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There are six biomes in the world ofReturnal, and you have to find some specific items to get to the boss in most of these biomes. If you’re defeated in the middle of the main quest in any area, you’ll start at the crashed ship again. Though you might be able to get to the required area a lot quicker.
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After beating Ixion in Crimson Wastes, you’ll head to the Derelict Citadel biome where you’ll find Nemesis standing in between you and freedom. This boss will feature a unique battle, and it’s important to know what you’re getting yourself into if you want to beat it.
How To Find Nemesis
Before you embark on a battle with the third boss in Returnal,you first have to reach a certain area in the Derelict Citadel. To reach Derelict Citadel, you’ll have to beat Ixion since you get the Icarian Grapnel from this boss,which is one of the most useful items in the third area. You don’t lose the Grapnel even if you’re defeated.
After getting to the Citadel,you’ll first go through a few rooms with easier enemies. Eventually,you’ll start meeting mini-bosses like Automaton alongside Broken Automaton and Armored Machina. Eventually, you’ll reach a tower that will open the bridge to the central tower.
While going through the central tower,you’ll first have to beat numerous trap rooms covered with red lasers. After a while, you’ll reach some stairs that’ll lead you to the boss room, but you’ll be fighting multiple enemies in this area.
Once you reach the top,you’ll find a room with a pathway leading up to a Severed at the end of the room. Enter the area and get close to the Severed to trigger a cutscene. This will show the mob twisting his hands and Selene will pass out, respawning in a different world with a giant boss in front.
Nemesis Boss Fight Phase One
In the boss room,you’ll see a giant mechanism come up from the ground with a blue shadow skull as its head. This boss will be accompanied by four other creatures floating around it. The first phase of the battle will start after the cutscene, and you’ll have to deplete the complete health bar to get to the second phase.
Here are all the attacks you might see from the boss during this phase:
The attacks from the boss aren’t a big problem themselves. What makes it lethal is that the surrounding creaturesalso launch yellow lasers on the battlefield coordinated with these attacks. These lasers can be shot in both horizontal and vertical patterns. The vertical yellow lasers are easy to sidestep, but you might get caught by the horizontal one if you don’t dash at the right time.
If you want to deal high damage to the boss,you need to aim your bullets at the red heart in the middle of its body. You won’t deal any damage unless you shoot at this small spot, which can be quite overwhelming when you’re focused on dodging the attacks.
Nemesis Boss Fight Phase Two
As you deplete the boss’s first health bar,it’ll be evident that you can hold your ground and dodge all his attacks. To prevent this, the ground you’re standing on will break as the second phase starts. The boss disappears and the platform below you gets divided into four different areas.
Three out of four of these platformswill have different tiles that you’re able to grapple to. This is why it was important to get and master the grapple before you got here.
When Nemesis spawns on the battlefield again, it’ll throw many easy-to-dodge yellow orbs at you again.It’s good to stay on the platform furthest to his position at the start of the battle. You’ll also see the creatures having a connection with the boss marked by a red electric effect. Here’s what this connection means:
It’s important to constantly grapple to different platforms during this phase,especially when you see the creatures about to launch a laser. They’ll still launch the lasers on your previous platform, and you’ll be able to completely avoid the attack.
The boss itself can also launch some blue lasers at you, but it’s quite rare. Once again, depleting the entire health will take you to the third and final phase of the fight.
Nemesis Boss Fight Phase Three
When the boss' health goes to zero in the second phase,it will trigger a giant yellow explosion that can’t be dodged. This explosion will teleport you to another realm once again, and you’ll be falling from a height. This time,there won’t be a specific amount of platforms around you. Instead, you’ll see a bunch of platforms below you that you can grapple to.
Grapple to the first platform you see to start shooting at the boss again. During this phase, Nemesis will mostly shoot a ton of blue orbs in a circular pattern, as shown above.There will be two different circles made by the orbs, and they’ll slowly accelerate to your position. Just like in the previous phases, the creatures will also shoot constant lasers on the field.
While you’re on a certain platform,there will be other small platforms going up in front of you, and it’s recommended to constantly grapple to different platforms. You’ll be able to avoid all the attacks with this.
Best Weapons For Nemesis Fight
As mentioned above, the weak point for Nemesis is very small,especially when you’re far away from the boss in the second and third phases. Moreover, you have to dodge a lot of attacks, which forces you to move constantly and makes it harder to aim. This is why Rotgland Lobber is one of the best weapons against him.
This weapon usually has only one bullet before it needs a reload unless you have a specific trait.Though the single bullet will deal a ton of damage to the boss in one go. Since you can’t constantly shoot at Nemesis without getting interrupted, this weapon will make this fight a lot easier.
If you don’t have access to Rotgland Lobber or don’t prefer the gun,Tachyomatic Carbine can be a decent replacement. This weapon is usually fully automated, and it’ll allow you to deal constant damage to the boss. Though you’ll have to take care of a lot more things with this weapon.
