We’re going to be checking out the Lightreaper in Lords of the Fallen. For many people, this was a wall that could not be climbed, and he serves as a challenging boss guarding the way to the final area of the game. The Lightreaper makes use of lightning-fast speed, devastating fire attacks, and a three-headed dragon, which can be intimidating. With a few tips and tricks, though, we’ll have him down in no time. Of course, having a sufficient amount of Lords of the Fallen Vigor is also essential in this fight.

Lightreaper Secret

The first thing to know about the Lightreaper is that at the beginning of the fight, you can’t hurt him. He’s flying the massive dragon, which will perform two different attacks, each one twice, before the fight really starts. The first thing that this dragon will do is fly across the arena, breathing fire down as it goes. This looks a lot worse than it is. All that you have to do is sprint sideways and dodge at the very last moment before the fire touches you. It leaves a trail of Lava, so be sure to avoid that. Try not to lock onto the boss because that makes it harder to dodge the fire.

Next is the ground slam. The dragon will hover for a moment before landing on you with a massive slam. This is quite easy to avoid by simply dodging forward at the last moment. The dragon will then breathe fire again and finish up with the final ground slam, after which you can position yourself behind it in time to get some quick damage in on the Lightreaper, who will jump off the dragon and land behind it next to you. Note that when the boss loses a quarter of his health, the dragon cycle will begin once more.

Before we get down to how to beat the Lightreaper, let’s deal with one very important factor to make your life a lot easier. Now you may have noticed that the Lightreaper constantly has a slow health regen effect with no parasite in sight. It’s actually hidden in the grate in the middle of the room, but you can’t kill it. To resolve this issue before you enter the boss fight, go into Umbral outside the door. Nearby is an umbral ladder, which you can climb. After navigating over the walkway, you will find an Umbral Tumor. Slay this, and the Lightreaper’s parasite will die, removing the health regen effect.

Lightreaper Moveset

Then the Lightreaper Moveset. The fight begins. The Lightreaper’s standard melee attacks are not dissimilar to the Skinstealers that you fought in the past. He performs swift slashes, often in extended combos of up to four or five hits, designed to catch you as you come out of dodging the subsequent hit. The trick is to stay locked on and try to dodge around to the Lightreaper’s left side, after which you can get a hit or two in while he recovers from his attacks.

When the Lightreaper crouches slightly with his swords to his sides, he’s about to perform a long-distance slash, which comes out very quickly and deals high damage, knocking you down. You must dodge at the very last moment, but sprinting to the side can work as well. Sometimes, this attack actually comes at the end of a combo. The Lightreaper’s attack combos can include a jump and slam, which has a small area of effect. It can also charge this attack to create a larger explosion and may even spam it a few times to catch you off guard.

If you see him holding his arms close to his chest and glowing red, he is charging a fast-moving explosion that will expand outwards from his location across the whole arena. You can block this, but it is better to dodge forwards at the very last moment, as it actually deals with very high damage.

The firebomb throw occurs when the Lightreaper spirals up into the air and is often followed up by an explosive slam at your location. This is a good attack for the boss to perform, as it leaves him recovering on the ground for a very long time, allowing for heavy retaliation.

One of the more annoying things this boss can do is his ranged Crescent Projectile. This is a fast-moving and has a really dodgy hitbox, often dealing high damage even if it doesn’t actually look like it’s touched you. The trick is to dodge forwards at the very last moment to avoid both the Crescent and its small fire trail.

On occasion, the Lightreaper will stay at a distance and perform some peculiar taunting action, which I’m assuming stems from being an unbridled psychopath. When he draws his sword and pulls you, do some ranged attacks on him. One attack, which is designed to be a bit more of a trickster’s misdirection, is the fire trail. He’ll drag his sword along the floor sideways to create a burning area on the ground while it looks like he is missing you entirely and going in the wrong direction. He will then quickly slash at you, dealing with moderate damage.