The Giant

5th  Boss Stem Cell (only on 4 BSC)

6 Giant Outfits (1 for flawless kill and 1 for each BSC difficulty)

“*You...*
ARE AN INCORRIGIBLE ASS!*„*

**The Giant** is a special tier 2 boss in the game. He is encountered in Guardian's Haven, the paths of which are unlocked by opening the gate to the Cavern in the Graveyard (requires Cavern Key).

His skeleton rests in the Prisoners' Quarters until the player beats the Hand of the King. Once awakened, he busts down the door after the starting items, where the Cavern Key can be found. If the player follows him, a small cutscene will play, then a key can be found to permanently unlock the Cavern entrance from the Graveyard. The Cavern Key must be used on the door for it to remain open.

Requires the *Rise of the Giant DLC*.

## Moveset

### First phase

In 1+ BSC, the Giant goes straight to the second phase.

* **Description:** The Giant clenches one of his fists and charges it, causing one of the three stripes on that side's pauldron to light up.
 ***Punch***
* **Description:** The Giant lifts up one fist to the side of the arena and punches across the entire arena. The fist does high damage and pushes the player into the lava when hit.
* Can be blocked, parried, and dodge rolled.
 ***Energy salvo***
* **Description:** The Giant puts down his fists on the ground and opens one of them. From this hand, he shoots out energy orbs in different patterns.
* Can be blocked, parried, and dodge rolled.
 ***Slam fist***
* **Description:** The Giant raises a clenched fist and follow the player with it. After a few seconds slams the fist into the ground. A wave of fire then erupts and moves towards the sides of the arena upon impact.
* Can be blocked and dodge rolled.
 ***Roar***
* **Description:** At 75% HP the Giant will stop any attack and roar, pushing the player back. This will start the second phase.
* Will interrupt any attack that it may be performing.
* If the player is attacking the eye and the Giant goes below threshold hp it will instantly retract the eye even if three seconds haven't passed yet.

### Second phase

Retains all attacks from the previous phase.

* **Description:** The Giant fires a laser from each eye to the side of the arena that moves inwards and traps the player in the middle of the arena.
 ***Roar***
* **Description:** At 50% HP the Giant will stop any attack and roar, pushing the player back. This will start the third phase of the fight.
* Will interrupt any attack that it may be performing.
* If the player is attacking the eye and the Giant goes below threshold hp it will instantly retract the eye even if three seconds haven't passed yet.

### Third phase

Retains all attacks from the previous phases.

* **Description:** The Giant raises both fists together at the center of the arena and, after a pause, slams the fists into the ground. Fire erupts from the center and moves towards the sides of the arena upon impact. This attack triggers the **crystal collapse** attack.
* Can be blocked and dodge rolled.
 ***Crystal collapse***
* **Description:** Giant crystals will fall from the ceiling in a random pattern after the Giant successfully executes his **double slam fist** attack.
* Can be blocked and dodge rolled.

### Charged attacks

When the Giant has charged a fist three times without interruption it will use one of the following attacks. Which attack depends on the charged fist.

These attacks can be used in any phase.

* **Description:** The Giant raises up his left fist at the far right side of the arena. He then slams down the fist six times in rapid succession, each time raising and inching his fist to the left with the 6th slam being performed at the far left edge of the arena. A wave of fire erupts and moves towards the sides of the arena upon each impact with the ground.
* Can be blocked and dodge rolled.
 ***Energy volley***
* **Description:** The Giant raises up his right fist over his shoulder and charges it. After charging fires volleys of energy orbs in a sun pattern.
* Can be blocked, parried, and dodge rolled.
	+ Parrying energy orbs sends back a projectile.

## Strategy

### Damaging the Giant

* The Giant can only be damaged when one of its eyes is out. If a fist's health has been depleted, it will fall to the ground and the eye on that side will pop out of the Giant's skull. The eye stays for 3 seconds.
	+ While the eye is out the other fist cannot be damaged. The Giant cannot perform any other attacks but crystals will keep falling from the ceiling if they already are.
* There is no preferred order in which to destroy the fists but alternating is a good strategy to prevent the fists from reaching max charge.

