beautiful adventure world of Kena: Bridge of Spirits, players will eventually find The Shrine Guardian. This boss can be one of the toughest fights in the game when considering how early players will face it. Not only does it have an enormous health pool, but players will also have to contend with several minions at the same time as the boss.
The fight will start with the boss summoning four minions. These will keep respawning but will take about 30 seconds to do so each time. The Shrine Guardian's attacks can also damage its minions, which can be used to players’ advantage. The boss has three orange crystals embedded in its body that serve as weak points, similar to the Corrupt Taro boss' lantern and shoulder. If the crystals are destroyed, the Shrine Guardian will be staggered and take a lot of damage.
Some useful skills to help defeat the Shrine Guardian in Kena: Bridge of Spirits include the charge attack and the ability to slow down time while using the bow. Performing the charge attack on the boss will stagger it, letting Kena punish it freely for a few seconds as long as it is timed right. The ability to slow down time while shooting the Spirit Bow in Kena: Bridge of Spirits can be a big help to destroy the orange crystals embedded in the boss’s body.
How to Defeat the Shrine Guardian in Kena: Bridge of Spirits
The Shrine Guardian in Kena: Bridge of Spirits mostly rotates between four attacks during the fight:
- Uppercut Slash: The boss will lean back with his right arm, then uppercut and follow it with a horizontal slash from his left.
- Double Slash: The boss raises his right arm and slashes diagonally, followed by a horizontal slash from his left.
- Jumping Attack: The boss points its left shoulder forward, then leaps to the players’ location and smashes the ground creating a shockwave, which also does damage.
- Tendril Attack: The boss thrusts both arms into the ground, and tendrils will start spawning under the player. The tendrils create shockwaves and then explode.
Uppercut Slash and Double Slash are the most common and straightforward attacks. These can mostly be dodged by jumping back. Although the boss does one-hit swings, attacks that start with his right arm will always be combos. Players should take care to not be baited by the first swing, and attempt to strike back when the boss only swings its left arm.
If players maintain a great distance from the Guardian, it will eventually perform the Jumping Attack. This attack leaves the boss open for Kena to destroy the orange crystal located in its left shoulder, which will be exposed. To dodge this attack, players should run, roll out of the way when the boss lands, then continue running to escape the shockwave. This attack may take some practice to dodge and is a big part of why The Shrine Guardian is one of the hardest boss fights in Kena: Bridge of Spirits.
To dodge the Tendril Attack, players should run around the room, taking care not to become trapped. While performing this move, the Shrine Guardian will expose the flower on its back. Players can send the Rot to the flower and either pulse or shoot it with the bow to do great damage and stun the boss for a few seconds. Players should be careful to move away from the boss, however, as it sometimes explodes after getting up from this attack if players remain too close.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and on PC via Epic.