Esdras of the Anointed Legion is, without a doubt, the hardest boss I’ve run into so far in Blasphemous. He’s none other than that knight who keeps following you throughout the adventure, the one who shows up in several “cutscenes” carrying a peculiar mace.
The “good” thing about this fight is that it has a little surprise at the end that you probably won’t be too happy about, but we’ll get to that a bit further down.
Table of Contents
Esdras Location
Esdras of the Anointed Legion appears right in front of the huge door on the “Bridge of the Three Calvaries“, an area east of the “Wasteland of the Buried Churches”. For him to show up, you’ll first have to beat three big bosses:
Once you’ve done that, just head toward the door and you’ll run into him on the way. Luckily, as usual with bosses, you’ll have a Prie Dieu (checkpoint) right next to the encounter.
Phase 1 Attack Guide
The fight will take a while, since the boss has much higher defense than previous bosses. You’ll see that your hits barely seem to dent his health.
Esdras has the following attacks in phase 1:
- Mace Strike: A powerful blow with the mace (or whatever that thing is), and a pretty simple attack in itself.
- Mace Charge: A charge in which Esdras spins a bit to hit you with the mace. It covers a good distance, and if it catches you it’ll hurt quite a bit, plus it’ll send you flying. You can dodge it easily by jumping, but watch out, it’s pretty fast.
- Lightning Whirlwind Charge: He starts spinning with his mace and leaves a trail of lightning bolts that fall behind him with a slight delay. It’s best to get as far away as possible, since he ends up reaching the other side of the screen. What I used to do was wait for him more or less at the edge of the screen and hit him with “Weight of Sin”, and if you already have “Weight of Justice”, even better, of course.
- Get Out of Here: If we hit Esdras a lot, he’ll get annoyed and sometimes perform an area attack that pushes us back and damages us (a lightning bolt also strikes him, which of course doesn’t hurt him).
This is where things already get a bit tough, but you’ll see that you eventually get the hang of it. The key is knowing when to attack and how to dodge his attacks (wow, just like every boss, great job Silver).
Another Mea Culpa skill that worked pretty well for me is “Sacred Lunge or Sacred Thrust”, since it lets you hit him quickly from a distance. That said, don’t throw this attack out randomly; the best moment is when he finishes one of his attacks and you’re a bit far away.
And to wrap up (this phase, there are 2 more, don’t go anywhere lol), keep in mind that you need to be a bit careful when attacking him, and not just because of the “Get Out of Here” attack. Even without it, a lot of the time he won’t care much that you’re hitting him and will calmly smack you right back. You can tell when this is about to happen because Esdras looks very calm, not “staggered” by your hits like he is when you land them properly, something that happens sometimes and sometimes doesn’t. It’s a bit weird.
Phase 2
He enters phase 2 at roughly 50% health and gains new attacks. Honestly, the second phase becomes more manageable once you’ve mastered the first one.
- Static Lightning Whirlwind: Esdras starts spinning with his mace, but without moving from the spot. This makes a lightning bolt strike him, and at the same time he throws a couple of “things” at you that deal damage. Luckily, you can dodge them if you get far enough away. Don’t stay right next to him while he spins either, or you’ll eat the lightning.
- Lightning Columns: The boss raises his mace and summons several columns of lightning in front of him. Just get away. If for some reason you manage to be behind him when he does this, you’ll have a few precious… seconds? to really go to town on him, but it’s unlikely to happen.
Phase 3
And at around 25% health the party really starts, because Perpetva, who apparently is his sister, joins the fight. As if we weren’t having a hard enough time with Esdras already.
Here you should completely ignore Perpetva. Focus on attacking Esdras, since the fight ends once you finish him off, and you’re in no shape to take down the whole health bar of another boss who just showed up.
Esdras himself doesn’t get anything new, but Perpetva is going to be a real nuisance. Luckily, you’re almost done by then. So you know what to do: go all out, and he’ll go down quickly.
Build and Tips
This is the build I used, and I think it’s ideal for this fight:
- Rosary Beads:
- Dove Skull: Increases the Penitent One’s defense.
- Perpetva’s Protection: Increases lightning resistance (couldn’t be better).
- Little Toe made of Limestone: Increases dodge distance, which helped me a lot.
- Mea Culpa Hearts:
- Heart of Saltpeter Blood: Increases damage when you’re close to death. That extra damage might just help you finish him off if you’re at your limit. Who knows if I’d have beaten him without it; honestly, I ended up pretty low on health and out of Bile Flasks.
- Prayers:
- Zarabanda of the Safe Haven: You summon two shields that spin around you and damage enemies. They deal quite a bit of damage and also offer some protection; combined with Mea Culpa hits, they’ll do tremendous damage. It really helps a lot, seriously.
By the way, I recommend saving Fervour for when Perpetva joins, since that’s when you want the fight to end quickly more than ever.
Oh, and before taking on this boss, it’s not a bad idea to revisit earlier areas and see if you can upgrade your character a bit. If you’re the type who just charges ahead without upgrading much, you’ll probably have a terrible time with Esdras.
And that’s it! Did you find this fight hard? Have you beaten Esdras in Blasphemous yet? What build did you use? Leave a comment!