### Vulnerabilities and immunities

* Networking ensures that the player can damage both fists at a decent rate just by attacking 1 of them.
* Destroying a fist during an attack will interrupt that attack completely.
* Neither the fists nor the eyes have a back or a front, making Assassin's Dagger and Vorpan ineffective choices.
	+ However, all the entities are counted as bosses. If you have the Giantkiller, it will deal critical blows constantly and the Giant will take massive damage easily.
* The Giant is immune to controlling effects such as freeze, root and stun. Damage-over-time effects work normally.

### Primary attacks

**Charge**

* The fist can still be damaged when charging and destroying it before it completes charging interrupts the charge and decreases it by 1.

**Punch**

* Best strategy to deal with this attack is to parry it. Dodge rolling requires precise timing and jumping over it is impossible.
	+ Blocking can be done but the attack will push you off the side of the arena into the lava.

**Energy salvo**

* The patterns of the energy orb salvos allow the player to dodge them by jumping or ducking but require precise timing.
* Parrying the orbs is easier and more effective, each orb parried could trigger a shields parry effect.
	+ Each orb parried sends back a projectile which can deal massive damage to the fists.

**Slam fist**

* The fist follows the player around before slamming down. Walk around baiting the fist until it stops moving, then double jump and dodge roll as needed to avoid the slam and fire.

**Eye laser**

* The lasers always start at the outside of the arena and move slowly inwards so immediately moving to the center of the arena is the best strategy.
	+ The center of the arena is also the best place to deal with **Energy Salvo** which is always used in combination with this attack in the second and third phase.
	+ Both lasers deal damage when touched, but if the lasers are dodge rolled, then they simply behave like walls and contact with the beams in this manner will not cause any damage.
		- If the lasers have stopped moving at the center of the arena, dodge rolling into it and maintaining contact while not moving forward will prevent any damage from being dealt. This allows successive dodge rolls to be done in place.
		- Dodge rolling to a still moving laser and touching it will cause the roll to be blocked before shortly dealing damage. This is because the laser is still moving after the roll ended.

**Crystal collapse**

* The crystals cannot be parried, but can be blocked and dodge rolled. Keep track of them while moving and avoid standing beneath them.
	+ The damage taken from the crystals can be lowered with the use of Masochist.

### Charged attacks

The best strategy is to prevent the fists from reaching max charge. Kill the fists to reduce their charge by 1.

**Multi slam fist**

* Prepare to evade one of the slams and move to the right side of the arena to avoid the rest of the slams. Alternatively, move to the left edge and only prepare to evade the final 6th slam, all while jumping over the waves of approaching flames.
	+ A single jump is sufficient to avoid one wave of fire.
	+ More precise timing is required here because the slam is performed six times in rapid succession.

**Energy volley**

* The energy orbs can be blocked, parried and dodge rolled, but its random pattern will make dodging them very hard.
* Parrying the orbs is easier and more effective, each orb parried could trigger the shield's parry effect.
	+ Each orb parried sends back a projectile which can deal massive damage to the fists.

### Weapons/Skills

* Because all entities count as bosses, the Giantkiller is an effective weapon, since it deals critical hits with each strike.
* Any weapon or skill that can do AoE damage is effective as it can damage both fists at the same time.
* Any DoT effect can be used to keep dealing damage to the fists when they are out of reach for the player.
* Because the eye stays out a set amount of time skills like the Powerful Grenade that deal big bursts of damage are very effective.
* The Double Crossb-o-matic can attack both fists at the same time as it fires projectiles in both directions.
* Traps and skills that auto-aim at the enemy like the Tesla Coil and Great Owl of War can reach the fists when they would be out of reach for the player.
* The Magic Missiles and Electric Whip are some of the ranged weapons which auto-aim at any available target even when it is directly above the player.
* Wave of Denial can be used to deflect the falling crystals but this requires some precise timing when the crystals are very close to the player.
* The Parry Shield gives bonus damage to returned attacks.
	+ Spite also gives a bonus to returned attacks. This alone is very useful with any shield but in combination with the Parry Shield, it can destroy the fists extremely quickly.
* Any shield that has an effect on parry like Punishment or Bloodthirsty Shield is useful because almost all attacks can be parried.
	+ Each orb can be parried so during **Energy Salvo** or **Energy Volley** damage or DoT stacks can be applied very quickly.
* Lightspeed can be used to escape entrapment by the eye lasers, if necessary.

## Lore

The Giant was in the Royal Guard, indicated by the huge painting in High Peak Castle depicting him under the King's banner. His duty was to guard the gates of the Castle. He and the Hand of the King shared a mutual dislike and disagreement with each other. However, they both do agree that nobody likes the Alchemist.

