The final boss of Dead Cells is a huge, sword-shaped roadblock most players will slam into before finally attaining victory. The Hand of the King is tough — really tough, and if you’re not prepared, you’ll get squashed pretty fast.
Luckily, there are ways to combat this hulking, double-sword wielding brute. With a few tactics and before-hand knowledge, this guy is totally beatable, even if you aren’t sporting the best gear. Below, you’ll find all the information you need to bring down this boss and earn your first Boss Cell.
More Dead Cells guides on Gameranx:
- Dead Cells: 10 Tips To Help You Beat The Game | Completion Guide
- Dead Cells: How To Find Keys & Cash In The Promenade | Secrets Guide
- Dead Cells: How To Get The Vine, Teleportation, Ram & Spider Runes | Locations Guide
- Dead Cells: Want To Make Easy Progress? Equip Double Turrets | Powerful Build Guide
- Dead Cells: How To Access Every Area | Hidden & Optional Areas Guide
- Dead Cells: All Secret Key & Blueprint Locations | Gardener’s Keys, Architect’s Key & More
How To Beat The Hand Of The King | Last Boss Guide
The Hand of the King is always located in the Throne Room, accessed through the two key doors in High Peak Castle. To obtain the keys, you need to enter at least two (of three) optional rooms and defeat the Elite Enemies inside. The Elite encounters will always drop a key.
- 3 Health Potions: The Hand of the King himself can kill you extremely quickly if you’re not careful. Before encountering the boss, I highly recommend you bring at least 3 Health Potions. These can be refilled between biomes, so if this is your first Boss Encounter, you should have a full flask.
- 2 Lives: If you’re really struggling against the boss, I recommend unlocking the Ygdar Orus Li Ox mutation in the first area. This powerful mutation will restore you to life if you die in combat, giving you 25% health. The Hand of the King can kill you in an instant, so bringing it all the way to the end will help your odds.
- 2 Ice Platforms: Above the spikes, you’ll find two ice platforms. These will melt almost the instant you stand on them. Use them to jump over the Hand of the King’s charge attack, or as a brief safe place to heal.
- 2 Sets Of Spikes: The Hand of the King will attempt to push you into the spikes with his huge charge attack. It doesn’t damage you, but it does push you into the spikes. Either roll through it, or let the attack push you. Just don’t jump! Use your standard double-jump to escape. If you have the Spider Rune, you can touch the edges and wall-run out.
- 3 Elite Enemy Summons: Annoyingly, the Hand of the King will retreat from battle and summon enemies three times. If you don’t kill these enemies fast enough, the Hand of the King will just spawn into the arena with them. Quickly wipe these enemies out!
Dodge Hit Attacks: Most of the HotK’s attacks can be dodged. Watch the blue light that appears before his attacks — he’ll either swing his sword once, which has surprisingly long range, so dodge through him forward if you’re close. Or, he’ll charge and attempt to push you into the spikes. Jump over him, using the ice blocks for a little extra height.
He’ll also bound the ground to summon a shockwave of rocks, throw grenades, or drop flags that will explode when the countdown reaches zero. You can destroy the flags near you to avoid the boom.
Hand Grenades, Traps, and Turrets are all extremely powerful against the Hand of the King. Bring legendary weapons and try to get trinkets with +20% damage reduction. Stack your status effects and damage multipliers to bring the HotK’s health down extremely fast. The faster the better. Otherwise, stay on the edge of the map, be prepared to roll through his attacks, and be ready to jump over the HotK using the ice platforms. Keep it up, and heal between rounds (or from the ice platforms) and you just might make it through this fight.
