The 10 HARDEST Bosses in The First Berserker: Khazan

Top 10 Hardest The First Berserker Khazan Bosses

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re going over the most demanding boss battles encountered along Khazan’s path to vengeance. Soilers ahead.

Bellerian

While she later becomes an ally, Khazan’s first meeting with the dark elf sorceress is not a pleasant one. Believing herself to be a target of Ozma’s assassins, Bellerian utilises a full range of magic to keep players at bay. These aren’t just elemental explosions either, she’ll summon spirits of all kinds to do the dirty work for her. While her weaker guard makes it easier to pile on the damage quicker, it counts for nothing when you have to keep avoiding an entire gauntlet of exploding skulls and one seriously pissed off reaper.

Elamein

A potential love interest and stalwart warrior, Elamein unfortunately becomes one of the first victims of Chaos’ corruption, turning her blade on us in a battle to the death that will flatten those who aren’t prepared. Aside from using her shield to defend, counter and ricochet, what makes Elamein truly deadly is how every strike causes Electrocution build up. Combined with how flashy and fast her sword swings are, even if you’ve grown adept at parrying, she’ll swiftly crumble your defences. You hate to see it, but cutting her down was the only mercy afforded to us…assuming you have the skill to.

Rangkus

The Knivesveil make for some of the toughest bosses in the game, despite being presented as nothing more than a bunch of cutthroats - rest assured they hit hard, as evidenced by their second in command. Despite being able to uproot the entire ground with a single kick, the most dangerous thing about Rangkus is most certainly that crossbow of his. A volley of arrows is one thing, but when he starts unleashing a whole-ass flamethrower, that’s when the tide of battle shifts, becoming less about trying to skewer him and more about trying desperately not to get barbecued.

Hismar

The Berserk Dragon was long-build up as a world-ending threat, a beast that could only be bested by the likes of Khazan’s strength and Ozma’s magic. Well, now he’s back…and he’s one of the tankiest bosses in all of Soulslikes. Its massive size means there’s no shortage of places to strike, and parrying its claw attacks alleviates the threat of being instantly one-shot. Even still, the amount of time you’ll spend trying to whittle down its huge health bar leaves plenty of room for you to make a mistake down the line. Get tripped up by one of its wide reaching breath attacks and there’s every chance you’ll be forced to start the entire arduous process all over again.

Reese

She’s perhaps the most tragic character in the game, her soundtrack is incredible, and she’s likely responsible for sending a torrent of unprepared players into a stupor . Reese does not mess around. Across both phases, she’ll implement some of the most damaging magic, while systematically narrowing your options by dividing up the room with walls, while also preventing herself from being staggered. And that’s all before she grows wings, grabs a scythe and starts coming at you with the combos. Reese’s fate is horrific and heartbreaking, but she nonetheless put us through our paces.

Viper

The scaly difficulty spike of your nightmares, Viper is arguably the first true challenge of Khazan. You may have struggled slightly with the Blade Phantom or the overgrown yeti, but this Dragonkin’s penchant for punishment easily exceeds every other starter boss. You’ll already be slower due to the snowy terrain, made all the worse by how Viper switches between hurtling his weapon like a boomerang and hoisting you into a grab that will fry your health. This all before he bulks up for phase two, where he’ll start flying around the arena, in the dark, bringing the thunder, and cracking down with strikes that will smash apart your defences. Besting him truly feels like you’ve climbed a mountain…

Maluca

The leader of the Knivesveil, we expected Maluca to be all kinds of tough. Wielding two great swords, he’s a sturdy bastard and can bring the pain, but for the most part, his moves are rather obvious and a tad on the sluggish side. You might even get through the battle without suffering any real damage. And that’s when phase two comes out of nowhere, where he swaps out his duel wield for a katana, and will proceed to wreck you. It’s like going from Radahn to Malenia at the drop of a hat. Not only will he parry your moves, unleash impossibly fast slashes and cut through any attempt you have to block, but will also expose you to the Chaos status effect for the first time. Not fun.

Trokka

We speak for all Souls players when we say – may this witch drown a thousand times over, because holy moly, Trokka is absurd. As a spellcaster, her bloody bread and butter are ranged attacks, all the while possessing low poise to keep things fair. At least on paper. The number of nasty tricks she has under her umbrella guarantees you’ll spend most of the fight fleeing for your life as she flies out of view, bombards you with projectiles that inflict frost, summons jellyfish to impede you, coats herself in a protective shell to prevent her from being stun locked, AND she even has a grab that reduces your stamina to basically nothing. Needless to say, Ozma’s one true simp became enemy number one.

Skalpel

A soldier loyal to Khazan corrupted by Ozma’s wicked will, if Skalpel isn’t hacking you to pieces then he’s putting the fear of the plague into you, because this guy’s talent for inflicting poison damage is unmatched. Thanks to the cursed coffin he wields, he’s able to unleash rivers of flesh that reach shockingly far, causing the plague status to rapidly build if you’re exposed for too long. Throw in some grabs that will contaminate you instantly as well as combos that seem to go on forever, and you have a true battle on your hands. And then the coffin brings Skalpel back from the dead and turns him into a walking contagion. Yep, he’s got a phase two. Sure, his life is slowly disintegrating by itself, but that’s of little comfort when he’s turning the arena into a sea of rotting flesh!

Ozma

Hey, if the final boss of a Soulslike isn’t making you slam your head into a wall, then it’s not a good Soulslike. But even by those standards, Ozma is an absolute demon. His first phase alone has more hard-hitting attacks and debilitating move sets than a whole legion of bosses put together. Fire and frost AOEs, flying out of range, combos with askew timings, projectiles that inflict Chaos, even a few unblockables to cripple your health. Now we move onto phase two, where Ozma will switch between aura farming and decimating you with an absurd variety of projectiles as well as lashing out with his wingspan, all of which you’ll have to memorise given that there are differing methods to avoid taking damage. Oh, are you going for the true ending? Guess what, you get the gift of a third phase. Unrelenting and uncompromising, few bosses in recent times have gone this hard in the final hour, but Ozma is just built different.

Which of these bosses made you quit Soulslikes all together? Let us know in the comments!