The Hand of the King boss in Dead Cells?
- Rewards for defeating The Hand of the King in Dead Cells
Where to find The Hand of the King - the last boss of Dead Cells?
The Hand of the King is the last boss in Dead Cells. You can find him in the Throne Room. Initially, he stays there all by himself, but he will call reinforcements eventually. The Throne Room can be reached from the High Peak Castle, where you need to find the keys and open the gate.
How to choose the equipment and mutations to match The Hand of the King?
The Hand of the King is no doubt the most difficult boss of Dead Cells. The difficulty considerably exceeds anything you've encountered in the game, even if you had decided to face Conjunctivius. So, don't expect this fight to be a cake walk just because you managed to defeat all previous bosses.
Even if you manage to reach the Throne Room during your first playthrough, you probably won't be able to defeat the final boss right away. You need to be well prepared. This means unlocking as many schemes and upgrades. We advise collecting 700 cells to obtain the Health Flask IV upgrade, which allows the most instances of regeneration during a fight.
As your main weapon, we advise a good melee weapon. It should deal lots of damage and be pretty fast at the same time. The only exception is if you have modifiers or skills that let you freeze the boss. Then you can choose a weapon that deals greater damage but is slower. The side arm slot is up for debate. You can either have a good ranged weapon (in our sample build, this is a Pyrotechnics power, which lets you shoot fire balls) or a shield. In case of the latter, you need to make sure you're perfectly familiar with its mechanics.
As concerns the slot skills, try to set two traps as active. In our build, we chose traps that can fire at the boss and his minions, but you can also swap one of these traps for a Wolf Boss - the snare trap will let you nail the enemy to the ground for a brief period of time. The last question here is the amulet. This matter is easy - get the one that debuffs the boss' attacks as much as possible (20% in our case).
When developing the build, make sure you have the right mutations, too. Our recommendations for the last fight are:
- Ygdar Orus Li Ox - This is the most important choice. This decreases the probability of dying if you don't manage to heal yourself. And it's not hard to lose all HP during the fight - The Hand of the King is really trying very hard to make sure the players don't manage to heal.
- Dead Inside - 30% more HP means better chances of survival - simple. This is even more important if you've chosen mainly the upgrades from one preferred group and didn't manage to develop your health all that much.
- Efficiency - Also very important choice. This mutation allows you to replenish traps much faster.
If the Ygdar Orus Li Ox rune has been lost somewhere before, you should opt for a mutation increasing DPS instead. Make sure it matches your weapon. For example; if you have an excellent sword, then choose the mutation increasing DPS of melee weapons.
How to defeat The Hand of the King boss in Dead Cells?
Much like in the case of the fight with The Time Keeper, the fight with The Hand of the King consists of three stages with the boss becoming more powerful after each. Every stage ends with the boss summoning a group of minions. Once the boss starts attacking you again, it means you've entered the next stage of the fight.
In the first stage, The Hand of the King uses mainly two attacks. The first one is a charge (shown on the screenshot), and the other - thrusting his lance upwards. In both cases, the most efficient way to avoid damage is performing a precise dodge, but if you have a shield, you can also try to perfectly parry these attacks. Also note that the boss will be idle for a short time after each attack (successful or otherwise). Make sure you're using these occasions to deliver a few blows yourself using melee or ranged weapons.
From the very beginning, watch out for the spikes on the premises of the arena. It's pretty easy to get pushed onto them, especially if you crash into the charging boss. If you can, try to perform an additional jump in the air, increasing the probability of avoiding the spikes.
Another attack of the boss is the one he's using from the very beginning of the battle - throwing a few bombs. The boss' attacks are never clearly telegraphed, but the explosions of the bombs are fortunately delayed. You can distance yourself from the boss as much as possible (mind the spikes), or land on one of the small ice ledges. Both methods should allow you avoiding damage, but remember that The Hand of the King can perform a charge right after throwing the bombs, for example. Don't count on a moment for catching your breath or an occasion for a counterattack.
As we've already mentioned, each phase of the duel with The Hand of the King ends up with the boss summoning monsters including at least one elite opponent.
Preparing to fight with the boss's minions is difficult, because these are always random monsters, selected from the pool of those that are the easiest to beat (i.e. those that appeared in the initial locations of the game). Traps can help you eliminate monsters, but set them up at the level you're currently fighting on.
The Hand of the King is inactive when you're fighting his minions, so that's a good chance for dealing more damage to him. The boss won't be waiting until you eliminate all minions, however. He may rejoin the fight after you eliminate the elite enemy or after a period of time (20 seconds after the first stage of the fight or 30 after the second stage). If you didn't manage to kill all monsters, then focus on eliminating them first after the boss joins the fight - otherwise they will seriously impede your ability to deal damage to the boss and increase the risk of dying.
In stage two of the fight, the boss performs a series of blows instead of the thrust with the lance. In this case, the shield is the perfect solution, as it allows you to deflect all attacks. If you don't have the shield, you can dodge the first attack, then jump over the second attack and dodge the third one again.
The first new attack of the boss is a slam into the ground which makes pointy rocks protrude from the ground, dealing damage. The solution to this is jumping or getting to the ice ledges. What makes things easier in this case is that the attack is telegraphed, which gives you time to react accordingly.
The other new attack makes the skull banners appear on the arena (see example above). They will deal damage upon contact and if you don't destroy them soon enough, they will explode. A good method of destroying all of them is a strong slam into the ground from the air (identical to the attack that lets you break through weaken elements of the ground). You can also get rid of them one by one using any weapon. The banners "die" very easily.
The third, final stage of the fight begins soon after The Hand of the King sends another group of enemies after you. Just as earlier, try to kill as many regular enemies as you can in order not to worry about them later, when the boss reenters the fight.
In the third stage of the fight, the boss doesn't get new skills, but some of his previous ones are enhanced. His slam into the ground that brings the sharp rocks. Make sure you time your double jump well, in order not to land too soon. The amulet providing more jumps in the air can be very useful. The other reinforced attack is the charge - in this case, The Hand of the King performs two charges in a row. Don't let him catch you by surprise and use dodges or parry with your shield, just as in previous cases.
We have already mentioned that during the entire fight with The Hand of the King, healing is pretty difficult. Don't try to replenish your HP while the boss is fully active and when you're on the ground level of the arena, because it's very probable that the attempt will be interrupted. You can try to heal when:
- The boss is frozen on transfixed (for example with a snare trap)
- When you're on one of the ice ledges
- When fighting the minions (set up turrets to distract them)
Rewards for defeating The Hand of the King in Dead Cells
These are the most important rewards for defeating The Hand of the King:
- Golden achievement - The Last Ramparts Falls...
- Boss Stem Cell - You have to absorb it (shown above). Each stem cell unlocks a new difficulty level. If you finish the game on the highest difficulty and defeat the boss, he will spawn another cell. You can get four cells this way.
- Symmetrical Lance - A unique melee weapon. It appears after you defeat the boss the first time (blueprint added automatically).
- Some random items such as cells, gems, gold, etc.