You’d think by now you’d have learned that nothing good would come of trying to hang out in Shadowkeep’s backyard, but here you are again being stomped by an armored soldier riding an even more armored giant boar. Commander Gaius isn’t the worst blocker in Fortress, especially since he’s an optional boss, but he’s capable of dealing nasty damage if you make a mistake. Luckily, we’ve got you covered with the information you need to turn your pigs into pork.
Commander Gaius’ abilities
Gaius’ first action is to back away and try to run you over in the open field. Once close enough, Gaius’ famous pig will start trying to stab you with his tusks, stomp you with his hooves, or suddenly kick you if you’re behind him. If it doesn’t kick you when you’re behind it, it will lift up on its hind legs and then press its entire body against you, creating a slight shock wave. On top of that, there’s also a guy riding a pig beast who will attack you frequently with his spear. Then, sometimes, it all coalesces into a brutal chain of headbutts and spear slam combos. Ouch. And it’s going to get worse.
When reaching 50% health, Gaius’ normal spear attacks become enchanted with purple lightning. While your first instinct may be to put on all the lightning negating items you own, hold on tight. This is actually gravity magic, which means his attacks now have the ability to destroy your life in one or two hits. It all builds on top of his two new tricks: a dive-bomb attack from 100 feet that launches destructive debris, and a miniature black hole that pulls you closer with four gravity waves. The boar will also fire gravity blasts directly at you if you’re far away. What a pain in the ass. But it’s very doable.
Defeat Commander Gaius – Phase 1
Believe it or not, this battle is not as tough as it used to be. Previously, the first thing on the agenda was to get out of the way because the boars were coming for you as soon as you stepped into the arena. However, This is one of the rare acts of mercy from FromSoft, when you go into patch 1.12.3, Gaius will actually stall for a few seconds. So, yes, you will have plenty of time to summon Soul Ash, and once you do, Gaius is actually an easy one to defeat. not completely!
The main problem with the first half is that Gaius, like most of the enemies in the DLC, hits like a Mac truck. His entire moveset is based on being able to stab or slash enemies at high speed from a distance. This means that once you’ve dodged his initial charge, melee users can absolutely outrun this guy by staying on his flank, especially if you can get your Soul Ash to flank him on the opposite side. The easiest thing here is to let Gaius go first and punish all of his attacks – especially counterattacks with the guard – which can easily break his position. Don’t try to kick with your back leg, though, or this will happen. He’ll usually start running after that, which leaves you with a lot of space. The tank can soak up anything he tries, with the only real danger being his five-hit boar/spear combo. Even so, if you get attacked in there, a good shield can eat up an attack. Finally, Gaius’s bleed ability is very weak. Bring a weapon that inflicts bleeding and you’ll be stripping this guy of all his health in no time.
The Magician can employ a similar strategy up close, but reading the timing of his attacks and rolls becomes more important. You can do this by clicking, but for his big combos, you need to create some distance, which gives Gaius more opportunities to crush you. You may rely more on the distraction of the ashes, but staying close means you can do massive damage before the boar turns its head in your direction.
Defeat Commander Gaius – Phase 2
At 50%, the situation changes somewhat. Melee combatants can still stay relatively close and attack him, but Gaius’ gravity attacks can often deal a lot of damage through the shield, which requires occasionally rolling out of range to heal. Additionally, jumping gravity attacks can completely break through shields, or deal so much stamina damage. However, it can be rolled through when Gaius lands, you just have to keep an eye out for his follow-up moves.
It’s good for magic users to keep a healthy distance now, but the new gravity attack and its area of effect can be a pain, especially since being charged is still a danger. For those who do, adopt a defensive strategy and roll out of the path of magical attacks before launching anything. For the black hole attack, you need to create more distance to stay out of its range, but if you get stuck, you need to stay on guard until the fourth pulse. However, if you insist on dealing damage, Gaius will still be wiped out quickly.
The reward for defeating him isn’t the worst ham in human history, but 230,000 runes and a memento of the Hog Rider, the ability to hand Gaius’s Spear Sword or Gaius’ Zone’s Stoneblade Effect Magic on your finger. But wait, there’s more: After activating the new Grace Site, head to the valley beyond Gaius’ Realm. If you’re a fan of archery, there’s a hut on the left where you can kill the wolf-riding archer and get the Marksman Amulet and Gaius’ Leggings, but if you follow the main path all the way to the end, that’s fine . It was so hard.
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