Quick Links
The First Berserker: Khazanis a complex and gruellingly challenging soulslike with exceptionally well-made boss encounters that will test your might and push you to your limit. And if you’re looking for a skill check, look no further than your encounter with Maluca deep in the Throne of the Veil.
Overall, while theMalucaencounter is undeniably sick looking and exhilarating, it will throw everything at you, forcing you to be nearly perfect at executing your gameplay, as one wrong move will have you spawning back at the Blade Nexus with your head hung low. However, with a proper strategy, you can make things slightly less chaotic, which is at least something!
Maluca Overview
Malucais arguablyone of the most challenging and complex boss encountersin The First Berserker: Khazan, as hedeals tremendous amounts of damage, has excellent speed, and can hit you from pretty much any range,depending on the attack he chooses to use. Andthat’s only in the first phaseof the fight.
Hissecond phasehas him becometaken over by Chaos,giving himaccess to a boatload of new attacks,most of which areblazingly fast and hard to evade.He will alsodeal substantially more damage,which is a recipe for disaster if you’re on the receiving end.This won’t be easy,so be ready for a battle!
How To Defeat Maluca
If you’ve made it this far, youshould be more than capable of defeating Maluca,it will just take a bit of time, ashe has TONS of attacks that can send you right back from where you came from,andthat’s not even including the absurdity that’s his second phase,forcing you to take on Chaos. Butwith enough time and strategy, he will be taken downonce and for all!
As soon as the encounter begins,Maluca willcharge toward youand performtwo Overhead Slam attacks back to back.Wait for him tostart swinging the sword up high behind his backwhile rotating his body toward you.Just before he brings the sword downonto you, guard toReflect it.
Repeat this step for the secondOverhead Slam, then begin attacking him. You should be able toget three to four hits in,which will do a decent amount of damage overall!
Maluca: Burst Attack
He will often follow that up with hisBurst Attack.When yousee the symbol appear on your screen,wait a brief moment,and as soonas he begins attacking, land a Counterattackby pressingL1+Circle/LB+Bto carve a decent chunk of his health away and stagger him. While he’s staggered, you canland a barrage of attackson him!
Maluca: Big Boot
A common action of Maluca’s is hisBig Boot,having himrun toward you before stopping, bringing his left foot up, and delivering a heavy kickthat will push you back and deal considerable damage on contact. If you see him raise his leg,stop moving, andguard the moment you see his foot move forward after he lifts itfor aReflect,allowing you toland a few attacksafterward!
Maluca: Charged Projectiles
From there, Maluca will likely go into hisCharged Projectilesattack, having himhalt his movement and quickly gather energyinto his blade beforereleasing it in a straight line in front of him,dealingmassive damage.He will do thisthree times,with thefirst two being rapidly firedand thelast one being slightly delayed.
You willsee him gather the energy, then pivot his body and plant his footbefore firing. Themoment you see him plant his foot, evade to the left or right.Do this for the first two shots, thendelay the third to avoid this attack.The timing can be tough to get down at first, so be patient!
Maluca: Dual Blade Combo
HisDual Blade Combois up next, having him kick it off with athrusting attack, swiftly following it up with a spinning slash, then ending it with an overhead slam.This attack can be tricky to get the hang of, as you must be wary of his second sword for one of the attacks.
For thethrusting attack,wait for him tolunge forward, then guardto land a Reflect. Thespinning slash is the trickiest,asone blade will hit before the other,forcing you toguard twice.As thefirst blade nearly reaches you, guard the attackto Reflect it,let go of the button, and immediately guard againto Reflect the second hit. From here, wait for him to perform hisoverhead slamandguard just before it hits youfor another Reflect!
Maluca: Twirling Slam
TheTwirling Slamattack is next, with Malucaleaping high into the air before violently spinning as he descendstoward the ground. While this attack looks intimidating, it’s not as bad as you think.Just before he reaches the ground,guard to Reflectthe attack, halting his movement, allowing you toland several attacks.Then, it’s just a matter ofrepeating everything above until you reach his second phase!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Devastating Slam
You’re finally in thesecond phaseof the encounter, having Maluca become taken over by Chaos. He willalmost always kick this phase offwith hisDevastating Slam,having himleap immensely high into the air before crashing down into the groundbeneath him, creating amassive shockwavebefore the ground eruptsin Chaos.
When heleaps into the air, begin running away from him,thenguard as he begins his descent.After this,continue running away to avoid the shockwave and keep on runningto get out of the blast zone. you’re able to’t really attack here, so juststay away from him at all costs!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Time Altering Slash
Following that attack, Maluca will perform hisTime Altering Slash,having himdraw his katana and slow time around him.Themoment time begins slowing down for you, evade to the left or right,as he willblink to your positionimmediately after. Evading the moment this happens will have you dodge the attack completely,allowing you toget a few hits in!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Lunging Grab
Next up is hisLunging Grabattack. Here, Malucaleaps into the air and delivers a devastating thrusting stabwith his katana thattransitions into a grabthat dealsmassive Chaos build-up and damageon contact.As he leaps into the air,hiskatana will glimmerquickly, which is your cue to get out of dodge. Themoment you see that glimmer, evade to the left or rightto avoid getting grabbed, thenrun up and attackhim!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Taunting
Occasionally, during this phase of the encounter,Maluca will create distance and begin Taunting.He willwalk around in a small area while mocking you,resting his blade on his shoulder. We recommendrushing him down and attackinghim. Yourfirst few attacks will be blocked,but this willforce him to attack,which is typically with abasic slash,allowing you toReflect it and follow-up with a Skill!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Charging Slash
From here, he will likely execute hisCharging Slash,having himgather energy in the distancebeforeswiftly blinking toward youwith adevastating slash.After this, he willturn around and deliver another downward slash.This is a very tough move to avoid, so be prepared.
