Facebook
Reddit
Email
Everything you need to know about the main story boss, Viper, in The First Berserker Khazan, how to easily defeat it, and more.
Viper is easily the biggest early-game roadblock in The First Berserker Khazan. Although it’s the final boss of the third main story chapter, it feels a lot like the final boss of the game, featuring two phases, delayed attacks, and multi-hit combos, which can easily stagger and kill Khazan in a single string.
As the leader of the Dragonkin, Viper is meant to be intimidating and challenging. While the first phase of the boss is manageable, the second phase is where the battle really starts, granted you’re able to make it to that part of the boss fight. Despite being a multi-phase battle, Viper’s first phase is almost equally as tanky as the second phase, which makes the encounter incredibly challenging to survive.
Thankfully, the Viper has plenty of weaknesses that you can easily exploit to get an edge over the boss. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to easily defeat the Viper in The First Berserker Khazan.
How To Unlock Viper in The First Berserker Khazan?
Viper is the final boss of The First Berserker Khazan’s Mission 3 in Embars. As such, it’s not a boss that you miss or skip to progress the main story. Serving as the leader of the Dragonkin that has taken over the Temple ruins in Embar, Viper is extremely powerful and commands his fellow Dragonkin. In addition to that, Viper also uses a mystical artifact, a Dragon Scale, presumably a remnant from Hismar. Viper uses the scale as the tip of its Spear, and it’s also the relic that ultimately transforms the Dragonkin into an otherworldly beast, mutating its left arm and giving it the strength of the Berserk Dragon. However, the Dragon Scale also serves as the boss’s primary weakness.
Much like other beast-type enemies in the game, Viper has designated weak spots, which can be broken to deal bonus damage and also stagger the boss. In its first phase, the weak spot is the boss’s horns and the Dragon Scale on its Spear. If you parry enough of the Viper’s attacks, it results in the Spear getting damaged. Furthermore, if you deal enough Frontal Damage to the boss, it results in breaking its horns. The primary goal for the first phase is to break both these weak links as soon as possible to stagger Viper and deal a ton of damage.
In his second phase, Viper becomes less agile but becomes incredibly aggressive, giving very few opportunities to dish out damage. Furthermore, in the second phase, Viper also occasionally shrouds the arena in darkness and performs a series of lunging attacks. In this phase, the weak spot of the boss is its arm, which can be broken to stagger it momentarily and reduce the damage it deals with its attacks.
Strategy To Defeat Viper
For the Viper, we highly recommend using the Dual Wield or Spear, as these weapons offer excellent mobility at the cost of lower damage compared to the Greatsword. However, being able to quickly move around the battlefield is going to come incredibly handy against the Viper.
For the Spear, we highly recommend fully maxing out the Moonlight Stance tree, as it’s going to be the primary means of damage. In the first phase, you’re going to stick close to the boss’s front and deal damage to it in between its 3 and 5-hit combos. Do note that you can dodge all the attacks of its combo, save for the last one. You would want to parry the final attack of a multi-hit combo as it easily staggers the boss.
Once you deplete the boss’s Fortitude Gauge, do a Brutal Strike but from the front to deal additional Frontal Damage. Doing so makes it easy to break the Viper’s horns and stagger it. Once the Viper reaches close to 50% health, it does a tornado attack, which you should absolutely dodge. As soon as you see the Viper retreating and starting to spin his Spear, move as far away from the boss as possible. After the tornado combo, Viper becomes more aggressive. However, breaking his horns limits the number of attacks it can do.
In the second phase, your primary objective would be to survive and deal damage via Burst Counters. Here’s a detailed look at how you can easily defeat the Viper.
Tips To Defeat Viper
The first phase will require a bit of practice. However, it’s not all that difficult once you figure out how the combos work. The second phase is a bit erratic, but it is also when the Viper’s defenses are low, making it susceptible to damage if you capitalize on the Burst Counters. Here are some tips that should help you easily defeat the Viper in The First Berserker Khazan:
Phase 1
- The Viper always starts the battle with a 3-hit combo that can be easily parried. After this combo, the boss gives a brief moment of pause where you can dish out damage. Capitalize on this opportunity by dishing out a full Spirit Attack combo.
- Make sure to not only parry but also dodge attacks. Dishing out damage also hurts the Fortitude Gauge, as such, parrying isn’t necessary, at least in the first phase.
- After dodging the tornado attack, the Viper always does a command grab, which you can avoid by dodging to the right (boss’s left).
- Unleashing a Moonlight Stance combo followed by a series of Swift Attacks easily staggers the Viper in the first phase.
Phase 2
- In phase 2, the Viper has access to a 3-hit combo, which it usually starts with. However, occasionally, the boss can perform a 5-hit combo at the start and end it with a Burst Attack. We recommend trying to parry these attacks and counter the Burst Attack.
- Burst Counters are going to be the primary means of dealing damage to the boss. You can practice it on the Elite Dragonkin enemy right outside the boss arena or on the Red Phantom summons.
- Performing a successful burst counter not only deals massive damage to the boss’s Fortitude Gauge, it also staggers the Viper.
- Once the Viper is staggered, focus attacks on the left arm to break it as quickly as possible.
- When the Viper shrouds the arena in darkness, hold block and stand your ground. You can deflect the lunging attacks, but blocking them is also a perfectly viable option.
- Once the darkness subsides, the Viper will once again perform its 3 and 5-hit combos, which you can counter to get an easy victory over the boss.
- For the Burst Counter timing, press the B or the Circle button right when you see the attack coming your way. You can also buffer the input by pressing it a few more times to get the counter registered.
Looking For More?
Thank you for reading the article. We provide the latest news and create guides for Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield, ARK Survival Ascended, and more. Also, watch Deltia play games on Twitch or visit his YouTube channel!
