Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Walkthrough – Boss Guide

Boss Guide

Below you’ll find a list of all the bosses in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, along with strategies on how to defeat them and avoid their attacks. We’ve marked a few bosses as “SPOILER BOSSES” and will leave them as such for the first couple months of release – your definition of spoiler may vary, but better to be safe than sorry!

Aberax

Alright, time for our first boss! Looks like it’s a brute among the Space Pirates, a creature called an Aberax. Sylux has fused a Metroid to him, making him more dangerous…but also covering him in glowing weak spots that we can exploit.

The main purpose of this boss is to get you familiar with advanced combat techniques, primarily aiming while locked on, and using the Dash to dodge attacks. The Dash is simple: whenever he shoots at you from one of his weak spots, double-tap Jump while locked on and moving sideways to quickly sidestep out of the way and avoid damage. Be warned that you aren’t invincible while dodging, so you do need to time it well, and be careful not to get too close to a wall, or you might bump into it and bounce off it (a particularly deadly mistake in Hard Mode).

Aiming while locked on is a bit more complex. You’ll notice that if you simply lock onto him and shoot, your bullets will harmlessly bounce off. You will need to aim in addition to locking on to actually hit his weak points. For this, you’ll be using gyro or mouse by default to move the cursor while holding the lock-on button. If you’re not a fan of aiming like this, you can also try enabling “Revised Lock-On Free Aim” in Settings>Controls>Cursor, and then simply pointing in the general direction of the weak point with your right stick. Move the cursor over his weak points and shoot until they’re destroyed, holding your fire and switching to a different weak point if possible when one starts glowing.

Beyond that, the fight is mostly just general dodging and situational awareness. He’ll occasionally bring up shields to protect a couple of weak points. He may throw a grenade that’ll bounce towards you that you can shoot to destroy. A big attack of his is to hurl a giant wave of energy at you. This attack comes in two variants. One stays on the ground and requires you to Space Jump over it. The other will be suspended in the air and will require you to quickly take Morph Ball form to avoid damage. Eventually, he can even try to grab you, and you’ll have to mash A to get out if you don’t dodge in time. Keep shooting his weak points, and eventually he’ll fall and you’ll be victorious, having successfully defended the UTO base…right?

Carvex

You’ve finally reached the heart of this mysterious temple, and discovered a beautiful flower of the Lamorn! Unfortunately, this creature has been taken over by Sylux, fused with a Metroid, and now it just wants to destroy you. Fortunately, it is still just a flower, and it’s not like it’s your first time fighting one.

You’ll notice it has a vine coming out of it with a glowing spot. This vine can attack you in various ways, but it’s pretty easy to avoid: Dash sideways when it tries to attack from above, and jump when it swipes under you. It can also create pollen spores that will home in and try to explode on you, but you can shoot these to destroy them and get pickups. Be sure to scan both the vine and the pollen spores as well as the boss, as they are missable scans.

To actually kill the thing, shoot the glowing spot on the vine until the spikes on it are destroyed, then shoot it some more until the vine explodes. This will cause Carvex to drop its petal barrier, exposing a Metroid-shaped weak spot on its main body. Shoot this new weak spot, slowly moving sideways to avoid the walls of thorns being shot towards you, until the petal barrier comes back up. Carvex will then spawn two vines, but you can’t simply shoot them this time. You do need to break the thorny barrier on each vine’s glowing spot, but if you try to destroy one vine, it’ll simply regenerate. You need to use the Control Beam to shoot both vines’ glowing spots with the same shot. This will lower the petal barrier allowing you to do more damage.

Carvex will then spawn three vines, and after destroying those and doing more damage, Carves will then spawn three vines again, but also create walls of ivy that can make it more difficult to navigate your Control Beam to hit all three glowing spots. Just take it slowly and carefully, and they shouldn’t pose an issue.

SPOILER BOSS 1

Sylux (Volt Forge)

Whoa, don’t look at the number there. Trust me, this is the real Sylux and the only time you’ll be fighting him, here in Volt Forge after turning on the power in Tower 2. Looks like he’s pretty angry at you!

He’ll start by strafing while shooting at you. Do the same, dashing if he’s close. He’ll then transition into one of a few attacks. He may charge at you, and attack with melee, which you can dodge by dashing backwards right after he stops moving forwards. He may create six missiles, which you can destroy with free-aim before they hit you to get pickups. He may also jump and punch the ground, creating a shockwave. Simply jump over it to avoid damage. All the while, mash the shoot button to get in as much damage as you can.

