This Returnal Phrike Boss Guide will show you how to beat the first boss in the game called Phrike. This boss can be found in Overgrown Ruins, where he fights ferociously mixing both projectiles and melee attacks.
Preparing yourself to face the first boss requires you to have a good weapon with a few permanent traits that make your weapon stronger than its base version. You have a better chance of defeating the boss in a more effective manner if you have an assault rifle that you have used on plenty of smaller enemies to have some traits equipped on the gun.
In addition, equipping a healing item before you head into the battle gives you the chance to stay in the battle as long as you can if you get caught up in one of the devastating attacks Phrike throws at you.
Returnal Phrike Boss Guide
Below we have detailed how you beat Phrike and what his attack patterns are in all three phases of the battle.
How to Beat Phrike
Before you head into the fight, you have to remember two very important things to keep you ahead in this battle. The first thing is to keep moving left or right to avoid the various incoming projectiles Phrike will throw at you as he introduces himself. The second is to have a gap between the two of you that allows you to predict the direction of the incoming projectiles, giving you ample time to calculate your dodge or dashes. If you stay far enough, you won’t even have to dodge the projectiles for you can just run around to miss them.
Phrike fights in three phases, where each phase resets the health bar to full, while the next phase brings in a few new attacks to mix up the fight against you. Unsurprisingly, the last phase is the most difficult out of the first two, where Phrike uses all of its attacks while picking up the pace in between his mix of attacks.
The attacks begin with the red homing projectiles that shoot a barrage of red glowing missiles at your location. This is a pretty easy attack to dodge and you can just run either side to avoid them. The attack is followed by the yellow orbs projectiles that are rained from the top to the bottom. The several orbs force the player to track each orb down and find a gap between them to avoid being hit. The attack is more so to break the focus of the player from the boss, as Phrike will immediately follow up with another attack to hit you. The immediate attack is done with the faster moving purple orbs that he sends forth at you, forcing you to move again.
As you can probably see that keeping a move on is the best way to avoid all attacks, you should fire away at the boss continuously to keep up the pressure in the return. You might have to stop when dodging, but continue immediately when you get back on your feet.
In the second phase of the attack, Phrike introduces a few more attacks in the mix, where the first is the slashing melee attack indicated by the red glowing arm, while a quick lased beam attack which is quite tricky to dodge but nothing impossible as you learn to anticipate it. When he uses the laser on the ground, a red ring slowly expands outwards and grows in size. You can simply jump over the ring, but be careful as it is immediately followed by the melee attack.
In the final phase of the battle, Phrike will mix in all the attacks while picking up the pace and producing more melee attacks to overwhelm you. You can think of it as the boss’s last desperate attempt to throw everything it’s got with all the speed it has, which is true as it can catch you with a few hits. This is where you should be aware of all its attacks, anticipate them, keep moving around and dodging when required, and continue spraying down your bullets at Phrike.
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