Holy Bonecleaver! Can't get past this boss for the life of me.

[BrassBallz]

Until this point the game has not been all that difficult, but I'm now at the second Boneclever boss and holy crap has the difficulty shot up. No matter what I try I can't seem to get past this guy. He blocks over half of my attacks and when he does't block, he kicks and stuns me. A couple of combo hits later and I'm done, and this is only the first half of the fight.

I play on Normal and have collected all of the power-ups to this point but he does SO MUCH damage that I die anyway.

When the fight starts I freeze and kill the lion then start on Clever. When attacking I try to get him to kick while I'm still far enough away then go in for a quick attack and roll away. I've also tried jumping attacks but they usually get blocked.

Needles to say but I'm dead stuck.. Any advice on tackling this beast?

[station1]

Heres what I did, and your right hes kinda tough. I hit him with an object roll in and get a couple hits and get out!! grab another hit him again roll in couple hits get out. If you do the rolls just right sometimes you can end up behind him and get in several hits before you need to roll out.. I used lots of slash and roll. When you get close to killing him the second time make sure you break all the jars if you havent already, once you defeat him you dont get to finish breaking the jars moves you onto the next area. This is important for getting the rune achievements.

[BrassBallz]

Thanks for the advice. I put it to good use and beat big bad Bonecleaver at his own game. It was still a tough fight but the roll/hit/roll technique worked great. Still it does take some practice to master and thank god you respawn after the sword phase if you die by the flail. Thanks!

[Fidibus]

Just an addition to what Station said. For those who might still need additional help.
Rolling around is indeed the key...
It took me dozens of attempts anyway to figure that out (on hard)...so here is the detail that did it for me.
The Cleaver basically uses 4 attacks:
1. a forward kick (ignore that, caus he usually does not stand still long enough for you to deal some serious damage)
2. chain throw (I found it best just to roll out of the way..."good rollers" might land a blow or two...not me)
3. "mighty" forehand slash (this one is actually interesting, because after this he stands still for about 2-3 secs.)
4. forehand, backhand, smash combo (this was his doom..ähm so to say...the first two hits don´t do a lot of damage, they just stun you. When he does the overhead smash you will be able to roll again. Don´t roll away from him but towards him. The shockwave will not harm you and you can lay the smackdown on him for 3-4 good Y hits. After that just roll away until he does the 3-way combo again.
Okay, hope that helps

[drakehellsing]

Heh, I too had trouble until I finally defeated him.

What I did was do a heavy attack on him once and rolling back before he could strike me.

If he kicks you and stuns you, the moment you come back, roll back otherwise you will get hit.

Make sure to have a long heavy weapon, which is what I used and try to use the uppercut move, I believe is what it was, he should try and block it, but you will hit him regardless.

Oh yeah, be sure to kill the lion first, throw a vase at it, it'll make it much easier, and kill it quicker ;)

[richie0331]

after about 10 tries on hard i finally figured out the sequence of his attacks, the first part of the battle was the hardest for me...in the second half he went retarded and all i had to do was roll in and X,Y (uppercut 2-hand sword) and then rolled away quickly as he did a quick slash and rinse and repeat til he was dead

[JOHNisSiK]

i brought a shield in with me and the XXY combo hurts him more than any other combo and it's quick. hope that helps.

[Zany Zebra]

I'm STILL HAVING DIFFUCULTIES with this dude! I actually tried the roll-n-slash technique before I read this thread, but the bugger knocks me out whenever I get close to him! He does this nasty combo of kicking me in the face, and then doing that nasty shockwave slam with his sword. If I roll outward at all, he coils me with that trap.

I DID manage to get to the flail part after a long time, but now I only have half a health bar, no magic left, and no shield. Just that big sword... I don't think its possible to beat him with what I have..

I guess I'll have to redo the level and make sure I have full magic? =/

[Cordes]

after about 10 tries on hard i finally figured out the sequence of his attacks, the first part of the battle was the hardest for me...in the second half he went retarded and all i had to do was roll in and X,Y (uppercut 2-hand sword) and then rolled away quickly as he did a quick slash and rinse and repeat til he was dead

Thanks for the hint. I finally killed him after trying for about an hour.

I'm STILL HAVING DIFFUCULTIES with this dude! I actually tried the roll-n-slash technique before I read this thread, but the bugger knocks me out whenever I get close to him! He does this nasty combo of kicking me in the face, and then doing that nasty shockwave slam with his sword. If I roll outward at all, he coils me with that trap.

I DID manage to get to the flail part after a long time, but now I only have half a health bar, no magic left, and no shield. Just that big sword... I don't think its possible to beat him with what I have..

I guess I'll have to redo the level and make sure I have full magic? =/

It is actually possible to beat him with what you have, I had exactly the same. I didn't even have magic when I arrived. If you do exactly what richie0331 says, it is possible to defeat him without getting hit once. At least on hard it works fine, I don't know about King Mode yet. So, just roll in, uppercut, roll out, wait until he tries to hit you, roll in....... When he does his powermove just jump. Now go kick his ass

[happysox]

I tried all of these and just kept dying. I agree that it is possible but you have to be very patient, which I am not. I made it past him on easy but on Hard I could not even get to the second part of the battle. I turned the game back into Blockbuster. I might try to get the 1000 later but for now I moved onto other games. Thanks for the tips and good luck to those yet to try.

[rhyyno]

I am not sure if this tactic will work on hard mode or above, but during the second stage (with the flail) I was able to defeat him by throwing 2 axes, over and over again. I used the strategies listed above to make it to the second stage. Basically, rolling side to side and waiting for an opportunity to hit him once or twice, and repeat until he breaks out the flail (which is a checkpoint).