As soon as you see him move, guard to Reflectthe attack. Thenremain still and wait for him to perform the follow-up slash,andguard just before he hits you to Reflectthat one as well, allowing you toget three to four hits inafter!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Chaos Barrier
A decently common action in this phase is hisChaos Barrier,having himsplit the arena in half with a wall of Chaos Energy,which willenable a few attacks of his.He will typicallyemerge from the Chaos with a slashing attack,so be prepared toReflect it!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Low Stance Attack
After the Chaos Energy wall dissipates, Maluca will often perform hisLow Stance Attack.This has himhunker down before sprinting directly at you.When he reaches you,he will leap over you and will do it once more before executing a sliding slash attackthat can be hard to Reflect.
Wait for him to leap over you twiceand thenguard as soon as he begins slidingtoReflecthis Slash. He will move pretty far ahead of you, so westrongly don’t recommend attacking him.Justsave your Staminafor the next attack!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Propulsion Slashes
One of the more annoying attacks to deal with is hisPropulsion Slashes,having himget low to the ground once more,except this time withtwo daggers.From here, he will beginlaunching himself through the air by performing devastating slasheswith his daggers.
Each time he swings, he will launch himself toward you.Werecommend creating as much space as possible,as only the last slash will be close to you.He will usually perform three slashes,so run far away from him andguard as soon as he begins rotating his bodyon the final hit to Reflect it!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Twirling Slash Combo
Next up is hisTwirling Slash Combo.This actionstarts off with a twirling slash,having him perform a devastating slash as he spins toward you, which is thenfollowed up by an overhead slash, then a leaping overhead slash.Youcan’t just guard here, as it will drain all your Stamina Gauge,putting you in grave danger.
As hebegins spinning toward you, guard as soon as he begins bringing his sword downon you toReflectit. Then,wait for the overhead slash and guard right before the blade hitsyou. There will be asmall delay,then Maluca willperform a small leaping overhead slash, guard before it landsfor another Reflect, allowing you toland a few hitsof your own!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Quick Slashes
Quick Slashesare next in line, which is a devastating action by Maluca. He willunleash a barrage of attackswith his katana at blazing speed, which aretremendously hard to Reflect.We don’t typically recommend this, butif you can reflect the first two,you shouldjust guard through the restof it, as theybecome increasingly harder to Reflect and couldcarve large chunks of your health away if you missthe timings even slightly!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Big Boot
TheBig Boot returns,which will behandled exactly the same way as from the first phaseof the encounter. You canland several attackson him if you Reflect it, which will work wonders ashe does this action a lotwhen he wants to try and create space!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Dual Blades, Leaping Slam
Once youget his health down about three-quartersof the way,Maluca will draw hisDual Blades,which essentially has himrevert back to his attacks from the first phase,butslightly modified.However, there is one new attack, theLeaping Slam,which he willalways perform first.
This has Malucaleap high into the air and slam into the ground violently three times in a row,which can dealsubstantial damage or drain lots of your Stamina.Wait for him to leap into the air, thenguard the moment you begin seeing him descend.Repeat this for all three slams, allowing you torun up and unleash a barrage of attackson him!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Dual Blades, Twirling Slashes
Next up is hisTwirling Slash,which has himleap into the air before performing a spinning slash as he descendsto the ground. However, this time around,he will perform this two times in a row,sodo not begin attacking after the first one.This will behandled the same way as before.He will just do it back to back, so onlyattack after the second one!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Dual Blades Combo
TheDual Blades Combois up next, which isexactly like the one from the first phasebut isslightly faster.The first attack is athrusting attack, followed by a spinning slash, and ending with an overhead slash.Don’t forget that there aretwo hits with the spinning slash,and youmust block again to account for the second blade.After Reflecting the final attack, you canbegin attacking him!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Dual Blades, Burst Attack
Fortunately, hisBurst Attack returnsas well, giving youa chance to deal considerable damageto him. This is handledexactly like the first phase,except it deals much more damage, so ensure you get the timing right to land theCounterattack!
HisOverhead Slam also returnsand is handled the same way. Itmay be slightly faster,but it feels largely the same.Handle this the same way as you did in the first phaseandfollow up with several attacks of your ownafter Reflecting the second Overhead Slam!
Maluca - Chaos Phase: Dual Blades, Charged Projectiles
Finally, we arrive athis most annoying attack during the second phase.Despite this being theCharged Projectilesattack from the first phase,it is muchmore unhinged and will likely be the end of most attempts.Not only are these blasts of energysubstantially faster and deal more damage,but there’sseemingly no endto them.
Sometimes, he shoots a handful of them off, and other times, he won’t stop.He didseven during our final encounteragainst him, andthey’re all back to back to back at breakneck speeds.He willlaunch a projectile, pivot, launch another one, and rinse and repeat.Don’t even dare trying to Reflect these,you must evade them,as that is your only hope of survival.
After evading enough of them,Maluca will eventually stop, allowing you to run up to him and unleash lots of attackson him. He will thenbegin repeating his attacks until you defeat him!Don’t give up now. You got this!
