[GameSpot] - How To Beat The Mask Maker Boss In Kena: Bridge Of Spirits

[343iBot]

You've already defeated Corrupt Taro and Corrupt Woodsmith in Kena: Bridge of Spirits, but your toughest challenge lies ahead. To find the relics for the third spirit, Toshi, you'll have to explore the spirit realm throughout the village. This will put you on three different paths, and each culminates with a boss fight. Perhaps the toughest is the Mask Maker, who hits you with all sorts of tough-to-deal-with magic.

Luckily, the Mask Maker doesn't really have two phases like previous bosses--he just throws a lot of different moves at you throughout the fight, and picks up the pace toward the back half of the battle. Even still, you'll want to try to avoid taking damage as much as possible by using arrows to knock the Mask Maker out of his tougher attacks, and save those heals for when you really need them.

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Abilities You Should Unlock Beforehand: Sprint Attack Heavy, Perfect Charge, Focus, Enter The Fray, Rot Hammer, Rot Arrow, Spirit Dash

You don't need many moves to take on the Mask Maker, but you will have to be fast. The boss likes to teleport around you, using your disorientation to hit you with different attacks. For the most part, though, you'll have plenty of time to deal with his different moves, provided you keep your head on a swivel. Keep your bow at the ready, first and foremost, and try to store up Rot charges so you can hit him at key moments to keep him off-balance.

The boss starts on the porch of the Mask Maker's house, but he'll almost immediately teleport away. Watch for the boss appearing behind you, but nearby--he likes to keep close to you, and will teleport three different times without attacking. You'll know you don't have to worry because he'll bobble his head back and forth during these moves. If he's close enough, spin around and land a few easy light hits to charge up your Courage and deal a little damage.

After three teleports, the boss will appear somewhere and start a different attack. He has a lot of different options here; he might summon some white lightning in a circle around him, which will spawn enemies, or do a backflip away from the spot he teleported to and raise his hand, drawing a sword. If the smaller enemies appear, run up and do a Rot Hammer attack or Sprint Heavy Attack to start taking them out. If you're quick, you can get all the minions in one blast, plus deal damage to the boss. The smaller enemies are merely an annoyance, but they make for a good way to charge Courage quickly. But do your best never to take your eyes off the boss, because he will punish you if you lose track of him.

If you do lose track of him, don't be afraid to just fire up your shield to protect you while you spin around and reacquire him. When you see the boss raise his hand, that means he's coming at you with a sword attack. He'll do this in one of two ways--either he'll dash straight at you like most enemies, executing a close slice, then a horizontal slice that sends energy out like a projectile, and finally a vertical slice that also shoots out like a projectile. These are slow attacks and if you can parry one, you'll break the whole chain, but they hit hard and are hard to dodge because of the pattern and reach.

The other sword attack has the boss teleporting behind you to slash you, then teleporting twice more for two more hits. Again, if you can manage a parry, great, but otherwise, shield up and start dodging to get out of there. The teleport attack in particular is a huge pain to deal with and hits hard.

The best way to deal with these moves, however, is to catch the boss after his last of the three teleports, wait for him to settle into whatever move he's planning, and then snipe him in the face with your bow. A headshot will knock him out of most of his moves, canceling them outright; a Rot Arrow shot will almost always do so if you catch him in the right part of the animation. If you see the boss raise his hand to draw the sword, send a quick arrow at him with Focus and you'll probably stop the assault altogether. Canceling his attacks is almost always the best way to deal with him.

Chase the Mask Maker around while he teleports to land some hits and charge your Courage.

The boss also has another ranged attack in which he summons five white balls of energy, which he'll then shoot at you. These are easy enough to dodge, although the last energy ball will continue tracking you even after it passes, swinging around for another attempt from behind you. Still, you can cancel this one with an arrow as well, so just keep on the ready to answer the boss's ranged attacks with one of your own and you'll be good.

There are two big attacks you'll want to watch for and deal with carefully. If you see the boss teleport somewhat far away from you, watch for a purple orb of energy near his hands. That means he's about to summon a big purple explosion, which will cover the whole battlefield in a dome of purple energy. You can Spirit Dash straight through this, as you might have guessed, so do so when it comes your way. The Spirit Dash is also a great way to close the distance and do some damage to the boss when he's across the field from you.

The move you want to look out for, and which represents your best opportunity to do damage, also concerns this purple energy orb. The boss will trap you in the center of the field inside some purple forcefield walls, but you won't be able to dash clear. He'll then create a bunch of illusory copies of himself, surrounding you, and float above the ground, with the ring of copies spinning in a circle. If the boss stops spinning, the real version of the Mask Maker will hit you with a powerful blast of energy that will rip your health. The good news is, this move is easily countered, giving you the upper hand.

When you get trapped in the purple forcefield, pull your bow again and start sniping the copies of the Mask Maker. You can hit them pretty easily by aiming at one spot and letting the copies come to you. Each copy you hit will disappear, but you're aiming for the real Mask Maker, which you'll know from the subtle difference between him and the copies--he has that purple orb of energy in his hands. Nail him with an arrow before he hits you with the attack, and you'll completely cancel it, stunning the boss and leaving him on one knee on the ground. Close the distance and hit him with everything you have--a Rot Hammer is great for this.

Keep moving around the battlefield, watching for the boss's strikes, and canceling all of his attacks that you can with arrows, and you'll soon best the Mask Maker and claim Toshi's relic.

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