From there, if you grab 2 axes (from the rack towards the front), you can throw the first, which he will always block, but if you throw the 2nd ax fast enough, it will almost always hit. After he blocks the first ax, he will begin to throw his bolas. If your second ax is in flight before he throws the bola, it will hit him.

From there, dodge the incoming bolas, grab a couple more axes and throw them like the first set. It will take many ax hits, so keep moving and grab the previously thrown axes off the ground and keep going until the cut scene.

[Clone32]

I just beat this goon on King mode..."I want to smash the controller" doesn't begin to describe the experience. Here's a few things I had beat into me while fighting him.

Stage 1 of the fight:
Try and keep him in the middle of the red tiles as it makes rolling around him easier (nothing worse than getting stuck on a chair or vase). Use quick combos as on King setting his 3 hit combo will pretty much kill you outright. Here's something that sounds wrong but works: Get kicked in the face!

Seriously, his kick to the face move doesn't hurt that bad and it lets you roll around his side/back right before he smashes his sword down. Now is you chance to break out a 4 hit combo for some better damage then back into Samus Aran ball mode. He tends to kick if you approach from his front.

If he starts to wander away from the center you can get him back near it by getting hit by his bola move (and you thought getting hit was bad).

Round 2...FIGHT!
Here's a dirty way to start this part of the fight. While all those mint flavored health runes are floating your way, run down and pick up that water jug on the right. Throw this right as he pulls the mace down into a 'ready' position (before he starts his "I can hit you from 50 yards off move"). This will take off anywhere from 50% to 25% of his health. :rock

His AOE smash move is easy to see, so roll towards him but not in the path of the flail. Break out a 3-4 hit combo here then roll back out. Use his bola move to your advantage, dodge it and run over and smack him twice then roll away. He should attack right after that second swing and by the time your roll move is finished you can run back over while he's recovering and smack him 2 more times.

Now the fight is rinse, repeat, yell when necessary.

Hope this helps out some of you and/or saves a few controllers.

[Tobias Drake]

I'm still working on him in Hard Mode, but I have made a number of observations.

1) Getting kicked in the face is no longer a reliable strategy. In Normal, it was easy because he was more predictable. Every once in a while, however, on Hard mode, instead of following through with his smash attack, he follows through with his entire three-strike combo. This is death and it will put an end to the boss fight.

2) That said, it isn't wholly unreliable either. I've found that by feigning a quick strike and then very quickly rolling away, I can get him to make the kick action while not managing to connect to me, and then to follow through with either of his three attacks shortly thereafter. This leaves him open, without leaving the player dependent on the hand of fate to keep that three-strike combo from killing him.

[Peace]

When you get close to killing him the second time make sure you break all the jars if you havent already, once you defeat him you dont get to finish breaking the jars moves you onto the next area. This is important for getting the rune achievements.

Maybe this will be more clear to me when I get to this area, but how does breaking the jars help me get the rune achievements?

[Mr Fancy Shoes]

I finally managed to beat him on Hard difficulty. Used the rolling technique and uppercut move as described above, and it worked perfectly. The key is to time the "faint" move correctly. I just walked towards him, hit X, and roll away almost immediately so he misses his kick. Then follow up with uppercut X, Y.

The second part was much easier for me. This time all I did was roll towards him, uppercut, roll away. Repeat until dead.

Thanks for the good tips people.

Edit: Oh, and destroying the vases has absolutely nothing to do with the triumvirates achievements.

[Turonel]

For some reason when i got to this fight on King difficulty i did not have to do the 2nd part of the fight...after the first half i got the prompt to hit B and then Conan killed him...no ball and chain stage yay!

[krucifiedkevin]

wow, talk about an annoying game... i had such the huge problem with the giant squid and now this battle is just brutal as well......
i am thinking i shouldnt have started playing this on hard the first play through....

[xDAx AWESOME]

UGH this game is really getting on my nerves.

[krucifiedkevin]

whew! finally defeated the bonecleaver II...
thanks for all the tips and advice you guys. i will tell you all that the "roll,then x, y, and roll again worked like a charm.

[Rioto]

damned im playing on king mode atm but this guy is pain to kill!!!!!

[Rioto]

finally i killed the bitch. I used Rain of fire like 100000 times and didnt got hit once.

[Malachi117]

Use the duel wields Black River Rage ( X X Y Y ). He'll block the X's but not the Y's
It demolishes him. He'll hit you during the 2nd part with the mace but it won't matter.

[mumbles117]

a little tip that helped me down him was: when he goes to smash the floor with his mace, roll back then jump in right close and you can either get in a x,y (barbarian) or x,x,y,y (black river rage) although if you choose the latter you will most likely get kicked, BUT then you can roll away before he hits you (and he normally tries the ground smash so you can keep on piling up the damage) hope this is a little help

[Seankichu]

can anyone here confirm how the game determines whether or not you have to fight Bone Cleaver twice. Both myself and a friend are both playing on Hard and he had to fight him twice, but I only had to beat him once. Is it something you do in the level prior or did my game just glitch and skip half the fight.

[dvdubb]

huge pain in the arse to kill Cleavy, however, found this clip on youTube and this method worked great...dual wield...run up towards him...throw axe and roll in...perform three heavy attacks and roll out.....works like a charm and will take you only about 8 mins to take him out.

Conan (X360) Gameplay - Boss Fight: Bone Cleaver (Fallen Kingdom) - YouTube