If you’re attempting to complete Vampyr without drinking any innocent blood, the major bosses are going to be your toughest hurdle to overcome. Enemies are challenging, but they can usually be avoided. The big bosses? You’ll have to fight those, and there’s no avoiding them — there are five major boss battles in Vampyr, and here we’re going to break down each fight, and what you need to know if you want to win when you’re severely under-leveled.
To earn the ‘Not Even Once’ achievement / trophy in Vampyr, you’ll have to avoid drinking blood from NPC characters in the game. It’s fine to drink enemy blood, but drinking (and killing) innocents isn’t allowed. That puts you at a huge disadvantage, because you’re losing out on a lot of free, easy XP. Essentially, you’ll be stuck under-leveled and weaker than regular enemies for the entire game. Naturally, that makes the bosses way harder.
More Vampyr guides on Gameranx:
- Vampyr: Beginner’s Guide | 10 Tips To Help You Survive The Hunt
- Vampyr: How To Beat The Game Without Killing Anyone | ‘Not Even Once’ Guide
- Vampyr: How To Unlock All 9 Medicines | Cure Recipes Locations Guide
- Vampyr: All Lore Documents | Collectibles Locations Guide
- Vampyr: How To Find The Life is Strange Easter Egg | ‘Unlife Is Strange’ Guide
- Vampyr: Unlock Every Hint With Help From A Fortune Teller | Hint Shop Location
How To Beat Every Boss | Low Level ‘Not Even Once’ Guide
These are ‘Low Level’ boss strategies — tips for defeating bosses when you’re trying to complete a pacifist run in Vampyr. All bosses follow a similar pattern, and your combat strategy for pacifist runs should stay the same. Here are the skills I recommend you stick with to give yourself the best chance against some of these difficult encounters.
If you’re still having trouble, stop and complete investigations. Talk to everyone to find them. Cure everyone in the area for a little more XP. If you can gain a few more levels, you’ll find the bosses are much, much easier.
Vampyr Low Level Build
- Skills
- Autophagy: Keep this equipped so you can continue to heal scratch damage. Stay at 100% health whenever you can. Only upgrade down the lower path — you don’t want to increase the blood cost.
- Blood Barrier: Increase the amount of hits the shield can absorb. The shield is a free skill. It doesn’t cost blood. Keep it that way — it’s incredibly useful when you’re fighting bosses.
- Claw: The best way to deal scratch damage to bosses. All bosses will slowly heal. Claw does scratch damage too, stopping the amount a boss can regenerate naturally. It’s also fast and doesn’t use stamina. Use it to chain your regular attacks.
- Abyss: This is, in my opinion, the best ultimate skill. It greatly damages a single target, and stuns them for a long time. While they’re held by the shadow tendrils, you can continue to attack with Claw and regular attacks. They’ll be resistant, but still take damage. An amazing skill for boss fights.
- Weapons / Gear
- One-Handed Weapons: Keep your main hand, one-handed weapon fully upgraded at all times. Only use a one-handed weapon that can be upgraded up to Lvl 5. Do the same for all weapons.
- Off-Hand Melee Weapon: Bring an off-hand melee weapon like a stake of truncheon. Anything that can do stun damage. Stun damage doesn’t scale — meaning you’ll do the same damage to enemies, even if you’re far below their level. Incredibly important.
- Ranged Weapon: Bring a shotgun for maximum damage. Upgrade the amount of ammo you can carry, and bring a full stack of ammunition into a fight. The shotgun is surprisingly strong if you keep it upgraded. You’ll take off a large portion of a boss’ health with two shots.
- Serums: Always bring Blood Serum and Regeneration Serum. If you need to heal quickly, use Regeneration Serum. If you’re struggling to stun the boss, use Blood Serum — save your blood, mostly, for Autophagy healing.
Fergal
The first boss is a giant Volkud Vampire you encounter while searching the underground sewer network for evidence that Sean Hampton is innocent. Fergal is a giant, powerful opponent that will periodically summon shadow forms of himself. Move carefully and keep a full stamina bar for quick escapes.
He can be stunned easily. Drink his blood when you’re low, heal, and take your time — use Ultimate abilities when they’re ready, and attack when he’s stunned. You can also stun him with standard off-hand weapons, then combo him with regular attacks and claw attacks. When he’s low on health, use the shotgun to finish him off.
Mary
One of the hardest bosses in the game. Mary summons explosive blood pustules from the ground and all around her. To fight her, bring a full stack of shotgun ammo, healing serum, and blood serum. Early in the fight, when you’re low on blood, suck blood from the wounded priest — unless you’re doing a pacifist run.
If you don’t suck his blood, Mary will regenerate by embracing the priest. She’ll become even tougher, moving faster and summoning even more explosive blood bombs. They’ll appear underneath her and underneath you. Use your Blood Shield to attack her — with the Blood Shield active, you’re immune to the blood bombs. When she’s low on health, use your shotgun to finish her off.
Doris
The boss of the theater isn’t too much trouble in her first phase. It isn’t until she reveals her Ichor form that she becomes a deadly opponent. Time your dodge just right to go through her spinning slimy arm attack — and watch out for the poison she spits. Dodge backwards away from her, and wait for your chance to attack.
Use your ultimate, claw and regular attacks, then use the shield after your stamina recharges. Use the shotgun liberally. Keep up the pressure, and Doris won’t last too long.
McCullum
One of the easier boss battles. He’s fast and he uses ultraviolet lights to stun / drain your blood. Watch out for his crossbow bolts at range! Once he takes enough damage, he’ll start to use his sword more. Despite the cure he drinks, you can still stun him and drink his blood to replenish your blood meter.
Like with Mary, use the shield to enter the ultraviolet light. If you use an Ultimate and he’s still under a light, use the shield and combo him anyway.
The Disaster
The final boss. What starts out as an Ichor quickly becomes something far more insidious. Upgrade the amount of Blood Serum you can carry — when the avatar of the Red Queen appears, you won’t be able to drink blood to replenish your meter.
The first phase is simple. Harriet fights just like Doris, but she doesn’t have nearly as much health. Before defeating her, drink her blood and fully recharge your blood meter. When she’s defeated, the Red Queen will appear and the arena will fill with blood.
The Red Queen is fast and dangerous. When she raises both hands, she’ll explode violently — back away when this happens. She’ll also summon a small army of shadow clones to attack you. They disappear quickly, so just keep dodging until they dissipate.
Use the Shotgun when you’re in range, then the Shield when you’re about to attack. Stay alive so you can use your Ultimate + Attack Combos, and use your Blood Serum to refill your blood meter. This is the final battle, so you’re free to use all your items here.
And those are the best strategies for defeating all the major bosses in Vampyr. Goodluck, new blood!
