Quick Links
Patience tests are nothing new toLies of P, but there’s a special place in our hearts for the Door Guardian boss - a place devoid of light and joy. While other bosses are fast-paced, fun, challenging, and usually fair, the Door Guardian boss is your final slog to test how long you’re willing to wait to finish this game.
Thankfully, he’s not a difficult fight. His difficulty is almost entirely dedicated to the amount of time you’re willing to spend repeating the same few moves until the monster finally falls over or until you miss one dodge. To save you multiple attempts against this beast and save your sanity, we’ve compiled this guide just for you.
Wind-Ups And Attack Description
Zoning Spin
Drag Spin
The guardian brings its left arm back as its torso twists. It then drags its crystal hand along the ground in a sweeping motion. Can be followed up with a Right Swipe.
Dodge backward and sprint away.
Right Swipe
The guardian roars, takes a few steps forward with its right hand pulled all the way back, and swipes a very large area with its right hand. It can lunge at the last second to make the range further than you think. This combo can end here or continue.
Dodge forward and left. Wait for combo cue to end (monster relaxes) or continue before deciding to attack.
Follow-Up Hammer
The guardian pulls its left arm back and strikes the ground with its crystal fist after a short lunge.
Dodge left and forward. Attack.
Fury Guardian
Rushing Kick (Fury)
Leaning forward as it flashes red, the monster begins to sprint toward the player with both arms moving. Then it rests its weight on its back, left foot and kicks out with its right. It does a full spin off the ground before landing and completing the attack.
Stop moving and prepare to Perfect Guard.
Jumping Hammer
The guardian crouches as it brings its crystal hand back. Then, it leaps into the air and forward before it strikes the ground. This attack can appear alone, and it almost always follows the above attack in a combo.
Dodge forward and left. Attack.
Fury Slam
Body Slam (Fury)
The guardian jumps up off the ground as it flashes red. It then body slams the area in front and to the right of it with the right side of its body. It completes one roll away.
Dodge/Sprint backward and right or Perfect Guard. Sprint forward and attack if the monster places palm on the ground to stand.
Ground Hammer (Alternate)
This appears like the Ground Hammer in the rolling combo, but it can elongate to two slams on the ground instead of one if the player is too close before the combo officially ends by the guardian placing its hand flat on the ground to push itself up.This combo can be closely followed up with the Rolling Combo.
Stay away until confirming the combo is over. Sprint over to attack once.
Rolling Combo
Ball Roll
The monster wraps his arms around his knees and begins a forward roll. After completing a full rotation, he’ll end with a massive two-handed strike on the ground. This attack can appear alone or as a follow-up to the above attack.
Dodge to either side of him or, with enough space, sprint to the left or right.
Ground Hammer
The guardian strikes the ground once with his crystallized hand. A telegraphed tell is the lifting of its right foot.
If stuck in front of him during this attack, attempt to Perfect Guard.
Stomp
The door guardian raises its right foot up and pauses before slamming its foot back down. It can turn while holding its foot up. This attack also happens twice if the player is too aggressive and within melee before the attack ends, making this a combo.
Dodge or Perfect Guard. Attack after second attack completes or combo ends.
N/A
Power Slam
Roaring, the guardian raises both hands above its head in a fist. After a long delay, it slams both in front of it on the ground.
Dodge forward and attack.
The Door Guardian’sattacks are thankfully extremely limited.If he had sleeves, there wouldn’t be much up them.
Unfortunately, the few moves he does have hit harder than a Shot Put to the face.Dealing massive damagewith each strike andadding Shock build-up(thereby reducing your Stamina regen and defensive choices), yoursuccess hinges onmemorizing his combosand avoiding all of his attacks near perfectly.
His combos are mostly consistent, though there aresome combos that have extensionsyou’ll want to beware of (see table above).Always look for his telegraphed tellsbefore running in and attempting an attack.
Thebest combos and moves to punishinclude:
His rolling attack and Fury Slam combo can also provide good opportunities alone, but you’ll need topay close attention to their ending moves.These are the culprits of extended move hits and fast follow-up combos.
Additionally, hisFury Slam combo can turn into a Rolling Comboalmost immediately after the conclusion of one.
Where you’ll likely takethe most damage is from his right arm swipe.This attackhas a large range, and it can seem defectively small until the last three frames of the animation where he lunges out a little further right at the end.
This sweeping attack doesmassive damage, builds Shock,and almost always immediately knocks downand staggers the player.If it is followed with its chain,only a very fast roll dodge away will be able to save you, so start button-mashing.
20,000
Fire (Reduced Effect)
Recommended P-Organ Upgrades
Increase Staggerable Window 1 and 2, Perfect Guard Stiffness, Increase Pulse Cells, Link Dodge
Recommended Amulets
Patience Amulet, Blue Guardianship Amulet, Conquering Amulet, Dancing One’s Amulet, Iron Wall Amulet
Recommended Weapons
Falcon Eye (Legion Arm), any weapon with medium-reach
There is nothing fun about the Door Guardian. If you’re hoping to test any skills you may have gained before attempting the Abbey, you’re going to have to wait because it won’t be needed here.
Mr. Door Guardiancompletely nullifies all damage on his left sideand has adamage threshold of a high percentage on his right side.Even the most perfected builds will struggle to see even 300 damage at any point.
This is because the way you’remeant to deal damage against this boss is through Critical Hits.
However, theonly way to build staggeron this enemy isproportional to the number of hits you dealand not the amount of times you block.Blocking and Perfect Guarding does not raise the amount of stagger buildupin the Door Guardian.
This means that you cannot continuously block until he staggers to deal damage.
The name of the game here is tohit him several times until he eventually falls over, andyou can stab him in the head.Do this twice, and you’ll win. The problem is getting there.
Also, beware of his staggering. He has one fakeout that looks like a stagger but is recovered by an attack. When hedoesstagger, like many bosses at this point, he’ll have one final damage opportunity on the way down. If you stand too close, he’ll fall on you and deal damage. Wait for him to fall before getting close.
For this fight,taking the Falcon Eyewill allow you todeal ranged damagewhen you’re not next to the guardian. Him slowly healing and his high healthpool doesn’t matter when you automatically win if you Critical Hit him twice.
Therefore, we want toprioritize the number of hitswe can get consistently. The Falcon Eye increases this, as doesthrown items like Shot Puts.
Long weapons are nicedue to hisstrange hitboxes when he’s crouching(which is the stance he normally has during windows of opportunity). This will ensure getting in hits without missing opportunities and dragging the fight on even longer.
Beware of weapons with very large wind-ups or range like Puppet Ripper. These weapons struggle since their animations typically start on your right side. This means that they’ll strike the armored left side of the boss and ricochet, dealing no damage and not adding to the stagger buildup.
If you’re struggling with this boss, it is likely a combination of being overly greedy in attacks, and not having enough Stamina to both dodge and attack.
Beyond referring to the table above and practice, here area few helpful tipsthat might give you an edge:
With all of this information under your belt, take on that Door Guardian and bust your way into the Arche Abbey.
For all your troubles, this monster will give you absolutely nothing except the key to enter Arche Abbey: theHigh-Level Alchemist’s Badgeand maybe enough Ergo for half a level.
