How To Beat The TUNIC The Heir Boss

The TUNIC The Heir boss is the final fight of the game, and can be a challenging boss to take on for multiple reasons. The Heir comes after a section in TUNIC where all your upgrades are taken away, and it is possible to go into the fight without realising you can gain them back. So, for a walkthrough of how to beat the TUNIC The Heir boss, we've got you covered. 

• If you still haven't found all the TUNIC Instruction Manual Pages so far, we've got you covered. 

How To Beat The TUNIC The Heir Boss: Hero's Graves

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It's recommended that before attempting to defeat the TUNIC The Heir boss, you seek out all six Hero's Graves to receive your upgrades back and enter back into your corporeal form. Due to the way the world state changes after finding all of the gems, many of the paths to previous areas are inaccessible, so finding the Hero's Graves can be a challenge. 

The very first one will be available after exiting the Cathedral in the Old Burying Ground, so just walk over and hold the A button in front of it to teleport. You'll be taken into a large room where you can use your new blink dash ability to collect your stamina upgrades back. After arriving back in the Overworld, head to the central teleporter and activate it. From there, you can now blink dash to a broken path on the right side which takes you to the Hero's Grave in the East Forest to get your damage upgrades back.

After getting back into the teleporter room, activate the teleporter in the bottom right to go to the Great Library. You can blink dash to the bottom of the room and climb down the two ladders into a room with two enemies, where the Hero's Grave is obscured. After defeating both enemies it will unveil itself, and you can earn your mana upgrades back.

Head back to the teleporter room again, and use the top right teleporter to go to the Eastern Fortress. Travel down the stairs and out into the courtyard, before turning to the right and following the path to the Hero's Grave. There are some enemies to defeat first, but you can then get your HP upgrades back. 

The next Hero's Grave you will want to activate is in the Quarry area, but the teleporter is blocked. If you head to the mountain pass at the top of the Overworld, travel until you get the big door, and head down the secret route on its right to get to the Quarry. From here you can activate a new respawn point in the middle of some water, and then head into the Monastery. Inside is a monster you need to defeat which will let you use the Hero's Grave to get your HP potions upgrades. 

The last Hero's Grave is the hardest to get to and can be found in the West Garden area. From the Overworld, head down to the beach and travel all the way to the west side of the map. You can now use your blink dash to cross a broken walkway into the West Garden. You have to basically backtrack through the whole area - the opposite direction you came in when first travelling here to defeat the Garden Knight. Eventually, you'll get to the Hero's Grave which rewards you with your defence upgrades. 

After this, you should have all the upgrades back and be in your corporeal form, which awards you with an additional achievement too. 

• To make your time with The Heir easier, check out the locations of all the TUNIC HP Pots.

How To Beat The TUNIC The Heir Boss: First Phase

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The Heir has two phases you'll need to fight through, so make sure you are stocked up on as many items and HP pots as you can. The fight is quite straightforward, and none of The Heir's moves are too complicated to dodge or block - but the two phases make it quite a slog by the end, especially if you've taken damage. 

The Heir has a few types of attacks, both melee and ranged. One of their simpler moves is a dash sword swipe, which is telegraphed when they bring the sword back over their shoulder. You can dodge or block this move easily enough, and it gives you a chance to get one or two hits in while they recover. 

They also have a faster version of the previous move, where they lunge with the sword, making it harder to avoid. Sometimes after the lunge, the sword will extend out and spin around, so you'll have three forms of their dash to watch out for.  

Another move to look out for is a three-hit combo, where they slash twice with their sword, before slamming it down for the final attack. The first two hits in this combo are fast and should be dodged, but the final hit is slightly delayed, so dodging too early will still cause you to be hit. Once they have slammed down their sword, you have a quick chance to get in some hits before they roll away. 

There are also a number of ranged attacks to watch out for, but many of these are simple enough to dodge, and shouldn't cause you much trouble. At some points, The Heir will slam down their sword, causing three waves of energy to split off in separate directions. If it hits you it will cause damage, but you can dodge over them. They can also perform another move where they spike their sword down, and a circle will radiate from the point of impact, which you need to dodge over. There is another similar move to the latter, where three of these circles will radiate from the edges of the arena, but they don't cover the entire area, so you can stand at the edge of the arena and be safe. 

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Sometimes they will also stick their sword into the air, causing something to shoot out, and pink zones will form around the arena where the explosions will fall down. While this happens, The Heir will keep trying to close the distance and hurt you, so continue dodging through the entire attack. The Heir can fire projectiles too. If you see them stick out their sword while light radiates from it, they will shoot some projectiles toward you which can be dodged or blocked. 

There is no cheese tactic we found for this fight, but utilising your magic items can make all the difference. Our personal choice was to use the shotgun when we got up close after they recover from their physical attacks, letting you burst them down a little. The Magic Dagger also works well to deny their moves and let you get in some free damage, but it may be worth saving your mana for the second phase if you have no blue fruit to use. 

Regardless, once you have got The Heir down to zero health, a small cutscene will play, and their eyes will start to glow pink along with their sword. 

• To beat the game in style, look how to change outfits in TUNIC by tracking down the secret changing room.

How To Beat The TUNIC The Heir Boss: Second Phase

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The second phase of this fight is a bit more difficult due to the new effects many of The Heir's moves has. Getting hit will also lower your maximum HP threshold, along with dealing you damage, so this phase is really about learning to dodge every move perfectly. Like we said previously, it may be worth saving your mana, and especially any items like hot peppers for this section due to its increased difficulty. Dying here also means you will have to complete the first phase once again.  

Most of the moves are the same as the first phase, but they deal increased damage and have extra effects that make them deadly. Firstly, during the dash manoeuvre, The Heir will now leave a purple trail behind them, which damages you and lowers your HP maximum if you walk into it. Their three-hit combo also changes into a four-hit combo, so you can't get in as many hits after the third attack this time. Instead, wait for the fourth slash, and then deal your damage. 

The moves where The Heir slams or spikes their sword into the floor also are more deadly. Instead of shooting out three waves of energy, six waves of purple energy will be shot out in every direction, and even standing near them can drain your HP maximum, making this move impossible to actually avoid completely. When they spike their sword down, instead of just one circle of energy, three will be sent out successively, but standing at the edge of the arena will let you fully avoid this. Likewise, the move where these circles radiate from each side of the arena is back, but there will be five overlapping circles instead of just three. Just standing to the side isn't possible any longer, so you will have to dodge over a couple of these to avoid damage. 

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The rest of the attacks are the same as the first phase, but just watch out for the extra damage and HP debuff you can receive. Again, there are no obvious tactics to take advantage of, and it will come down to how well you learn to avoid The Heir's moves. Taking a hot pepper can make it much quicker due to the amount of damage you can put out, and using your Magic Dagger to freeze them out of attacks is a great method to get in some free damage and avoid it yourself. 

That's all for our walkthrough of how to beat the TUNIC The Heir boss, and now you should be able to defeat them and complete the game.

If you've still missed some TUNIC Upgrade Points, make sure to catch them before this fight to make it easier.