Once you do enough damage, he’ll switch to a Tornado form. While he’s not too hard to dodge here, you can’t damage him like this and it’s not immediately obvious how to stop this attack. Fortunately, scanning him reveals that concussive damage to his feet will disrupt this attack. Your first thought may be to try to simply lay bombs and have Sylux run into them, but there’s actually a much easier method. Use Psychic Bombs, then use your Control Glove to throw them at Sylux. You’ll have to do this three times to fully cancel the attack.

After he gets below half health, he can start creating a laser that sweeps across the arena. You can dodge this by switching to Morph Ball to go under the beam.

Simply continue shooting him and he will totally, for real, once and for all…reveal that it was actually just a robot in a disguise. Whoops. But hey, at least you get an Energy Tank out of it.

Xelios

Well, it looks like Volt Forge’s friendly AI has somehow been taken over by Sylux and we’ll need to take it out. It’s been covered in some kind of shielding, but fortunately you can break that shielding by shooting it repeatedly when it glows. Use Free Aim to hit the correct plates when they shine, then try to shoot at the core through any holes that you make.

Xelios’ main way of trying to attack you involves shooting green or pink energy blasts at you. You can usually just strafe to avoid these, though sometimes dodging can be necessary, especially with the pink blasts. You can also shoot them to destroy them and get pickups. It may try to create giant blasts of energy, which can be avoided by dashing right after you hear them be fully charged. It may try to make a big explosion, indicated by an orange force field, which you can escape just by moving out of it in time. It may try to precede this attack with salvo of three charged blasts, and if that attack hits you, you’ll be momentarily stunned. Fortunately, you can escape by entering Morph Ball and using a bomb. Xelios can also burrow into the ground, creating a shockwave, but this is really easy to jump over. It can even try creating a laser and slicing you with it, which is pretty hard to dodge, but dashing or in the same direction as the slash may help you avoid damage.

At half health, Xelios will create a bunch of lasers out of some holes you create. You’ll need to be careful where you stand, continue shooting it, and eventually the AI will land in the trash where it belongs.

Keratos

Oh no, it’s a giant enemy crab in the depths of Ice Belt! Looks like you’ll need to expose its weak point for massive damage. You’ll notice if you shoot his eye, he flashes yellow, but takes no damage. You need to hit him in the eye enough so that he gets enraged and tries to ram you. Dodge out of his way, and he’ll hit a wall, exposing the weak point on his belly.

Most of his attacks aren’t too bad to deal with. If he shoots ice spikes, stay away from them and shoot them. There are three variants, one that homes in, one that shoots a series of mini-spikes, and a salvo of three that will stay stationary and damage you if you get too close without destroying them first. He can go to the center of the arena and rapidly spin horizontally, creating a short wall of ice. Destroy this wall (Fire Shot is the fastest method) to cancel the attack. He can spin vertically in place, shooting a bunch of spikes at you.

You can dodge these by simply strafing and dashing. He can do quick rams if you’re close to him, which you’ll need to very quickly dash to dodge. He can spin a laser around the arena, which you can jump over. He can create a shockwave, which you can Space Jump over. He can do a series of rams, which is easiest dodged by just spamming dashes. Note that if you get near the edge of the arena, your visor will fog up, so use this to space your dashes properly.

Phenoros

It’s a giant lava snake in the Flare Pool! You’ll be fighting this guy in two phases. Phase 1 is very simple. Phenoros will swim around the arena constantly, and generally ignore you. As he swims, you’ll notice his underside is riddled with weak spots that the Vi-O-La beam can destroy. Chase them down, getting Boosts by killing the smaller enemies in the boss room if necessary. The only things that can really hurt you in this phase are small splashes of lava from Phenoros’ head, the enemies, and the lava geysers.

Phase 2 is a little more involved. The goal here is to shoot the glowing spots on his head, which will cause him to open his mouth, and then shoot his tongue to damage him. He has a few attacks in this phase, but they’re pretty easy to deal with. Often after destroying a glowing spot, he’ll shoot a laser covering the arena, which you will need to use Morph Ball to go under. He may create some fireballs, which you can shoot before they reach you. He may try to ram you, which you can dash to dodge. If he does successfully ram you, he may grab you, and you’ll have to mash A to get free. After destroying the first wave of spots, he’ll try to shoot you from the second wave of spots, but these can just be sidestepped. He may also try to shoot a laser directly at you at this point, which you should just dash to avoid with the right timing.

After shooting two waves of spots and destroying his tongue, he’ll then fall unconscious, but not die. Don’t try to jump into his mouth. Instead, use your Control Beam to shoot into his mouth, navigate through his throat, and hit the Metroid deep within to finally finish him off.

SPOILER BOSS 2

Sylux (Power Core)

Wait, the Sylux we fought before wasn’t the real one, and he’s back in the Volt Forge Power Core for more? Who could have seen this coming?

