Quick Links
Richteris thesixth and final boss encounterinWanted: Deadand is the second boss in theKowloon Streetarea. This fight is by far the most demanding one in the game, forcing you to pay attention to and use several mechanics to emerge victorious.
RELATED:Wanted: Dead - How To Defeat Dual Spider Tanks
Nothing quite prepares you for this encounter and its difficulty, but once you get the general gist of Richter’s moves down and how to respond to them, you can persevere with practice, execution, and maybe some luck. Overall, this encounter will test your melee prowess, so don’t expect to be able to fall back on your guns for a quick win.
Richter Overview
Being the game’s final encounter, youshould have every Skill unlockedand will be facingRichterat full power. However, you will be taking him on alone, as therest of the Zombie Unit dispatched the areaon a helicopter, meaningyou do not have Doc to Revive youif you fall, making this encounter that much more challenging. As mentioned above,this is the most demanding fightin the game, so you will need to be on point if you want any chance of emerging alive.
Before we move on to how to best prepare for Richter, we just wanted to note that this encounter can be pretty frustrating in the first few attempts. Still, once you learn his patterns and how to respond to his attacks, you will undoubtedly be able to take him down with patience and a sound strategy. This is one of the few battles that force you to play in a specific way, and it is surprisingly rewarding compared to all others.
Richter Phase One
Thefirst phaseof this encounter sets up the overall themes of the battle and does an excellent job of showing you whatRichteris capable of. He’squick, relentless, and gives you very little room to breathe,forcing you toplay defensively in a precise and confident way.Due to havingfew windows of opportunity to attack,you can often get overwhelmed by his aggressiveness and will get opened up and promptly killed as a result.
To make matters worse,Richter cannot be shot, as he will dodge every bullet fired at him,whichalso carries over into his second phase.You mustmaster Stone’s Katanafor this encounter andtake risks on defensethat will make or break the fight’s outcome.
Richter Phase One Strategy
Due to Richter’s aggressive nature, youcannot entirely block his attacks,andEvading them will more than likely get you caught up in the follow-up attacks.So, for this encounter, you will need toutilize and master the Parryif you want to make things much easier on yourself. While he has several attacks up his sleeve,all Richter’s actions can be Parried,allowing you to sneak in a few hits of your own from time to time.
Richter also possessesone Handgun Counterable attack,allowing you totemporarily stun himandfollow up with a devastating strikeand then a completeStandard Comboto maximize your damage output. Remember thatsince you have all Skillsnow, you can use theHandgun Counter Follow-UpandStandard Combo Extention Skillsto their fullest here, which will deal even more damage thanks to theMelee Damage Up Skill.Youroverall goalhere is toParryeverything Richter throws at you,attack when you can,andutilize your Handgun Counterwhen possible.
One last thing of note is thatwhile Richter is immune to bullets,youcan still use your Bullet Time Skillon him, butonly when you are actively attackinghim. So, when you fill yourAdrenaline Gauge,do not activate Bullet Time until you land at least two hits on him. We used it anytime you landed the Handgun Counter to maximize damage, but you can use it whenever you like, just as long as you know he cannot dodge it.
Lethal Lunge
Richter hunkers downandputs his hand on the hilt of his swordbefore lunging forwardwith a lethal slash. Just before attacking, however,a red light will flash,indicating you’re able to perform aHandgun Counter(Y on Xbox Controller). When executed, Richter will betemporarily stunned,allowing you topress ‘X’ immediately afterto launch into adevastating slashand then yourStandard Combo.If you haveBullet Timeready, you can use itmid-comboto extend and amplify your damage.
Flurry Strikes
Themost common attackstring at Richter’s disposal is hisFlurry Strikes,which has himunleash a series of slashes and strikesfrom his sword on you atblazingly fast speeds,making itimpossible to Guard throughthem allor Evade.To effectively avoid taking damage from this move, youmust Parry all strikes,which range somewhere aroundfour to five of them.After Parrying them, youcan typically land one or two hits on Richter.
Heavy Slash
Whilea rarity,Richter’sHeavy Slashis still devastating enough for you to keep an eye out for, as it dealsmassive damageon contact. Nonetheless, it iseasily telegraphedbyRichter stopping dead in his tracks and raising his sword high above his headbefore delivering a brutaloverhead slash.Though not always the case, Richterwill frequently follow this attack up with his Flurry Strikes,sobe on high alertafterward. You can time anEvadewith this attack or evenParry or Guardit, butwe recommend using the Evadehere, as you can create distance and attack if he doesn’t launch into his other attacks.
Richter Phase Two
Upondepleting Richter’s Leath Bar halfwayin phase one, a small cutscene will play out,beginning the second phaseof the encounter. Unlike most of the boss fights in this game,Richter gains access to a couple more attacksduring this stage of the fight, both of which are crucial to know how to counter, as they can be unnecessarily frustrating. Phase two is no joke and will be the portion of the fight that pushes you to your limits.
In addition to his new abilities,Richter will also use all of his attacks from the first phasebutat a much faster and more aggressive pace,so you will have to be on the ball here. And, like before,Richter will dodge your bullets,so don’t even think about using your guns to chip away at his health.
Richter Phase Two Strategy
Overall,your strategy in phase two is near-identical to the firstone, except for two additional things you must worry about. Youmust still Parry everything he throws at you,butat a much faster pace,and youwill have an even smaller window to land your own attacks.Essentially,everything you did before is still applicablehere, but you must execute in record time to deal damage.
Furthermore, histwo new actions will throw a wrench into thingsandput tons of pressure on you to make a decision and make it fastor risk dying and starting the encounter over. You can learn more about his new attacks in the section below, but remember thathis other attacks are the same as phase one and resolved the same way,just faster.
Healing Wind
Richter kneels down,and a wave ofred energy surrounds him,gradually replenishing his health.Hetypicallydoes thisat the start of phase two or when he runs away from youand creates distance. However,he won’t always do it in those situationsand will sometimes start healing right after he attacks you. Nonetheless, as soon as you see him kneel down and start healing,run at him, Slide, and then attackto break him out of it.Simply running at him and attacking mid-sprint will not workfor whatever reason, so youeither have to stop then attack or can Slide and attack.
Lethal Grab
The othernew attackin his arsenal is the most annoying andreplaces his Lethal Lungeattack. While still aHandgun Counterablemove,if you fail to land the Counter, you will instantly die.That’s right, ifRichterlands hisLethal Grabon you, even if you’re at full health, he will perform an attack on you thatinstantly killsyou.As soon as you see the red lightflash,press ‘Y’(On Xbox) to evade the Grab.Guarding, Evading, Parrying, or trying to run away will all result in death,so you must land your Handgun Counter here. After doing so, just do what you did before to maximize your damage!
From here, justrinse and repeat everything from the first phase and the second oneto emerge victorious. As laid out above, this encounter is frustrating in many ways, and that’s primarily due to being forced to Parry, which you may not have been doing through 90 percent of the game. However, once you get the rhythm down, you will have Richter beat in no time!
