Overview
A guide for average human beings and not super reflex combo demons
Introduction
Cheer up crew cuts! I’m about to save you an hour of learning this stuff on your own if you want to wield overwhelming power to exact an unexpected conclusion. The sweet nectar of victory will still be all your own effort; I’m just saving you the headache of spending 90 minutes learning this stuff on your own. There is a video example in this guide of a recent attempt, and as you can see it is quite a messy one. You don’t have to play perfectly to get it, you just need some patience and the know-how to deal with Urizen’s attacks without any of the air mobility you would usually fight him with in the bloody palace. Ya takin’ notes?
I’m No Dead Weight! Give Me the Essentials only!
• Exceed is vital to finish this fight in any sort of timely fashion. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but do learn to consistently EX your ground and air combos plus High Roller.
• Do *not* sidestep Artemis’ falling lasers, the pre-made animations do not take into account any other projectiles but the one overhead, you will dodge face first into them, jumping is preferred
• Know when you’re defeated and reload, restarting the mission is a pain and it can easily add hours to your playtime doing nothing but working your way back to Urizen and sitting through the mission 1 cutscenes and/or loading screens.
• Colour Up’s stunning properties do affect Urizen but only in transitional moments. Whenever the fight starts, the crystal breaks or is restored, or he forcefully pushes you back, that is the time to offload all 3 charges on him and buy you valuable time. This is essential if you want to finish the fight in 2 crystal breaks and aren’t a combo god.
• The time-slowing spheres also elongate your iframes accordingly, use it to save yourself in crisis situations
If that’s all you need to know and would rather learn everything else on your own, good luck out there, you mad devil! For everyone else there’s the rest of the guide.
Starting Things Off Right
The fight is divided into 2 distinct phases, but is largely random within them. However here is a reliable start:
As soon as the curtain rises offload all 3 Colour Up charges onto the crystal while walking forward, jump until you’re in range and attack the crystal while charging the gun again. He will let you hit him exactly 7 times if your timing was good enough, then the crystal will begin to turn into a spike. Do not waste an EX charge trying to land an 8th hit, it’s impossible. Simply avoid the spike, whereupon Urizen whill force you back with his push ability. Repeat the process once more, though this time he will only let you hit him twice before forcing you back again. He will always shoot a time sphere after this process.
This will reliably eat into roughly 20% of the sphere’s health and will make the fight go way smoother than it would otherwise be.
Maybe Too Right
As you can see in the video example, however, if you come out of the gates too hot Urizen will retaliate in kind and immediately jump to a phase 2 attack pattern. Don’t worry too much about this, it is player controlled, but the measurement is bizarre (it’s probably some hyper specific damage per frames threshold). Most of the time you will miss this window. And even if you don’t you’ll have to fight at this level at some point so it’s not a big deal, just be ready for when it happens!
Know Thy Enemy
The fight is divided into two phases, the only difference between them being the amount of concurrent attacks Urizen will throw at you. The second phase begins after he repairs his crystal for the first time, and he will remain in that state until you defeat him. A 2 crystal-break fight is optimal.
Following is a short list of Urizen’s attacks and ways to deal with them
Urizen’s bread and butter attack, and the vast majority of what you will be avoiding. Columns of light descend overtop of you. A single laser does very little damage, but have more than a couple fall on you and you’ll be taking a lot more damage than you can afford with no upgrades. They light up the floor where they will fall and have no wider range, easy to avoid. You generally have time for a 4 hit combo in between the shining on his hand and impact. 6 hits if you want to cut it dangerously close. Remember to jump dodge them, do not sidestep them.
The crystal begins to throb and otherwise deforms until it turns into a massive forward facing spike with a fair amount of range. Highly damaging and will knock you back considerably, but easy to dodge. A simple sidestep or jump will put you in the clear, it has no horizontal range whatsoever.
An eruption of blue flames spouts from the floor after briefly glowing underfoot. It’s tricky to see where they will appear and the glows spell out more a general area than a precise location. Possible to jump them if you time the apex of your air taunt perfectly but risky, better to avoid the area altogether. You cannot take more than one of these in a given fight.