Well, you’ve beat him before, but he’s got a lot of new tricks up his sleeves. Several of his returning attacks are souped up. He can create multiple shockwaves, and he’ll shoot more missiles at you all at once. He can now shoot two lasers, and the second will sweep the floor, requiring you to jump.

His big new attack for this fight is electrifying the floor, requiring you to grapple to safety until you reach a wall grapple point. He’ll preceed this with a very long windup, so it’s pretty easy to avoid damage. While on the wall, use free aim to shoot him (you can’t target him unfortunately) and grapple away if he gets too close. He can also jump in the air and propel himself with a bunch of shots, but these are trivial to avoid. He can also create a massive energy wave after taking enough damage which will release a bunch of energy to heal with, but must be Space Jumped over first.

When he falls, it…turns out he was a robot again. Well, just like before, he’ll drop an Energy Tank for you.

Omega Griever

You know it’s on anytime you see the name “Omega” in front of a boss!

He’ll start crawling on the wall, taking pot shots at you which you can easily avoid. If you do get hit, you’ll need to mash A to get free. Attacking his head isn’t very effective, but you can use Free Aim to hit his unarmored legs. Do this enough, and he’ll stagger, exposing his weak point on his stomach. Hit it enough and he’ll come crashing down to the ground, where the real fight will start.

You want to keep attacking his legs until he staggers, then go into Morph Ball and bomb his stomach. You’ll then unmorph, and shoot his weak point until he stands up again. After he takes enough damage, he’ll ram into the wall, covering more of his legs with armor, and making it harder to stagger him. He’ll summon some smaller grievers, and he’ll also run along the wall some more, requiring you to bring him down again.

His attacks on the ground are pretty dangerous, and require some tight dodges. He can still shoot you with globs that require you to mash to escape, but due to proximity you’ll have to be much tighter with your dashes to get out. He can also create a really big glob, but it’s pretty easy to dash out of the way to dodge. He can try to ram you, or perform a series of swipes at you, which requires you to dodge. He can create a shockwave, or a series of shockwaves, which you must jump over. He can try to grab you with his tongue, which must be dodged with a dash, and you’ll need to shoot him in the face a bunch to get out if you do get grabbed. When he’s low on health, he can sweep the arena with a laser, but you can just jump over it. Just beware, he moves it slower than you might expect.

When he gets really low on health, he’ll collapse on the ground, and…is that an item he dropped? You should pick it up, it’s probably going to be helpful–WHOA!

So if you fall for the bait, he’ll grab you, and you’ll need to shoot him in the face a ton to get him to drop you. If you don’t want to get grabbed, just wait, and he’ll drop the ruse after a bit and continue the fight as normal. He doesn’t have very much health left at this point, so only a few more hits on his weak point should bring him down.

Varmis

(L26, Map)

Varmis? More like vermin! Please, no need to hold your applause for that joke, I won’t let it get to my head.

Anyway, this guy’s a pushover. He may have eaten the mech core in the east G.F. Debris, but he’s not very strong, and he can’t do much to hurt you besides trying to ram you. The only thing I can really suggest if you’re struggling is to find the three boost upgrades lying around the desert.

To defeat him, all it takes is hitting the ball at the back of his tail with the Vi-O-La’s projectile, which will slow him down. Then, boost into that ball to deal actual damage. Be careful of missing, as you may end up simply launching off his tail (and getting some sick air as a result). When he reaches the edge of his arena, he’ll dive into the sand. The easiest way to find where he’ll pop up again is simply to look for a red dot on the radar, but if you can’t see it, he’ll also make a giant sand geyser right where he’ll pop up. You should *try* to avoid getting rammed, but he does very little damage and is more of an annoyance than a threat.

When you finally deplete his health, he’ll collapse in the center of his arena. It’s time to channel your inner Other M and use Morph Ball to enter the belly of the beast. You’ll see the power core in its stomach, but you can’t just teleport it now and leave the innocent creature alive. No, you need to detonate a power bomb. Explode the creature from within, and the power core will be left intact for you to teleport to Base Camp.

SPOILER FINAL BOSS

Sylux (Chrono Tower)

It’s the final showdown atop the pinnacle of Chrono Tower…there’s no running this time, Sylux, and I’m pretty sure this one isn’t a robot.

Looks like he’s been sitting in a healing chamber and gotten some souped-up nanites to protect him. You can’t attack him directly, but he’s got three tentacles with nodes you can shoot with Free Aim coming out of his protective bubble. When a tentacle has taken enough damage, you can use Psychic Lasso to pull it off, and when all the tentacles are pulled off, you can shoot him. During the tentacle phase, he will mostly try to slap you with them, which you can dodge either by dashing if it’s a vertical hit, or jumping if it’s a horizontal swipe.