*"The Giant didn't like the Hand of the King, and the Hand of the King didn't like the Giant. But they did agree on one point: nobody liked the Alchemist."*

During the Malaise epidemic, the Giant warned the King that his methods would lead the island to its ruin. In response, the King had his men kill the Giant with a spear and dump his corpse in the Prisoners' Quarters, which explains the huge skeleton lying there. While the King gave instructions to make sure the Giant would never rise again, beating the Hand of the King for the first time reawakens the Giant. Upon seeing the skeleton's absence, the Beheaded remarks: "Where the hell has old bones gone?"

The following information **contains spoilers** regarding the true ending of the game. Discretion is advised.

When reaching the Giant for the first time, he reveals the Beheaded as the former King, his body lost to the Malaise. The Giant thinks poorly of the Beheaded as he recalls The King's actions, but still respects his title.

When defeated, the Giant again expresses his frustration and disappointment with the King's actions, then sinks in the lava while calling him "an incorrigible ass" and giving him the middle finger. The Beheaded returns the gesture.

Defeating him on 4 BSC for the first time triggers a different dialogue where the Giant admits that he was defeated fairly. He gives the 5th Boss Stem Cell to the player, noting that it might be of more use to him, then his head explodes before he can finish his sentence. This cutscene cannot be seen again once the 5th Boss Stem Cell is absorbed.

The Beheaded doesn't seem to be able to understand the Giant's speech as he is unaware that he is the King.

## Dialogue

### Intro

* "*You... here?*"
* "*The Malaise has really had its way with you.*"
* "*Yes indeed.*"
* "*In keeping with your arrogance!*"
* "*Which has brought nothing but ruin on the Kingdom!*"
* "*In spite of all my warnings...*"
* "*Not a shred of hope is left to us.*"
* "*DIE!*"

### Outro

The following information **contains spoilers** regarding the true ending of the game. Discretion is advised.

* "*You were a model for all of us...*"
* "*What drove you to all this destruction?*"
* "*You've even managed to destroy your own body...*"
* "*My King...*"
* "*You...*"
* "*ARE AN INCORRIGIBLE ASS!*"

### 4 BSC first win outro

* "*You've beaten me fairly...*"
* "*Not like before...*"
* "*Take this, it might be of more use to you...*"
* "*Make a wish...*"
* "*I jest... You most certainly are a*"

## Trivia

* The Giant is basically a skeleton wearing heavy armor. However, parts of his face are animate.
* He wears a crystal on his forehead identical to the one on the King's chest.
	+ When reaching the Giant with 4 BSC active, the crystal glows orange.
* By size, he is the biggest boss in the entire game.
	+ He is also the first boss to employ a unique fighting mechanic, namely composing of multiple high-health units and requiring the player to defeat one of them in order to damage other ones.
* The Giant flipping off the Beheaded as he submerges in lava after being defeated is a reference to the ending of the second Terminator movie, where the T-800 gives a thumbs up when he sinks into molten metal.
* The Giant himself, his fists, and eyes are all listed as separate entities if the player accesses their enemy information from the Scribe. There, a few more things are revealed about him:
	+ His hands, eye, and his background entity are all separate entities and are listed as such.
	+ They all share the same kill counter, regardless of how many times were his fists disabled.
		- His hands will have double the kill count as himself or his eyes, as the Giant's hands will always return after being knocked out provided if his health isn't depleted.
	+ If the player loses to the Giant in a fight, the game will always register that his hands defeated them, unless the attack came from his eyes.
* In *v1.2*, if the player parried and killed a hand while the Giant was performing a punch, then they would deal a little damage to the Giant and the parried hand's health immediately resets to full health.
* As a part of a *Dead Cells* crossover, the Giant is featured as a boss in *Soul Knight* alongside his battle theme.

## Gallery

* A painting of the Giant and the Hand of the King in a lore room of the Castle
* The Giant flipping off the player

## References

1. ↑ *"The Giant who was watching the castle gates is no more. What happened between him and the King, I wonder? ...I don't know what the Giant did, but judging by the spear, they must've had quite the... difference of opinion."*
2. ↑ *"The Giant is not a member of the royal guard anymore. Take his body to the prison. A spear in his body should be enough, but make sure he never wakes up."*