Blue spheres of light that expand upon reaching their impact. They will slow you down for a few seconds, whilst retaining all the properties of your current animation. Inoffensive on their own, but can leave you at the mercy of attacks that mean game over. You can bait them and force them to miss if you time your jumps properly. Can be dodged relatively easy otherwise.
A magical circle appears between Urizen’s legs and shoots a thick laser beam that sweeps the arena from left to right then return to the left. You can only take one of these per fight, luckily they move fairly slowly and can be easily dodged by any method (except perhaps dropkicking under them as they pass above you, someone please check!) As of Phase 2 these will be shot in pairs, both beams following the same pattern.
Similar to the time sphere, but localised entirely within the pool of blood at Urizen’s feet. Extremely rare, generally only happens when you are not in the pool. Almost always followed by a volley of Domination. Do not get caught in this under any circumstances.
The most straightforward attack in the list, however by far the most troublesome. Always following a time sphere or a Domination beam. Always shot in a volley of 2. They can be parried back at him for massive shield damage, but timing is very strict. You can only take one of these per fight. They have light tracking on them, so dodging should be done at the last opportunity only. If you hug the right side of the pool of blood they cannot target you, but keep in mind the area for this is extremely small, so be ready to roll them if you’re denied the area by any other attack.
As a final note, he can push you back with a kinetic blast for no damage. One of those, boring, pace-slowing additions they gave to all bosses in this game. This can be avoided with a well-timed side-steam, but the telegraphing is a simple gesture of his hand so I wouldn’t waste too much mental energy searching for something like that.
In general, all the attacks are very simple to evade and understand on their own, problems only arise when they come out in conjunction, progressively denying you more and more areas of the battlefield and closing off options for evasion. In phase 2 this reaches a climax, when you will often see 2 domination lasers, a time sphere, a fireball volley and often fire pillars or falling lasers all reach down. Just keep your cool and address them as they come!
Respect and When Not to Pay It (General Strategy)
You may think you don’t have the power to set the pace and dominate the space like you do when you fight Urizen, and whilst that is largely true, that doesn’t mean you have to let him set the tempo of the bout either. All of his attacks revolve around denying you certain areas of the arena, but all that means is that you’re free to relocate to a different spot and continue the assault.
Do not take a step back when the Falling Lasers illuminate the ground; simply jump to a clear area and continue striking. Don’t let the Crystal Spike force you back; move aside and keep fighting. This last one can be deceiving, since the crystal remains locked in place during the attack, but its HP bar will still absorb any hits you unleash against the barrier. The Pillars of Flame have a deceiving range, but their area is still fairly contained, a couple jumps to the side should clear you of them. Don’t let him force you onto the backfoot when you don’t have to take it.
However, when the Time Spheres come out it is crucial that you stop all offensive and make your priority to avoid them. Getting caught in them can mean an instant game over depending on the whims of the RNG. Domination lasers are dangerous, but command little attention on their own, only be aware that there is a there’s usually more important attacks following them.
Twin Dominations are your main concern. The moment you see the magic circle in phase 2 you need to drop everything and decide whether you’re going to take this attack in the centre of the arena, or in the right corner of the pool of blood. The former allows more lenient timing for avoiding the lasers, and a clearer view of the trajectory of the fireballs, but also demands that when you do decide to dodge you do it cleanly. Were the key areas for your plan to be denied by Lasers or Pillars, improvisation will require extremely quick reflexes with the Fireballs fast oncoming. The latter allows for safety from the fireballs, but very tight windows on the lasers, and is prone to forcing you into panicked improvisation if any attack were to deny you the corner that the fireballs can reach. Feel it out, find out which method fits you best, and of course remain a little nimble and ready to adapt should the situation change. No plan of attack survives contact with the enemy after all.
And with that, you’re ready! I have hopefully saved you a lot of repetition and learning, and left you with only the game feel and the feeling out of your own approach to this fight. Have fun, and go smash that guy harder than in Mission 20.
And with that, you’re ready! I have hopefully saved you a lot of repetition and learning, and left you with only the game feel and the feeling out of your own approach to this fight. Have fun, and go smash that guy harder than in Mission 20.