Butcher

# **(Boss) Butcher**

This page will explain the Butcher fight as it is today in Alpha. But be aware, this guide is made from a melee focused player's perspective. So, if you are a Range based character, you won't really be concerned with the Butcher's melee abilities, as you will simply focus on dodging his ranged attacks and just staying out of melee / kiting him.

## **Intro to the Guide**

To put this out there first... fighting the Butcher as a melee character is by far the most difficult way to face him. You will have to account for every single mechanic that the boss has, and unlike other specs... you will actively be engaging him where others fear most... right up and personal. Range focused specs/playstyles can and should avoid melee with the Butcher all-together as they will likely lack the armor to take any punishment from him; just kite him around, and he'll be dead soon enough. In short, executing the entire fight in melee, at or below his level (which this guide was made while I was under-leveled for the encounter), is the most difficult specialization to face him with (especially true in the higher difficulty modes).

However, if you desire to use this guide to understand how to defeat him as a Ranged focused character, fear not. Simply just ignore the melee information stated below, dodge his ranged attacks, stay aware of room traps, and address the skeleton minions when they spawn. With those tips in mind, the strategy is far less action packed, and victory will be much easier to attain for you.

## **TLDR / The Quick and Dirty**

### ***At 100% health***

Soon after entering the Arena, the Butcher charge you. Dodge his charge by stepping sideways / getting out of the way. After he slams into the wall, he will be stunned briefly. During that stun, immediately engage him in melee to start dealing as much damage as you can. When he recovers from the stun, you will then need to parry his next 3 attacks, this will stun/stagger him again, and then you will need to continue your melee damage onslaught. Rinse and repeat this attack pattern until he's at roughly 75% health

### ***At 75% Health***

Parry his 3 melee attacks, stun him, then turn to take his skeleton minions out. Remember to listen for his walk to stop, that means he's going to throw a knife at you. Sidestep, then re-engage the add and kill it. Wait for the Butcher to charge you, then re-engage in melee. Rinse and repeat this attack pattern until he's at roughly 50% health.

Alternatively, use your footwork to put the Butcher and his minions next to each other. This makes the fight significantly easier as you won't lose sight of any enemies, and you'll be able to block effectively.

### ***At 50% Health***

Parry his 3 melee attacks, stun him, and address the skeleton minions. Now, continue executing the same steps as the above paragraph, but now you will need to also stay aware of the traps he will begin to throw at you, but most importantly, he will also start using his high damage melee ranged stomp... don't be close to him when he does it. Rinse and repeat this attack pattern until he's at roughly 25% health.

### ***At 25% Health***

Do the same as the above paragraph; still watching for traps, melee stomps, and addressing the skeleton minions that spawn. Rinse and repeat this attack pattern until he's at roughly 0% health.

### ***At 0% Health***

GG, by defeating the Butcher as a melee focused character, you have essentially defeated him on hard mode.

## **The Butcher's Melee Abilities**

### ***His Furious Attack Combo***

His main melee combo is a set of 3 successive attacks where speed and accuracy of your parries are key to facing him toe to toe.

* The normal 3 hit combo is as follows... side left swing, side right swing, upper swing.
* Outside of this 3-attack combo, the Butcher will occasionally switch up his strikes with some random variation of the already stated sequence. So, that makes blocking some of those hits pretty difficult at times; as your reaction time/swiftness to change must be "on point".

### ***Stunning Butcher***

After parrying his 3-attack melee combo (all 3 must be parried), he will be stunned, and he'll briefly be open, undefended, to take on your melee onslaught.

### ***Ground Stomp***

Under 50% remaining health, the Butcher will do a ground stomp that will deal roughly 250 points of damage.

* He will only be able to do this if you are in melee range to him.
* To escape the stomp, you have to watch for it, as with everything else going on it may happen to you by surprise. Before he does it, you will notice him slightly pause before he starts his stomp animation. You must react and flee immediately to avoid near certain death.

### ***His Attack Speed** **and Power***

His melee attacks are incredibly fast, and he hits hard... so you must parry everything / avoid all damage.

* At level 45, he dealt with me by only connecting with 3 hits. So, if you face him in a similar situation, it will be an intense, high speed, and highly focused 10 min fight to defeat him. With that, there is little/no room for error.

## **The Butcher's Minions**

At 75%, 50%, and 25%... he will spawn skeleton minions from any of the 4 corridors on the sides of the arena.

* The number of minions is based on how many players are in the game.

## **The Butcher's Ranged Abilities**

At roughly around the Butchers body length in distance, he will initiate his ranged attacks. So, always keep your distance from him in mind when fighting him. If you don't pay attention to your distance, the ability mix-up may throw you off and turn the fight, strongly and quickly, in his favor.

* He will throw a knife at you pretty frequently if you are beyond, roughly, 4-5 meters or so from him in distance.
	+ With that, I believe that this can be deflected with your weapon... that's if you time the deflect/block exactly right. Similar to blocking arrows with your weapon shot from a bow.
	+ If you are struck by the knife… you will be rooted. If you are rooted, he will then charge you directly after receiving that effect. When/if he slams into you, he will then immediately engage you with his 3-strike melee attack combo.
* After 50% - 0%, Butcher will throw traps at you that root you if you run over them.
	+ Try and have him throw the traps in an area of the room you will not be traveling, obviously. These will add up and get annoying to dodge over time.
	+ You can strike the traps while in the air or on the ground to destroy them and nullify them.
* He will eventually charge you if you are distanced roughly 4-5 meters from him for too long.
	+ If he slams into a wall while charging, he will be stunned, leaving an opening to strike him for a short period of time.

## **The Room Traps**

These traps activate around the room at various points of the battle. Be aware of them and their locations at all times.

* You'll see the grated holes on the floor, these are spring fired spike traps, avoid them.
* Near the corners of the room, the grated floors will light ablaze if you walk over them, avoid them.
* Try to only focus on fighting the Butcher near either set of the massive wooden doors in the room.
	+ When traveling to the opposite side of the room, try staying as close to the middle / blood pool area of the room as possible. The reason for this, is you will then avoid the spike and fire traps as a result.