He may also try to do a large sweep covering the entire arena with his tentacles, which you’ll need to Space Jump over. He may also try to rapidly spin them and ram into you, which you’ll have to strafe and dash out of the way of. This phase isn’t too hard, and each tentacle drops pickups when they’re destroyed, so you should be fine here.

What you will need to worry about is what he does after you destroy his barrier and shoot him for a bit. He’ll then put the barrier back up and regenerate the tentacles, but now he’s given them the form of dragon heads! While a little ridiculous, I can’t really blame him, it’s pretty cool. There are at least three phases of these dragon heads (six or more if you’re playing on hard), and each phase is based around a different element:

Phase 1 – Fire: The side heads will continuously shoot lasers, while the center head will alternate between spewing fireballs that stick on the ground for a bit, and shooting a laser directly at you. Be mindful of your surroundings to dodge the fireballs, and dash with good timing to dodge the laser.

Phase 2 – Ice: The heads will try to suck you in towards one side, and ram you when you’re close enough. You can continuously dodge backwards, and hitting one of the heads that is currently pulling you to stop the attack. The heads may also try to pelt you with ice, which can freeze you and require you to mash A to escape.

Phase 3 – Lightning: The heads will alternate between creating lightning strikes and tossing electrical balls on the arena. The lightning strikes are indicated by purple circles on the ground; simply stay off them. The electric balls will require more active dodging, though you can push them back by shooting them.

All three phases have a grab attack, which you will need to dash to avoid, and require you to either wait or shoot the heads to end the phase. Each time the phase ends, Sylux will have his tentacles with their glowing nodes again, and you’ll need to go back to shooting them and pulling them off to break his barrier and damage him. Once you get him to near half-health, another phase will begin.

Sylux will push you into another dimension, some kind of wormhole, and this gives you the ability to freely move up and down, but you can no longer move forwards and backwards. You can’t target Sylux, so you’ll need to use Free Aim to manually hit him. As you do, he’ll drop health pickups which can help you survive on hard mode.

Unfortunately, in this mode your only ways to avoid damage are just moving out of the way and using the Legacy Barrier. Fortunately, most attacks are pretty well telegraphed and avoidable. When he’s not actively doing anything, move around in a circle to avoid it when he does random pot shots. He’ll sometimes create discs of energy, which will require you to move to the correct side to avoid damage. He’ll sometimes create two spinning beams, which look intimidating but take a while to get to you. You can’t really dodge this one, but you can use Control Beam to weave around the attack and hit Sylux, disrupting it. Finally, he has an attack where he shoots some kind of spiral beam at you. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to avoid this one besides using Legacy Barrier. Fortunately, you can easily get out of the way and only take a small amount of damage.

When Sylux has passed another damage threshold, you’ll appear in an arena, where the final and best phase of the fight will begin.

It’s now back to a standard hunter versus hunter battle. Several of Sylux’s attacks from prior fights return, so use the same strategies against them, just note they’ve been a bit souped up again. A new attack is to create a wave of energy that you will have to dodge sideways to avoid, and as he gets lower in health he’ll do this multiple times in a row. He can also teleport away, then reappear and create and charge a black hole. Your beam shots will go into the black hole, so you’ll need to use Control Beam and fight the gravity of the black hole to hit him and counter it. He can try to hit you with his Shock Coil (his energy tether) which will freeze you in place and do a ton of damage. To escape, you can go into Morph Ball and place a bomb, or you can use Legacy Barrier which will not take damage during this attack and use it as an opportunity to get a lot of free shots in.

The big addition to this phase, though, is Sylux’ signature Alt-Form from Hunters: The Lockjaw. Remember to scan this, as it is its own entry. He’ll try to ram you, and if he hits you, he’ll steal an energy tank. (While this will lower your completion in the Inventory menu, despite what the scan says you will get the tank back after the fight if you lose it here.) The initial wind-up of this attack is the longest, and every further windup in the same attack before he switches back to normal form will have a very short windup. To dodge this, I have the most success just using Space Jump. However, if you do get hit, you will need to switch to Morph Ball and whack him with Boost Ball. This will free the Energy Tank, and stun Sylux for several seconds.

Eventually, Sylux will fall, and you’ll be returned to the Pinnacle! With no more adversaries in your way, it’s time to go home. Walk up to the teleporter, activate the terminal, and finally send this squad back to Tanamaar! Congratulations!

 

 

Congratulations – you’ve beaten Metroid Prime 4: Beyond!