Death Stranding isn’t just about transporting cargo from one location to another. You’ll still encounter deadly monsters and killer humans as you progress through the story — and all of these fights are unique. To showcase these awesome moments in the story, we’re delving into the details of each boss battle.
In Death Stranding, you play as Sam Bridges Porter, a man that transports goods across the dangerous American continent. He has one goal in mind — reconnect the cities so the remaining population can work together to solve this crisis. You’ll have to avoid human enemies and ghostly BTs to complete your jobs, and eventually Sam is pulled into a conspiracy, where you’ll have to do battle with some truly fearsome supernatural foes.
Whether you need help or just want to see what all the bosses are like, check out the entries below.
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The Crusher BT
- Recommended Equipment: Hermetic Grenades, Blood Bag, Cryptobiotes
The massive BT is summoned when you arrive at Port Knot City in Episode 2. The creature, controlled by Higgs, slathers around and attempts to drag you down into the water with its huge tentacles. To avoid a trip into the voice, bring some extra equipment.
You can only hurt the BT with Hermetic Grenades. These weapons will sap your life unless you have a Blood Bag equipped. For this fight, you only really need one Blood Bag, but you’ll need lots of Hermetic Grenades. If your Blood Bag runs dry, it’s helpful to keep a stock of Cryptobiotes. They’re common and heal you fast.
- NOTE: If you’re playing Online, mysterious white ghosts will appear from the darkness and give you items you need. Look for the spirits and grab what they drop!
In the arena, immediately rush to the closest submerged building. Climb up and try to stay on dry ground. The BT will attempt to pull the building under. You can use Hermetic Grenades to damage it, slowing it down, but it won’t stop.
You’ll eventually need more. You’ll find extra stocks of Hermetic Grenades on the rooftops. Collect a few — each one has multiple grenades you can throw. Don’t forget to dump the useless items when they’re empty. Just keep moving!
Otherwise, the boss doesn’t offer much challenge. If you stay out of the water, sprint around, and collect more Hermetic Grenades, you’ll be able to take it out with about 12-16 grenades.
The Combat Veteran
- Recommended Equipment: N/A
The boss appears soon after arriving at South Knot City. When you leave (after completing a very important delivery) a giant storm will appear, sucking Sam into a mysterious battlefield. You’ll lose all your equipment, so grab everything you can find. There are plentiful Bood Bags, Handguns, Shotguns, Grenades and Assault Rifles. I recommend snatching a few Grenades, Assault Rifles, and Shotguns.
- NOTE: Make sure to [Equip] Blood Bags. Once equipped, you’ll get an instant transfusion if you take damage. In this fight, you can get killed very quickly, so be prepared!
The boss is located in a massive complex of trenches. He’s guarded by undead BT soldiers armed with rifles and shotguns. The shotgun soldiers are your real threat. Once you’re spotted, they’ll fan out, surround you, and attempt to attack from multiple angles. They’ll also use smoke grenades or frag grenades if you’re hiding around a corner.
The goal of this fight is to track down the mysterious man himself. Unlock his squad, he doesn’t have a helmet — he’s armed with an Assault Rifle and wears modern combat fatigues. His soldiers will surround and protect him if they’re nearby, and they tend to travel in a large group. If you can spot them all together, toss a grenade!
The BTs that accompany the Combat Veteran can kill you very, very quickly when they’re together. Especially the shotgunners. Use a shotgun of your own to knock them off their feet. If you’re using an Assault Rifle, hide behind cover and aim for the head to score an instant kill.
Hunt down the Combat Veteran, and shoot him enough to make him disappear and retreat. He’ll spawn in a different area of the map and send his soldiers to look for you. Use your scanner to locate the undead, blast Combat Veteran, and repeat. After about five downs, you’ll win the fight.
NOTE: You’ll have to fight this boss multiple times, and he’s essentially the same each time.
Higgs – Extinction Entity
- Recommended Equipment: Quadruple Rocket Launcher, Assault Rifle Lv. 2, Blood Bags x4
When you hook up the final Q-pid location in the West Region, rest and warning alarms will blare. Up top, you’ll encounter a gigantic form of Higgs — he’s taken control of an Extinction Entity. To damage it, you need to target Higgs himself. Aim for the gold spot where Higgs is located; he moves around. He starts around the heart, moves to the upper chest, and goes to the shoulders and hips.
Higgs is part of a massive black tar monster. In the first phase, he stomps around slowly — beware the waves of black tar he generates when he steps, they’ll knock you off balance and send your gear flying. He also launches his umbilical cords at you. If they snatch you, press [Square] to shake them off.
At about 2/3rds health, Higgs will spawn a wave of jellyfish BTs. Aim for the neck hole and shoot the cluster of BTs with hermetic bullets to burst entire groups of them before they can settle on the ground. At 1/3rd health or about, Higgs will summon gold BTs that hunt you like homing rockets. Take out the gold BTs with hermetic rounds, or stand on a platform away from the black tar.
White BTs will spawn and defend you from the gold BTs, or throw you useful items from other defeated players. Look out for Blood Bags and make sure they’re equipped! You’ll need them for all the hermetic rounds you’re going to use.
Use the Rocket Launcher (Hermetic) to leave giant blood spots on the boss, and then you can use standard bullets from Assault Rifles to harm Higgs. Aim for the body, and just keep shooting! If he’s infected with blood, you can hurt him with normal rounds.
Higgs – On The Beach
- Recommended Equipment: N/A
After taking out the giant Extinction Entity, Higgs will retreat to a beach. Go to a Private Room and use Fragile to travel to the beach where you’ll face off against Higgs man-to-man.
In this fight, you’ll only have your Strand. Higgs has an assault rifle, grenades, and he can teleport at will. Before starting this fight, go to the Timefall Farm and reach Rank 3 to unlock the Human Detector for your scanner.
For this fight, you need to use stealth. Hide behind cover, and carefully avoid detection. Higgs has a scanner he’ll use — you can use your own to counter it, or let him see your position and sneak away.He’ll always teleport to face your last-known-location.
- NOTE: You can heal at any given time during this fight using the Cryptobiote generators. They don’t fully heal you, so grab as many as you can.
To fight Higgs, you have a few options. Wait for him to reload, and you can charge him. Hold [R2+L2], sprint, and attack to shoulder-charge and stun him. Then you can attack with your normal punches. Or, you can collect an empty cargo. Hold it in your right hand, then punch and release [R2] to throw.
If you hit Higgs, you’ll stun him temporarily. That gives you time to attack. Finally, equip the Strand and sneak up behind him. Press [L2] and then [R2] when you’re close to string him up. While he’s tied up, you can kick him three times for extra damage.
Once you do enough damage, Higgs will switch to close-range attacks. He’ll teleport around, trying to sneak up behind you and attack. Wait for him with the Strand equipped — hold [L2] and then press [R2] when he attacks to counter him. Then you can attack.
For the final phase of the fight, you’ll have to fist-fight Higgs. You’re stuck, but you can block with [R2/L2] and punch with [Square]. Move the [D-Pad] to weave — weaving backwards is a good way to avoid attacks and keep your stamina. If you block too long, your blue stamina bar will drain and Higgs will break your guard.
Just keep punching, and if you see Cryptobiotes after a strong attack, quickly hold [Square] to snatch it and heal before Higgs can get it. Once you win this round, you’ll defeat Higgs once and for all.
