How to Beat the Puppet King
Details:
Health - 8,474 (Phase 1), 10,557 (Phase 2)
Type - Puppet
Location - Estella Opera House
Weakness - Electric Blitz
Drops:
Burnt White King's Ergo
Someone's Necklace
Puppet Prince's Formal Dress
10,023 Ergo
Movepool
Phase 1:
Corkscrew: The King of Puppets will start spinning his hands while charging forwards, dealing high damage. Avoid by dodging forward through his legs.
Melee Combos: The King of Puppets can attack with slams, sweeps and punches, almost all of which affect the area in front of him or to the side. Staying beneath him towards the back and maintaining this position will avoid all of this damage.
Smash: The King of Puppets will perform a wind up before smashing the area in front of him, dealing damage with a shockwave area of effect. If you are beneath or behind him, back away a little and then re-engage.
Tornado: The King of Puppets will begin spinning chaotically, creating a tornado of damage. This will not deal any damage if you are very close to him or far away from him.
Body Slam: The Puppet King will slam his body down to deal damage in a wider area, and then swing his arms to cover an even wider area. Back away a lot and then re-engage when The Puppet King's attack animation is finished.
Ape Crawl: The King of Puppets will raise up and begin crawling forwards like an ape, followed up by a heavy swing. This deals a lot of damage, and is typically used as a gap-closer. Close the distance and dodge forward through his legs to get to safety behind him.
Wind Blast: The King of Puppets will flip over part of his body and release a blast of air in a fairly wide area around him. Back away when you see this attack coming.
Phase 2:
Fire Trail: Romeo will perform a long-distance sprint with his weapon dragging on the ground, leaving a damaging trail of fire, before performing a high-damage swipe. Dodge to the side and avoid the fire.
Melee Combo: Romeo will perform a combo of many attacks with his scythe, which will be imbued with fire. The best tactic here is to play aggressively. Romeo is easily staggered out of his attacks, and avoiding these combos is difficult.
Double Slash: Romeo will slash or hook with his scythe quickly from one side to the other, and back again. Dodge backwards to safety.
Jump Attack: Usually used to close the distance, Romeo will jump high into the air and slam down at your location. This can travel a very long distance. Dodge away to avoid the damage.
Overhead Slam: After closing the distance, Romeo will slam down with his scythe, dealing a ton of damage. Back away as fast as possible.
Fury Attack: Romeo will perform a jumping attack while glowing red and balancing on his scythe. Dodge away out of the impact zone, or perfect guard the attack.
How to Beat
The Puppet King is a great gateway through to the second half of the game, designed to test your skill against two very different types of boss.
Phase 1:
The first phase of the Puppet King pits you against a hulking figure that has lots of spinning attacks. The large size of the Puppet King allows you to get below him, and if you stay between his legs, you can avoid almost all of his attacks.
If you see the Puppet King winding up to perform his massive spinning attack that covers a remarkably wide area, retreat a safe distance. Otherwise, stay between his legs and be prepared to adjust your position through his legs and behind him when he performs his downward punches.
Treat this phase of the fight like a DPS match. You want as much of your healing as possible available for phase 2, so getting through phase 1 quickly is important. It is recommended to use Electric Blitz type damage for the Puppet King, as he is weak to this and will take a lot more damage from it. Just get between his legs and wail on him as hard as possible.
Phase 2:
In this phase, Romeo, the Puppet King will break free from his hulking shell and reveal a small, dextrous, incredibly fast and very hard-hitting enemy that can cover the whole area in just a moment or two.
It is recommended to use a Shade summon for this fight, since you will be facing a two-phase boss with two separate health bars.
Romeo the Puppet King is very weak to Electric Blitz type attacks, so it is highly recommended to make use not only of the Electric Blitz Grindstone, but also throwables. Throwing Cells deal a particularly devastating amount of damage to the Puppet King and are a great way to get through this fight quickly, and in this fight, quickly means successfully.
You can also make use of Electric Blitz Cannisters if you have a summoned Shade to keep the boss relatively still for a moment. These will cover the target area in electricity that will deal very high, consistent damage to Romeo the Puppet King.
The Puppet King is quite easily staggered, not necessarily just by the stance breaking attacks that allow for a fatal blow. Charged heavy attacks will periodically stun Romeo for a brief moment, allowing for a follow up attack, but be careful. These stunned moments are often followed up with a swift, swiping retaliation.
Keep your distance in phase 2 and play more carefully. Allow Romeo the Puppet King to perform his long-range sweeping attacks and dodge or guard the hit, allowing a nice window for getting tons of damage in.